Tourists set the tone in Cardiff

The faces of the England players in the field told the tale. Gone was the fresh-faced exuberance of Wednesday morning. Gone was the intensity. Gone was the hope.

In its place was a collective expression of bewilderment and fear. If you listened hard, you could almost hear Andrew Strauss and his men questioning their credentials.

Even the barmy army were quiet. There was nothing to cheer, nobody to champion and little to suggest the day would justify the expense and the heady anticipation. Only sing-alongs to the Home and Away and Neighbours theme songs got them going - and we all know the origins of those ditties.

In the space of two days, Australia's batsmen have brutally deflated this England team and set an ominous tone for the series.

It's been the type of demonstrative start Ricky Ponting has been dreaming of for four long years, and one that could well see his team take a 1-0 lead to Lord's - a ground that historically has not been kind to England fortunes.

Coming out on a damp and overcast Saturday morning in Cardiff, England's bowlers looked tired, lacked pace and were worryingly short on ideas. Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Stuart Broad might be world-class seamers, but they were made to look like gentle trundlers by Marcus North and Brad Haddin - Australia's number six and seven batsmen respectively.

It was 41 overs before Haddin finally holed out in the deep and Ponting declared to end England's suffering - in the field anyway.

Ten minutes later, England's openers were out in middle and suddenly Cardiff's benign track looked a very different proposition altogether. Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus attacked with real verve, got the ball swinging and within five overs England were two down and reeling.

Admittedly Ravi Bopara was unlucky to be triggered by a rising delivery destined to sail over the stumps, but momentum was on their side - and momentum can be a powerful thing in the mind of an umpire.

Fortunately for England, rain intervened. But it will take a lot more of it, or a perfomance of real character to save Strauss and his men from suffering a crushing one-innings defeat.

For England to earn a draw, they need at least two of their number to make a big score (four Australians made centuries for the first time in an Ashes Test). With Bopara and Alastair Cook gone, that responsibility falls primarily to Kevin Pietersen and Strauss.

Both are eminantly capable, but their decision-making and composure will be severely tested by the buoyant Australians when play resumes. There will be no hiding place if either concede their wicket cheaply - as Pietersen did in the first innings.

If England do fall tomorrow, confidence will be shattered and the Australians will smell blood. And Strauss's men will have less than a week to assess the wreckage and prepare for the second Test at Lord's.

If they lose again there, the series could be as good as over two matches in.

Thank the wife

Marriage seems to be working out exceptionally well for England's Paul Casey, who continued his hot streak with an assured victory at the BMW PGA Championship.

Having not won in two years, Casey has bagged three titles in five months after marrying his long-term girlfriend Jocelyn and earned enough prize money to keep her in just about anything she likes for the foreseeable future.

It all started at Tiger's Chevron World Challenge, just a week after the couple married, where Casey banked a cool $200,000 after coming home 11th.

Just three weeks later the 31-year-old ended a two-year Tour draught with victory at the Abu Dhabi Championship in the United Arab Emirates, the scene of his most recent triumph in 2007.

Top-10s at the Dubai Desert Classic and Johnnie Walker Classic followed, before Casey skipped across the pond to finish runner-up to Geoff Ogilvy at the WGC Match Play.

After a respectable 20th finish at the Masters he then won his maiden US Tour title at the Houston Open, walking away with over $1 million for one week's work.

Then came top-15 finishes at the Verizon Heritage and The Players, followed with a rather lucrative victory last week at Wentworth, which netted Mr and Mrs Casey a respectable 750,000 euros.

"She can pick out a new car," he said afterwards.

Overall, by my calculations, Casey has banked over £2.5m since he and Jocelyn walked up the aisle. He has also climbed to number three in the world rankings.

But perhaps most importantly, Casey has demonstrated a coolness in pressure situations that can only bode well for his chances of lifting a major before the year is out.

Sure, he wobbled slightly at the Abu Dhabi Championship, but it didn't cost him and therefore it doesn't matter.

At the Houston Open he beat JB Holmes in a sudden-death play-off and on Sunday he got up and down from a bunker to make a birdie at the 72nd hole and win by a shot from Ross Fisher.

As Tiger will testify, clutch victories breed a winning mentality, one that is sadly lacking in many of the European hopefuls regularly tipped as major contenders.

Right now, Casey is looking like Europe's best bet to win in New York at the US Open, especially when you consider the time he spends stateside on the US Tour.

If he does bring it home, it would complete a quite sublime six months of wedded bliss for the Englishman and you can be pretty sure Jocelyn will get more than a new car for her contribution.

The good, the bad and the ugly

As rugby weekends go, it will take some beating. Only two matches were played, but the intensity, excitement and sheer blood-and-guts offered up in first Dublin, and then Cardiff, was enough to leave even the most hardened cynic gushing at the rugby alter.

At Croke Park we saw two Irish sides, Munster and Leinster, tear into each other with frightening ferocity in the first semi-final. Grand Slams, it appears, do not breed complacency in this part of the world, and the fire in the bellies of all those in red and blue was testament to a thirst for success that is a far from quenched.

Ultimately, Leinster won out. They did so in part through the brilliance of their runners in the backs, but it was the battering
they dealt the Munster pack that most commentators saw as the decisive factor in their victory.

On Sunday at the Millennium Stadium Leicester looked home and dry with a 26-12 lead and five minutes to play. The Tigers had survived a precarious final quarter that saw two of their number sent to the sin bin, and try as they might had failed to throw away their lead. But Cardiff, and in particular Jamie Roberts, found inspiration late on and we headed to extra time.

It was hardly surprising that neither side could muster a score during the 20 additional minutes. Such was the monumental exertion of all those involved that you wondered how any could still walk. But a rare place-kicking shoot-out ensued nonetheless.

How terribly cruel that Martyn Williams, Cardiff’s talisman and perennial inspiration, missed to hand Leicester victory, but on
reflection this was a lottery that handed its winning ticket to the deserving party. Blues' dream of becoming the first Welsh champions of Europe was over, but Leicester just, and I mean JUST, edged it.

Here are my winners and losers from British and Irish Lions on show:

Winners

Brian O’Driscoll, Leinster: He might have missed out on the Lions captaincy, but O’Driscoll is surely nailed on for the number 13 shirt after a man-of-the-match performance on the biggest stage in club rugby. His distribution was at times inspired, and it was fitting he should run the length of the field for the score that sealed victory.

Jamie Roberts, Cardiff Blues: There is plenty of competition for the number 12 shirt, but Welshman Roberts produced two moments of brilliance in the closing stages against Leicester that will have done his Test chances no harm at all. The centre was combative as ever and crunched in the tackle.

Martyn Williams, Cardiff Blues: He might have missed the deciding place kick, but only a fool would let that detract from a typically swashbuckling performance from the back row. Williams made several stunning breaks and showed a willingness to improvise all over the field.

Losers:

Alan Quinlan, Munster: The flanker was part of a Munster pack who came unstuck against Leinster. To make matters worse he could well be cited for allegedly gauging Munster lock Leo Cullen - a charge that, if proved, could see him removed from the Lions party altogether.

Ronan O’Gara, Munster: While his international team-mate O’Driscoll flourished in the Croke Park glare, O’Gara appeared to wilt. Granted, he slotted a couple of decent kicks, but he failed to stamp his authority and was responsible for a wild looping pass that O’Driscoll intercepted to run in for a try. His big-match credentials are in
question.

Leigh Halfpenny, Cardiff Blues: The 20-year-old Welshman provided more than enough glimpses of his scintillating running to justify his selection, but his nervous handling errors early might leave Ian McGeechan wondering if he’s ready for the intensity of a Test start against South Africa.

The rise and fall of English cricket

Cast your mind back to September 2005, the heady month that saw England win possibly the greatest Ashes series in history and put cricket on the front and back pages of every newspaper in the country.

To celebrate, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff embarked on a bender almost as epic as the series itself, but how they deserved it. After all, this was not the time for talk of sportsmen as role models.

This was the riotous celebration of beating Australia, the best team in the world, for the first time in 18 years, and getting our hands on a replica of the smallest trophy in world sport - or at the very least a decent replica.

But it wasn't just England's first Ashes win since 1987 that had cricket fans excited. With Pietersen and Flintoff at the axis of a team that boasted the talents of Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Marcus Trescothick and more besides, England looked like a team destined for an extended stay at cricket's top table.

Three-and-a-half years on England fans are asking 'where did it all go wrong?' England have slipped from second to sixth in the ICC Test world rankings and have won just four of 13 Test series since Pietersen and Co cracked open the champagne at The Oval in 2005.

Here are England's Test series results since the 2005 Ashes:

v Pakistan (A) LOST 2-0
v India (A) DRAWN 1-1
v Sri Lanka (H) DRAWN 1-1
v Pakistan (H) WON 3-0
v Australia (A) LOST 5-0
v West Indies (H) WON 3-0
v India (H) LOST 1-0
v Sri Lanka (A) LOST 1-0
v New Zealand (A) WON 2-1
v New Zealand (H) WON 2-0
v South Africa (H) LOST 2-1
v India (A) LOST 1-0
v West Indies (A) LOST 1-0

OVERALL: Played 13, Won 4, Drawn 2, Lost 7

It's worth considering that when England beat West Indies, in May 2007, their opponents were ranked eighth in the world. When they beat New Zealand home and away in 2008, the Black Caps were ranked seventh. Therefore, the 3-0 home defeat of Pakistan represents England's only series victory against a top-five team since the 2005 Ashes.

So what on earth has happened to the team who put Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Co to the sword that glorious summer three years ago?

When you examine the ICC player rankings it's hard to see a dip in individual performance between then and now. In September 2005 England had four batsmen in the world's top 25 (Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Flintoff and Pietersen) and four bowlers (Flintoff, Hoggard, Harmison and Ashley Giles).

In the current rankings, only Pietersen and Strauss remain from that batting foursome - but Paul Collingwood and Alastair Cook have both entered the top 25 to suggest England still have a good share of world-class batsmen.

In the bowling rankings, Flintoff is the sole survivor from 2005, but Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Monty Panesar have emerged as bowlers of genuine international class and filled the void admirably if you take ranking points as a viable barometer of performance.

Perhaps the problem goes beyond the quality of the players taking to the field? Kevin Pietersen's ill-conceived stint as England captain was over before it began, but it served to highlight a worrying disharmony inside the camp.

With IPL money pouring into the sport and the fortunate few growing in wealth and influence by the day, there was more than a suggestion that the collectiveness which marked England's Ashes win in 2005 has gone forever. In its place is a two-tiered dressing room, where the haves hold sway over the have-nots and money talks.

It might sound ridiculous, but England's Ashes win in 2005 might have been the worst possible thing for English cricket. It made millionaires of players and while the word complacency is over-used in elite sport, just how good might that team be now had they narrowly lost the fifth Test at The Oval?

Renaissance man

Forget the fallout from the Merseyside derby, forget Pele's multi-billion-pound comeback at Manchester City, forget Barack Obama's foreign policy, Monday is all about the footballing institution that is David Beckham.

Becks started yet again for Milan against Bologna, putting in a man-of-the-match performance and scoring a rollicking fourth goal in a thumping 4-1 win for Carlo Ancelotti's superstars XI - who had Dida, Ronaldinho, Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko forming four-fifths of possibly the best five-a-side team ever assembled on a substitutes' bench.

It was Beckham's fourth consecutive start in a Milan jersey and the Rossoneri have taken 10 points from 12 with the one-man global industry in their line-up. But what does it all mean? It means everything of course, and here's why.

I was among those who predicted a peripheral role at Milan for a player diluted by the gentle pace of life in the MLS. Beckham was clearly long past his whirling-dervish best and his fallibility would only be magnified in a midfield consisting of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldinho.

At first sight, the only reasonable explanation for Becks landing in Milan was a desire to prolong his stuttering England career into the business-end of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and maybe, just maybe, book himself a seat on the plane to South Africa. From a Milan perspective his arrival looked very much like a publicity exercise designed to detract from their Champions League sabbatical, up their TV rights money and sell millions of replica shirts.

But Planet Beckham has not remained at the centre of the footballing universe by harnessing his desire to be a fading star in the galaxy (he is of course the only star in the LA Galaxy). Becks clearly saw something countless bitter football hacks didn't when he signed for Milan - he saw the opportunity to reinvent himself for the umpteenth time, and this time without the pressure of expectancy.

Based on his early form Becks may well choose to stay at Milan and Milan would be happy to have him. If that happens most of is will be gushing like a crazed McFly fan at a meet-and-greet, because no matter how we try it's just impossible not to want good things for David Beckham.

And more good things are coming his way. With Joe Cole ruled out for the season and David Bentley struggling to set the Premier League alight for Tottenham, Beckham stands a very good chance of starting for England when their World Cup qualifying campaign resumes against Ukraine on April 1.

If he is given the jersey by Fabio Capello who would bet against Becks keeping it all the way to South Africa - especially if he is holding down a regular place in arguably the most talented midfield on the planet at Milan.

Whoever writes Beckham's scripts is clearly a genius. Just when you thought it was over, back he comes with another chapter. Beckham V: Reborn will be hitting your cinemas in the autumn of 2010.

- February 2, Eurosport-Yahoo!

From Russia with clubs

In the musty, men-only members’ bar of the oldest golf club in England, surrounded by plaques bearing the names of champions dating back to 1796, stood a 22-year-old woman in a figure-hugging dress who could represent the future of the sport. As juxtapositions go, it was spectacular.

But Maria Verchenova was in her element. As the sole Russian player on the Ladies European Tour (LET), and one of only three Russian women active in the professional ranks, she is no stranger to breaking down barriers. With a smile, the sceptical old guard at the Royal Blackheath Golf Club in London were won over and two centuries of convention forgotten.

Verchenova’s path into golf has been remarkable. Russia had three courses before 2006, with only one boasting 18 holes and all three the reserve of the affluent elite. For a sports-mad girl from Moscow, tennis was the natural choice, but a trip west changed everything.

“My dad took me to the Czech Republic when I was 12 and we went for a coffee at a golf club,” Verchenova said. “The next day we went back and I tried hitting a few balls with a local coach. He said I had a talent for the game and I should play. When I got back we went to Moscow City Golf Club and that’s how I started.

“I didn’t even know what golf was when I was young because my family was poor and everybody in Russia is focused on tennis. But thanks to my parents I was given a chance.”

Verchenova’s trajectory was steep. In 2004, aged 18, she won the Russian Amateur Championship and the next year secured victories at the Latvian and Slovenian Amateur Championships. By the time she won the Russian title again in 2006, Verchenova was ready for a second run at the LET Qualifying School, having fallen short in 2005.

“I remember telling my mum I had no idea what I would do with my life if I failed,” she said. “But somehow I made it through the first stage and when it came to the final I felt relaxed. Suddenly it was over and I had my card. I couldn’t believe it.”

Verchenova struggled in her first full year on the circuit, banking a mere €13,285 (now about £11,200) and achieving only one top-ten finish, at the Wales Championship. Homesick and feeling increasingly alone as the only Russian on tour, she was forced to return to the final stage of the school to retain her card.

It was an experience that may prove the making of her. This season a hardened Verchenova took on a new coach and began to realise the potential she showed a decade ago in the Czech Republic. A fifth-place finish at the Tenerife Open in June has propelled her to earnings of just under €34,000 and with one event to play, in Dubai next month, to her enormous relief, she looks certain to retain her card.

“At first it was hard being the only Russian,” she said. “Fifty per cent of the girls were really nice, but the other 50 per cent were weird. The nationalities tend to stick together and I was left on my own — that’s why I would take my mum with me to the events.

“But now it’s different. I have lots of friends and most of them are English. I really enjoyed this season and I think my performance in Tenerife took me to the next level. If I keep working on my short game and going to the gym, I can win a tournament. Hopefully I can show other Russian girls that it can be done and that will help develop golf in Russia.”

If Verchenova does taste victory, she will become the first Russian winner (male or female) on either the European or US tours. But she will probably not be the last. In Moscow plans are afoot to emulate Russia’s dominance of tennis on the golf course. Facilities are being built and funding put in place that could herald a new dawn in the professional game.

Konstantin Kozhevnikov, the president of the Russian Golf Association (RGA), is leading the revolution. “By 2015 the RGA is planning to have 500 places to play golf in Russia, including championship courses, academic courses, driving ranges, indoor golf facilities, pitch-and-putt courses and mini-golf courses,” he said. “We want to have Russian golfers winning European and world events and we hope that can happen in the next five years. It is quite possible that in ten years’ time a Russian professional will be in the European Ryder Cup team.”

The RGA has also launched a junior programme that offers clubs incentives to provide free golf to young players. A similar approach was responsible for Russia’s assault on world tennis and could usher in a generation of dominance for a nation with a population of more than 140 million and no shortage of land on which to build courses.

Verchenova is proud of her role in promoting golf in her homeland. She hopes to play in the United States and be the first Russian on the LPGA Tour, and dreams of representing Europe at the Solheim Cup. With her image rights in demand, it is no surprise that she names a Russian tennis player among her role models, but further comparison is not welcome.

“I don’t like it when people say I look like Maria Sharapova,” Verchenova said. “I look nothing like her — she’s blonde, for starters. I really like her, but I want to be myself.”

Revolution on the fairways

Golf in Russia began in 1987, when the first stone was laid at Moscow City Golf Club. Until then the world’s biggest country, more than six million square miles in size, had no registered courses.

Harsh winters were partly responsible for a reluctance to embrace golf, but there were also political factors. The former Soviet Union viewed golf as a symbol of an indulgent Western lifestyle. “If you asked 1,000 people if they knew who Arnold Palmer was, you would have got 1,000 negative responses,” Alexei Nikolov, the secretary general of the Russian Golf Federation (RGA), said.

But the RGA reports that there are “between eight and 12” courses in Russia — 50 others are under construction — including the Moscow Country Club, home since 1993 to the Russian Open, which was added to the European Tour in 2003.

In 2004 Ouliana Rotmistrova became the first Russian professional to qualify for the Ladies European Tour, at 20, followed by Maria Verchenova two years later. Maria Kostina and her sister Anastasia play on the Futures Tour in the United States. No Russian man has appeared on the European Tour.

- The Times, 27th November 2008

Vive le Gallas!

You have to love the French. Without them the Premier League would be a dull, cliché-laden insult to our intelligence, and Arsenal would be a Championship side managed by Bruce Rioch.

It all began with Eric ‘Ooh Aah' Cantona, who bizarrely landed on our shores in the colours of Leeds United. But Cantona was a genius. A quick hop into bed with her off Men Behaving Badly (allegedly), who happened to be Lee Chapman's wife, and he was off to Manchester United. Gabriel Heinze, listen and learn.

Then there was the moment Cantona attacked a fan at Selhurst Park. It wasn't the first time such an incident had happened, but while Brian Clough and alike had opted for clips around ears and old-fashioned fisticuffs, Eric launched a kung-fu kick. Timeless. And then he talked about sardines.

The subject of my next French love affair was David Ginola, a player so impossibly groomed he literally sexed his way past defenders. Lee Dixon, Gary Neville and Stuart Pearce were among the grizzled full-backs he seduced, each overwhelmed by the shiny tones of his perfect hair.

"It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that some people will go to try and speak to me or meet me," said Ginola. Really?

Many more have followed in his wake. Unlike Mark Hughes, Thierry Henry was both a scorer of great goals and a great goal scorer. Patrick Vieira was a colossus and the only man in the Premier League who could match Roy Keane for intensity. Nicolas Anelka has been inconsistent, but occasionally inspired.

But the French invasion has not only ushered in a generation of brilliant footballers. By its very nature this influx of free-spirited personalities has led to a new openness in the ranks. As William Gallas proved yesterday, the French are a refreshingly honest bunch. And we should be eternally grateful.

After all, Arsenal are the most guarded club in the Premier League. Pay a visit to their media centre and PR people hover like Stasi agents ready to pounce on anything untoward. London Colney is like the former Soviet Union, and anybody who breaks ranks should be treated like Boris Yeltsin.

For this reason you should love Gallas unconditionally. While Theo Walcott was studying the guide to footballing clichés, Gallas stood up, took aim and shot from the hip. He didn't call his team cowards to raise his own profile; he did it because he felt it needed to be said.

Ultimately what difference can it make to Arsenal? If Gallas and Robin van Persie hate each other, they hate each other. As any good psychiatrist will tell you the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. And Arsenal clearly have plenty.

Predictably, Wenger is furious. He will almost certainly strip Gallas of the captaincy and Arsenal's media centre will probably ban everybody but Arsenal.com from making the annoyingly complicated journey. But having filled his squad with Frenchmen, surely Wenger should have seen this coming?

- Eurosport-Yahoo!