The Sporting Hack

A juggling act: where should Morgan bat? Following England’s Twenty 20 World Cup defeat to the West Indies in Pallekele on Thursday, the calls for Eoin Morgan to be promoted back up the batting order have been unanimous and justified – he scored an impressive quickfire 71 runs from just 36 balls. The Dubliner, in the absence of Kevin Pietersen, is now seen as England’s lynchpin but could not do enough to save the Three Lions in the first game of the 'Super Eight’s' against Darren Sammy’s men. Positioned at five, he was faced with the task of helping acquire in excess of 120 runs for victory from just ten overs. Stuart Broad’s side have not started well at all in this Sri Lankan tournament and their record in the very first over of each game emphasises as much - 0/1, 2/1 and 0/2 have been recorded against Afghanistan, India and the Windies respectively. Sky Sports pundit Paul Collingwood, who led England to their first ever T20 title in 2010, agreed that the ...

Talented scrum-half Craig Fawcett crossed. Doncaster RLFC 20 v 0 Workington Town Co-Operative Championship 1 play-off semi-final eliminator Keepmoat Stadium Attendance – 576   Championship 1 League Leaders Doncaster booked their place in the Grand Final at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium next Sunday after overcoming Workington by twenty unanswered points. Tries from Chris Spurr, Stuart Sanderson, Craig Fawcett and Nathan Powley did the damage to the Cumbrians who will lament the red card shown to their loose forward Chris Annakin for foul play which scuppered any real hopes of a showdown with Barrow Raiders. Annakin’s ‘dump tackle’ early in the second half only aided the home side’s cause, who now return to Cheshire four years on from when Ellery Hanley guided them to success over Oldham. Doncaster, who lost Paul Cooke to injury in the narrow play-off defeat to Barrow a week ago, showed their superiority from the off when Spurr charged down a clearance ...

Injury worry? Paul Cooke lasted 20 minutes in defeat to Barrow Doncaster RLFC 20 v 22 Barrow Raiders RLFC Co-Operative Championship 1 play-off semi-final qualifier Keepmoat Stadium Attendance – 744 Barrow Raiders secured their place in the Co-Operative Championship 1 grand final in Warrington after overcoming Doncaster in a hard fought encounter. Doncaster, winners of the League Leaders Shield last weekend, lifted the trophy in hollow circumstances as they were edged out by the second placed Raiders. The visitors had centre Aaron Low to thank – his brace of tries proving pivotal to proceedings against a Doncaster side that defeated the Raiders by four points in July and remained unbeaten at home until today. It was perhaps testament to the resolve of the Dons that they nearly nicked a result despite playing for the majority of the game without the key figure of Paul Cooke – the imperious stand-off having picked up a knee injury early on. Jamie Tandy’s second...

Ricky Hatton today made the unsurprising, but no less unfortunate, announcement that he is to return to the world of professional boxing.  A lonely world in which his last taste of action in the ring was when he was sprawled on his back at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a raging Philippine – in the shape of Manny Pacquiao – having just given him a severe beating.  However, with the savagery of the second round defeat came a gentle warning, ‘Get Out Now.’ That was 2009 and the affable Mancunian heeded the warning, much to the relief of many in boxing circles.  The cheeky chap had revolutionised the way in which the sport was viewed in this country and his loyal legions of fans were a credit. How the thousands that flocked across the Atlantic to see the Hitman attempt to unify the light welterweight division must be bemused by this about turn by their hero. His reasons for a return seem unclear and, if anything, bizarre. The 33 year old has says...

So that’s it for another four years, Spain continued their dominance on the elite level stage and did so in impressive fashion by swatting aside Italy 4-0 in the final. A very big thank you goes to those of you who have kept up to date with Biltcliffe’s Sports Thoughts throughout the tournament to try and gain an alternate perspective of what has been a thoroughly enjoyable tournament. The big winners were: Italy – There was no shame attached to Cesare Prandelli’s side, who were unable to match the rampant Spaniards. Against a backdrop of irregularity in their homeland, the Azzuri displayed a defiance by showing 4-4-2 can work (to an extent) at international level. They’d already given their best in the semi final win over Germany though. The big losers were: Holland – The Dutch have primacy in this area. From World Cup finalists in 2010 to finishing bottom of Group B with zero points, the 1-0 defeat to Denmark set the tone for Bert Van Merwijk’s (right) c...