England

PlayUpCricket

What makes Saeed Ajmal so dangerous and how can the English batsmen counter Ajmal? Mihir Bose shares his views. England need to be more positive against Pakistan’s spinners.

Evening Standard

Image courtesy of Evening Standard

England have broken with the old guard following their poor World Cup but Francois Pienaar says the team will only progress if the game in this country is overhauled from top to bottom.

The flanker, who captained South Africa to their epic 1995 World Cup triumph, played for and coached Saracens and believes the disjointed nature of the fixture list is harming the development of talent.

Pienaar told Standard Sport: “The English game suffers from a vicious cycle in the way the season is organised. Having played in England and being still involved with Saracens, I’ve always said the structure of the season baffles me.

“It starts, then you shut down in September and go into Europe, then you start again and shut down for the Six Nations. To produce international winners you need a virtuous cycle. When I played in England I proposed changes but they were ignored. Given the downward cycle England are in, it will be difficult to rebuild unless you look at the entire structure starting at the grass roots, going up to the selection of players, refereeing and the administration.”

Pienaar’s comments came ahead of him collecting an award from the All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union Group. He will attend a dinner at the Commons tonight when MPs will also honour World Cup winners Jonny Wilkinson and John Eales plus Wales’ record try scorer Shane Williams.

PlayUpCricket

Was England’s preparation sufficient, coming into the series against Pakistan? They played against poor opposition and weren’t convincing.

Evening Standard

'England made me,' says Mouritz Botha. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

Mouritz Botha is so relaxed about his South African origins that he can even joke about his name. “Be sure to spell my name correctly,” he says. “Mouritz, not Maurice, otherwise I would sound really English. Then I might even have to be called Maurice Botham.”

There’s no danger of confusing the lock born in Vryheid, KwaZulu Natal, with Beefy. But the 29-year-old likely to face Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on Saturday week will wear the England shirt with just as much pride as England’s most celebrated all-rounder.

“There is no extra pressure on me because I was not born in England,” he insists. “I enjoy living here and am very proud to represent this country. England has a unique and renowned culture that had a massive influence on South Africa. I adapted to the culture. I find it wrong when people move to a country and cling to all the things from their country of origin.”

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BBC Radio 3 – Night Waves

Radio 3’s flagship arts and ideas programme, featuring discussions, debates, interviews and reviews with leading academics and artists.

Mihir discusses his new book, The Spirit of the Game with Anne McElvoy.

Click here to listen to the programme (Note: Section with Mihir starts at 0:25:30)

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