Not a bad set of predictions in the end as Tony McCoy picked up the Sports Personality of the Year with Tom Daly collecting the young award, team of the year went to Europe's golfers and their winning captain, Colin Montgomerie picking up Coach of the Year. My one downfall was Overseas Player which went to a Spaniard still but to Rafael Nadal. I suppose they did not really wish to dwell on football any longer than necessary and as David Beckham was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award that was enough of a fix for the evening.
   With a bit more time for reflection many still seem upbeat about England's chances in the Ashes after the initial disgust at the performance. This tends to be the case as the team are generally depicted as World beaters when we win and when we lose heavily calls for mass changes are made. Only a week ago Australia were tarred as one of the worst teams but were still capable of inflicting a heavy defeat on England. Now our impregnable batsmen are looking a little frayed and their vulnerability on fast, bouncy pitches is being highlighted. If that is really the case then we can expect to play on more as groundsmen around the world try to prepare their pitches accordingly to provide as big an advantage as possible. Sportsmen usually talk up their chances whether through confidence or bravado but if England wish to back up the talk of being number 1 then they can not afford to have any weak spots as limitations will soon be exposed.