Three major sporting events today and it’s great news if you’re English, 3 wins out of 3 starting with the Cricket in the seventh and final one day international at Lords. India won the toss and elected to bat and things didn’t go exactly as planned. The tourists found themselves looking down the barrel of the gun at 59 – 4; with the exception of Dhoni who made a half century before being caught by Anderson. The Indians were bowled out in 47.3 overs for a relatively low score; based on recent scores ; of 187. Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas claimed three wickets a piece with figures of 3 – 45 and 3 – 23 respectively. Despite the relatively low target score, things didn’t start well for the English in their innings with both Matt Prior and Luke Wright’s wickets falling for ducks and thoughts of the traditional pack of cards sprung to mind, just one blow and the whole house collapses. But Ian Bell started the ball rolling scoring 36 off 40 deliveries before being run out, then it was the Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood show. Pietersen has finally shown the form we know he’s capable off over the last two games to post a score of 71 off 96 balls including six fours and one six. The ever dependable Collingwood hit 64 off 73 balls including seven fours and one six. The pair steered England past the finishing post in a partnership of 114. England won the decider conclusively with over 13 overs remaining, but at the same time its a little disappointing after the previous matches where the teams were evenly matched, this was a walk in the park for the English, but that said, it’s good to win the series and I bet Paul Collingwood will be happy to get his maiden series win under his belt as captain!
The English rugby team got off to a good start in defence of their world title beating the USA 28 – 10 in Lens (that’s in France if you are wondering). It wasn’t the best performance with the scores being 3 – 3 after 20 minutes. It wasn’t until the end of the first half that England forged ahead with Jason Robinson and Olly Barkley claiming a try a piece in a flurry of activity. Tom Rees added a third try for the English, but many of the points came from penalties and conversions. And the USA had the last laugh scoring a late try and conversion to make the scoreline more acceptable to the Americans. So although it wasn’t the best England performance, it’s still a win and it’s important to get the campaign off on a win. If England are to have any hope of retaining their title they’ll need step up their game considerably as their next game is against South Africa next Friday. If England play as they played today, they Springboks will have a field day and could find themselves on the receiving end of a cricket score! I have hope that England can pull something out of the bag in the group stages, but I fear that we don’t have the same quality as we did four years ago!
And finally, football; England ran out easy winners against Israel beating the visitors 3 – 0 at the ‘NEW’ Wembley (as everyone seems to be calling it). Shaun Wright Phillips opened the scoring for England in the 20th minute with a sidefooted volley from Joe Cole’s pass into the penalty area. England looked the dominant team and missed several easy chances and really should have gone in at half time several goals up, but alas it was only 1 – 0. It was only five minutes after the half time break before Michael Owen doubled the lead with a superb swivel and volley from the edge of the penalty area. Micah Richards put the game out of reach of the Israelis towering above the Israel defence to get a clear shot on goal. I think that this should send a clear message to Steve Maclaren about team choice, some so called key players were unavailable due to injury and this is the best performance we have seen from England is some time, looking sharper, looking like they really had the passion to win, chased the ball, and played some nice football. There wasn’t so much of the hoof it up the field and hope it goes to an England player and best of all, they didn’t sit back and let their opponents come onto them, which has traditionally been England’s downfall! I have long maintained that players like Lampard have become too accustomed to be picked automatically and have become complacent and it’s simply not feasible to play Lampard and Gerrard in the middle. Shaun Wright Phillips did an excellent job on the right, getting into attacking positions and delivering quality balls into the box. Although I do think that Beckham does have a lot of offer on the right and from free kicks, now residing in the US means problems with jet lag so he can’t possible be playing at the best and frankly he won’t be facing the same quality opposition as he would in Spain or England. Shaun Wright Phillips and Micah Richards have certainly made good claims to permanent starting spots in the England squad, it’ll be interesting to see who Maclaren picks for the crunch game against Russia on Wednesday. Russia also won today so remain one point ahead of England in the group tables, so England need to beat Russia to stand any sort of chance of qualifying. England will be level on points with Israel but will slot into second on goal difference as Israel will not be playing this Wednesday as England have a game in hand over them!
In my personal life, work, illness and talking with my new from from America. Work last night was pretty uneventful, two local punk bands. This Beautiful Chaos and Russell Can’t Drive, 10 people actually paid, so Phil didn’t even manage to cover his costs. It’s amazing how when you make something free entry, a load of people will come up, they are more worried about paying five quid to get into JFK’s to listen to some DJ’s play fucking CDs than seeing two bands for £2, seriously that’s £1 per band, that’s less than the cost of the cheapest pint. Makes you wonder whether live music has any sort of future in Plymouth as there seems to be no real support for the scene in Plymouth. I wasn’t feeling quite as ill on the night, my nose has stopped acting like a tap although I now have a sore throat and every time I cough, it makes my ribs hurt, but I prefer that to having a running nose constantly. I talked to my new American friend for another 3 1/2 hours last night and she is looking into getting a microphone and webcam so we can see each other when we talk. I know that she does have a crush on me, she has told me that much and I really like her, yes I am worried that it could turn into another Lindsey situation, but I feel that she is different. She has even looked into flights to the UK for when she gets her tax rebate because she wants to meet me in person and I want to met her. At the moment we are just treating it like we are friends that like to spend time in each others company, but both want more based on what we know about each other already. This is why we need to meet up to see if it is even a possibility, I know she wants to come live in the UK, and has the means to make it happen, but there are obviously many things to consider before this can happen, there may not be the same spark in person, and she has a little boy to consider as well. So obviously she is keen to find out if I am genuine before she makes any sort of decision. It’s odd for me to even consider this as I never thought I could take on a ready made family, but somehow I think I could make it happen with her, but ultimately time will tell. For now I am happy to talk on the phone or via video conferencing as I enjoy her company and she enjoys my company and when talking for 3 1/2 costs £2, its not something that I want to stop!
