Sport magazine 312

Issue 312 | July 5 2013

Ten Tests. Seven months. Two teams.

Lighting the fuse on a historic cricket year

Contents

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Issue 312, July 5 2013 Radar 05 What goes on Tour... ...doesn’t stay on Tour (de France): it goes into books. A lot of them.

We pick some of the best

06 Cash flashback Pat Cash recalls his famous climb into the stands when he was crowned Wimbledon champ in 1987

08 Dust-collectors As two teams prepare to compete for a tiny urn, we pick some of the stranger trophies in world sport oFeatures this coming week

16

Matt Prior England’s current Player of the Year looks ahead to a monumental few months of Ashes cricket

22 Steve Finn on England The lanky paceman runs the rule over his teammates. Jonathan Trott?

“Actually a very funny bloke”

24 Ricky Ponting One of Australia’s all-time great batsmen says it’s foolish to write off his countrymen just yet

24

27 Lions: now or never The crucial third Test – can the Lions buck Australia’s momentum and hit back to win the series?

Cover: Cristian Dulan/Getty Images. This page: Getty Images, Paul Kane/Getty Images, David Rogers/Getty Images, Adrian Dennis/AFP/The Press Photographer’s Year 2013

30 Drugs on Tour The measures being taken by UK Anti-Doping to eradicate drugs in sport – especially cycling

06

Extra Time

46

40 Kit Top sunglasses. Summer may be over after next week, so hurry

42 Gadgets Air hockey makes a very welcome appearance, as does the Mutewatch

27

46 Entertainment The Press Photographer’s Year: best in show from 2012 | July 5 2013 | 03

Radar

Stage turners ou could argue that the book that best sums up the history of the Tour de France is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Hunter S. Thompson’s riotous drug-fuelled slog across Nevada has many parallels with aspects of the great race. We’ve opted instead for some traditional takes on the Tour as it moves into week two.

Y

The Tour de France Miscellany John White , £7.49 The literary equivalent of your cycling-obsessed colleague, this pint-sized guide is packed with trivia and historical tidbits, an alarming proportion of which seem to involve gruesome injury. So the next time aforementioned colleague waddles over to the water cooler in their lycra to discuss pedals and pelotons, you’ll be prepared.

Le Tour 100: The Definitive History of the World’s Greatest Race Peter Cossins, Isabel Best, Chris Sidwells & Clare Griffith, £15.25 The first of several TdF coffee table books that have been thumping on to our poor desk all year,

Le Tour 100 is light on words, opting instead for a more visual history. It’s packed full of a series of computer-generated maps that tell the story of the Tour. After a foreword from former winners Stephen Roche and Bernard Hinault, it’s split into two sections. The first selects a pivotal stage from each year of the Tour, with computer-generated topographical maps. The second looks at the overall route for each year — from the six-stage 2,428km loop of the first Tour to the 21-stage meander they’ll undertake this year.

p06 – Pat Cash flashes back to winning Wimbledon, 1987. Cashback, if you will p06 – Try to out-run an ostrich at the Vibram Fivefingers ZSL Zoo Stampede p08 – A history of football in 450 famous (and infamous) moments

founder Henri Desgrange, and a special postcard designed for the 1959 race by moustachioed surrealist Salvador Dali.

Tour de France: Official 100th Race Anniversary Edition Francoise & Serge Laget, Phillippe Cazaban & Gilles Montgermont , £16.20 Furnished with snaps from the private collection of Tour historian Serge Laget (they’re of bikes and stuff, not just his holiday pictures — we’ve checked), this official history pulls together the history with some background on the big stories: perfect if you’re keen to expand your knowledge. The highlight is the awkwardly fumbling summaries of Lance Armstrong’s seven titles — officially listed under ‘no winner’ — but this book provides the fullest account of his rise and inevitable fall.

Le Tour de France 100: The Official Treasures

Tour de France 100: A Photographic History of Cycling’s Most Iconic Race

Serge Laget, Luke Edwardes-Evans & Andy McGrath, £27.97

Richard Moore, £19.20

Five-time winner Bernard Hinault has clearly been cashing in, because he’s also done the foreword to this historical collection. The Official Treasures comes with all the information you’d expect, and also contains dozens of inserts: facsimiles of original documents and flyers from the early days of the Tour. That includes a copy of the rules from the 1910 edition, written by Tour

A fine selection of photographs, pleasingly arranged in chronological order, tell the Tour’s story here.

Interspersed with insightful essays that accompany some of the key moments from the race’s history, the best shots, in our opinion, are from the early days — when it was contested by chain-smoking gentlemen with Poirotic facial hair. Tres bon!

All prices from amazon.co.uk | July 5 2013 | 05

Radar

<<FLASHBACK<< July 5 1987

Pat Cash climbs into Wimbledon history

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash has launched the Pat Cash Tennis Acaemy app, out now on Android and iOS

Running wild T

hink you’d handle escaping from the jungle in Jumanji better than Robin Williams? The Vibram Fivefingers ZSL Zoo Stampede is probably the closest you’ll get to finding out – inside the M25, at least. It involves either a 2km or 10km run through London Zoo and Regent’s Park on September 15. Make sure you keep up the pace: an ostrich could supposedly run a marathon in 45 minutes, and the tigers (top speed 55kph) are right behind you.

Find out more at zsl.org/stampede

06 | July 5 2013 |

1987 Getty Images, Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images, Oli Scarff/Getty Images

“I knew it’d be a first in pretty much any sport – climbing up to celebrate with the crowd – but it was important for me to celebrate with my team and family. I was 22, and I’d already had a serious back injury that put me out for a year, and I’d recently had a kid, so a lot had happened at a young age.

Most of the people who had supported me in those years were in that box at Wimbledon, so it was my way of saying thank you.

“I was quite rebellious and didn’t like to conform, so that probably helped make up my mind. I only really decided the night before that I was definitely going to do it, but I didn’t think about it too much because it was more important to win. I remember I won the match, shook the hand of my opponent [Ivan Lendl] and the umpire, and then I saw my team up there yelling and screaming and I just thought: ‘That’s not right.’

“I don’t think anybody knew what was going on as I ran over into the crowd. I got through the first couple of rows, and then I had to kind of push my way through. I got to the edge of the commentary box eventually, and I was worried that it might go crashing through – it was just a little booth with no proper roof.

There was a guy standing by it, though, who was dressed as a priest – he offered me his shoulders to help boost myself up on to the box, so I put my foot on his shoulder and got on to the box. It held, thankfully.

“I gave everyone in the team box a hug – Princess Diana and the royals were in the box next door, but I quickly decided against continuing my climb – and celebrated, then I turned around and realised the carpet was out, the trophies were on the table and everyone was waiting for me. Thankfully, one of the ushers there showed me a little walkway down the back, and I popped back out again to a big roar. They didn’t make me climb back down, thankfully.”

Radar

spot the ball

Almost everyone knows this story, but we’ll run through it again for the uninitiated.

The urn symbolises the ‘ashes of English cricket’ based on a tongue-in-cheek Sporting Times article from 1882, and was awarded to the England captain by a group of Aussie women.

08 | July 5 2013 |

T

o matter what happens over the coming weeks, the Ashes will end on an amusing note, as a group of large men hold aloft a comically small ceramic urn. It’s far from the most unusual award, however. We’ve picked out five of the weirdest trophies from around the sporting world...

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A pleasing cross between Thing from The Addams Family and The Thing from Fantastic Four, the Golden Glove is awarded to the best ‘keeper at the men’s and women’s World Cups.

In 2011, America’s Hope Solo was the lucky recipient for having the safest han(ds).

Everything’s bigger in the States, and that extends to the Indianapolis 500 – that most American of motorsport races.

The ludicrous Borg-Warner Trophy, awarded to the winner of that famous race, stands at just under five foot, and weighs in at a mantelpiece-crushing 45kg.

Awarded to the winners of the Sri Lanka v Australia Test series, the nightmarish Warne-Muralitharan Trophy features the disembodied hands of Test cricket’s two leading wicket takers, encased in what looks like carbonite à la Han Solo in Star Wars (again). Terrifying.

This should be collecting dust in an antiques shop somewhere, but instead it’s been pressed into service as the trophy for the World Challenge golf title, which is run by the Tiger Woods Foundation. Which kind of justifies the tiger. The Earth/ golf ball remains inexcusable.

Cameron Spencer/Getty Images, Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images, Chris Graythen/Getty Images, Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

peculiar prizes

he FA is celebrating its 150th anniversary, but their events understandably gloss over the more unsavoury side of football. If you want a fuller picture of the dense tapestry of the history of the beautiful (and not so beautiful) game, look no further than Football Mishmash. That’s what illustrator Alex Bennett has christened his giant poster of more than 450 memorable footballing moments – the fruit of a year’s work – from Colombian ‘keeper René Higuita’s unconventional scorpion kick against England to Eric Cantona’s equally unique one at Selhurst Park (below). £19.95 from footballmishmash.com

Iv s U CL x e

e

We’d like to introduce you to the neWest member of our team

NOW IN CLUB

fitnessfirst.co.uk/victoriapendleton

Radar Opinion Robson : green, but without the weight of expectation on her shoulders, who knows what she might achieve?

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Take a step back Laura Robson could do with us averting our gaze and letting her get on with playing tennis

Publisher Simon Caney @simoncaney

And that goes for the majority – those people who were willing her to victory in her little Wimbledon adventure – as well as those who claim she’s just another British tennis loser. Let’s ignore the latter, because they’re just being churlish, and let’s concentrate on the former.

Because, despite their best intentions, those well-wishers are a bit of a problem for Robson.

I was fortunate enough to be at Centre Court last week as she beat Mariana Duque-Marino in the second round.

It was a reasonably accomplished performance, but even then, serving for the first set of a second-round match against a player ranked almost 80 places below her in the world, Robson was clearly nervous.

As her serve faltered – on too many occasions she resorted to just catching her ball toss – the crowd sensed those nerves. Audible sighs went up, and Robson seemed to feed off them. She lost the game, but appeared to visibly relax in the next game – when she wasn’t serving.

The pressure valve released, she broke back to win the set.

Talking her up is fine, but Robson is not a strutting peacock (peahen?) of a player who expects greatness.

She seems reserved, shy, and she’s still only 19. It may be she simply doesn’t possess the killer instinct great athletes have. But let’s all relax around her and see what she can do.

Heroes come in different forms, but you can stick Geraint Thomas in that category right now. Continuing to pedal in the Tour de France with a fractured pelvis, purely for the good of his team, was a remarkable decision. Yes, Thomas is a hero. He’s also completely nuts. Don’t try this at home.

Enough has already been said about the rights and wrongs of the James Horwill case. While the Lions will have to play the final Test without their skipper, the inspirational Sam Warburton, Horwill is free to play despite that stamp on Alun Wyn Jones. Is it unsporting of me to hope the Lions have a picture of him on the dressing room wall, and that all 15 give it one last lingering, knowing look before they step on to the ANZ pitch tomorrow? They should need no more inspiration than Horwill’s gurning face.

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Loved @simoncaney

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Too many good interviews

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At Waterloo I get

letter on The Lions for

State of Origin knows it’s

mag since the outset and

in @Sportmaguk this week.

@billborrows attack on

@Sportmaguk on

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light years ahead of rugby

have to say this week’s is

Going to start with Frank

middle class tennis players

Thursday evenings which

spot on when you just find

union. You wonder why the

the best by a mile, great

Williams I think.

rather than ask what can be

makes for a bloody decent

yourself screaming at

Lions generate so much

features on Froome, Cav &

done to make it more

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to a goalkicking contest. @JoeyViking

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L

aura Robson is certainly a talented tennis player.

Whether she’s good enough to ever win a Grand Slam, only time will tell. But let’s give her a chance.

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Radar Opinion

Flats on Friday

It’s like this…

Bill Borrows

T

here I was, watching Murray make it into the quarter finals, when I experienced something that has never happened to me before. I was reacting to the events on a tennis court – a tennis court, FFS – in the same way I would if I was watching my team, Manchester City, in the Champions League. That’s right: I had my head in my hands and spent an hour kicking the chair in front of me.

No, not really. I was punching the air and talking to the TV. And as Americans are wont to say, it got me to thinking. Middle England hate Andy Murray for no appreciable reason other than he is better at what he does than their kids who have had thousands spent on coaching and equipment. You’ve just got to hate that.

Here are 10 other entirely justifiable sporting hatreds…

It’s a Lions life-changer

T

his Lions decider is about as dramatic as sport gets. Whether you’re a football fanatic or even if speedway is your thing, Saturday’s match simply has to interest you. If it doesn’t, then you may no longer call yourself a sports fan.

I thought that the end to the 2011/12 football season – with the two Manchester giants going blow for blow in separate stadia – was about as good as it got. I was all over the place. Shrieking at the TV, updating my Twitter feed every seven seconds and cursing the fact that I hadn’t set up a multi-screen system in my lounge.

The key difference between that climax and this is that, this time, we know exactly what’s coming.

This is not a Saturday that might turn out to be a thriller. It is guaranteed. Winner takes all. In a sense, this is more like a heavyweight title fight – but we know that neither fighter will fight again, and that both of them have been building toward this moment for their whole careers. And so it becomes everything. Just everything.

Victory over Australia would change the lives of these Lions. Not only would they become sporting heroes, but they could dine out on this series alone for a lifetime. This may be somewhat crass as an observation – and it most certainly is not what occupies the minds of these players – but, in purely corporate terms, winning would set a beautiful and

12 | July 5 2013 |

bountiful financial future for every man in red.

Dinners, events, columns, TV appearances – all of this would create income, and all they would have to do is be there, and occasionally talk about the best memories of their lives. What a wonderful way to carve out a living.

What will be in the players’ minds now is vastly more interesting, however. For the Aussies, their win last weekend means that, no matter how often they deny it publicly, their thoughts are on nothing but what they stand to gain; the build-up to the second Test was their nightmare week. They will have spent it staying positive and trying to repress those ‘what if we lose’ thoughts that haunt every athlete from time to time. The Lions still have much to lose, but they simply have to have spent time lamenting what they could have achieved; it’s human nature, but it costs time and saps momentum.

But they can do it. If the scrummage is aggressive at all times and solid throughout, the Wallaby front five will tire. If the lineout is quick and precise, the Lions midfield will gain bruising yardage. What they cannot control, however, is Australian resilience and intelligence. They are so hard to beat, and they are so well prepared. They have the Lions’ gameplan worked out, so it will need some magic to win this one. A last-minute winner from Brian O’Driscoll? Now that would be drama… @davidflatman

7. Jeremy Guscott, Andre Agassi and Bruce Rioch: I’ve interviewed them all. I can’t go into detail

here, but I’m happy to add them to this list.

6. Hooligan autobiographies: Just because you once owned a Lyle & Scott jumper and saw a fight in a pub in Stoke in 1986 does not make you Andy McNab. 5. Sergei Bubka: An ex-girlfriend fancied the former Olympic pole vault champion and wouldn’t accept that his eyes were too close together. Which they still are, BTW. 4. Phil Thompson: Don’t know why. Just because.

Might be the dodgy perm in the mid 80s, though not sure.

3. American football: An oxymoron before we even get into the detail…

2. Kevin Pietersen: If UKIP really want to make a statement, start by repatriating white South Africans and make him the first. Send him back and I might even think about voting for you*.

1. Adults who pay to have the name of players (usually much younger than themselves) printed on the back of their replica shirts:

Wrong. Wrong and just weird in a should-be-on-somekind-of-register kind of way.

There you are. And not even one mention of Gary Neville or Manchester United. @billborrows

Plank of the Week Laura Robson (not Wimbledon) You are an absolute disgrace, young lady. First British woman to reach the fourth round this century and… oh, sorry, I thought the backlash had already started.

* This is quite obviously a rhetorical device. I’d rather vote for the abolition of sandwiches

David Lyttleton

10. Cycling: Used to do it when I was a kid; it was fun.

Then I passed my driving test.

9. Supporters of Newcastle United: Northern ‘Uncle Toms’ hugely embarrassing to all of us who find it highly improbable to be able to rhyme ‘grass’ with ‘arse’.

8. Audley Harrison: Demeans a sport I love and makes Julius ‘Advertising Space on the Soles of my Boots’ Francis look like Joe Louis.

Frozen in time

14 | July 5 2013 |

It’s not all Murray Mound, Robson Green, Centre Court and strawberries and cream, you know.

Some of the players at Wimbledon just have to knock up around the spectators. Here, France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu tries to find space in the crowd to serve to Ričardas Berankis of Lithuania.

We’re not sure if the serve was in; someone was having a picnic in the tramlines.

| 15

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Face in the crowd

Eng l a n d ’ s rock Matt Prior

ECB

F

rom the calm, calculating run-scorers at the top of the order to the lofty, dreamboat fast-bowlers at the other end, the England Test cricket team is a well-balanced unit. Mercurial spark is provided by the devious off-spin of Graeme Swann or the pyrotechnic batting of Kevin Pietersen. But the backbone of the side, the glue that holds it all together, is the man behind the stumps.

Matt Prior is the reigning England Cricketer of the Year and the Test team’s vice-captain; a man who offers aggressive batting lower down the order and is the team’s Mr Motivator in the field. However, it so nearly didn’t happen.

At the end of 2008, when he was dropped from the England squad aged 26, he was on verge of giving up the gloves.

“Knocking ‘keeping on the head was a very serious consideration,” he says now. “At that point, I knew I wanted to play for England again and I knew I could bat successfully at international level. The thing that was holding me back was my keeping. So I just thought: ‘Right, I’ll focus solely on my batting and get into the team that way.’”

Prior, now 31, changed his mind only after a chat with the former England wicketkeeper Alex Stewart, who convinced him to take a year to really work on improving his wicketkeeping. Being dropped also meant people Prior assumed were his pals suddenly went AWOL. “It hurt, to be honest,” he says. “Everyone is there while things are going great and they’re all your best mates. Then it all goes horribly wrong and the first thing that happened was some people loved telling me about Bob Willis nailing me on the telly, or whatever. They’d say: ‘Oh, did you see what this person said [about you]?’ And I thought: ‘Hold on a minute, you’re supposed to be my mate. Why are you telling me this?’

One by one, you see those people disappear. The great thing is it left the people who I now know I can rely on through thick and thin. That was a good lesson for me to learn.”

There’s very little reason for Bob Willis or anyone else to criticise Prior since his recall in 2009 (just in time to play a key role in England’s Ashes victory that summer).

His intensive, ongoing work with specialist gloveman Bruce French has led to vast improvement in his keeping skills and

Matt Prior talks exclusively about almost giving up his wicketkeeping gloves, two dubious nicknames and why the Ashes feels different to any other series

– although he’s not the type to take it for granted – Prior’s place in the team looks secure ahead of 10 Ashes Tests over the next seven months. Not that everything is 100 per cent plain sailing behind the scenes. The memories of his feisty past still cause Prior a bit of grief.

Watermelons and cheese

“It’s a hideous nickname!” says Prior with a grin when asked about his moniker within the England team. “I will state for the record that it’s ‘The Cheese’ not ‘The Big Cheese’, but it came about in my younger years. I had a diamond stud and — when I had hair — I had blond highlights. Everyone thought I walked around like I was ‘the big cheese’, so that’s where it came from. I’ve lost the hair, I’ve got rid of the diamond stud, but the nickname seems to have stuck.”

He was also the recipient of another unwanted, albeit shortlived, nickname via a certain Shane Warne. As Prior recounts in his book, The Gloves are Off, he was given the full Warne treatment when they met in county cricket in 2005: “I walked out with my usual confidence. Some would call it a strut, of course. Warne certainly thought it was a strut... After I had got to the wicket, he stopped the whole game. And he mimicked my walk to the wicket by walking up and down the pitch, with his arms out as if he was carrying a watermelon under each arm. That was what he kept calling me: ‘Watermelons’.”

Prior chuckles about the story now, despite admitting it made him “feel about an inch tall” at the time. He’s matured >

“It’s a hIdeous nIckname. I WIll state For the record that It’s ‘the cheese’ not ‘the bIg cheese’” | July 5 2013 | 17

Matt Prior since he earned two dual nicknames, but he hasn’t lost that confident stride; chest puffed out and chin high. Prior is a swashbuckling batsman and a combative, exuberant personality on the pitch.

“My role in the side, on and off the field, is maintaining the team’s energy,” Prior says. He’s a big talker behind the stumps, but maintains: “Ninety-five per cent of the time, my chat is about geeing up our bowlers and the fielding unit,” rather that targeting opposition batsmen.

His role as the guardian of England’s team spirit came to the fore last year when it emerged that Prior was the first person to call Pietersen after the ugly saga during the summer series against South Africa, which eventually led to Pietersen being omitted for the final Test. The comment that stung many of Pietersen’s teammates most was his quote that “It’s not easy being me,” in the England dressing room.

Rather than stewing on it, Prior got on the phone to KP to talk through his issues. “I’d like to think I’m loyal to all my teammates — whether that’s KP, [Stuart] Broad, Jonny Bairstow or whoever,” says Prior on his motivation for the call.

“So if someone is struggling, you want to look at how we can improve things [for them] as a team. By the same token, if someone’s stepping out of line you need — as a team — to pull them back in. That was the important thing for me: making sure that if a teammate is unhappy, how we can change things and how we can go forward and on to a better place.”

What was the reaction to his teammates when he told them he’d spoken to Pietersen? “I didn’t really tell them,” says Prior.

“It wasn’t a case of: ‘Oh, I’ve just spoken to Kev’. That becomes gossipy and that’s the last thing you want. KP and I had the chat and it was between myself and Kevin. It was a private chat between two blokes who play in the same team.”

Phil Walter/Getty Images

England strugglEs

Prior may never have intended to make a public statement with his phone call, but it seems clear that Pietersen appreciated the gesture and that it played a part in his so-called reintegration to the England team. If there’s a reason for Prior’s active role in maintaining team bonds, it can perhaps be traced back to his own slightly uncomfortable start within the England squad.

“It was during my first tours,” says Prior when asked about how he initially struggled to fit in with the England set-up.

“So, 2005 and my one-day debut in Zimbabwe and then in the following winter when I went away to India and Pakistan.

The guys had just won the Ashes in 2005, and there was a steady group. Clique would probably be the wrong word... but it was a tough group to get into as a young player.

“There’s not a great deal to do in Pakistan, but we’d finish training, get off the coach [and I’d say]: ‘Right, anyone doing anything?’ No, no, no — all just going to bed. Okay, fine. You’d go a whole evening in your hotel room by yourself, then come back down the next morning and you’d hear: ‘Oh that was great food in that restaurant.’ Maybe they just didn’t like me, which is fair enough! But I found it tough. I think that’s why now we really try and focus on everybody, so that new players in the team feel relaxed. It’s the senior players’ responsibility to make young players feel comfortable and to explain to

18 | July 5 2013 |

“thE aussiE way of playing crickEt is bEcoming our way” them how we operate. Even things like going out for dinner.

Because, ultimately, it’s about performance and players perform at their best when everybody is relaxed and backing each other.”

ashEs dangEr

The England camp certainly appears a settled one at the moment; a rather different place to where their Australian counterpart appears to be (more on that later). Prior’s eyes sparkle when he contemplates the Ashes series ahead.

“To play in the Ashes is incredible,” he enthuses. “Already I’m so excited about it. It’s everything. It just feels different to other series. The natural competitive spirit of England versus Australia in any sport just gets the juices flowing, and that transmits to spectators and fans. People who aren’t even interested in cricket suddenly become cricket fans. It rubs off on everyone — and as a player, you can feel that.”

Prior also admits to being a fan of “the Aussie way of playing cricket”. To him this translates as: “You play hard on the pitch and you never take a backward step. It’s competitive and that’s how it should be. I don’t know if that’s the Aussie way or whatever, but I like that way of playing sport. I think that’s something England have done very well over the past few years, actually, so hopefully it’s becoming our way of playing cricket. But then you also get those special moments >

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Matt Prior at the end of the series. When all’s said and done, you’re able to have a beer with those same opposition players that you’ve hated for seven weeks. That’s important. I get a huge amount of pleasure from that as well.”

Prior is one of a modern generation of England players who can talk with glee about a Test series against Australia, possibly because they don’t carry the scars of Ashes defeats of old. Prior’s two Ashes series have both ended with England picking up the urn and in the last series down under, Prior averaged over 50 with the bat and reached a century at Sydney in just 109 balls. It was the fastest England Test century since Ian Botham’s knock at Headingley in 1981.

However, Prior is alive to the threat that Australia bring, claiming their reserves of fast-bowlers — reputedly quick and talented, if also injury-prone and relatively unproven — are a threat. “I haven’t had much experience playing against them, which is interesting because a lot of times in Test series you come up against players that you’re used to. You know the feeling of what they’re trying to do,” he says.

“So we’re going to have to prepare really well. I’ll speak to guys that have played against them a lot. They look like a dangerous attack, so we’ll have to get our preparation right and then execute our skills well. Because ultimately, it’s out in the middle where it counts.”

That may be the case, but on the day Sport speaks to Prior, there is more off-pitch disruption for Australia, with coach Mickey Arthur sacked just weeks before the first Test and skipper Michael Clarke stepping down as a selector. Prior has spoken previously about how the England team drew strength in the 2012 tour of India from the bickering between the Indian hierarchy and a groundsman before the third Test (eventually won by England). Surely, then, this news of Aussie turmoil is music to his ears.

“Well, as England players, we don’t know enough about it to comment,” he says diplomatically.

“So there’s actually no point in wasting our time worrying about it.

The minute you start taking your attention off your own detail, you become unstuck. The moment we start focusing on Australia, start worrying about them, we’re going down the wrong avenue.

“So it’s so important that in among all of this, we stay so focused on what we’re doing as an England cricket team. I know you probably think that’s a straight-bat answer. But that’s genuinely how we have to do it. One of the challenges of Ashes cricket is that there’s always other stories and things going on. People are trying to get you to focus away from your own team — and that will be a challenge for us. So hopefully we’ll remember that the important thing is focusing on our preparation, our skills, our ethos and team spirit.”

There seems little chance with Prior around that England will become distracted from the task in hand. Even if the biggest battle he seems to be facing when asked this question is keeping an amused, wolfish grin off his face.

He may represent the spine of the England team, but Prior still has a funny bone — and he’s aiming to have the last laugh over the Australian team once again this summer.

#RISE for England.

For news, videos and to show your support ahead of the Investec Ashes Series — visit ecb.co.uk/ashes

Alex Reid @otheralexreid

Batting Bias: the test averages Matt Prior sounds a warning on Australia’s bowlers — but, on Test averages, England’s top seven have a huge batting advantage over their possible counterparts

alastair Cook (C) shane Watson Joe root Chris rogers

20 | July 5 2013 |

Pinnacle for ECB

42.40

9.50*

Jonathan trott Phil hughes

50.01

33.00

kevin Pietersen MiChael Clarke (C)

49.01

ian Bell DaviD Warner Jonny BairstoW usMan khaWaJa

*after one Test

49.17

35.34

Matt Prior (W) BraD haDDin (W)

39.46 29.22

52.33

45.57

31.00 35.50

44.33

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F in n ’ s Eng l Ashes teams

Sport asks Steven Finn for the inside track on some of his England teammates

ESPN Classic will broadcast extensive Ashes programming every weeknight throughout July, celebrating one of the fiercest rivalries in international sport.

Visit espnclassic.com for details

1. AlAstAir Cook

2. Joe root

3. JonAthAn trott 4. kevin pietersen 5. iAn bell

Age: 28 opening bAtsmAn

Age: 22 opening bAtsmAn

Age: 32 bAtsmAn

Age: 33 bAtsmAn

Age: 31 bAtsmAn

“Cooky is a very impressive character on and off the pitch. I don’t think he’s changed at all since he’s become Test captain. He still leads from the front – as an opening batsman, he goes out there and sets the tone for us – and that’s so important.

It’s his job to make bold, tough decisions on the pitch as well, and he’s been very good at that.

He’s a fit bloke too, so he doesn’t sweat too much, which he’s very lucky about. You know if he’s sweating, it’s pretty hot.”

“The form book suggests he won’t be fazed by the Ashes. He’s been exceptional ever since he first came into the team for that Test match in India [scoring 73 and 20 not out]. He’s been unflappable and he’s faced the new ball most of his life, playing for Yorkshire and playing youngsters’ cricket. He’s also a cheeky little git sometimes! You can tell he’s only 22 years old, because he’s bubbly and enthusiastic – but that’s important for us to have in the dressing room.”

“I spend quite a lot of time with him off the pitch and he’s actually a very funny bloke. Some of the things he says, without intentionally being funny, just are very funny. Obviously he’s in that bubble when he’s on the pitch. There were a few chants in Australia from the fans that riled him – I can’t really repeat them for a magazine... but usually he’s a very calm player, totally focused on scoring runs. It’s good to have that kind of person at number three for us.”

“He’s special. He’s the bloke that, when you’re bowling in the nets, can hit your best ball for four. That sort of destructive power in the middle order is very, very important for a Test team. There was a big deal made of the fresh start; the supposed reintegration. But once he came back into the team in India, everything was great again. He’s a very big player off the pitch for us as well in the way that he offers a lot of experience. It’s great to have him back.”

“He’s a very good fella.

He’s quite quiet, but he can be a bit of a joker, too, and he always has a trick up his sleeve. With the amount of cricket he’s played [88 Tests], it’s great to have the stability his brings in the middle order. He’s been exceptional for a long time now – he’s played a lot of cricket and he’s only getting better, so it’s good to have him.

It’s also handy to have a fielder of his quality at short leg. You never know when he might take a great catch.”

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22 | July 5 2013 |

lan d g u id E 6. Jonny Bairstow 7. matt Prior

8. stuart Broad

9. graeme swann 10. steven finn

11. James anderson

age: 23 Batsman

age: 31 wicketkeePer/Batsman

age: 27 fast Bowler

age: 34 sPin Bowler

age: 24 fast Bowler

age: 30 fast Bowler

“There’s obviously a lot of speculation and interest in an Ashes series, so that will be new for Jonny. But when you’re on the pitch, it’s no different to any other Test match: you stick to what you know you do well. Jonny is a very talented young player.

He has the ability to take the game away from teams in the middle order. Team him with Prior, Belly, KP and it’s a really dangerous middle order. Jonny is learning all the time and he’s only going to get better.”

“As our wicketkeeper, it’s Matt Prior’s role to make sure that he’s creating energy from the middle of the field.

He’s been exceptional at that, and he’s very big on doing that. He’s another player who’s been involved in more than 50 Test matches now [67 in total], so we’re very lucky to have both that experience in the team and his explosive batting.

The way he takes games away from people and counterattacks is so important to have at number seven.”

“He’s excellent. For a young man, Broady has played a lot of cricket: over 50 Test matches [he’s played 57], over 100 ODIs [102] and he’s captain of the England Twenty20 team. That means he’s played in all sorts of situations the world over, so he’s a good guy to talk to about different conditions, different teams and different situations within games. He’s great at that and he helps the younger players a lot.

He’s a very senior player in the dressing room.”

“I don’t think Swanny ever switches off. He’s always looking for something to take the mickey out of you for.

He’s a character in the dressing room, but he’s a very skilful man. He’s scored important runs for us, he holds catches at second slip and he’s one of the best spinners in the world. For a conventional off-spinner to be as effective as he has been, without bowling a ball that spins the other way, it shows how great he’s been for quite a while now.”

“Funny, good looking, charismatic...” jokes Finn, the tall pace bowler and ambassador for ESPN Classic’s Ashes coverage, when asked how his teammates might describe him.

“I hope they’d say that I’m getting better as my career goes on. I’m trying to make changes; not wholesale changes, but little ones to make me a better cricketer.

I think I’ve become more consistent. I’m someone who enjoys cricket and goes out to have a good time every time I play.”

“He’s an amazingly talented player. He’s got a great record in world cricket in all formats, so he’s got the respect of everyone. For me, his most impressive trait is that – even with all he’s achieved in the game – he’s still looking to improve and develop his skills all the time. I think he was quite happy to relinquish the nightwatchman duty to me, though. He enjoys that now, after bowling out a team, he doesn’t have to go straight in and put his pads on.”

FOLLOW IAN BOTHAM

U N I B E T. C O . U K / S P O R T

By players, for players

| 23

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Matt Prior

Ashes teams

Paul O’Connell

The legendary Ricky Ponting breaks down Australia’s current crop – including the quick bowlers who could thrive on English pitches

What do people in Australia think of this England team?

“I think they are highly rated. I don’t go around the streets asking people what they think of the England cricket team, but I know what I feel about them: they’ve been a very well-balanced and together group for a very long time. If you look at the success that the Australian teams have always had, it’s been with a very small group of players and a little bit of rotation here and there. That’s what England have been able to do for the last six or seven years, and their bowling attack in particular has been fairly similar for a long time. That was one of the great traits of the best Australian teams.”

Four Australia players were suspended for a Test last winter for failing to complete their so-called ‘homework’. Has the fallout from that been addressed, do you think?

“Look, I’d like to think so. To tell you the truth, there hasn’t been a whole lot of time together for that group since then. Shane Watson went home for the birth of his child, then went back for the last [India] Test; Michael Clarke wasn’t there, he was only there for the first couple of days then he went home… then Shane was straight off to the IPL after that. But they’re big boys: Michael and Shane have played cricket together from their mid-teens and know each other particularly well.

They will fix things, they will sort things out, and hopefully both will have a huge impact on the series.”

Michael Clarke has been irresistible with the bat, but no one else in the squad averages more than 40.

Who do you see making the runs?

“Shane Watson is the man for me in this series. Wherever he bats in the

24 | July 5 2013 |

order he can have great success in these conditions. Ed Cowan’s also one I have a bit of a feeling about for this series. He plays the moving ball particularly well. He just loves batting, he’s hungry to score runs, he’s been over here playing with Notts, learning a lot about the conditions, and he’ll adapt a gameplan and style of play to stand up in these conditions.

“Philip Hughes is the other one: he’s just got what it takes. There is something about him, it’s almost like the eye of the tiger. He’s not the prettiest guy to watch, but he just scores runs. He’s, what, 24 years old, with 20-odd first-class hundreds.”

The bowling attack has a load of potential but seems physically quite fragile, apart from Peter Siddle. Who do you expect to do well in the attack?

“Well if you look at the squad of bowlers that they’ve picked, I think they’re all ideally suited to playing here in England. Peter Siddle is a seam bowler, not necessarily a swing bowler.

James Pattinson is someone who can bowl quick and swing the ball. Mitchell Starc is a really exciting prospect, I believe: a tall left-armer who can swing the ball at a good pace. There are not many teams that can deal with left-arm pace very well. If you have high-quality left-arm swing bowling, then speaking from my own experience, it’s the hardest bowling to face.

“The other guy we have coming back to fitness as well is Ryan Harris. If he’s up and going and 100 per cent, then he is one of the first picked in the team for the opening Test. The overall balance is very good. It’s probably the most exciting group of fast bowlers that I’ve seen in Australian cricket in a long time.”

We’re sensing some optimism for Australia here. Is that fair to say?

“I believe so, yeah. They’re going to have to do everything right, it’s as simple as that. But as we’ve seen before, the last couple of series over here have been won by one session of play over the course of the whole series. I’ve just got a feeling that it might be a lot closer than everyone expects.”

Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1 Watch Ricky Ponting this summer as he plays for Surrey in the Friends Life t20 at the Kia Oval throughout July. Fixture details and tickets available now from kiaoval.com

Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“They’re going To have To do everyThing righT, iT’s as simple as ThaT”

Sum up the recent fortunes of the Australia team, Ricky.

“Not the greatest by our own expectations, but if you look at the last Test match I played [against South Africa in December] — if we’d have won that Test, we’d have been the number-one ranked Test team in the world. That wasn’t so long ago.

Obviously the team then went to India and lost 4-0, but I couldn’t see any team winning in the conditions that confronted that team over there.

Things probably aren’t as bad within the team as the perception from the outside would have it.”

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’ve popped down under this week to cheer on the British and Irish Lions in their all-deciding match, but I did have great hopes that Warren Gatland’s side would be 2-0 up by now so I could have started the Aussie bating early! I was talking to fellow Unibet armchair expert Gavin Hastings about the Lions series and he always felt it was going to go down to the wire – what a judge!

I last met Gavin at Unibet’s UK launch at Lords back in May (check out the video at www.facebook.com/UnibetUK) where I created quite a storm when saying that I thought England would not only win the Ashes series, but win it 5-0.

Well guess what – plenty of people agreed as the odds have come in from 16/1 to 11/1 with Unibet. I really expect England to win in style; the only hope for Australia is if the weather intervenes! I see Unibet have offered odds on who will score more Ashes Test runs between Alastair Cook (8/11) and Michael Clarke (evens). When Cook gets in, it takes a winch and a forklift truck to prise him out. He just

I

wants to score more and more and I think he will have a feast this summer. Clarke is the one world-class batsman Australia have, but he may be doing too much fire-fighting as captain to be able to score as heavily as he would like, so I would favour Cook in this market.

Earlier this summer I shook Jimmy Anderson’s hand after he took his 300th Test wicket for England and he remains the best bowler on either side. He should get plenty of wickets – he looks a worthy favourite to get most wickets for England (11/8), while it’s hard to look past Cook for highest England runscorer (3/1).

The Aussies have bowlers capable of taking wickets, but I suspect it will cost them more runs than England’s bowlers.

My mate Shane Warne has told me good things about James Pattinson and, from what I’ve seen, he might be the best value (11/4) to get most of the tourists’ wickets, while even if Clarke bats at five I can see him spending a lot of time at the crease – take him to score most Aussie runs (7/2).

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| 25

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British & Irish Lions

NOW OR NEVER SO IT COMES DOWN TO ONE, FINAL MATCH. THE LIONS CAN EXPECT A RED-HOT WELCOME IN SYDNEY THIS WEEKEND AS THIS MOST THRILLING OF TOURS REACHES ITS CLIMAX. WHO WILL HOLD THEIR NERVE? AUSTRALIA

Make no mistake, the Wallabies have their tails up. They came out of the first Test dejected in the knowledge they really could – and should – have won, but responded in the best possible fashion in Melbourne last week.

They looked the more dangerous side throughout the 80 minutes and will be confident they can stop these Lions from roaring once and for all.

They will take heart from the fact that they can include captain James Horwill, who has been cleared (for a second time) to play, while the Lions have lost inspirational Sam Warburton (below, right) to injury.

The Aussie front row might still be an area of concern, but Stephen Moore has been strong and deserves a particular tip of the hat simply for completing 160 minutes. His lineout throwing has been accurate and Australia have made the most of it – expect more of that this weekend.

Ben Mowen is the key figure in the back row – he was the Aussies’ primary lineout jumper last week and terrific in the loose. The Wallabies will want to be as disruptive, as they were last week, but they will also need better discipline. They gave away too many penalties.

Behind the scrum, the mercurial James O’Connor appeared more comfortable last week. Whether he is the dominant figure at 10 that the Aussies need is still open to question, but he was undoubtedly aided by the presence of Christian Leali’ifano at 12, and the latter’s kicking was very impressive – four from four, and under pressure, too. His boot will be crucial to Australia’s chances again this week.

Coach Robbie Deans has a simple job, then. He will demand more of the same and leave it to Warren Gatland to dredge more from his Lions.

LIONS

An odd, risk-averse performance last week – one that smacked of trying to contain Australia and hoping to hang on, rather than attacking them – has left these Lions teetering on the brink. Win tomorrow and they will etch their names in rugby history. Lose and, well, they lose.

They have to improve and they have to do so without their injured captain Sam Warburton, who was immense in the second Test. He was ably assisted in the back row by Dan Lydiate and Jamie Heaslip, and while they might not be as effective on the floor without Warburton, they can make up for it with more carrying. If they’re to get anything out of this Test, then it will be by working the Australian defence. That means flatter ball and bigger carries, and in the midfield the welcome return of Jamie Roberts will make a difference – both in terms of ball-carrying and leadership.

Brian O’Driscoll has not had the impact he would have liked, although that might change when he is alongside Roberts. Outside them, George North (above) is growing in stature. He is the Lions’ danger man and needs to be used more, especially on pull-back balls and inside shoulder runs.

Leigh Halfpenny can’t be blamed for defeat last week – that final penalty needed a miracle kick – and he won’t be fazed.

With his metronomic kicking, the Lions are still in this. It may be advantage Australia, but that man O’Driscoll may yet have one final say in his fourth and final Lions tour. Defeat is unthinkable to him; wouldn’t it be something if he could help conjure up victory?

SATURDAY AUSTRALIA v BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS | ANZ STADIUM, SYDNEY | SKY SPORTS 1 11.05AM

| July 5 2013 | 27

British & Irish Lions

tommy bowe

kicking compliment last weekend

‘It’s still all there for the taking’ The Lions winger talks about his return from injury and this weekend’s decider

I

was delighted to get back playing, but the game was a tough one – I didn’t really get much ball to play with, which

was frustrating. The hand felt great, though – that was one of the real positives for me, anyway. I got through the game no problem at all. It’s amazing what a bit of adrenaline can do for you. And, with it being such a big match, the hand was the least of my worries.

I owe so much now to the physios and doctors for the amount of hours they spent on me – I was getting four or five physio sessions a day, I had a different diet plan set out for me.

Everything was all hands on deck, so for me to get back and playing again in the second Test was an amazing feeling.

The atmosphere was amazing to run out to – with the roof closed it really was so loud going out on to the pitch.

There wasn’t really much for our fans to shout about – it was so nip and tuck, so close the whole way through the game.

It was tough scoring any tries – and when they scored their try, that’s when the roof really came off.

We’re all in a pretty similar mood at the moment – between the disappointment of the loss and the miserable weather here at the minute. We’re meant to be on the Sunshine Coast! But I think it’s probably nice to get away from it for a day or two – there’s not so many Lions

28 | July 5 2013 |

supporters up here, so we can duck out of the spotlight a little bit and focus our heads.

Our captain Sam Warburton is ruled out on Saturday along with Paul O’Connell, still. They’re two massively influential figures, but the good thing is that we have such an amazing squad here. We can bring in players of similar quality – real world-class players – and I think for a three-match series that’s a real positive and a real boost.

We were very disappointed in the changing rooms after the second Test. When it comes down to a late kick, we’re just supporters like anybody else. I think it’s probably like watching it on TV – your heart is in your mouth, pretty much, and it’s obviously so hard to watch. It’s always just so tight – luckily enough we were on the right side of the kick for the first Test, and hopefully we can have the same this weekend.

I think we all realised what an amazing opportunity we had to go and win the series. It would have been a great feeling to win it after two Tests. So everybody was very deflated and very down for 24 hours or so. But we have to realise that we’re still well and truly in this; we’re still in the same position as we were last week. It’s still all there for the taking and it’s a massive match this Saturday.” @TommyBowe14

David Rogers/Getty Images

My lions diary

Last-minute mayhem: Leigh Halfpenny repays Australia their

Louis Molloy, Tattoo Artist, Manchester.

L A M B S N AV Y R U M . C OM

Drugs on Tour The man on the frontline of UK Anti-Doping offers his prescription

Do not exceed recommended dosage

Drugs in sport n 2010, he was sent to act as an independent observer on the antidoping regime of the Tour de France.

Three years on, how confident is UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson that the riders in this year’s Tour are racing clean?

I

Lance’s legacy This is, of course, the same UCI that has faced difficult questions of late. Most of those relate to their actions during the period Lance Armstrong was revealed to have been plunging endless vials of performance-enhancing drugs into his body.

So, how willing were they to swing the doors to the Tour – their biggest asset – wide open? “There’s a natural anxiety about having an independent observer team present, but they were very responsive to our recommendations,” says Parkinson.

The 2010 Tour was to be Armstrong’s last, but it started in less than celebratory fashion for the seven-time champion when he was accused of doping by former teammate Floyd Landis in May that year. It ended just as disappointingly, with the then 38-year-old in 23rd place, almost 40 minutes behind the winner, Alberto Contador (whose title was also later stripped from him after testing positive for clenbuterol – see box overleaf).

Understandably, Parkinson won’t divulge specific information about the attention he and his anti-doping colleagues paid Armstrong during in 2010, but he admits:

“There are always athletes of interest — either they are high achievers or you have intel on certain activity”

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Britain’s man on the anti-doping frontline exhales at length before shrugging his shoulders and finally uttering the difficult-yet-unavoidable truth: “I don’t know. They’re the ones that know.”

But he is cautiously optimistic. “From where I’m sitting, the peloton is getting better,” he says. “There are some young teams out there coming into the pro-circuit with a recognition that they might not win, and that that’s okay. A lot of that desire and drive to win is driven by sponsors, so if sponsors understand that and don’t put unrealistic expectation on their teams and riders, then there’s a much better chance of having a clean culture within that team.”

Parkinson is almost four years into his tenure at UKAD, having previously headed up the anti-doping operation at UK Sport.

His experience means that whenever the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) requires an ‘expert witness’, he’s top of the list.

“I first did the WADA Independent Observer Programme in 2005,” explains Parkinson. “But I’ve been on the receiving end of a couple when I was working at the Paralympic Games, too. It’s an interesting experience – you work for four years to deliver the best programme you can, then a whole bunch of people turn up and say you could have done this or that better.

“The Tour was a fascinating experience.

Our team had access to everything that the UCI had in terms of their intel, their test plan, and all their systems. We would meet with the UCI on a daily basis and say:

‘Yesterday, we saw this.’ Or: ‘We thought there were some areas that you could have done differently.’”

Uniform betrayal: Armstrong poses with French police after his seventh ‘win’ in 2005 | July 5 2013 | 31

THE DRUGS DO WORK BLOOD DOPING Can increase red blood cell mass, allowing the body to transport more oxygen to muscles, increasing stamina and performance.

EPO Guilty: Mauro Santambrogio (left) tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the 2013 Giro d’Italia; he won

Stimulates red blood

Stage 14 before the results were revealed. His Vini Fantini teammate Danilo Di Luca (right) was also found to

cell production. The

be using EPO in a test carried out before the Giro began. He now faces a lifetime ban from cycling

more red cells there are in your body, the

“There are always riders — or athletes in other sports — of interest, whether that’s because they’re high performers at the top of their game or because you have intelligence on certain activity.”

But it was an experience that proved to Parkinson the importance of targeted testing. “A lot of the recommendations we made to the UCI after that race were about being more aggressive on those where intelligence existed, rather than having a blanket approach to in-competition testing.

We felt it should be more targeted and there should be more trust in the intelligence received.”

Random testing has traditionally been considered the best way to catch the cheats. But Parkinson says that between 35 and 40 per cent of all UKAD tests are now targeted. “Our view is we’re being fair to clean athletes by targeting those we think are more at risk based on their performances, the physiological aspects of their sport, the culture of the sport and the rewards they can gain from their sport.

“Every year, we do an assessment of all the sports and national governing bodies in the UK and then we put in place a test plan that reacts to any intelligence we receive.

So we might not test tiddlywinks, and we might test cycling a lot more.”

Unfairly tainted?

The most obvious question when it comes to cycling’s apparently inextricable relationship with doping is why this sport, above all others? Parkinson starts with the, ahem, positives: “One argument is that the UCI have been at the cutting edge with their anti-doping programme. They were the first to introduce a biological passport in 2008 and had good links with third generation EPO coming through in terms

of CERA [see box, right]. So you could argue that you see more positive tests in cycling because of their programme.

“It’s an interesting dichotomy for us — do more positives mean your programme is [working] better, or that the system’s not working? What you do have to say is that the historic culture of the sport has a lot to answer for in terms of the current issues. There was the Festina Affair in 1998 [when widespread doping among the peloton was exposed, starting with a large haul of products being found in a Festina team car, giving that year’s race its ‘Tour du Dopage’ monika], and it’s never really gone away.”

Parkinson says it’s not only the physical challenge that pushes riders towards temptation, but the mental stress brought on by being responsible for team success.

“It’s quite clear that in a team environment — with sponsor pressure and physical exertion to such an extreme — that if an athlete or rider is tempted or told to do something, it’s difficult to get out of that. We’ve heard a number of stories of riders who said: ‘I didn’t want to be a part of it, and therefore I’m not a pro rider any more.’ That’s the biggest tragedy.

“In black and white terms, doping is bad: people shouldn’t do it, and when they do we should ban them for as long as we can because they’re cheating the clean athletes. But a lot of the time, doping isn’t black and white. And the decision to dope is a very complicated one that differs from sport to sport.”

Don’t ever tell At the Giro d’Italia in May, two riders from Italian team Vini Fantini tested positive for EPO. It came as no surprise according to British rider David Millar, who tweeted:

“Doping is not black and white. And the decision to dope is a complicated one that differs from sport to sport”

more oxygen can be delivered to the muscles, meaning athletes can perform at a higher intensity for longer.

CERA Requires less frequent injections than early forms of EPO. Increases oxygen-carrying capacity and endurance. Used post-training, it can encourage recovery.

CLENBUTEROL Increases breathing capacity, boosts the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream; increases muscle mass while reducing body fat.

HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE (HGH) Can increase lean mass, reduce fat and increase strength.

“The peloton knew Vini Fantini weren’t trustworthy: was the talking point for the first week of the Giro.”

So, why didn’t somebody relay that to the anti-doping authorities?

“The amount of times we’ve banned an athlete and somebody comes out and says: ‘I could have told you that...’” Parkinson says.

“We can’t do it on our own. We have a hotline through which athletes can provide anonymous information, we have an online form and a proactive intelligence team, but the people who know what’s going on are the athletes. They need to recognise they have a responsibility to help us.

“One of the things we’ve found is that athletes are reluctant to pass on speculative information that they don’t actually see as being evidenced. But we operate on the basis of the national intelligence model, so we analyse information and we grade it.

“We don’t just react to individual pieces of intel, but if five people are telling us the same thing from different sources, then that’s quite powerful. If just one person is telling us something, then we’ll bank it while we see what else is out there.”

What is out there, and Parkinson knows this for certain, is an endless stream of new drugs tempting athletes to take the ‘easy’ option. “The rate at which new products emerge is phenomenal,” he explains. “And it’s not necessarily through legitimate pharmaceutical companies — it’s the kitchen table laboratories in far-flung countries that are manufacturing fairly dubious products and putting them online.

The availability of these unregulated substances to young athletes who are very internet savvy is what worries us most.

Instead of having to go to a gym and bump into a dodgy fella to buy your anabolic steroids, you can just sit at home and buy what you like — it’s terrifying.”

Developing tests for every new product that athletes decide will turn them into the next big thing is rarely a quick process either, says Parkinson.

“It took between six years and a decade to come up with the reliable test for growth hormone that we put into place for the Olympics. You have to be really clear about whether the test works, because ultimately you’re going to put it in front of an athlete in a hearing and ban them, so you have to be 100 per cent. The same responsibility doesn’t apply to the people manufacturing the substances — they don’t care what they’re making, they just want to sell it.”

Parkinson knows he is unlikely to win the war on doping any time soon. But the Tour is still “the best event in the world” as far as he is concerned.

“That’s why it’s worth doing what we do.

Because not only has it got to be incredible – it’s got to be legitimate.”

Sarah Shephard @Sarahsportmag Follow @ukantidoping on Twitter

32 | July 5 2013 |

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Drugs in sport

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7 Days

JUL 5-JUL 11 HIGHLIGHTS » F1: German Grand Prix » p36 » Football: UEFA Women's EURO 2013 » p36 » Boxing: David Price v Tony Thompson »p38 » Tennis: Wimbledon finals » p38

OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

SATURDAY > CYCLING | TOUR DE FRANCE | STAGE 8: CASTRES - AX 3 DOMAINES | BRITISH EUROSPORT 12.45PM

Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

Let the suffering commence The Tour leaves the phoney war – and badly driven

Any stragglers should be left behind on the Col de

race – so riders won't be holding anything back in

buses – of the opening week behind as the serious

Pailhères, which is more than 15km long, has an

any bid to gain time on the leaders.

business gets under way this weekend. Stage 8 is

average gradient of 8 per cent and – at 2,001m –

Providing Mark Cavendish makes it through the

regarded as the first key day in deciding the

reaches the highest point of the race. And after

Pyrenees with some power left in his sprinting legs,

destination of the Yellow Jersey, with two big

that the riders have a final 7.8km climb to the finish in

he'll be eyeing up Tuesday's Stage 10, when the Tour

mountain climbs – the second of which is a summit

the ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines, which hits gradients

moves to the north-west for a more sprinter-friendly

finish – revealing the true form of the General

of 10.5 percent.

route. Wednesday's individual time trial, meanwhile,

Classification contenders as we reach the Pyrenees.

That includes Team Sky's leader Chris Froome and

Sunday (Saint-Girons to Bagnères-de-Bigorre,

could see Cav's teammate and world time trial

168.5km) is no day of rest, either, with four category

champion Tony Martin (despite picking up numerous

his first lieutenant, Richie Porte, who will look to

one climbs leading to a 30km descent to the finish.

injuries on Stage 1) fight it out with Olympic time trial

stamp their authority all over this 195km stage.

Monday, however, is a rest day – the first of two in the

bronze medallist Froome for the stage win.

34 | July 5 2013 |

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total freedom.

Just me, my bike and the road.

Chris Froome, Team Sky

My Bike. My Weekend.

Find a ride near you. Visit goskyride.com

7 Days SUNDAY | FORMULA 1: GeRMAn GRAnd PRix | nURbURGRinG, GeRMAny | Sky SPORtS F1 1PM

Rollercoaster ride There's an unfinished F1-themed

Fernando Alonso to close the gap (it’s

rollercoaster adjoined to the

down to 21 points), and Mercedes

Nürburgring, one of the world's most

finally look to be matching their

iconic race tracks. The cash-strapped

qualifying performances on race days

circuit is up for sale, partly because of

as we approach their 'home' event.

the debt incurred from building said

It could be a good opportunity for

ride, but that farce will take a back seat

Lewis Hamilton, who is being eclipsed

to an even more expensive one as

somewhat by teammate Nico Rosberg,

Formula 1 screeches into town for

to score an important first victory for

this weekend's German Grand Prix –

his new team: he won the German

shredded left rear tyre in tow.

Grand Prix in both 2008 and 2011

Bernie Ecclestone's secret random tyre-exploding button worked a treat last weekend: a spate of tyre failures

(although only the latter was at the Nürburgring).

Vettel, in contrast, has never won his

turned a routine British Grand Prix into

home Grand Prix, and the usually

an unpredictable treat, albeit at great

ice-cool customer will be feeling the

danger to the drivers. Whatever has

heat from teammate Mark Webber.

been decided in emergency Pirelli

The Australian marked the

meetings since Sport has gone to

announcement of his departure from

press, that situation won't be allowed

F1 with a fine recovery drive to take

to continue in Germany this weekend.

second at Silverstone.

Luckily, the World Championship

There are sure to be plenty of twists,

has been spiced up on several other

turns and (to a lesser extent) loop-the-

counts: an incredibly rare mechanical

loops at the Nürburgring, even if the

failure for Sebastian Vettel allowed

rollercoaster is still under construction.

WEDNESDAY FOOtbALL | UeFA WOMen’S eURO 2013 | SWeden |

England’s women will try to halt the juggernaut

the final for a second time running. Securing a 1-1

that is the German female football team when the

draw against world champions Japan in their

2013 Women’s Euros kick off in Sweden next week.

penultimate warm-up game will have instilled some

Germany are looking for their sixth straight title,

confidence, although perhaps only until they saw

having battered England 6-2 in the 2009 final to

Germany’s result (4-2) against the same team a few

make it five in a row.

days later.

Hosts Sweden start their tournament on

The German team have been hit hard by injuries,

Wednesday against two-time third place finishers

though, and are likely to be missing six regulars from

Denmark (BBC 3, 7.30pm), while Germany face a

their squad in Sweden. Some hope then, for England

tough opener against Holland (losing semi finalists in

and the remaining teams looking to wrest the trophy

2009) the following day (BBC 3, 7.30pm).

from Germany’s grasp.

England’s tournament doesn’t get started until a week from today, when they take on Spain, whose women aren’t yet the international powerhouses that

The Groups

their male counterparts are. Spain reached the Euro finals just once before, in 1997, when they made it to the semi finals. This time, they needed a goal in the last minute of extra-time in a play-off against Scotland to secure their spot.

Meanwhile, Hope Powell’s side qualified unbeaten for the tournament and have high hopes of reaching 36 | July 5 2013 |

Group A

Group B

Group C

Denmark Finland Italy Sweden

Germany Iceland Holland Norway

England France Russia Spain

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Germans target super six

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7 Days Saturday Boxing | DaviD Price v Tony ThomPson | echo arena, LiverPooL | BoxnaTion 7Pm

Inspirational trio Three heavyweight greats who overcame early knockout losses Lennox Lewis Lewis avenged two stoppage defeats at different stages in his career.

He reduced Oliver McCall to tears in a 1997 rematch, while Hasim Rahman was near decapitated by a monstrous Lewis right hand in 2001.

Joe Louis Germany’s Max Schmeling shocked future all-time great Louis in 1936 via 12th round stoppage. The 1938 rematch was brutal: the American broke Schmeling’s bones and left him

Rematch or repeat No one can say that David Price lacks balls. The British heavyweight prospect – shocked by a one-punch,

However, instant rematches are a big psychological

yelling in pain after just 124 seconds of

test for the beaten boxer, as they step back into the ring

unrelenting violence.

with a man they know has the power to take them out.

Price is a skilful heavyweight with knockout power of his

Wladimir Klitschko

own and a ramrod jab. If he can utilise the latter weapon

Three stoppage defeats in the

and box with more caution than he did in their first fight,

first half of his career almost permanently derailed the career of

he has a great chance of inflicting a revenge win.

the younger Klitschko brother

However, for every second that the southpaw

second-round knockout by 41-year-old American Tony

Thompson is in there, both men will know he’s just one

(left). He’s now unbeaten over

Thompson (above, right) in February – is getting straight

punch from ending the fight. A particular worry being

18 fights in nine years, and

back in the ring with the man who took his unbeaten

that the right hook that scrambled Price’s senses earlier

record. Price has made savvy moves since, teaming up

this year was well-placed, but didn’t appear a particularly

with Lennox Lewis (who knows a thing or two about

brutal shot. It’s a high-wire act for the 6ft 8in Price, but

rematch victories) as part of his intensive training camp.

it’ll make for compelling viewing for as long it lasts.

is planet Earth’s finest heavyweight boxer.

Saturday > Tennis | WimBLeDon FinaLs | aLL engLanD cLUB, WimBLeDon | BBc one 1.30Pm

Andy Murray might want to avoid watching any of the build-up to this weekend's Wimbledon finals, that is, unless he particularly enjoys watching himself emotionally tortured in public by Sue Barker. If he’s still in the tournament by the time you read this, that is.

It's the women who are up first, though, with the singles final taking place on Saturday afternoon. Last year, Serena Williams became the first woman over the age of 30 to win the title since Martina Navratilova in 1990, but after Monday’s shock exit she won’t repeat her feat.

Sunday's men's final (BBC One 12.50pm) brings to an end a Wimbledon that has been surprising, painful and, well, just a bit odd. All of which means, we're making no predictions whatsoever. So there.

38 | July 5 2013 |

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No more drama?

NEW BALLS PLEASE

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JULY 12 in

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Extra timE Making the most of your time and money

P46 the Press Photographers’ Year 2013 at the National theatre: it’s mostly Balls

Kit

Sunnies not to share

1

1. tifosi Podium

2

6

Boast a lens tint that “helps you pick out a ball in flight”. Cricket players, form an orderly queue. £60 | cyclesurgery.com

2. Nike Show x2

Transition lenses ensure protection in changing light; wrapped design keeps them on your face. £110 | golfonline.co.uk

3. Silhouette Centre Court

Available in different frames and colours, and come finished with high-quality titanium. £220 | silhouette.com

4. ryders Defcon

Shatterproof, scratchresistant, polycarbonate lenses – which is the stuff they use in bullet-proof glass. Expecting trouble? £45 | tiso.com

5. adidas Evil Eye Halfrim Pro

Lightweight wraparound frame, sweat blocker and changeable lenses. Comes in a variety of colours. £135 | wiggle.co.uk

4

6. Oakley Polarised radarlock Pitch

3 5

40 | July 5 2013 |

Three-Point Fit, changeable lenses and with earsocks made from Unobtainium. Seriously. £245 | uk.oakley.com

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Advertising feature

Open ChampiOnship Cliffhangers The Open Championship has a history of providing priceless moments. Thanks to MasterCard’s Fore at the Open promotion, you can be there to see this year’s action!

1977 – TUrnBerrY

Often referred to as the greatest Open Championhip, the 1977 renewal now has a name of its own: The Duel In The Sun. Over four days, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus went head to head, shot for shot, birdie for birdie. With the rest of the field 10 shots behind, the two men were locked together as they stood on the 16th tee. “This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?” asked Watson. “You bet it is,” replied Nicklaus with a smile.

Watson made birdie at the 17th to land The Championship.

1998 – rOYal Birkdale

Fifteen years ago, Justin Rose announced himself on the world stage. Then an 18-year-old amateur, he even threatened to win The Championship at one stage, but his final shot – holing out with a wedge to secure fourth place – was one of The Open’s greatest moments.

The Claret Jug went to American Mark O’Meara, winning his second Major of the year, who beat little-known Brian Watts in a playoff, but outside of Rose the talking point was Tiger Woods, who flew home in 66 to miss the playoff by just one shot. Woods was left to rue a third-round 77, and had to wait two more years for his first Open Championship victory.

All pictures Getty Images

1999 – CarnOUsTie

The 1999 Open was one of the most memorable of all time, though not necessarily for the right reasons. Jean van de Velde was the star of the show, in one of the most amazing performances the fabled Championship has ever seen. For 71 holes in difficult conditions, the Frenchman was brilliant, and he arrived at the last tee with a three-shot lead. But a series of calamities, including a barefoot episode in the Barry Burn, left him carding a closing seven, meaning a playoff with home favourite Paul Lawrie and American Justin Leonard, the 1997 Champion.

It was Lawrie who held his nerve over the extra holes, closing with two epic birdies to write his name in history.

fOre aT The Open

2003 – rOYal sT geOrge’s

Unheralded American Ben Curtis – ranked 396th in the world at the start of the week – was close to the top of the leaderboard all week, but even he must have been surprised to actually win the Championship. With four holes to play, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn held a three-shot lead, but he threw it away on the 16th hole, needing three shots to get out of a greenside bunker.

That left the door open for Curtis to pull one of the biggest Open shocks of all time.

2009 – TUrnBerrY

Stewart Cink may have got his name on the Claret Jug, but everyone remembers the 2009 Championship as the one in which Tom Watson nearly pulled off one of the most memorable Open wins of all time. Aged 59, Watson rolled back the years to dominate The Championship from the first day.

Needing just a par at the final hole his ball took an unfortunate bounce and ran through the back of the green.

Watson was unable to get up and down and found himself in a playoff with Cink, who went on to win comfortably over the extra holes.

But bravo, Tom!

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COmpeTiTiOn ClOsing daTe: JUlY 7 (sO hUrrY!) | 41

eT

gadgets

IT’S aLL fun anD gaMeS

Take the tidying up out of family game night with the Lenovo Horizon, the pick of this week’s high-tech selection

Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon

You can prop this up like a traditional PC and use a mouse and keyboard, but the Horizon really comes into its own when you lay it flat. A special skin called ‘Aura’ provides access to games like air hockey (pictured) and Monopoly, and the Windows 8 computer comes bundled with special paddles, a joystick and electronic dice for use with the touchscreen. It’s the future, as imagined by science fiction writers in about 1980. £1,500 | shop.lenovo.com

Mutewatch

The touchscreen Mutewatch comes in a range of colours, displays the time with a tap and you can scroll through functions such as an alarm and a timer. Rather than beep, it discreetly vibrates, with motion sensors registering your movement and adjusting the strength of the vibrations accordingly – thus waking you if, for example, you are asleep. £199 | mutewatch.com 42 | July 5 2013 |

Turtle Beach PX22 gaming headset

Licensed by Major League Gaming (yes, that’s a thing) — the PX22s come with a serious selection of audio tools to help you be the best you can be at shooting nightmarish beings from another world.

The accompanying module lets you amplify things such as footsteps, gunfire and explosions to give you a tactical edge. £70 | amazon.co.uk

Sharp DK-KP85PH

The humble CD has life in it yet, and not just as a shiny coaster — many people still like having something physical to hold when they purchase music. This wall-mountable hi-fi adds a Bluetooth connection and iPod dock for good measure, with two powerful 25-watt speakers giving your music some oomph, whatever the format. £180 nationwide from autumn Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

YMcafit graduate: Sonam bligh

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ymcafit.org.uk/sport 020 7343 1850 Not for profit. Registered charity no. 1001043. Registered in England and Wales no. 2551972

SINCE 1984

TIME IS

NOW

J

essa Hinton is, she says, a “Jill of all trades” – those trades being, since you ask, Playboy Playmate, model, designer and TV host.

Importantly for us, it’s toprank.tv where she plies that particular talent, and where she has interviewed the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley for the online boxing channel.

Hinton has more than just boxing in her sporting repertoire, however, professing to loving dance and cheerleading while growing up and even coaching competitive gymnastics after graduating from high school.

Further sporting links for your consideration: the Californian has previously stepped out with poker player and “actor/astronaut/a**hole” (yes, we’re quoting - look him up on Twitter) Dan Bilzerian and has made a (by now, for this page, obligatory) guest appearance on Baywatch. Though we’re not sure that last one really counts.

Top ranked

Extra time Jessa Hinton

44 | July 5 2013 |

Apix Syndication

| 45

ET

Entertainment

PicTuRE PERFEcT

The best press images go on show in the capital, while Ben Wheatley turns a treasure hunt into a descent into madness

Exhibition

Film

A Field in England

From the peak of athletic perfection (we mean the various Olympic and Paralympic pictures on show, rather than the above shot of Ed Balls chasing his ball) to the Free Syrian Army ripping off Wile E Coyote and using a giant catapult as a means to an end, the great appeal of The Press Photographer’s Year exhibition is the diversity of the images to take in. It’s also free to visit, which is an unarguable attraction.

Around 12,500 photos, submitted by more than

DVD

Falling Skies Season Two

Following an uneven first season, this post-alien-invasion drama co-produced by Steven Spielberg finds its feet in year two. The sci-fi action is deftly handled, but it’s the duplicitous in-fighting between the desperate human resistance and – even more intriguingly – their mysterious alien overloards that adds depth.

Get involved, earthling.

Out Monday 46 | July 5 2013 |

400 snappers, have been whittled down to a more manageable 150 pics by a judging panel – and these are on show at the National Theatre along London’s South Bank. The award categories include news, arts, entertainment, features, sport and a special Olympic award introduced just for this year. To give you an idea of the strength of the entries, none of the images that took our fancy above were the overall winners in their nominated category. So pop down from this weekend to check out just how mind-blowing the victors must be.

Opens Saturday until August 31

Music

Live at Bestival 2012 New Order

As if rattling through True Faith, Blue Monday and Regret wasn’t enough, show-offs New Order even threw in a few Joy Division songs as part of their 2012 Bestival set. The performance highlights (including a powerful take on Love Will Tear Us Apart) are captured on this new album.

No John Barnes cameo, though.

Out Monday

Exhibition

Blu-ray

Mexico: A Revolution in Art Royal Academy of Arts

A light is shone on the politicallycharged art boom that took place in Mexico from 1910 to 1940 in this new exhibition at London’s Royal Academy.

Includes vibrant paintings by José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and the artist with whom he shared a famously tempestuous bond: Frida Kahlo.

Opens Saturday

The Brood

Not the most high profile of David Cronenberg’s extensive horror catalogue, but possibly the most disturbing. This 1979 cult classic stars Oliver Reed as a therapist treating a patient going through a messy divorce when he suddenly has to deal with a group of grotesque, mutant kids attacking people. Are the two linked? Sadly for Ollie, they are.

Out Monday

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© Estate of the artist, c/o Lefevre Fine Art Ltd, Charles McQuillan/Pacemaker, Jeff J. Mitchell/The FA, Rick Findler, Toby Melville/Reuters, Dean Rogers

The Press Photographer’s Year 2013 National Theatre

The new film from Ben Wheatley, director of the masterfully unsettling 2011 hitman horror Kill List, begins innocently enough: four 17th-century English Civil War deserters on the hunt for a pint of ale. However an encounter with an alchemist results in Reece ‘League of Gentleman’ Shearsmith and Co forced into a hunt for buried treasure that gets increasingly surreal and, at times, terrifying. Wheatley’s strength is that his films are rarely bound by conventional genres. A Field in England is a mix of drama, black comedy, horror and mystery that sucks you in then spins your head upside down. Out in selected cinemas now, then on DVD and Blu-ray from next week.

Out today

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