What can English football learn from English cricket?

Whilst the English football team flounder, the cricket team are in the form of their lives. Cricket has a very different policy towards international squads. Where England football selection is fickle and inconsistent, cricket, whilst conservative, ultimately has a long term outlook.

It is hard work breaking into an England Cricket side. You have to prove yourself over and over again at county level and then once you are given an opportunity to play at an international level, you have to get off to the best possible chance. You don't have time to muck around and get used to the greater standard of cricket. However, once you have excelled on the international scene and you are offered a central contract, you are into the fold and that is where England's success stems from.

As was the case with the Aussies when they first introduced them, central contracts tie players to their international side and not their county. They are nurtured by the best coaches, and train alongside the same people week in week out. Of course it still remains important for them to work at a county level as well, but it is viewed as practice for a more important challenge.

In recent years, the ECB selection commitee has selected a few choice young talents from the county scene and has developed them. The first is James Anderson, who many agree to be amongst the finest swing bowlers in the world. Stuart Broad was the next to be brought in. He has almost entirely been bred by the England system and, as with Anderson, has turned out to be another great success. Most recently the ECB have opted to bring in the 21 year old Steve Finn. There's no doubt that he is a formidable talent but there are plenty out there who could do just as good a job as him.

The key for the ECB is his age. They have found a very young (by cricketing standards) bowler, suited to bowling on hard, Australian like wickets, and they're now bringing him into the team for full development. He will learn his team mates' games and train with them over the coming months. As a result of this attitude, they have built a team. They know each other and most importantly understand each other. This is not the case in football as most people are aware.

Footballers main priorities remain with their clubs who pay their wages and ensure their fitness. Admittedly an exact replica of the cricket system would not be possible in football, there's far too much money for central contracts to be introduced. What would be good to see though is a system that brought the team together far more often, not just when they have matches to prepare for. We have all seen the benefits of a team understanding each other this world cup. The Spainish squad that went on to win the competition, 19, of a 23 man squad, played in Spain. Ofcourse the English squad had a similar make up but the key was that 13 of them either played for Barcelona or Real Madrid. Even more significantly, of the starting 11 in the final, eight of them played for Barcelona and now, because of David Villa's €40 million move to Catalonia, that number has been increased further. They were team mates and knew how each one of them played played his game.

England have an opportunity to repeat this success. They have a number of talented players moving through English football. Some are young and some are not but with many of England's alledged stars are getting towards the end of their careers and most probably won't see another world cup. They need to use this new generation to really build a side. Despite Theo Walcott's poor form, he could be taken now and turned into a fully-rounded England player. Take others like Micahel Johnson, Aaron Lennon and Joe Hart and develop them so that they suit the English set up. Maybe even glance further into the future and start looking at players like Jack Wilshere. Through this a squad will grow up together and develop into a team.

It may not work, it may be a complete failure, cricket is a very different game to football. With the current state of our national sport, however, it must be worth a try.

The 150th Open Championship

The 150th Open Championship has just finished and it has been another exciting competition, which I admit is not a word that many would choose to describe golf. For those who understand and adore this sport though, and many do, it was a treat.

St. Andrews is a course steeped in history and holds the claim of being the oldest golf course in the world. Some have criticised it for being too easy for a major course, the R&A, however, clearly disagree and use it every five years for the competition. A lush green, tree lined course with quiet, calm water hazards this place is not. It is a rugged, wind ravaged Scottish brute, causing as much trouble to first time tourists as the country's infamous bagpipes.

Another Scottish characteristic was to feature heavily this year, torrid weather. The players fought against lashing rain and powerful winds, so much so that at one point play had to be stopped. Those who were lucky enough to finish their rounds before the worst of it had begun posted the best scores on that day. The weather affected one man more than others. Rory McIloy, who had received a late surge in the betting, squandered his first round lead and Justin Rose, who had started very well, dropped away all together and failed to make the cut. One man worked with the weather though and emerged from the storm as the leader. Louis Oosthuizen, a previously unknown name to all but the most dedicated of fans, posted a score of 12 under for the championship and waltzed into the 3rd round.

Many of the big names failed to really prove themselves. Players such as Phil Micklesen and Ernie Els both left a lot to be desired in their games and although the name on every one's lips, Tiger Woods, looked good at first he soon fell dropping shots mainly through his poor putting.

When Oosthuizen checked over his shoulder to observe the following pack he would have noticed the British talent were hot on his heels. Paul Casey was paired with him for the final round and seemingly had the best chance to catch the South African before he reached the clubhouse. Lee Westwood, England's in form golfer at the moment, played some good golf on the back nine to push himself up to second after Casey bogeyed the fifteenth. McIlroy, after his disappointment on Friday, was able to make a late surge to tie third place with Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey. Despite this British resilience, Oosthuizen managed to hold his nerve and after he eagled the ninth, he looked certain to take the Claret Jug.

This year some lessons have been learnt. Woods will not be changing his putter again anytime soon, in fact he was so disillusioned with his new Nike Method putter he referred back to his old Scotty Cameron Newport 2 for the final round. John Daly, who brought four pairs of 'lucky' trousers, all adorned with garish patterns, will have to go shopping in search of something to bring him a bit more luck. He started well but found himself falling off by the end of the third round. Finally, my outside bet Chris Wood lived up to his underdog status and missed the cut which was a shame especially as I had a fiver riding on his success.

At the end of the tournament, Oosthuizen most definitely deserved to take the jug. He had played exceedingly well over all four days, a consistency unmatched by anyone else. Let us not forget the British though. Casey, Westwood and McIlroy will all take some confidence to USPGA Championship in four weeks. Next year the tournament moves south side of the border and to the garden of England, The Royal St. Georges in Kent.

The State of British Sport

This month England crashed out of the world cup and Andy Murray dropped out of Wimbledon. Some would see this as a very low point in British sport but away from football and tennis, which have understandably occupied people's attention for the past few weeks, the British are actually having quite a successful sporting period.

Last week the English cricket team confirmed a one-day series victory over the old foe and one of the most formidable oppositions in the world, Australia. They also won the ashes last year and have a very good chance of winning them later this year when the action will take place down under. Many cynics are claiming this success to be driven by the sizable South African portion of the team but in reality England's star performers at the moment are English born and bred. Greame Swann, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Paul Collingwood are all fully English and considered amongst the best in the world. The reality is that the players who are of South African descent have done enough to be considered English and we should all be grateful for their help in gaining the World Twenty20 trophy and sustaining England's new found success in all forms of the game.

More success comes in the world of Golf. For the first time since its introduction in 1986, four English golfers find themselves in the top 10 golfers in the world. Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey are also joined by Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. On top of that rather impressive information, another Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell, surprisingly won the US Open this year. We also have impressive talent like Chris Wood coming into the game who I fancy to do rather well at this year's open at St. Andrews especially if Tiger Woods keeps his current form and Phil Mickelson repeats his performance from this weeks Scottish Open.

Of course cricket and golf aren't the only sports that we are achieving in. We have the two of the best formula one racing drivers in the world at the moment, at the last Olympic games we came fourth in the medal table and having beat Australia last month, the England Rugby team looks as if it may have a promising few months ahead of it. So forget the football and the tennis, look elsewhere for success because there is plenty of it around.