The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Cricket: MCC set for French leave
- Formula One: Reckless drivers face football-style bans
- Formula One: Button clears air with teammate Perez
| Cricket: MCC set for French leave Posted: 03 May 2013 06:33 PM PDT LONDON: While France has fallen for the charms of football and rugby despite their Anglo-Saxon origins, the "je ne sais quoi" of cricket has never taken hold on the other side of the Channel in quite the same way. But that won't deter Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from sending its latest side to France on Sunday as part of its ongoing mission to spread cricket round the world, and not just in the countries and lands of the former British Empire which provide its leading Test match nations. Such "missionary work" matters to MCC, which owns London's Lord's ground - the self-styled "home of cricket". This year also sees the club touring Cyprus, Uganda and Rwanda. But suggestions a planned MCC tour of France in 1789 was scuppered by the French Revolution - a rather more memorable reason for an abandonment than the customary "rain stopped play" - may be more of a legend than historical fact according to MCC researcher Neil Robinson, with the club's records from that period destroyed in an 1825 fire. "MCC was only formed in 1787 so you'd think they would have had more pressing issues than organising a tour of France two years later," Robinson, in charge of the library at Lord's, told AFP. "However, legend has it that the Duke of Dorset suggested to the Earl of Tankerville (a title deriving from Tancarville in Normandy) he bring a cricket team over to help assuage anti-British feeling. "Tankerville was one of the grandees who would have played a role in the formation of MCC. The legend also has it that when the team got to Dover (the south-east coastal port town then, as now, an embarkation point for France), they saw the Duke of Dorset coming the other way as a result of the Revolution," said Robinson. Former British Prime Minister and lifelong cricket fan John Major appears to have finally put paid to all talk of an MCC, or indeed any kind, of 1789 tour while researching his book "More Than a Game", a history of early cricket. Dorset, according to Sir John Major, "didn't leave France until four weeks after the French Revolution, when reports had already reached England. Given what was known at the time in England about the French Revolution, why would anyone want to send a cricket team there at that time?" But while talk of cricket in France in 1789 may be far-fetched, there is evidence it has been played in the country, if not extensively, for hundreds of years. And the only time the sport appeared in the Olympics was at the 1900 Games in Paris where France, admittedly with a team largely made up of expatriates, won the cricket silver medal after losing to Britain. There is also a French link to one of cricket's most famous names in former Australia captain turned commentator and journalist Richie Benaud, whose great-grandfather, Jean Benaud, was born in Bordeaux and settled in Australia in 1840. In the mid 1990s Richie Benaud became a patron of France Cricket. This year's MCC team will be managed by former Surrey and Nottinghamshire batsman Darren Bicknell. John Stephenson, now the MCC's head of cricket, looked forward to the five limited overs matches in France by saying Friday: "MCC is committed to increasing cricket's international appeal... I hope that this tour will contribute to the growing identity of France within the international cricketing community." Although it is more than 40 years since MCC ceased to run English cricket, it still has worldwide responsibility for the sport's rules or laws, with the global game now administered by the Dubai-based International Cricket Council. - AFP |
| Formula One: Reckless drivers face football-style bans Posted: 03 May 2013 06:30 PM PDT LONDON: Reckless Formula One drivers have been warned that the introduction of a 'football-style' penalty points system may lead to them facing race bans in future. Discussions into the viability of a revised punishment system for dangerous or other irregular driving are expected to take place at next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix and could be introduced later this year. International Motoring Federation (FIA) race director Charlie Whiting is due to meet the teams at a meeting of the Sporting Working Group think-tank ahead of the Barcelona race to discuss potential future rule changes. "It's a complex question and we need to get the balance right because banning a driver is a serious issue," he said. "We need to make sure a driver genuinely deserves any ban. "We will be monitoring offences and running a (hypothetical) system in the background to see how it would all work if put into practice. We need to do that for a while." Although there has been some support for the new idea from a number of teams, there has not yet been the necessary unanimous approval required. If this changes, a new rule could be drafted in this season. Teams and drivers are anxious that a series of relatively minor infringements by a driver could lead to a ban. Whiting said that the FIA were mindful of this problem and that a ban could be out of context with a driver's general conduct and that is why he and his assistants were analysing and trialling the possible systems. The drivers, in general, are understood to be keen for the system to be brought in to replace the existing unpredictable way of handling misdemeanours and using fines and grid penalties. Last season, several serial offenders on the track emerged after a spate of first-lap accidents and later collisions and other incidents. These included Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Williams, who was involved in several crashes, and Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus, who was in seven opening-lap crashes in 12 races. The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) had sought clarification from the FIA about why drivers were still being fined for speeding this year when a deal agreed for an increase in super-licence fees was supposed to have stopped financial penalties. Following discussions with the FIA, the GPDA has been happy to hold fire on the fines issue until the penalty points issue is resolved. - AFP |
| Formula One: Button clears air with teammate Perez Posted: 03 May 2013 06:27 PM PDT LONDON: Jenson Button made clear this week that he has cleared the air with his McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez and will not have any concerns about racing against him again in next week's Spanish Grand Prix. The 2009 world champion said also that he was suprised at how exaggerated the tension between the two McLaren drivers was made to look - and reiterated that he had not intended to broadcast his immediate emotions of their clashes during last month's Bahrain Grand Prix. Button, 33, said he felt glad, on reflection, that he and Perez had been allowed to race one another in a genuine and unfettered fashion. "I think we're very lucky that we were allowed to race. There are a lot of teams where team-mates aren't allowed to race, but we'd better respect that decision and not take advantage of it," he said. "That's something that we all understand now. Hopefully we can be racing again in Barcelona - fighting cleanly and hopefully for the win, not for sixth or seventh." He said any ill will or bad feelings between them evaporated after the Bahrain race. "After the race it was important to sit down with the team, and 'Checo', and for us all to talk about the race, get it out and move on," he explained. "The problem with the radio (broadcast) is that my message is not meant for the masses - it's meant for the team. "In a way it's a pity that TV companies just choose the messages they want, because they can come across in the wrong way. I was obviously angry, but the anger was supposed to be kept within the team, because I am radioing the team, I'm not radioing TV companies." The clashes in Bahrain followed an ill-starred and disappointing start to the season for both drivers and the McLaren team. The domination they demonstrated in the final part of 2012 was lost as they brought in a new car for 2013 and found that it lacked competitive performance. As a result, both men were under pressure with Perez, 23, reacting by adopting a far more aggressive approach. Button, on a promotional visit to Hungary this week, said he remained optimistic. "In terms of our results, they haven't been good," he said. "But in terms of the direction we're going with the car, I think it's very good." "We have some new parts for Barcelona which should help us and we can build on them in future races, but the points need to start coming soon... We understand that." Many critics have suggested already that McLaren would be wiser to abandon developments of their 2013 car and move to the 2014 machine and the future. Perez believes his drive to sixth in Bahrain was proof he can be successful at McLaren. "We've been through some very difficult moments but I think this is the start of our season," he said. "I never lost my confidence, I always believed in myself. I've shown the critics that I can do a good job." - AFP |
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