logo

Paul Cole's colt went on to win a Derby and a King George VI & Queen

Posted by admin   ·     ·   Jump to comments

Paul Cole's colt went on to win a Derby and a King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes as he made an early application for the horse of the decade laurels.Seven years on there is another flaxen figure emerging from Whatcombe to do battle in the juvenile play-off. Australia's Test captain, Mark Taylor, hit an unbeaten century on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield season yesterday. He scored 116 not out as New South Wales reached 290 for 3 at close of play against the Shield champions, Queensland, at Brisbane's Gabba Ground. In Adelaide, visitors Tasmania laboured to 264 for 8 against South Australia, Michael Di Venuto celebrating his selection for Australia's one-day side by scoring 68.At the Gabba, Taylor shared an unbroken 186-run partnership for the fourth wicket with fellow Test batsman Michael Bevan, who scored 104 not out.But all-rounder Steve Waugh, whose appointment as Australia's one-day captain on Tuesday almost certainly means an end to Taylor's international limited-overs career, missed out.Waugh was run out for 11 when he slipped in trying to recover his ground.. "I don't want people sitting on a bench for a month," said the coach "They'll all get a chance to play.". Colin McRae completed an extraordinary comeback yesterday when he won the Rally of Italy in San Remo and kept alive his challenge for the world championship thanks to Subaru team orders. McRae, world champion in 1995, finished ahead even though his Subaru team-mate, Italy's Pierro Liatti, came home first. Liatti was given a 10-second penalty for arriving late at the final service check-in after being told to do so by his team. Liatti's overall time, with the penalty added, was 4hr 8min 31sec, leaving him six seconds behind the triumphant Scot.

McRae finished the final stage with an overall time of 4:08.25.The world championship leader, Tommi Makinen of Finland, came in third for Mitsubishi to retain his comfortable lead in the title race. He now has 56 points, nine more than Spain's Carlos Sainz, who was fourth for Ford.McRae is third with 42 points with two rounds of this year's 14-round series remaining. "It is going to be very tough to win the title because I am going to need a lot more than just luck from now on,'' McRae said "If it wasn't for Pierro, I would not be where I am now.". In effect, the 36 squad members will be a touring party in their own country, staying together for the four-week duration of the pre-Christmas international programme.The All Blacks will play midweek matches against England A, England Emerging Players and an Allied Dunbar Premiership Select, but all three sides will be drawn from Woodward's squad. What price Mike Catt, the Bath stand-off, filling the cavernous gap left by his mercurial club-mate? Woodward would not be drawn on specifics but his obvious willingness to explore every conceivable possibility throws open the exciting prospect of a brand new midfield axis.Woodward was more forthcoming on his plans for a successful negotiation of this autumn's triple-header with the southern hemisphere invasion force. It's not easy asking players to chop and change but in some positions - blind-side flanker and No 8 for instance, or stand- off and inside centre - it is less of a problem."Interesting.

"We now have to reassess whether we can play the same game we were planning, whether there is someone like Jerry who can cope with the same sorts of demands. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, though; this could have happened a couple of days before a Test or midway through a World Cup campaign."All of which impacted on Woodward's earlier admission that he would be quite prepared to play the odd player out of position - or, at least, in a role other than the one he might perform at club level "Nothing is out of the question. Indeed, the coach owned up to as much before casting an educated eye over the remaining contenders during yesterday's training pow-wow at Bisham Abbey."A fit Jerry Guscott at the top of his form would have been in the side to play Australia next month and he'd have been picked at outside centre, which I regard as a key position if you're looking to play the game a certain way," he admitted. "When will we next see New Zealand, Australia and South Africa here over four consecutive weekends? I'd dearly love to play but realistically, I'm unavailable for selection." That's that, then. Guscott's problem, a bulging disc in the lower back that prevents him from running at anything more than half pace, means Clive Woodward and his fellow selectors must reconsider their entire back- line strategy. I'm glad it was with Jim Leyland."The Marlins were the National League wild card, finishing behind the Braves in the Eastern Division but beating them eight times in 12 games during the regular season..

readers comments

Comments are closed.

NBA

NBA

MLB

MLB

NFL

NFL

NHL

NHL

WWE

WWE

Your sideblock text goes here