England no.1? Who'd have thought it!

After one of the best test performances England fans have seen in a long time against India last week Andrew Strauss's men are now the officially number 1 ranked team. It's not often we can celebrate being the best in the world and we are similarly not very good at it.

Traditionally the British aren't good at being the best, we love the decent trier, the one who puts his heart and soul but doesn't quite make it. Andy Murray is the classic example and splits opinion with his confident, aggressive nature, after all  Murray Mount has not quite eclipsed Henman Hill yet. Team sports, however, have always gained more popularity in this country. Rugby and cricket, two sports ingrained in our old public schools and village greens have always been held in high esteem whether the teams have been world beaters or not.

The advantage this England cricket team has is the immense amount of team spirit and collective effort, something that has been highlighted against a masquerading Indian team. Past dominating sides like the West Indies of the 1970s or Australians of the 1990s have had this quality but have also possessed great individuals, the Shane Warne's and Michael Holding's of this world. England don't have these 'great' individuals but every player plays for each other, similar to the mentality of a rugby team some could say. Although a couple of players in this present England side, Alastair Cook and James Anderson in particular are producing performances that are looking more and more in that 'great' category. 

The string of performances of this England team is magnificent and if they can maintain this level of excellence with the bat, ball and field then they will keep that number 1 spot for a long time as South Africa are now the only team close to the quality of England. But there is no doubt that the present team are popular with the public and the team spirit that we all love to see but is often missing in our other national teams is abundant here.

England hold down Sri Lanka to take series win

Alastair Cook's ODI side won a thrilling match at Old Trafford to seal the series 3-2. A tight match with some decent innings' from Cook, Kieswetter, Trott and Morgan for England and Mendis and Mathews for Sri Lanka made for a fitting end to a challenging and tight fought series in both ODIs and test matches. 

Encouraging performances in the one-day series from Tim Bresnan and Eoin Morgan have showed that England are no slouches in the short form of the game anymore, Bresnan particularly giving the England attack the control and accuracy every good one-day team needs. Eoin Morgan looked in decent touch, giving impetus in the middle order we expect almost every time he gets to the crease. The only criticism being that he never carried on to make the big hundred. 

Talking of big hundreds, Alastair Cook continued his great form into the one-dayers and showed exactly why the selectors trusted him with the captaincy. He more than answered his critics with a fast paced century in the first match and then followed with assured contributions from the top of the innings, utilising the powerplays very well with Kieswetter who looked like the break from international cricket had done him some good.

However the real test starts when India land on the English shores, the number one ranked team in the world, world champions etc etc. This will be where this England test and one-day team show their mettle. I believe they have the skills and experience in the test arena to beat India, with Anderson using helpful English conditions to unsettle the Indian batsmen and an in-form batting line up to match. 

All the talk will be of Tendulkar getting his 50th test century at Lords, a name still not engraved on the honours board yet and of course we would all like to see the little man's bat held aloft, but I have no doubts that Strauss's men will not be distracted from the task at hand. India have strength in all departments and although Tendulkar may get the initial headlines but I would not be surprised if Gautam Gambir, Zaheer Khan or Rahul Dravid perform better.

 

Well the final day of this year's US Open looks to be a straight forward one in many people's eyes. Rory McIlroy defied most expectations by destroying his competition and this long and difficult Congressional course, in the process breaking US Open records, no one had ever got to 13 under par in this competition before McIlroy.


We all knew he had the makings of major winner, and his last 6 majors have shown that he was near to getting one in the bag. McIlroy, who was third at the Open last year and third in the last two USPGA Championships, has now held the lead in six of his last seven rounds in majors. 


Not one player has kept up with his majestic stroke-play in these first 3 rounds, YE Yang has shown glimpses of a charge, as has the inconsistent Sergio Garcia, but Lee Westwood and Jason Day look to be in the best, but unlikely position of catching McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard. Lee Westwood especially coming in hot with 3 birdies and an eagle on the back nine holes.  


In the absence of Tiger Woods, McIlroy's masterclass was reminiscent of his boyhood idol's domination of the 2000 US Open when he won by a record 15 shots at Pebble Beach. Had Tiger been playing I'm sure he would of seen glimpses of his own relentless self in the younger Irishman.

US Open 2011!

It's Thursday and its the 1st round of the 111th US Open at Congressional, Maryland.... Who are the front-runners? How will the tournament be affected Tiger Wood's absence?  

Graeme McDowell returns to the US returning to form after a frustrating few months on the European Tour, but the big news, of course, is the lack of Tiger Woods from this year's competition. How will this affect this years players and who are the contenders? The dominance of European golf I'm sure will make itself heard with Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari among the players in great form. Not forgetting Rory McIlroy who will want to right the wrongs of the Masters in April, his pre-tournament visit to earthquake-ravaged Haiti perhaps giving him a new perspective on things. 

Luke Donald, however, is in the form of his life after recording 8 top-ten finishes in 9 tournaments, including a win at the WGC-Acenture Matchplay and leads both the European Tour's Race To Dubai and the PGA Tour's FedExCup ranking. He is surely tipped for a top 3 finish.

The lack of Tiger Woods will clearly affect the viewing ratings but the ups and downs that he brings to the golf course, especially major championships, will mean he'll be sorely missed; no one can quite raise the crowds like Tiger Woods. 

Nevertheless, this year's US Open looks to be one of the most up-for-grabs in years with the experienced likes of Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker battling it out with exciting European and Asian talent like Matteo Manassero and Ryo Ishikawa... should be for a breathtaking tournament!