Holloway mourns death of student - The Founder

18 The Founder | Thursday 15 January 2009
Sport
A preview
of 2009
It’s set to be a cracker!
Benny Coles
Sport Editor
After 2008 proved to be a great
sporting year with the success of the
Olympic Games along with other
unforgettable moments such as
Wimbledon and Lewis Hamilton’s
success in the Formula 1 championship,
some may see 2009 as having a
rather hard act to follow. That is until
looking at the sporting calendar
for the next twelve months. What
the Olympics offer is a spectacle incomparable
with any other, but, this
year has the potential to throw up
even greater ones.
Two events though hold the most
promise of the lot. Firstly, The Ashes,
will return to England for the first
time since the memorable series win
in 2005. Going into the new year
England’s form is far from the spectacular,
they were thrashed in the
recent One Day series in India 5-0
and the test series around Christmas
saw them squander a huge
lead in the first test. English cricket
has been on a steady decline since
the class of 2005 triumphed. Question
marks over the young players
who have come into the squad and
whether they have fulfilled their potential;
take the rather one-dimensional
Monty Panesar, or the everchanging
position of wicket-keeper,
Geraint Jones, Tim Ambrose and
Matt Prior, have all failed to provide
the consistency and batting prowess
which Alec Stewart brought to
the crease time and time again over
a decade. Other notable departures
have been Michael Vaughan and
Ashley Giles, Vaughan’s leadership
was exceptional and as a reader of
the game he remains in high regard.
Giles use of spin at times in that
last series had the ability to change
matches, and whilst Panesar is technically
strong at times he lacks the
variation to leave a batsman guessing.
However it has not all been doom
and gloom. Panesar, Alistair Cook
and Stuart Broad have come into
the side, along with excellent swing
bowling of Ryan Sidebottom and a
rejuvenated Jimmy Anderson. Fortunately,
England find themselves
facing an Australian side who are
in their worse form for years, having
just entered the year on the back
of two test series defeats, one in India
and the far more significant result
against South Africa at home,
meaning that they lost their status
as the world’s no. 1 test team in the
process. In all honesty, this eventual
decline has been predicted for years,
and was to be expected that by now
many of the players who created the
Australian dynasty that has ruled
the sport for the last 19 years have
retired. The Waugh brothers, Shane
Warne, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist
and Glenn McGrath all played
significant roles in making Australia
the force they were. With those
players gone, England will have
faith that they can be more competitive
than 2 years ago when they were
comprehensively beaten in 2007
Ashes series in Australia. If the series
reaches anywhere near the level
of excellence four years ago then we
will be in for a fantastic contest.
My personal highlight of the year
to come however will be The Lions
in South Africa in June. The history
of the red shirt is renowned in the
International game, but the British
& Irish team have not won a test series
since the 1997 tour to South Africa,
suffering a whitewash in New
Zealand four years ago and losing
2-1 to Australia back in 2001. It is
the maker of legends; in previous
Jeremy Guscott, Brian O’Driscoll
and Ryan Jones have either cemented
or announced their arrival
as stars of the International game.
Going even further back, it has been
the making of great players such as
JPR Williams, Gareth Edwards and
Martin Johnson. This tour to South
Africa to face the World Champions
may well prove to be an even harder
task than when the Lions travelled
to New Zealand under Clive Woodward’s
tutelage.
At the moment, the selection for
the starting XV and squad are anyone’s
guess. With England going
into the new year before the Six Nations
in such poor form, it would
not be impossible to have a team
which would not have an English
player in the starting line-up. With
Wales as Grand-slam Champions,
and producing good performances
in the Autumn internationals,
most notably in the victory against
Australia. Shane Williams and Lee
Byrne have been outstanding over
the last 12 months and bar injury
will almost for certain start in the
first test. Other Welsh contenders
include Jamie Roberts, James Hook,
Stephen Jones, Dwayne Peel and
Mike Phillips in the backs, where
as in the forwards Alun Wyn Jones
should make the number 5 shirt his
own, and in back row Martyn Williams
and Ryan Jones look set to
play prominent roles.
If Scotland have a good Six Nations,
then their players could also
play a major part. Players such as
Jon Barclay, Euan Murray, Alistair
Strokosch and Simon Taylor are all
forwards in top form, whilst in the
backs the Lamont brothers and at
an outside bet Thom Evans could
all be on the plane. From an Irish
perspective, O’Driscoll, O’Connell
and David Wallace should all start,
but a lot hinges on what happens in
the Spring and whether Ireland can
finally fulfil their as yet unrealised
potential. New young players Keith
Earls and Luke Fitzgerald may well
also travel to the Southern Hemisphere
depending on their development.
Which leaves England, who
under Martin Johnson and yet to get
up and running but have only had
four test matched under “the new
regime” with the only win coming
against the unprepared Pacific Islanders.
Haskell, Rees and Kennedy
are all possibilities, whilst upfront
if Andrew Sheridan can find some
form, on his day he is one of the best
in the world. In the backs, Cipriani
at one point looked like a certainty,
but poor performances have meant
that if he goes it may not necessarily
be as a fly half but at half back.
The only back with any real form in
Autumn Internationals was Delon
Armitage, but if England do as predicted
and move him to outside centre
and bring in the impressive Olly
Morgan at full back then he could
well be forgotten. From an England
point of view it will be more obvious
after the Six Nations who will
be headed for South Africa and who
will not. Whatever the squad, it will
not be easy.
Finally, this could well be Andy
Murray’s year. The Scot has begun
the 2009 season in great form, already
beating Federer and Nadal