The Reverse Sweep

What cricket can learn from football in how to stage a World Cup

In the end it was the artisans of Spain who rightfully triumphed over the hatchet men of Holland (whatever happened to Total Football?) in what must have been the most brutal World Cup final of all last night at Soccer City.

It wasn't the greatest World Cup ever and a lot of the actual football was disappointing (especially in the group stages) as were the histrionics of the teams representing England (that refers to you John Terry) and especially France. However, this was more then put into the shade by the wonderful spectacle that was Africa's first World Cup and the brilliant pass and move style of the new champions.

We wrote earlier in the tournament that cricket should heed a warning from football in the manner how money and celebrity has soiled what was once the People's Game (read Cricket's warning from football here). However, cricket could learn a lot from football in terms of how to run and stage a World Cup.

Football's version of the World Cup lasted a month and a day and FIFA correctly adopts a 'less is more' approach (despite having to accommodate 32 instead of 14 teams), which certainly leaves spectators wanting more. Cricket used to take this approach, but since the 1996 tournament, the ICC has served up an ever more bloated version of what should be the sport's premier event.

Next year's competition starts on February 19 and doesn't end until April 2, which shows that lessons have not been heeded from the elongated 2003 and 2007 tournaments, which tried the patience of even the most ardent cricket fan. At least the dreadful Super Six/Eight round has been replaced by straight knockout quarter finals, but two groups of seven to start with?

It would be much better to extend the number of teams participating to 16 and start with four groups of four. That would mean that the ICC strategy of growing the game internationally would be better supported and enable Afghanistan for instance to continue their rapid progress by getting more exposure to playing the top teams. Each team would then be guaranteed three matches - the same as the football minnows in South Africa.

Then you could move to the knockout stages with the Super Six/Eight being banished forever (has anything been so inappropriately named?). This second league is completely unnecessary - witness the farce of 2003 when Zimbabwe and Kenya made this stage and Australia had already effectively qualified for the semi-finals. Its supporters may argue that it prevents teams that win all their group games being eliminated in a one-off game by a team that scrapes through their group. But it works in football, so why not cricket? If you want to give the group winners an advantage, why not scrap the toss and let them choose whether to bat or bowl in the quarter final?

All this means that a cricket World Cup could involve two extra teams whilst limiting the tournament to 31 matches (instead of 49 next year), meaning that the whole shebang could be completed in a month. This would help the World Cup return to its rightful place in the schedule as cricket's premier event. At the moment, the totally pointless Champions Trophy is a better spectacle as at least it has brevity in its favour being completed within less than two weeks.

So, come on cricket, learn from football in time for 2015.

Dirk Kuyt and Paul Collingwood: Separated at birth?

A couple of weeks back we wrote a post naming our World Cup footballer / cricket doppelgangers.

It seems that we missed one notable pairing however, which is pretty heinous considering that the footballer in question plays for our team (Liverpool) and the cricketer with which he shares so many traits is our favourite player in the England team.

Dirk Kuyt (as he is for Liverpool) has been Holland's Duracell bunny in this World Cup. He covers more yards per game than any of his colleagues, with most of his work being the dirty (not literally) stuff that his more celebrated colleagues like Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder or Robin van Persie wouldn't dream of doing. Some supporters and pundits sometime question his place in the side (as they do for Liverpool), but the real fans that go every week, his team mates and managers would not consider Kuyt's name not being on the team sheet.

Which leads us to Paul Collingwood. Like Kuyt he is not technically the best in his respective side (Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell to name two have twice as much talent as the Durham battler). Has anyone ever remarked about how stylish a Paul Collingwood innings is? But like Kuyt, Colly does the things that other players don't want to. Like saving test matches for example as his three peaks of Cardiff, Centurion and Cape Town prove.

Unheralded, unspectacular and certainly not stylish. But both Collingwood and Kuyt are crucial to their teams. Don't bet (although we actually have money riding on Spain) on Kuyt joining Collingwood as a World Champion tonight.

Brazil, Australia and the loss of aura

Aura can be a powerful weapon in sport. Think of the All Blacks in rugby union and it seems that the northern hemisphere teams with the surprising exception of France, are cowed from the time they face the haka and play them as much on their reputation and glittering history as anything else. In reality of course, New Zealand haven't won the World Cup since the inaugural tournament of 1987 and like South Africa in cricket, have found some novel ways of choking at the quarter and semi final stage. France, more than anyone else, has realised this vulnerability.

In cricket, Australia had held an aura over their opponents for a number of years with their great side of 1998-2006 and even when Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and the under-rated Justin Langer retired simultaneously in 2006 and their dominance began to falter, a number of sides still gave Australia too much respect and lost matches to them as a result.

Australia are now very much back in the pack as recent test series defeats to India, South Africa and England have shown, but for the latter it took the appointment of Andy Flower as coach and a memorable press conference from Andrew Strauss to really make the England players believe. During this bout with the media, Strauss categorically stated that Australia's aura had gone and given that England now hold the Ashes, beat their biggest foe in the World T20 final and have now easily won the current Nat West Series, the rest of the England squad are clearly in line with their skipper's thinking.

If England take the same fearless approach to the massive assignment that is the Ashes in Australia, then immortality could yet await for Strauss, Flower and their side.

In international football it is Brazil that have had the aura with their golden shirts and rich history gained from winning three World Cups out of four from 1958 to 1970. However, it is arguable that Brazil have not had a great side since 1982 (when they were stunningly knocked out by Italy). The 1994 and 2002 vintage that won the trophy did so without any real style and panache and the feeling was that they were helped by teams giving them too much respect - England in the 2002 quarter finals comes to mind when Sven Goran Erikson's men failed to take advantage of a ten man Brazilian side and crashed out.

Even in the current World Cup, teams like Chile and Ivory Coast have paid too much respect to a Brazilian side that was decent enough and tough to beat but hardly close to the team of Pele and Jarzinho. Yesterday, as in the quarter final of 2006 to France, we saw that this Brazilian side was not so good as Holland's second half display saw them overturn a 1-0 half time deficit with ease to knock Dunga's men out of the tournament.

Like India, South Africa and England in cricket with Australia, one could visibly see the realisation dawn on the faces of the Dutch players that this Brazil side was nothing special and could be beaten if they truly believed - one wonders if Andy Flower gave them a talking to at half time?

As we said at the start, aura is a powerful weapon in sport, but when an opponent senses blood (France in the 2008 rugby quarter final, England in the 2009 Ashes, Tomas Berdych against Federer at Wimbledon this week and Holland yesterday) that aura and reputation can be surprisingly easily swept away. 

If cricket was at the football World Cup...

Earlier this week we wrote a post comparing certain cricketers to some of the footballers on show at the World Cup. For example Kevin Pietersen's ability to divide opinion as a love and hate figure whilst being vain and a bit of a mincer we judged as a deadringer for Cristiano Ronaldo.

So, to coincide with the start of the World Cup quarter finals today, we turn our attention to the teams. If cricket's nine test sides were at the World Cup, which footballing nation would they be?

Pakistan are France - Bit of an obvious one this one. The football world was amazed by the dysfunctional, disloyal and mutinous French, but thanks to Pakistan and the PCB, cricket is familiar with having a crazy team and an even crazier administrative board within its ranks. L'equipe de France is only an apprentice in controversy compared to the old hands of Pakistan.

India are England - Both full of richly talented performers but who continually fail to deliver on the big stage that is the World Cup to deflate the huge media expectation at home. 44 years of hurt for the England football team is nearly equalled by India's 27 year gap since they won the cricket World Cup in 1983. However, at least India are the number one ranked test side; the England football team have done nothing as good.

England are Spain - Until recently, both sides had failed to deliver on the big stage for a very long time. England had a false start with winning the 2005 Ashes, but since the introduction of Andy Flower as coach have regained the Ashes and now won the World T20. Spain finally broke their quarter final hoodoo in the 2008 European Championships and now both teams dream of the ultimate success of a football World Cup and an Ashes win in Australia. Both have a really good chance.

Australia are Germany - England's biggest foe in cricket and football respectively, both are now rebuilding after long periods of success. Whilst both are not quite the side they were in days of yore, both tend to raise their game for England and like nothing more than rubbing the nose of St George in the mud. It is a fool that would ever rule out the Australian cricket side and the German football team.

South Africa are Portugal- Consistently strong teams that never seem to win anything and have a tendency to choke. South Africa have stumbled with the victory line in sight in so many competitions, but the 1999 World Cup particularly sticks out with the two games against Australia and Herschelle Gibbs dropping the World Cup. Portugal too had the ultimate opportunity for a trophy when they played obdurate Greece at home in the European Championship Final of 2004, but contrived to lose 1-0 with Ronaldo finishing the game in tears (ha ha).

Sri Lanka are Holland - Continually punch above their weight, limited resources and a small population, and do so with a huge degree of style whilst even managing to win things. For Sri Lanka, it was the 1996 World Cup and strong subsequent performances plus colourful players such as Jayasuriya, Da Silva, Sangakkara, Vaas and Murali. Whilst for Holland, read the 1988 European Championship victory, two World Cup finals and some of the greatest footballers ever in Cruyff, Gullit and Van Basten.

West Indies are Italy - Fallen champions. Italy unbelievably finished bottom of a weak group containing Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia just four years after winning the World Cup. West Indies have been on a downward spiral ever since Australia won their elusive series in the Caribbean in 1995. Italy will rise again though, but will the demoralised West Indies?

New Zealand are Paraguay - Always seem to qualify for the second stage, but are then found wanting due to a lack of stardust and strength in depth. Dependable, tough to beat but ultimately boring. Finally, with South America having a history of dictators, Daniel Vettori would be right at home.

Bangladesh are Cameroon/Nigeria - Despite continuous stories saying Bangladesh are getting better they continue to lose and rank at the bottom of the pile. Whilst African football is reasonably strong and has a number of the best players in the world, the predictions of many (including Pele) that an African country would win the World Cup has failed to materialise and only Ghana made it past the group stage in South Africa. So it may be a bit of an unfair comparison to Cameroon and Nigeria, but for failing to even win a match in this year's World Cup, for now they are Bangladesh.  

Graeme Swann's well timed jibe at the England football team

There are many reasons to like the England cricket team more than their football counterparts. The fact that they actually win things being the foremost. Indeed, we wrote a post before the World Cup explaining just why we at the Reverse Sweep were finding it harder to get behind the football team as opposed to Andrew Strauss' gallant men - read it here.

In short, for the most part, the cricketers are a fairly decent bunch of lads who don't take themselves too seriously like Messrs Terry, Cole and Gerrard.

So Graeme Swann probably had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he uttered the following soon after England had clinched an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Nat West Series against Australia. Especially as it was on the same afternoon as England's footballers capitulated so badly against Germany to exit the World Cup with their tails between their legs.

Referring to the longstanding tag attached to Fabio Capello's men, Swann said of the England cricket team that:

"It would be nice to think that we are the golden generation rather than the footballers"

If you win the Ashes in the winter and or the World Cup next spring Swanny, you will definitely be the golden generation. The footballers on the other hand are more like the idiotic generation.

If cricketers were World Cup footballers...

During the World Cup, we couldn't help noticing the similarities between some of the teams and players with their counterparts in cricket. The most obvious example of course, being the dysfunctional French team with the equally chaotic pakistan team of the last 12 months.

We've noticed several other doppelgangers as well.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin Pietersen - Both are supremely talented, but also ever so slightly in love with themselves and a bit fey. Like to be centre of attention and divide opinion like no other in their respective sports so that you either love them or hate them. Incidentally, we love KP at the Reverse Sweep but hate Ronaldo - see what we mean?

Lionel Messi and Sachin Tendulkar - By contrast these superstars go about their respective business of scoring (or creating) goals and runs with professionalism and decorum. Both also are considered by many as the second greatest in their sports behind Maradona and Bradman.

Franz Beckanbauer and Shane Warne - Both enjoyed rubbing English noses into the ground during glittering careers, and both now reserve their ire for their former foes through the press. Warney has already questioned England's chances of retaining the Ashes this winter and Der Kaiser made several barbs against Fabio Capello's men in South Africa. Let's hope at least Warne is wrong.

Steven Gerrard and Michael Clarke - Although both Gerrard and Clarke are good players they are perhaps rated better than they actually are. Clarke was a poor choice as Australian Twenty 20 skipper and the downbeat Gerrard has proved just as bad for England in the World Cup. The similarities don't end there as anyone who has witnessed the two of them in their say a lot, say nothing press conferences.

Mauricio Espinosa and Daryl Harper - Espinosa was the linesman who failed to spot that Frank Lampard's shot had gone over the line. Just as in need of a trip to Specsavers is the diabolical Harper who's performance in the recent South Africa-England series made Espinosa look like he has 20/20 vision in comparison. Espinosa may be blind, but Harper is both blind and deaf given that he missed the audible edge from Graeme Smith when sitting in the video umpire's chair.

 

John Terry and Shoaib Malik- If Mohammad Yousuf is to be believed then Malik was the chief mutineer amongst the Pakistan players that so unsettled his and Younis Khan's captaincies. Terry tried and failed to launch a mutiny amongst the England camp in South Africa - if he changed his name to Jean Thierry, he may have been more successful.

Jonathan Trott / Craig Kieswetter and Miroslav Klose / Lukasz Podolski - England have populated their cricket side with South Africans like Trott and Kieswetter and reaped the rewards. Similarly, Gerrmany have rebuilt its football side with non-Germans such as the sharpshooting duo of Klose and Podolski. Fabio Capello now knows how Ricky Ponting feels.

Nicolas Anelka and Andrew Symonds - Les enfants terribles. Anelka was sent home early from the World Cup for supposedly calling France manager Raymond Domenech to "Go fuck yourself, you son of a whore", whilst amongst Symonds' many misdemeanours, he was sent home from the World T20 in England last summer for being drunk.

Robert Green and Herschelle Gibbs - Gibbs famously dropped the World Cup according to Steve Waugh's famous sledge. Green didn't actually drop the World Cup as England clearly were never going to win it, but his butter fingers will prove to be as equally indicative of his team as Gibb's drop was of his team of chokers.

Patrice Evra and Chris Gayle - Both were captain's of teams that refused to train or play. Evra will not go down in history as a great French leader like De Gaulle or Napoleon; indeed he even makes Sarkozy look good in comparison. 

Wayne Rooney and Yuvraj Singh - Both turned up patently unfit to their country's big tournament of the year and proceeded to underperform, although Rooney at least had the excuse of being injured rather than have eaten too many poppadoms.   

England star in the good, the bad and the ugly

Yesterday was a momentous day for English sport as its national cricket and football sides played its greatest foes in Australia and Germany respectively. The two matches produced degrees of emotion at both ends of the scale.

The good (just)

After an English batting collapse reminiscent of the bad old days of the 1990's, Tim Bresnan held his nerve to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match Nat West series with Australia. For the third match in a row, England fought back after Australia had taken the early initiative and were coasting to their victory target of 213 at 185 for three with 50 balls to go. Then the cricket side performed like its footballing counterpart and the defences parted like the Red Sea to let Australia in. But this team of Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower is different and despite losing six wickets for 18 they still somehow managed to cross the finishing line. We've written before how in the matter of nine months, the England one day side has turned from a rabble into a side with a genuine chance of doing well in next year's World Cup. All the players have stuck their hands up during this renaissance, with the plaudits yesterday going to Graeme Swann and James Anderson with the ball and captain Strauss with the bat. Can we now hope for 5-0?

The bad

If the England batting collapse was bad, then the England football team's performance against Germany was downright shocking. The media will doubtless point to Lampard's disallowed goal (see The ugly) and heap blame on manager Fabio Capello, but in truth the fault lies almost entirely with the players. To say they didn't look up for it is like saying that Neville Chamberlain wasn't up for a punch up with Adolf Hitler in 1938 - hence the shameful Munich Treaty. The defending was shocking and if it hadn't been for David James then Germany could have had eight or nine. In thirty years of watching England, this was the worst I have seen them play in a competitive match - even worse than against Algeria. Whilst Capello must take some of the blame, he was badly let down by his players especially the woefully out of form Rooney and the mutinous Terry. The World Cup will be a better place without the whinging primadonnas playing under the flag of St George.

The ugly

There was a lot of ugly things on show in Bloemfontein yesterday - seven of them were in England shirts (at least Lampard, James, Gerrard and Ashley Cole looked like they cared and gave a reasonable performance). But perhaps the ugliest incident was Lampard's disallowed goal. It shouldn't detract from England's woeful performance, but scoring two goals in less than a minute could have changed the game dramatically. Everyone in the stadium knew the ball was in except the two people that mattered the most - the referee and his incompetent assistant. The Germans will doubtless say it is payback for Geoff Hurst's second goal in the 1966 final, but that was in too! But the blame really lies here with Sepp Blatter and FIFA. Cricket has it. Rugby has it. And so does Tennis, so why can't football use technology for incidents such as these? It's another damning indictment on what used to be the 'People's Game'.

The English media, the World Cup & The Ashes

Nothing gets the English sports media into a lather as much as the possibility of success in the football World Cup and the Ashes. 

With regards to the World Cup, isn't it amazing what a difference a few days can make? After England's pathetic 0-0 stalemate with Algeria on Friday night, the English media were casting doubts on Fabio Capello's future, stirring up rumours of sedition in the camp thanks to John Terry's ill advised comments and slamming the players attitude and commitment to the cause.

Now following the narrow 1-0 win yesterday over the mighty Slovenia, suddenly England are going to win the World Cup. The press conveniently seem to have forgotten that the probable path to the final is Germany, Argentina and then Spain - arguably the three most impressive sides in the competition. When you add in that although England were much better yesterday they still made hard work of beating a pretty ordinary Slovenian side and that star man Wayne Rooney still looks out of sorts, the chances of the primadonna footballers emulating the England Twenty 20 side look pretty slim.

Still if nothing else, a match with the Germans will doubtless bring out the worst kind of jingoism from the English tabloids - a famous headline from a previous England-Germany clash is pictured below. Then if they get through that The Falklands War and the Hand of God will be dredged up ahead of the probable quarter final with Argentina and then the Spanish Armada for the semi-final with Spain.

The same kind of jingoism and hyperbole also applies to certain elements within the English media when it comes to the Ashes. We thought that England's win at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday showed that they had made a marked improvement in the 50 over format from the nadir of the 6-1 defeat to Australia in the Nat West Series that followed the Ashes last summer. At 97/4, the England one day side of nine months ago would have slipped to a heavy defeat, but the new found belief and attacking style plus the brilliance of Eoin Morgan ensured an eventual comfortable win.

So what does this mean for the Ashes? Not a lot really. Australia are under strength in the bowling department with Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus all out. Furthermore, the teams that will take the field at The Gabba in November will not be the same, and most of all, test cricket is a very different game to the 50 over format. If England retain the Ashes next winter, it will surpass anything that an England cricket team has done for at least 40 years including 2005 and 1981.

But as far as the English media are concerned both Steven Gerrard and Andrew Strauss will be lifting those famous trophies in the coming months. Get real guys. The cricket team have a chance, yes, but the football team? No way Jose.

Lionel Messi & Eoin Morgan - Masters at Work

Last night thanks to the concept of channel hopping we had the pleasure of seeing two masters of their trade at work. Lionel Messi and Eoin Morgan.

In a World Cup, which has so far been more notable for vuvuzelas, sedition and desertion from the disgraceful French squad, Lionel Messi lit up Argentina's 2-0 win over the negative Greeks with some quite magical skills. Although his quest for a goal in this World Cup has not been completed yet, he displayed the rest of his wares in front of the watching world.

As we've said before, we are not sure that as natives of England we want our national side to win their do or die clash with Slovenia today. We are that sick of the passionless primadonnas that wear the shirt of the Three Lions. It's even got to the stage that we hope that Argentina (not normally an England supporter's favourite side), go all the way to the final - hopefully against Spain. Diego Maradona may be a cheat, ex-druggie and owner of the most famous hand in football, but at least he has passion and something to say in a sports world where media coaching entails tedium and utter banality at press conferences. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in particular should tune in to Maradona in front of the media and watch and learn.

Speaking of Clarke, his was a typical no frills innings yesterday in the one day clash with England at the Rose Bowl. The five day series is pointless in our opinion, but that does not detract from the brilliance of Eoin Morgan who is fast becoming the Mr Kipling of international cricket for his penchant for baking exceedingly good innings.

When England slipped to 97/4, it seemed that the bad old days of last year's Nat West Series with the Aussies were to be revisited. But Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan played their support roles perfectly as Morgan unfurled his full range of unorthodox strokes. In the process, he may well have played himself into the side for the 1st Test at The Gabba in November. Yet again, Jonathan Trott could well prove to be the biggest loser from yet another bakewell tart of an innings by the brilliant, cool as a cucumber Irishman. No wonder Ponting was complaining the other day about England stealing Ireland's best cricketers.

We may well have endured an incredibly sleepless night as our new daughter is still confusing night with day and refused to go to sleep until 3.30 this morning, but the memory of Messi's and Morgan's respective master classes is still bringing a smile to this tired face on this sunny Cote d'Azur morning. 

Sedition, desertion and the World Cup

We're not sure what we expected from the football World Cup in South Africa but sedition and desertion from supposedly world-class footballers were not high on the list.

John Terry, perhaps still sore from having the England captaincy taken away from him by Fabio Capello, apparently tried to spark rebellion in the England camp by suggesting that he would have a word with Capello about team selection, formation and tactics. Englishmen, even the reprobates that represent their football team so it seems, are generally quite a loyal bunch and Terry has since been forced into a humiliating apology from his failed coup d'etat. That probably provoked the biggest cheer so far from England's suffering supporters in this World Cup.

Loyalty and the French are not such familiar bedfellows however. Following Nicolas Anelka's sedition, the rest of his fellow French players went on strike (how very French) and refused to train. There have even been suggestions that some of the French players would refuse to play in their do or die match against South Africa today. As captain Patrice Evra, Eric Abidal and Florent Malouda were on the bench, it would seem that this talk of desertion may have some substance.

During World War I, many French and British soldiers were shot for desertion and sedition. Of course, many of these men were victims of shellshock, severe trauma and the horrors of the trenches. Terry and the French footballers do not have any such mitigating circumstances and we are sure that many England and France supporters would happily take their place in the firing squad for this dreadful bunch of disloyal execrable primadonnas.

This lot make the disharmonious Pakistan cricket team of the last year look like blood brothers.  

 

Cricket's warning from football

Whilst we've been ensconced in a hospital in Nice with our new baby daughter, we have watched quite a lot of the World Cup in South Africa. It may have been the worst World Cup in living memory but trust us, it is a damn sight better than the rest of French television or the mind-numbing BBC World.

We watched in utter horror England's shambolic 0-0 draw with Algeria on Friday. In all our years of watching the England football team, this had to be the worst performance we have seen from them. Yes, we have seen them play poorly before, but have they ever been so passionless or lethargic? It is a World Cup, for Christ's sake.

As usual it was everyone else's fault. The ball. The pitch. The disloyal fans according to a certain Wayne Rooney. Injuries. The manager for being too strict or for naming the team only two hours before kick off. Of course, it was the mirror that would have told Gerrard and co where the fault lay. They keep telling us how good they are and that they are English football's golden generation, but if that is the case how can they be outplayed, outfought and outgunned by such footballing giants as Algeria and the USA?

If we England fans thought things were bad, we've got nothing on the French. Nicolas Anelka was sent home after telling French manager Raymond Domenech to "Go fuck yourself, you son of a whore" at half time in their crucial match with Mexico. Anelka was even given the opportunity to apologise the day after, but chose not to and was swiftly dispatched onto the next Air France jumbo leaving for Paris.

If this wasn't bad enough, the French players then decided to refuse to train to show their solidarity with the shamed Anelka. Now as inhabitants of France, we are used to the locals going on strike, but millionaire footballers? Well, that is a first even for the French.

A number of French people we have spoken to in the wake of this scandal agree with us that money has now well and truly ruined football. The lunatics (i.e. the players - quite an apt comparison we think) have well and truly taken over the asylum. Part of us even wants England to fail in their must-win match against Slovenia on Wednesday. Do these players deserve the plaudits and knighthoods that would follow should they turn it around and actually win the World Cup? Or do they deserve the ignominy of failing to get out of a group that was supposedly so easy that even the Bangladesh cricket team would have had an evens chance of progress?

Whatever, the fall from grace of football and the complete detachment from its working class origins presents a warning to cricket. For English football, it was the birth of the Premier League that sparked all the Sky hullabaloo, wags, money and primadonnas. The IPL has already seen a certain type of young cricketer emerging in India that seems to have more in common with Ashley Cole and John Terry then Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. The commonality of the freelance cricketer is not far away and how soon before players from the less rich test nations like Chris Gayle, Tamim Iqbal and Ross Taylor retire from international cricket and hawk themselves around the Twenty 20 leagues to the highest bidders?

Cricket, you have been warned.

Five days in cricket

Well we've quite a lot these last five days whilst we've been in hospital for the happy event of the birth of our daughter Isabella. Catching up we've missed some predictable and some not so predictable events.

1. We missed a brilliant game of cricket between India and Pakistan with Harbhajan Singh again proving he is the man for the big event.

2. England beat Scotland easily in a one day international and supposed slowcoach Andrew Strauss scored at a much quicker rate than greyhound opening partner Craig Kieswetter.

3. Australia were given a scare by Ireland. And then were also given a minor fright by Middlesex before Cameron White again underlined his credentials to be the next Australian captain in all formats. We saw too that Owais Shah gave a gentle reminder to the England selectors that he is still around.

4. We were delighted to miss test centuries by Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis as they were no doubt mind numbingly boring and efficient. At last the West Indies have shown a bit of fight in their reply though. One other observation is that test matches in the Caribbean have become slow and turgid affairs. When you add South Africa to the mix that equals utter tedium.

5. More games took place in the FP t20 and crowd numbers no doubt fell further as even the most ardent supporters start to tire of a never-ending competition that makes the overbloated cricket world cup look like Kate Moss in comparison. We did see that our county Sussex continue to do well though.

6. We were bemused to see that the PCB rescinded the ban on its best batsman Younis Khan and then promptly didn't pick him for the upcoming tests against Australia and England. So the lunatics are still in the charge of the asylum.

7. And finally, England's football team has surpassed itself with its utter incompetence. And the malaise has a warning for cricket too. More of which later.

But all in all, it's good to be back.

Australia were outplayed, outclassed and outfought

Unfortunately I am not Hiro Nakamura (that's him in the picture below) from the TV series Heroes (or Doctor Who or even Bill or Ted, if you prefer) and I haven't just travelled back from January 2011 to report that England have dismantled a dreadful Australian side and handed out the most royal of thrashings in the Ashes series.

But it is to be hoped that Ricky Ponting and his men will learn to to play as badly and take defeat as meekly as their footballing brethren in time for the arrival of Andrew Strauss and the England team in November.

For now, we England supporters will have to be content with seeing the Australian football team being given such a harsh lesson on the biggest stage. Even if we have to conveniently forget that it was Germany who handing out the spanking and that the English rugby team were beaten by Australia at the weekend too.

Let's hope that the smile is not wiped off our faces in the unlikely event that Australia qualify for the last 16 and somehow manage to beat England. Although with my namesake Robert in goal anything is possible!

Moonlighting with Kamran Akmal

Last night was utterly bemusing. England were coasting to victory until their goalkeeper Robert Green inexplicably let a straightforward shot bounce off his hands into the goal.

As a result England could only draw with the United States and the English press started printing their usual nonsense whenever England participate in a World Cup. If England win that means that they are going to win the tournament. If they lose or draw, it's the end of the world and a scapegoat has to be found.

It was a dreadful mistake, and we couldn't help feeling that we had seen butter fingers like that somewhere before. His team were also on top, but he did what Green did four times and a certain Michael Hussey was reprieved on each occasion. Cue famous Australian victory, irate Pakistani politicians and endless match fixing allegations. Step forward, Kamran Akmal.

But maybe the similarity between Green and Akmal is not so surprising. Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together? Eureka.

Why it is much easier to support England's cricket team over its football side

England plays their first match of the 2010 football World Cup today when they take on the USA. But in the Reverse Sweep household our former fervour for the nation's football team has dissipated to such an extent that we are not sure how well we want England to do in this year's tournament.

But why is this? We are as patriotic as the next Englishmen. We are mostly proud of the great heritage of our relatively small country, which once had the biggest Empire the World has ever seen - where the sun never set. From Agincourt to El Alamein and Edward Longshanks to Winston Churchill, there is plenty to stir the blood of even the most docile native of England.

So why the problem with its football side? When it comes to cricket, there is no doubt. Ever since we first saw David Gower cream an effortless and glorious cover drive of an Indian bowler in 1979, we've been hooked on cricket and the fortunes of its cricket side. We cheered as loud as anyone when England won the Ashes in 2005 and 2009, and were also delighted at the recent success of the World T20 side.

But there are a number of reasons why it is much easier to support England's cricket (and rugby) team than it is their football side, and here is why.

Unsavoury Characters - The England football team is full of them. Perhaps the worst of them was the one who was sleeping with the ex-girlfriend of a supposed friend and former team mate who also happened to be the mother of his child. When the affair was discovered, he used his money to first try and gag the press and then to allegedly silence his mistress. And has it stopped his arrogance and unpleasantness? Not one iota, or so it seems.

Primadonnas - The "victim" of the above incident certainly displayed his hurt in effectively retiring from the England side and thus throwing away the opportunity to go the World Cup. Can you imagine an office worker resigning because one of his colleagues was sleeping with his ex-girlfriend? No, so the over-reaction and preciousness of a certain Wayne Bridge was hard to believe. Unfortunately, it is indicative of our beloved footballers. 

Money - This is the drug of choice for England's football side. The amount they earn has turned them into a bunch of primadonnas who are seemingly detached from reality and the mostly working class backgrounds they come from. Perhaps the worst example concerns Ashley Cole, who brazenly wrote in his "autobiography" of his horror and disgust when his former club offered "only" 55,000 a week instead of the 60,000 he thought he was worth. It's hard to support teams that contain people like that.

The say nothing generation - If you thought that press conferences with cricketers were boring then the ones with footballers are a whole new ball game. Bearly hiding their disgust at being there, the players mumble their way through a series of cliches, grimaces and platitudes before leaving as quickly as they arrived. If you don't want to be at the World Cup, just leave.

Brains, or the lack of them - It says a lot when an Italian with a fairly limited grasp of English is the most interesting and erudite person in the England football camp. With the possible exception of Frank Lampard, who can at least string a sentence or two together, the rest of the players would struggle to change a light bulb between them. For the most part, the England cricketers are engaging, balanced and likeable individuals. Their footballing counterparts are not. 

The Celebrity Factor - It's not the fault of the footballers that the nation's TV and press are obsessed with football. Watch Sky Sports News if you don't believe me. However, the arrogance and the "we're above mere mortals" attitude of most English footballers is quite sickening. Even within football, more grounded individuals like Roy Keane rail against the new generation of footballers who think they are big men before they have actually achieved anything in the game.

Despite it all though we will be grudgingly watching the game tonight and no doubt will cheer if and when England score. But we cannot help feeling that unlike the current Carlsberg advert, should England go all the way (they won't) this bunch of primadonnas are not fit to join Bobby Moore and the 1966 side amongst the immortals. 

World Cup preview - but it's a cricket blog!

No, we haven't gone mad. We are not previewing the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but the small matter of the football World Cup kicking off in Johannesburg today when South Africa take on Mexico at Soccer City.

Cricket may be our main sporting passion, but until the last year or so football came close. That was before we get a little tired of the blanket coverage, hype and the primadonnas that play the game - especially in England. Of course, the fact that our team Liverpool have just had an annus horribilis has nothing to do with our disillusionment. No really. 

But the lure of a World Cup and a World Cup in Africa at that, has brought us back into the fold. We may not have the passion we once had for the England national side, but the four yearly festival of football is something that really whets the appetite. So as a one-off, this cricket blog is going to have the odd football post over the coming weeks.

We start with our quickfire preview of the group stages of the tournament together with our predictions for this first stage.

Group A (South Africa, France, Mexico, Uruguay) 

The hosts have never failed to qualify for the second phase and we back the passionate South Africans to carry their side through. Normally we would tip France to join them, but at the moment they are the West Indies of football - a once great side in total disarray. We expect Diego Forlan's Uruguay to beat the French tonight and set in motion a tournament to equal 2002 when the then holders went home after the group stages. At least that's what we hope as Anglos living in France! Mexico are a decent enough side, but we go for Uruguay and South Africa here.

Group B (Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea)

Argentina may have misfired in qualifying with the loose cannon that is Diego Maradona in charge. But any team that has Messi, Tevez, Maschareno and Di Maria should not be underestimated. They will certainly get through this group along with Nigeria, who should have too much for obdurate Greece and a South Korean team that never seems to perform away from Asia.

Group C (England, Slovenia, Algeria, USA)

We don't subscribe to the tabloid press view in England that their side will win the World Cup. However, this is a group that they will win with something to spare providing that they don't get surprised by a competitive US side in their first game. Algeria, Africa's weakest team here, will not present England or the US with many problems and neither will Slovenia.

Group D (Germany, Serbia, Ghana, Australia)

This is a tough group to call. Germany always do well in tournament football and despite losing captain Michael Ballack to injury, should get through as one of the top two. Who joins them is difficult to pick. Australia will be tough but lack real quality, Serbia can blow hot and cold and Ghana are without the inspirational Michael Essien. As the tournament is in Africa, we'll back the Ghanaians to join the Germans in round two.

Group E (Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon, Japan)

We'll be stunned if the Netherlands don't cakewalk this group and they must be one of the teams most likely to win the whole competition. Japan have been in poor form and can be discounted, whilst Denmark are a fairly limited side. As such we take Cameroon to join the Dutch in round two.

Group F (Italy, Slovakia, Paraguay, New Zealand)

The holders have the easiest group and won't have to move out of second gear to get to the last 16. New Zealand could well be the weakest team in the tournament and are likely to lose every game. Slovakia could surprise Paraguay, but we take the South American side to sneak through with the Italians.

Group G (Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea)

Even if Kim Jong Il drops nuclear bombs on Rio, Lisbon and Abidjan, his side have no chance of progressing to the last 16 - we will be surprised if they even get a point. Brazil will qualify of course, but whether it is Ronaldo's Portugal or Drogba's Ivory Coast side that join them is a real toss up. As an England fan we'll tip the Ivorians in the hope that it will mean that England can not lose on penalties this time to the Portuguese.

Group H (Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Honduras)

European Champions Spain, who have only lost one game since 2007 will have no trouble in negotiating this group. We don't expect much from the Hondurans and take Chile to have too much skill for the dour Swiss.

Who will win the tournament?

Ever since 2007, we have been tipping Spain. Any team that has the likes of Torres, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Alonso, Sergio Ramos and Casillas will definitely be there or thereabouts. Winning the 2008 European Championship was the final proof that this was not the underachieving Spain of the past. So we go for them to complete a double. Of the other sides, we would expect Brazil, Argentina, Holland and Italy to run them close, and with England seeded to meet France in the quarter final, then Fabio Capello's side could well reach the semi-finals. 

What about the African sides?

It would be great for an African team to go far. Ivory Coast are the best bet but they will do well to qualify from a group including Brazil and Portugal. So it may be up to Nigeria to emulate the Cameroon side of 1990 and Senegal in 2002 by reaching the quarter finals. 

Who are the players to watch?  

If we had to pick five, we'd go for Messi, Rooney, Iniesta, Robben and Di Maria.

Let the festival begin.