Andy Flower named England coach

Cricket: Andy Flower has, as expected, been named as the new England Team Director. Flower, who had the job on an interim basis for the recent tour of the West Indies, has signed a contract worth around £250,000 per year.

The new coach has a solid pedigree as a player - a former Zimbabwe captain he finished his career with over 4,500 runs at an average of 51, and earned widespread praise during the 2003 World Cup when he and Henry Olonga wore black armbands to signify "the death of democracy in Zimbabwe."

As the England batting coach under the Peter Moores' regime he is known to have impressed the players with his ideas and attitude and earned widespread praise when leading England though a difficult tour of the West Indies. After a collapsing to 51 all out and losing the first test on that tour, England then declared for six straight innings but could not get a victory, as a result England lost the Wisden trophy for the first time since 2000. A disastrous opening to the one day series seemed to take a toll on the team but they bounced back to win the One Day series - a rare victory for England in that format.

Having already built a strong relationship with his captain Andrew Strauss, Flower will now have to solidify his relationship with Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen is known to have lobbied for Flower's dismissal following the tour of India before Christmas and newspaper comments made by the star batsman while in the West Indies led some to question whether Pietersen would continue to be part of the England team.

That will be just one task facing Flower and with the international summer beginning on May 6th he will not have a lot of time to put his plans in place.

Ugly

Jenson Button stormed to pole position in tommorow's Australian Grand Prix with a brilliant performance in the new Brawn GP car. He was joined on the front row by team mate Rubens Barrichello. It was a stunning turnaround for a team that barely two months ago seemed to be on the way out of F1 after Honda pulled out of the sport.

Undoubtedly the team has been helped by the new regulations brought in by the FIA to level the playing field on the grid and the regulations seem to have caused problems for some of the established teams, most notably McLaren.

Although the rule changes are undoubtedly a good thing both for the sport and the environment, one thing they have done is make the cars incredibly ugly. The elongated nose is okay but just look at the tiny rear wing. It just looks absurd. It's almost as if they designed an ultra hi-tech Formula 1 car and then a 19 year old boy racer bought it and instead of adding a body kit and various flashing lights, he bolted a wing from a 1992 Opal Corsa onto the back of it. Completely absurd.

Okay, I admit I'm completely shallow when it comes to how a car looks but JEEZ!!!

On to Cardiff

Four down, one to go. Ireland stayed on course for a first grand slam since 1948 with a tense 22-15 victory over scotland here at Murrayfield tonight.

Two nervous sides played out a first half low on endeavour with Chris Patterson kicking four penalties to Ronan O'Gara's three. As the game restarted, someone needed to provide a spark. It was provided by Peter Stringer. In a pre-planned move off a line out about 30m out on the left touchline, the recalled scrum half took a ball off the top and burst through the gap in the middle of the line, drew Patterson the full back and off loaded to a celebrating Jamie Heaslip who ploughed over from a yard out. O'Gara followed with a drop goal to take the lead to 7 and despite anoter kick from Patterson, O'Gara sealed the win with a late penalty.

Bravery is lacking in a team that needs to win.

The West Indies claimed a draw here at Trinidad to win their test series with England 1-0 and reclaim the Wisden Trophy for the first time in nine years. Fidel Edwards blocked out the last over from Monty Panesar as the West Indies finished their second innings on 114/8 in pursuit of a nominal target of 241. It is a huge blow to England as they look forward to the Ashes this summer and especially the captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower.

Jimmy Anderson, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar shared eight wickets but Danesh Ramdin, surrounded by close in fielders, saw off 87 balls for an unbeaten 17 while captain Chris Gayle, nursing a partially torn hamstring, batted 42 balls for 4 runs. Earlier Kevin Pietersen scored a brilliant 102 off 92 balls to get England to 237/6 declared but Andrew Strauss delayed his declaration until lunch thus depriving his bowlers of what turned out to be crucial overs.

It was the second time in four tests that England were left just short of victory and the new captain's judgement will now come under severe scrutiny after this series. By the close of play last night, the general consensus was that a target of around 210 in 70 overs should be enough. With 71 overs left today, England's lead was 209. Even with the change of innings they would have had 69 overs left. Three overs is all they would have gained but when you are left two wickets short then 2 balls seems like a lot.

Two tests ago England set the West Indies an absurd 502 runs to win in 128 overs. On a dead pitch in Antigua wickets were always going to be at a premium and England batted too long and were left one wicket short. Today, they again delayed too long with the same result. Strauss surely discussed a target with coach Andy Flower. He must share some of the blame here and it will have done his prospects of getting the coach's job on a permanent basis no favours. What would Kevin Pietersen have done if he had still been the man in charge? It is a question that will inevitably be asked in the post mortems that will follow. It is also a question that the current captain would do anything to avoid being asked.

At a time when England, and Strauss in particular, needed to be prepared to lose in order to win, they could not take that final leap. This summer's Ashes hors d'ouevres against a resurgent West Indies suddenly became a lot more interesting. If this England team are to become the team they think they can, their captain needs to have made that leap by the start of the summer.

Anxiety

Liverpool v Real Madrid. European Cup Last 16. I'm not going to watch it. I can't. I get too nervous. Or am I just not bothered?

Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries

Well I've finally done it. I've taken the plunge and got myself a Blackberry.

And I love it.

It's got everything and by everything I mean everything. I'm writing this post on it. I get my email in work. I've got the net on the move. Pure escape. I never really got the "crackberry" thing before, the same way I never understood the whole Apple thing. I have an iPod Touch but feel no loyalty to Apple whatsoever.

This is so, so, different though. The 8900 is a pure joy to use. The buttons are so satisfying to press, the screen is so clear. And don't let anyone tell you the menu system is too complicated. It's completely text based but otherwise is great.

I go to lunch, I write a post, I need to know what's happening in the world, I turn to this. I can get my thoughts down at any time, and don't have to worry about having a pen & paper in my pocket; and for me being able to get my thoughts down in writing is a really big deal.

Overall, if you are a news junkie, need your email all the time or just need to access to the world in general all the time then have the means I highly recommend picking one up.

Regrets

Corporation collection here tomorrow. The council collect house waste that isn't taken in the normal collections. Beds, cabinets etc. I put out an old blacksmith tool of my grandfather's. It was old and rusty and it will never be used again so it was logical that it be thrown away but I regret it now. In a strange way it's a family heirloom. And it could be used as a weapon. I just hope it doesn't end up in the wrong hands.

The West Wing

I adore it. It's my favourite TV show of all time. The characters are everything I aspire to. I'm watching series one, again. It's still every bit as beautiful as it was the first time I watched it. 

And yet, it always, always, depresses the hell out of me. I mean it puts me on the verge of tears when I watch it. It highlights the weakness of myself. I want to follow my dreams, I want to be the guy who wants to eloquent, not out front, but rather the guy behind the guy, someone who can serve the public good. I can be that person. But I am working in a job I hate, stressed out of my mind for the dollar I need but don't want...

Three Months Later...

I'm back. And having been caught up in the Credit Crunch for the last 18 months I figured I'd finally make a post on the subject.

I'm afraid it's not going to be very nuanced, more a demonstration that not everybody on the street is making millions at Wall Street's expense. Without giving the actual name of my firm away, we were taken over back in September the weekend Lehmann collapsed. Our new owner has had to get TARP money and our former CEO was forced out of the new firm when it emerged he had spent over USD 1 million refurbishing his executive suite when he joined our firm 15 months ago.

There has been a lot of controversy over the magnitude of Wall Street bonuses, especially in my firm. The staff have been branded as selfish, greedy, inconsiderate and horrendous people in general. The perception is that we are all millionaires taking the tax payer for a ride.

Which is why it might surprise you to learn the circumstances the underlings face. I am with my firm for the past three years. I supervise a team of 9 people and an outsourcing team in India; 19 people in total. I work around 50-55 hours a week. It is not unusual for me to be in the office at 10.30 pm on a Friday night. We recently moved offices. What was a 40 minute commute door to door is now at least a 90 minute commute. My team was cut by 75% last week. The workload and targets remain the same. For this I earn EUR 33,000 a year (about USD 42,000). My bonus this year was EUR 1,400. I did not get a pay rise.

My point is not "woe is me" or "I have it so much worse than everyone else". Far from it. All I'm trying to say is that we are not all the millionaire thieves you think we are with the house in the Hamptons and the apartment overlooking central Park. We are suffering the same as most people these days and it is not nice at ll to be reading about how we are such bastards for working our guts out every day.

Screen grabs from the MSM...

Barack Obama has been elected President

Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States with a landslide victory over John McCain. By CNN's count Obama has 333 Electoral College votes after winning Virginia and Ohio from the GOP.

I really don't know what to say. Except this: in Barack Obama's lifetime, he would have not been allowed to share a bus with white people or even be educated in the same schools as white people. Now he will be the face of the United States to the world. Think about that. 

Unbelievable. Incredible. Fabulous.

God Bless America.

It's all over

Ohio's gone, Pennsylvania's gone, Virginia and Indiana (INDIANA!!!) are too close to call. Barring a shocking comeback in the west it's all over. Senator Obama will be inaugurated on January 20th. 

Also, CNN have called North Dakota for McCain. Gutted. I know it was a reach but I had given it to BO. Now let's see if the McDaddy can hold onto Arizona...

An Absent Friend

It's here at last. Election night has finally arrived. I've MSNBC live online, I've CNN on TV and I'm keeping an eye on numerous websites and blogs. I've got Wolfe and John and Anderson and on CNN. I've David and Chris and Keith on MSNBC and I expect Tom to arrive in soon. Alas there is one glaring absentee. One huge, unavoidable hole in the MSNBC coverage. As I'm sure a lot of you will also notice tonight, there will be no jovial Irishman from Buffalo holding a whiteboard with "Florida Florida Florida" on it or adding his opinion on the night's events. And let's be honest, his was the opinion we looked to and trusted above all others.

Tim Russert, who died back in June aged 58 is not in the studio watching the results coming in. The world is a much worse off place because of this sad fact. However, I'm sure he's looking down on us tonight from above and will be every bit as riveted by it as we all will be.

Tim, your missed. Badly.

Camelot

The election and the candidacy of Barack Obama has reminded a lot of people of the the 1960 race. My dad mentions the hope that JFK brought. "You've no idea of the hope he brought," he'll say. One thing he mentions almost as much is the admiration he had for Bobby. The showdown with Jimmy Hoffa really struck him. Here was a man who would stand up to anybody. He would do whatever it took to the right thing. It is a regret of his that Ted Kennedy never secured the nomination.

Will any family ever have such influence over American politics again? The Bushes do not count. The son was unworthy. The three Kennedys could all have been great. I just wish I had been alive to see them in action.

My Prediction

People it's going to be a landslide. I guarantee it. Arizona is a reach for sure but I get the feeling that if the momentum builds it could be a wipeout. Then again, it could still end up 269-269...

All I Wanna Do...

...is listen to Sigur Ros and write essays...

The Enigma Moves on

A part of my youth ended today. Graeme Hick, the prolific Worcestershire batsman and my only true sporting idol, has announced he will retire at the end of this season. Hick made his Worcester debut in 1983 as a 17 year old and scored 82 not out while batting at number eight. He score 2,000 runs in 1986, was named one of the Five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden in 1987, and scored 405* against Somerset in 1988 while becoming the first Englishman in a generation to score 1,000 runs before June. And on June 8th 1990, Graeme Hick scored his second fifty off 13 balls on his way to an unbeaten 101 against Ireland at Castle Avenue.

My old man had told me all about this Graeme Hick guy. He had scored 400 runs in a match, he was the greatest player ever, you have to see him! I was eight years old and not too bothered either way to be honest. But off we went, up Kincora Road to Clontarf Cricket Club to see the Worcester of Graeme Hick. To us, the county’s other start - Ian Botham - was only a minor bonus. Al we cared about was Hicky.

My memories of that day are few but vivid. The ground was packed. I had started playing with the under 9s there the year before and on that day the ground seemed impossibly full. Hick was bowled off a no ball on zero (apparently the call was a dubious one to say the least) but then he and Beefy took control. Botham hit the ball miles over the pavillion and in to the car park. Hick hit it further. I was beside the players' entrance when they walked back in after their innings (along with every other kid in Dublin it seemed). Beefy was huge. Hick was the biggest man I had ever seen. A week later my dad bought me my first proper cricket bat. It was a size 4 Duncan Fearnley "Hick 405". It was love at first sight. From that day on I was captivated by the "flat track bully".

Any time he came into bat I had to watch. And it wasn't just "watch" in the normal sense of the word. I treated every ball he faced like the last kick of a penalty shoot out in the World Cup final. Whether it was a quaint 40 overs match on Sunday Grandstand or Lords Test Match Saturday, my experience of watching Graeme Hick bat ranged from something like uneasiness to pure terror. By the mid 1990s this had progressed (or should it be digressed?) to "watching" his matches on Ceefax. Nothing else mattered. I simply couldn't bare the thought of him not making any runs. This sort of irrational behaviour continues to this day.

A year later in 1991 I was riveted and then perplexed by Hick's entrance to the test arena. How could someone so perfect not score millions against the West Indies? When he was eventually dropped I went into a sulk (a pattern that would continue for the next ten years). When he finally made his first test century in India in 1992/3 I rejoiced. I still have my Playfair annual from 1993 which displays proudly that the man now called "The Enigma" in our house topped the batting and bowling averages of that ill fated tour as well as taking the most catches for England. I stayed up for hours listening (we hadn’t got Sky Sports yet) to him and Graham Thorpe trying to save the first test in Brisbane in 1994 and then waited in vain for him to get his hundred against Australia two months later in Sydney. It was a normal for me that whenever he was dropped or had a bad spell, it was never his fault. I quite liked Michael Atherton until his fateful declaration with my hero on 98. From that moment on Athers became the focus of my hatred. Far more than, say, Raymond Illingworth. Everytime he was dropped it was a conspiracy led by the hated Lancastrian. I suppose the nuances of selection policy were just too much for a 13 year old.

By the end of the 90s it had become clear to most of the cricketing world (but definitely not me), that Graeme Hick would never reproduce his county form on the world stage. In 1998 he had made a triumphant return to the test team after a two year hiatus with a glorious 108 against Sri Lanka. "That had to have booked his flight to Australia," I thought. Wrong. John Crawley bagged 156 and with it the last seat Down Under. My hero who supposedly couldn't play fast bowling did end up flying down as a replacement that winter and beat up the Aussies with thrilling half century on a lightning pitch in Perth (my Dad woke me on a Saturday morning to watch that) but, save for the odd flash, in Test cricket he was on a permanent downward spiral. Although he would continue to be a force in One Day Internationals (he should have been in England's 2003 World Cup squad and a case could have been made for 2007 as well) He would only have one more truly significant innings at the highest level - a forty against Pakistan which helped secure England's first series win in Pakistan in a generation. His average fell from 38.66 after the tour of South Africa in 1996 to a mere 31.32 by the end.

Why did he never quite make it to the top of the Test game? I do not know (and believe me I've thought about it). My own opinion is that if Zimbabwe had been a test nation back in the 80s, or if had been allowed play for England in 1987 or 88, I would now be reminiscing about my idol playing 120 tests and averaging about 62. Instead, he was allowed to plunder attacks at will and didn’t have to tighten up his technique the way a player has to if he wants to make it in tests. All the bad habits he had picked up had to ironed at 27 instead of 21 or 22. Obviously the older you get the harder it is to change your ways and he paid the price for it.

Then again, if had played 120 tests and averaged 62, would he have been my hero? Perhaps his failings, his all too human weaknesses made him more real to me. Perhaps I was able to relate to him much more as a result. For me, The Enigma has always fascinated me because he was, well, an enigma. Kevin Pietersen is a terrific player but he could never fascinate me the way Hick could. His otherworldly ability combined with his very human frailties and retiring personality showed me that you don't have to be Mr. Bombastic to succeed. Hick proved (to me at least) that you can be yourself and still be a success. In a hundred years time will anyone be talking about Hick's failings in tests? Or will they talk about his 63,000 runs and 176 hundreds? My money is on the latter. And if you think Hick failed because he only averaged only 31 in tests, I leave you with this stat. WG Grace finished with a test average of 32. Do we recall him as a failure?

Palin???

Okay, first things first. Who is Sarah Palin? I mean seriously. The 2008 election campaign has been going for around 18 months and the first time her name was mentioned was today when it started to leak that McCain had chosen her to be his Veep. This is bizarre. Truly bizarre.

As Joe Klein says here, this move makes perfect sense politically. Female, staunchly pro-life, pro-gun, governor of a swing state. She's ticking a lot of boxes right there.

Couple of problems though. She is a woman all right but her beliefs (eg. creationism, pro-gun, anti gay marriage) are so, so different from Hilary's that it's very unlikely that many Hilary women will even consider voting for her.

She is young (44) and obviously an outsider to Washington thus matching Barack Obama's supposed trump card but she will be vice-president to a 72 year old who has had cancer four times. God forbid if something happened to McCain then she would be president. President Palin???

You can argue that Barack Obama lacks executive and foreign policy experience but Obama is currently running one of the slickest campaigns in recent history to snatch the Democratic nomination from Hilary and has visited Iraq while asking probing questions of General David Petraeus on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Now compare that to a Republican VP who's experience runs to two terms as mayor of a town with a population of 12,000 and 18 months as governor of the most remote state in the USA.

In short, give me a break.

The Bush Man

So I like to think of myself as politically engaged. US politics is a passion of mine. For some reason though, even though I knew Bush was a fool, I had just kind of ignored his stupidity. I mean, the president of the United States has to be reasonably engaged with the issues, doesn't he? He has to have some sort of intelligence right?

See below, I really don't know what to say about these...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7BDP3XMG0&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8ChWyZZAaA&feature=related

One Year Later

Exactly one year later, I'm still a sad case. Although I do now have a set of clubs and manage to play maybe a couple of times a month (at best).

Still sad.