Twenty20 competition which England won by two matches to one. Back home, England entertain both the West Indies and the South Africans in a three Test series, the Windies in May and June and the South Africans in July and August. England should prevail over the former opponents who have dropped dramatically down the world rankings but the series against South Africa will be a close affair. Interspersed with these Test matches are endless one day and Twenty20 matches involving Australia as well as our Test opponents. These are good matches for spectators as they can see both the start and finish of a game in one day. Five day Test matches are the ultimate in classic cricket but they do take their time. TENNIS We still wait, as of course does Andy Murray, for his first Open championship victory. Close again, but still not quite there. This time it was the Australian Open in which he was runner up in the last two tournaments but this time not even a place in the final. That nemisis, well one of them, Rafael Nadal eliminated our Andy in the semi finals and so the wait for a major title goes on. More disappointment befell our Andy when he subsequently lost the ATP Dubai final to Roger Federer and then crashed out of the Indian Wells tournament in his first match! Oh dear; new coach Ivan Lendl clearly still has some work to do!! The next major will be the French Open at Roland Garros from 27 May to June 10, then ‘The Championships’ at Wimbledon, where the pressure will again be even stronger on Mr Murray, from 25 June to 8 July, and then the Olympics in August. Without Andy Murray, the Great Britain Davis Cup team pulled off an unexpected victory over Slovakia in their Europe/Africa Zone One tie in Glasgow. The Slovakian players were more highly ranked than the GB boys but young Dan Evans won both his singles matches (the second, and final rubber, in a five set thriller) and our doubles pairing of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins won the doubles match to give GB a 3-2 win. Well done team GB! THE BOAT RACE April 7 will see this years annual boat race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge on the river Thames between Putney and Mortlake. It is difficult to understand why this sporting event creates so much interest. The crews are usually manned by overseas students, many of whom get into
these universities primarily because of their rowing capabilities! Much always depends on winning the toss. The crew that wins the toss invariable picks the advantage of the first bend in the river and once one boat gets in front of the other by a certain boats’ length it can cross over and take advantage of the second, and much longer, bend. By the end of the first bend, therefore, the race is usually over!! Each year the winning crew of the winning boat look as though they could easily race back in the opposite direction and do it all over again. The losing crew, however, exhibit the symptoms of have run up to the top of mount Everest! However, sexual equality has at last broken through this bastion of male dominance. It is true that the Oxford and Cambridge crew have often have a female cox (sorry, coxwain!) because of her diminutive stature but how many followers of this traditional event knew that there was a women’s boat race along the same stretch of river between the two universities? I, for one, did not because it was not, unlike the race between the two male reserve crews, on the same day as the men’s race! A historic decision has been taken! The Women’s boat race will be held on the Thames tideway course between the same Thames bridges as the men’s race on the same day! Wait a bit though - not until 2015!! Furthermore, the BBC has agreed to cover the race!! Will history and heritage ever be the same again? Well, it’s about time Oxbridge caught up with the Olympics and the twenty first century! OTHER SPORTS For those of our readers who would like to get to know some of our less well known sports why not go to Budleigh Salterton in Devon from 6 to 10 June to see the Men’s and Women’s Croquet Championships or nip up to Aberdeen in Scotland to watch the Scottish Mixed Curling finals from 30 March to 1 April. Gliding championships take place at Lasham, Hampshire and Aston Down, Gloucestershire (2-10 June) and at Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire (16-24 June) - it’s definitely worth going to the latter just to say you visited Husbands Bosworth! Then there are the British Lacrosse championships at Wilmslow, Cheshire (5-6 May) and the ladies European Open Netball championships in Sheffield (25-27 April). Finally, Real Tennis (not to be confused with proper tennis!) takes place at Seacourt where the British Women’s Open Singles and Doubles championships will be played (10-15 April). n
www.theamericanhour.com The American Hour website is a valuable resource for any American moving to, or living in, the UK. Updated regularly, we provide useful information on all aspects that affect American expatriates living in the UK. The website has been up and running since 1999, and continues to achieve high volumes of traffic from visitors all over the world, although primarily from the UK and the US.
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