29 days to go.

i'm about four weeks early i will admit but i'm incredibly excited and optismistic about england's summer. to become the best, you have to beat the best and sri lanka and india are argubably two of the world's 'form sides'.
on twitter, i've seen former professionals and other journalists offer their views about team selection, so i thought i'd share mine. england are in a fortunate position that the majority of our team, picks it self, on form alone. we are lucky to have a number of world class players and players who are at the peak of their careeers. in my opinion, nine out of the eleven are pretty much secured but there are quite a few other players who are fully deserving of an england call up. 2010 was the most succesful year for english cricket and we need to keep improving, i fully expect this team to be number one in the world sooner rather than later.

this is the england team i believe should play in cardiff on 26th may:

andrew strauss:
captain fantastic, captained us to back to back ashes victories and played such an important role down under. strauss and flower are obviously the perfect team, england are a lot more settled now and this has obviously resulted in a dramatic improvement to the team. strauss, a world class batsman and fielder, certainly has respect of all the players whilst still maintaining the friendly atmosphere around the england camp.

alastair cook:
his ashes statistics speak for themselves. its hard to believe that only a few months ago, his place in the team was questioned and he was under an enormous amount of pressure to prove he was still worthy of opening the batting in brisbane. two months and 766 runs later, he was named man of the series. this has restored his own confidence and everyone else's faith in him. he needs to continue this fantastic form into the summer and challenge himself against both world cup finalists.

jonathan trott:
england's ever consistent number three. yet another player who had an incredible ashes series, he spent hours at the crease frustrating the aussie bowlers. he often adds stability to nervous situations but being stable isnt his only quality though, his batting was superb throughout the winter and his 168 not out in melbourne was an ashes highlight.

kevin pietersen:
the showman, 'mr ego' himself. the wicket every opposition bowler loves to pick up. with his eccentric and entertaining style of batting, he's always going to attract attention and with attracting attention, it means not everyone is going to be your biggest fan. pietersen often comes in for a lot of criticism, one bad game for him and everybody jumps on the 'drop pietersen' bandwagon. he's world class and loves the chance to prove himself in the biggest games. i believe he will have a successful summer.

ian bell:
i never used to understand the hype around ian bell. around this time last year, the sky team were discussing who they'd select for their ashes squad and every single one of them were singing bell's praises. it wasnt until the ashes series started that i finally began to see what a fantastic player bell really is. a fantastic player of spin and now a regular in the test team, it is hard to imagine anybody could replace him at the moment.

eoin morgan:
the obvious replacement for collingwood in my mind. with his unique and idiosyncratic style, he caught the england selectors eye immediately whilst playing for ireland. morgan is a constant fixture in the one day format of the game and the next logical step, would be to make him a regular in the test side. he's a good fielder (like collingwood) and i think he is a better player than ravi bopara, who quite a few people have argued should be playing a lot for england in the summer. as an essex fan, i can tell you that ravi has been hopelessly out of form with the bat this season and the only highlight of his season so far has been his bowling. i believe morgan to be more consistent and therefore, a better player in test cricket.

matthew prior:
pretty obvious who i'd choose for wicketkeeper. in my head, hes the best english wicketkeeper around at the moment. craig kieswetter, steven davies and james foster are all good players but thanks to matt's batting progress and fantastic ashes performance, i don't believe his test place is under any great threat.

tim bresnan:
this is the position which caused me and a lot of other cricket fans the most trouble on deciding. steven finn, chris tremlett and chris woakes all fully deserve a place on the team in my eyes but bresnan took a number of key wickets in melbourne and sydney, with the added bonus he's quite handy with the bat too. i expect the three other seamers i mentioned to play some part this summer but if i was choosing the team for cardiff, i think bresnan would just get the nod from me.

graeme swann:
who else? the number one ranked spinner in the world and although i may have rose tinted glasses on, i believe swann is the best bowler in the world, above steyn. despite the conditions not being in his favour, over in australia, he still had a good series - this time with the seamers taking centre stage.

stuart broad:
the future of england cricket, who's been particularly unforunate with injuries over the last few months but now is fit and ready for an important summer in his career. he gets more mature every game and has been lined up as a future england captain, which would only improve his temper and overall game in my opinion. his batting is the only part of his game which does need to improve. after the 2009 ashes, he was tipped to bat at six or seven but as yet, has not shown his true batting ability.

james anderson:
the man who tore the aussie batting line up to pieces on many occasions is england's most important fast bowler. we hope an indifferent world cup will not affect his recent outstanding test performances. in english conditions, he is expected to flourish.

money, money, money.

twenty20 cricket: entertainment or signalling the death of interest in test games? at international and county level, one of the main incomes of money is through the t20 format of the game. the crowds are driven to the game through their desire to see hatfuls of sixs and slogging the ball a hundred metres. under the floodlights, the upbeat music, the dancers, the cheering crowds: sounds fun? people are flocking to see this kind of cricket but forgetting all about the true form of the game, the form which shows the most skill and concentration, the form every cricketer wants to be the best in the world in: test cricket.

90 overs a day, usually not as loud and half the amount of runs but still the most satisfying. in t20 cricket, a player can score 25 in two overs by slogging shots and taking ridiculous risks but in test circket, it could take an hour for a player to score that amount of runs. however, i would rather see a player build an innings and work hard for their score. thinking about to score those well-taken singles off the bowlers, the boundaries are less frequent but mean an awful lot more. exposing a bowler in t20 doesn't take a lot. an example of this is shane watson batting against graeme swann in the t20 down under, if my memory serves me correctly watson scored almost 30 runs off one over, off the best spinner in the world. they weren't the poorest of deliveries but thanks to the nature of the game, swann was hit all over the park.

this sort of attitude is rubbing off on the fifty over format of the game, batsmen taking risks for runs when they have a lot more time to settle down and build decent partnerships: sometimes it works, other occasions they're walking back to the dressing room, cursing themselves for trying such a thing.

the rewards of test cricket are so much greater as well. yes, england won the t20 world cup and we were all ecstatic to finally be world champions at something! but after two months out in australia and after five gruelling test matches, we returned home with the ashes, the greatest prize in world cricket. and what a series, the beauty of test cricket being defined in all five tests. the true cricket geek within me loves to see a bowler bowl a maiden, six stunning deliveries, really giving the batsman something to think about.

t20 is entertaining for some but we need to rememeber the true origin of cricket and why we all fell in love with it. nothing should ever replace test cricket. it might not bring in the same money and provide the non cricketing public with some interest in the game but at the end of the day, cricket shouldnt be about money. it's about 22 passionate players each game putting in their all.

you've probably heard this before, i'll try to say it differently.

all i seem to be blogging about at the moment is arsenal, our inability to defend a lead and how its quite likely that this 'quality' of our game could rule us out of winning of the premier league.

last night, a three all draw at tottenham defined why we're not bookmakers favourites anymore. i've been told last night was a 'fantastic game' and for the neutrals, i'm sure it was. however, trying to enjoy a game where your team have let a two goal slip is rather difficult. the spurs defence is nothing to be feared but yet after half time, we did not test them enough. again though, it was our defensive frailties that made the headlines. if it happened once or twice, i could understand. but now its almost becoming a physiological barrier with arsenal. even with a two goal lead, we're still not comfortable and cant contain those nerves. hell, a four goal lead isnt enough sometimes: i struggle to think of another team who would throw away such an advantage at st james park.

at home to tottenham this season, we lost 3-2. going into the dressing room at half time we were 2-0. many other top teams would have come out after the interval and got an early goal and then easied to victory. why not arsenal? after every example of this, i have a debate with myself over why this is. i cannot come up with a definitive reason. when you come back from being a goal down, it is said to 'show spirit' so does conceding late goals constantly show a lack of said spirit? it is all well and good to come out with good quotations after games but its what happens on the pitch that really matters. only results will quieten your critics.

someone said on twitter the other day 'arsenal are to football, what south africa are to cricket: chokers' - sadly, i cannot argue with that too much at the moment.
since early february, we've won three premier league games. - wolves & stoke (h)and blackpool (a) too many stuttering draws and defensive cock ups, yet we're still in the title race. manchester united and chelsea have also both been poor this season but one difference with manchester united - theyre turning these 'stuttering draws' into wins. if they do end up being crowned champions: its not due to their outstanding play, its thanks to their rivals not applying the pressure - a crime arsenal are certainly guilty of. we can still win the league from this position but i can't help but feel that we've gifted manchester united too many opportunities. its been nice to be involved in a title race going down to the wire because over the last few seasons, we've really faded into air when the going got tough.

conventionally this is the time where i'd offer an optimistic message to the lads, i very much doubt another of those is needed. they know what they've got to do and all we can do now is concentrate on our games & pick up as many points as we can. you never know what can happen, manchester united could drop points. the beauty in the premier league is its 'predictably unpredictable'.

we are the generation, can't keep us underground.

we'd won it. 98 minutes on the clock, robin van persie takes his shirt off as he celebrates the scored penalty and the crowd breathe a collective sigh of relief. not even arsenal could cock this up surely? yet when the final whistle was blown by andre marriner, a different sigh echoed around the emirates. one of frustration this time as in the 101st minute, a rash and foolish challenge by eboue in the penalty area meant liverpool equalised with the last kick of the game. i believe both penalties were the correct decisions and instead of spending our energy on questioning the officials, we need to learn how to defend a lead. argubably a fair result overall but losing out on two points has damaged our challenge for the title. its mathematically possible of course but if manchester united win at st james park on tuesday, it's incredibly difficult to imagine arsenal would pose any great threat. the game against united on the first of may will only be important if we win both our away games before then, against tottenham and bolton. anything less and i fear the game at the emirates on mayday would be relatively meaningless.
if this means playing a different style of football, then so be it. points have been dropped this season through our tendency to try and walk in the ball into the net, with a reluctancy to shoot in good positions. arsenal need a 'plan b' because that isnt always going to work. after such a disappointment, i can understand fans' anger but non-constructive criticism won't change anything and calling for wenger to resign won't help at all. everyone needs to get behind the team - we might not get such a good chance for a while and its still possible. come on lads!

too much of anything is too much.

it is well documented that out of all the world's sportstars, cricketers aren't as well paid as others. maybe this is why the IPL was born and although it may appeal to millions, it also has just as many critics. a competition which is based around money usually attracts the world's biggest stars but apart from the obvious, why are they there, why are they playing? unless you're an indian cricketer, it's unlikely you'll have any real connection to your chosen team. players are bought for millions and swap teams every year, no loyalty to a team. obviously, you want to play your best cricket but at the end of the day, there can't be much to motivate the players.
this year, eoin morgan is the only england regular taking part. kevin pietersen was meant to but thanks to a hernia operation, he had to miss out. although it meant him missing a part of england's world cup 'failings', it could mean that it benefits england's summer, with test series, ODI series and two twenty20 games all coming up. pietersen a key part of england's ashes tour down under meant he had little rest between the ashes, the ODI series and then the world cup. the ipl may pay well but out of all the england cricketers, kevin pietersen is probably the one least in need of extra cash.
the ipl is broadcasted all around the world, therefore allowing players to play on the 'world stage' but competitions like this are having a massive impact on county cricket. take for example my county essex, one of our best players, ryan ten doeschate. he impressed in the world cup but instead of bringing this good form back to essex, he was bought by the 'kolkata knight riders'. it is quite likely that he won't return for essex until the middle of may; missing key games in the county championship and CB4O competitions.

it's not a nice thought to think that a money-fuelled competition such as the IPL could be damaging the world famous county season, an english tradition with over a hundred years history behind it.

goodbye to the tag 'chokers' or 'bottlers' please.

1. Man Utd P31 Points 66
2. Arsenal P30 Points 59
3. Man City P31 Points 56
4. Chelsea P30 Points 55

win the game in hand against tottenham and beat manchester united at home & we're in a pretty comfortable position to say the least. yet everyone seems to be ruling us out of the title, critics and fans a-like. an away draw at west brom and a home draw against blackburn has seemed to signal the end of the world and the end of arsenal's season. without causing offence to these teams, on paper both should've been arsenal victories but remember we've taken points from games this season that not many people expected us to. two examples of this are manchester city away and chelsea at home, in the end both convincing wins for the arsenal.
every team goes through bad patches and after being knocked out of three competitions in thirteen days, it was almost inevitable that our bad run would come off the back of that.
a summer clearout is needed and arsene wenger will have to buy some decent back-ups for the players & start playing the talented stars of the youth team instead of persisiting with poor players such as denilson, bendtner and squillaci.
staying with this season however, the key is obviously to remain unbeaten and hope united drop points, which is incredibly likely seeing as they have a few tough games coming up in the league and of course, the two champions league games against chelsea.

c'mon afc♥