Is England really the best Test team in the World?

A familiar site of late. Expect to
see more of this in the near future.

No. Of course not. They may be ranked the number one side in the world for the time being but they are not a very good side. Until you beat a good side away from home, you can’t say you are the best. Yes, they beat Australia in the Ashes but Australia put out their worst team in more than two decades. I would bet that the return Ashes in England next year are a lot closer. They just lost 3-0 against Pakistan at a neutral venue. They have yet to travel to India/South Africa, where these are the other two best sides in the world.

I will agree that England is better than India. India is at a crossroads, similar to where Australia were two years ago. They have a lot of aging stars and it is difficult to drop anyone of that stature (Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman). India is a woeful travelling side and seems more intent on T20 cricket than their test team. I still do not think that England would win a test series in India but if they played on neutral ground, I think England would have the better chance of winning.

It is impossible to say that England is better than South Africa though. South Africa have a much superior batting line-up to that of England, their captain is not named Andrew Strauss (why he is still the Test captain only Andy Flower knows), and their bowling is just as good as the England team. When they tour England later this year, I think they will at least draw the series. They bat really well in all conditions, their ground fielding is fantastic, and they are a very competitive team.

The South African team celebrating. A preview of the
2012 English summer perhaps.

I would like to see the current England team take a tour of New Zealand. I would be surprised if they would win that series. I think their batsmen would struggle mightily and the pitches in NZ would nullify the threat of Graeme Swann. If England are really the best team in the world, they must travel overseas to these difficult places (not West Indies/Sri Lanka/UAE), and beat teams in their own backyard.

I think in two years’ time that England will be lucky to be in the top three teams in the world. Expect mediocrity to hit the England test team...again.

Is Tiger Woods Back?

Is it only a matter of time before this becomes a
familiar site again?

I’m sure you’ve heard enough of people slanging Tiger Woods over the last few years. He has given us enough ammunition to last a lifetime but with all this behind him (we assume so anyway), is it time that Tiger will get back on the winners podium? His last five tournaments have seen him finish 3^rd (Australian Open), 1^st (won the Presidents Cup with USA), 1^st (Chevron World Challenge), T3 (Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship), and T15 (Pebble Beach Pro-am).

Sure, many of you will look at those last five tournaments and say, well the Australian Open isn’t a quality field, the Presidents Cup is a team event and the Chevron World Challenge is Tigers own event. So the only really good result is the T3 in Abu Dhabi. There were many top players in those fields, and Tiger only controls his own destiny (bar the Presidents Cup obviously!), so to have a snipe about his opposition is completely unfair.

Tigers next tournament is the WGC Accenture World Match Play. Unfortunately, with his inconsistency over the last couple of tournaments (especially when it counts), I can’t see him winning this tournament. All it takes to lose is one bad round, or coming up against a 64, which Tiger hasn’t shown he has a full 18 holes of quality yet. In saying this though, I do think he’ll progress to the last eight/four and this will only spur him on with the Masters in sight.

Is this man going to do this decade what Tiger did at the
beginning of the last decade? i.e. go berserk.

Although the depth of world golf may be at its peak over the last five years, apart from Rory McIlroy, it is hard to see someone going head-to-head with Tiger, when Tiger does start to show some consistency. I can see Tiger winning at least three tournaments this year (assuming he stays healthy), including a major along the way. If he continues to find himself amongst the lead on Saturday night, expect Tiger to rediscover some of his winning mentality, and that may be all it takes to break the shackles.

Fantasy Football update.

Although this may be the most sporadically written blog in blogging history, I now have a fully functioning laptop that lets me type faster than 5 words per minute (even if I can only manage double that…)

Dempsey on fire again this year.

The last blog I wrote was a Premier League Fantasy Football preview, giving an outlook for all the teams. Taking a look back at those predictions leaves me a touch proud, as a few of my sleepers have come to become prominent scorers this season (Grant Holt, Stephane Sessegnon, and Peter Odenwingie). There are also a few players who have been obviously dominant (Sergio Aguero, Wayne Rooney, and David Silva), while a couple have been huge value for their contributions (Demba Ba and Clint Dempsey – again).

It has all been about one man though, Robin Van Persie. For those unfortunate (or stubborn) to not have RVP in your fantasy teams, c’est la vie (yes, I come into the stubborn category). He has been simply sensational scoring at a goal a game and chipping in with assists. No other forward has come close to RVP’s production, and you can probably ride him until the finish as he does not look like slowing down.

Drogba letting Torres know that to score a goal, the ball
has to find the back of the net.

Looking ahead to the final stretch of figures in the Barclays Premier League, we try to predict who will be strong players down the stretch to get you to the top of your fantasy league. Looking at the table, you will think that of all the teams at the top, it is Chelsea who is due for a good run down the stretch and the team to fall away will probably be Tottenham. Players that I would be thinking about from Chelsea (especially with Bolton up next at Stamford Bridge), would be Didier Drogba, a resurgence from Juan Mata after a festive slump, and perhaps Jose Bosingwa if you are looking for a scoring fullback.

I would be considering dropping Gareth Bale for a cheaper option (such as Dempsey or Sessegnon), but there are really no other Spurs players that you should have in your team that are too expensive to drop. If you still have Adebayor you are extremely lucky after his farcical performance last week against Newcastle.