Dave's random mumblings…

The people at the top of cricket have a tough choice to make in response to the alleged betting scam rolling around cricket right now. First is hand out life bans to anyone involved and talk about putting the house in order. Or they can work at the root cause of mess and try to stop the situation from happening again

The first way is easy; the right way is far tougher.

If you are not aware, the short version of events is that three or four members of the Pakistan team touring England are under investigation for taking money to do certain things during a game. No one is accused of throwing a game, but it’s not far off.

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s priority seems to be to ensure that the rest of the tour goes ahead, but minus the players at the center of the betting scandal. Initially this looked like the right thing to do, but after giving it a little more thought I’ve changed my mind. It puts money ahead of principal, which considering the allegations seems somewhat appropriate.

On the field it is clear after the test series that England are the stronger of the two teams, take away Pakistan’s two best bowlers, wicket keeper and captain and there seems little point in playing the ten planned 20/20 and 50-over games. England will take them apart and it’s not a competition anymore.

In the longer term there is the issue of corruption in cricket. History shows that it’s been a big, ongoing problem within the sport, even if spot-betting is seen by many as less insidious than Hansie Cronje’s match fixing

As it always is, the root cause of the current problem money, or lack of it. The infrastructure of Pakistani top level cricket has always been questionable. Over the last couple of years after the terrorist attack against Sri Lanka in Lahore, every game played on the road and this has weakened the already poor organization even further.

The touring party are paid far less then their English, Indian and Australian counterparts. In this series it’s been suggested that the Pakistan players will have been earning perhaps 10% the amount of their rivals. Now someone comes along and gives you thousands to bowl a no ball, this is something that which will have effect on the overall result, how difficult is it to say “yes”?

The long term challenge facing the International Cricket Council (ICC) is taking on the ongoing corruption in Pakistan cricket. This would be a long, tough road, but it’s either that or Pakistan stops playing at the highest level.

Then there is the question of what do you do with the players involved? A life ban seems extreme, especially in the case of the 18 year old Mohammad Amir who’s only been playing at this level for a year or so. His 6 wicket haul at Lords was deserved and he has the potential to be one of the superstars of this game. To see him banned for life would be a travesty.

I think the first step is take the players away from the problem, because the security situation does not allow Pakistan to play any games at home the team spends months at a time on the road.

The ICC has to reach into their coffers and put the game in Pakistan right. Have the top players play outside Pakistan, let them play the domestic game in England, India, Australia and so on. Give the players a chance to share in the money generated by the game in these countries.

Also the Pakistani team needs to be given a home for a few years untill they can start hosting series in Pakistan again. Dubai or the UAE seems the obvious candidates, they are states who have started using high profile sports to raise their profile in the world. Cricket may just fit into that.

The ICC will have to work to make this happen along with rebuilding the game inside Pakistan. It will take quite a leap of faith by the ICC, not to mention significant resources, but it’s only by tacking the problem at its source can it be put right. The source of this problem is the failure of the Pakistan domestic and international game.

The ICC can either keep Pakistan in the cricketing wilderness, or do the hard work to bring them back into the fold and give the players the stability to make living from the game.

I’ve spent time around professional sportsmen in the past, and the unfortunate truth is people who make living out of sport don’t take the “spirit of the game” view of sport. They tend to be far more mercenary and are generally more interested in making money during what may be a short and very tough career.

It is the journalists and the fans that add the narrative and romance that make great sport so special and meaningful. I’m as guilty of that as anyone; I do love sport and what it can mean to people, but at the same time for professionals it really is work.

I got into London late last night, still jetlagged as heck after a couple of days on the continent and not at my best, but very much looking forward to a busy couple of days to catch up with some friends and have some fun with my family. Today I got to do something I’ve not done in about 15 years and enjoy a full day of cricket at the storied Lord’s ground in London with dad. That it turned out to be a very compelling day of cricket really was a bonus.

Lords, Day 2 of the Fourth test against Pakistan

It’s a long time since dad’s been to a cricket game, he taught me to appreciate the game and as much fun as the 20/20 and limited overs versions are there is nothing like a test match series. The way the game twists and turns over the five days makes it such a unique sporting experience.

I remember sitting down with dad in ’80 (I think) watching England from Australia over Christmas at the end of the year. I don’t recall the score, but England probably got absolutely hammered. He spent days explaining and sharing the game with me. Two years later when England was hosting Australia, a series that is now known as “Botham’s Ashes”, I sat and watched a significant part of the series with dad. I can’t claim to have watched the whole of the famous Edgebaston test, but I did understand the significance of what was going on when we were watching it.

The Ian Botham and Bob Willis England come back against the Australians at Edgebaston is well recorded, but looking back, sitting with dad and understanding the significance of that innings and the game makes it even more special. Up untill then England had been outclassed by what history has shown to be a very good Australian side, but somehow they came back and won the game that turned the series around.

This illustrates one of the things that makes sport so special for many. It brings people together in a shared cause. While we celebrate the individual and team performances, it’s who we share those special moments with that make it so important. That many years later these performances remind us of some very special shared memories.

Cricket is the one sport that dad is willing to give England his support in. Elsewhere it’s as it should be, support Scotland first and whoever England is playing second. When it comes to cricket it’s very much England, this might have something to do with Scotland hardly impressive recent cricket history, but none the less it’s notable enough to mention.

Dad talked about growing up in Greenock and regularly watching Greenock Cricket Club, one of Scotlands more successful and important club teams. It’s not a hugely popular game in Scotland, and Greenock CC has a beautiful little ground and attracted some high profile cricketers to take part in it’s games.

A little background on today, it was the final Test in a four-game series between England and Pakistan, England were leading the serried 2-1 but got absolutely spanked at the last game at the Oval.

England needed not to loose to secure the series win over Pakistan. Friday was the second day and England were in deep, deep trouble, which makes the events of the day so surprising and one of those moments one watches sports for.

England started the day on 13/1 with most of the first day having been lost to rain. We arrived about an hour into play, dad is not as sprightly as he was, but wanted to go and we took it rather slowly this morning getting to the St Johns Wood.

We stopped at the bar to grab a sandwich and first pint of the day before heading to our seats. The TV in the Long Bar said England were on 47/5, a mid order batting collapse that was impressive as it was quick, even by England’s lofty standards.

The last three batsmen, the heart of England’s order, had contributed the grand total of zero runs. Dad commented about this being a day we should see a lot of wickets fall, and that England were going to have to work themselves out of this one to have a chance of winning.

Jonathon Trott and Mark Prior were at the crease when we got to our seats, Trott was on 31 and Prior was on 10. It looked like a lively wicket as both batsmen had moments of living dangerously; Prior especially did not look comfortable and was out shortly after lunch for 22. Graham Swann continued the trend and added nothing to the scoreboard. This made the score 102/7 and it was looking good for Pakistan.

Trott slowly put together a half century and Stuart Broad now partnered him in the middle. Broad played some very questionable strokes, but got away with it.

Trott against Aamir

The scoreboard slowly advanced and the England pair started to look a little more comfortable and certainly had a little luck on their side. The wicket seemed to calm down as the day warmed up and the frustration of not finishing England off clearly showed as the Pakistani bowlers sent down the occasional bouncer.

Trott looked comfortable out there, he played some good defensive cricket and punished the poor bowling and mistakes when they came his way.

Stuart Broad rode his luck and had his finest batting performance of his long test career, but as good as Broad was he was overshadowed by the determined and very controlled strokeplay of Jonathon Trott.

Today we saw some great cricket with both the bat and ball. The 18 year old Pakistani bowler Aamer took 6 of the seven England wickets that fell for 73 runs.

At 102/7 before the tea interval England looked out of it. It seemed only a matter of time before some very impressive bowling dispatched the rest tail end of the order. At the same time the England bowlers must have been looking forward to a chance to bowl on this wicket, they needed a decent run total to give them a chance, and they did not have that.

Trott made his century not long after tea, he had been at the crease for almost five hours at this point building what turned out to be a great innings. He ended the day with a magnificent 149 not out, it’s one of the best test innings I’ve certainly ever seen and showed exactly what makes test cricket so fascinating.

Stuart Broad ended the day on 112 not out, he survived some good bowling on what looked like an interesting wicket. He certainly had some luck on his side with a couple of calls that went his way and batting errors that he got away with, but it was once again a very impressive innings when it was most needed.

The seventh wicket stand put on 244 runs by the end of play giving England a total of 346/7. A total that should be enough to ensure the game is not lost and the series against Pakistan won. However this is England, and I’ve seen them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory from better positions than this in the past.

This was a great day of cricket that had everything that makes test cricket so special. There were two centuries scored, that together should be a series securing partnership from England. In the field there was an 18-year-old bowler in only his sixth game for his country taking six wickets with some very tight bowling.

All this shared with dad in the wonderful atmosphere of a series deciding test match, at the most storied and traditional home of the game. Sport, of any kind, really does not get much better than this.

@EmmaK67: Watching England is a cure for constipation.

There is something inherently masochistic about being English. Every time one of the big tournaments come along we start to believe this will be the year, this time it will be different, it will all come together and we’ll mow down everyone in front of us like a coked up Rambo in a Vietnamese POW camp.

Some times there are even reasons to feel this optimistic. There are no shortages of performances that show us we have reason to believe. The 11 heroes who held Italy 0-0 in Rome before the ’98 World cup and of course that night in Munich in 2001 on the way to Japan and Korea four years later.

On those evenings we had glimpses of what England is capable of, we had reasons to believe.

This time was no different; I’ve spent the last two years watching a good team make qualifying look as straightforward as any England team I’ve ever seen. After the disaster of Erikson and failing to make Euro 98, Capello took over and with essentially the same players made it look easy.

We had reason to think that England could go deep into the tournament. No real stand out players beyond Rooney, some off the field issues, no set keeper and a couple of injuries all gave pause. Despite all that they looked like a team that had shown us they knew how to play together and make the sum greater than the parts.

Then there is what we’ve seen over the last month, two warm up games against Mexico and Japan followed by the first two group games.

I don’t know if it’s burn out at the end of a long season, on the surface a reasonable excuse as some players are approaching 50 games in the last year.

Interestingly it does seem that the European teams have generally underperformed, especially compared to the South American sides. But a majority of the top South American players all ply their trade in Europe and are coming off the same 45+ game seasons, yet don’t seem to be affected in the same way.

You’d have thought at after 40 years of World Cups and European Championships I’d be used to this feeling of underachievement and disappointment.

One World Cup semi-final and one Euro Championship semi-final (both lost to the Germans on penalties BTW) is little show for a life of dedication to the England cause. It’s not as easy; deep down a little optimistic part of me truly believes that England can do it, that it’s going to be different this year.

I think it’s the lot of the England supporter. We get built up just to be knocked down by the cold, hard fist of reality smacking us in the face.

A nice change of pace this evening after one of the worst England performances I can remember, the game I shall mention no more… OK, no more than once more any way.

Tonight was my first Mariners game of the year. Inter-league play with the Cincinnati Reds in town for a weekend series. I got invited and had no idea who was pitching and glanced at the standings for the first time in a couple of weeks and found the M’s were doing worse than I thought. Won 25, lost 46 and 13 games out of first place in a four-team division.

Safeco Field on a June evening.

While I enjoy baseball and certainly went through a year or two of going to maybe 20 games a year, it’s been one or two games a year for the last few seasons. Sitting in a three-quarter empty Safeco Field in the cold Seattle spring is not exactly conducive to a great atmosphere. Carl had a spare ticket for this evening, and it was time for a trip to Safeco Field.

Carl, showing what he assures me is his best side

And the “hydro races” on the big screen drive me potty. Three boats racing around a course and you’re asked to choose your favorite… At least the game where you follow the hat the ball is hidden under requires concentration. The hydro races and picking the winning boat is total guesswork and for some unfathomable reason the hydros got the biggest cheer of the evening.

I like baseball for the same reasons I like cricket, and it’s not really the game itself. You go there with friends, be social and watch while a story unfolds in front of you.

As with many American sports I dislike all the artificial rabble rousing that baseball feels is required to get some noise and create an atmosphere. I hope the Sounders have shown Seattle that if the team shows passion for the game along with an educated crowd you can dispense with the requests for clapping and yelling.

Spending years immersed in the European football culture (both passionate good and hooligan filled bad) and going to my first baseball game (Astros vs. Giants in the Astrodome in ’86) it all seemed very strange and rather forced. The Astrodome was spectacular, way beyond any other stadium I’d been too. The score board with galloping horses unlike anything I’d seen before and the game interesting (I had someone who knew baseball explaining it to me), however I could never quite understand the attempt at creating an atmosphere.

That’s my problem with the whole American sporting experience. Baseball is perhaps the worst offender, it’s a naturally slow game and that seems to be part of the appeal. As I said, I like how it slowly unfolds in front of you over a period of two and a half or three hours. However the same artificial sense of urgency is present in basketball, hockey and to a slightly lesser extent American football.

If you have a crowd educated in the game it seems unnecessary, football (round ball) has never needed it, even among casual supporter. Whatever the sport it’s clear when things are exciting, it’s clear when things are not going well. I don’t think stadiums need to tell the audience that.

Onto tonight’s game. Turns out Cliff Lee, the M’s top pitcher was starting. He pitched the entire game, only 110 pitches to get through 9 innings. He gave up 6 hits, struck out 7 and gave up no runs. Very impressive outing, he worked fast and the game was over in a little over two and a quarter hours.

Mariners won 1-0 in a very fun to watch defensive game.

Briefly back to the England performance. It really was atrocious, hopefully this gives Capello the kick he needs to actually examine the way they play. I’ve not looked at the British red tops yet (the more mass-media newspapers), but I’m sure they have plenty to say.

Wayne Rooney was upset at the England fans booing the team of the pitch. The team played with no energy, no passion and there was no excuse for that performance at this level. It’s very fair for the fans to make their displeasure known.

If this really is the best they can do, then they don’t deserve to go on. I hope this is the wake up the team needs, I hope Capello makes the changes necessary to do what they have to against a decent Slovenia on Wednesday, where nothing less than a win will be enough.

Stuart Pearce knows more than anyone what pulling on the three lions should mean, if the players don’t get that, if they don’t understand how big a stage this is and the millions of people that this matters too then they should not be on the field.

That’s it, I’ve said my piece about England’s performance against Algeria, not going to mention it again.

We are five days into the World Cup, I’ve watched about half the game fully and highlights or radio commentary of most of the rest. The football has been largely Ok ,but no better. Teams seem more worried about loosing their first game and have played very safe, negative style. Not loosing the first game being more important than winning.

Of the big teams Italy, France, England and Portugal have been OK to disappointing at best.

Germany were outstanding, unquestionably the best side so far. OK it was a poor Australian side that looked a step or two off the pace, but Germany did what good teams should do and comprehensively beat them.

Something Brazil failed to do today against a well drilled, but ultimately inexperienced North Korea team. Korea set out to hold Brazil back, and they did the job worrying well if you follow Brazil.

Argentina and the Netherlands have both played positive football and I look forward to seeing both these teams play again to see how good they may be.

Spain is the last of the fancied teams to start play. They take on Switzerland tomorrow (Wednesday) in Durban.

It’s nothing like 1990, which was an atrociously defensive tournament, Argentina in particular played only negative football in Italy, and it was enough to take them to the final. They were primarily concerned (like Italy and a few others) with giving nothing away. Hope to get something on the break and be prepared to settle for penalties if it came to that.

After Italia ’90 FIFA started trying to open the game up. They tinkered with the offside rule, gave a certain amount of benefit to attackers, differentiated between “active” and “passive” players and gave the attacker the benefit of the doubt a little more. To some extent this approach worked, the World cup in ’94 and Euro ’96 were far better examples of better tournaments with a lot more good football.

North Korea

It may be easier (once again see North Korea today) to build a defensive team rather than a team that’s capable of going out and winning a game at the top level. Another example would be Inter successfully working for 90 minutes to keep Barcelona penned up to win the European Cup.

As teams start needing the points in the second and third round of group games over the next 10 days, it should open up a little and we should have a better idea of who really sits where.

But today, Germany look like the team to beat, and the runner up in Group C (England’s group) will probably be first to have a go at them in the knock out stage.

Time for my glass half full moment. Yesterdays game has certainly been on my mind and the result was disappointing for England, but no more than that.

The peerless British sports pages (and I mean that as a complement, mostly) have a couple of takes on this. First, it’s an error, an important game costing error, but just an error none the less and everything will be fine. The second and rather more reactionary story is that this was proof that England are not the world beaters they have been hyped up (by the same hacks, BTW) to be.

Time to look back in history. In 1966 (of course, it always comes back to 1966) England opened with a draw against Uruguay. Ultimately England triumphed and took possession of Jules Rimet for four years.

Then there was Italy in Espana 92. During the group stage Italy drew their three group matches. This was no group-of-death, the opposition was Poland, Peru and Cameroon. In the knockout stage they came alive as they sweep aside Argentina, Brazil and finally taking out West Germany 3-1 to lift the trophy.

To be fair that Italy side was full of world class quality, starting with Dino Zoff between the sticks, top scorer Paolo Rossi, Giuseppe Bergomi, Marco Tardelli and maybe the best sweeper ever in Gaetano Scirea (yes, I think better than Cruyff and Beckenbauer).

I admit that no matter how hard squint at the team sheet, the England team does not have that depth of talent, but there is plenty of bright side there.

To even up the “they can still do it, look at Italy” optimism, the last six winners of the World Cup have all started the tournament with a win in their opening game…

I still believe, I still believe that England have the ability to win this. They really do need things to start going their way and after loosing Ledley King with a groin strain (on top of the Rio Ferdinand injury), JT passes that went out for throw ins and Rob Greens blunder I hope they have used up all their bad luck. Next game sees the return of Gareth Barry, this should give the side a new look going forward. We will find out more Friday, after drawing with the Americans we need to start thinking about goal difference, winning the group makes life a lot easier once we get to the knock out stages.

By the way, didn’t the Germans looked good today?

South Africa opened the World Cup with a great goal; England opened theirs with an utterly unbelievable goalkeeping blunder. It was a widely held belief among England fans that the keeper was not one of the team’s strengths, and so it’s proven. Green gave the US their goal with an unforced error, and England were never able to get back into the game.

It was not a classic England performance, the team has a deserved reputation for starting slowly in big tournaments. Maintaining tradition, todays outing was particularly unmemorable.

The goal came down to an elementary mistake by Rob Green on a soft shot by Clint Dempsey. Green holds onto that 999 times out of a 1000, why did it have to be today? Green was not helped by England playing back, perhaps defending too deep and allowing the US team space to play further up the field

In the plus column Rob Green did have a great reflex save in the second half turning Altidores close range shot onto the post, but post match will inevitable focus on the mishandling of what was more of a back pass than a well struck shot on goal.

For all the questions around Emile Heskeys selection on the strength of three Premier League goals last season, he was the provider with a well-placed pass into the path of Gerrard. The England captain finished well slotting the ball past Howard. Five minutes in and England were 1-0 up.

Sadly this is England in their opening game of the world cup. Following tradition, the team seldom does things the easy way from the beginning. All the hard work was undone five minutes before half time by a goalkeeping screw-up we will be talking about for years to come.

England was defending deeply and a lot of the play was taking place in England’s half of the field. While the US were not getting too much penetration, nor were England for much of the game. Rooney was noticeable for his lack of impact, there seemed to be something of a disconnect between the midfield pairing of Gerrard and Lampart and the front two.

Milner was replaced early. Ledley King did not start the second half and will be out of the Algeria game. Capello took a couple of risks in the team, one of which was King, and it’s not paid off so far.

England had chances, but as we got further into the second half there was a growing feeling that it was just not going to be England’s night. There were chances on goal, but they seemed to be straight at Howard causing him no real issues.

It was not a total disaster for England and some perspective is needed. It was only the opening game and 4 or 5 points are all that’s needed to go through to the second round. England did not play consistently well; against a well-drilled side like the US it was not good enough. Friday it’s Algeria, drop points there and we’ve a problem. I’d like to see a comfortable win, over the course of the tournament luck evens out, I think England is owed a little by the football gods after today, I hope they had a good laugh and England learned a lesson or two. We’ll find out more on Friday.

The squad has been announced, the last of the real friendlies are played and we’ve had the usual whines from the goalkeepers about how the match ball flies strangely through the air.

Lets just say I’m excited.

Fabio Capello was employed by England for only one reason, to win the World Cup. That’s why he earns millions as a coach and if England get to a semi-final, or even the final then I think most English people will think he’s earned every penny.

He gave England a huge boost and has removed another potential distraction from the team by committing himself to the national team until after the 2012 European Championship. He’d been openly courted by Inter Milan and before flying to South Africa he signed an amended contract that removes any chance of Capello leaving before Euro 2012.

“Now we can all concentrate on the World Cup and give Fabio and the players our full support.” Said head of Club England Sir Dave Richards.

Capello was clear about his commitment “I am very happy about this and would like to thank Sir David Richards and the FA for their continued support and assurances about my future. I always wanted to stay until the end of my contract. In South Africa we are totally focused on the World Cup.”

After spending years in racing I believe completely in the saying that teams take their tone from whoever is in charge. It was that way at every professional team I’ve been part of, the sheer professionalism of McLaren and the underdog mentality of Minardi both came from the top.

The England squad is no different, under Erickson four years ago results were inconsistent and Sven took the whole jaunt to Germany as a well deserved reward. Capello seems to be treating it all very differently. He’s a professional and is clear England are here to win football games. His goal is very simple, it’s the brief the FA gave him when he took the job.

After a spectacular qualifying run followed by some mixed play in the recent friendlies the first stage is over. It gets serious now.

A word that’s been thrown around a lot in my life recently is “context”. I’m trying to put events in their correct context, or others are trying to understand my emotions and give them some context.

There are times over the last year or so where the regular rules have been thrown out the window and I’ve been working on pure emotion, occasionally successfully and other time not so much.

I thought I was prepared for mums passing, we all knew it was coming, but all this time later I’m still working through the grief. There have been moments in the last year that I’ve been in some dark places, others when it was about pure unadulterated joy.

It’s strange when those moments of joy have come, especially as they often seem to be dependent on factors outside my control.

I’m talking about sport, the Sounders, In-ger-land, Team GB, Coventry City and the Olympics.

For sport to be meaningful it requires us to accept that a mere game has significance. If we are realistic it matters not that England beat Mexico 3-1 tonight in their final home game before the World Cup, and I’ll admit that in the big scheme of things to most people it does not matter.

But to me it does, I can’t dismiss the inner child that makes this game played by grown men to mean something significant. I agree with the cynics that no one is worth the $150000 per week some people are paid for kicking a ball around, but the market disagrees with the realists in me and the cynic in others.

The players may be over-paid men who blow their money on Bentleys and are given an importance and gravitas way out of proportion to their contribution to society. They are held up as role models, a role they are totally unqualified for.

There are a couple of things that we require to enjoy sports, professional sports at the highest level we are talking about here.

You must suspend that cynic and allow the innocence or childishness to take over and give 22 men kicking a ball around significance way beyond what’s reasonable.

I think this is one reason why events like Hillsboro, Heisel and the Bradford fire are so tragic and they leave such a mark on us. It’s not just the death, its that death came to so many while pursuing something that required this childishness to enjoy fully.

The second part is the community that grows up around these events. It gives us a sense of belonging. On game day there are almost 36,000 people in Quest Field wearing “Rave Green” and screaming for Seattle. For those few precious hours we are in this together, we live and die with the fortunes of 11 professional athletes we’ve paid good money to watch.

There have been moments in the last year where I was so detached by a combination of grief and pressure that little moved me. Thinking of my mother reduces me to tears at moments. The images of my father in a hospital bed this week bring out the same intense emotions.

I’m not minimising what’s gone on, the grief is very real, but there are moments inside the grief and mourning where the normal rules are suspended. Fulham taking out Juventus is one of those moments. Seattle clinching playoff football in style in Columbus was another.

Sport, and that’s sport that I feel emotionally invested in, allows me to suspend the dark places and revert back to innocence. When it does it feels so good move on, even if it’s just for a brief time and enjoy the moment.

I can’t put these moments into context because they just don’t fit. And I feel good about that.