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• Sport
• India cricket team

India v Pakistan: Umar Gul targets India's 'crucial' top three

• 'They are depending on the top three,' says Gul
• Saeed Ajmal: 'The job is only half done yet'

• Press Association
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 10.46 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Pakistan's Umar Gul, looking for an early breakthrough for Pakistan in his side's World Cup semi-final clash with India. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP The Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul has promised to meet fire with fire in Wednesday's World Cup semi-final with India. Led by captain Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's attack has been a potent weapon on their run to the last four but their sternest test so far awaits them in Mohali when they encounter the most accomplished batting line-up at the tournament.
  India's explosive opening duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have combined for 721 runs so far, while 341 runs from the bat of Yuvraj Singh and 269 from Gautam Gambhir adds to the threat to the Pakistan attack.
  However, Pakistan showed their teeth to the full in their quarter-final demolition of West Indies, dismissing their opponents for just 112 before easing to victory by 10 wickets. "India's batting line-up is very strong but our bowling is very good and equally up to the task," said Gul, who has taken 14 wickets in the tournament, seven fewer than his captain.
  "Afridi is the leading wicket-taker. We have a bit of an advantage with our bowling but I am happy with the way the batsmen played in the quarter-final," continued Gul, who has set his sights on the early scalps of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir if Pakistan are to have a realistic chance of victory.
  "The first three wickets are very crucial for us. They are depending on the top three," he said. "I am in good form and am looking for these three wickets."
  Pakistan have never defeated India in a World Cup match and Gul concedes the stakes could not be higher: "Whether it is a knockout match or a league match, any match against India is a big match always, a high-pressure match," he said. "The last time we played here, we chased 327 but it depends on how the wicket behaves. The average good score here will be 270-280."
  The experienced Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal is also expecting amomentous struggle in front of 30,000 partisan Indian fans. "It's a huge match for everyone, the players, the fans, everyone involved in it," he said. "A World Cup semi-final can only be surpassed in one-day cricket by the World Cup final itself. The added spice to the occasion of course is that the opponents are India and that the match is in India itself.
  "For the Australian and English players the Ashes is a big series and for Indian and Pakistani players, the matches against your arch-rivals have a special meaning. The whole world will be watching and following the match and it should be a fantastic occasion. These are the sort of matches that you look forward to playing in and dream about."
  After so many negative headlines in recent months, Ajmal is delighted the Pakistan team has managed to put together a strong showing on the game's biggest stage.
  "We knew that many had written us off before the tournament and said that we would make it to the quarter-finals at best," he said. "We wanted to prove those people wrong and the best way to do that was to let our cricket do the talking. We won our group, we beat Sri Lanka, we defeated Australia but the job is only half done yet, we want to go further in this tournament."
  
  

 

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Ricky Ponting to join tour party for Bangladesh under Michael Clarke

&#8226; Ponting resigned as captain but is keen play on for Australia
&#8226; Will give the next captain 'my total and full support'

• Andy Wilson
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 15.36 BST <li class="history">Article history
  Link to this video Ricky Ponting will return to the ranks for the first time since January 2004 when Australia head for Bangladesh next week for a three-match one-day series. At a press conference in Sydney to announce his resignation as captain of both the Test and one-day teams, Ponting stressed his willingness and enthusiasm to play on under his successor &#8211; if selected.
  It may come as a surprise that Ponting will play on rather than walk away from the game. But it is understood that he had already been reassured of his inclusion in the tour party for Bangladesh that will be led by Michael Clarke.
  "I'm really excited about the future for me, going on and the next chapter in my life as a player," said the Tasmanian, who turned 36 last December &#8211; during his third losing Ashes series as Australia's captain.
  "What I'm so excited about is being able to give the next captain my total and full support, whoever that person may be. I'll be sitting in the corner of the dressing rooms, like everybody else, and I'll be waiting for someone to come and ask me for advice.
  "It's my turn to step away and completely hand over to the next captain, and obviously whoever that may be will have my full and total support as long as my playing days are here."I'm looking forward to continuing doing my best for Cricket Australia, for Australian cricket, and for the Australian cricket team. I want to continue to lead by example on and off the field, for my team&#8209;mates and for future cricketers coming on. I think I've still got a lot to offer as a player, and certainly as a leader for some of the younger guys around, if and when required."
  Ponting has led Australia in a record 228 one-day internationals since he took over the captaincy when Steve Waugh was dropped during a series in South Africa in 2002, and in 77 Tests after Waugh's retirement in Sydney two years later. His 48 Test wins as captain are an Australia record, and the 16 on the trot between December 2005 and January 2008 equalled the record set by Waugh's team between 1999 and 2001.
  Since then, though, Ponting has endured consecutive Ashes defeats, with his poor form in the latest series raising further questions about his future as captain. The questions have intensified during the World Cup, even after his gutsy century that proved insufficient to avert a quarter&#8209;final exit against India in Ahmedabad last week.
  "He leaves on a terrific note having made that fighting century in the quarter&#8209;final," said Ian Chappell, another man who played on after resigning as Australia's captain &#8211; in his case under his brother, Greg. "He has taken the decision at the right time, rather than having to be pushed out. He'll be remembered as a warrior who was beaten and bloodied, but not bowed."
  Chappell warned, however, that Ponting's determination to play on could cause trouble for his successor. "That's something Australian cricket hasn't done too often," he told Cricinfo. "There's no doubt he's still the best batsman in the side. The problem will come if he doesn't just step away and let Michael Clarke take charge of the team. If he can divorce himself from the leadership, then it might work. If he can't, there's a problem."
  Ponting insisted he was leaving entirely of his own volition &#8211; "there's been no tap on the shoulder from anybody," he said &#8211; and launched a strong defence of his record when the three Ashes defeats were inevitably brought up. "It's funny how we talk about losing the Ashes three times. Playing in three World Cup winning teams never comes up very often, winning 16 consecutive Test matches doesn't come up very often, winning 30-odd consecutive World Cup games doesn't come up very often, but that's the world we live in."
  He has previously declared his determination to play in a ninth Ashes series in England in 2013, but seemed to concede that is now unlikely in explaining his reasons for standing down now. "The possibility of me being around for either of those series is probably remote ... So I just thought the timing was spot on." Ends...
  
  

 

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Michael 'Pup' Clarke must find his inner mongrel to captain Australia

If Michael Clarke is annointed captain he faces a tough job rebuilding the team

• 
• • Kevin Mitchell
  • guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 21.34 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Ricky Ponting, left, said Michael Clarke should be the next Australia captain. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images In between sending love tweets to Liz Hurley's parrot, allegedly, Shane Warne took time out to join Ricky Ponting in announcing Michael Clarke as the next Australia captain. It was a peculiarly irreverent, Australian coronation, ignoring protocol and one the new boy would appreciate.
  For years, the establishment has tried to tame the Australia cricket team, with cosmetic and flickering success. What a conveyor belt of administrators have been unable to kill is the dressing&#8209;room spirit that has sustained teams led by such disparate captains as Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ponting, and the premature anointing of Clarke by Warne and Ponting, two excellent larrikins, is of a piece with that independence.
  While Clarke is heir to a tradition stretching back to Ian Chappell, the original rebel, he confronts challenges unknown to Waugh, who skippered the team from heaven, and only recently visited upon Ponting. The great Australian cricket machine is cracking and creaking at the edges.
  Is Clarke the man to hold it together? He has some of the personnel but not quite enough to feel confident that, after a welcome four-month hiatus, he can roar back into battle like the teams of the '90s and Noughties, in back-to-back tours in Sri Lanka and South Africa, New Zealand at home then four Tests against cricket's current kings, India. And all that on the back of a miserable walk-on part in the Ashes debacle, followed by an unexpected exit from the World Cup.
  If he is to survive those torments, Clarke will need a dressing room of uncommon unity in a time of flux. The kid they still call Pup (even though he turns 30 on Saturday) will have to find his inner mongrel.
  Vintage heroes such as Mike Hussey and Simon Katich will go unwillingly, given the good money on offer, and Clarke still has some quality available in Brad Haddin and Shane Watson, but not much proven stock beyond that.
  Clarke's team, after a minor clearout, will be largely his: the promising Usman Khawaja (they share an alma mater in Sydney's western suburbs), Callum Ferguson, perhaps, Tim Paine, the bright young reserve wicketkeeper, and a slew of untried young fast bowlers of potential but no international pedigree.
  His other problem is that there seems to be little enthusiasm at large for him. For reasons largely of his own making, Clarke is perceived as flash and a bit full of himself, with his convict chic No1 haircut, and his too-obvious café lifestyle. He once had the cartoon celebrity girlfriend, with a name that was a gift for the tabloids, Lara Bingle, and they drove around Sydney's bright lights in his smart car, his love for her inked into a tattoo on his rippling right bicep.
  Lara left but the pain stayed, Clarke infamously coming home from Australia's tour of New Zealand in March 2010 to try to patch things up, his priorities not sitting well with cricket-lovers.
  This is Clarke's world then, one not far removed from that occupied by the retired but still-tweeting Warne, a fishbowl existence that has nothing to do with his ability to smite a sweet drive but everything to do with his public image, which matters overly to the conservative folk who run the game.
  Ponting came through break-of-dawn fist fights in Sydney's red light district, a public confession that alcohol was briefly a problem, a spate of fines for minor on-field tantrums and the very occasional disappointing result. But those bad numbers mounted towards the end of his time at the helm and that is what really drained him. He looked around, and the old faces had gone. He was on his own.
  Had Australia won the World Cup, had they not been totally outplayed in the Ashes (Ponting's third failure in charge), had he scored some runs against England, Ponting would not have walked from a job that, in Australian cultural bragging rights, ranks just behind that of prime minister. In fact, it is hard to remember an Australian prime minister who was not in awe of an Australia cricket captain.
  Whether Julia Gillard will fall into the adoring line once occupied by John "cricket tragic" Howard and, in the distant past, Bob Menzies, to shake Pup's paw we will see. There is every chance that if Clarke and his team do not deliver at least some results over the next tough year, the invitations to Canberra might be muted.
  He has some credit in the bank, already, though; in defeat in Sydney in January, filling in for the injured Ponting in the fifth Test, he was humble and statesmanlike in admitting, "This is as close to rock bottom as it gets".
  It is a circular irony that the one player who can best help Clarke to lift Australia off the floor is the man who on Tuesday handed him the keys to the car.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Michael Yardy keeps his place in the England performance squad

&#8226; Yardy left World Cup early because of depression
&#8226; Uncapped Jade Dernbach named in squad for 2011

• Andy Wilson
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 20.59 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Jade Dernbach, the 24-year-old Surry seamer, has been included in the England performance squad. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images Michael Yardy has retained his place in the England performance squad after his early departure from the World Cup squad because of depression. The Sussex captain has an incremental contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board, and his inclusion in the 27-man squad named on Tuesday confirms that he is still in the frame for this summer's one-day and Twenty20 internationals against India and Sri Lanka.
  Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire leg-spinner who made a fruitless journey from the England Lions tour in the Caribbean to Sri Lanka to replace Yardy, has also been picked, and the selectors have again shown their faith in Graham Onions, the Durham seamer who has not played for almost a year since leaving last winter's tour of Bangladesh with a back problem.
  Onions is in Abu Dhabi, where Durham are preparing for the season, and hopes to make his first-class comeback in their opening match of the county season against Hampshire, which starts at the Rose Bowl on Friday week.
  There is also an apparent vote of confidence in his Durham team-mate Paul Collingwood, who retired from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes series but remains keen to continue in the one-day game despite losing his place during the World Cup. The 34-year-old is due to have knee surgery which is likely to affect his availability for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, which begins next week.
  Jade Dernbach, the South Africa-born Surrey seamer who was called into the World Cup squad shortly before Rashid when Ajmal Shahzad was forced home because of a hamstring injury, is the only uncapped player in the 27. Dernbach was Surrey's leading wicket-taker last summer with 51 at an average of 27.25, and even though he has never played in the First Division of the County Championship, the England selectors have been impressed.
  "Jade Dernbach is a player whose progress we have been monitoring closely for some time and he has continued to impress the selectors over the winter with his performances for England Lions and the England Performance Programme," said Geoff Miller, the ECB's national selector. "The England Performance Squad is designed to allow the selectors to monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game.
  "We can name 30 players in the squad but as we did last season have decided to keep three places vacant at this stage and will reserve the right to add additional players to the squad if merited by individual performances during the course of the season."
  England performance squad 2011 Andrew Strauss, (Middlesex) captain; James Anderson (Lancashire); Ian Bell (Warwickshire); Ravi Bopara (Essex); Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire); Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire); Paul Collingwood (Durham); Alastair Cook (Essex); Steven Davies (Surrey); Jade Dernbach (Surrey); Steven Finn (Middlesex); Craig Kieswetter (Somerset); Eoin Morgan (Middlesex); Graham Onions (Durham); Monty Panesar (Sussex); Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire); Liam Plunkett (Durham); Matthew Prior (Sussex); Adil Rashid (Yorkshire); Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire); Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire); James Tredwell (Kent); Chris Tremlett (Surrey); Jonathon Trott (Warwickshire); Chris Woakes (Warwickshire); Luke Wright (Sussex); Michael Yardy (Sussex)
  
  

 

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Ben Foden arrested after argument with taxi driver

&#8226; England full-back arrested on suspicion of criminal damage
&#8226; Foden released on bail on Monday afternoon

• Agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 08.54 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Ben Foden in action for Northampton against Wasps on Sunday, only hours before his arrest in London. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images Ben Foden, the Northampton and England full-back, was arrested by police on Monday morning in London following an argument with a taxi driver.
  Foden was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage at 3.30am, according to a report in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph. Along with a friend, he spent Monday morning in police cells before being released on bail in the afternoon. The alleged incident happened in central London.
  Northampton refused to comment about Foden's arrest while the Rugby Football Union said it was "a matter for the player and his club at the current time".
  Foden, who had scored a try for Northampton in their 39-3 Aviva Premiership victory against Wasps on Sunday afternoon, must return to a police station next month.
  A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "Police were called to reports of an altercation on Old Park Lane, W1, at 3.30am on Monday. A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. A 23 year-old was arrested on suspicion of theft."The RFU announced this afternoon that they would look into the alleged incident before deciding whether to open their own disciplinary proceedings against the Chester-born back.
  An RFU spokesman said: "We are aware of the allegations but at the current time this is a matter for the player and his club and we are working with them to understand the facts of the situation.
  "We will wait to see the outcome of any police investigation before deciding if further action is required."
  Northampton later released their own statement which read: "Northampton Saints takes any such allegations very seriously and is conducting its own investigation to ascertain all the facts of the alleged incident.
  "The club is working with Ben Foden and his representatives, the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby and will continue to do so during the investigation process.
  "Both Northampton Saints and Ben Foden will also continue to co-operate with all the relevant authorities."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

• Sport
• Bath

Sir Ian McGeechan to take sole charge of Bath when Steve Meehan leaves

&#8226; 'We have a new strategy and are moving in a new direction'
&#8226; Northampton launch investigation after Ben Foden is arrested

• Paul Rees
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 20.48 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sir Ian McGeechan was put in charge of selection at Bath three months into the season after joining as performance director. Photograph: Sam Frost for the Guardian Sir Ian McGeechan will be in total charge of Bath next season after the club on Tuesday said the head coach, Steve Meehan, would be leaving at the end of May, a year before the end of his contract.
  The role of Meehan, who has been linked with a return to Stade Français, had become diluted since McGeechan was appointed director of rugby, and put in charge of selection, three months into the season having joined in the summer as performance director with a remit that extended well beyond the senior side.
  A run of poor results in October and November prompted the change and Meehan, who is in his fifth season at the Recreation Ground after joining from Stade Français, will not be replaced. The backs coach, Brad Davis, and the forwards coach, Martin Haag, will work under McGeechan.
  "We have a new strategy and we are moving in a new direction," said the Bath chief executive, Nick Blofeld. "We have mutually agreed that this is a good time for Steve to seek a new challenge and we wish him luck wherever he goes." Meehan said: Meehan not only turned Bath from a club who had been struggling to avoid relegation into title contenders &#8211; they have made the play-offs three times since he joined &#8211; and guided them to success in the 2008 European Challenge Cup final, their first trophy for 10 years, but he transformed their style of play.
  A side who had been the least ambitious in the Premiership started running the ball from behind their own line and playing with an extravagance. McGeechan is more of a pragmatist and after three months without a Premiership victory from September, Bath tightened up and won three league matches in a row without outscoring the opposition on tries.
  "It is the time to move on." "Over the past five years we have developed our style of play and played some terrific rugby, winning the respect of all the clubs in the Premiership and challenging some of the biggest teams in Europe. Before I leave, I will be doing everything I can to ensure we are in the play-offs."
  McGeechan was the first major appointment of the Bath owner, Bruce Craig, who bought the club last year. Craig, a multimillionaire, is pushing to have the salary cap raised or modified to allow him to be able to attract some of the leading players in the southern hemisphere.
  It will be McGeechan's third stint in charge of a Premiership club. His first, Northampton, have begun an investigation after their England full&#8209;back Ben Foden was arrested in the early hours of on Monday morning on suspicion of criminal damage.
  Foden was detained overnight at a London police station and bailed to return early next month.
  Northampton issued a statement saying the the club had launched their own inquiry and that they took the allegations very seriously.
  "The club is working with Ben Foden and his representatives, the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby and will continue to do so during the investigation process. Northampton and Ben Foden will also continue to co-operate with all the relevant authorities."The New Zealand wing Sitiveni Sivivatu will join Clermont Auvergne after the World Cup, the latest international from the southern hemisphere to join the cash-soaked Top 14
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

• Sport
• Bath

Sir Ian McGeechan to take sole charge of Bath when Steve Meehan leaves

• 'We have a new strategy and are moving in a new direction'
• Northampton launch investigation after Ben Foden is arrested

• Paul Rees
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 20.48 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sir Ian McGeechan was put in charge of selection at Bath three months into the season after joining as performance director. Photograph: Sam Frost for the Guardian Sir Ian McGeechan will be in total charge of Bath next season after the club on Tuesday said the head coach, Steve Meehan, would be leaving at the end of May, a year before the end of his contract.
  The role of Meehan, who has been linked with a return to Stade Français, had become diluted since McGeechan was appointed director of rugby, and put in charge of selection, three months into the season having joined in the summer as performance director with a remit that extended well beyond the senior side.
  A run of poor results in October and November prompted the change and Meehan, who is in his fifth season at the Recreation Ground after joining from Stade Français, will not be replaced. The backs coach, Brad Davis, and the forwards coach, Martin Haag, will work under McGeechan.
  "We have a new strategy and we are moving in a new direction," said the Bath chief executive, Nick Blofeld. "We have mutually agreed that this is a good time for Steve to seek a new challenge and we wish him luck wherever he goes." Meehan said: Meehan not only turned Bath from a club who had been struggling to avoid relegation into title contenders – they have made the play-offs three times since he joined – and guided them to success in the 2008 European Challenge Cup final, their first trophy for 10 years, but he transformed their style of play.
  A side who had been the least ambitious in the Premiership started running the ball from behind their own line and playing with an extravagance. McGeechan is more of a pragmatist and after three months without a Premiership victory from September, Bath tightened up and won three league matches in a row without outscoring the opposition on tries.
  "It is the time to move on." "Over the past five years we have developed our style of play and played some terrific rugby, winning the respect of all the clubs in the Premiership and challenging some of the biggest teams in Europe. Before I leave, I will be doing everything I can to ensure we are in the play-offs."
  McGeechan was the first major appointment of the Bath owner, Bruce Craig, who bought the club last year. Craig, a multimillionaire, is pushing to have the salary cap raised or modified to allow him to be able to attract some of the leading players in the southern hemisphere.
  It will be McGeechan's third stint in charge of a Premiership club. His first, Northampton, have begun an investigation after their England full&#8209;back Ben Foden was arrested in the early hours of on Monday morning on suspicion of criminal damage.
  Foden was detained overnight at a London police station and bailed to return early next month.
  Northampton issued a statement saying the the club had launched their own inquiry and that they took the allegations very seriously.
  "The club is working with Ben Foden and his representatives, the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby and will continue to do so during the investigation process. Northampton and Ben Foden will also continue to co-operate with all the relevant authorities."The New Zealand wing Sitiveni Sivivatu will join Clermont Auvergne after the World Cup, the latest international from the southern hemisphere to join the cash-soaked Top 14

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Andy Murray splits from part-time coach Alex Corretja

&#8226; Murray says decision to part company was mutual
&#8226; Former world No1 Lendl could be replacement

• Kevin Mitchell
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 13.59 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  World number five Andy Murray has split with his part-time coach Alex Corretja. Photograph: James D. Morgan / Rex Features Andy Murray has split with his part-time coach of three years, Alex Corretja, after the most dramatic form dip of his career and is expected to announce a replacement, possibly Ivan Lendl, within two weeks.
  Murray, who has lost three first-round matches on the spin to lowly ranked players since Novak Djokovic beat him in the final of the Australian Open, will return for the Barcelona Open, which starts on 18 April.
  "He knows he needs a coach," an insider said, "after nine months without one. And he knows he has to get it right this time."
  Lendl was the world No1 and won eight grand slams, the sort of credentials Murray is looking for. But the Czech-born American who lives in Florida has never coached, and this might prove a problem. He is not the only candidate, I understand.
  Murray has had mixed fortunes since Miles McLagan left his employment last July but Corretja, the former world No2 who did not travel with him to Australia and returned to Barcelona after Murray lost in Indian Wells two weeks ago, was apparently not the ideal solution.
  They part on good terms, however. They have been together since April 2008, during which time the Scot has reached three grand slam finals and won six Masters tournaments. Murray preferred to call the Spaniard his "coaching consultant" and used him mainly on the clay-court swing of the tour.
  "I've had a really good relationship with Alex over the past three years," he said yesterday. "I have learned so much from being around him and I want to thank him for his hard work, enthusiasm, dedication and support. He has been a great friend as well as a mentor to me and we've shared lots of success and good times both on and off the court."
  Corretja was similarly cordial: "Helping Andy has been a great experience for me, he's got great talent and can be one of the best on any surface. I am very thankful to him for his confidence and trust during this time and also to his family, and the rest of Andy's team. I wish Andy, his family and all his team all the best both personally and professionally."
  Suggestions last week that Murray's long-time friend and hitting partner, Dan Vallverdu, would take over as a full-time coach have been dismissed. He will remain as part of Murray's team.
  Friends have become increasingly concerned about Murray's confused start to the season, poor results following excellent training sessions.
  "Andy could do with some advice from the right person," his brother and occasional doubles partner, Jamie, told The Times. "He is good enough to get to that next level, but he needs that something extra that's missing. He needs to find it from himself more than someone else.
  "It's a mental thing. He has all the ability in the world. Maybe it's his approach to tennis. If he does go a different route, you have to give your trust to that person. You have to let your guard down a bit, listen to the guy and accept he's giving his opinion."
  Murray has struggled for much of his career balancing his self-belief with trust in a respected mentor. Corretja was his fourth coach since he joined the tour, after Mark Petchey, Brad Gilbert and McLagan.
  There were informal talks last year with the respected Australian Darren Cahill, who coached Andre Agassi, but Murray preferred to carry on alone when his results picked up.
  He hit top form at the Australian Open until the final, where Djokovic produced the sort of irresistible tennis that Murray could not cope with. He has gone in a deep funk since then, culminating in another desperate performance in Miami this week, dropping serve seven times in losing to the 118th ranked American Alex Bogomolov.
  Whoever his new coach is, it is almost certain Murray will re-examine his safety-first tennis, which is widely considered to be holding him back in big matches against the best players.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Jonathan Woodgate's injury jinx strikes again in Tottenham friendly

&#8226; Calf problem rules defender out of Real Madrid first leg
&#8226; 'It's a real blow to him and the club,' says Harry Redknapp

• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 March 2011 01.42 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, said of the injury to Jonathan Woodgate, pictured: 'It's not good news &#8211;a real blow to him and the club.' Photograph: Neal Simpson/Empics Sport Jonathan Woodgate's injury jinx has struck again after he limped off with a calf problem during a Tottenham Hotspur friendly and he will miss the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.
  Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, told the Sun: "It's not good news &#8211;a real blow to him and the club.
  "He had been training well recently and I was hoping to feature him against Real next week.
  "He'll still travel with us as part of the squad. Real is his old club and this match means so much to him."
  Woodgate looks increasingly unlikely to earn a fresh contract at Tottenham, where his deal expires at the end of the season.
  Tom Huddlestone made his comeback in Spurs's 2-1 friendly win over Barnet after injuring an ankle in November.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Wada appeals over Spanish federation lifting of Alberto Contador ban

&#8226; Appeal made to Court of Arbitration for Sport
&#8226; Contador tested positive for clenbuterol at 2010 Tour de France

• Reuters
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 23.38 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Alberto Contador celebrates his third victory in the Tour de France last year. Photograph: Christophe Ena/Pool/EPA The World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the Spanish Cycling Federation's decision to lift Alberto Contador's doping ban, Wada said.
  The Spaniard, a three-time Tour de France champion, was cleared by the Spanish federation following a positive test for clenbuterol during last year's Tour.
  The International Cycling Union announced last week that it was appealing to the CAS.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

• Sport
• Victoria Pendleton

Victoria Pendleton admits to dip in form but is confident for Olympics

&#8226; 'I do find it hard to get up for the world championships'
&#8226; Olympic gold medallist not concerned about Anna Meares

• William Fotheringham in Apeldoorn
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 March 2011 20.58 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Victoria Pendleton says she feels &#8216;positive' about the Olympics despite her performances in the world championships. Photograph: David Davies/PA Those who are concerned that Victoria Pendleton's mojo may have gone missing can be reassured. The five-time world sprint champion and Olympic gold medallist accepts that she was below par at the world championships in Holland but is adamant that none of her fire has been doused.
  "I don't think I need to do anything to get myself up [again]," she said after leaving the championships with silver in the team sprint, bronze in the match sprint and seventh place in the keirin. "I'm still really positive about getting to the Olympics in my best form and that is the important thing I've ever had to deal with in my life. It's the priority. I was a bit flat this year. I've been a bit frustrated with myself."
  Pendleton accepts, however, that perhaps the scale of the London Games in the scheme of things has diluted her motivation for the world championships. In 2009 she was the only Olympic cycling champion to carry her gold medal form through to the world championships and in 2010 she made it four world titles in a row.
  "I think for me now the Olympics is so big I do find it hard to get up for the world championships. It's like this one doesn't matter, it's all about 2012. I feel like everything has moved down a rung. The worlds feel like a world cup, the world cups feel like the nationals and the nationals might as well be Thursday track league. London 2012 is so off the scale it's quite difficult to really get as geed up for these competitions."
  As for the rise of Australia's Anna Meares, triple gold medallist in the Olympic sprint disciplines last week and clearly a force to be reckoned with en route to London, Pendleton prefers to look at herself first. "I just have to get back to my best form. She didn't beat me in my best form. It would have been different if you'd asked me that and I'd been in Olympic form but she didn't. I'm definitely under par and she is in the form of her life so it's difficult to compare. I'm not really focusing on Anna's performance."
  Her reverses last week have led to the theory that she might drop the keirin in London. "I would never focus on the keirin as a first event. For me the team sprint is most important because there is another person there that is relying on you and I find that hugely motivating. I will pull myself to pieces to back up Jess Varnish's performance. The sprint is my second priority. And if you are in good form for the team sprint and sprint the keirin will come because it is all about confidence."
  Pendleton has said repeatedly that her focus on strength training over the winter might come at the expense of her speed. Last weekend during the sprint and keirin, the evidence was there, but she is convinced the long-term gain is worth the short-term pain. "I made a commitment to a two-year programme, I'm sure it was right. I did a lot of strength work and it did take away my speed. I knew it would but you have to step back to move forward. I'm very confident with what I've gained this year then it will come through. I've done it before and I can do it again."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Lancashire's Old Trafford renovation faces another legal challenge

&#8226; Derwent Holdings apply to court of appeal
&#8226; Delay could jeopardise Lancashire's funding

• Andy Wilson
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 March 2011 17.01 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Any further delay to the renovation of Old Trafford could jeopardise part of Lancashire's funding. Photograph: Gary M. Prior/Getty Images Sport The future of Old Trafford and the Lancashire club is up in the air yet again after another legal challenge to their development plans. The county thought they had seen off a rival developer after a lengthy legal battle when a high court judge ruled in their favour earlier this month, but Derwent Holdings have now applied to the court of appeal.
  Lancashire remain confident that any appeal would be rejected but concede that any significant delay in the process could jeopardise part of the funding they have been promised by the defunct North West Development Agency. Their hopes of completing the redevelopment in time to stage an Ashes Test in 2013 are also hanging by a thread.
  Jim Cumbes, the Lancashire chief executive, advised members on Monday that the annual general meeting that was due for 13 April has been postponed because of the fresh uncertainty.
  "Despite being defeated emphatically in the high court, and being refused leave to appeal by the high court judge only last week, Derwent have announced their intent to try to overturn the high court judgment at the court of appeal in London," Cumbes said. "We have now been forced to take the unprecedented action of cancelling our proposed AGM, pending the outcome of this latest legal threat.
  "Derwent have made so many attempts to derail our project and have been thwarted convincingly at every stage. We remain totally confident that, although they will attempt absolutely everything due to seemingly unlimited financial resources, that we shall succeed eventually."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

BOA steps up fight with Locog over 2012 Games profits

&#8226; BOA 'would not have signed contract' without profit promise
&#8226; Sports minister says government will not intervene in dispute

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• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 21.39 BST
  
  The BOA, and its chairman Lord Moynihan, says it believes it is entitled to profits excluding Paralympic costs. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian The British Olympic Association board has upped the ante in its contractual row with the 2012 organisers, Locog, claiming it would never have signed a contract to host the Games if there was no guarantee of a "significant" share of the operating profit.
  As the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said he would not intervene in the dispute following a meeting with the BOA chairman, Lord Moynihan, representatives from the Olympic sports gathered in London to be updated on the situation.
  David Hemery, the BOA vice&#8209;chairman who was on the board when the original host&#8209;city contract was signed, wrote an open letter to the sports in which he insisted the BOA was led to believe the "real prize" from the Games would be a "significant financial legacy".
  The BOA, which is taking the row to the court of arbitration for sport despite the International Olympic Committee taking Locog's side, insists any post&#8209;Games surplus should be calculated without taking any costs that could be attributed to the Paralympics into account. On that basis, it says the surplus could be as much as £400m.
  Any surplus would be divided 20-20-60 between the BOA, the IOC and grassroots sport. But Locog claims it has always aimed to break even and has treated the Olympics and Paralympics as an integrated whole.
  "Our board would never have so enthusiastically voted in favour of the proposal if we anticipated that in fact there would be no balanced budget, with no sporting legacy beyond buildings in London," wrote Hemery. "To assert we knew this all along is an insult to the common sense decision making of the board members of that time."
  Moynihan said he was "increasingly confident" that £5m due to the BOA under a separate element of the joint marketing agreement with Locog would be delivered but reiterated he would fight on over what he called the "legacy element". He again insisted that Locog's finance director had first mentioned the £400m figure at a meeting with the BOA, despite Neil Wood explicitly denying it earlier this week.
  Robertson said he would not act as a mediator. "The Government is not and cannot be a mediator in a dispute between two private companies and I reiterated that there was no additional government money available to help solve the dispute," he said. "I have encouraged the BOA to resolve the matter as quickly as possible in order to allow everyone to get back to making preparations to ensure 2012 is a great success."
  The row has come as an embarrassment to Games organisers in the week that the IOC inspection committee has arrived to check on preparations.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Olympic stadium completed on time

Designers hail 'the beginning of the end' of the construction phase as arena comes in on schedule and under budget

• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 20.51 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  The last piece of turf was laid in the Olympic stadium by four-time silver medallist Frankie Fredericks. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images The designers of the Olympic Stadium in east London have hailed its completion as "the beginning of the end" for the construction phase of the 2012 Games.
  As International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived in the city for a three-day visit to check on progress, organisers hoped the good news on the completion of the Stratford stadium would overshadow an ongoing row with the British Olympic Association over how any hypothetical profit would be distributed.
  Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, watched Frankie Fredericks, a four-time Olympic silver medallist, lay the last piece of turf on the infield.
  The £486m stadium is the second major venue on the Olympic Park to be finished, after the Velodrome was unveiled earlier last month.
  "I do not want anybody to run away with the idea that this stadium is ready to stage a track-and-field championship tomorrow," said Coe.
  "But as a chairman of an organising committee to be able to tick off this venue is terrific. It is fantastic. I think it will be an intimate theatre for sport and it has fantastic legacy potential, too."
  Work began on the 80,000-seat stadium in May 2008 and the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for spending £8.1bn of public money on the infrastructure to host the Games, said its completion was a "huge milestone".
  "The Olympic Stadium has been finished on time and under budget," said ODA chairman John Armitt.
  "To complete a complicated project such as this in less than three years is testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK construction industry." Rod Sheard, of stadium architects Populous, said he was looking forward to watching "this innovative design perform for the first time".
  He added: "Its completion marks the beginning of the end of the construction phase of London's Olympic Games."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Jeremy Hunt 'blown away' by sport's ability to inspire young people

The ministerial 'convert' has said spending cuts will not damage the sporting legacy of the 2012 London Games

• Owen Gibson
• The Guardian, Tuesday 29 March 2011 <li class="history">Article history
  
  Jeremy Hunt, the culture, media, sports and Olympics minister, was bitterly disappointed by the failure of England's 2018 World Cup bid and says it is time for Fifa to reform itself. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the Guardian Jeremy Hunt's first sporting epiphany came on a school cross-country course. Despite showing "no ability whatsoever", following an arbitrary division between the senior and junior races, he surprised himself by romping to victory over a group of younger boys.
  "The strange thing about it was that it was quite a turning point in my own school career and gave me a tremendous boost in confidence, even knowing all the coincidences that made it possible," he recalls. "The thing about sport is stretching yourself to do things you never thought were possible, it's learning to cope with success and also disappointment. It can really transform people."
  A second such moment, the secretary of state for culture, media, Olympics and sport says, occurred more recently. "When I took the brief in opposition four years ago, it is true to say that I knew least about sport," says Hunt, the breadth of his remit is demonstrated by books about Henry Moore and, bizarrely, N-Dubz on the coffee table in front of him and paintings of racing silks on the walls.
  "But I have enjoyed it the most. It has completely blown me away. Both how easy it is to get gripped by the many things going on in the sporting world but also how incredibly powerful it is as a tool to inspire young people."
  Stirring stuff, illustrated by tales of his trip to a rocking Aviva Stadium to see Ireland stop England in their tracks and the looming responsibility of officiating his first junior football match this weekend &#8211; he is taking an FA refereeing course that has now entered the practical phase.
  But a world away from the knotty policy decisions and Byzantine power struggles facing Hunt as he bears responsibility for delivering the £9.3bn Olympics project, wrestles with intractable problems in football's corridors of power and attempts to put a brave face on the effect his government's cuts programme will have on grassroots sport.
  Ten months after assuming cabinet responsibility for sport, Hunt has finally agreed to speak about it because he is keen to talk up the School Games, launched last week with a letter to head teachers signed by him and Lord Coe.
  Last autumn an angry and articulate coalition of schoolchildren, teachers, Olympians and sports administrators &#8211; backed by opposition MPs concerned recent gains would be squandered &#8211; forced the government into a U-turn over plans by Hunt's colleague Michael Gove to slash funding for school sport.
  According to those involved, even natural political opponents, Hunt played a pivotal role in winning his colleagues round and emerged with much credit. Concern lingers among those at the sharp end but a new funding formula &#8211; based around plans for a network of inter- and intra-school competition that will culminate in regional and national finals &#8211; has given them confidence. "It would be completely wrong to say that under Labour the targets were about participation and that under the coalition it's about competition. We need both," says Hunt. "We've got an obesity crisis to tackle. But we also need actively to embrace the power of competitive sport because life is very tough and it is one of the best ways to teach people how to cope with success and failure."
  But inspiring young people through sport was just one of the legacy promises to help London secure the Games. Another was the notion a home Olympics would somehow inspire the rest of us to get off the sofa. It is a feat that has not been achieved by any previous Games &#8211; and the omens for London do not look good.
  Hunt admits the overall national aim to get 2m more people playing sport and exercising by 2013 has been quietly dropped and it is understood the only remaining component - a 1m target to get more adults playing sport three times a week that will be nowhere near achieved - will shortly follow suit, to be replaced by a more "meaningful" national ambition.
  Listening to Hunt, the Charterhouse-educated son of a naval officer who admits he enjoyed "fantastic" sporting facilities at school despite his lack of aptitude, lay out his plans in measured terms it is easy to forget the devastation that could be wrought on local sports facilities owing to his government's cuts.
  Hunt insists Sport England, which like the elite sport agency UK Sport has had its funding protected by Hunt thanks to changes in the way Lottery money is distributed, will help maintain investment. But early evidence from around the country has swimming pools, leisure centres and community sports projects pulling up the shutters as local authorities cope with the cuts the government says are necessary to deal with the deficit.
  "Let's look at this again in six months' time. I think the local authorities I have had contact with are extremely committed to their sporting provision and are finding new structures and new ways of doing things," says Hunt.
  Part of the reason there has been so much focus on the Olympic legacy has been that preparations for the Games had &#8211; until very recently &#8211; been remarkably smooth, once the initial storm over the £9.3bn budget passed.
  Hunt urges caution as he ruminates on the scale of the task across 19 government departments, from the 150 heads of state that the Foreign Office will have to co-ordinate to the obvious transport challenges.
  "Things are on track but when you think of the scale of this, the number of things that could go wrong is also huge. There is absolutely no room for complacency," Hunt says. Aside from the obvious medal chances in the velodrome and pool, where he will doubtless have the best vantage points on offer, he has applied for tickets to other less heavily subscribed events.
  "My wife's Chinese so I'm going to apply in the ballot for some tickets to the badminton finals and the table tennis finals in the hope it will be Britain against China for those."
  The coalition of interest that had been holding the various Olympic agencies together has been shattered in recent weeks, however. The British Olympic Association's row with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games over the way any hypothetical surplus is defined and distributed, now heading for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, could not have come at a worse time. The IOC's inspectors arrive today for the latest of their regular visits and next week the Olympic sporting world descends on London for the SportAccord conference.
  Hunt chooses his words carefully but cannot hide his annoyance and admits to being "very concerned" about the escalating row. It is clear where Hunt's sympathies lie &#8211; not least because the government believes it is first in line for the first £63m of any hypothetical surplus. "The last thing anyone wants is for key people to be distracted by having to deal with lawyers when we should be focused on operational and logistical issues," says Hunt.
  From one warring tribe we move seamlessly to another &#8211; the depressing, familiar questions swirling around the way English football is run. Hunt talks up the success of the Premier League but does not diverge from the assessment of the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, who called football the worst governed sport in Britain. "Most people find it difficult not to share those views, because there have been so many disappointments in the way football governance has worked in recent years," he says.
  Hunt talks about the need to increase the number of qualified coaches, make it easier for supporters to take a stake in their clubs and produce more homegrown talent to the benefit of the national team.
  Nobody would disagree with those aims. The question is whether the government has the will to drive through the means. Once the parliamentary committee delivers its report Hunt insists he will not be slow to act. "There is a moment now, with the select committee inquiry, with the humility we have to feel over the lack of success of that [World Cup] bid and the England team in South Africa, when we can come together and create something that works," he says.
  Hunt was not alone in looking shell-shocked by the 2018 bid team's failure to secure more than a single vote as he filed out of the conference hall in Zurich where the decision was announced. That immersion in a brand of politics even more mendacious than the Westminster kind left a strong impression.
  "Looking back, I was very disappointed that in retrospect every discussion I had with people associated with the bid in that week wasn't about who had the best bid but it was about who was doing deals with who," he says. "It was very disappointing and I do believe Fifa has to be a lot more transparent. I talked about English football having a moment and I think Fifa has an opportunity now to reform itself in the way the IOC did in 1998 after Salt Lake City and I hope it embraces that opportunity." Some hope.
  Hunt possesses a likeability that some of his colleagues on the Tory front bench lack and, despite the odd high-profile gaffe, many believe that he is destined for promotion shortly after the Olympics. Yet for all that he has impressed many in sport, there are others who believe the debate over football governance will revert to type &#8211; strong words, followed by inertia &#8211; and are waiting for the impact of the looming local authority cuts, in particular, with horror. They fear the government has effectively swapped all the bold legacy promises for grassroots sport that were attached to the Olympics for a two-week jamboree that will make the nation feel a bit better about itself.
  But Hunt insists he remains committed to a genuine legacy, having acquired a real love of sport and its potential. "I would never claim that I'm going to win a pub quiz on sport but I would hope people will be able to see my commitment to sport by what I've done," he says.
  "I've got the zeal of a convert and the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely loves something that hadn't been part of my life for many years, probably since school, and is now something I really enjoy."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Lewis Hamilton sees fight with Fernando Alonso as new 'Senna v Prost'

&#8226; Hamilton casts himself as Brazilian and Alonso as Prost
&#8226; British driver relishing competition at Malaysian Grand Prix

• Paul Weaver in Melbourne
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 March 2011 22.00 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver, believes his Formula One 'nemesis' this season will be clad in the red of Ferrari. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images Sebastian Vettel may be the man most likely to thwart Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a second world championship this season, but as the McLaren driver arrived in the tropical metropolis of Kuala Lumpur it was not the German on his mind but the man he describes as his "nemesis", Fernando Alonso.
  "I will always think that my nemesis and my closest rival will always be Fernando," said an unusually reflective Hamilton. "Just because of my history, when I started out. I see him as my Prost, if we were [Alain] Prost and [Aryton] Senna. If you were to say 'choose a driver' [that I would like to be] I would clearly choose Ayrton. And maybe I would put him as Prost."
  The rivalry between Senna and Prost, which is brilliantly captured in the new film, Senna, was one of the most bitter in all sport. The difficult relationship between Hamilton and Alonso in 2007, when the Spaniard was unsettled and ultimately driven from McLaren by Hamilton's rookie brilliance, had its moments, too. Hamilton, probably, has never received proper credit for his performances that season, when he missed the championship by a single point.
  But is not Vettel his true nemesis now? "I don't think so. If he continues to have a car like he does now then, maybe, but I think when we get equal pace then we will see some serious racing. Maybe he [Vettel] is the new Mansell? Not that I would rate him like I do Mansell." Ouch.
  But with the next race, in Malaysia, almost two weeks away Hamilton is less concerned with racing rivals than his relationship with his family. He is close, once more, with his father and former manager Anthony. And this week he will return to England to see his brother Nicolas, who has cerebral palsy, race for the first time.
  "I can't miss my brother's first race [at Brands Hatch next weekend]. It's OK. I can sleep on the flight. I can still stay in this time zone. I'll just head back to see his qualifying and race and then pop back out. It's cool. I'll get to watch lots of movies on the plane.
  "Me and my brother are close. I mean, everyone has their situations in life, but it has been tough for him. I can understand what he has been through because I am the closest person to him, but even I cannot comprehend what it must have been like to have the difficulties he has had. And now he gets to have the opportunity to live the dream himself. Me and my dad will be there."
  The relationship between Hamilton and his father has been strained for the past year, since Hamilton decided that he no longer wanted Anthony to manage his affairs. But they have been closer in recent months and were seen together at the Australian Grand Prix. Anthony now manages the latest British FI hope, Paul di Resta.
  "This weekend has been great. I don't know whether you saw me and my dad spent a lot of time together. I asked him if he would like to be on the grid with me and he said 'I would love to do that'. It just felt fantastic this weekend.
  "I felt the support that my dad gave me &#8211; it was the same as he has always given me but without the stress. I said to him 'I know you have to go down the other end of the grid' and he said 'No. Paul understands that I want to be up this end as well.'
  "My dad was just there as my dad. He has always given me immense support, but I think it was support mixed with some stress. But this time it was just 'I'm so proud to see you out there' and it was just fantastic. Really, really great. Things are pretty good. Great times and they can only get better."
  Then, suddenly, it was back to racing. "Finally I've got something I can fight with, something I can take the fight to the Bulls with," he said, following McLaren's revival in Melbourne and his second place.
  "Malaysia is a massive downforce track so you're going to see Red Bull as quick if not quicker. But I have no doubts our car can be competitive as well."
  Meanwhile, the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said: "We leave here [Melbourne] knowing we had a car capable of taking two places on the podium. It was genuine pace. Both drivers and the team had a difficult winter and it is fantastic to come out of it that strong. We have to dig deep, it's a long championship and we have to improve race by race."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Lewis Hamilton sees fight with Fernando Alonso as new 'Senna v Prost'

• Hamilton casts himself as Brazilian and Alonso as Prost
• British driver relishing competition at Malaysian Grand Prix

• Paul Weaver in Melbourne
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 March 2011 22.00 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver, believes his Formula One 'nemesis' this season will be clad in the red of Ferrari. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images Sebastian Vettel may be the man most likely to thwart Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a second world championship this season, but as the McLaren driver arrived in the tropical metropolis of Kuala Lumpur it was not the German on his mind but the man he describes as his "nemesis", Fernando Alonso.
  "I will always think that my nemesis and my closest rival will always be Fernando," said an unusually reflective Hamilton. "Just because of my history, when I started out. I see him as my Prost, if we were [Alain] Prost and [Aryton] Senna. If you were to say 'choose a driver' [that I would like to be] I would clearly choose Ayrton. And maybe I would put him as Prost."
  The rivalry between Senna and Prost, which is brilliantly captured in the new film, Senna, was one of the most bitter in all sport. The difficult relationship between Hamilton and Alonso in 2007, when the Spaniard was unsettled and ultimately driven from McLaren by Hamilton's rookie brilliance, had its moments, too. Hamilton, probably, has never received proper credit for his performances that season, when he missed the championship by a single point.
  But is not Vettel his true nemesis now? "I don't think so. If he continues to have a car like he does now then, maybe, but I think when we get equal pace then we will see some serious racing. Maybe he [Vettel] is the new Mansell? Not that I would rate him like I do Mansell." Ouch.
  But with the next race, in Malaysia, almost two weeks away Hamilton is less concerned with racing rivals than his relationship with his family. He is close, once more, with his father and former manager Anthony. And this week he will return to England to see his brother Nicolas, who has cerebral palsy, race for the first time.
  "I can't miss my brother's first race [at Brands Hatch next weekend]. It's OK. I can sleep on the flight. I can still stay in this time zone. I'll just head back to see his qualifying and race and then pop back out. It's cool. I'll get to watch lots of movies on the plane.
  "Me and my brother are close. I mean, everyone has their situations in life, but it has been tough for him. I can understand what he has been through because I am the closest person to him, but even I cannot comprehend what it must have been like to have the difficulties he has had. And now he gets to have the opportunity to live the dream himself. Me and my dad will be there."
  The relationship between Hamilton and his father has been strained for the past year, since Hamilton decided that he no longer wanted Anthony to manage his affairs. But they have been closer in recent months and were seen together at the Australian Grand Prix. Anthony now manages the latest British FI hope, Paul di Resta.
  "This weekend has been great. I don't know whether you saw me and my dad spent a lot of time together. I asked him if he would like to be on the grid with me and he said 'I would love to do that'. It just felt fantastic this weekend.
  "I felt the support that my dad gave me – it was the same as he has always given me but without the stress. I said to him 'I know you have to go down the other end of the grid' and he said 'No. Paul understands that I want to be up this end as well.'
  "My dad was just there as my dad. He has always given me immense support, but I think it was support mixed with some stress. But this time it was just 'I'm so proud to see you out there' and it was just fantastic. Really, really great. Things are pretty good. Great times and they can only get better."
  Then, suddenly, it was back to racing. "Finally I've got something I can fight with, something I can take the fight to the Bulls with," he said, following McLaren's revival in Melbourne and his second place.
  "Malaysia is a massive downforce track so you're going to see Red Bull as quick if not quicker. But I have no doubts our car can be competitive as well."
  Meanwhile, the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said: "We leave here [Melbourne] knowing we had a car capable of taking two places on the podium. It was genuine pace. Both drivers and the team had a difficult winter and it is fantastic to come out of it that strong. We have to dig deep, it's a long championship and we have to improve race by race."

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

England's Australia-based players set to miss June game against Exiles

&#8226; Australian clubs not obliged to release players
&#8226; Sam Burgess already told he will not face Exiles

• Andy Wilson
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 21.16 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sam Burgess will be stopped from playing for England in 'an invented game', say his club, South Sydney. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images England seem certain to be without all of their Australia-based players for the June international against the Exiles, a team of overseas players employed in the Super League, which promises to be a far stiffer test than the June cruises they have enjoyed against France in each of the past four years.
  Details of the fixture, which is expected to be played at Headingley, will not be confirmed until next Monday but it will not be an official Test, releasing Australian clubs from the obligation to make their players available.
  Shane Richardson, the former Gateshead and Hull chief executive who now holds the same role at South Sydney, insisted there is no possibility that Sam Burgess will be allowed to play, as he did against France last summer.
  "He won't be going &#8211; it's not an international, it's an invented game, a trumped-up game," Richardson told Rugby League Week magazine. "The trip home last year had a detrimental effect on Sam which he acknowledged. We agreed he would not go this year and he was part of that decision."
  Gareth Ellis, the former Leeds forward who has made such a positive impact in his two seasons with Wests Tigers, spoke at the weekend of his desire to face the Exiles. But with Souths refusing to release Burgess, it is highly unlikely that the Tigers will allow Ellis to leave them in mid-season, and it will almost certainly be the same story for Gareth Widdop, a young utility back who was born in Halifax but has been a regular at stand-off for Melbourne Storm this year.
  Kyle Eastmond, another player who has effectively been lost to the England coach, Steve McNamara, after his decision to cross codes with Bath at the end of this season, has been warned by his St Helens coach, Royce Simmons, that he will have to continue his comeback from a club suspension with a second consecutive reserve-team appearance next weekend.
  Eastmond's ban, for making obscene gestures at supporters, was lifted too late for him to be considered for the home game against Bradford on last Friday, but Simmons suggested that he will again be omitted for the visit of Hull KR &#8211; with Jonny Lomax and Lee Gaskell, the young half-backs who have impressed in consecutive victories against Leeds and Bradford, retaining their places.
  However, Saints will be without their England forward Jon Wilkin, who returned from injury against Bradford but is facing a further three-week absence after damaging a hand in a gardening accident. "A brush snapped while I was sweeping up and went through my finger," Wilkin tweeted.
  One man who could return to boost McNamara's selection options for the Four Nations series at the end of the season &#8211; but not for the Exiles game &#8211; is Gareth Hock, the Wigan forward who is nearing the end of a two-year suspension after he tested positive for cocaine in June 2009. Wigan's appeal for Hock to be allowed to resume training with them before the end of his ban will be heard next Wednesday.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Super League Set of Six: Round seven

Farewell to Darren Lockyer; can Warrington keep it up; and rugby league in Palestine

• Comments (67)

Farewell Darren Lockyer: Scourge of Great Britain Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport 1) Farewell to a legend

Darren Lockyer announced overnight in Brisbane that he will retire at the end of this season, instigating a debate about how high he might figure in a list of the code's all-time greats. In terms of statistics, he is peerless, as his 54 Tests and 34 international tries are both Australia records, and no other player has matched his 335 appearances for the Brisbane Broncos with a single club. But the facts can't do full justice to his skill, grace, courage and class - on and off the field.
Brian Noble, who suffered at Lockyer's hands so often in his role as Great Britain coach, provided a more colourful tribute. "We use the term 'legend' way too easily in this day and age," Noble said. "Lockyer has been quite simply the best of his time, a true legend and icon. I've said it a million times, he was the difference between winning and losing at the highest level. You can't even hate him, because he's such a great fella."
During the press conference at which he confirmed his plans, Lockyer, who turned 34 last week, ruled out the possibility of a swansong season in the Super League next year, but said that at this stage he still plans to make one last trip to Europe for the Four Nations series this autumn. Let's hope he does, so British rugby fans - of either code, you'd like to think - have one last chance to watch him in the flesh.
2) Please come back, Sonny Bill

It was rather disconcerting to be sitting in the Castleford press box on Sunday afternoon receiving regular updates on Twitter from committed leaguies who had chosen to stay in and watch the Super 15 rugby union on television, rather than get out to a game. That was purely down to the involvement of Sonny Bill Williams, the former Canterbury and New Zealand loose forward who is now starring for the Crusaders.
Sonny Bill confirmed to Anna Kessel in an interview in Sunday's Observer that his current plans extend no further than winning the union World Cup on home soil later this year, and pursuing his promising boxing career on the side. But it would be good to think that the increased television revenue that the National Rugby League are expected to bring in under their next deal will allow one of the clubs to bring Williams' thrilling, explosive talents back to the code in which they were honed.
3) But for the moment...

South Sydney, and their owner Russell Crowe, would surely be among the clubs pressing hardest to facilitate Sonny Bill's return, and it was good to see the Rabbitohs claim their first victory of the NRL season at the weekend, in what sounds like a cracker against Stephen Kearney's Parramatta. I'm indebted to a Twitter follower for alerting me to the pass by Rhys Wesser to Greg Inglis that created one of the Bunnies' tries.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Dream Ahead will miss 2,000 Guineas on fast ground warns David Simcock

&#8226; French and Irish Guineas are other options says trainer
&#8226; Fury set to run in prep race before Newmarket Classic

• Chris Cook
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 March 2011 21.25 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Trainer David Simcock's 2,000 Guineas contender Dream Ahead on the gallops at Newmarket on Tuesday morning. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Getty Images Dream Ahead will not run in the 2,000 Guineas if the going at Newmarket does not have enough give, his trainer, David Simcock, said on Tuesday. The colt is generally available at 16-1 for the first Classic of the year on 30 April, putting him fifth in the betting behind the hot favourite, Frankel.
  "I really want to run in the English 2,000," Simcock said during a media event at his Newmarket stable, "but if things are not right, ie the ground, there are two other options," referring to the French Guineas on 15 May and the Irish Guineas six days later. "I'd like to see some rain here and, if it comes up the fast side of good, then that's a no-no. It's been a very dry March, so we'll have to wait and see."
  Dream Ahead became an exciting prospect when hacking up in the Middle Park by nine lengths in October, beating Strong Suit and Approve, both Royal Ascot winners. He was then beaten by four of his five rivals in the Dewhurst, won by Frankel, but Simcock now feels that may have come too quickly, just a fortnight after his previous race.
  "I was gutted on the day," the trainer reflected. "I didn't want to speak to anyone and you know what people are saying about you. After the Middle Park, he was showing the right signs, but they turned out to be the wrong signs. It was definitely not him that day. His demeanour in the paddock, he was on his toes and he looked light in there and edgy, and I was worried.
  "He had had a few weeks between his [previous] races. We've decided not to give him a prep-run, because of the amount he puts into his races, so the longer between runs the better."
  Simcock said he was "really excited about the thought of putting the record straight", a reference to the betting market's clear preference for Frankel. He added that Dream Ahead had done "fantastically" with his physical progress during the winter.
  "He's a long horse and he has certainly filled his frame. He's a very laid-back horse in his work and we have always felt the step up to seven furlongs would be fine. He gives the impression he will stay a mile and we have trained him with that in mind. If he is a sprinter, so be it."
  Elsewhere in Newmarket, William Haggas said he would give Fury a prep-run to see if his unbeaten colt might be good enough to take his chance in the Guineas. The grey, who won £278,000 in a Tattersalls Millions race in October, is likely to return to the Rowley Mile for the Craven Stakes or the Free Handicap in mid-April.
  "He's only won a maiden and a conditions race so far, but he's very well and we adore him," Haggas told At the Races. "We had a little bit of a setback with him about 10 days ago and he missed a few days' work, but I think he's on schedule for a trial. I don't think he'll be taking on Frankel in the Greenham [at Newbury on 16 April]."