After a weekend of British sporting success only one week ago, we are hit once again with British success, in two areas. And they were brilliant performances as well.
Cricket
If this cricket match did anything it reaffirmed that even if India manage to not lose this series by the 2 matches England require to top the rankings, England are the best test side in the world. I feel I can say this with absolute confidence for 3 reasons.
1 - Even without the No.1 spin bowler in the world (Graeme Swann) bowling much the England attack tore through the Indian lineup, famous for, if nothing else, sticking it out. Dravid and Laxxman, who have proved almost impossible to remove over the years, were at ends today and even Sachin Tendulkar had no idea how to play Anderson.
2 - When batting, not until all wickets are down are England dead. For years I have resigned myself to the fact that our batting stopped at the fall of the fifth or sixth wicket, but that's not the case anymore. Broads hundred runs in the match as well as Bresnans 90 in the second innings showed that these players are closer to all rounders than we've had before, and Swann isn't a dummy with the bat, whilst Anderson isn't easy to remove either.
3 - This England team has years to go. Andrew Strauss is the oldest member of the team at 34 and most of the team are in their twenties, and in cricket this means you've got quite a few years to go still. The top Indian players are all 30 or over (Dhoni 30, Laxman 36, Dravid 38, Tendulkar 38, Khan 32). And you also have to consider the youngest English bowler ever to take 50 wickets was left out (Finn), and is a serious talent for the future.
If India wanted to stake a claim for the No.1 spot, they should have finished the game off from having 124-8 and really struggling. The players looked awful in the field and no-one really seemed to want to step up and take control for India. I will however say the MS Dhoni deserves a special mention for withdrawing the appeal against Ian Bell, the dismissal, although stupid from Bell's point of view, was against the spirit of the game and they did the right thing.
In regards to the rest of the series, if India don't find something to actually put England in trouble, this could become a series whitewash very quickly.
Formula One
After a great race from Lewis Hamilton last week, McLaren followed it up with proof that their car is now equal, if not ahead of, that of Red Bull. My prediction was McLaren to put two drivers on the podium and they looked to be set for a 1-2, after some classy driving from both McLaren men which emphasised their ability in the wet and changeable conditions. Only a poor decision from Lewis Hamilton meant that McLaren did not get the finish they wanted. With it spitting and the track getting slippery for Slick tyres, Hamilton made the decision to come in and put intermediate tyres on. However this proved to be a foolish move as it then stopped spitting, and the track dried very quickly, meaning he had to make another pit stop soon after for dry tyres. This mistake was compounded by the stewards handing Lewis a drive through penalty for spinning his car round near passing traffic, which meant Lewis went through the pits 3 times in 5 laps. If Lewis had stayed out he would have been on the podium, even with the drive through penalty he was punished with. If Mclaren can keep this type of progress up then it could make for an interesting finish, despite Vettel managing to extend his lead in the Drivers Championship again. This was another great win for Button, who has to be considered the master of wet races out of the current drivers around. As Hamilton said,"The better driver won today."
The next race is in 3 weeks time in Belgium, I shall do another weekend report at the time, with a prediction followed by a race report.
Later this week I will get round to finally posting my transfer roundup, with who I think will have to fight hard this season for survival, and who should be sitting at the top of the pack come May.
No comments:
Post a Comment