King Kenny: Right Choice or the Sentimental Option

Ask any Liverpool fan for the name of a Liverpool legend. Many names fall into this category, Bill Shankly, Ian Rush, John Barnes and Bob Paisley for example. But the man they all think is the man they call the King. Kenny Dalglish. Not only was he their greatest player of all time, he is one of their greatest managers ever, presiding over the final days of Liverpool’s reign as the best team in England.

So after the ill fated tenure Roy Hodgson suffered at Anfield, according to the kop there was only one man to get them out of this situation and back into the good old days. So new owners, New England Sports Ventures listened to the cries of the fans and Dalglish returned to the manager’s dugout at Anfield for the first time in 20 years.

Dalglish was on holiday at the time of his appointment but flew back to take his charge of his first game since his time at Newcastle and first game in all since the turn of the century with Celtic. Who better to be the opponents in his first game back than Manchester United, one of the greatest rivalries in world football, in the Third Round of the FA Cup. This also rekindled memories of the battles between Dalglish and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

For Liverpool fans it couldn’t get any better than a trip to Old Trafford, led by Dalglish and knocking the old enemy out of the cup. This pretence lasted all of 2 minutes after Dimitar Berbatov dived in the box and Ryan Giggs put away the ensuing penalty. But this was a different Liverpool to the rest of the season. They fought tooth and nail to get back into the game, some a little harder than others. Captain and talisman Steven Gerrard received his marching orders for a two footed challenge and put Liverpool under even more pressure.

However they fought on, holding United back and despite going out of the FA Cup, it was a creditable performance and Dalglish could take many positives from this encounter. The kop was full of hope for the match at Blackpool on the Wednesday night. Nothing could stop them now Dalglish was in charge. Unfortunately Ian Holloway and DJ Campbell had other ideas. Despite taking the lead through a rejuvenated Fernando Torres, two goals from Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Campbell earned Blackpool the victory and a historic double over Liverpool, thus ruining Dalglish’s first Premiership game for 12 years.

Still looking for his first victory since returning, Dalglish would surely have been begging for a better game than he had today. But the Premiership doesn’t work like that, and the next opponent for Liverpool was Everton and the Merseyside Derby. They opened the scoring through Hodgson signing Raul Meireles but never looked comfortable. Very soon they found themselves on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline, with Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford putting the toffees ahead. Dirk Kuyt got them back on level terms and the spoils were shared at Anfield, leaving Everton in 12^th with Liverpool one place behind in 13^th.

So is Dalglish just a stop gap to keep the ailing giant going till the end of the season. Ask the board and the man himself and that is the answer you will get. His job is to keep the seat warm for the next incumbent, and then go back to hanging around in the background. But Dalglish and Liverpool is a romance that never died. He admitted on his return, that he has wanted this job again for a while. He is also the only man for the job for Liverpool fans, he can simply do no wrong.

But what if he turns Liverpool around and guides them into Europe. The Champions League was the aim at the start of the season but right about now Liverpool fans will take the Europa League quite happily. There would be absolutely no way the owners could replace him if this happens, and Dalglish would continue as the manager and Liverpool could possibly go on from strength to strength under his stewardship.

Can Dalglish do this for his club or is he simply there because the kop wanted him and the owners were trying to appease them till the end of the season after the Hodgson debacle. The jury is still out.

Ashes Aftermath Part 2: The Australian Perspective

Bottlers, chokers and unfit to wear the shirt. All words not usually used to describe Australian sportspeople, especially the former all conquering cricketers. They have gone from the ultimate force in World Cricket to now becoming almost a laughing stock. Their reputation over the course of this Ashes Series has gone up in smoke.

                     

It makes horrible reading from the start for players and fans alike. Australia lost the Ashes for the first time at home in 24 years. They weren’t just beaten, they were demolished, almost humiliated in front of their own adoring public, who by the end of the series, had almost deserted them as grounds like Sydney and Melbourne seemingly turned into home matches for England, as they took over. Sometimes not even an Australian in sight.

So where and with whom does the blame lie? It would be easy to blame the coaching staff as seems to be the done thing in sport nowadays. Not this time. The buck stops with the players and in particular with the previously untouchable captain Ricky Ponting. Despite all of his phenomenal achievements in International Cricket, one fact reads clearer than all the others. In the four Ashes Series he has captained, Ponting has lost 3 of them, twice in England and now in his home country.

This news does not bode well for Ponting and the inevitable talk about whether he should give up the test captaincy. At the moment, it looks like he will get to prove himself in the World Cup but if he takes charge of another failure; he surely has to be relieved of the captaincy. However, who will take over from him.

The only obvious replacement is Michael Clarke, but following his equally poor series, there are a lot of people who are against Clarke taking over and having struggled somewhat in the final test, this criticism looks justified. So who else is there? Brad Haddin moved into the vice position role when Clarke was promoted in Ponting’s absence, so perhaps he will get an opportunity to show what he can do.

Mike Hussey is equally accomplished with the bat and is also strong in the field. But would handing the captaincy to Hussey, restrict him due to the extra responsibility. All things considered, Australia’s best option at the moment looks like sticking with Ponting for a bit more time, which may disappoint many of the Australian fans who are searching for a fresh outlook on their team.

However, full responsibility does not lie solely with the captain. There are 10 other players on the team and with both batting and bowling, Australia looked out of sorts to say the least. Hussey was by far and away their best performer out of the specialist batsmen, with wicket keeper Haddin not that far behind. The pair were denied winning the 1^st test for Australia by a remarkable 2^nd innings performance by Alistair Cook, supported by Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.

But the other batsmen, failed to impress. Simon Katich was injured early on in the series and was replaced by Phillip Hughes, who at times flattered to deceive. Just as it looked like he would put up a big score, a mistake let him down. Shane Watson was better than most, putting up some high scores and frustrating England. But like Hughes he made errors at the wrong time, for example when they managed to run the other out in successive matches. Marcus North was dropped after two tests, whilst Usman Khawaja made his debut in Sydney and proved he is one for the future.

If the batsmen don’t produce it is usually up to the bowlers to get them out of trouble. Apart from a few times, this simply didn’t happen. Only Peter Siddle appeared in every test and was the most consistent bowler for the Aussies. He was devastating in the 1^st test and took a hat trick to put England on the ropes. But like the rest of the Australian team he faded at the end of the series and occasionally managed to put in a better performance with the bat, to suggest he has all rounder potential.

Mitchell Johnson was built up at the start of the series as the spearhead to the Aussie bowling attack. But a poor performance in the 1^st test, caused him to be dropped for the 2^nd test and become the main target for the “Barmy Army’s” abuse. His return in the 3^rd test with both bat and bowl, silenced his critics for a time, and put the series in the balance. But it wasn’t to be and Johnson failed to impress in the next two tests and he returned to his post as the “Barmy Army’s” favourite Australian player.

The other bowlers struggled, spinners Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer failed to justify their selection ahead of Nathan Hauritz. Steve Smith barely got a chance to give Australia a different dimension and this clearly knocked his confidence, despite a gutsy partnership with Siddle in the final test, to delay the inevitable for just a little bit longer.

An injury to Ryan Harris hampered him although he failed to impress as well, whilst Ben Hilfenhaus, was at times dreadful and used as cannon fodder by the in form England batsmen. The so called “Dangerous” Doug Bollinger got one test to impress when he replaced Hilfenhaus in Adelaide but they were swapped again for the 3^rd test in Perth, which the Aussies won in by far their best performance.

So where do Australia go from here with the World Cup coming up. Well it is safe to say that they will struggle to retain the title, and the hopes of the nation will not be very high after their dismal performance in this series. Before all that though, there is the small matter of two Twenty20 internationals and seven One Day Internationals against the old enemy. If they fail to perform in those matches, then they will be slated back home and their confidence will be at an all time low before the trip to India.

This concludes my Ashes blogs and the next blog on Sunday will summarise last weeks FA Cup Third Round and preview the Fourth Round of the competition.

Ashes Aftermath Part 1: The English Perspective

England’s cricketers have finally done what they have threatened to do for a while: live up to their huge potential. They retained the Ashes with consummate ease against Australia and now are on the verge of World Domination in international cricket.

This historical victory, the first time England have won the Ashes in Australia for 24 years, definitely holds them in good stead for the future. But it is not just the manner in which England won the urn, they broke numerous records en route, many of which were deemed unbeatable.

They have gone from players with potential to world beaters, as 2010 has been their year. After the Twenty20 World Cup victory in the Caribbean, they have been climbing the ladder in all formats of the game, and are now amongst the early favourites for the World Cup this year.

One player who rose to the occasion was opener Alistair Cook who was, without any shadow of a doubt, the best batsman on either side throughout the series. He scored the highest individual score at the Gabba with an unbeaten 235, in the process beating the great Don Bradman's previous record at the ground and was also named Man of the Series.

But he was ably supported by his fellow batsmen. Captain and other opener Andrew Strauss weighed in with runs, whilst Jonathan Trott gritted his teeth and put up some important scores. Kevin Pietersen was back to his mercurial best at times whilst the technically gifted pair of Ian Bell and Matt Prior added to the ever increasing scoreboard, and were rewarded with first ever Ashes centuries apiece in Sydney.

But it was not just with the bat where England won the series. They bowled superbly throughout and constantly had the Australian batsmen on the back foot. The Spin-King Graeme Swann looked like taking a wicket every time he stepped up to bowl and at times was virtually unplayable.

But it was the fast bowlers who should take a lot of credit. James Anderson’s reverse swing bamboozled the Aussies, whilst Stuart Broad and Steven Finn were always dangerous, but injury and a needed rest respectively was where the Ashes ended for them.

But their replacements weren’t bad either. Chris Tremlett came in for Broad and left the Aussies in tatters and the previously unheralded Tim Bresnan, who replaced Finn, almost single-handedly, arguably, won the Ashes for England in the 4^th test at Melbourne.

As well as the two obvious cricketing aspects in batting and bowling, there is a third which doesn’t gain anywhere near as much praise as it does, and that is the fielding. One man epitomises England in the field, and that man is Paul Collingwood. He has been the heartbeat in this area for a few years now and is in my opinion the top fielder in the world.

But, Collingwood after struggling with the bat on this tour, has decided to retire from test cricket after this series. He will continue in the shorter forms of the game but is giving up his spot in the test side, which leaves the question, who will take over from Collingwood.

The man that looks the most likely is Eoin Morgan, who has come to prominence thanks to his scintillating performances in limited overs games. He seems to be the man the England selectors will turn to, but there could be others.

Could Bresnan become a legitimate all rounder? Will they look at Ravi Bopara again? Is Luke Wright ready for a test spot? Or will look for a fresh face, especially with Somerset’s James Hildreth garnering a lot of support for a place in the England team. All these questions will surely be answered after the World Cup ready for the next test series.

Either way we will still see Collingwood captaining the Twenty20 side. From one great Captain to another. Andrew Strauss has led his side to the cusp of becoming the top team in world cricket. But it is not just the Captain, the Coach takes a lot of the credit, and Andy Flower deserves all the plaudits as well as just the team.

Flower rescued the team from the Pietersen/Moores debacle and steadied the ship. He then took the option of appointing a brand new Captain in Strauss, and it has developed into perhaps the best partnership that England possesses. After this series win, this run doesn’t look it will stop anytime soon, and looks to be going from strength-to-strength.

So is this the beginning for England? Early signs say that they can go on and win absolutely everything. But this is England and as they say, anything can happen. The team hopes to begin a legacy, similar to the Australian side of the nineties and the beginning of the century. But I’m sure Strauss and Flower will keep their feet very firmly on the ground and not allow anyone to get carried away.

But at the moment, I’m sure many English sports fans will revel in the fact, that we can quite happily beat the Aussies at anything, anywhere. Well except Rugby League.

In next Wednesday’s blog I will do part 2 of this commentary, and focus on the Australian side and what happens next to them.