Back to square one for England cricketers

With under a year to go before the ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia and less than a month until the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh England are still none the wiser as to who will play.

Memories of 2011 when England had a settled side before sudden change of selection and tactics saw the most erratic England performances that I have seen in years.

When they were good they were world beaters, defending 171 against South Africa, when they were bad they were terrible, letting significant leads against Ireland and Bangladesh slip.

Tomorrow brings the first competitive fixture of England's limited overs tour of the West Indies. The squad has many unrecognizable names for those who do not follow County cricket.

West Indies vs England fixtures

1st ODI: 28 February

2nd ODI: 2 March

3rd ODI: 5 March

All ODIs played in Antigua

1st T20: 9 March

2nd T20: 11 March

3rd T20: 13 March

All T20s played in Barbados

Moen Ali, Harry Gurney and Stephen Parry spring to mind. Ali has been an ever consistent opening batsman and part time spinner for Worcestershire. He has found international recognition on the back of improved performances, but more realistically the decline of other opening options.

With Ian Bell and Alistair Cook rested, and little other options, Ali has the chance to cement an opening spot if he can get some scores with his more dynamic approach to batting (his limited overs strike rate is over 100)

Other opening options such as Joe Denly, Craig Kieswetter and Jason Roy have not shown enough quality recently for international selection. The other options are being groomed in Sri Lanka with the Lions e.g. James Vince and Varun Chopra or have been harrowed by the Ashes tour e.g. Michael Carberry.

Stephen Parry rise has come similarly to that of Ali. Danny Briggs has failed to impose himself as an England international, neither has Scott Borthwick or Simon Kerrigan. Parry has a good T20 record but his selection may come as a left field option due to his lack of First Class and Lions experience.

Stephen Parry Bowling averages 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
First-class	6	11	916	453	14	5/23	5/46	32.35	2.96	65.4	0	1	0
List A	54	52	2266	1881	65	5/17	5/17	28.93	4.98	34.8	2	1	0
Twenty20	56	56	1236	1414	63	4/23	4/23	22.44	6.86	19.6	2	0	0

Harry Gurney has been brought in to provide a left arm option to England's pace attack. With Tymal Mills with the Lions and with Reece Topley injured Gurney is the stand out lefty in English cricket.

The major title contenders go into tournaments with a settled side with the odd change based on current form. England go into this series with key men out of form. The top three failed to have any impact in the T20s against Australia. Ravi Bopara is always playing for his England career. Jade Dernbach has become the laughing stock of World cricket due to some shambolic recent performances. Tim Bresnan is a good honest cricketer, does not posses the X factor like rivals from other nations.

The only players certain of selection are Eoin Morgan, Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler. Joe Root and Ben Stokes will be given opportunities but the England management still do not know how best to use them. 

It is hard to gain form without consistency and now England must select players who they feel will be in Australia next year. If the T20 is seen as giving players tournament experience then those who go to Bangladesh must be selected for the 2015 World Cup.

The Impact of rising costs on Univeristy Sport

Protests, turning into riots, ensued at the news of an increase in University tuition fees. This had absolutely no impact on Westminster's decision to push forward with increasing the tuition fee cap to £9,000 a year.

For those who have been burdened with this price hike have also seen the cost of accommodation rise to the extent that in some cases their maintenance loan from the government no longer is enough.

If I was to get a maintenance loan starting in September 2013, according to the student finance calculator http://www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/calculator/studentfinancecalculator , I would be given - £3575

Below are a couple accommodation fees from two different universities:

Loughborough

Cost	Catered hall	Self-catered hall	Rented house (shared)
Hall fees/rent	£5,200 (32 weeks)	£4,300 (38 weeks)	£3,900 (52 weeks)
Utilities	£0	£0	£300
Food	£375	£1,450	£1,450
Laundry/household	£160	£190	£190
Travel	£250	£250	£250
Course costs/books etc	£350	£350	£350
Insurance	£100	£100	£100
Telephone	£285	£300	£300
Clothing	£225	£225	£225
Leisure	£865	£865	£865
Other	£100	£100	£100
Total	£7,910	£8,130	£8,030

Sheffield Hallam - Devonshire Court

Number of rooms	Number of weeks	Annual rent 2013–14	Weekly rent 2013–14
295 Single en suite	44	£4,048	£92
21 Large single en suite (3/4 bed)	44	£4,268	£97

The impact this has on sport is that students now struggle to find the time or money to afford to play sport.

With the rise in tuition fees students feel that more hours should be available for seminars and lectures, what this does is limit the times that students can designate to training. What is more disturbing for sport minded students is Universities using time that would have been previously dedicated to BUCS fixtures (British Universities & Colleges Sport) being taken up by classroom hours.

Yes students should focus on their studies, but not to the extent that they can no longer play sport. Take away time from the bar for contact hours by all means, but Wednesday is sacred for University sports and should not be touched.

Each year the cost to join sports clubs has risen, for example the University of East Anglia Sports Association Membership, which is method of becoming insured by the University, has risen from £30 in 2010 to £45 in 2014. This is only a small difference compared to other Universities.

I personally cannot understand why students see this figure and get put off joining a sports club, however this is the case with some.

With the maintenance loans not always covering accommodation some students cannot afford this extra cost. Sometimes, in order to make ends meet, they have to sacrifice training sessions for work shifts or even sacrifice joining a club all together.

This lowers the standard of University sport across the board as athletes are not either training enough to improve or cannot play in the first place.

Some may argue that if they wanted to be an elite sportsman they would have joined an academy instead of joining university. In some sports this can be true but in many, such as Cricket and Netball, University matches play a key part in producing future professional talent.

If Great Britain want to continue to be a presence on the world sporting stage then the growing trend needs to be halted otherwise we will face the prospect of an ever declining sporting nation.

How sports clubs attempts to offer more tickets has increased prices

Have you heard of Stubhub? No? I hadn't either until a friend mentioned it to me. Supposedly it is big in the US and it is spreading to Premier League clubs. What it does if offer a market place for those with tickets, especially season ticket holders, a way to sell their tickets to other members for a fee.

Seems like a good idea in principle. It offers more chance for supporters to watch a game as seats could be wasted if the season ticket holder is unavailable.

In actual fact what it does is inflate the prices of tickets and offers the chance for season tickets holders to make a profit. This then makes it tougher for fans who are die hard but cannot afford the ever inflating price of football tickets.

How the above happens is that there is no limit on the price that ticket holders can charge. So for most games demand is high enough that most are willing to pay well above the standard price to watch a game.

A season ticket holder can then get a seat for the match through being quick when applying for a ticket as a member of the club. This means that the season ticket holder can now watch the match and actually make money.

What was supposed to be a way of offering more tickets to the fans now is a money making option to those who can already afford a season ticket holder and the chance for a wealthy fan who just wants to watch a one off match.

This is another example of the growing trend of football clubs losing touch with the fans.

Love Curling, Hate Scottish independence

Scottish independence will have a major impact on society. Politically and economically there would obviously be a major effect but also Great Britain as a sporting nation would face a major.

For those watching the Sochi Olympics and getting hooked by the success of Great Britain's curling teams would face the prospect of an inferior England team being overshadowed by an internationally renowned Scottish team.

Curling only has one rink in England, Fenton Tunbridge Wells, so there is a limited amount of facilities available. Where as in Scotland there are over 20 designated curling rinks available. Also there is only one in Wales.

Such is the focus on Scotland as a Curling nation, rather than over nations in Great Britain, that in the world rankings it reads as Scotland/Great Britain.

The Scottish team (let's be honest it is the Scotland team) are ranked second in the men's and third in the women's. These teams provide just a few of the world class athletes that Scotland provide for Great Britain teams.

Tennis is the most obvious one. Andy Murray, two time grand slam winner, is the focal point of Britain's Davis Cup team and the success they have had over the last 18 months in reaching the world quarter finals this year.

With Murray in the side so far it has always been an inevitability that the man from Dunblane would pick at two points from his rubbers and that, with the talent that Britain possess in the doubles circuit, three points would be assured every match.

Without Murray England would be languishing in the Europe/Africa II zone rather than beating USA in San Diego, a few weeks ago

In the London Olympics 2012, as an independent nation, Scotland would have won 7 gold medals, 4 silvers and 3 bronze. This is a significant amount of medals for Team GB to lose. Even though 8 of those were from team events, the Scottish participant was a crucial part of the respective team, for example Sir Chris Hoy in the team pursuit.

For Scotland the negative side of independence would be a decrease in the amount of funding that they would be able to provide their athletes.

Sport Scotland has a budget of £74m for 2013/14, £14m of which funds elite athletes, Scotland would find it hard to provide programmes for world class athletes leading up to major competitions.

At the moment, Scottish athletes receive around 10% of UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme, which is worth about £125m a year.

What they lack in funding is nowhere near what they would lose in terms of facilities, superior medical facilities and quality of coaching.

If you love curling, and seeing a successful British team, then the movements in Parliament will bring about much malign.

Chennai Choppers vs Frosties on my Warbies Week 2

Both teams came into this game with victories from the first and one change for both teams. Choppers talisman Whiting, unavailable for the rest of the tournament, replaced with big hitting all rounder Kiddie. Warbies have replaced opening batsman and wicketkeeper Williams with talented all rounder Wheeler.

The opening exchanges saw the routine Coleman run out and some explosive batting from Kiddie. There was action every ball, edging behind one ball then the next going for six. Cheirag continued his form with ball from the first game bowling a tight opening over limiting the free scoring Kiddie.

After three overs the Choppers were well above the par run rate on 45, however the loss of two wickets without Kiddie, having been caught Burt off Loughlin, retiring meant that it was hard to call who was on top.

The telling over in the whole match was Talbot's second. Having taken some punishment in his first over he came back a renewed man. His second only went for three runs and picked up a wicket leaving the Choppers at a par score of 48 off 4 having lost three wickets in the process.

This swung the momentum in the Warbies' favour as Wheeler was still to bowl his allocation and Choppers batsmen Tomkinson and Willmore were unable to take risks in fear of a collapse. With the seamers able to bowl a good line and length to the field set up by captain De Silva it was a struggle to score freely.

A few blows towards the end of the innings meant that there was something to defend, but was always going to be a tough order as the Choppers finished on 89-5.

Warbies set about the task in a convincing manner. After two overs they were well above the run rate, however a couple of run outs, one in comical manner as Tomkinson dropped Wheeler only to fumble the ball onto the stumps and run De Silva at the bowlers end, meant that the Choppers were still in the game.

The partnership of Cheirag and Wheeler was crucial in deciding the result. Willmore and Tomkinson were unable to limit the flow of runs, or make a crucial breakthrough. By the time Talbot and Burt came into bat the result was inevitable allowing these two to cruise to a four wicket victory.

Frosties on my Warbies are the early pace setters and with such convincing victories they look like the team to beat.

Cash rich Manchester United need to be smart this Summer

With Europa League football looking as the best Manchester United could hope for it is no doubt that the Summer transfer window is a crucial time for United.

Financially United are in a strong position, despite currently lingering down in seventh in the table. Revenues rose 11.6% from a year earlier to £122.9 million in the final three months of 2013.
Commercial sales were up by 18.8% on the same period in 2012, while broadcasting revenues grew by 18.7%. Revenue from sponsorship deals jumped by nearly 40%.

All these figures mean nothing to supporters if results are not good enough on the pitch, ask any Arsenal fan. So is it a case of sticking with the squad who won the title only last year (many forget this) or a complete overhaul?

What is needed is finding a balance of youth and quality. What I believe to be the best approach is to have in most positions one player of quality and one youthful player with potential.

With this hypothesis put in place United need a new left back, a new centre back, a new right back, two new centre midfielders and one new winger.

Potential left backs:

Luke Shaw £20 million
Fabio Coentrao £12 million
Filipe Luis £25 million

Potential right backs:

Seamus Coleman £15 million
Calum Chambers £6 million
Ricardo van Rhijn £8 million

Potential centre backs:

Mats Hummels £35 million
Ezequiel Garay £27 million
Dante £20 million

Potential centre midfielders:

Will Hughes £15 million
Toni Kroos £25 million
Kevin Strootman £30 million
Nico Gaitan £16 million
Samir Khedira £15 million
Cheick Tiote £10 million

Potential wingers:

Jakub Blaszczykowski £18 million
Angel Di Maria £25 million
Adam Lallana £20 million


Whether these players are attainable or not United have shown ability to make previously unimaginable purchases such as Robin Van Persie and Juan Mata. If United want to play catch up with Chelsea and Manchester City then at least two of these players need to purchased if David Moyes wants to mount a serious title challenge next season.

Feel free to disagree and provide other options.

Pietersen to carry the flame for the forgotten men of English cricket

Tomorrow sees the start of the 2014 IPL auction. There are three major talking points before the tournament start. For one will a spot fixing scandal mar the tournament once more, secondly Delhi Daredevils emptying out their roster and starting again, this then loses the biggest talking point of the auction... How much will KP go for?

The record so far stands at $2.4 million spent on Gautam Gambhir by the Kolkata Knightriders in 2011 and this is expected to be smashed. Despite the cap for a squad being £5.87 million Pietersen is still expected to reach up to £3 million.

Now that England have let their prized possession go IPL teams will be like vultures trying to secure the talents of a man averaging nearly 40 in T20 cricket and can single handily win a game. The reason why he is now such a hot ticket is that he is available for the full IPL season unlike many other overseas stars.

Being available for the full IPL is incredibly crucial if players want to attract suitors. This is even more important for English players who do not have countrymen representing them as IPL coaches.

Coaches who see countrymen in their domestic tournaments are more likely to sign them. Domestic players do not get the same exposure as international players and so often have to rely on coaches having previous knowledge of their performances. This makes it easier for Australian and South African players because the majority of the coaches are from these nations.

This means that out of 11 Englishmen going in to the auction many will be left alone. It also means that the ones who have put there names in the auction do not have major national team aspirations or expect to only play in some part of the auction

Due to contractual obligations with Nottinghamshire Alex Hales and Samit Patel have to have the maximum starting price. This is a move to warn off teams who are going to sign them and rarely use them as the price tag means that they will be a focal point for the franchise to some extent. It was put in place more specifically so that if they did play in the IPL it would be financially worth it for the players rather than performing for their county.

This could prove as a stumbling block for Patel, however his performances while in India for England may persuade owners to sign him up. Hales and his T20 performances in the Big Bash will definitely get him a team.

The players in the next price bracket I have decided to label as forgotten men of English cricket. Craig Kieswetter, who was man of the match in the 2010 T20 World Cup, has fallen right down the pecking order with the performances of Jos Buttler and the emergence of Ben Foakes, He didn't have the strongest of Big Bash's but his all rounder status and availability may prove to be reasons for a potential purchase.

Luke Wright, who is seen by England as mercenary T20 player, despite him constantly rejected this status, performances in the Big Bash means he will have suitors fighting for him. Rikki Clarke, who has been in the shadow of Andrew Flintoff, was given limited opportunity for England and, despite consistently strong performances for Warwickshire, will never be given another chance. This is seen as a chance to cash in before retirement but his lack of exposure means that it will be a surprise if he is picked up.

Ravi Bopara has played in the IPL before so he will looked out for especially at the lower price tag. Ian Bell's lack of X factor may go against him with the razzle dazzle of the IPL looking for huge hitters rather than touch players, with the only example going against this trend is Mahela Jayawardne. Also with a One Day International series starting before the tournament finishes both will leave early.

Dimitri Mascarenhas is unattached, as is Simon Jones, but both are ageing and their best cricket is behind them. Their low prices and experience may make them a attractive purchase, but they have been left out of the England set up for many years now and even if they do get bought I can't see them playing in too many matches.

Jade Dernbach, whose horror show down under, will struggle to find a suitor as his recent performances are fresh in the memory. Even though he is consistently one of the better performances in the English Twenty20 he has not carried this form into international cricket.

There will not be much English interest in this tournament, as has become a trend of recent years, apart from the KP factor. Outside of KP there will be a few names making the odd appearance but with Eoin Morgan deciding to focus on County cricket there will not be the same level of interest.

England's batting needs dynamism not dullness

Since Andy Flower's departure as head coach of the Test side England have been looking to fill the void left by one of England's most successful coaches. Flower lead the side to three Ashes series victories and victory at the 2010 T20 World Cup.

With the desire to have the same coach over all three formats the bookies favourite, and most likely replacement, Ashley Giles will need to rebrand English cricket once again.

This appointment will not sit pretty with those favouring the shorter format of the game. He has had some success in ODIs, pushing India to the limit in the final of the Champions trophy on home soil. However, heavy defeats down under and a very passive style of play has seen criticism.

The brand of cricket England play in ODIs is passive and predictable. The aim is set the game up with England 170-3 after 35 overs and hope that either Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler or Ravi Bopara can get them up to the 300 mark. This is the tactic used on pitches that expansive teams such as India and South Africa look to score in excess of 350.

England's tactics work in English conditions. Green tops and grey skies mean that keeping wickets in hands against the swinging ball is crucial. Though, in flat pitches around the world, this tactic is not effective at all.

Ashley Giles needs to reassess this tactic because teams are often unable to restrict batting sides to scores lower than 300. This means making sure that the right personnel are batting in the right positions and that the style that they go at.

Before injury limited his match time at the 2011 World Cup, Kevin Pietersen opened the batting. This move signalled intent. Before the most recent series against Australia England's top four consisted of players regarded as Test top threes, rather than dynamic ball strikers. Cook, Bell, Trott and Root all have good stats but their strike rates are much to be desired.

Strike rates at: Bell 75,  Cook 79, Trott 77, Root 78 is not quite good enough when these players take up a lot of the innings.

With Trott's illness causing him to take time away from the sport England have replaced him with Stokes at number three. Time will tell whether this will work, but what it does do is push Morgan down to five. You want you best players spending as much time at the crease as possible and with Morgan at five and Buttler and England's dynamic duo are expected to play catch up and do miraculous things every time they come to the crease, which is just not feasible.

England need to find a Shikhar Dhawan or Aaron Finch to open the batting with Cook in the near future, Bell at 32 does not have many years left in him. I like Root at three because he has opening experience and when he's set he can go through the gears, something that experts have heavily criticised English top order batsmen in the past.

Morgan has to go at four, this just needs to happen if England want to progress as a team. Bopara is in the side because of the medium pace option he brings and his potential but I think England need to decide now whether they want him in the side for the World Cup and if so he has until then to perform otherwise another option is needed.

Buttler then goes six, Stokes seven then Another all rounder at eight would bring a good balance to the England side. England are too obsessed with Morgan and Buttler being finishers and should look at the way that Australia set up their side. James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson or Nathan Coulter - Nile can finish an innings allowing Glenn Maxwell to bat further up the batting order.

England need to be more dynamic with their batting in order to stop the stodgy or panic batting we have seen so far.

Week 1 Hockey vs Chennai Choppers

The next fixture saw Hockey bat first against the Chennai Choppers. The result saw Chennai Choppers win by one wicket with 10 balls remaining.

The first few overs were very even with openers Hansey and danger man Whiting restricting runs off the bat, however, as it would do throughout the innings, extras kept the batting side up with a par total.

The inconsistent bowling from the change bowlers and some impressive hitting from Tom saw Hockey start to mount an imposing total.

Some testing bowling at the end and three batsman having to go to work saw Hockey reach the a rather competitive 98.

With only three bowling options to choose from it was never going to be easy but with an early break through for Inch things were looking up for the bowling side.

The consistency of the bowling was in stark contrast as very few extras were being conceded in the opening gambits.

Whiting, at almost 3 runs a ball, retired and just as Willmore was starting to get going indecision caused a run out and lead to a middle order collapse. This collapse saw Inch pick up another wicket and Coleman run out in farcical circumstance: Tomkinson hit the ball off the roof onto the back wall meaning that the ball was still live, Coleman not knowing sprinted towards the strikers end without realising he was being run out at the non strikers end.

With 36 runs needed from 18 balls and one wicket remaining anything was possible. Big hitting from Tomkinson and Whiting saw the Chennai Choppers with 10 balls remaining.

Had there been all six players available for Hockey the result may have been different.

UEAPL Week 1 Frosties on my Warbies vs Brokebat Mountain

I have set up an indoor cricket league with University taking part and each week I will give a brief round up of results and increase interest in the tournament.

The tournament sees four times face each other twice over a 6 week period. It is 6 players 8 overs aside games.

The opening games saw Frosties on my Warbies face off against Brokebat Mountain. Batting first F o m W got off to an imposing start with opener Williams and Loughlin striking the ball nicely without any remorse.

When these two reached the retirement score the introduction of skipper Da Silva. He was left stunned as when he saw his stumps knocked back causing a sense of confidence to strike through the Brokebat Muntain side. A smart catch from Cowie off Hopwood's bowling to  emphasised a fragile middle order as very quickly they saw themselves 3 down and Williams returning.

With the solid, if unassuming, Burt at one end stopping the rot and the returning Williams pushing his score up to a joint tournament high of 37* F o m W hit a very impressive 128/3 from their 8 overs.

The main focal point of the innings, the opening partnership, was constructed impressively. The two complimented each other, with the touch of Williams contrasting the brutal hitting of Loughlin.

Brokebat Mountain, not boasting any regular indoor players, showed impeccable fight in the field and while batting. Having been strangled throughout there inning thanks to some very economical bowling from Da Silva and Cheeriag, and losing wickets to the mercurial bowling of Burt Brokebat Mountain looked set to be steam rolled.

 Yet, in his second over, Burt's bowling was feasted upon by Hopwood who scored 4 boundaries in consecutive balls. His cameo 24 gives promise for the remainder of the tournament and a sign that once the team grows accustomed to the new surroundings they can be competitive.

With 82 amassed, more will be needed to be competitive but with a competitive total of 100 not far of Brokebat Mountain should not be disheartened. F o m W though look formidable if a little dependent on the opening two batsman.

However, If these two can continue to post totals and with good bowling options they look like the side to beat.