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Living With The Lions Sports Travel

It’s very difficult to gain any impression of what the English cricket team is capable of after being handed such half-hearted opposition. As cricket tours go, the West Indies have been as interested in winning as a vegetarian in the hamburger van outside the Gloucestershire County Cricket ground at the weekend.

The fact that there really hasn’t been any meat to the West Indies performances leaves the ECB with a problem in that they really don’t know how well the Test team is performing. On the other hand though, it might just be the sort of ‘pick me up’ tour England need in order to go into The Ashes with complete confidence.

The West Indies have, let’s be honest, been disinterested in the whole hastily arranged cricket tour. Whether they show a different attitude during the Twenty20 World Cup remains to be seen.

England though have played well. Bopara in particular, has shown his mettle and his display will give the batting order to face Australia a look of strength. We know that in order to beat the Aussies England need a strong batting order and with Collingwood also batting well and Broad down the order, everything is set up nicely for The Ashes.

England got together recently for their first training session ahead of their game against the Barbarians and Argentina. There are 34 of them and each player was anxious to impress Martin Johnson who has made it clear that nobody’s place is ‘safe’.

Of course there are players that should be in the team but if Johnson wants to have a look at a few, then each player will have try and catch the coach’s eye. It’s a tough business as players like Danny Capriani know very well. Other players like Goode, May and Vesty will be relieved that the coach has seen fit to pick players that are playing well.

The idea that you get picked on merit, not on reputation alone, gives players like Vesty the incentive to step up to the mark (which he has done in recent weeks in place of Toby Flood at Leicester) and stake a claim.

The work ethic is very much in place and stems from Johnson himself, a proven winner and a coach to look up to for the players. There’s little doubt that the competitive nature of the training sessions will ensure a mighty beast on the pitch.

It’s refreshing to talk up England’s chances of winning the Ashes when Australia embark on the biggest of cricket tours here this summer.

Andrew Flintoff has been talking of standing “toe to toe” with Australia to give England any chance of winning the Ashes urn. At the moment of course Flintoff is injured and it may be his inclusion that will be the difference between the two sides.

Flintoff though seems upbeat, much to the pleasure of those with tickets and those involved in corporate hospitality, because the better the Ashes games become, the more interest is gained from sponsors and the more deals are done, which can only be good for the sport and the country as a whole.

Being positive about the upcoming Ashes series seems to be the key to keeping England’s cricketers believing that they can gain the urn and give the country a lift at the same time. Indeed, our cricketers seem to be hitting a rich vein of form against the West Indies which can only boost confidence at just the right time.

The Aussies of course will have their own thoughts about the series, but with Freddie’s belief that he will have recovered ‘properly’ in time for the Ashes clashes, it brings an injection of optimism that could – could - prove decisive.

There’s one way you can answer the question of who should captain the Lions and that’s to have captains all over the pitch. You might be the captain in name, but to have voices all over the pitch is what you want as a coach and this attitude is being borne out by comments made by Brian O’Driscoll.

O’Driscoll has said he was ‘disappointed’ not to be named captain of the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa and rightly so - every player should be thinking the same thing. Every player should be playing with the attitude of leadership on the pitch.

The pleasing aspect of O’Driscoll’s interview was his “full support” for Paul O’Connell and his sentiments and excitement as this going down as one of the best Lions tours should be acknowledged as a nod towards O’Connell’s selection.

It should be a fine rugby tour with beautiful weather, excellent pitches and a team that could potentially be the best Lions team for decades. The first game on 30th May in Rustenburg will go a long way to combating the players’ nerves and tightening the camaraderie within the team.

The first Test on the 20th of June will set the tone for the rest of the Lions tour, as it will show the South Africans what they’re up against. Win in Durban and the Lions’ roar will be heard throughout South Africa.

It’s never a chore to remember the great World Cup win in 2003, but it’s amazing to think that for one star of the triumph 1997’s Springbok tour victory for the Lions was a greater achievement.

Lawrence ‘The Legend’ Dallaglio has revealed that his participation in the 1997 win brought him more satisfaction than the slapping down of the Wallabies in 2003!

Dallaglio who’s final Lions tour to South Africa was in 2005 said that the 1997 victory was the ‘highlight’ of his distinguished career. He went on to talk about the ‘wonderful’ feeling of running out in front of 45,000 fans.

Who are we to disagree? Dallaglio has won everything in the modern game having retired only last season at the age of 35.

Certainly there’s something in Dallaglio’s comments regarding the camaraderie, citing the fact that for ages our team’s ‘kicking lumps’ out of each other and then the player’s are in the same hotel and playing together as part of the same team; still, it must be a bit bizarre.

Whatever the motivation, surely the Lions will be on their game for this tour? The team can make legends o f themselves emulating the likes of Dallaglio and who knows, another World Cup win from these Isles?

Cricket tours often throw up anomalies, within which a selection is made baffling many and causing the chattering of tiny laptops, this cannot be said of the West Indies tour to England however. Not that the West Indies would change many personnel in a team that beat England only a few months ago, no it is to England’s selectors that we must look for something ‘different’.

Whatever your opinion of the selectors is - and there are many opinions, not all repeatable in these pages, you would have to admit that their selection for the first test here against the Windies was a success. What? Onions and Swann were a great choice on a wicket that was bowler friendly because it get’s their confidence up for further Tests.

Look at the choice of Bopara at No3, a potential banana skin awaited him and the selectors as he went to the crease but the lad did well- even with a bit of help from a fumbling, bumbling dropped catch by Nash when Bop was on 76.

At Chester-le-Street we’re going to see the return of Bell and Sidebottom to the squad if not to the team, again a good piece of psychological skill here, boosting the players just before an Ashes series that could see a return of the little urn.

There’s been a spate of injuries to key players picked early for the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa and it’s causing concern amongst the selectors. Just over the past few days Tom Shanklin has been added to the list of wounded Lions with an untimely shoulder dislocation.

Shanklin joins the queue to the doctor’s surgery behind a hobbling Tomas O’leary and his broken ankle; and who knows whether Alan Quinlan will be in the squad either having caught the selectors eye in a rather different way than he would have wanted.

However, The Springboks have also been in the wars with The Super 14 tournament taking its toll on Francois Steyn (knee) and Conrad Jantjes breaking his leg. Both will miss the Test series and both are blows to the South Africans.

These injuries throw up the question of how much rugby is being played with weekend and mid-week games keeping the players ready for action on a permanent basis but with the Six Nations tournaments on top of that work load, are we asking too much of the players?

There is a great pool of talent on offer to the Lions selectors and of course one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity and the way our selected players are dropping there’ll be plenty more opportunities to grab hold of.

Graham Onions made a debut that would make grown men cry as he served up a feast of good bowling to take a five-wicket haul against the West Indies at Lords’ in the first Test of a short series. The bowling included swing and pace to capture batsmen caught and LBW - he really was too hot to handle.

The great thing is that he was ably backed by all the other bowlers, the pick of whom was Graeme Swann. Swann was on song from the off, picking up Devon Smith for the fourth time. Smith is a great player of the fast stuff but seems to get undone by the slower bowlers that expose his poor defence.

Jimmy Anderson picked up two wickets after the follow-on was enforced which was just reward for his hard work. Anderson is only in his mid-twenties but he drives the bowling attack and he seems to have been around forever.

Another important thing to remember about Jimmy is the fact that his action was messed around with in his early days, setting him back a bit. Now though Jimmy has a beautiful in-swinger to add to his armoury.

Bopara’s batting achievements in the first innings will have been a relief to the selectors trying to fill Michael Vaughan’s boots at number three. All in all the team look to be enjoying themselves which is great for spirit and augurs well for future performances.

Apparently, stars such as James Haskell, Riki Flutey and Jonny Wilkinson who are moving to European clubs are being told in no uncertain terms that they must attend all sessions and make sure they get ‘release clauses’ inserted into their contracts to enable them to train regularly with other Lions.

Well, there’s a certain sense in laying down the rules but a bit of flexibility wouldn’t go amiss. These guys have a living to earn and there’s no point in forcing them into a situation where they have to choose between club and country.

We’re increasingly going to see this happen but aren’t we all part of one big happy European family now? It shouldn’t be too difficult for clubs and countries to come to an agreement.

It would seem the RFU’s director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, has made his position absolutely clear, but one rule doesn’t always fit every player and you want your best players on the pitch, especially with the two-test series against the Wallabies coming up.

Remember it’s the World cup in 2011 and we want players to feel needed, special and encouraged so let’s get this right from the start please gentlemen.

Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff the England and Lancashire all-rounder is going to spend anything up to five weeks off the field recovering from keyhole surgery. He sustained an injury whilst playing for the IPL in South Africa and has had to return home for treatment.

Flintoff will miss England’s two-Test series against West Indies, which starts at Lord’s on 6th May. As Freddie was responsible for a massive turnaround in the recent England cricket tour to the West Indies (helping the side to a dramatic win in the one-day series with bowling figures of 5-19 in the last match) his absence will hurt.

The good news is however that the operation on his knee seems to have been a success and Freddie should be back for the start of the World Twenty20 Championship, which begins on 5 June, the format of which sees 12 teams play each other at three venues – Lord’s, Trent Bridge and The Oval.

Even better news is that Freddie should be fully recovered and fired up for the first Ashes Test against Australia, which starts on July 8th. Flintoff will of course be looking for revenge after the ill-fated trip Down Under in 2006/07 where he led England to a humiliating defeat.