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.