Posts Tagged ‘england’
Alistair Patrick-Heselton: Risen, fallen and now risen again
CP Footballer Alistair Patrick-Heselton in Paralympics GB kit
Alistair Patrick-Heselton is a Cerebral Palsy and Brain Injury Football player who represented Great Britain at London 2012’s Paralympic Games. He has an extraordinary story of how he got to where he is today, and is one of many who have indeed inspired a generation from their participation in a record-breaking Olympic and Paralympic Games. He was a football player who had played for Queens Park Rangers as well as Oldham Athletic on loan.
While playing semi-professionally for Wingate and Finchley in 2006 he was a passenger in a car accident which killed his best friend, and ex-Watford footballer, Simon Patterson. The accident left Alistair with a fractured skull and in a coma. He fortunately left hospital a few weeks after the crash.
“As a result I was told I may never walk again and I should avoid playing football as any further trauma to my head could have serious implications”, he revealed. “I had gone 4 years without playing football when England and Great Britain Paralympic Football manager, Lyndon Lynch, contacted me and made me aware of the 7-a-side CP football that I may qualify to play in. At the beginning I was reluctant as I had not played in so long and was worried about safety but I was reassured and shown various head protection I could use.”
Within six months of starting to play football again, Alistair found himself making his debut for the England CP football team at the World Championships in Holland. On his debut against South Korea, he scored his first England goal. He explained that the hunger to play again stemmed from attending a Great Britain training camp, which was his reintroduction into competitive football.
Alistair chooses not to head the ball when he plays football now because it is best to reduce any impact to his head due to the scale of his injury. “I play wearing a head guard supplied by Andoria Sports Protection, who were able to give me a guard with great protection while not taking too much away from my natural senses. It is more about my family than me as they had a really tough time while I was in a coma following my accident and so I don’t want to throw all their care back at them. The same goes for the doctors and nurses that saved my life; I can’t be too selfish in all of this”, Alistair proclaimed.
Evidently a football enthusiast since a young age, Alistair has supported Liverpool from the days when the likes of John Barnes, Ian Rush and Jan Molby were present at Anfield. Alistair described these three fan-favourites as ‘legends’. He said that when he came to England at four years of age, from his birth-place of Belgium, his childminder’s kids supported Liverpool and he started to support The Reds from there.
Many elite athletes have their superstitions and Alistair was no different, until recently. “I used to be really bad with magpies, constantly saluting for luck. But not anymore. Now I live by the code of making my own luck. However, I won’t break mirrors and due to my mum’s Caribbean influence, I won’t give or accept certain gifts.”
On Wednesday 5th September during the Paralympics in London, I went to watch the 7-a-side Paralympic Football in London. I watched two matches: Ukraine vs Brazil, who both went on to qualify, and Great Britain vs. USA. Paralympic GB beat USA 4-0. Man of the match, for me, was undoubtedly Alistair. Not only because he showed vast amounts of technical quality but he light-heartedly danced in front of the crowd whenever GB scored a goal. I asked Alistair if he was much of a dancer, “No funnily enough I don’t dance when I go out, some may say I’m boring but I think I know how I should handle myself. When I was younger I would throw shapes but now I tend to be more sophisticated.”
The 7-a-side Paralympic GB football team finished in 7th place out of the eight teams overall. Alistair gave me his opinion on the overall performance of the side: “Our team’s performance to me was outside of how I feel it could have been. We prepared extensively and had very successful training camps prior to London. It was always going to be very hard for us as the top 4 nations are all full-time in the sport. But deep down I think results should have been better and a 5th place finish would have been more appropriate.”
Focusing away from his team’s performance perhaps being slightly under-par at the Paralympic Games, Alistair reflected on an immensely successful London 2012 Games. “London 2012 has left me in awe of how sport can bring people, cultures and nations together. Both the Olympics and Paralympics were outstanding and I will forever remember and cherish my contributions to the tournament.”
The Paralympic Games provided a shop window for less-known sports to be broadcast across the country and raised awareness of the provision for Paralympic sports in the UK. Alistair vouches for this in his own sport, “Since London, the nation has become much more aware of it and I always do my best to promote the sport in any way I can. The English FA have been fantastic in funding us to achieve what we have so far.”
It’s fair to say that the London 2012 Games have changed Alistair’s life and career path outside of football. Prior to London he had owned Totally Dynamic Milton Keynes, a vehicle wrapping franchise. Since the Games he has been working as an inspirational speaker and athlete mentor. “I’m currently working with the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and Sporting Champion, inspiring young people through sport. I’m also working with the PFA and putting together a workshop for young Premier League scholars”, he explained.
“Now the Games have finished and I’m a newlywed I get to spend more evenings with my wife.” And how he deserves to spend evenings with his beloved, after such an extraordinary recovery from a serious injury to representing Great Britain on the world stage in London.
For my final inquiry into Alistair’s life, I queried if Alistair has or had any nicknames in football or elsewhere, “Amongst teammates I’ve always been known as ‘Ali’ or even ‘Ali-G’, however more recently ‘APH’ is sticking.”
Well APH, I salute you. As do many others. But make sure you don’t start saluting magpies again, as you’ve got enough things going for you currently – all of which seem deserved for your courageous fight-back.
You can follow Alistair on Twitter: @APH_Inspired
My tweets on the fourth test between India and England
Day 1
“Day 1: England slug it out on a hard pitch to play on but give away a few soft wickets. England 199/5 at Stumps. Prior 34* Root 31* #indveng”
“England opted to give Joe Root his debut at no.6 over Samit Patel – Good decision IMO.”
“KP (73) caught cheaply at mid-wicket to give Jadeja his second. But Pietersen had played well both patiently & powerfully (when necessary).”
Day 2
“Day 2: England battle to a good score of 330 and then bowl well to reduce India to 87/4 by Stumps. Kohli 11* Dhoni 8* #indveng”
“Root (73) & Prior (57) batted very well and earned themselves a 100+ partnership. Root obtained his first test fifty, on debut. #indveng”
“Really impressed with Joe Root. Unflustered, simple, methodical. E.g. When came out at start of day, Prior practising shots, Root casual walk”
“Root: solid & consistent forward defensive shot, very calm-looking at the crease, efficient sweep shot, good at opening face to square-leg”
“Jimmy Anderson can easily be taken for granted. Will only realise importance when he is gone. World-class. And undoubtedly an England legend”
Day 3
“India fight back resiliently to put themselves in a decent position but a great last hour for England puts the game in the balance #indveng”
“India end on 297/8 Ashwin 7* Sharma 0* after a great 103 from Kohli and 99 from Dhoni (before run out going for single to get 100!) #indveng”
“Kohli and Dhoni batted all of the first two sessions and half the evening session, but then a flurry of wickets means game finely poised.”
“Kohli played brilliantly. Much deserved hundred. Finally, my #KohlivsBell watch gets underway. Admittedly in the last test, but hey”
Post-day 5
“By the way: GET INNNNNN!!!! England win a test match series in India for the first time in 28 years. Absolutely incredible; well deserved.”
“My #KohlivsBell watch was in danger of becoming a bigger flop than Stewart Downing, but in the final test they both got hundreds. #indveng”
You can follow me on Twitter: @Robboandsports
England draw in Nagpur to win first test series in India for 28 years
England draw with India in the fourth and final test in the Airtel series, in Nagpur.
An even first innings with both sides getting over 300 meant the game was heading towards a draw, and two very good hundreds from Jonathan Trott (143) and Ian Bell (116*) helped England confirm the draw by batting through a large part of the day, before debutant Joe Root saw the match through to Stumps with Bell. This draw resulted in England completing a historic test series win in India– 2-1– for the first time since 1985.
Alastair Cook defied physics as he miraculously won the toss for the first time in the series. Fourth time lucky. Cook unsurprisingly elected for England to bat. After the few opening overs it became apparent that the pitch was uneven and very slow. Ishant Sharma bowled a short one which Nick Compton tried to fend off with a straight bat. The result was Dhoni catching behind from an outside edge. Compton appeared inexperienced with the ball carrying through so slowly and low even when it pitched on a short length – this habit of attempting to sway or duck out the way of a short-pitched ball troubled Kevin Pietersen a couple of times later on in the innings, too. England eventually grew accustomed to the nature of the pitch and realised they had to stand and play the short-pitched balls. England fell to 16/2 after Cook was on the wrong end of a poor decision to give Sharma his second wicket of his opening spell, LBW. The ball made impact with Cook’s front pad outside off-stump and with Sharma’s angle from over the wicket, the ball was almost certainly angling further away from off-stump.
Trott and Pietersen put on a much-needed partnership of 86 to ensure England didn’t expose their potentially vulnerable middle-order too early, with the addition of Joe Root on debut in this test as a direct replacement for Samit Patel at number 6 in the batting order. India’s test debutant was in the action before England’s was though, as Ravindra Jadeja bowled his left-arm spin to Trott, who inexplicably left one that hit off-stump to remove him for 44. A gift though it was, Jadeja had his first test wicket. Soon after, Jadeja doubled his test wicket tally when he got Pietersen caught at mid-wicket for an impressive 73. This wicket came after Bell gave his wicket away to right-arm leg-spinner Piyush Chawla when the seemingly out of knick batsman hit one into the hands of Virat Kohli at cover. England found themselves on 139/5.
In came Joe Root, who dug in to play a slow yet solid 73 in which he demonstrated an efficient technique and a calm, unphased temperament. He and the ever-impressive Matt Prior put on a sixth wicket stand of 103. R.Ashwin bowled one from around the wicket to Prior and the England man played inside it, as the ball did not turn and went on with the arm to bowl him. Another wicket fell for the same run count as Tim Bresnan, replacing the injured Steven Finn, failed with the bat as he was adjudged LBW to Sharma. England were 242/7 and Graeme Swann strolled to the crease and played a fluent and attacking innings of 56 runs from 91 deliveries, his first since 2009. As Nasser Hussain rightly pointed out on Sky during the match, Swann will have to produce these innings more often if he wants his ‘Spin-twin’ Monty Panesar to play in tandem with him at the expense of a seamer with a better batting record (e.g. Stuart Broad and Bresnan). Root was next to fall via a leading edge back to Chawla trying to work the ball to the leg-side. Swann was given LBW after he failed an attempting reverse sweep and James Anderson was the last man to go, playing one in the air that Pujara caught reactively at short-leg off Chawla’s bowling. England were bowled out for 330.
India had to bat long and preferably at a quick rate to put themselves in a winning position to draw the series but Anderson got the hosts off to a poor start when he produced a ball that was fast and just held its line to bowl Virender Sehwag for a two-ball duck. Pujara was accumulating a decent score (26) before he was wrongly given out caught off Swann at short-leg when the ball hit his forearm rather than either glove or his bat. Nevertheless, it was a brilliant catch from Bell at short-leg who had replaced an inferior looking Joe Root in the position. The great Sachin Tendulkar was next to fall to put India three down on 64 runs. Tendulkar faced a straight ball that kept low after pitching which bowled him, an unfortunate dismissal but it gave Anderson his second wicket. It also gave Anderson the proud achievement of being the bowler that has dismissed Tendulkar more times than anyone else, with 9 wickets. Shortly after Tendulkar was back in the pavilion, Gambhir joined him. Anderson again the cause as Prior took a simple catch to end yet another innings where Gambhir made a start but didn’t go on to get a big score for his side.
MS Dhoni came to the crease at number 6, one before his usual position of number 7, who was to be occupied by Jadeja. And Jadeja was padded up as next man in for a long while as Dhoni batted on with Virat Kohli for a partnership of 198. Kohli played a fluent, impressive knock of 103 before falling LBW to Swann. Jadeja came to the crease for his first test innings, and he was dismissed for a measley 12 when Anderson trapped him plumb LBW. India were 288/6 as a result of this latest wicket, but England took two more wickets in this vital last hour of play on day 3 to drag India back to 297/8 at Stumps. The golden wicket of Dhoni was taken in extraordinary circumstances. Dhoni got run out one short of his hundred on 99 by “Captain Cook” at mid-off, much to the disappointment of the home crowd. Swann got his third wicket of the innings and his 20th wicket of the series when he bowled Chawla. Prior to Lunch on day 4, Ashwin got a useful 29 to take India within 4 runs of England’s first innings of 330. Pragyan Ojha helped one on to his stumps off Monty Panesar’s bowling to give ‘Spin-twin’ 2, his 17th wicket in the series – a mightily frututious return when you consider that Broad was selected ahead of him in the first test. Dhoni and India then opted to declare on 326/9 in order for the game to progress into a situation where there could be a result rather than a seemingly inevitable draw.
England knew they had to bat for the rest of day 4 and around half of day 5 to make it virtually impossible for India to win the test match and thus draw the series, meaning they would claim the series 2-1. As it happened, England batted for longer than that. England put on a nerve-calming opening partnership of 48 but Cook (13) received another unlucky decision when he was adjudged to have edged behind, but replays illustrated that he did not. Compton was given out LBW to Ojha– my India’s Man of the Series– but again replays signified that the wrong decision had been made. Compton had got a thin edge before the ball thudded against the pad. If only we had some sort of decision review system that would eradicate umpire errors such as this… England were now on 81/2 and that soon changed to 94/3 when Pietersen gave a near identical replay of Trott’s dismissal in the first innings when he foolishly left one, again off Jadeja, that continued to slide in to the stumps rather than turn. The pitch had gotten easier to play on as batsmen over the course of the test, which Trott and Bell then demonstrated over the next few sessions.
England ended day 4 on 161/3 with the game hard to lose from this situation but Trott and Bell continued to bat through a large part of day 5 to confirm the inevitable. This pair had put on a partnership of 208 before Trott was caught at leg-slip off Ashwin for a calm, metronomic 143. In came Root who saw the test through to Stumps with a few impressive attacking shots that included a six on the leg-side and a reverse sweep for four to show a different side to his game than the defensive resilience he showed in his first innings. Bell saw the test through next to Root with an unbeaten 116, a much-needed knock. Bell seemed back to his confident, aesthetically pleasing batting with some fine shots which included a couple of successful lofted shots straight down the ground – this was a shot he executed poorly to get himself out for a Golden Duck in the first innings.
England had completed their first test series win in India for 28 years, a monumental achievement. Alastair Cook placed the achievement on a part to retaining the Ashes in Australia in 2010/11. Cook was deservedly named Man of the Series for his 562 runs and his dignified leading of the side throughout the series, which had gotten off to a dreadful start when England were thrashed by nine wickets in Ahmedabad in the first test. This was a magnificent achievement for all those involved with the England team, and one the side will look to build on for years to come under the new test captaincy of Cook.
England win in Calcutta to complete back-to-back victories against India
England beat India by 7 wickets on Day 5 of the third test in the Airtel series, in Calcutta.
Yet another hundred from Alastair Cook put England on top after England bowled out India for a relatively low first innings score. England then bowled out India for 247 to leave them with a miniscule target to chase to win back-to-back tests, which they did besides the loss of three early wickets.
MS Dhoni came out on top in the toss once more and unsurprisingly elected to bat. The pitch looked to be quite flat and there didn’t seem to be much in it for any type of bowler early on, but India gifted England their first wicket to set them off and running. A nice shot to the leg-side from Sehwag was prevented from hitting the boundary rope by Samit Patel and Steven Finn threw the ball accurately back to Matt Prior, who took off the stumps to send a stranded Sehwag back to the pavilion. It seemed an easy three runs but Gambhir seemed to settle on two, whereas Sehwag was half-way threw his third run until he realised Gambhir was static at the non-striker’s end with Finn’s throw hurling towards the gloves of Prior. It was cricket suicide from India, who found themselves on 47/1 because of it. Panesar bowled the in-form Pujara, before dismissing Gambhir for a steady 60 after the opener outside-edged it to Trott at first slip with a failed cut-shot. Anderson got Virat Kohli caught at second slip by Graeme Swann but initially couldn’t manage to dislodge Tendulkar, who he eventually got caught behind for a decent 76 from “the little master”.
Elsewhere, Yuvraj Singh was caught by Cook, off Swann for 32 after a loose shot; Anderson bowled Ashwin for a slightly resilient 21; Panesar trapped Zaheer Khan LBW and then bowled Ishant Sharma with a full delivery; and Dhoni was the last to go when Steven Finn got the Indian skipper caught at second slip by Swann – a deserved wicket for Finn, who had a couple of threatening spells. India were bowled out for 316.
Cook and Nick Compton came out to bat early on Day 2 in reply to India. Cook and Compton made it look as easy as Gambhir and Sehwag did early on in India’s innings, but the difference being that neither were ludicrously run out after a solid start. Instead, they just kept on batting. Compton reached his first test fifty before succumbing LBW to the ever-impressive Pragyan Ojha. England were 165/1. Jonathan Trott came in to bat needing a good knock to exit his recent slump with the bat. Trott and Cook had accumulated a partnership of over double the runs that Cook and Compton had piled on when Trott was denied a lusted century via the left-arm of Ojha and the gloves of Dhoni after he nicked one behind on 87.
Cook was closing in on a double-hundred before he got run out in the most bizarre of circumstances. A turned-down single meant Cook was reaching back in to his crease at the non-striker’s end when Kohli threw the ball towards the stumps. Cook dodged the ball for protection by lifting his bat, but he didn’t touch his bat in. The ball hit the stumps and Cook was out. England could forgive Cook of this “mental aberration” as the Sky commentators described it because, after all, this innings was still his 23rd test hundred – the most of any England player in history. Pietersen played fluently to move on to a fifty that suggested that he was feeling comfortable and confident about his game. Ashwin trapped him LBW shortly after he reached his fifty, though. Sharma produced an outside edge from Ian Bell that Dhoni grasped to dismiss the out of knick Bell for just 5. Patel (33), Prior (41) and Swann (21) all got starts but couldn’t convert them into anything too significant but the damage was already done as England marched on to 523 all out, a lead of 207.
It was less than mid-way through the morning session on Day 4 when England’s final wicket was taken. Gambhir and Sehwag came out to bat and batted without many threats until Lunch to end a poor session for England, as England were looking to bat for longer than they did on Day 4. England came out firing in the afternoon session, though. Graeme Swann produced a beauty to bowl out Sehwag one short of a half-century with the very first ball Post-Lunch. This kick-started England’s fight for the win as Cook and his men used this first wicket as a springboard for better things in this afternoon session. Bell produced a run out to end Pujara’s contribution to the test with the bat, Gambhir the guilty party in a run out for the second innings in a row. Gambhir was caught behind off Finn for 40. Tendulkar edged a Swann delivery straight to Jonathan Trott, who did his now-trademark run around with an intensive use of the arms following a catch. Yuvraj Singh was the victim of some uneven bounce that meant a straight delivery from Anderson went under his bat and bowled him. Anderson also found Dhoni’s outside edge that then found Cook’s hands at first slip. These six were all the wickets in the afternoon session as The Barmy Army burst in to song in support of the England men.
England came out in the evening session of Day 4 looking to take another wicket to get amongst the Indian tail. Finn enticed an edge from Kohli and Prior took the catch to put India on 155/7. Shortly after, Zaheer Khan was given out LBW again off Finn’s bowling. Then came some resistance from Ashwin and Sharma as India moved on to 197/8. But Sharma was bowled by Panesar for the second innings running, India still trailing by 10 runs at this point. This appeared to be a matter of when rather than if England would win on Day 4. Ashwin had other ideas. He played some great shots that took India to a small lead and farmed the strike to frustrate England until Stumps. This resulted in the game going in to Day 5 with Ashwin looking to frustrate England some more and obtain his second test hundred along the way. Ashwin was left stranded on 91 not out though as Anderson managed to narrowly clip the top of Ojha’s off-stump to end India’s second innings. Ashwin deserves a lot of praise for the resilience, character, and ability he showed in this innings.
England required 41 runs to put themselves 2-1 up with one test remaining in the series. England lost three early wickets to fall to a slightly worrying 8/3 when Cook was stumped attempting to play the big shot, Ojha trapped Trott LBW and Pietersen feathered one behind to Dhoni. However, Compton (9*) remained solid and Bell (28*) played positively to complete England’s victory by seven wickets.
This was a fantastic achievement from England that is at least equal to their triumph in Mumbai in my opinion, due to the fact in this test the whole of the England team contributed one way or another.
England will be looking to complete a series victory by either drawing or winning the fourth and final test in Nagpur, which gets underway on Thursday 13th December.
My tweets on the second test between India and England
“Cook & Compton both came out positively with the right attacking intent to pick off the runs required today (Compton especially) #IndvEng”
“Cook marched on to his 22nd test match hundred, and so did Pietersen. Both brilliant innings, but KP’s was extraordinary at times. #IndvEng”
You can follow my tweets by following me on Twitter: @Robboandsports.
Alastair Cook: A born captain or merely an outstanding batsman?
On 29 August 2012, then-England-test-captain Andrew Strauss announced that he was retiring from professional cricket with immediate effect and that, as expected, Alastair Cook would become England’s new test match captain. When this announcement was made, it was first viewed with deep sadness from many about the fact that English cricket was losing a great captain, a great batsman and a great professional in Andrew Strauss.But after some deserved and justified testimonials to Andrew Strauss on his majorly successful cricket career, attention then turned to the new captain Alastair Cook and how he would fare at the helm of the England test match side.
On 5 May 2011, Cook was named One-Day International captain; therefore he has been the ODI captain for the past eighteen months now. At the start of this reign many questioned his place in the ODI team altogether. Cook never cemented his place in England’s ODI set-up and so his appointment as captain in this form of the game was quite surprising.
Fast-forward eighteen months and he is now one of the key players in the England ODI team even if you exclude the captaincy – he has scored the most ODI runs in the England team in his period as captain with 882. He led England to top of the ICC ODI world rankings by 8 August 2012 after 10 successive wins in 2012. He was also named in the ICC One-Day International team of the year. Cook’s success with the bat in ODI cricket as captain could highlight that he has the same ability that Andrew Strauss claimed he had himself in his interview with Nasser Hussain for Sky Sports prior to what has now turned out to be his last test match for England – the ability to “compartmentalise” his batting from the captaincy.
But of course, captaining England in test matches requires much more thought tactically and involves higher quantities of pressure than captaining England in the ODI format – due to test matches’ being played over the course of five days in comparison to One-Day Internationals being played over, well, one day. Cook captained England for their test match series in Bangladesh back in March 2011 when Strauss was controversially rested, and this experience may have stood him in good stead as it meant he had already completed the potentially daunting prospect of captaining his first few test matches.
The first big decision for Cook as captain, Kevin Pietersen’s “reintegration” aside, was ahead of the first test match of the current four-match test series in and against India. It was in terms of team selection, and the decision would be an intriguing one – who would Cook, along with Flower, select to open the batting as Strauss’s replacement at the top of the order?
Would Ian Bell be promoted up to the top of the order? He faces the second new ball regularly in test matches due to batting at numbers five or six in recent years and has been very successful in doing so; not to mention the fact that he is the opening partner to Cook in ODIs currently. Or would Cook and England decide to go with Yorkshire’s Joe Root – giving an opening batsman their test debut at 21 years old has worked well for England in the past, after all. Or would they opt for Somerset’s Nick Compton – a more experienced head that may handle the magnitude of the series better than that of Root for example, as a result of his experience. Or maybe they would go for a shock move and promote Jonathan Trott from number three to opener – this promotion of a batsman is common place in cricket but not so when you have as an inexperienced middle-order as England currently have.
I personally would have preferred to see Ian Bell strolling out to bat with Alastair Cook in the first test match against India in Ahmedabad – I think it would have been logical due to Bell being the opening partner of Cook in ODIs plus the fact I think he’s ready both technically and psychologically to score runs as an opener.
However, Nick Compton was picked as opener in the first test with England looking to get off to a successful start in the Airtel series. Successful it was not, as India dominated all but a day. Although England’s performance was generally lacklustre, Cook was the silver lining. Cook was England’s highest run-scorer in the test with 217 overall. Runs aside, Cook still led his side in the field reasonably well by rotating his bowlers at regular intervals; a vital aspect of captaining a test in the sub-continent with humid conditions. As far as captaincy in first tests as full-time skipper goes, Cook couldn’t have done much more. The key for Cook now is to build on this first test and learn from his errors to evolve into a top quality captain of the long-term.
But will Cook handle the pressures of being full-time test match skipper? In theory there should be no problems with him going from vice-captain to captain and from being just ODI captain to both ODI and test captain, but these theoretical assumptions may not match the realities of what happens in his reign. His time as test captain got underway on losing terms when he captained England in the first test of four against India, which started on 15 November.
The following is Alastair Cook’s Test record to date: 84 matches; 21 hundreds & 29 fifties; batting average of 48.71; highest score of 294; total of 6772 runs; England’s 13th all-time test run-scorer – Graham Gooch is 1st with 8900 test runs. At the age of just 21 he made his test debut on 1st March 2006 vs. India (in which he scored a debut fifty in the first innings and a debut hundred in the second innings).
Cook is of course still in the England test team and so has been playing for England’s test side for the past six and a half years – he is still only 27 years of age. A usual high-standard test batsman can contribute vitally to their country until the age of at least 33 years of age – many such as Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid have even continued to be vital run-scorers for their respective countries until their late thirties. This means that Alastair Cook will, if he maintains his form and quality for England in the long-term when he’s deep into his thirties, play in another 100 test matches or so; maybe more.
Alastair Cook is on course to become one of, if not the, highest scoring England test batsman in history – but will he be as successful as a captain as he has been and inevitably will continue to be with the bat? I think he’ll settle into the role comfortably but feel as though it may take a year or two for him to really become as shrewd as is necessary to compete with the likes of MS Dhoni and Graeme Smith at the elite of captaincy.
My tweets on the first test between India and England
“Compton’s lack of foot movement will be a problem in the sub-continent. Adapt style for now or fail are the two options in my eyes”
“Anderson sent in as night watchman and got out shortly after. Bob Willis slated decision to send out Night-watchman in India; hard to disagree”
“Virat Kohli vs Ian Bell is the individual competition I’m focusing on & looking forward to. Both classy players & recently successful”
“Kohli got bowled by Swann (great ball) for 19 in first innings… Bell got a Golden Duck (a poorly executed attacking shot which shouldn’t have played)… But Bell managed to get a start in the second innings with 22 runs before falling LBW to Yadav #KohlivsBell”
You can follow my tweets by following me on Twitter: @Robboandsports. Keep up with my #KohlivsBell watch by clicking on or searching that hashtag on twitter – who do you think will have the better series? Virat Kohli or Ian Bell? Feel free to give me your thoughts on #KohlivsBell or anything else by commenting on this or dropping me a tweet on Twitter.
India defeat England in first test of four
India eventually defeated England by nine wickets on Day 5 of the first test in the Airtel series, in Ahmedabad.
England’s fight-back in the evening session on Day 3 and the entirety of Day 4 took the test into the fifth and final day, but India took the five wickets they required to set themselves the simple task of scoring 77 runs to win the match, which they completed for the loss of just one wicket.
MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first on a typically flat-looking wicket prior to the first day’s play. This seemed a good toss to win and so it proved as India made the most of a flat wicket by posting a big first innings score of 521 before declaring eight wickets down. Cheteshwar Pujara top scored for India with an unbeaten double-hundred (206*) which showed fluidity and flair. Pujara made England pay for not taking an early chance that could have spelt the end of him; James Anderson misjudged the catch which resulted in the ball sailing over his head. Virender Sehwag managed to score a free-scoring hundred (117) of typical Sehwag-style at a strike rate of 100.00.
The only noticeable positive from an England perspective was Graeme Swann taking five wickets, his 14th five-wicket haul in tests. Kevin Pietersen also took one wicket, which suggested that this pitch was a dream for spin-bowlers. The spin bowlers’ fruition begged the question of why Monty Panesar was not selected rather than Tim Bresnan, or even Samit Patel. England’s fielding was below their expected levels of recent years with dropped catches from Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior and Alastair Cook along with mediocre ground fielding.
A spin-bowlers dream the pitch indeed turned out to be, as India blew away England’s batsmen in the Poms’ first innings for a measly 191. Only captain Alastair Cook, 41, and Matt Prior, 48, offered significant resistance in the England batting order. India’s left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took his own five-wicket haul to prove that anything Swann can do, he can do just as well left-handed. A four-ball duck for Jonathan Trott was a negative for England that was essentially overshadowed by Ian Bell’s poorly executed attacking shot which cost him his wicket – a Golden Duck went next to his name.
England falling comfortably short of 200 runs behind India’s total meant India could enforce the follow-on and they did so. India were dominant up to this point but England, on the last session on Day 3, started what turned out to be a frustrating fight-back for India. Cook and Nick Compton strolled to the crease with little but pride to play for and they made their first hundred partnership, before Compton fell lbw to Zaheer Khan for 37 to make it 123/1. Cook marched on to a great 176 despite Compton’s absence, a score on which he departed to end hopes of a double-hundred and England’s realistic hopes of a draw.
Between Compton and Cook’s dismissals there were the early departures of Trott and Bell for higher scores of 17 and 22 respectively. Samit Patel got his second unlucky dismissal of the test when he was given out lbw even though in hindsight the ball looked to be missing the leg-stump. But most noticeably there was Matt Prior’s 91 which contained more patience than what we have come to expect from the England wicket-keeper. Ojha continued from his brilliant bowling spells in the first innings as he added another four wickets to his collection which included the golden wickets of Cook and Prior. England were eventually bowled out for 406 from a sizeable 154.3 overs.
This situation left India with just 77 runs required to obtain in their second innings to go 1-0 up in the series, a target which was completed in quick time of 15.3 overs. India deservedly won the test to take an early 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
The Airtel Man of the Match was awarded to Cheteshwar Pujara for his unbeaten double-hundred in the first innings, as well as his unbeaten 41 in the second innings. England didn’t get Pujara out in either innings so that will be something that Cook, Flower and co look at. They’ll want to make sure they send the 24-year-old back to the pavilion at least once in the second test, which gets underway this Friday (23 November), in Mumbai.
Gary Cahill- Just like J.T
Gary Cahill was Chelsea’s hypothetically perfect signing. Juan Mata was also a hypothetically perfect signing for the Blues. What I mean by this is that the signing makes sense on basically every possible level.
On the 16 January 2012, Gary Cahill finally completed his move to Chelsea Football Club. To most, including myself, he seemed like the perfect signing for Chelsea. A few problems in defence for the Blues and so in came Cahill.
Right, let’s go through the reasons why Cahill was the hypothetically perfect signing for Chelsea.
1) Only £7 million. Gary Cahill was linked with every top club in the Premier League in the Summer Transfer Window but due to unsatisfactory bids from the interested clubs, he couldn’t complete his move away from Bolton. With Cahill on the last year of his contract, Bolton knew that unless he changed his mind, Gary Cahill was leaving in January – and for a pretty low transfer fee. In January, the most Bolton could acquire for this Sheffield-born centre-back was in the region of £5-£8 million. Chelsea came knocking, Cahill got talking, the transfer deal started moving.
2) England International. Gary Cahill had made 7 International appearances for England prior to his move to West London. In three of those appearances he had a starting place alongside Chelsea defender, and then captain of England, John Terry. These two looked impressive next to each other. Gary Cahill’s game looked quite similar to that of John Terry’s as he showed his dominance in the air, comfort with the ball at his feet and commanding nature with his communication. Promising partnership for England, future partnership for Chelsea. In my opinion, ‘G.C’ is a pretty good nickname abbreviation for Gary Cahill – just like J.T.
3) Technical ability. As I mentioned in the above paragraph, Cahill is comfortable with the ball at his feet. In Villas-Boas’ system, centre-backs require good technical ability in order to play out from the back. Although AVB has now been sacked, Cahill’s technical ability will still be a significant advantage in the years to come for Chelsea.
4) 26 years old. Peaking age with the best years ahead of him. John Terry is almost exactly five years older than Cahill, at 31. This age-gap is near perfect because it gives Cahill the chance to settle in at Chelsea, learn things from Terry and eventually take over the responsibility in the heart of the defence; Terry is not going to play at the elite level in his mid-30s due to his regular injury occurrences.
5) Communication. Cahill has only been at Chelsea a short period of time, yet his comments in the media and his body language and vocalised manner on the pitch, shows that he is a winner and will give his best to the cause (his angry reaction to Man United’s equaliser at Stamford Bridge speaks a thousand words). Cahill does a lot of proactive finger-pointing – just like J.T. You see several footballers these days finger-pointing to prepare an excuse, not Gary Cahill. I have a feeling Chelsea fans will hear a lot more of Cahill’s upbeat, honest talk in the media in Chelsea blue, as well as his rather unique running style.
Cahill’s personality and footballing ability is generally extremely positive. Chelsea will be very happy with this acquisition and will hope Cahill continues to improve and help the club achieve vast quantities of success over the coming years.
The Premier League is blessed with talented young managers
If you look around the Premier League this season you will see many managers who are quite young. The rise of these young managers is regenerating and revolutionising the game. Look back a few years ago and most managers were 50+ but now there are many young managers- most of them are at the less-big Premier League clubs. Not only are they young and determined for success, they are promoting good, fluid football.
Brendan Rodgers, who is doing a great job at Swansea, is letting the players express themselves and play good football. Previous manager of Swansea Roberto Martinez, now at Wigan, also tries to implement a pass and move philosophy to all of his teams.
Paul Lambert has done a sensational job at Norwich achieving back-to-back promotions with Norwich by playing good, hard-working, and pleasant-on-the-eye football.
Villas-Boas has took the difficult job of Chelsea and is trying to transform and rejuvenate the club by making youth a focal point to sustain the club’s quality, and is trying to get Chelsea playing the beautiful game in a beautiful way.
Mark Hughes left Fulham in unusual circumstances and may have been the frame to take over Chelsea pre-AVB, but that opportunity didn’t arise and months on he is at QPR after Warnock’s departure. Mark Hughes gets his teams playing in a pretty good way too- not as much as the others I have mentioned but he certainly gets his players playing to a high standard.
Alan Pardew is younger than some of the older managers in the Premier League and is trying to create a good and sustainable club at Newcastle and has developed a good relationship with the Newcastle fans.
Owen Coyle is another very good young manager who encourages good football and has been successful with it so far. He managed Burnley to a promotion to the Premier League and left half way through their debut season in the Premier League to become manager of Bolton.
It is great to see so many young managers in the Premier League, and English football in general nowadays. This has to be credit to some of the football bodies and schemes to encourage and promote the path of football coaching from grassroots level upwards. Not only are these managers achieving certain degrees of success, they are also achieving those varied quantities of success by playing attractive football and that is brilliant to see.
The success of some of these young, hungry managers must surely put them in the frame to take over a big, top-five club sooner rather than later. Obviously Villas-Boas is managing one of the biggest teams in Europe but the others like Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert should have a good chance of following in AVB’s progressed footsteps. After Ferguson, Wenger and Dalglish retire or depart in the coming years, you have got to think some of these young managers at the smaller Premier League clubs could take over the reigns.
Robboandsports- Josh Robinson's Blog 