Andy Murray is obviously saving himself for Wimbledon! It's not the defeat per se that makes me feel so deflated as the manner. Right from the start Novak Djokovic looked ready and hungrier for the title whilst Murray looked out of place on the big stage. The really annoying thing is that he has no reason to fear the opponent or the occasion as he has earned the right to be there. The luck of the draw and a couple of good performances can see a decent player reach a Grand Slam final but Murray has now reached three and has beaten all the other top players in big tournaments at some time or other. He is a good player. He looked tense this morning which may be in part due to the increase in expectation as he was not playing Federer, but someone who he is apparently quite friendly with. This can only be used as experience now and the chances are that he will make other Slam finals and hopefully he can at least win a set. Who he might face in any future final is something he has no control over so it's no use worrying about that, only about his own game and ensure he is as prepared as he can be.

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   A bad day in Melbourne for Brits all round as England's batsmen again failed to impress with only one of those last wicket stands that provides a little light relief between Anderson and Finn the only batting highlight for England as the lost the series with two games still to play. Again the injury ravaged bowlers are doing their bit by bowling Australia out for 249 which was thought to be about 25 runs short of par with Chris Woakes impressing with 6-45 in only his second ODI. The first choice batsmen have played and failed throughout this series whereas the attack has only just seen Anderson return but are without Broad, Bresnan and Swann. Perhaps the new bowlers are more refreshed and feel they have something to prove but the same should also be the case for Eoin Morgan who did not feature in the test series but who has been disappointing so far. With only a few weeks to go before the World Cup England's selectors will be hoping that this is a blip although it would be nice to finish with a couple of wins here to try to gain some momentum going into the World Cup.
   Overall rather a disappointing morning as I flicked between matches not to see what was happening in one sport but to avoid the let down of the other.

Well after praising Caroline Wozniacki it was inevitable that she should lose her next match so I'll refrain from commenting on Andy Murray's chances as that too may have absolutely no impact whatsoever. I'm sure that as a top ranking professional he will be totally focused on his third final and the first that he won't face Federer. The pessimist in me fears that a small part of him will relax knowing that he faces Novak Djokovic and not Federer or Nadal to provide a great opportunity at winning his first major. Djokovic is ranked No. 3 in the world and thus ahead of Murray and has experience of winning this tournament before so is not to be dismissed lightly. For all the talk of when Murray was going to hold a major title and not if he now has to deliver as the opportunity of winning one gets harder as long as Federer and Nadal continue to dominate. Also the last time either of the top two players did not win one of the Grand Slam tournaments was the US Open in 2009 when Juan Martin del Potro, who is younger than Murray, beat the pair of them to win the title. The time before that was Djokovic's victory in Australia in 2008.
   He may be unlucky to playing in a time when two greats are sharing Grand Slams between them but that would make any victory all the sweeter and mark him out as a true champion that might start to earn some more public recognition for his achievements so far. He would also pretty much be a shoe in for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year but that is probably not top of his to do list just yet.

How refreshing to find a sports person not be completely anodyne in a post match interview and add a bit of colour. Caroline Wozniacki has entertained in front of the press as well as on the court at the Australian Open ironically after accusations of being boring in previous encounters. Her first foray saw her complain that the criticism was unfair as she was simply replying to boring questions before conducting the interview herself and then opening up to a general Q&A session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ixOQK4Ja6c&feature=related

   After this performance she claimed she had been scratched by a kangaroo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAW4c7qJu9w before retracting this the following day admitting that she got the scratch from walking into a treadmill http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/9370990.stm .
   In the current age of professionalism where the same cliches are trotted out by interchangeable players Wozniacki is fast garnering a support base and increasing interest in tennis from people who may have become disheartened by the Williams sisters sharing major tournaments with Belgians. This is unfair but the rankings don't help when the No1 changes so frequently, with Wozniacki the latest to reach that spot without having won a major, that the casual tennis viewer has trouble identifying them all so that Venus and Serena Williams, along with Justin Henin and Kim Clijsters are the only household names. The more that can join this group the better but Wozniacki needs more than wisecracks and has to perform on the court as well otherwise she becomes nothing more than a sideshow. She has the talent as her World ranking indicates but she will need to win a major soon to justify that lofty position in the public's eye.
   Tennis is by no means the only sport that have this curious situation where the No1 ranked player has yet to win a major tournament as Lee Westwood can testify in golf and I wonder if these events still want to be considered as majors whether the points awarded for winning one takes that into account and apportions more than are currently.

Well it's nice to see the England selectors following my advice (I still haven't quite fathomed how to write ironically without reading it back and thinking it may be mistaken for arrogance - hence this clumsy parenthesis) having picked Matt Prior as wicketkeeper for England. It is unfortunate that he has yet to score a run in two innings with England losing both games to go 3-0 down in the series. I would still maintain that he should not be opening and bat in his normal position: if we are really struggling to find an opening partner for Strauss after the numerous partners he has been paired with it may be worth letting Alistair Cook maintain his test place given the run of form he is currently in and that he has improved as a one day player since he last represented England in that format. Since Strauss came back into the team after succeeding Pietersen to the one day captaincy in the 2008/09 series against India he has been partnered by Prior, Davies, Kieswetter, Trott, Wright, Denly and Bopara and upto his return the openers consisted of a combination of Bell, Bopara, Cook and Mustard for the previous 18 months.
   Such inconsistency has not helped England's cause although there is an "after the Lord Mayor's Show" feel about this series with the impression that England have relaxed somewhat after winning the Ashes. This is dangerous with the World Cup approaching if a little understandable. I wonder if tours would be better served if they had the one day series as the starter to whet the appetite of the main course that is the test series. If the public are not too full after that a couple of 20/20 games for dessert should provide a fun end to long tours.

I can't put my finger on the exact reason why but I just can't warm to Roger Federer. I accept that he is a wonderful tennis player and perhaps the fact that many commentators like to label him as the greatest player of all time is a factor as I always balk at such suggestions in any athlete when still playing. He appears a nice enough individual and despite the number of titles he has he still has the hunger to strive for more and continues to develop his game to further improve as the challenges he faces increase. And yet, I find him too professional and even though he shows enough emotion on the court I yearn for the flaw that makes him more human and less bland in interviews. I felt the same way about Pete Sampras in the 90s who was far to mechanical a player and not a player I could really cheer for. Now he's retired he comes across as more human and age also brings flaws as his receding hairline testifies (not that there is anything wrong with baldness).



   He first appeared more human to me when he was mentioned in a surreal exchange in Father Ted after Dougal named his pet rabbit Sampras. Now Federer has taken over his antipathy crown in my eyes and any time he shows a fault it no longer makes him look more human but only compounds my feelings as demonstrated by his choice of attire when wearing gold piped clothing with monograms. Completely irrational but when individual sportspeople start winning all the time at starts to get boring. In team events there isn't a reliance so much on one person and while people will rail against the popular team that is more tribal. The athlete who dominates the sport like Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods and Stephen Hendry have done to varying degrees makes that sport less interesting to watch from a competitive point of view if they win all the time. When they retire or lose form the next generation continues to suffer as they compete in their shadow and it is when more than one great player at a time can challenge each other that makes the sport interesting. Perhaps I shall warm to Federer as he continues to be pushed by Rafael Nadal but I fear the damage may be done and whilst I may appreciate the matches I will probably root for Nadal in any match ups.

It is no great surprise to see Jose Maria Olazabel being named as Europe's captain for the Ryder Cup team in 2012 in Chicago but it remains a good choice nonetheless.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/9364427.stm

Apparently he is popular amongst the players, which is key, but he is also popular amongst fans aware of his Ryder Cup exploits as a player where he formed to all intents and purposes a Spanish double act alongside Seve Ballesteros. He also knows about winning major tournaments in the USA as a two time winner of the Masters the last of which in 1999 was the last European win in the States for nine years until Padraig Harrington won the PGA in 2008. Most of the European major winners from the 80s and 90s will have had a turn captaining in the Ryder Cup now except for the Scots Sandy Lyle and Paul Lawrie, the former of whom is possibly unlucky that he may now have missed his chance and the latter has yet to be seriously considered, perhaps many still believing that he did not so much win the Open in 1999 as Jean van der Velde lost it.


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   Darren Bent's transfer from Sunderland to Aston Villa for a reported £18 million rising to a possible £24 million has raised a few eyebrows as he leaves a team pushing for a European place for one in danger of being sucked into a relegation battle. Most commentators admit that money is the major factor in this move and that is undoubtedly the case but apparently he had a transfer request turned down in the summer. According to the unreliable source of a couple of season ticket holders at the Stadium of Light, Bent was upset when his mother was racially abused by some "supporters". If there is any truth to this rumour then it is strange that he would rather be thought of as another greedy footballer rather than bring to light an important issue that for all the campaigns has not yet been eradicated as some ignorant fools try to demonstrate.

After two defeats in a row in one day internationals to Australia does this constitute a crisis for the England cricket team. Worryingly some may seriously be asking that question, but while the results have been disappointing there are positives from the performances as well as areas that can be improved upon, hopefully in time for the World Cup. Shane Watson's outstanding innings was the difference today as England posted a respectable score without any batsmen going on to score a century and Kevin Pietersen getting some needed runs.
    We still seem obsessed with opening with a wicketkeeper and while Steven Davies has been perfectly acceptable in that role he has not yet raised eyebrows in the way Craig Kieswetter did in the T20 World Cup last year. At the moment he is the current favourite but there has been quick rotation of keepers recently in all formats and I still wonder what Matt Prior has done wrong when the latest vogue is to keep as much of the test team together for the 50 over version of the game. He scores quickly enough for one dayers and is much improved behind the stumps, although his previous appearances were again as an opener and he would likely benefit from coming in further down the order.
   Aside from Davies the only other one day specialists who did not feature in the test series playing today were Eoin Morgan who was back up batsman and who will probably replace Collingwood in the test team, Ajmal Shahzad who similarly was in the test squad and playing while Anderson and Broad are absent and Michael Yardy who has carved out a steady niche role for himself in the team and the one genuine specialist. Missing both Anderson and Broad may have cost England today as there was a lack of experience amongst the remaining fast bowlers as we did not take enough early wickets to put pressure on their batsmen - even more so as Collingwood was dropped thereby losing another bowling option. It was a brave decision to drop Collingwood and not something recent England teams would have done, preferring instead to stick with the status quo no matter how out of form they were.


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   Nat Lofthouse retired from football long before I was born and comes from the era when my father was growing up but that does not mean that I am oblivious to his talents as a player. Aside from my father's history lessons I grew up catching glimpses of these mysterious legends that existed in black and white when everything seemed more innocent before we won the World Cup in that post war shadowland. The name of Nat Lofthouse rang out alongside those of Stanley Mathews, Tom Finney, Billy Wright and the Busby Babes as something special and some football show (often in the build up on FA Cup Final day) would occasionally provide a monochrome treat of these bygone times to educate the new generation. His passing at the age of 85 is a great loss to the game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12201099

Somewhat predictably Lionel Messi won the FIFA Ballon d'Or which is an amalgam of their player of the year award and the Ballon d'Or.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9356019.stm

He was up against his Barcelona team mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez who from a personal point of view I would rather have seen win. Without doubt Messi is one of the greatest players at the moment and many commentators would label him as the best in the World and it is hard to argue against that based on his domestic form with Barcelona. However if everybody has already made their subjective decision that he is the best in the World then that makes this award redundant as we can assume that he, or a select few at least, will always be guaranteed the prize. That is why I would rather some acknowledgement of actual achievements during the season as domestic trophies aside Messi won neither Champions League or World Cup. To simply look at his goalscoring record is unfair, no matter how impressive, as that rules out defenders and goalkeepers from the vote but then strikers tend to be disproportionate in such awards - the top goalscorer is often feted but not many keepers pick up a prize for most clean sheets in a tournament.
   As World Cup winners Iniesta and Xavi were the star players in the best international team and it is hard to choose between the two with the former having the slight edge for scoring the winning goal in the final (decided by goals again but I never claimed they should be ignored).

It's far too early to judge how Kenny Dalglish will fare as Liverpool manager after one game only I get the feeling that we have been here before in more ways than one. A favoured son who has had success in the past as a manager comes back after a number of years out of the game only for it all to end in tears. He will most likely improve on their current position after replacing Roy Hodgson and the fans will certainly support him which may well give the players a lift. However, he is still in charge of the same underperforming team and supporters must be cautious of expecting too much too soon. He might not be Kevin Keegan but he may only be keeping the seat warm until the summer. The danger then is how the fans still perceive him as they may not welcome a new man if Dalglish does nothing disastrous and gets Liverpool into the top half of the table.
    After watching the FA Cup highlights show on Saturday evening Matt Smith no doubt believe that Dalglish never played in the top flight of English football as he retired in 1990 before the Premiership started so it obviously doesn't count. During discussion of Blackpool's defeat he mentioned how it was their first year in the top flight whilst managing to acknowledge their "proud tradition in the cup". Granted it was 40 years ago when they were in the old Division 1 but that does not make this season their debut. He obviously meant their first season since the Premier League was formed in 1992/93 season but why deny that football existed prior to this point and simply mention that Blackpool last played in the top league in 1971. There seems to be a need to demarcate the modern game with the all seater stadia, huge wages and blanket coverage as somehow more relevant and the birth of the Premiership provides that neat cut off point despite a lot of overlap. It can keep things tidy and the differences are there to see eg the last winners of the old league championship were Leeds United who are still in the Championship only that is now a division lower. Conversely the first Premiership winners were Manchester United who had not won a league title for nearly quarter of a century and have not looked back since. Curiously until the other season the "Big Four" often referred to the same four teams that finished in the top four in varying orders but included Liverpool who have never won the Premier League and the only other team aside from Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal to have won it are Blackburn Rovers (then managed by Kenny Dalglish to come full circle).

The worry that Australia would somehow manage an incredible fightback or that even the weather would intervene to spoil England's party was thankfully misplaced as we claimed the Ashes 3-1 with all three victories won by an innings. This is far from a great Australia team but nevertheless the ruthless and professional way we have gone about three and a half of these tests is very encouraging. England have thrived under pressure with the defeat in Perth looking like an aberration that merely served to force the team to knuckle down more. This is a true team victory earned through planning and practice, where no individual is bigger than the team and all must work together for the cause. This may sound strange as long as Kevin Pieterson is in the team but the last 18 months have seen his importance fade as he was out of form and others picked up the baton. This initially started when England won their first one day trophy with the World Twenty20 title and players such as Craig Kieswetter and Eoin Morgan outshone KP in the attacking batsmen stakes to show that we were not solely reliant on him. This personality cult can sometimes hinder the team that are over reliant on the star name and try to build the team around him. It may work for a while but if he gets injuries like Flintoff did then that team can lose its way. Yes the current team have good players but crucially everybody contributed something at some point in this series with the possible exception of Paul Collingwood who was out of form with the bat but whose fielding remained as excellent as usual.
   On Collingwood's retirement from tests I wish him well and hope he continues to play in the one day format for a time yet. A cynic may suggest that he jumped before he was pushed and can now concentrate on earning money in the IPL but many sportspeople before him have never known when their time is up and it is a brave man who acknowledges that it is time to step aside before the selectors tell you. Collingwood is characterised as the doughty middle order batsmen who won't throw his wicket away and that is true but he was (and still is) more than that in that when the situation required he could score quickly and could pace an innings superbly. He reminds me of Shiv Chanderpaul during ODIs in that they seem to start slowly but once in are adept at picking the pace up as their innings progresses. Added to that his more than useful bowling with his cutters proving difficult to score off in the shorter form of the game and his quite brilliant fielding with some stunning catches in his archive and England are losing a good, honest cricketer who won't be as easy to replace than first thought.
   A quick mention too of Shane Warne's predictor. As good and accurate a bowler he was seems to be in inverse proportion to his ability to talent spot emerging cricketers. His latest "find" Michael Beer does not look as though he is about to set the world alight just yet even if he does turn out to be a dependable spinner. Warne's previous tip that England's next big star and the player they needed to get into the team from a couple of years ago was Dmitri Mascheranas who has yet to fulfill Warne's promise. How he continues to do well at poker remains a mystery.

Well barring a ridiculous second innings collapse England should have done enough to ensure that they can't lose the final test leading as they do by over 200 runs with 3 first innings wickets left and two days to play and thus win the series. Last nights play seemed to epitomise the mental toughness that this team have acquired in the last year or so whereas older versions of England would have seen us bowled out for a similar score to Australia leaving plenty of time for them to set us a tricky target in the final innings. Alistair Cook in particular has had the series of his life and it was a relief of sorts to see Ian Bell's general improvement rewarded with his first century against Australia despite the controversy. He was well within his rights to refer the decision that he was caught when on 67 only the delay taken indicating that he thought he was out and having seen the vulnerability of the technology thought he would try his luck which appeared more fallible than the umpire. Unsportsmanlike accusations fall on deaf ears when the opposition seldom walk and claim wickets that aren't and whilst it may leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth, the pressures and importance of the modern game create less honesty as fear of losing ones place and the lucrative benefits that may offer (eg 20/20 contracts) make a player cling on to what they can. The technology is continually improving so that these errors are rare and it is surely better than previously when no recourse to appeal obvious howlers was available and if hotspot showed nothing then the benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman. What may happen is that hotspot in its current form is not deemed effective enough and not used in future series as this is not the first occasion that snickometer has detected something that hotspot did not only the Aussies did not kick up as much fuss when they were the beneficiaries.

Listening to my car radio yesterday just before the Old Firm derby kicked off and I was moved by how  the minute's silence was superbly observed. To mark the tragedy of 40 years ago when 66 people lost their lives at Ibrox (as well as a tribute to the death of Avi Cohen who appeared for Rangers) there was apparently talk of holding a minute's applause.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12083091
    This modern tribute has made a recent appearance and works at drowning out unsavoury elements in the crowd intent on spoiling the occasion. When I first heard it the crowd clapped for George Best and it worked and felt an appropriate way to mark his life and career. However, for honouring tragedies such as that on Stairway 13 then silence is the only proper mark of respect and in what is arguably one of the most intense rivalries in British sport it was heartening to hear nothing but an overhead helicopter and some seagulls. Some things are more important than petty local tribal sporting issues and yesterday both Rangers and Celtic fans did the city of Glasgow and the sport of football proud.