EPL heralds English Twenty20 shake-up July 17, 2008 A long-awaited English Premier League comprising all 18 first-class counties and two overseas teams will begin in 2010, as part of a radical overhaul of the domestic game. The new competition, which will take place in June and consist of two divisions of 10 teams, was announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) [...]
Harrington vows to play on July 16, 2008 Padraig Harrington will play through the pain barrier to defend his Open Championship title this week after suffering a wrist injury. The Irishman sustained the injury while winning the Irish PGA tournament on Saturday and only managed his first nine holes of practice yesterday ahead of the first round at Royal Birkdale tomorrow. “If it [...]
Baffling Blatter’s ‘Slave’ remarks are a joke July 16, 2008 So, according to Sepp Blatter, the president of world governing body Fifa, our modern day topflight footballers are being treated like “slaves”. With comments like that, it’s no wonder Blatter is seen as an irritation to our game rather than a so-called leader. I don’t think the man has had a sensible thing to say [...]
Milan sign Ronaldinho and pay £10m less than City bid July 16, 2008 Manchester City’s audacious attempt to sign Ronaldinho was finally killed off last night when AC Milan agreed a deal with Barcelona for the Brazil playmaker. Ronaldinho, who fell out of favour during his fifth season at Barcelona, will sign a three-year contract in Milan today after completing the routine medical examination. Milan have reportedly agreed [...]
Brazil winger Robinho eyes Chelsea move July 16, 2008 Real Madrid winger Robinho is seriously considering joining Chelsea, although the west London club are unlikely to pay more than half the £48m they were reported to have offered. Robinho’s agent Wagner Ribeiro confirmed yesterday he had held talks with Chelsea, and that the 24-year-old was keen to work with new Blues boss and fellow [...]
Don’t let the sunshine ruin your holiday July 16, 2008 Too many people still don’t understand the damage sunburn can cause, says Zoe Strimpel The sorry English weather has most of us giddy with excitement at the prospect of our August holiday somewhere sunny and hot. And though we all know that baking in the sun is bad for us, many of us are going [...]
Dwain court case delayed July 15, 2008 Great Britain’s squad for the Beijing Olympics was announced yesterday, but the sprinting line-up will not be named until Thursday, when Dwain Chambers’ case against a lifetime ban is heard in the High Court. Simeon Williamson was the only male 100m runner included in the draft squad, but Chambers and one other will join him [...]
Vialli: I back Lamps to be a hit at Inter July 15, 2008 Chelsea legend Gianluca Vialli believes Frank Lampard would cope with life in Italy should he opt to leave Stamford Bridge this summer. Lampard is currently in the middle of a tug-of-war between signing a new deal at Chelsea or joining up with former boss Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan. And Vialli, who made a name [...]
Flintoff gets the nod for Test return July 15, 2008 Andrew Flintoff is expected to make his England return at Headingley on Friday after being given the all-clear by medics. The all-rounder has not played a Test since the final Ashes match in Sydney in January 2007 after suffering an occurrence to his ankle injury. But the 30-year-old has performed well with both bat and [...]
It’s round one to England despite sleepy Lord’s opener July 15, 2008 Although the scoreboard will suggest the first Test petered out into a tame draw, I suspect England will be the team taking the more positives to Headingley for the start of the second Test on Friday. For the first time in quite a while we have seen England pile on almost 600 runs in their [...]