Redknapp's England

This week came the startling revelation that Pearce's England looks a lot like Capello's England. Capello's England looked remarkably like his predecessor's, and his two forebears. As England produces elite national teams about once per generation, it is hardly surprising that althought the managers differ, squads appear habitually mundane.

 England have tried many of the tried-and-true

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The future isn't so rosy: Australia's next batsmen

Although the first nation into the CB finals series and coming straight from a whitewash of India in the recent Test series, Australia has far from a settled lineup. Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey are the two oldest First Class cricketers in the nation, while the third was only recently sacked from the Australian team.  The youthful promise of Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja has tried the country's

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Cricket lookalikes: Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade is a lot of things.  Aside from being Australian keeper-elect, he boasts several different looks.  Here, we can see him batting well for Australia, while in this pic he is batting well above his average.  In yet more photos he's the d*** at the pub trying to impress chicks. 

However, when viewing the red carpet photos from last night's Allan Border medal he became the topic for our

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Hiddink's Anzhi choice says it all

They say you should never meet your heroes.
Or see them sign for Anzhi Makhachkala.
When Guus Hiddink last week signed on to manage the pseudo-Dagestan-based club, it opened the eyes of several admirers to the single greatest driving factor behind his choice of clubs.
Hiddink is held in lofty esteem across most of Australia, the greater part of Holland, significant chunks of Russia, the entirety

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Comparing EPL efficiency across years

Last week I posted a graph which showed the Offensive and Defensive efficiency of teams across Europe's four major leagues.  The chart was measured teams' conversion rates against the number of shots they faced before conceding a goal.  As with all statistics, this is informative in isolation, but doesn't provide a full understanding of the situation without further context - as in,without

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On Internet Comments

This is why I love – and hate – the internet.
It emerged last Monday that every time Aaron Ramsey scores for Arsenal, a really famous person dies. Inspired by some comments to a similar story run in The Sun, it's interesting to ponder what would happen if he scores a hat-trick.
This is perhaps the first story in ages that I've bothered reading the comments to, simply because it draws such a long

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The most efficient teams in Europe

The following chart was inspired by a similar chart on the blog Experimental 3-6-1.  It displays the ratio between the average number of shots a team needs to score a goal, versus the average number shots they face before they concede.  Click the image to zoom in.


From the graph, we can surmise that Borussia Moenchengladbach has by far the sturdiest defence, while Freiburg offer about  as much

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My Favourite Cricketer: Shoaib Akhtar, by Assad Hasanain

Assad Hasanain, of the superb AssadHas, writes on that most amusing playboy fast bowler: Shoaib Akhtar.  Assad tweets @assad_hasanain.
There were drugs. There were women. There were rumors of sexually transmitted diseases. There were tantrums. There were smashed skulls.  There was always adrenaline.  
Shoaib Akhtar's is one of the most fascinating soap operas to have come out of Pakistan

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On the Australian Captaincy

Steve Waugh has recently questioned the Australian selection panel in regards to their handling of the captaincy and of ousted wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.  He is well within his right to, considering his personal achievements and stature in the game.

Up until Ricky Ponting - the man whose temporary institution he contests - the opinions of most Australian captains are considered continuing

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Harry Redknapp - checking (most of) the boxes

The odds are that Harry Redknapp will replace Fabio Capello. The Spurs manager has been heavily backed for the position by everyone from Wayne Rooney to former FA Chairman Lord Triesman. That Stuart Pearce has received the FA's blessing to take charge for England's February 29th match with Holland indicates that any potential decisions won't be made swiftly. Spurs fans can cling to the knowledge

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Cricket lookalikes: Chris Lynn

Doing a bit of research the other day, I happened across the Cricinfo photo of Queensland batsman Chris Lynn.

And the following thought struck me:



If you have any other lookalike suggestions, please email them to me (balanced sports [at] gmail.com) and I'll try to make them a regular feature.

I'm very grateful for the image of Roger the Alien (American Dad!) from http://gh-arts.blogspot.com/

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Capello's greatest failing

With Fabio Capello’s recent statements to the Italian media concerning John Terry’s fatal reign as England captain, he has once again displayed his most obvious characteristic as England manager.  Although no-one has tipped England to succeed later this year, Euro 2012 betting markets have become less murky in recent days – why would you bet on a team that can’t win? 
As a squad devoid of

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Kris Boyd's arrival signals a change in Timbers' style

With the Portland Timbers signing ex-Scotland striker Kris Boyd, the MLS in the Pacific Northwest takes on an intriguging new look. He replaces former USA international Kenny Cooper, who was traded to wannabe-glamour-club, the New York Red Bulls.

The Timbers started their MLS existence relatively strongly last season, finishing sixth in the Western Conference and two games out of a wildcard

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The Return of "Smithy"

As I flicked past the A-League results page on ESPN Soccernet's page this morning, I chanced upon an odd name: a player named “Smithy” apparently started at centre-forward for the Wellington Phoenix in their match against Adelaide on Friday.


Screen dump from ESPN Soccernet

This struck me as odd, as the last guy to make it big in the world of football with that name was (sit down Alan

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My Favourite Cricketer: Anil Kumble, by Rishabh Bablani, the Cricket Nerd

In our series "My Favourite Cricketer", we invite the best writers and bloggers to tell us why the look upon a certain player more fondly than others.  Today, Rishabh Bablani of The Cricket Nerd describes one member of the "600 Club", Anil Kumble.
The lasting image of Indian cricket in the 1990s is that of a young Sachin rising to prominence, fulfilling the prophecies that had marked him as

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Book Review: Miller's Luck, by Roland Perry.

by Ben Roberts, a re-post from our affiliate Book Review blog, Books with Balls.

I entered into this book with trepidation. For a long time I have been searching for a Keith Miller biography that was not this effort by Roland Perry, with no luck. One of the great cricket writers David Frith was scathing in his review of Perry's work, citing multiple factual errors that grated on him.

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