Brilliant Root.

I managed to get to the cricket today at Chester le Street. .

I watched Durham, who were favourites to win the match despite a rain induced  and generous decleration, lose to a simply stunning innings from the young Yorkshire batsman Joe Root. He failed by only one ball to carry his bat, but it made no difference as his side won because of his epic 182.

Joe Root on his way to winning the game for Yorkshire today.

This young man will be one of the cornerstones of England's batting for years to come. A disappointing day for Durham, but a great day for Root, Yorkshire and English cricket. This man will be a world star in less than three years.

Cricket. At it's best it can't be beat.

It can of course be a bit droll at it's worst, though of course you could easily ask what game that doesn't apply to.

But at it's best, in a thrilling test series, spread over five tests and about eight weeks, if the whole result rests in the balance throughout, there is no game that can match it.

It's very early in the season but with the Aussies having announced their touring squad for the up coming Ashes series,  ( a better squad than most are calling it I think, some good bowlers there and a close series in the making), and Durham already into their third game, you could almost think summer was on it's way. Apart from the cold easterly winds and the persistent bouts of rain that is.

But lets hope for better and look forward to a great summer of the greatest game. Hopefully starting with a win for Durham this weekend! We are 60 runs ahead on the first innings, so we have a chance.

The Horse Puncher!

Over a week old now, but just in case anyone out there hasn't seen the astonishing and ridiculous sight of a man punching a horse, I thought I'd put it up here.

A man loses his patience with his football team and decides to punch a police horse.

This absurd man took this crazy step after the derby between Newcastle and Sunderland last week. Sunderland won away 3-0, a highly unexpected result, and in a replay of incidents in the past when Newcastle have suffered a shock home loss, their own "supporters" decided to wreak havoc in their own city. This little episode was part of those disturbances. It is worth saying here that the idiot in question had of course not been at the match in question, and neither had most involved in the trouble. Rather they had been drinking in city centre bars and disgorged themselves, disappointed, onto the streets looking to assuage their frustrations. The police were the best and most immediate targets, with Bud the horse coming in for this special treatment. The individual has of course been tracked down and has professed himself shocked at his own behaviour. Well he would I suppose.

In a side note, it is worth recording that this man does not work and has not done so for eight years. Yet he can still afford to go boozing in Newcastle all day and join in a riot before fighting a police horse. He can afford all of this because he is on incapacity benefit, which pays him a significant sum of money as he is meant not to be fit to work. If you think that is incredible you are not alone, yet there are many, many like him in Britain today, even if most of them avoid behaving like a circus act.

More of this please!

We have knocked down another gremlin. For many reasons, mostly including them being a much better team, we had not until yesterday beaten Everton for about thirteen years. This is ridiculous, and that is how the team decided to treat the fact. We had enough about us,  in a way unimaginable a month ago, to deservedly beat a team that is one of the best in the league.

Maybe this is just the "new manager bounce " syndrome we see so often. Or it could be a result of  the Italian manager Paulo Di Canio's attention to detail and his incorporating the legendary thoroughness of Italian football, which of course he grew up with.

Maybe both, but it should be interesting to see what happens if he can keep this team up and have a full season in the premier league. It would be delicious to see him succeed, if only to challenge the orthodoxy that the only people fit for jobs such as the one that became vacant at Sunderland are the people who have had experience of doing them before. Pick one from the merry go round they always urge, you need experience.

Well maybe you do, and maybe you sometimes need something different. Different is what we now have got.

This will NOT be boring!

Paulo Di Canio celebrates Sunderland's goal yesterday.