The Sporting calendar

As England cricket basques in the glory of their 2009 Ashes win over Australia, questions need to be asked about the disagraceful scenario the Ashes series 2009, has thrown up.

Cricket is not alone in being a sport under funded by the powers that be, the damage is not just done to the individual sport, but also the children of the UK, that are the new stars of the future.

This has been the first Ashes series that has not been available to watch on the UK terrestrial television channels.
Instead, coverage has been live on subscription TV channel Sky, for a premium price of their sports package of £32 per calendar month (which involves also being tied into a 12 month minimum contract), which in effect means that if we wanted to watch the ashes test matches live, then it would have resulted in a 12 month outlay of £384!
All the fans who have no option but to watch sport on our national TV, have had to watch each night (on the day of a test) a lesser channel (channel 5) for a 40 minute highlights program.
Although channel 5 did a very good job, it is totally unacceptable, to have one of our national sport’s biggest event, unavailable to the people of the UK on national television!

Sports, for any nation, is of vital importance to any country.
The level of interest that was generated as I grew up, could never be measured. I watched Wimbledon, my friends and I went out for weeks and played on the local tennis courts.
During the football season, Match of the Day and the Big match, were played out and discussed in school yards, back streets and on the fields of Britain.
Cricket was the sport taken up by many children once the football season was over.
Olympic games and later World athletic championships, were national sports that all of us could watch. (Currently, the World athletics championships are shown on BBC 2).
Most of the children of today, do not have access to subscription TV, how else are the future generations (from which we will pick our future sporting stars) be selected?

“We put money into the sport” argument, is a false one and ultimately damages the sport it is applied to.
As subscription TV takes over coverage of most sports – there are even rumours abound that Wimbledon could be lost to it – the prices of attending the grounds and stadium (that taxpayer’s money often has built) is not dropping. Access to the sports is increasing dramatically!
Each sports governing body is facing funding issues, but the public, which is their life blood, is being cut off from each sport when subscription is required to access it.
Ticket prices are going through the roof, parents of children have to pay money for coaches and sports, where as, in previous generations, children learned sporting skills at school and off their peers.

This can all be turned around and put right!
The government of the day needs to step in and protect national sports for free to air national television for the people. A simple law could be brought in, giving rights of coverage first and foremost to the people.
It cannot be right, morally or legally, that countries such as Norway and Iraq, have access to our premiership football matches being shown live, when the people of the country they are played in, are over charged and denied free access to the same games?

In the case of English cricket, all is not lost.
At present, ticket prices for the test matches here is less than £30 for each days play.
It has been reported that interest in the Ashes series in 2009 has not met the same levels of the Ashes win in 2005.
This is not just because the Aussies are no longer world leaders and THE team to beat. It is because in 2005 the nation was able to tune in and watch every shot played, every over, building up to the final test and the draw we needed to win the Ashes.

Not only does the sport benefit from more people viewing it, it also has a knock on effect in the revenue it generates. Websites and shops promote merchandise, kit, flags, equipment, etc.
More people pass through the grounds to watch county cricket as their players, who have played and won for England, draw in the crouds their status grows, which leads to TV endorsements, increasing the coverage of the sport still further.
When we win, the people come out to see the team parade the streets. The kids start playing the sport in the steets and on the fields, we have role models and idols from the sport, as a result, more talent is unearthed from the young kids and the sport benefits long term.
There will always be times when interest drops off a sport, we saw this with darts, stock car racing, ice dance, etc in the 70s and 80s.
Until Torvill and Dean revived interest in their sport at the olympics, the sport had been very low key.

If the public are being forced to pay a license fee for “free” television, then UK laws should back this up and retain free access for all to our national sports events, without exception.

Are England about to open up and finally smash their way to an Ashes win?
So many times we have seen the promise, so many batting innings have been good, only to fall making silly shots in a moment of madness.
At Edgbaston, in this the third Ashes test match, England’s batting is starting to click.
Whilst not smashing big scores and dominating, the England batting order are starting to put together partnership after partnership, Strauss playing steady, Bopara (only hitting 24) but hanging around for 54 bowls and being difficult to shift, once he had gone, Bell came in, hitting some well timed shots, but again struggling against the left hander, with three lbw appeals (two of which were plumb out) against him, but luck was on his side and how he capitalised on his home ground. Finally falling lbw on 53, but more importantly, sticking around for 114 deliveries.
Collingwood looked unsure as he smashed three fours in one over, but got out playing to a bowl which was well wide of the wicket.
Matt Prior came in and started another partnership with Bell and then Flintoff, a valuable 41 scored, but holding out for an impressive 59 deliveries.
Flintoff, clearly struggling with injury, played some classic shots as he grew in confidence, top scoring with 74 and the excellent Broad and Swann, who came in and played masterfully to frustrate the Aussie attack, Broad landing 55 off 64 bowls.

England of old would have folded and struggled when left at 2-1 after cook went early on, but not this team. Each batsman simply set off on another patnership with the new batsman, it was a joy to watch.
Australia’s bowlers played very well, bowled in the right areas, got good swing, etc, the difference was that this England batting performance didn’t lose two or three wickets once the Aussies got a breakthrough, they just started all over again.

A special mention though for two of the England bowlers today, Graham Onions and Graeme Swann.
Since the West Indies test matches, I’ve been of the opinion that Onions is the key to any chance of an Ashes victory this summer.
His bowling is dangerous, more by nature than design, he is unpredictable.
Bowling at fast to medium, he gets good swing bringing the batsman out of stance to play at shots and he often manges to swing a ball or two an over back inside. This makes him very difficult to read, if he finds a good line and keeps to it the wickets will come.
His best asset is his slower bowl.
Occasionally, Onions bowls a slower delivery, in itself a tricky proposition for any batsman who has got used to his constant pace attack, but this slower bowl has a twist!
Often when it comes in, his slower bowl finds extra height – very rare for a medium paced bowl – so the batsman is faced with will it swing in or out, will it be fast or medium paced and the best of all, will it stay low or bounce up?

Unpredictablity is a bowler’s best weapon and Graham Onions has it by the bucket load!

A special mention for Graeme Swann.
I love bowlers who can bamboozle a batsman, not neccessarily with sheer pace and agression, but with skill and trickery.
Swann completely destroyed Ricky Ponting today, with an over that had “Class” written all over it!
Ponting is no slouch with the bat, one of the top five run makers of all time, batting for Australia for almost 15 years, formidable would be a fare description of his batting abilities.
Today, Graeme Swann made him look like he was playing his first ever test match.
First, he drew Ponting out by tempting him wide of his leg side, next, he pushed him onto his back foot to block. Next up he got a shorter bowl which turned, then he was drawn out to the off-side to block, before an absolute peach of a delivery which dragged Ponting’s front foot out a good 3 feet across and out of his crease, on his off-side. Ponting played to block it (with fielders close by) but Swann dropped it about a foot shorter, forcing Ponting to play it with a flat bat instead of an angled bat, turning it in the rough, clean through any defence and on to Ponting’s middle stump!
A delivery/over of such quality I haven’t seen for many a year and one that the great Indian spinners and even Shane Warne would have been proud of.

A masterful piece of bowling, totally controlling the batsman, not just any batsman, but Ricky Ponting no less.
Will it continue? That’s the big question!

The Aussies have landed in the UK today, ready for a July/August of Ashes battles.
I don’t care what anyone says, this for me is the pinnacle of test match cricket.
When the Ashes were last held in the UK, the excitement was immense. I remember leaving on a plane for America, as the end of the 3rd test was being played out, as the Aussies desperately tried to hold on for a draw, with just 1 wicket left and the overs running out.
In the airport departure lounge, they called for boarding three times, yet nobody moved, as we were all stood around a little portable in the corner watching it live, praying for Freddy to take a wicket!

Eventually, we all had to board the flight, when the captain announced over the tannoy, where we were flying and that England had taken that last wicket and we had won the third test!

In Australia, we failed to even get close to winning one test match, we lost the series and the Ashes 5-0 (if memory serves me right) this time, we should at least give them a decent game!