My Favourite Cricketer: Andy Bichel, by Nicko Hancock

In Balanced Sports' & World Cricket Watch's continuing series, we invite the best cricket writers and bloggers to explain what made certain cricketers their favourite.  For The Sledge's Nicko Hancock, that man is Andy Bichel - the best twelfth man in history.
I consider myself lucky to be born in 1989. It means that I grew up under the wing of some truly wonderful childhood influences: Fireman

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Why England can beat Spain

As the Iberians land on English shores, they bring with them a remarkable record. Since February 2007, la Furia Roja has played 71 matches for 62 wins, four draws and five losses; they score an average of 2.25 goals per game. That's an 87% win ratio. For some brief perspective, the all-powerful Barcelona side of 2010-11 won just under 74 percent of their matches.
Spain should have no reason to

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International Rules series dying a slow death

After yet another International Rules series ended with a violence on field and scoreboard, we must now ask if the series has a future. The movement for it's abolition is gaining strength after a week which must have been painful for IR advocates like Ron Barassi.
While the games are undeniably similar, it's popular fallacy that Australian football evolved from Gaelic football. Both sports

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Rooney must play forward for United to succeed

Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons
Wayne Rooney's move into the midfield has won him plaudits. He played in a central role against Everton last Saturday and again in midweek when United hosted Romanian minnows Otelul Galati in the Champions League. It's no secret he is United's best player, comfortably leads the squad in "bastard factor", possesses the best creative skills of anyone on the team and,

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My Favourite Cricketer: Justin Langer, by Sarah C Robinson

In continuing our series "My Favourite Cricketer", Sarah C Robinson of the excellent Slowly Learning the Offside Rule writes about Australia's most contradictory opener, Justin Langer.
As an England cricket fan, there is one rule: Thou shall not support an Aussie.
And so, this is my confession. I have sinned. My favourite cricketer is an Australian batsman. It is the often underappreciated

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Neymar to Real Madrid - but why?

It is rumoured that Santos star Neymar will join Spanish giants Real Madrid next offseason, finally consummating a courtship of two years. The Brazilian, recently tipped by Pele as the next "best player in the world", is thought to have agreed a transfer worth somewhere in the region of €53 million. The deal is likely to slap him firmly amongst the elite of footballing salaries.
Such powerful

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Sixty-Six Sigma: New South Wales

Ben Roberts and Matthew Wood
Openers: Phil Hughes and Nick Maddinson
Dislodging the Australian past in Simon Katich and Phil Jacques was not easy, yet both youngsters look likely to have exciting Australian futures. If Katich opens, he deserves this position as he could well still be in Australia's top dozen most effective cricketers.
Maddinson is still only 19 years old, and has flown under the

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