Mention the word ”Ashes” to any cricket fan and they know instantly you are talking about a Test contest between England and Australia. But cricket’s oldest rivals had been playing each other for five years before the idea of the Ashes was born.
For eight years now English crowds have been taunting Jason Gillespie with shouts of ”Where’s your caravan?” But it wasn’t until Australia’s last tour of England in 2001 that the fast-bowler realised that home fans thought he looked like a gypsy with caravans — a common sight among the travelling communities of Britain.
Kevin Pietersen has been given an opportunity to make the most of the absence of his Ashes rivals by starring for England in the triangular one day series with Australia and Bangladesh. Hard-hitting Pietersen came to prominence by scoring three hundreds during England’s 4-1 winter one-day series defeat in South Africa.
Arsenal won the first FA Cup final to be decided on a penalty shoot-out, beating arch-rivals Manchester United 5-4 in a dramatic spot-kick climax at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday. Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira drove in the decisive kick after 120 minutes’ action saw the teams locked at 0-0.
No image available
/ 22 February 2005
For years, it has been as much a feature for many fans of attending a match at Lord’s Cricket Ground as the Pavilion, the slope on the pitch and the Father Time weather vane. But this season, spectators wanting to reflect after a day’s international play in the Lord’s Tavern pub will, for the most part, have to drink somewhere else.
No image available
/ 2 February 2005
Manchester United produced one of the performances of the season to beat Arsenal 4-2 at the champions’ Highbury ground in London on Tuesday after twice coming from a goal behind and so put a massive dent in their rivals’ title challenge. Defeat left the Gunners 10 points behind Chelsea ahead of their London rivals’ match away to Blackburn on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 10 January 2005
Reality returned to the FA Cup ahead of Monday’s fourth-round draw, but not before non-league Yeading kept neutral fans on the edge of their seats as they chased the biggest upset in the 133-year history of the competition. Their match against Newcastle United was, on paper at least, the greatest FA Cup mismatch of all-time.
Liverpool went fifth in the Premier League with a 2-1 win away to relegation-threatened Norwich on Monday. Norwich, meanwhile, returned to the bottom three. Blackburn ensured Charlton suffered a second straight defeat with a 1-0 victory at Ewood Park, and Crystal Palace scored a 2-1 win at home to Aston Villa.
No image available
/ 25 November 2004
Australia coach Eddie Jones said domestic rugby in the southern hemisphere had much to learn from the ”intensity” of the English Premiership if it was to prepare players properly for the Test arena. The Super 12, the southern hemisphere’s leading club rugby union event, has been derisively branded ”basketball”.
No image available
/ 18 November 2004
South Africa team manager Arthob Petersen has insisted there was no external pressure to pick Breyton Paulse for Saturday’s Twickenham Test against world champions England after coach Jake White admitted he was thinking of dropping the experienced wing.
Squad upsets ANC Youth League