lookupsport

Ok, so my prediction was a bit wrong! I don’t claim to be a football expert (if your home team is Hull City, what chance do I have!) but I really did not think Man U would do that well last night. Did any of u? Really enjoyed the second half and top marks to Wayne!

As for this evening - loyalty has to be with Liverpool. Went to Uni there and would love to see Chelsea lose something. Think Jose (even though he one sexy guy ) is being a bit silly with all his jibes - can’t he just concentrate on the football?

Anna x

Hi all

I am back - very sorry I have not been on and ‘blogged’ for a while. I have been told off!

My excuse is that the F1 season has only just started (sort of)! All credit to Mr Hamilton. He is doing ok. I think it is a bit to early to say he is the ‘best’ driver and he will win a championship - I hope he does (I don’t want to sound a pessimist) but I would like to see if he manages to overtake quite so easily in the next few races. Everyone has been very kind to him - I don’t think Mr M Schumacher would have been quite so generous! Now the drivers hit Europe, we will see a different style of racing. Watch out Monaco - Mr Hamilton’s GP 2 experience should be in his favour and it could be a fascinating qualifying….the actual race will all depend on where everyone starts.

As for Mr Button…bless him. Think you should have gone to Williams………

The other story grabbing the news attention (when really it shouldn’t) is our Mr Cooke leaving the true Hull rugby league team (FC of course!) and deserting to the red and whites. I think he will regret how he has gone about it. As I understand it, the Rugby Football League will not let him register with KR until he has sorted out his contract with FC. Why did he not sort that before it hit the press? I know that is easier said than done but really - we are making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. I was at the game last Friday and many of the fans had a few choice words. When Cooke came on, he was clapping the fans so it was pretty obvious somthing was up - its just embarrassing though. If he really wants to join them, let him. Bet they go down this season anyway………

As for this evening’s football - 0-0 to Man U!

xx A

Well the 888.com World Snooker Championship is upon us already, although for the first time in 27 years without the legend Whirlwind Jimmy White, who failed to qualify. 

It seems like it was just last month that Graham Dott ground out a victory over Peter Ebdon.  Like so many former Champions, he has fallen already to the crucible curse, losing in the first round to fellow Scot Ian McCulloch.  Clearly devastated Dott said that the result had “ruined his year”, although he can have no complaints with the result, having played some of the worst snooker of his professional career.

Rocket Ronnie looks set to send Ding packing having stormed to an 8-1 lead.  If body language is anything to go by Ding was beaten mentally after the first 2 frames.  (Perhaps he has memories of the masters still resonating in his mind).  The drama of the first round though was saved for the match between veterans John Parrot and Steve Davis.

In a nail biting match Davis came back from 6-1 down to take Parrot to a deciding frame.  In a nervy frame riddled with mistakes, Parrot eventually won, with Davis unfortunately sinking the white off of an attempted pot to give Parrot the chance he needed.  An interesting point came up during the final frame though.

Parrot had only the black to aim at and no clear safety shot on with a red hanging over a corner pocket.  A debate immediately sprang up between Terry Griffiths and Willie Thorne with Thorn suggesting that Parrot deliberately play the black onto the red conceding the 7 points but leaving the white safe.  Griffiths seem to think this could be called a deliberate foul and a miss for unsportsmanlike conduct.  Parrot tried it nervetheless and whether by accident or design the red failed to drop.  The referee would have faced a difficult decision had it gone in.  Davis carefully side-stepped the issue by saying it could have been deemed unsporting, but was a mute point as it hadn’t gone it. 

I wonder if it would have ruined a friendship - either way it could have led to an interesting atmosphere in the commentary box later in the tournament!

For a list of UK Snooker shops visit Lookupsport.com

So Manchester United and Chelsea have it all to play for.  But how will the honours be shared and will either of them win the Champions League or will they be pipped by Liverpool or Milan?

I have some predictions to make.  And am happy to be shot down should they be wrong, but I am pretty confident I have to say.

Premiership - Manchester United

FA CUP  - Chelsea

Champions League - Chelsea

i just have a feeling that having turned around a 3-1 deficit against Spurs and scoring a last minute winner in the last round of the Champions League that it’s Chelsea’s year - much as it pains me to say it.  I would like to see the big spenders walk away with nothing other than the Cup they already have and Morinho get pushed out but I’m afraid to say that I don’t think it will happen and he will leave on a high.

Find UK Football Shops on Lookupsport.com

Well having completely forgotten to bet on the Grand National on Friday - unbelievably work got in the way - I had to find rush about Saturday morning to try and find an internet cafe.  Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue in most towns, but in the little town of Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which I happened to be visiting for reasons I cannot divulge, it wasn’t to be easily achieved.  I could have gone to the high street bookmaker of course, but that would have meant paying over cash rather than using my cricket winnings, which have been sitting in my online account since England’s last convincing performance in the cricket.  Yes they have been there a while.

So having struck out at the local library where it had “crashed”, I was directed to a small computer shop where for £2 I was able to use the internet for 2 whole minutes, and selected Ballycassidy to be my steed for the day.

In previous years I haven’t even heard the name of my horse mentioned but this year I was leading from the front - or at least second from the front for most of the way.  I knew that meant I was doomed, and sure enough he fell 4 from home, leaving me crying into my beer and rueing the day Hornsea discovered the internet. 

As you know doubt all know by now Silver Birch went on to win much to the delight of at least one screaming banshee in the pub I watched from, as well as to many Irish punters no doubt.  So that was it for another year - until next year’s National I’ll stick to what I know best.  I have put £10 on England to win the cricket World Cup afterall, so I clearly know something about sport…

So with England having bowled Bangladesh out for 143, I sat down to watch them knock the runs off in double quick time, thinking maybe 25-30 overs.  With Liverpool safely in the semi-final of the Champions League, then this would mean I would be able to watch The Apprentice in relative peace.  But this is England don’t forget.

With the predictable loss of an early wicket, although this time not Vaughan, we scratched around scoring at around 3 an over before Strauss got trapped LBW.  Predictably Vaughan followed, still looking painfully out of touch and then KP, Flintoff and Bopara with Flintoff at least looking like trying to attack the slow left arm spin that made up Bangladesh’s attack. 

Ok the result was important, but so was the run rate and they will never have a better chance of increasing it then they did yesterday.  When  9:00pm arrived and we still needed 8 runs and Collingwood and Nixon had carefully blocked out 3 overs on the trot, it was time to turn over to BBC1. I plucked up the courage to flick back 5 minutes later and guess what?  We still needed 8 runs but thankfully were gifted 4 wides when Bangladesh obviously felt sorry for us and thought they would give us a helping hand.  We did eventually stagger to the finish a few balls later with Nixon hitting the winning runs and going on a lap of honour like we had won the World Cup itself.  

The result was important, but if as a team we are not confident enough to attack a weak bowling attack and knock off 144 in quick time, how are we going to do when put under severe pressure by South Africa and let’s not forget the West Indies - that game is not a given either.  

I heard a snippet of Vaughan saying that the Bangladesh are a good side and that they have beaten South Africa in this tournament.  But get this right - they are not a good side and on the basis of this performance neither are England.  At best we are a good side woefully low on confidence.  As in all sport, technique and ability will only get you so far.  The most important part of top level sport happens between the ears.  If you have no confidence then you will get nowhere regardless of anything else.  For some reason, one or two players excepted, England have no confidence, and appear scared to take a game by the scruff of the neck and win it.  If they end up going out on net run rate then they will look back at this game with regret.

The last time I had a rant like this they went on to win the Commonwealth Banks Series.  Let’s hope the same thing happens here. 

Fraser

Click here for a full list of  UK Cricket Shops

As a big Kevin Pietersen fan I am afraid to say I was disappointed with his display on Sunday.  On the way to his 50 with Bell he was his usual sublime self, imposing himself on the bowlers, which in itself encouraged Bell to play with more confidence.  However, once Bell got out, and as he approached his century he definitely played within himself. 

Now it can be justifed in that he has been criticised lately (as have the rest of the team) for getting starts and not going on to convert them.  And yes, we needed to bat out the remaining overs, and with wickets falling all over the place, the onus was on him to stay around.  But with the numbers of balls reducing all the time and the runs not coming he should have opened up between overs 40-45, and with a sailing wind we might have posted 30-40 more runs and given he would have still got his 100. 

At the time it wasn’t clear if the pitch really was that slow and was therefore making it difficult, but Symmonds put that one to bed with a flurry of boundaries to seal the victory, albeit in different cicumstances.  It would have been an interesting situation had we been chasing the runs instead of posting a total ourselves.  If we had clearly needed 6 or 7 runs and over to win, would he have played in the same way? 

Having said all this, he is clearly the best batsman we have at the moment, and a little support from the other so called specialist batsmen in the team would not go amiss.  At the moment we appear to be playing with a batting line up of 3, which will never be enough even against sides such as Bangladesh, particularly with a bowling attack as toothless as ours.

I sat down to watch England comfortably knock off the 236 runs they would need to beat Sri Lanka last night, safe in the knowledge that it would not be an easy ride despite the commentary team thinking their score was below par.

It appeared I was right when within a couple of overs England had lost both Vaughan and Joyce again for a handful of  runs.  Up stepped Bell and after his performance against Ireland I was all set for a long slow innings.  Here is where it left the script.  Spurred on by Pietersen who was hell bent on scoring fast Bell himself stepped up to the plate or rather on the accelerator, until that is the Sri Lankans turned to spin when the run rate slowed dramatically.  Interestingly they had kept back one power play too, so nothing too much to worry about as we progressed steadily.

Then having still only taking 2 wickets after 30 overs, up came the third and final power play.  Now time for the KP show and some real scoring you would think.  But again it went against the script with KP, Bell, Flintoff and Collingwood all disappearing within a few overs.  In fact England managed just 25 runs and lost 3 wickets in the powerplay overs.  And this is supposed to be an advantage to the batting team - maybe others should consider delaying it in the same way! 

The most unfortunate of these dismissals was without a doubt Bell.  Having touched his bat down it bounced up again but not more than a centometre, and during that split second the bails were whipped off.  The most unfortunate dismissal you will ever see - damn that third umpire Koetzen who needed to see it from 5 different angles only one of which showed him out.

At 133/6 the commentary team had written them off but hadn’t counted on the blend of youth and experience that was to come in the shape of Nixon and Bopara.  They batted steadily and sensibly at 4 sometimes even 5 an over as the run rate increased to double figures.  Then when all looked lost they opened up and although road their luck a little they were brave in a controlled manner, with Nixon hitting a reverse sweep for six to get the crowd on their feet.  Ah yes the crowd - the first time they have been heard in weeks of World Cup cricket.

When Nixon went with 16 required off of 8 balls it looked all over again until Bopara hit a boundary and managed to keep Mahmood off strike leaving 12 required from the last over.  A boundary off the first ball and it looked possible.  2 from the next and then a single each from Bopara and Mahmood left Bopara on strike with one ball to face and 3 needed for the win.  It was odds on a draw surely. 

Fernando ran up to bowl and then inexplicable failed to release the ball and it was declared dead as he went back to his mark.  Deliberate or just nerves - nobody knew.  Then  he bowled - right in the slot and Bopara heaved.  The crowd went wild.  The commentator thought it had gone for 4 - but in fact Bopara knew he had missed and heard the death rattle that signalled a Sri Lanka victory. 

The wrong result for England but the best match so far of the World Cup which has seen too many one sided matches in front of too few spectators to provide much entertainment.

The stand off (no pun intended) between the RFU, and English Clubs is casting a massive shadow over the future of the Heiniken Cup.  The RFU are taking a firm stance over the clubs refusal to play if the French teams go ahead and pull out of the competition, and are threatening legal action.  The big question is how did the game get into such a mess?

Unfortunately the root to the trouble lies in the professionalism of the sport.  Once the rules were changed and the players turned professional the whole shape of the game was bound to change, with the emphasis being on the bottom line.  The players and the clubs are now focussed on money and that always leads to the detriment of the game. 

If the boycott goes ahead and the RFU take the legal action they are threatening, then the sport will be in ruins, with the biggest losers being the fans as always.

Fraser

For excellent deals on rugby boots visit sportbuyer.co.uk