Tactical blundering

Neither had much chance to express his attacking skills, although there was some small consolation for Stewart Downing in that Sven's tinkering made it even worse for the other debutant, Crystal Palace centre forward Andy Johnson, who was marooned out on the right.

Mathew Tait was similarly hung out as bait for the voracious Gavin Henson. I don't suppose Mrs Tait particularly likes Henson after what he did to her son. Nor do I.

The great Welsh rugby tradition was forged around real men like Mervyn Davies, J P R Williams, Gareth Edwards and Graham Price and I refuse to believe that it can be rebuilt around a poser with spiky, gelled hair, a fake tan, shaved legs, silver boots and the same sort of arrogance as fellow Welshman Craig Bellamy.

I fervently hope that in four years, when Tait is the same age as Henson is now and has put on at least a couple of stones of muscle, he will have his revenge. But for now it's back to learning his trade at Newcastle as England coach Andy Robinson abandons any pretence of adventure.

He obviously shouldn't have picked Tait in the first place if the intention was to play such a stodgy game. England can say Wales were very adept at slowing down their ball, but there never seemed to be much urgency about delivering it quickly.

At least the rugby match had some drama with Henson's winning kick sending the whole Welsh nation berserk. It's always nice when people have something to get excited about, but the reality was that there was nothing at all in the match to worry the All Blacks ahead of the British Lions' visit next summer.

They might want to watch out for Danny Grewcock's flying feet, otherwise their main concern will be to avoid getting some of Henson's hair gel in their eyes.

IT was very honest of Stephen Harmison, but not very promising for English cricket, to admit that he would have taken the chance to go home on the first day of the South Africa tour.

His sensational performance in the West Indies last winter helped to persuade us that his homesickness was a thing of the past, yet he has admitted he would far rather be in Ashington than Cape Town, even in the depths of an English winter.

Harmison should have been sent home after the Test series. He was kept on because England need him to bowl at his best in one-day cricket if they are to challenge for the next World Cup. He has also been insisting for two years that he wants to succeed in this form of the game, even though that has rarely looked likely.

One-day tactics keep on evolving. A few years ago England packed their side with players like Adam Hollioake, Matthew Fleming and Mark Ealham, who could score very quickly at county level and fill in with a few overs of respectable medium pace in mid-innings.

Now the fashion is to unleash a top-class quickie in mid-innings in the hope that he will take a couple of wickets and avoid having top batsmen established for the final slog. But if the pace comes without control it merely accelerates the scoring rate.

Following Kevin Pietersen's amazing start at international level the batting looks strong, but it is no good topping 300 in 50 overs if they lose, as they did on Wednesday. The bowling takes the blame, and we need Harmison and Andrew Flintoff to perform that crucial mid-innings role.

WHATEVER Harmison does in the future, he is in the record books with his seven for 12 in Jamaica and has been to the top of the world rankings, which is more than could have been expected from someone who took none for 77 in nine overs on his first-class debut in 1996.

Two years later Michael Gough scored 62 on his debut for Durham and went on to captain England Under 19s. Last Saturday, 18 months after turning his back on first-class cricket, he was sent off while playing football for Spennymoor, a club for whom the future looks depressingly bleak.

My personal hope is that the red card will help to persuade him he's on the wrong track. The new indoor school at Riverside is where he ought to be. Go on Michael, give it a try.

WOULD there have been such a furore over the tapping-up of Ashley Cole were Chelsea not the alleged culprits?

I have no wish to defend them, but surely this sort of thing goes on all the time, even if it is against the rules. Obviously the outcry reflects a fear that Russian oil money will eventually buy up all the best players, but suggestions that Chelsea should have points deducted smack much more of jealousy than a desire to introduce ethics to the game.

Published: 11/02/2005