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3 down and no real sign of Pieteresen’s boys making an impact in India in the one day series.  Off the back of a total humiliation in the Stanford Cup Final, England have so far failed to pick themselves up in India.

The most worrying thing is that even with a slight improvement in each match, they still look nowhere near competing. The Indian spinners seem to have the English batsmen at odds and ends, and despite having “batting” down to 9 or 10, we have yet to bat for a full innings, which is an age old problem mentioned before on this blog.

If we do manage to stay at the crease against spin, then the runs dry up pretty quickly meaning we post too low a total.  Yet when we play our own spinners they seem to get hit all round the park, although Graham Swann probably looked the best of the bunch yesterday.

To be fair Yuvraj Singh has been in outstanding form, but at the end of the day it would appear that we are just not good enough.  Occasionally we get the odd glimpse of what could be e.g when Pietersen and Flintoff were in together in the second ODI, but as always seems to happen with England, when that partnership was broken we collapsed like a deck of cards.

On the bowling side we are just not consistent enough.  Whenever there is a problem the ball gets thrown to Flintoff, but in the limited over game especially, then others have to step up to the mark.  Anderson and Harmison are too erratic by far.  They are as likely to get clubbed for six or bowl a wide as they are to take a wicket.  When the ball isn’t swinging then Anderson seems to lack the ability to bowl a consistent line and length and put the batsman under pressure.  One or two balls an over are too loose and get thumped for boundaries letting the opposition off the hook.

So what’s the answer?  Well I’m afraid there isn’t one right now.  Whatever players you put in the squad and whatever combination eventually make it onto the pitch, we are simply not good enough to compete at the top level. A whitewash in the ODI series at least is definitely on the cards.

Just a few short months ago Harry Redknapp turned down the Newcastle job, stating that he was happy at Portsmouth and “this would be his last job till he retired”.  A couple of months later and Portsmouth have won the FA Cup, had a solid start to the season, are playing in Europe, and he has left to join Spurs.

I have no problem with players or managers moving on as I’ve said time and again.  At the end of the day, its a job like any other and despite what fans say, they owe the clubs they are employed by no loyalty whatsoever.  If they have a bad run of results, then the knives come out pretty quickly from the very people who question that loyalty, so why not cash in when they can?

What I do have a problem with though, is the comments made by players and managers alike, where they pledge allegiance to the club.  It happens time and again and it is this sort of comment, which justifiably annoys fans, when it subsequently turns out to be untrue.

As a Pompey fan it really is no surprise.  Whenever things look to be steady and improving, something happens to rock the boat, normally of their own making.  It’s not clear if this was of their own making on this occasion though.  As always there are two sides to every story.

Redknapp insists that the club need the £5M compensation they will get, whilst admitting he wants to manage at a “big club”. Peter Storrie has since said the club in no way needs the money.  Let’s hope Harry is trying to put a positive spin on something which he knows will upset a large number of fans and reduce the backlash.  If the club is in such a financial crisis that they are desperate for £5M then the end is nigh.

Kevin Pietersen has come out and said his side will not be “flash Harry’s” should the win the $20M prize in next months Stanford Twenty/20.  He has also said that should they win he will be giving a lot of it to charity. These are both noble sentiments especially from a man as confident and some would argue arrogant as the England captain.

However, should they do well enough to scoop crickets biggest cash prize, should they feel any embarrassment?

Well certainly with todays credit crunch and talk of Worldwide recession, with the average man in the street facing a tough couple of years, you could be forgiven for thinking its an obscene amount of money for what is essentially a days cricket.

However, lets put it into context.

These guys are professional sportsmen.  Up until very recently they have probably enjoyed a better salary than the average guy, and at the top end had this topped up with lucrative sponsorship deals.  However, lets not forget the life of most sportsmen is a short one.  Although they may earn more than most for a period of about 15 years, many have nothing to fall back on, and end up in low paid jobs for the remainder of their careers. Therefore money earned during this short period has to be invested to look after them later in life.
Now lets look at the Stanford prize in particular.  Yes, it is a lot of money for one days work.  However, let’s compare this prize fund to the type of money splashed around in Football, Rugby, Snooker and Golf for example.

The $20M prize fund pales into insignificance, when compared to the sums on offer in other sports, and which have been on offer to them for a number of years.  Premiership footballers are earning £50 - £120k per week - guaranteed by the way, and winning a Major golf tournament will make you an overnight millionaire.  In fact there is so much money on offer in golf now that average pros can become millionaires without ever winning an event.  Cricket has a long long way to go to get anywhere near these sort of numbers.
So is the amount of money on offer obscene. Yes, I guess is the short answer.

Should cricketers be embarrassed about earning it.  Definitely not.

A good weekend for British sport and a chance maybe to wax lyrical about the successes of Andy Murray, winning his second ATP Masters, or Lewis Hamilton’s steady victory in China yesterday, which takes him to withing touching distance of the F1 World Championship.  However, my mind is drawn sadly to the Aston Villa vs Portsmouth match, which saw a fourth official struck by a coin, thrown by a Villa fan.

I say thrown by a Villa fan but in truth this could happen at any football ground anywhere in the UK and probably around the world.

What is it about football that makes the “supporters” believe they can behave in such a way?

In the last few weeks we have had abuse hurled at Sol Campbell by Spurs fans still angry that he once played for them and then joined Arsenal, Atletico Madrid fined for their fans racial abuse, England players racially abused in Croatia and now this.  I haven’t included the Ashley Cole booing antics as I feel that’s a slightly different topic, but I could easily have done so.

Unfortunately there is a culture in football, which for the most part is accepted as normal, and which brings out the worst in people instilling a mob mentality not seen with any other sport.  This is handed down through generations as parents take their children to matches and they learn how to behave, by watching their so called role models.

Within this culture it is deemed acceptable to swear and scream abuse at officials, opposition fans and players, and at its worst throw missiles. In days gone by, what can only be described as all out warfare was commonplace between rival fans. To get rid of this aspect has taken millions of pounds of tax payers money, and still takes hundreds of police on a match day to ensure violence doesn’t break out.

I’ve been to games and seen rival “fans” just sit and stare at each other with hate filled eyes, rather than watch the match they have paid a fortune to see.

Rivalry amongst fans can and should exist, but this should be a friendly rivalry where banter can be exchanged with good humour, and opposing fans can sit together, creating and enjoying the right environment for children of all ages.  This happens at cricket and rugby, where the rivalry is as intense and the will to win is as strong, but without the malevolence, which mars our so called “beautiful” game.

So its time for change.  The change has to come from within though - it cannot be imposed by the authorities with CCTV and heavy security.  It has to come from the true fans on the terraces and backed by the supporters clubs around the country.  The message has to go out that aggressive behaviour and chanting is simply not acceptable.  The supporters should police it themselves, refusing to join with such behaviour rather than follow a few mindless morons.

It wont happen overnight, but it would be nice if in 5-10 years it was a thing of the past and that the UK had led the way.  Imagine Arsenal and Spurs fans, Portsmouth and Southampton fans, Rangers and Celtic fans walking to a match without a police cordon.  A pipe dream I know, but unless we take action to make it happen, it never will.

So despite a poor first half performance, England managed to run out 5-1 winners over Kazhakstan this weekend.  However, such was the performance, that the biggest talking point is that Ashely Cole was booed for gifting the Kazhakstan team a goal.

For those that haven’t seen it an over casual back pass landed at the feet of the centre forward who knocked it passed the statue that was David James. This resulted in the Cole being booed by on section of the crowd every time he touched the ball for the next 5-10 minutes - until England scored again basically.

So why all the fuss?

Well like all controversial footballing moments, there are two very good sides to the arguement.

The people that were behind the jeering will say they have paid £80 a ticket, no doubt either paid to park or paid to travel to the game, bought a program and paid a small fortune for either food and/or a drink.  They will therefore argue that if the team or a particular player does not perform as they would like, they are entitled to show their displeasure providing it is not racial or discriminatory in anyway.

The counter argument is that every team and or player will have an off day at some point, and will make at least one mistake during a match.  This is the same regardless of how much they are paid - at the end of the day nobody is perfect and £100k per week doesn’t change that fact.  The role of a supporter, as the name suggests is to “support” his or her team.  The best way to do this is through encouraging the team and players, urging them to give 100%.  This should not only be done when they are playing well, but should be done especially when they are playing badly or make a mistake.  Confidence is fragile even in the very best of us, and to undermine that confidence, undermines that player, and is ultimately detrimental to the team.

So where do I stand?

Well, if I have paid the best part of £100 to watch a match, I would want to see them win, and ideally by playing free flowing and attractive football.

I therefore hope, that I would have the intelligence to realise that booing and jeering my own team, will not help this happen.  I guess what I’m saying then, is that the boo boys were almost certainly of below average intelligence, and or were more than likely Arsenal fans, who have a problem with Ashley Cole because he left them to double his salary - (in his position none of them would have done the same of course).

The small mindedness and pack mentality of football “supporters” is legendary - any player or manager, who ever leaves a club is victimised when he plays against his former team, no matter how much he has helped them achieve.  It appears that these idiots have more money than sense and are now prepared to pay £100 plus to watch a match in the hope that they will get the opportunity to watch their National team lose,  so that they will have the opportunity to vent their misplaced and childish resentment.

I’ve not posted for over a month now thanks in part to holiday and then to having a broken hand (hockey is such a girls game!).  But what a few weeks we have had in the World of sport, with the usual highs and lows.

The highs have to be the performance of both Olympics teams as we achieved record medal hauls in both and the Para Olympics.  Add to that England finally putting in a performance worthy of the word and not only winning a game but winning it with style and flair.  Long may it continue although no doubt we will be back to normal come Octobers match.  The resurgence of our much maligned cricket team should be added to this list as well, under the new and seemingly inspirational captaincy of Kevin Pietersen.
On a more personal note, Pompey eventually managed to play some decent football and put together a few wins, including their first ever in Europe, before Calamity James lived up to his nick name and helped the newly rich Manchester City to a 6-0 thrashing.

While on the subject of football their is the nonsense that is Newcastle United, who appear to have gotten everything they deserve, with Mike Ashley looking to sell and Special K having walked, a few weeks earlier than even I predicted.

Sadly though the last couple of weeks have seen the demise of Amir Khan, surprisingly beaten in 57 seconds by a guy who should have been a stepping stone to better opponents.  Well that should let Khan and his management team know he has a bit of work to do at least.

Then more recently this weekend saw Europe relinquish their hold over the Ryder Cup in spectacular fashion, which we should have seen coming with all the talk of us being favourites.  Faldo has come in for some major criticism (largely from the media, who has never seen eye to eye and were clearly waiting for if not hoping he would fail).  In my opinion any such criticism is unfounded - Faldo’s most controversial wild card pick one the most points.  It was the “big guns” who failed to fire over the 3 days.  Most notably Garcia and Harrington.

Anyway all of this just goes to show that sport can get us cheering and laughing one minute and crying into our beer the next.  Seriously though - would we have it any other way?

Team GB are having their best Olympics for decades and the thanks could be laid at the feet of an unlikely source - ex-Prime Minister John Major.

It was John Major’s government that instigated the National Lottery (since renamed the “Lotto”) and this has been the primary source of funding for athletes ever since.

From the original days of the Lottery, British athletes were given approx £50m per year - in the last few years this has been increased to £100m, with one eye on London 2012, where they will hope to improve on this game’s success, in front of a home crowd.

The success has been truly remarkable, especially when held against Sydney and Athens, which also saw an improvement in total number of medals and even more so when compared to the performances of our National Teams in our “major” sports such as football and rugby, where money is no object.
Our top athletes are now receiving an average of £70k per annum.  This sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn’t all go directly to the athletes themselves.  It should be remembered that in order to compete at the very top these people need a mini entourage of physios, coaches and nutritionists, not to mention having to travel around the world to compete.  On top of this they need to be able to live as well of course, so £70k disappears pretty fast.  If you compare £70k per annum to the money received per week by Premiership Footballers for example it really is a drop in the ocean.  Let’s not forget that the Football Club will supply the entourage and pay for first class travel if and when required, not to mention the odd winter break now and then.
Also, compare the lifestyles and dedication of the Premiership Footballer to the top athlete.  Double gold medalist Rebecca Adlington for example, has an excruciating training schedule 6 days per week, motivating herself to get up at 5:00am, in swimming which is a sport which receives little or no exposure in this country.

The average footballer will train for a couple of hours a day (normally mid morning, certainly not at 5:00am) and play twice per week.

So why do people like Adlington do it?  Because they are hungry for success and want to be the best in their chosen sport.

There are a few exceptions in the world of football i.e. players who play with passion week in week out, are hungry for success and don’t simply  turn up in order to pick up their massive pay cheques at the end of each month.

However, there are a large number in my opinion who simply go through the motions and are not too concerned if they are dropped, win nothing or end up injured for a few weeks.  As long as they are still being paid and can afford the mock Tudor house, sports car, WAG and bling they are happy.  If all British footballers showed the same determination as our Olympic athletes, then I’m sure we would never have a problem qualifying for and maybe even winning the odd major tournament.

However, lets take this chance to bask in the success of Team GB, rather than talk about the over paid and under performing football teams.  While we do that, let’s hope that John Major’s vision will go on reaping dividends for years to come and this success will encourage a few more couch potatoes away from their computers and out into the fresh air.  Who knows it might even reduce the obesity academic in the process!

I’m not one to knock the team I support especially early on in the season, but I feel the need to vent my frustration over Pompey’s lack lustre performance yesterday.

Yes, Chelsea were good and yes they have World Class players in all positions on the pitch, but they backed this up with energy enthusiasm and a will to win. Pompey showed none of that. They looked beaten before they started, and played with the look of a team who were ready to succumb to the inevitable. They had exactly the same look about them when they played in the Community Shield final the week before, when they were lucky to get to penalties - the penalty takers showed the same confidence and determination as the team had all match and ended up missing 3 out of 4.

As a fan that doesn’t get too many games, I look forward to the occasions when they are on the TV, but more often than not I witness the level of performance that was there for all to see yesterday. Lack lustre, no drive, no enthusiasm for the game and the feeeling that they had lost before the ref blew to start the match. It could be noted that normally they get onto TV when they are playing one of the top 4 sides admittedly, and they cannot be expected to win. However, they can be expected to be play with some sort of pride.

Newcastle do not have a better squad than Pompey, but they showed more hunger for the game in the first 5 minutes than Pompey did for the entire match. Yes, they rode their luck, but even if they had lost, they could have held their heads high knowing they gave 100%. I wonder how many of the Blue Army can say the same?

As a spectator, you want to see your team win of course, although you know they won’t win every game. But when they lose you want to know they gave everything, and it is the most frustrating thing in the world to see them lay down and die.

Pompey don’t have a great start to the season with Man United next on the list and Everton away, and so could find themselves at the bottom of the table at the end of August. No need to panic though unless they turn in another 2 performances like yesterday’s, in which case they have major problems.

Come on Harry - get into them this week and fire them up for all our sakes. It doesn’t matter if you play 4 or 5 across the middle as long as they put some effort in and earn their wages.

So its time for a change it seems.  Having been hounded by the press for months both Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood have both resigned their England captaincies, the latter despite an gutsy 134 knock to give England a chance of victory.  The fact that they ultimately lost against South Africa on Saturday and therefore handed the Proteas their first victory since 1965 on English soil, is down to a lack lustre bowling attack,  couple with a mixture of bad luck and failure to take chances.

Graeme Smith went of to score 150 odd to lead his side to victory, but could have been given LBW (although it was easy to see why it wasn’t given), should have been run out if Ambrose/Bell hadn’t cocked it up between them, and was caught off the glove, but inexplicably the players around the bat and Panesar, who had appealed for absolutely everything up until then, failed to do so on the one occasion it was clear cut.  The net result was SA were able to chase down 280 and force the resignations of Colly and MV.

Enter KP.  Scurge of purists and the establishment, controversial with the coaching staff and apparently the dressing room as well.  KP splits people - they love him or hate him.  Averaging over 50 he is by far Englands best batsman, scoring in a manner which excites and thrills the spectators, and has the establishment cronies turning in their graves - even those that aren’t yet dead.

I fall into the first category - KP and his style of play is the future of the game, particularly with Twenty20 becoming so huge.  Admittedly at times he could be accused of being egotistical and putting himself above the team, but that is the measure of the man and the way he plays.

Having the captaincy, and therefore his own job on the line might just tame him slightly, but lets hope it doesn’t do that too much.  The concern would be that he tries to change his game and therefore the team will suffer.  My thoughts are that he wont change too much and will revel in the responsibility.  One thing he has shown is he doesn’t care what the press say or think about him and that can only be a good thing.

KP will do it his way and live or die by the results.

Much has been written but who is actually to blame for the England’s current form?  Selectors or Players?  Well here’s a thought.  Maybe it’s the media.

Not only in cricket but in all sports we heap untold expectation on the players and coaches.  With cricket, whoever is selected as wicket keeper is under immediate pressure to score runs.  Reid, Prior, Jones and now Ambrose have all come in and been hounded out by the media (who now interestingly want Reid, Jones or Prior back!), and are expecting excellent glove work, coupled with an average of 40 plus with the bat.  Not every country can produce an Adam Gilchrist so let the selectors decide who is the best prospect long term and then the media should get off his back.  Playing in the intensity of a Test match must be hard but when you know that 99% of the people reporting on the game are practically willing you to fail to give them copy makes it 100 times harder.

The same argument holds with Collingwood.  He hasn’t suddenly become a bad player.  His summer average is poor admittedly, but it was only 12 months ago he was made One Day captain, so he must be a decent player just out of form.  Dropping him, then bringing him back with the entire media writing that he shouldn’t even be in the side just makes it even harder for him to find form.  He was clearly short of confidence yesterday, and it was hardly surprising that he didn’t score.  However, he and all batsmen have been there before and as the saying goes “form is temporary but class is permanent”.  It was only a few Tests ago, that people in the media were questioning the inclusion of Bell, but now he is scoring again its not mentioned.

The bottom line is that it is unlikely that all players in ANY team will all perform well in a Test match.  The problem is that the media make such a song and dance about the slightest under performance that it unsettles not only the out of form player(s) but the entire team.  Perfection is always worth striving for but there has to be an acceptance that it can rarely, if ever be achieved, and we are not masters of all sports as we once were.  Our expectations are perhaps too high.