CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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Sport
Strauss puts his family ahead of Pietersen meet
IN BRIEF Apology to Norman is ‘too late’ JOHN Carlos, one of the American athletes who performed the “black power” salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City believes a mooted parliamentary apology to Australian sprinter Peter Norman has come too late. Norman, who took silver in a 200 metres race overshadowed by its controversial medal ceremony, died in 2006. He wore the ‘Olympic Project for Human Rights’ badge as Americans Tommie Smith and Carlos gave their clenchfisted salute, for which he was widely ostracised. It was thought Norman was consequently snubbed for the 1972 Munich Games, although the Australian Olympic Committee said he was not selected “due to lack of form.” Australian politicians debated a possible posthumous apology to Norman on Monday.
KP can strike any imminent clear-the-air meeting with England skipper from diary By David Clough ANDREW Strauss will come to terms with England’s Investec series defeat against South Africa by spending time with his family - not Kevin Pietersen. England lost by 51 runs at Lord’s as the series ended yesterday with a 2-0 loss which saw them concede their number one Test status to the tourists. Strauss was unable Monday night to unequivocally confirm that he will definitely be back for more to try to help them back to the top of the world. But he was more convincing on the issue of Pietersen, who it had been understood might speak to the captain face to face this week after being dropped for the Lord’s Test over his text message controversy. South Africa-born Pietersen did not initially apologise for the texts, sent to opposition players during the drawn match at Headingley. The England and Wales Cricket Board, already at odds with the 32-year-old batsman over an ongoing contract wrangle, have been at pains to discover whether the messages contained any “derogatory” reference either to his captain or teammates. Pietersen, omitted from the limited-overs series against
South Africa as well as the ICC World Twenty20, which gets under way in Sri Lanka next month, can also strike any imminent clear-the-air meeting with Strauss out of his diary. Instead, Strauss is planning a short family holiday before returning to cricket for Middlesex next week. “I don’t think anything is going to be happening straight away,” said the England captain. “I’m keen to get away for a few days and have a bit of a break.
‘DISAPPOINTED’ “I said before the match, the issues that need to be resolved will take a while to be resolved - and we’ll be looking to do that away from the public eye as much as possible in the coming weeks.” Back on the field, Strauss admitted Monday night to being “bitterly disappointed” by the outcome, but he was heartened by the performances of Middlesex seamer Steven Finn and young Yorkshire batsman Jonny Bairstow. The latter was playing only because of Pietersen’s controversial absence, but responded with a first-innings 95 and then a half-century second time round as England fell short - despite Matt Prior’s resourceful 73 - of a record run chase of 346. “It was fantastic to see a young guy coming through
and showing the true extent of his talent,” Strauss said of 22-year-old Bairstow. “It was a very tough innings, very tough circumstances for him to come into the side firstly - and then to come up against a very good bowling attack and play the way he did was a great testament to his character. “We’ve all known he was a very talented cricketer, and now he’s shown he’s got the character to go alongside that talent - which should take him a long way.” England must hope the likes of Finn and Bairstow can help them reclaim their world number one status. “It has been the case that we’ve lost a lot more than we would have wanted to,” added Strauss. “Whether that’s because of a change of mind-set, from being the hunters to the ones that are hunted, I don’t know. “Or is it just that we came unstuck in the sub-continent, and lost a bit of confidence along the way ... I don’t know the exact answers right now. “But those are the sort of questions we need to find answers to. “Obviously, the mind-set switches straight away again - to us being the hunters and maybe that suits us a bit better at the moment. “That should give us the impetus and catalyst to go on and play some better cricket over the coming months.”
Yankees fall to White Sox
Professing ‘bitter disappointment’ at England’s loss to South Africa, Strauss (above) nevertheless said he was heartened by the performances of Finn and Bairstow
THE Chicago White Sox outslugged the visiting New York Yankees 9-6 to snap a three-game losing streak and claim the series opener between the division leaders on Monday. The White Sox bashed three late home runs to get back on track. Trailing 6-5 in the sixth, Gordon Beckham hit the first of the three decisive blasts to tie the game. Alexei Ramirez then followed up with a two-run shot in the seventh and Adam Dunn punctuated the Chicago victory in the next with his Major League-leading 36th homer of the season.
Garcia secures Spain Ryder Cup representation
Spain’s Sergio Garcia sealed his sixth cap by winning the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, after it spilled into a fifth day on Monday
SPAIN’S proud record of having at least one player in every European Ryder Cup side is still intact thanks to Sergio Garcia. The 32-year-old, who failed to qualify for the last match and worked as an assistant captain instead, sealed his sixth cap by winning the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina after it spilled into a fifth day on Monday. Now Ian Poulter is in need of a wild card, just as he was in 2008, and former world number one Martin Kaymer will be in the same boat if Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts finishes first or second in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles this week. Given that Poulter is staying in America for the start of the FedEx Cup play-offs, Colsaerts is the only one who can knock Kaymer out of the last automatic spot in Jose Maria Olazabal’s team. England’s David Lynn and Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello thought they might have a chance too, but the withdrawal from the last counting event of Swede Peter Hanson - he is now certain of his
second cap - has reduced the number of world ranking points on offer. That leaves USPGA runner-up Lynn and Dubai Desert Classic winner Cabrera Bello hoping that a victory in Scotland this weekend might persuade Olazabal to pick them, as was the case for Edoardo Molinari two years ago. Taking into account his great cup record and his third place finish in the last major of the season, Poulter looks certain for one wild card and, as things stand, uncapped Colsaerts appears favourite for the other one ahead of three-time major winner Padraig Harrington. After four birdies in the final six holes took Garcia to an eighth PGA Tour title, but first for four years, he said: “It was nice to pull through. “It’s great - I think there were a lot of things going on. Winning is always nice and it means quite a bit.” Garcia won twice in his home country late last season and added pointedly: “Sometimes it hurts to hear people not giving enough credit to some of those wins because they’re in Europe.
“Fortunately, I know how much they mean to me and I know how difficult they are. They really helped a lot. “But I can definitely still play better. There’s still some shots that I need to get better at.” What made his latest success different was that he hired a local caddie for the week - something he intends to keep on doing for a while. “Sometimes I feel like I depend too much on them. Instead of making a decision myself I would wait for the caddie to make a decision for me and then maybe I don’t feel comfortable with that,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong , not all my decisions were good this week, but I was pretty much 100 per cent committed to most of them.” Regular caddies usually receive 10 per cent of winning cheques, but Garcia, who picked up $936,000, said the situation was different on this occasion. “Obviously he’s not going to get what a normal caddie would get because his job was fairly easy. He’ll be happy with whatever he gets, I’m sure he will.”