Index 2017

GENERAL ELECTION Full results
08.05 In the hands of the youth?
10.05 Young hearts run free as May clings on

FOOTBALL
Domestic
13.05 NUFC: Mission accomplished
07.06 For the record: Winners and losers
11.08 Premier League preview: Can Chelsea defend their title?
World Cup 2018
11.10 Undewhelming England reach World Cup in Russia
16.11 Playoffs: Arrivederci Azzurri, Ireland and Northern Ireland
01.12 Draw: England can breathe in Group of Life
 
CRICKET
05.07 Taking Root
Ashes 2017/18
22.11 Adversity test for England in Ashes defence
18.12 Dust to dust 

OTHER WRITE-UPS
30.06 Glastonbury: A worthy return
09.07 Lions roar to series draw
02.11 High-rolling Hamilton completes his quadruple

PHOTO BLOG
11.11 Lest we forget

Dust to dust

		THE ASHES SERIES 2017-18
23-27 Nov 2017		FIRST Australia beat England by 10 wickets	Brisbane
02-06 Dec 2017		SECOND Australia beat England by 120 runs	Adelaide (D/N)
14-18 Dec 2017		THIRD Australia beat England by an innings and 41 runs	Perth
25-29 Dec 2017		FOURTH TEST	Melbourne
03-07 Jan 2018		FIFTH TEST	Sydney

ENGLAND surrendered the Ashes urn this morning as Australia took an unassailable lead with a crushing innings victory in the third Test in Perth.

The tourists lost their last four wickets for 22 runs to go 3-0 down in the series - and they now face the devastating prospect of a third whitewash Down Under in just 11 years.

As it stands, a whitewash result is now the odds-on favourite with most bookmakers. Yes, that is how little regard there now remains for this England side.

That should come as no surprise really. After all, the tourists have been outplayed in every facet of the game, and Australia have had almost a monopoly on the truly magic moments in the series.

From Nathan Lyon's superman dive, with which he executed his caught-and-bowled dismissal of Moeen Ali, to Mitchell Starc's incredible jaffa that splattered James Vince's stumps.

And then, of course, there has been the not-so-insignificant matter of Steve Smith's imperious form with the bat.

In four innings so far, the Aussie skipper has scored a ton and a double ton in an aggregate of 426 runs at an average of 142. His figures, quite frankly, are Bradman-esque.

By contrast, Alastair Cook and Joe Root have scored a combined total of 259 runs at a hideous average of 21.59. Cook's top score is just 37.

Yet, despite all this, England have had fleeting moments of hope.

In the first Test in Brisbane, the tourists appeared to be heading for a first innings lead having reduced the Aussies to 209-7 in reply to their own 302.

But it was in fact Australia who took a 26-run lead into the second innings before openers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft then easily knocked off the required runs following an England collapse.

In the second Test in Adelaide, England blew another opportunity having taken the second new ball with Australia on 209-5.

Of course, the day-night match in Adelaide was always meant to represent the best chance of England securing a victory in the series with the conditions under lights bringing swing and seam into the equation.

Joe Root inserted the Aussies at the toss hoping to dismiss them cheaply but he then watched on forlornly as his attack bowled too short and the hosts declared on 442-8.

Belatedly, two of the English bowlers - James Anderson and Chris Woakes - adjusted their lengths and duly tore through the Australians in the second innings.

By then, though, England - who had been bowled out for 227 - needed to complete a record run-chase of 353 to avoid going 2-0 down.

At the end of the penultimate day, England had reached 176-4 and were talking up their hopes of completing an incredible comeback victory.

It was a record chase for a reason, however - and, once Root departed without having added to his overnight score, England proceeded to lose their remaining wickets before lunch.

And so to Perth - and what is expected to be the last ever Ashes Test at the WACA.

The WACA is a venue at which England have historically struggled. They have won just once there ever - back in 1978 - against an Australian side severely weakened by defections to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

In fact, the last seven Ashes Tests in Perth had all gone the way of Australia with even the gloriously victorious 2010-11 tour party going down to a heavy defeat there.

Back to this series - and England, having won the toss for a third successive time, decided to bat - but, to the great surprise of nobody, found themselves in some trouble on 131-4.

Nevertheless, another of those fleeting moments of hope then happened to come along. Ashes rookie Dawid Malan completed a maiden international ton as part of a 237-run stand for the fifth wicket alongside fellow centurion Jonny Bairstow.

Typically, though, the tourists then lost 6-35 for a final first innings total of 403. It was never going to be enough on a true WACA deck.

This was especially the case considering the obvious weaknesses of the England bowling attack with their lack of pace and variation exacerbated by the lack of a top-quality spinner.

No fewer than five bowlers - Anderson, Woakes, Craig Overton, Ali, and Stuart Broad - conceded a century of runs in the Australian innings of 662-9 declared. Broad, indeed, recorded his worst ever Test figures of 0-142. 

England ultimately failed to make Australia bat again making it the third time in just over 12 months that they have lost by innings despite scoring 400 runs first up.

Remarkably, that was something which had only previously happened on three occasions in the entirety of Test history prior to December 2016.

With statistics like that, it is difficult to see any way forward for England in terms of avoiding the whitewash - something that could not be said even amid the struggles of the 1990s.

For, while England failed to hold the Ashes for a single day in the whole of that decade, and nearly half of the next, they were also never whitewashed during that period. 

Even Down Under, on tours in 1990-91, 1994-95, and 1998-99, the tourists managed to avoid defeat in one of the first three Tests of the series.

But, already, that has proven to be beyond this England side - just as it was in 2002-03, 2006-07 and 2013-14. 

Indeed, England have now lost their last eight Test matches in a row in Australia, their worst run since the 1920s.

The stats are damning while the performance level of some of the senior players in particular has been pathetic.

England have once again lost the Ashes before Christmas. Now, we simply wait to find out if they can salvage anything at all from the ruins of this tour.

CENTURIES
239 Steve Smith (Australia), third Test
181 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), third Test
141* Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
140 Dawid Malan (England), third Test
126* Shaun Marsh (Australia), second Test
119 Jonny Bairstow (England), third Test

MOST RUNS - TOP FIVE
426 Steve Smith (Australia)
302 Dawid Malan (England)
241 Jonny Bairstow (England)
224 Shaun Marsh (Australia)
196 David Warner (Australia)
 
FIVE-WICKET HAULS
5-43 James Anderson (England), second Test
5-48 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test
5-88 Mitchell Starc (Australia), second Test

MOST WICKETS - TOP FIVE
19 Mitchell Starc (Australia)
15 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) 
14 Nathan Lyon (Australia)
12 James Anderson (England)
11 Pat Cummins (Australia)

World Cup 2018 finals draw: England can breathe in Group of Life

2018 WORLD CUP FINALS DRAW

GROUP A	GROUP B	GROUP C	GROUP D
RUSSIA	PORTUGAL	FRANCE	ARGENTINA
SAUDI ARABIA	SPAIN	AUSTRALIA	ICELAND
EGYPT	MOROCCO	PERU	CROATIA
URUGUAY	IRAN	DENMARK	NIGERIA
GROUP E	GROUP F	GROUP G	GROUP H
BRAZIL	GERMANY	BELGIUM	POLAND
SWITZERLAND	MEXICO	PANAMA	SENEGAL
COSTA RICA	SWEDEN	TUNISIA	COLOMBIA
SERBIA	SOUTH KOREA	ENGLAND	JAPAN

ENGLAND have been drawn against Tunisia, Panama and Belgium in Group G at next year's World Cup finals in Russia.

The Three Lions will begin their tournament against the Tunisians on Monday 18th June at 7pm in a repeat of their opening fixture at the 1998 World Cup which they won 2-0.

Head coach Gareth Southgate was on the pitch in Marseille that day - and he will be looking for a similar result when he takes his place on the touchline in Volgograd.

Thereafter, England face tournament debutants Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on 24th June at 1pm, before finishing the group stage against top seeds Belgium on 28th June in Kaliningrad.

Currently ranked fifth, the Red Devils undoubtedly have a hugely talented side with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne all among the best players in the Premier League.

Their head coach - former Wigan Athletic and Everton boss Roberto Martinez - is a familiar face too.

However, having been second seeds, England were always going to face at least one high quality opponent - and thankfully the rest of the draw has been pretty kind.

Even Group H - which features Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan as possible Last 16 opponents - could have been far more frightening.

But Southgate urged caution at the draw which was hosted by Three Lions legend Gary Lineker at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

"My experience of tournaments is you need to get a result in all three matches," Southgate said. "In the past we've assumed we'll be in certain rounds but we need to make sure we get out of our group." 

Hosts Russia were perhaps given the weakest group, in terms of the rankings, which they could mathematically have drawn.

Stanislav Cherchesov's men open the whole tournament against Saudi Arabia on Thursday 14th June before going on to face Egypt - who are appearing in their first World Cup since 1990 - and then an ageing Uruguay side.

France, similarly, can have no complaints at having been placed in Group C alongside Denmark, Australia, and Peru - who will be making their first appearance since 1982.

Group B, however, appears to be a different matter altogether. European Champions Portugal, ranked third, will begin their campaign in an Iberian derby against 2010 champions Spain in Sochi on Friday 15th June.

Meanwhile, Iran and Morocco are the other teams in the section, both having qualified convincingly from the Asian and African sections respectively.

Elsewhere, defending champions Germany will surely be given a stern workout by their opponents Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea.

The Swedes, in particular, will be ones to watch considering they have already accounted for the Netherlands and Italy in the qualifying stages.

Of course, if the Nationalmannschaft happen to slip into second, they could be reacquainted with Brazil who they beat 7-1 in Belo Horizonte in the semi finals of the last World Cup.

Brazil, after all, have somewhat recovered from that mauling, and so would expect to leave their group opponents - Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Serbia - fighting it out for just the one other spot in the Last 16.

Not that long-time German head coach Joachim Loew seemed particularly worried.

"At such a draw everything is possible. Whatever the group, we have to advance. I was generally relaxed. There is no reason for us to be nervous," he said.

There is, however, understandable concern in Argentina. A mess of a qualifying campaign was only saved on the final day by a Lionel Messi hat-trick - and their first opponents, debutants Iceland, know a little bit about bloodying a nose or two.

Croatia could also prove tricky - and then there is Nigeria, a familiar World Cup foe.

Remarkably, the fixture on 26th June means the Super Eagles will have met La Albiceleste on five of their six finals appearances.

For now, the Argentines have a perfect record in World Cup matches between the pair - but they were beaten 4-2 in a recent international following a second half capitulation.

Vulnerability undoubtedly hangs in the air in Buenos Aires currently - and, in fairness, it never feels far away from the Three Lions either.

After all, we have been here before - and relatively recently at that.

In 2010, The Sun newspaper reacted to the news that England would face Algeria, Slovenia and United States by printing EASY in big letters on its front page.

England did make it through the group - but only in second place behind the Americans, and they were then thumped 4-1 by Germany in the Last 16.

Thankfully, though, there was equally no repeat of the cut-throat gesture given by former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke at the 2014 draw when England were grouped with Italy, Uruguay, and Costa Rica.

For, if England are to get anywhere, they simply must have more self-belief than that.

And, while they certainly cannot be considered among the favourites for the World Cup itself, the draw has presented Southgate's men with a genuine chance of a decent showing in Russia next summer.

Now, where did I put that bunting?

GROUP A RUSSIA - SAUDI ARABIA - EGYPT - URUGUAY

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Thu 14 June	RUSSIA v SAUDI ARABIA	Moscow
1pm	Fri 15 June	EGYPT v URUGUAY	Yekaterinburg
7pm	Tue 19 June	RUSSIA v EGYPT	Saint Petersburg
4pm	Wed 20 June	URUGUAY v SAUDI ARABIA	Rostov-on-Don
3pm	Mon 25 June	URUGUAY v RUSSIA	Samara
3pm	Mon 25 June	SAUDI ARABIA v EGYPT	Volgograd

GROUP B PORTUGAL - SPAIN - MOROCCO - IRAN

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Fri 15 June	MOROCCO v IRAN	Saint Petersburg
7pm	Fri 15 June	PORTUGAL v SPAIN	Sochi
1pm	Wed 20 June	PORTUGAL v MOROCCO	Moscow
7pm	Wed 20 June	IRAN v SPAIN	Kazan
7pm	Mon 25 June	IRAN v PORTUGAL	Saransk
7pm	Mon 25 June	SPAIN v MOROCCO	Kaliningrad

GROUP C FRANCE - AUSTRALIA - PERU - DENMARK

Time	Date		Venue
11am	Sat 16 June	FRANCE v AUSTRALIA	Kazan
5pm	Sat 16 June	PERU v DENMARK	Saransk
1pm	Thu 21 June	FRANCE v PERU	Yekaterinburg
4pm	Thu 21 June	DENMARK v AUSTRALIA	Samara
3pm	Tue 26 June	DENMARK v FRANCE	Moscow
3pm	Tue 26 June	AUSTRALIA v PERU	Sochi

GROUP D ARGENTINA - ICELAND - CROATIA - NIGERIA

Time	Date		Venue
2pm	Sat 16 June	ARGENTINA v ICELAND	Moscow
8pm	Sat 16 June	CROATIA v NIGERIA	Kaliningrad
7pm	Thu 21 June	ARGENTINA v CROATIA	Nizhny Novgorod
4pm	Fri 22 June	NIGERIA v ICELAND	Volgograd
7pm	Tue 26 June	NIGERIA v ARGENTINA	Saint Petersburg
7pm	Tue 26 June	ICELAND v CROATIA	Rostov-on-Don

GROUP E BRAZIL - SWITZERLAND - COSTA RICA - SERBIA

Time	Date		Venue
1pm	Sun 17 June	COSTA RICA v SERBIA	Samara
7pm	Sun 17 June	BRAZIL v SWITZERLAND	Rostov-on-Don
1pm	Fri 22 June	BRAZIL v COSTA RICA	Saint Petersburg
7pm	Fri 22 June	SERBIA v SWITZERLAND	Kaliningrad
7pm	Wed 27 June	SERBIA v BRAZIL	Moscow
7pm	Wed 27 June	SWITZERLAND v COSTA RICA	Nizhny Novgorod

GROUP F GERMANY - MEXICO - SWEDEN - SOUTH KOREA

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Sun 17 June	GERMANY v MEXICO	Moscow
1pm	Mon 18 June	SWEDEN v SOUTH KOREA	Nizhny Novgorod
4pm	Sat 23 June	GERMANY v SWEDEN	Sochi
7pm	Sat 23 June	SOUTH KOREA v MEXICO	Rostov-on-Don
3pm	Wed 27 June	SOUTH KOREA v GERMANY	Kazan
3pm	Wed 27 June	MEXICO v SWEDEN	Yekaterinburg

GROUP G BELGIUM - PANAMA - TUNISIA - ENGLAND

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Mon 18 June	BELGIUM v PANAMA	Sochi
7pm	Mon 18 June	TUNISIA v ENGLAND	Volgograd
1pm	Sat 23 June	BELGIUM v TUNISIA	Moscow
1pm	Sun 24 June	ENGLAND v PANAMA	Nizhny Novgorod
7pm	Thu 28 June	ENGLAND v BELGIUM	Kaliningrad
7pm	Thu 28 June	PANAMA v TUNISIA	Saransk

GROUP H POLAND - SENEGAL - COLOMBIA - JAPAN

Time	Date		Venue
1pm	Tue 19 June	POLAND v SENEGAL	Moscow
4pm	Tue 19 June	COLOMBIA v JAPAN	Saransk
4pm	Sun 24 June	JAPAN v SENEGAL	Yekaterinburg
7pm	Sun 24 June	POLAND v COLOMBIA	Kazan
3pm	Thu 28 June	JAPAN v POLAND	Volgograd
3pm	Thu 28 June	SENEGAL v COLOMBIA	Samara

SECOND ROUND

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Sat 30 June	(1) WINNER C v RUNNER-UP D	Kazan
7pm	Sat 30 June	(2) WINNER A v RUNNER-UP B	Sochi
3pm	Sun 01 July	(3) WINNER B v RUNNER-UP A	Moscow
7pm	Sun 01 July	(4) WINNER D v RUNNER-UP C	Nizhny Novgorod
3pm	Mon 02 July	(5) WINNER E v RUNNER-UP F	Samara
7pm	Mon 02 July	(6) WINNER G v RUNNER-UP H	Rostov-on-Don
3pm	Tue 03 July	(7) WINNER F v RUNNER-UP E	Saint Petersburg
7pm	Tue 03 July	(8) WINNER H v RUNNER-UP G	Moscow

QUARTER FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Fri 06 July	WINNER (1) v WINNER (2)	Nizhny Novgorod
7pm	Fri 06 July	WINNER (5) v WINNER (6)	Kazan
3pm	Sat 07 July	WINNER (7) v WINNER (8)	Samara
7pm	Sat 07 July	WINNER (3) v WINNER (4)	Sochi

SEMI FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
7pm	Tue 10 July	WINNER QF1 v WINNER QF2	Saint Petersburg
7pm	Wed 11 July	WINNER QF3 v WINNER QF4	Moscow

THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Sat 14 July	LOSER SF1 v LOSER SF2	Saint Petersburg

WORLD CUP FINAL

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Sun 15 July	WINNER SF1 v WINNER SF2	Moscow