Barclay Talks Sport

Tim Henman may well have played his last singles match as a professional. His demolition of his replacement Croation opponent, Roko Karanusic, was a fitting reminder of what the tennis-watching public and the British Davis Cup team will be missing from now on. I shan't bang on about his startling achievements again, you've heard it all before. What I will say is that I'm delighted he wants to stay in the game and help nurture new talent.

A great man, a great British sportsman and a great ambassador for tennis. Knight him immediately.

The Twenty/20 World Cup has already had plenty of tension, unless you're an England fan, and has spawned a couple of great matches. Pakistan's victory over Australia was one and last night's victory for India over South Africa was the other. The Proteas defeat means their world cup is over and if there is one team deserving of exit for being arrogant and complacent, it is South Africa. Actually, England run them a close second although our exit was more down to stupidity and carelessness than arrogance.

Sport is a wonderful and cruel thing. When South Africa restricted (if that is the right word) India to 153, they clearly assumed that ambling out and batting would do the job. However, the Indian bowling attack was, barring Sreesanth, quite superb. RP Singh and my favourite angry off-spinner, Harbajhan Singh bowled beautifully. Even without the injured Dhoni behind the stumps, two wafting SA batters were stumped. And the fielding backed them up too, not often you can say that about India. On the SA bench, the dawning realisation that they were first, under prssure and later, about to go out, was a joy to watch. That's where square-jawed, gum chewing, chippy chat gets you, Graham Smith. Absolutely nowhere.

So, I snigger at the host's exit while very much looking forward to two excellent semi finals... Pakistan, India, Australia, New Zealand. Impossible to choose a winner and that is the great thing about 20/20. Played hard and focused (England take note) 20/20 matches can go either way and it is a game in which a single over can turn a match. Great entertainment.

Jose Mourinho's rather sudden departure from Chelsea probably sould not come as too much of a shock. Clearly unhappy at the end of last season and utterly miserable and given to even more confused press conferences this season, he has looked checked out for some weeks.

More of a shock is the extraordinary coverage. Top headline on FiveLive and BBC Breakfast TV, the subject of the FiveLive phone in as well and no doubt there is blanket coverage on many sports websites, radio and TV stations. I daren't turn on Sky Sports News. He has had the British media in thrall ever since he turned up. They drool at the prospect of a Jose comment and can find no wrong in him despite his often daft comments. Who will win the adulation now?

While I have some sympathy for the way Jose was treated in the last few months... having a director of football put in place, forced into playing has-been strikers etc, I will not miss him at all and rather hope he disappears off to manage in Italy (where he says he would like to go), Spain or, oh I don't know, Luxembourg.

Admittedly, he was good fun in the beginning. Charming and disarming in his honesty. But it changed pretty rapidly and rather than the smile, we got the scowls and the tirades. Sure, he was under pressure but, hey, £5 million a year means you need to be able to handle it. And I don't think he could. Ever blind to the crimes of his own players, he had the sharpest of eyes for offences committed against them sixty yards away and even resorted to a parody of Sir Alex, showing the fourth official his portable TV for a replay of a disallowed goal last weekend. He never understood about balance in football. Never understood that Chelsea could actually lose games or that officials could make mistakes. I got very bored of hearing how unfair it always was. How his team were singled out for bad treatment. But you know what, Jose? You needed to rise above that. You needed to be aware you had a very talented squad who shouldn't have cared if one goal was disallowed because you'd already scored four or were going to during the 90 minutes.

We hear a great deal about what a brilliant manager he is. And his record is pretty damn good. But at the very top, if you're told that you will be measured on winning the Champions League and you fail to do so, you can have few complaints if you are shown the door, or find it so AWFULLY hard that you have to take your leave. Whatever. Takes your money, pays your price.

For Chelsea, though, there are serious implications. If what we hear about interference is all true, then any other manager will be little more than a figurehead and that is the way to mediocrity. So, the door is clearly open for Graham Rix...

England 6-1 Argentina. Ah, wonderful. Now there is a scoreline to warm the cockles of your heart. And it could have been more. After their 11-0 thumping by Germany in their opening match, Argentina tightened their defence against Japan, losing by the only goal, and that in stoppage time. But England are a very strong side and showed it by thrashing Argentina to book their place in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 quarter finals where they are likely to be playing the USA should scores remain as they are right now.

Although they were helped by some diabolical goalkeeping and a stunning bullet header own goal, England have laid a marker for the rest of the tournament. Kelly Smith is an accomplished and seriously deadly striker and our midfield packed with hard tackling and good passing. We look dangerous down the flanks and through the middle and our defence appears sound against anything barring free kicks. What will have encouraged England so far is a hard fought clean sheet against a very strong German side, a good battle against a decent Japanese team (unlucky to concede the draw with the last kick of the match) and a confident demolition of a poor Argentinian team.

I've enjoyed the tournament so far. I've only watched bits and pieces of England matches but, having been a cynic of women's football, I have to hold my hand up and admit that on this evidence, the chortling behind my hand at the mere mention was wrong. Skill, passion, energy, pace and a high level of excitement. Everything you want from any game of football, frankly. And what you don't get are volleys of abuse, arguing every decision, surrounding the ref, play acting (well, not much) and utter cheating. You should watch a match if you can. You might be in for a very pleasant surprise.

England's defeat to New Zealand in their latest 20/20 World Cup game means almost certain elimination from the tournament. Three defeats out of four is a poor return for a team that looked very well balanced on paper. But there's the rub. Packed with 20/20 specialists, England have misfired badly. New caps have not shone as hoped and old heads have made daft mistakes at crucial times. Against South Africa and again today against NZ, England forged a very strong position with good new ball bowling only to leak buckets of runs in the final ten overs to turn easy targets into challenging ones.

Still, neither total we faced was huge. But what we haven't learned is that the loss of a couple of wickets means little. NZ went from 34-4 to 163-8 with a little patience linked to well-picked big six hitting. By contrast, having gone serenely to 60 odd without loss, England lost their heads yet again, losing wickets to stupid shots (KP... trying to reverse sweep perhaps THE cleverest spin bowler in world cricket and getting bowled through his legs) and comical run outs.

So what lessons can be learned from this poor display? Well, that Atherton was right (sorry, Athers). Domestic 20/20 specialists do not necessarily make good on the international stage. Luke Wright is a great talent but young and naive. Chris Schofield looked lost as soon as the pressure was on his bowling. Maddy scored runs today but has had a very average tournament besides. So. Pick your best batters and bowlers and ask them to do what they do best in every form of the game. Don't get cute with your shots. Straight hitting brings runs. Funky pick ups over fine leg and reverse sweeps only work half the time. Don't play across the line of straight deliveries. When you've been hit for six, perhaps don't bowl the same ball in the same spot. Oh... just like normal cricket then.

Ah ha.

Yes, I know Owen scored another two very good goals and Ferdinand managed a piece of country dancing before scoring the third, but the engine room of our 3-0 victory over Russia was our central midfield. Gerrard and Barry were absolutely outstanding from kick off to final whistle. Indeed, they were probably tackling back on the way to the dressing room at half time. We expect great things from Gerrard every game and in recent games, I don't think we've seen them. But versus Israel and now against the far more accomplished (but not brilliant) Russians, the partnership of Gerrard and Barry looks like it has been in place forever.

The pair bossed the midfield to such an extent that the Russians had no answer in the first half and either played on the break or down the flanks in the second. This limiting of their attacking options made our back four's job pretty easy. Even when they did threaten, what was really pleasing was the way one of Barry and Gerrard was there to break up the play and bring the ball clear. The link between back four and midfield was solid and meant that we were very seldom reduced to thumping the ball upfield to relieve pressure and hence immediately surrender possession.

In an earlier blog, I said we should play Barry on the left. OK, got that one wrong. He is a revalation to me in central midfield. Barely putting a pass astray, playing simply, enabling our strikers to cause heaps of trouble and of course, laying on Owen's first goal. I sincerely hope that McClaren resists the temptation to include his 'star' players merely because they are fit. I'm talking about Lampard in particular who ought to be set for a good long spell on the bench as Gerrard's understudy while Carrick, if he ever makes the team again, should be subbing for Barry.

It is interesting that in a game where neither Cole nor Wright-Phillips sparkled all that much, we were able to make a mess of a previously solid Russian defence (one goal conceded all group before Weds night) because our centre pairing could take the strain and maintain the required pressure. There is hope for this England team yet, and therefore hope for McClaren. But only if he pays attention to what is right in front of his face.

As for Rooney. Does he come back for Heskey? You know, that's actually a tough one. Yes, if he will play in a defined role as support striker for Owen (because that is why Owen has looked so dangerous in the last two games). But brilliant though he is, he is prey to selfishness and over confidence and that leads to wasted chances. This is not about pandering to egos or having any player with a divine right to play. This is about England winning football matches, and in some style. Nothing else matters.

It is a rare day indeed when England win three important games in a single afternoon. But such a day was Saturday 8th September. We won important matches in Rugby, cricket and football... but how to score them in terms of quality?

As a fan, wishing to see all three matches and not being omnipresent was a problem. All three ought to have clashed at around 5pm. And because they did not, performance of the day has to go to England's cricketers. Beating India in the decider of a seven match series was a terrific achievement. it really does look like brighter days are ahead for our one day side. We outplayed India throughout the day and won deservedly by seven wickets with 12 odd overs to spare. That is a resounding win against very good opposition. Great to see Freddy back but I worry about his long term fitness. Great to see KP score runs and keep concentration under pressure. And great to see Luke Wright opening the batting. I don't care that it didn't pay off this time. What the selectors did was make a brave decision based on form and that is the right way to go. Critically, the emphatic nature of the victory against a strong and passionate Indian team meant the game was done before 5pm... kick off time at Wembley and in France. Luvverly.

In second place, England's beleagured footballers. Too often we've scratched out results against crap opposition. This time, against a very average Israel side, we went at them for 90 minutes, scored three, could have scored six and came away with poitives in every department. Special mention to Gareth Barry who was excellent in the centre of midfield. To Shaun Wright-Phillips who just gets better and better. To Micah Richards who is a mountain in defence and a genuine threat coming forward. And Michael Owen who looked sharp and scored a lovely goal. As for Heskey, well actually, he played well, spent less time on his arse than usual and gave the forward line balance. Oh, and Joe Cole. Great player, end of story. If I was the England coach, who cares who else is fit for Wednesday against Russia, you have to start with the same 11. Anything else is a betrayal of all the work, energy and belief. As for speculation making this the end of Beckham's international career, well I doubt it. If SWP isn't fit or doesn't perform, who else would you play? Serious answers only.

Which leaves England's rugby players. I saw bits and pieces of this match and it was a turgid affair. The US were all muscle and no style and England tried to be fancy and dropped the ball a lot. Yes, we won 28-10 but scored no bonus points while other sides playing the weaker teams in their groups have run up big scores. In the end, the win was everything, of course, but the manner was very disappointing. All we had to do was stick to a single game plan (probabaly sucking players in to rucks and mauls before using our wing pace to score tries would have done it. It's simple after all) and we'd have scored 60 points. I just don't think we gave the US enough respect for being organised and tough tacklers. We tried terribly clever moves which are unnecessary against lesser opposition and screwed them all up, more or less. Must try harder. Or we'll get a sreous beating by South Africa next weekend.

Roll on Wednesday, the 20-20 World Cup and, sort of, the South African challenge.

India levelled the One Day series yesterday in a magnificent encounter that saw some extraordinary power hitting in a day dominated by the bat. This is the sort of match that cricket haters should be made to watch and then attached to a lie dectector afterwards when asked if they enjoyed it or not. From the second ball of the day which Cook edged to Dhoni, to the third last ball which went to the boundary for victory to India, there was no knowing who would win the match.

From an Indian perspective there was much to be happy about Dinesh Khartik's replacement, Robin Uthappa, played a superb, if sometimes fortunate innings to close out the game. Zaheer Khan put down further evidence of why he is probably bowler of the tour on either side, and the wonderful Tendulkar and Ganguly set up the victory with an opening stand of 150 scored at almost seven an over.

From the England perspective, the future is surely bright. Luke Wright's fearless 50 got us back on track. Shah's maiden ODI century was a joy and Mascarenas' five consecutive sixes off the last five balls of the innings were breathtaking. But, and there are still big buts. I worry about Kevin Pietersen. He is a great batsman and looked as though he was returning to form with his 50 but he seems to lose concentration and focus at critical moments. For me he was responsible for both Collingwood's and his own run outs. Bad calls or ignoring calls, neither is pretty. And in the field, he cost us eight runs. Once with a lazy dive early on, which got ganguly going and later, letting a ball through his body at long on. In a close match, this is very costly.

Any of you who've read the previous entry know I went on about Indians chirping and abusing English batsmen. Well, tables turned this time. And the lesson today is, pick your target carefully. Chris Broad is a fine young player, a very promising bowler who could well turn into a genuine all-rounder. But yesterday, he chose to have a go at Suarav Ganguly in the midst of the Indian opener flaying the ball to all parts. This is dim. Not only will it cost him some of his match fee but it got Ganguly going, if he wasn't already. What Broad needed to take into account was that Ganguly has scored over 10,000 (count them) one day runs and is an exceptional batsman. So, after their exchange, Ganguly slapped a few more fours just to show Broad what he can do. Again, tight game, very expensive error if you ask me. So, Chris, when you're a bit miffed, make sure you pick on the guy on debut, not one of the more experienced of world ODI players.

I'm loving this series. Lords for the decider on Saturday and surely a must watch match. Never mind the football at 5pm. A bad time to change channels, what with the climax of the cricket at around that time. And anyway, we already know what happens in the first half at Wembley. Bright start by England, frustration sets in after 20 mins. 0-0 after 45 mins. Ray Wilkins on as second half substitute to pas the ball square. There you go.