Michael Vaughan, Ian Bell and Stephen Harmison have all been left out of England's 12-man squad for the first npower Test match against the West Indies on Wednesday. Owais Shah has been dropped after playing the last three Tests in the Caribbean.
Ravi Bopara, the Essex batsman, has been picked to fill the No 3 position after hitting a hundred against the West Indians in Barbados last month. And in a party of bold selections, uncapped seamers Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions will provide the back-up to James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
"This is very exciting for the two young fast bowlers to be included in the squad for a Lord's Test match and sends a message to all county players that if they put in consistently good performances they will get recognised," Geoff Miller, the national selector, said. "Both have had good starts to this season and had been close to Test match selection on a number of occasions.
"They have earned their place in the party. The selectors also felt that Ravi Bopara deserved his chance after his performance in his single Test in the Caribbean this winter.
"There was a lot of competition for that batting position but Bopara now has the opportunity to stake a claim. He showed he has the ability to play at Test level."
Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar is also included which gives captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower the opportunity to ponder the option of two slow men, a policy which some believe could be productive for the Ashes later this summer.
On the batting front, Bell, 27, was expected to return after hitting the LV County Championship's first hundred of the season for Warwickshire against Somerset and also registering a one-day century against the same opposition.
However, the selectors have demanded greater weight of runs in domestic cricket from him to emphasise a desire to get back to the international fold.
Shah, the man who displaced him for the final three Tests in the Caribbean, has been consigned to bench-warming in the Indian Premier League and therefore unable to justify his retention after a fallow return to Tests. So Bopara, currently featuring in the Indian Premier League, is back after his 104 in a one-off chance at Kensington Oval.
"The selectors felt that Ravi Bopara deserved his chance after his performance in his single Test in the Caribbean this winter," Miller added.
"There was a lot of competition for that batting position but Bopara now has the opportunity to stake a claim. "He showed in Barbados that he has the ability to play at Test level."
England squad for the 1st npower Test Match against West Indies:
A Strauss (Middlesex, captain)J Anderson (Lancashire)R Bopara (Essex)T Bresnan (Yorkshire)S Broad (Nottinghamshire)P Collingwood (Durham)A Cook (Essex)G Onions (Durham)M Panesar (Northamptonshire)K Pietersen (Hampshire)M Prior (Sussex, wicketkeeper)G Swann (Nottinghamshire)
Source:The times
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
McLaren hit by suspended three-race ban for 'Lie-gate' scandal
McLaren Mercedes have been hit with a suspended three-race ban after they pleaded guilty to misleading stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.
Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, faced the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris today, and pleaded guilty to five charges of bringing Formula One into disrepute in connection with the “Lie-gate” scandal. However, the penalty will only be enforced on the team if "further facts emerge" about this incident or if there is a "further breach" of the rules.
The team did not contest the case and threw themselves on the mercy of the FIA as a result of the attempt by Lewis Hamilton and Dave Ryan, the now dismissed McLaren sporting director, to deceive the stewards after the race in Melbourne and before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"Having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh addressed the World Motor Sport Council and the change in culture he made clear is taking place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deemed appropriate," an FIA statement read.
"That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races [in the world championship]. This will only be applied if further facts emerge regarding the case or if in the next 12 months there is further breach by the team."
Hamilton has avoided any further punishment after his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix. The world champion was initially promoted from fourth to third after the race stewards in Melbourne handed Jarno Trulli a 25-second penalty for passing the Briton behind the safety car.
During the meeting, Whitmarsh again took the opportunity to offer his team's sincere apologies for the mistakes made in Australia and Malaysia.
Following the hearing described by McLaren as "very fair", Whitmarsh said: "I would like to thank the FIA World Motor Sport Council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning.
"We are aware we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia, and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again.
"I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again."
A McLaren statement added: "We now look forward with enthusiasm to continuing our efforts to develop a closer and more co-operative relationship between ourselves and the FIA.
"We will also continue to focus our efforts on closing the performance gap that exists between our car and the fastest cars.
"Following Lewis' encouraging fourth place in Bahrain on Sunday, we are now optimistic we will be able to play an increasingly competitive part in what is fast developing into a very exciting season of Formula One motor racing."
Speaking after the hearing, Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, said the WMSC's decision had been "entirely fair."
"They [McLaren] have demonstrated there is a complete culture change, that it's all different to what it was," he said. "In those circumstances it looks better to put the whole thing behind us, so unless there is something similar in the future, that is the end of the matter."
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone described the proceedings as "good, fair, honest and straight."
"I thought Martin was happy with that. He shouldn't have done something wrong should he? So he got a slap," he said.
"But it was good for everybody that decision. They had their wrist slapped. That was all they needed. They've had enough punishment."
Source:The times
Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, faced the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris today, and pleaded guilty to five charges of bringing Formula One into disrepute in connection with the “Lie-gate” scandal. However, the penalty will only be enforced on the team if "further facts emerge" about this incident or if there is a "further breach" of the rules.
The team did not contest the case and threw themselves on the mercy of the FIA as a result of the attempt by Lewis Hamilton and Dave Ryan, the now dismissed McLaren sporting director, to deceive the stewards after the race in Melbourne and before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"Having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh addressed the World Motor Sport Council and the change in culture he made clear is taking place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deemed appropriate," an FIA statement read.
"That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races [in the world championship]. This will only be applied if further facts emerge regarding the case or if in the next 12 months there is further breach by the team."
Hamilton has avoided any further punishment after his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix. The world champion was initially promoted from fourth to third after the race stewards in Melbourne handed Jarno Trulli a 25-second penalty for passing the Briton behind the safety car.
During the meeting, Whitmarsh again took the opportunity to offer his team's sincere apologies for the mistakes made in Australia and Malaysia.
Following the hearing described by McLaren as "very fair", Whitmarsh said: "I would like to thank the FIA World Motor Sport Council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning.
"We are aware we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia, and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again.
"I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again."
A McLaren statement added: "We now look forward with enthusiasm to continuing our efforts to develop a closer and more co-operative relationship between ourselves and the FIA.
"We will also continue to focus our efforts on closing the performance gap that exists between our car and the fastest cars.
"Following Lewis' encouraging fourth place in Bahrain on Sunday, we are now optimistic we will be able to play an increasingly competitive part in what is fast developing into a very exciting season of Formula One motor racing."
Speaking after the hearing, Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, said the WMSC's decision had been "entirely fair."
"They [McLaren] have demonstrated there is a complete culture change, that it's all different to what it was," he said. "In those circumstances it looks better to put the whole thing behind us, so unless there is something similar in the future, that is the end of the matter."
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone described the proceedings as "good, fair, honest and straight."
"I thought Martin was happy with that. He shouldn't have done something wrong should he? So he got a slap," he said.
"But it was good for everybody that decision. They had their wrist slapped. That was all they needed. They've had enough punishment."
Source:The times
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson remain the best of enemies
The 2009 Masters was perfectly in tune with these economical times. It was the two-in-one Masters, the one that gave extra value for money.
The tournament was won by Ángel Cabrera after an incident-filled final afternoon, including the first three-man play-off for 22 years. But as major championships go, this one will be remembered as much for the final-day duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Perhaps more than any other, the sight of the two best players in the world going at one another on a sunny afternoon in Georgia brought the roars back to Augusta.
Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National, had spoken of how hurt he had been at criticism in previous years, when bad weather accentuated the testing demands of the course, making Augusta not a place of worship for golf fans but a venue where they struggled to keep warm and applaud the contestants.
It was the thrust and counter-thrust by Woods and Mickelson that brought home how the atmosphere had changed this year. They were born within a few hundred miles and less than six years apart in California. They stood on the 1st tee on Sunday afternoon within touching distance, but one looking one way, one the other. Why do they find it so hard to like one another? The historical fairways are full of rivalries. Remember the Great Triumvirate at the turn of the 20th century. Think of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead in the US and Severiano Ballesteros and Paul Azinger in the Ryder Cup. When Jack Nicklaus burst upon the scene, Arnold Palmer used to refer to him sneeringly as “the German”. Remember Nick Faldo and a number of players? Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie?
Perhaps Woods is more logical, cool and practical, Mickelson more artistic and harder to predict. Mickelson carried two drivers at Augusta in 2007, yet at last year’s US Open at Torrey Pines, the longest course for a major championship, he did not carry one at all. This sort of puzzling thinking may be why the Woods camp regard Mickelson as “flaky”. Mickelson once suggested that Woods’s equipment was out of date, which did not go down well in the Woods camp. When Hal Sutton paired them in the Ryder Cup in 2004, there was no chemistry between them and only Sutton was surprised when they lost — twice.
Steve Williams, Woods’s caddie, said what he thought of Mickelson in New Zealand late last year. He had been asked what the relationship was like between the two. There was no relationship, Williams replied. Mickelson, he said, was a “p****”.
Nothing more needed to be added to spice up the potency of the pairing that teed off at 1.35pm on Sunday. For 3½ hours thereafter, it was all that was expected: Mickelson, playing superb golf, reached the turn in 30, equalling the Masters record; Woods was out in 33. Two strokes told the story. While Woods’s tee-shot on the 1st went so far left it ended on the 9th fairway, Mickelson produced a stroke of pure brilliance on the 7th, a recovery from the treeline to the right, a slinging hook that curved 25 yards in the air and ended a handspan from the hole.
Goodness knows what was going through Woods’s mind as he watched this display by his rival. On many of the 23 occasions when they had played together before, Woods had come out on top. This time he was being given a masterclass. Each birdie by the world No 2 must have felt like a punch to his solar plexus.
Mickelson’s first error came on the 12th, when he failed to hit his tee-shot hard enough and his ball ran back into Rae’s Creek for a double-bogey five. His second came on the 15th, where he missed a putt that was barely longer than the shaft of his putter for what would have been an eagle three. Outplayed on the outward nine holes, Woods was slowly clawing his way back. By the time he birdied the 16th, he was ten under par and within two shots of the lead.
Then, just as it had started, it ended. It was like the popping of a balloon. Mickelson missed another short putt for birdie on the 17th, Woods bogeyed that hole and drove into the trees that line the right of the 18th fairway. The moment had gone. Mickelson finished nine under par, one stroke ahead of Woods but three strokes out of the play-off.
Rarely have two men in contention played so well. They had 12 birdies and an eagle between them over the first 16 holes. “It was a great show,” David Feherty said on CBS Television. “It was a fantastic show.”
After such a performance, you might have thought that the compatriots could forget their differences for a moment, the way boxers sometimes fall into one another’s arms at the conclusion of a title bout, or as Nicklaus and Tom Watson did at the 1977 Open at Turnberry — the “Duel in the Sun”.
But no. Perhaps the sting of defeat was too great. There was another brief handshake and that was all. Their reactions spoke a lot about their characters. Woods, stony-faced and curt, described his ball-striking as “terrible”. Mickelson, smiling, said: “Playing with Tiger was fun. We’ve had some good matches. I always enjoy it.”
And so the attention turned to Chad Campbell, Cabrera and Kenny Perry, a 48-year-old American who had a chance to become the oldest man to win a major championship. Had Perry prevailed, he would have beaten the record of Nicklaus, who was 46 when he won at Augusta in 1986, and older by four months than Julius Boros, who was 48 years and four months when he won the 1968 US PGA Championship. Instead, it was Cabrera’s day.
Rivals through the ages
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player Known as “The Big Three”, they dominated the game in the Sixties.
Nicklaus and Tom Watson Had huge respect for one another and fought several memorable duels.
Severiano Ballesteros and Paul Azinger A tenseness was always evident in Ryder Cup play. They made up later.
Harry Vardon, James Braid and J. H. Taylor The Great Triumvirate, rivals at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries.
Source:The times
The tournament was won by Ángel Cabrera after an incident-filled final afternoon, including the first three-man play-off for 22 years. But as major championships go, this one will be remembered as much for the final-day duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Perhaps more than any other, the sight of the two best players in the world going at one another on a sunny afternoon in Georgia brought the roars back to Augusta.
Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National, had spoken of how hurt he had been at criticism in previous years, when bad weather accentuated the testing demands of the course, making Augusta not a place of worship for golf fans but a venue where they struggled to keep warm and applaud the contestants.
It was the thrust and counter-thrust by Woods and Mickelson that brought home how the atmosphere had changed this year. They were born within a few hundred miles and less than six years apart in California. They stood on the 1st tee on Sunday afternoon within touching distance, but one looking one way, one the other. Why do they find it so hard to like one another? The historical fairways are full of rivalries. Remember the Great Triumvirate at the turn of the 20th century. Think of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead in the US and Severiano Ballesteros and Paul Azinger in the Ryder Cup. When Jack Nicklaus burst upon the scene, Arnold Palmer used to refer to him sneeringly as “the German”. Remember Nick Faldo and a number of players? Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie?
Perhaps Woods is more logical, cool and practical, Mickelson more artistic and harder to predict. Mickelson carried two drivers at Augusta in 2007, yet at last year’s US Open at Torrey Pines, the longest course for a major championship, he did not carry one at all. This sort of puzzling thinking may be why the Woods camp regard Mickelson as “flaky”. Mickelson once suggested that Woods’s equipment was out of date, which did not go down well in the Woods camp. When Hal Sutton paired them in the Ryder Cup in 2004, there was no chemistry between them and only Sutton was surprised when they lost — twice.
Steve Williams, Woods’s caddie, said what he thought of Mickelson in New Zealand late last year. He had been asked what the relationship was like between the two. There was no relationship, Williams replied. Mickelson, he said, was a “p****”.
Nothing more needed to be added to spice up the potency of the pairing that teed off at 1.35pm on Sunday. For 3½ hours thereafter, it was all that was expected: Mickelson, playing superb golf, reached the turn in 30, equalling the Masters record; Woods was out in 33. Two strokes told the story. While Woods’s tee-shot on the 1st went so far left it ended on the 9th fairway, Mickelson produced a stroke of pure brilliance on the 7th, a recovery from the treeline to the right, a slinging hook that curved 25 yards in the air and ended a handspan from the hole.
Goodness knows what was going through Woods’s mind as he watched this display by his rival. On many of the 23 occasions when they had played together before, Woods had come out on top. This time he was being given a masterclass. Each birdie by the world No 2 must have felt like a punch to his solar plexus.
Mickelson’s first error came on the 12th, when he failed to hit his tee-shot hard enough and his ball ran back into Rae’s Creek for a double-bogey five. His second came on the 15th, where he missed a putt that was barely longer than the shaft of his putter for what would have been an eagle three. Outplayed on the outward nine holes, Woods was slowly clawing his way back. By the time he birdied the 16th, he was ten under par and within two shots of the lead.
Then, just as it had started, it ended. It was like the popping of a balloon. Mickelson missed another short putt for birdie on the 17th, Woods bogeyed that hole and drove into the trees that line the right of the 18th fairway. The moment had gone. Mickelson finished nine under par, one stroke ahead of Woods but three strokes out of the play-off.
Rarely have two men in contention played so well. They had 12 birdies and an eagle between them over the first 16 holes. “It was a great show,” David Feherty said on CBS Television. “It was a fantastic show.”
After such a performance, you might have thought that the compatriots could forget their differences for a moment, the way boxers sometimes fall into one another’s arms at the conclusion of a title bout, or as Nicklaus and Tom Watson did at the 1977 Open at Turnberry — the “Duel in the Sun”.
But no. Perhaps the sting of defeat was too great. There was another brief handshake and that was all. Their reactions spoke a lot about their characters. Woods, stony-faced and curt, described his ball-striking as “terrible”. Mickelson, smiling, said: “Playing with Tiger was fun. We’ve had some good matches. I always enjoy it.”
And so the attention turned to Chad Campbell, Cabrera and Kenny Perry, a 48-year-old American who had a chance to become the oldest man to win a major championship. Had Perry prevailed, he would have beaten the record of Nicklaus, who was 46 when he won at Augusta in 1986, and older by four months than Julius Boros, who was 48 years and four months when he won the 1968 US PGA Championship. Instead, it was Cabrera’s day.
Rivals through the ages
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player Known as “The Big Three”, they dominated the game in the Sixties.
Nicklaus and Tom Watson Had huge respect for one another and fought several memorable duels.
Severiano Ballesteros and Paul Azinger A tenseness was always evident in Ryder Cup play. They made up later.
Harry Vardon, James Braid and J. H. Taylor The Great Triumvirate, rivals at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries.
Source:The times
All-Toyota front row in Bahrain
In the wet of last week’s Chinese Grand Prix, Jarno Trulli was so slow he was a hazard. Yet in the baking desert heat of qualifying in Bahrain yesterday he was sublime in slotting his Toyota on to a scintillating pole position ahead of teammate Timo Glock. Such is the enigma of Trulli, which Glock alluded to, saying: “I made a small mistake at the beginning of my lap and I knew that meant Jarno was going to beat me, because he is just so good at squeezing everything from the qualifying lap. But I’m very optimistic for the race.” That last comment was also a reference to their respective fuel loads, Trulli being fuelled light enough for a three-stop race compared with the two of most of the others.
In Trulli’s long Formula One career - he made his debut 12 years ago - the 34-year-old Italian has f r e q u e n t l y b e e n devastatingly fast in qualifying but has won only once, for Renault in 2004. That is one more win than Toyota have secured since entering the sport in 2002. As F1’s biggest spenders during that time, they have been criticised for their lack of hard results. But the Cologne-based team have been steadily improving their competitiveness in the past two seasons, and as one of the three teams to find the double diffuser loophole in the 2009 regulations, they have hit the ground running this year.
The car is now fitted with the next evolution, the triple diffuser, which extracts the underbody airflow from the car even faster, increasing its grip-inducing downforce. The car was staggeringly good through the Sakhir circuit’s fast corners. Toyota were the only diffuser team to have attended an off-season test at this circuit, so amplifying their advantage.
Which Toyota driver is favoured for the race is a moot point. Trulli is a demanding perfectionist, which is reflected in an extreme driving style. Hugely effective in a well-balanced car, he is intolerant of the changes in handling as a race progresses, the track and tyre grip change and the fuel load comes down. He is superbly precise and commits to this precision with enormous entry speeds into a corner. But when the front of the car doesn’t grip as he needs it to, he is poor at improvisation. This is in contrast to his young German teammate, whose more extrovert style is less precise but better able to adapt to changes in grip.
Their personalities reflect these styles. Trulli tends to be either bouncy and chipper or down in the dumps - something accentuated by a typically Latin flamboyance of gesture. Glock is regular as clock-wo r k . F r o m a y o u n g e r generation than Trulli - he’s in his second full season of F1 - Glock spends much of his spare time playing computer games, whereas Trulli spends his making fine Abruzzo wines. They are the artist and the craftsman; which of them is better depends on the circumstances.
Neither Toyota driver is rated as highly as the man who appears to pose their strongest threat today, last week’s winner Sebastian Vettel. He put his Red Bull third on the grid with a heavier fuel load, so he is in a better position to be ahead after the first fuel stops.
All of which is a bit of a concern for world championship leader Jenson Button. He was fourth-quickest, his Brawn apparently not as well suited to this circuit as the three previous tracks. The car lacked stability in the braking zones, which Button finds difficult to deal with, and it was all he could do to fend off Lewis Hamilton in the hitherto difficult McLaren.
In advance of the team’s appearance before the governing body’s world council on Wednesday to answer disrepute charges over lying to stewards in Australia, Hamilton has often seemed emotionally charged this weekend but he focused fantastically well in qualifying to transcend the level of his car, which has had no significant upgrades since the previous race. Regardless of the controversies surrounding him and the limitations of his car, Hamilton is driving out of his skin. What’s more, he is equipped with Kers, the energy recovery technology that has been introduced as an option this year. None of the cars ahead of him on the grid features this technology. It gives a brief extra burst of 80 horse-power, which will probably be overwhelming down to the first corner.
The Bahrain track is perfectly configured to suit Kers, with lots of heavy braking areas to recharge the batteries quickly and two key uphill sections where the extra power is particularly valuable. Seeing how Hamilton can deploy it in an effort to keep what is probably an inferior car in a flattering position could be one of the highlights of the race, but the real intrigue centres on whether the Toyotas can work as a team to thwart the theoretically faster Red Bull of Vettel from winning. To expect Hamilton to figure in that battle is perhaps asking too much.
Button will be fuelled heavily, so he should be capable of challenging the Toyotas and Vettel, but his chances may be compromised by being stuck behind the faster-starting but ultimately slower McLaren. “I’m effectively fifth on the grid thanks to the McLaren’s Kers,” he said. “We have potentially very good race pace but so much depends on what happens in the first two corners.”
Rubens Barrichello was sixth-fastest in the second Brawn but is also expecting to be swamped at the start by Kers cars starting behind him, notably Fernando Alonso’s Renault and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which line up seventh and eighth respectively.
Victory prospects seem to centre on the artist, the craftsman or the Wunderkind. But as Formula One has shown many times already this year, a surprise is always possible.
- Mark Hughes writes for Autosport magazine
Source:The times
In Trulli’s long Formula One career - he made his debut 12 years ago - the 34-year-old Italian has f r e q u e n t l y b e e n devastatingly fast in qualifying but has won only once, for Renault in 2004. That is one more win than Toyota have secured since entering the sport in 2002. As F1’s biggest spenders during that time, they have been criticised for their lack of hard results. But the Cologne-based team have been steadily improving their competitiveness in the past two seasons, and as one of the three teams to find the double diffuser loophole in the 2009 regulations, they have hit the ground running this year.
The car is now fitted with the next evolution, the triple diffuser, which extracts the underbody airflow from the car even faster, increasing its grip-inducing downforce. The car was staggeringly good through the Sakhir circuit’s fast corners. Toyota were the only diffuser team to have attended an off-season test at this circuit, so amplifying their advantage.
Which Toyota driver is favoured for the race is a moot point. Trulli is a demanding perfectionist, which is reflected in an extreme driving style. Hugely effective in a well-balanced car, he is intolerant of the changes in handling as a race progresses, the track and tyre grip change and the fuel load comes down. He is superbly precise and commits to this precision with enormous entry speeds into a corner. But when the front of the car doesn’t grip as he needs it to, he is poor at improvisation. This is in contrast to his young German teammate, whose more extrovert style is less precise but better able to adapt to changes in grip.
Their personalities reflect these styles. Trulli tends to be either bouncy and chipper or down in the dumps - something accentuated by a typically Latin flamboyance of gesture. Glock is regular as clock-wo r k . F r o m a y o u n g e r generation than Trulli - he’s in his second full season of F1 - Glock spends much of his spare time playing computer games, whereas Trulli spends his making fine Abruzzo wines. They are the artist and the craftsman; which of them is better depends on the circumstances.
Neither Toyota driver is rated as highly as the man who appears to pose their strongest threat today, last week’s winner Sebastian Vettel. He put his Red Bull third on the grid with a heavier fuel load, so he is in a better position to be ahead after the first fuel stops.
All of which is a bit of a concern for world championship leader Jenson Button. He was fourth-quickest, his Brawn apparently not as well suited to this circuit as the three previous tracks. The car lacked stability in the braking zones, which Button finds difficult to deal with, and it was all he could do to fend off Lewis Hamilton in the hitherto difficult McLaren.
In advance of the team’s appearance before the governing body’s world council on Wednesday to answer disrepute charges over lying to stewards in Australia, Hamilton has often seemed emotionally charged this weekend but he focused fantastically well in qualifying to transcend the level of his car, which has had no significant upgrades since the previous race. Regardless of the controversies surrounding him and the limitations of his car, Hamilton is driving out of his skin. What’s more, he is equipped with Kers, the energy recovery technology that has been introduced as an option this year. None of the cars ahead of him on the grid features this technology. It gives a brief extra burst of 80 horse-power, which will probably be overwhelming down to the first corner.
The Bahrain track is perfectly configured to suit Kers, with lots of heavy braking areas to recharge the batteries quickly and two key uphill sections where the extra power is particularly valuable. Seeing how Hamilton can deploy it in an effort to keep what is probably an inferior car in a flattering position could be one of the highlights of the race, but the real intrigue centres on whether the Toyotas can work as a team to thwart the theoretically faster Red Bull of Vettel from winning. To expect Hamilton to figure in that battle is perhaps asking too much.
Button will be fuelled heavily, so he should be capable of challenging the Toyotas and Vettel, but his chances may be compromised by being stuck behind the faster-starting but ultimately slower McLaren. “I’m effectively fifth on the grid thanks to the McLaren’s Kers,” he said. “We have potentially very good race pace but so much depends on what happens in the first two corners.”
Rubens Barrichello was sixth-fastest in the second Brawn but is also expecting to be swamped at the start by Kers cars starting behind him, notably Fernando Alonso’s Renault and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which line up seventh and eighth respectively.
Victory prospects seem to centre on the artist, the craftsman or the Wunderkind. But as Formula One has shown many times already this year, a surprise is always possible.
- Mark Hughes writes for Autosport magazine
Source:The times
Dirk Kuyt's brace keeps pressure on United
THE TALK beforehand, even among the City fans, was of how many, but the three goals Liverpool scored were no sort of reflection on a game in which the Tigers matched the visitors for long periods. Even after being reduced to 10 men when Caleb Folan was rightly sent off, and going two down immediately afterwards, City fought with a spirit born of desperation. They pulled a goal back and put Liverpool under severe pressure before Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt’s second strike finally made the game safe in the 89th minute, and put the pressure back on Manchester United.
It would, however, be a mistake to ascribe any defensive nervousness on Liverpool’s part to their opponents. Not at all, said Rafa Benitez afterwards, it was the fault of the pitch.
“We were a little bit nervous because the pitch was terrible, it was dry, the grass was long and it was very difficult to pass the ball, so you can make mistakes when the other team tries to press,” said the Spaniard.
“It’s part of the game, you have to accept it, and we were better in the second half. The sending-off was very clear. After this, credit to them, because even with 10 players they were pushing, but it was just a question of timing. We had to pass the ball correctly two or three times to have a chance.”
As an impression of the game it was less than generous, and certainly not generally held. It might have been after five minutes, when Liverpool nearly went ahead after Yossi Benayoun’s shot rebounded off Michael Turner to the feet of Fernando Torres. The striker’s sidefooted effort was heading for the top corner when City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill touched it over the bar.
Benayoun curled a shot on to the roof of the net soon afterwards, but City, chasing every pass, were already beginning to grow in confidence. Dean Marney shot wide, but Pepe Reina’s dive was no more than a gesture when Geovanni’s brilliantly executed 30-yard volley screamed a foot wide.
With an encouraged crowd noisily trying to recreate something of the atmosphere of the early part of the season, Liverpool’s back four looked decidedly edgy, not least when Alvaro Arbeloa gave away unnecessary corners twice in two minutes. Given that half of the 36 league goals City scored before this game had come from set-pieces, Benitez cannot have been impressed, and nor can he have been when the fact both were eventually scrambled clear owed as much to luck as to judgment.
In possession, it was a different story. Hard though Hull worked to close down the man in possession, Xabi Alonso’s influence began to grow. Martin Atkinson’s decision to award the visitors a free kick for a foul by George Boateng on Javier Mascherano shortly before half-time was generous, but Hull looked to have got away with it when Alonso curled it straight into the wall. The ball rebounded straight to him, however, and the resulting swerving volley through the crowd of players gave Myhill no chance.
For all that they were applauded off at half-time, the demeanour of the Hull players confirmed the timing of the strike was deflating. They still looked dispirited at the restart and might have been even more so shortly before the hour, when Folan was sent off for stupidly kicking out at Martin Skrtel after the defender beat him to a through-ball.
Without the benefit of a replay, the crowd let Skrtel know what they thought of him, and their disposition was not improved two minutes later, when Skrtel’s scuffed shot bounced up for Kuyt to head past Myhill.
That should surely have been that, but again Liverpool’s Achilles heel was exposed. Phil Brown had made a double substitution after Folan’s dismissal, and the two men who came on, Bernard Mendy and Daniel Cousin, combined superbly to set up Geovanni to turn the ball into the net.
Liverpool were wobbling, with Reina dealing far from convincingly with a series of high balls into the box. Torres should have eased their nerves but headed against the bar, and only a minute remained when the admirable Kuyt beat Myhill for a second time.
“The disappointing thing from my point of view is we’ve kept our best for the best — and we need to keep our best for teams that, with all respect, are not the best,” said Phil Brown. With games against Aston Villa, Stoke, Bolton and Manchester United to come, their game plan is clear.
Star man: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool).
Yellow cards: Hull City: Marney, Fagan Liverpool: Arbeloa.
Red card: Hull City: Folan.
Referee: M Atkinson.
Attendance: 24,942.
HULL CITY: Myhill 6, Ricketts 6, Turner 6, Zayatte 6, Kilbane 6, Fagan 5 (Mendy 61min), Marney 6, Boateng 6 (Manucho 78min), Barmby 6 (Cousin 61min), Geovanni 6, Folan 4.
LIVERPOOL: Reina 5, Arbeloa 5, Carragher 6, Skrtel 6, Insua 6, Alonso 7, Mascherano 6 (El Zhar 84min), Kuyt 8 (Dossena 89min), Lucas 6, Benayoun 6 (Agger 88min), Torres 5
Source:The times
It would, however, be a mistake to ascribe any defensive nervousness on Liverpool’s part to their opponents. Not at all, said Rafa Benitez afterwards, it was the fault of the pitch.
“We were a little bit nervous because the pitch was terrible, it was dry, the grass was long and it was very difficult to pass the ball, so you can make mistakes when the other team tries to press,” said the Spaniard.
“It’s part of the game, you have to accept it, and we were better in the second half. The sending-off was very clear. After this, credit to them, because even with 10 players they were pushing, but it was just a question of timing. We had to pass the ball correctly two or three times to have a chance.”
As an impression of the game it was less than generous, and certainly not generally held. It might have been after five minutes, when Liverpool nearly went ahead after Yossi Benayoun’s shot rebounded off Michael Turner to the feet of Fernando Torres. The striker’s sidefooted effort was heading for the top corner when City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill touched it over the bar.
Benayoun curled a shot on to the roof of the net soon afterwards, but City, chasing every pass, were already beginning to grow in confidence. Dean Marney shot wide, but Pepe Reina’s dive was no more than a gesture when Geovanni’s brilliantly executed 30-yard volley screamed a foot wide.
With an encouraged crowd noisily trying to recreate something of the atmosphere of the early part of the season, Liverpool’s back four looked decidedly edgy, not least when Alvaro Arbeloa gave away unnecessary corners twice in two minutes. Given that half of the 36 league goals City scored before this game had come from set-pieces, Benitez cannot have been impressed, and nor can he have been when the fact both were eventually scrambled clear owed as much to luck as to judgment.
In possession, it was a different story. Hard though Hull worked to close down the man in possession, Xabi Alonso’s influence began to grow. Martin Atkinson’s decision to award the visitors a free kick for a foul by George Boateng on Javier Mascherano shortly before half-time was generous, but Hull looked to have got away with it when Alonso curled it straight into the wall. The ball rebounded straight to him, however, and the resulting swerving volley through the crowd of players gave Myhill no chance.
For all that they were applauded off at half-time, the demeanour of the Hull players confirmed the timing of the strike was deflating. They still looked dispirited at the restart and might have been even more so shortly before the hour, when Folan was sent off for stupidly kicking out at Martin Skrtel after the defender beat him to a through-ball.
Without the benefit of a replay, the crowd let Skrtel know what they thought of him, and their disposition was not improved two minutes later, when Skrtel’s scuffed shot bounced up for Kuyt to head past Myhill.
That should surely have been that, but again Liverpool’s Achilles heel was exposed. Phil Brown had made a double substitution after Folan’s dismissal, and the two men who came on, Bernard Mendy and Daniel Cousin, combined superbly to set up Geovanni to turn the ball into the net.
Liverpool were wobbling, with Reina dealing far from convincingly with a series of high balls into the box. Torres should have eased their nerves but headed against the bar, and only a minute remained when the admirable Kuyt beat Myhill for a second time.
“The disappointing thing from my point of view is we’ve kept our best for the best — and we need to keep our best for teams that, with all respect, are not the best,” said Phil Brown. With games against Aston Villa, Stoke, Bolton and Manchester United to come, their game plan is clear.
Star man: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool).
Yellow cards: Hull City: Marney, Fagan Liverpool: Arbeloa.
Red card: Hull City: Folan.
Referee: M Atkinson.
Attendance: 24,942.
HULL CITY: Myhill 6, Ricketts 6, Turner 6, Zayatte 6, Kilbane 6, Fagan 5 (Mendy 61min), Marney 6, Boateng 6 (Manucho 78min), Barmby 6 (Cousin 61min), Geovanni 6, Folan 4.
LIVERPOOL: Reina 5, Arbeloa 5, Carragher 6, Skrtel 6, Insua 6, Alonso 7, Mascherano 6 (El Zhar 84min), Kuyt 8 (Dossena 89min), Lucas 6, Benayoun 6 (Agger 88min), Torres 5
Source:The times
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Hennessy can give Carl Llewellyn welcome success at Sandown Park
Former jockey Carl Llewellyn has seen his training career stall but can enjoy a welcome fillip by saddling Hennessy to success in the bet365 Gold Cup Chase (3.10) at Sandown Park today.
The lightly raced eight-year-old developed into a useful staying hurdler last season and already looks just as good over fences. He jumped like an old hand when making a winning reappearance at Folkestone and, after flopping on heavy ground on his next start, returned to form with a good fifth to Tricky Trickster in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He faded in the closing stages there after making a rare mistake two out when in second.
Still unexposed given a test of stamina, at the right end of the handicap and with Tony McCoy taking over from an amateur in the saddle, Hennessy has plenty in his favour and looks a fair bet at the 11-1 offered by Ladbrokes.
Kalahari King has 8lb to find with Twist Magic on official ratings, but is progressing well over fences and should come out on top in the bet365.com Celebration Chase (2.35).
Beaten a short-head by Forpadydeplasterer in the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham, Kalahari King went one better in tidy fashion when easily seeing off Tatenen at Aintree and, provided those efforts have not taken too much out of him, he will be tough to beat.
The best bet of the day is Tasheba in the bet365 Best Odds Guaranteed on Every Race Handicap Hurdle (2.05). He improved as his stamina was tested on the Flat last year and has taken really well to hurdles since joining Nicky Henderson, winning his past two starts in good style. He was particularly impressive when powering away for a five-length defeat of Mountaineer at Cheltenham last time and, with this return to farther much in his favour, Tasheba can make the most of a decent mark on his handicap debut.
On a cracking mixed card, Lovelace can land the featured Flat race, the bet365 Mile (3.45). He has been campaigned abroad since an unlucky head second to Little White Lie under top weight in the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket last July, winning in this grade at Baden Baden before losing his way a little at the end of the year. He shaped well on his reappearance when fourth on unsuitably soft ground at the Curragh and, with conditions back in his favour, looks a fair bet at the 11-1 offered by Ladbrokes.
Pipedreamer and Tartan Bearer will dominate the betting for the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (4.15), but with most of the field preferring to be held up, this could turn into a tactical affair and that could see Charlie Farnsbarns come out on top.
He signed off last season with a good defeat of Bankable in group three company at Newmarket and faced an impossible task from a poor draw when well beaten in the group one Dubai Duty Free on his reappearance at Nad Al Sheba. That should have put him spot-on for this test and he can make his fitness advantage tell.
Source:The times
The lightly raced eight-year-old developed into a useful staying hurdler last season and already looks just as good over fences. He jumped like an old hand when making a winning reappearance at Folkestone and, after flopping on heavy ground on his next start, returned to form with a good fifth to Tricky Trickster in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He faded in the closing stages there after making a rare mistake two out when in second.
Still unexposed given a test of stamina, at the right end of the handicap and with Tony McCoy taking over from an amateur in the saddle, Hennessy has plenty in his favour and looks a fair bet at the 11-1 offered by Ladbrokes.
Kalahari King has 8lb to find with Twist Magic on official ratings, but is progressing well over fences and should come out on top in the bet365.com Celebration Chase (2.35).
Beaten a short-head by Forpadydeplasterer in the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham, Kalahari King went one better in tidy fashion when easily seeing off Tatenen at Aintree and, provided those efforts have not taken too much out of him, he will be tough to beat.
The best bet of the day is Tasheba in the bet365 Best Odds Guaranteed on Every Race Handicap Hurdle (2.05). He improved as his stamina was tested on the Flat last year and has taken really well to hurdles since joining Nicky Henderson, winning his past two starts in good style. He was particularly impressive when powering away for a five-length defeat of Mountaineer at Cheltenham last time and, with this return to farther much in his favour, Tasheba can make the most of a decent mark on his handicap debut.
On a cracking mixed card, Lovelace can land the featured Flat race, the bet365 Mile (3.45). He has been campaigned abroad since an unlucky head second to Little White Lie under top weight in the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket last July, winning in this grade at Baden Baden before losing his way a little at the end of the year. He shaped well on his reappearance when fourth on unsuitably soft ground at the Curragh and, with conditions back in his favour, looks a fair bet at the 11-1 offered by Ladbrokes.
Pipedreamer and Tartan Bearer will dominate the betting for the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (4.15), but with most of the field preferring to be held up, this could turn into a tactical affair and that could see Charlie Farnsbarns come out on top.
He signed off last season with a good defeat of Bankable in group three company at Newmarket and faced an impossible task from a poor draw when well beaten in the group one Dubai Duty Free on his reappearance at Nad Al Sheba. That should have put him spot-on for this test and he can make his fitness advantage tell.
Source:The times
Absent fans insult Kenny Perry
THERE was a moment so sad in last Sunday’s final round of the Masters. Long after Kenny Perry’s over-hit chip on the 71st hole and his under-hit putt on the 72nd are forgotten, the scene as he raised his right arm after making a two on the 12th green will be in the memory. If you watched closely or were one of the few following the final pair at Augusta National, it was not Perry for whom you wanted to weep but the game.
Consider the context: Perry and Angel Cabrera were the final pairing, 17 of the previous 18 Masters winners had come from the last two to tee off and, four months short of his 49th birthday, Perry had his chance to become the oldest major champion.
Not interested? Well, consider, too, that when Perry accepted a $5,000 gift from his friend Ronnie Ferguson to get to Q-school about 232 years ago, he agreed to pay 5% of his career earnings to his church community. So far, that’s raised $1.4m and a lot of teenagers from poor backgrounds in Simpson County, Kentucky, have university scholarships.
Maybe these things don’t much matter but it’s hard not to warm to a professional golfer who borrows the money and builds a golf course that is affordable for ordinary people. Perry did that in Franklin, his home town. Green fees range from $20 to $30 at Kenny Perry’s Country Creek GC. Mostly when a top pro “designs” a golf course, his fee is part of the reason why you and I will never play it.
Then, as soon as the man speaks, the way he gently raises his right hand, open palm, after a birdie, you know you’re going to like him. Perry reminds us why some men deserve to be called gentlemen. Part of the reason he didn’t win much until his mid-40s was that he needed his three children to fly the nest before he could concentrate on golf.
Thirteen PGA Tour victories isn’t bad, he had a central role in the US’s Ryder Cup victory last year and for three days at the Masters, he played better golf than any other player. Rather than share the lead with Cabrera after 54 holes, he would have led by four or five shots had he holed a third of the birdie chances he created.
All the time it happens at Augusta, two caddies look at a putt and one says, “right edge”, the other, “an inch on the left” and both are wrong. On Augusta’s greens Perry was illiterate, a murderous handicap in an exam that lists putting as a compulsory subject.
He made plenty of good putts but sent them on errant lines. So how well did he do to be the last man to hit a tee shot on the first hole on Masters’ Sunday?
But even at that point, you could have foretold the disappointment one would feel at the 12th hole two and a half hours later. For the gallery that followed Perry and Cabrera was no more than a few hundred. You could, on the last day of the Masters, watch the leaders play their approach shots, amble up to the green and see them stroke their putts. It was like the gallery you might get for two decent players in the middle of the pack. Augusta’s patrons had eyes for only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, even though the numbers watching meant you could barely see them.
Perry played beautifully for 11 holes. Could have made birdies at two, four, five, eight and 10, should have had birdie on seven but he made good putts on wrong lines.
Then, on the 12th, he holed a birdie putt tougher than the six he’d missed to get back into the tournament lead and the tide seemed to turn his way. He seemed to believe that and instead of the understated open-palm salute, he put his arm higher into the air and clenched his fist. As he did, he turned towards the crowd, except there was no crowd. The big stand behind the 12th tee that looks across on to the green holds maybe a thousand people. About 100 seats were occupied. It wasn’t a question of where they had all gone but why they hadn’t turned up.
At Augusta, there is a premium on good manners and old style southern civility that is charming; fans are called patrons, fans with tickets are accredited patrons, and it is routinely claimed that they are the best in the game. Nothing could be further from the reality. The empty spaces around Perry and Cabrera spoke of a tournament, however brilliant the final round, that had taken on something of the circus.
Would a vast majority of fans at the Open Championship abandon the tournament leaders to follow two players starting the day seven shots behind? Not a hope in hell.
Source:The times
Consider the context: Perry and Angel Cabrera were the final pairing, 17 of the previous 18 Masters winners had come from the last two to tee off and, four months short of his 49th birthday, Perry had his chance to become the oldest major champion.
Not interested? Well, consider, too, that when Perry accepted a $5,000 gift from his friend Ronnie Ferguson to get to Q-school about 232 years ago, he agreed to pay 5% of his career earnings to his church community. So far, that’s raised $1.4m and a lot of teenagers from poor backgrounds in Simpson County, Kentucky, have university scholarships.
Maybe these things don’t much matter but it’s hard not to warm to a professional golfer who borrows the money and builds a golf course that is affordable for ordinary people. Perry did that in Franklin, his home town. Green fees range from $20 to $30 at Kenny Perry’s Country Creek GC. Mostly when a top pro “designs” a golf course, his fee is part of the reason why you and I will never play it.
Then, as soon as the man speaks, the way he gently raises his right hand, open palm, after a birdie, you know you’re going to like him. Perry reminds us why some men deserve to be called gentlemen. Part of the reason he didn’t win much until his mid-40s was that he needed his three children to fly the nest before he could concentrate on golf.
Thirteen PGA Tour victories isn’t bad, he had a central role in the US’s Ryder Cup victory last year and for three days at the Masters, he played better golf than any other player. Rather than share the lead with Cabrera after 54 holes, he would have led by four or five shots had he holed a third of the birdie chances he created.
All the time it happens at Augusta, two caddies look at a putt and one says, “right edge”, the other, “an inch on the left” and both are wrong. On Augusta’s greens Perry was illiterate, a murderous handicap in an exam that lists putting as a compulsory subject.
He made plenty of good putts but sent them on errant lines. So how well did he do to be the last man to hit a tee shot on the first hole on Masters’ Sunday?
But even at that point, you could have foretold the disappointment one would feel at the 12th hole two and a half hours later. For the gallery that followed Perry and Cabrera was no more than a few hundred. You could, on the last day of the Masters, watch the leaders play their approach shots, amble up to the green and see them stroke their putts. It was like the gallery you might get for two decent players in the middle of the pack. Augusta’s patrons had eyes for only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, even though the numbers watching meant you could barely see them.
Perry played beautifully for 11 holes. Could have made birdies at two, four, five, eight and 10, should have had birdie on seven but he made good putts on wrong lines.
Then, on the 12th, he holed a birdie putt tougher than the six he’d missed to get back into the tournament lead and the tide seemed to turn his way. He seemed to believe that and instead of the understated open-palm salute, he put his arm higher into the air and clenched his fist. As he did, he turned towards the crowd, except there was no crowd. The big stand behind the 12th tee that looks across on to the green holds maybe a thousand people. About 100 seats were occupied. It wasn’t a question of where they had all gone but why they hadn’t turned up.
At Augusta, there is a premium on good manners and old style southern civility that is charming; fans are called patrons, fans with tickets are accredited patrons, and it is routinely claimed that they are the best in the game. Nothing could be further from the reality. The empty spaces around Perry and Cabrera spoke of a tournament, however brilliant the final round, that had taken on something of the circus.
Would a vast majority of fans at the Open Championship abandon the tournament leaders to follow two players starting the day seven shots behind? Not a hope in hell.
Source:The times
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