Swann added to list for top ICC award

England’s Graeme Swann was added to the long list for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year award on Thursday after his original omission sparked a furious reaction in Britain.

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, who chaired the selection committee, insisted Swann’s absence from the original 16-man list was a “genuine oversight”.

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Lloyd, chairman of a selection panel that included fellow ex-internationals Angus Fraser (England), Matthew Hayden, Ravi Shastri and Zimbabwe’s Duncan Fletcher, also a former England coach, said in an ICC statement issued Thursday: “It was a genuine oversight on the part of the committee as Graeme fully deserved to be nominated in this category.

“Graeme, during the voting period, produced some very strong performances which puts him alongside the other top performers.”

“On behalf of the selection panel, I apologise for this oversight,” added Lloyd, also the chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee.

Shortly after the ICC released Lloyd’s statement, Swann took his 100th Test wicket when he caught and bowled Mohammad Yousuf on the second day of the third Test against Pakistan at The Oval here on Wednesday.

Swannn reached the landmark in his 23rd Test — the same number as it took legendary Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne and England left-arm spin great Derek Underwood to reach their century of Test wickets.

During the voting period, from August 24 2009 to August 10 2010, Swann took 49 wickets, including six five-wicket hauls in a Test innings and one 10-wicket haul in a match.

The 31-year-old, also a member of England’s ICC World Twenty20 winning team, took 28 one-day international wickets at an average of 23.28 with an economy rate of 4.46 during the same period.

Former England captain Michael Atherton branded Swann’s original omission as “an utter disgrace”.

Eight players are each up for three awards as part of the ICC’s annual ceremony designed to honour Test, one-day international and combined performances.

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Wales rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with 25 wins. Wales most recent championship win came in 2008. They also compete in the Rugby World Cup every four years.

England has won this championship on 25 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in the tournaments history. England also compete for the Calcutta Cup with Scotland as part of the Six Nations. They are ranked sixth in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 21 June 2010. England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and finished runners-up in 1991 and 2007.

The first Wales V England match was held on 9 October 1910. England ran out winners, 11–6, beating Wales for the first time since 1898.

In new season on Six Nations 2011 a struggling match is between

Wales V England at Millennium Stadium Cardiff, United Kingdom on Fri Feb 04, 2011 (19:45)

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Siyouni should prove too steep a challenge for Cliffs at Royal Ascot

Siyouni looks to have slipped under the radar for his clash with Makfi and Canford Cliffs in next Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day at Royal Ascot 2010.
Christophe Lemaire’s mount can put a poor showing in the French Guineas and his rivals behind him next Tuesday
Few horses can have divided opinion as much this season as Canford Cliffs. Beaten at odds-on in the Greenham, some could not wait to write him off as a one-race wonder on the strength of that freakish display in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot 12 months ago. But those who kept the faith drew encouragement from his third behind Makfi and Dick Turpin at Newmarket, and then got paid out at the Curragh three weeks later when he bolted up in the Irish Guineas.
The problem for those who want to take Ladbrokes’ best offer of 6-4 about him maintaining the winning run next week is that Makfi is surely just as capable of improving upon his Guineas form given his progressive profile and the late start he made to his career.
The winner of the Grand Critérium last year, Siyouni was defeated on his comeback when he failed to reel back his pacemaker, which seemed to dent his reputation. But he got the better of a good scrap for second with Lope de Vega who on Sunday spreadeagled his rivals in the Prix du Jockey Club. Siyouni’s trainer Alain de Royer-Dupré took this race in 1999 with the Aga’s Sendawar.
However, at 8-1, it would be wrong to overlook the claims of Siyouni, for whom Christophe Lemaire must desert Makfi on account of his retainer for the Aga Khan. Siyouni trailed home a long way back when favourite for the French Guineas on his latest start, but Lemaire essentially gave up the ghost as soon as his mount’s winning chance was extinguished by trouble in running and that sympathetic treatment may now reap dividends.
The Royal Ascot horse racing festival has seemed to start with a whimper in recent years with the crowds lowest on the first of the five days and many racegoers appearing more interested in riding the escalators and bagging a good table for the rest of the week than in concentrating on the action on the track. But if ever there was an incentive for the racing purist to take a day off and get down to Ascot next week it is the three fascinating Group One contests, each offering punters a different puzzle, that get the action under way on Tuesday.
Paco Boy was an easy winner of the Queen Anne 12 months ago, but he had nothing of the calibre of Goldikova and Rip Van Winkle in opposition and looks vulnerable now, not least having finished well held behind those rivals in previous meetings. To me, he ought to be the clear outsider of the three.
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Prince Khalid Abdullah forms strong squad for Royal Ascot

Prince Khalid Abdullah has a clear lead in the owners’ table after the Derby success of Workforce and the Saudi patron has bright prospects of advancing those gains at Royal Ascot 2010 next week.
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The back-up team is also strong. Principal Role is earmarked for the Ribblesdale Stakes, Redwood holds the Hardwicke Stakes entry while Timepiece, who finished unplaced in the Investec Oaks, is likely to drop back to a mile for the Sandringham Stakes. However, Special Duty, the dual classic winner, is expected to bypass the Coronation Stakes in favour of the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket next month.
Nevertheless, connections believe Zacinto deserves his place in Queen Anne field. “He was not quite right after his Breeders’ Cup run and he was in an uncharacteristically bad frame of mind before the Lockinge,” Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager for Abdullah, said yesterday.
Zacinto faces a daunting assignment in the opening race of the five-day meeting when he confronts Goldikova, Rip Van Winkle and Paco Boy over the straight mile. The four-year-old chased home Rip Van Winkle in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in September but has since run disappointingly in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and the Lockinge Stakes won by Paco Boy last month.
Showcasing, for his part, finished strongly when conceding weight in the Duke Of York Stakes last month. “He started slightly slowly at York but he rallied well from that,” Grimthorpe said. “We were very pleased with the way he came home.”
Manifest and Showcasing approach their respective races on the back of encouraging runs last time. “Manifest is relatively untried for his age,” Grimthorpe said of the four-year-old. “As with most horses going for the Gold Cup, we don’t know whether he will stay two-and-a-half miles but the further he goes, the better he looks.”
Byword is a fascinating candidate for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday. The winner of four of his seven races, he beat all bar Goldikova in the nine-furlong Prix d’Ispahan last month, when he drew ten lengths clear of the third, German Derby winner Wiener Walzer. “It was a good effort from Byword and the extra furlong at Ascot will suit him,” Grimthorpe said.
Workforce lost just 9lb in winning the Derby but connections feel that the colt must have given his all to shatter the track record. Grimthorpe said: “It was always the plan to go on to the Irish Derby, but we weren’t quite expecting to see what we saw from him at Epsom.
“He must have had a hard race, so Ireland [on June 27] might come too soon. At this stage it is more likely he will go straight to the King George, but all options remain open. We will know a lot more in a week’s time. He didn’t lose that much weight, so on the face of it, he has taken the Derby well.”
Meanwhile, Aviate, much fancied for the Oaks before finishing seventh, is to be given a short break after the daughter of Dansili failed to stay. But Abdullah, who has won three classics this season, has another live hope in Deluxe, who contests the Prix de Diane on Sunday.
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Makfi bonus for Olivier Peslier ahead of St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot

Olivier Peslier has picked up the prize ride on French colt Makfi in Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot 2010.
Lemaire will be disappointed he cannot renew his partnership with Makfi, who won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in May so brilliantly under his guidance. He has ridden the unbeaten colt on two of his three wins.
Peslier will take over from Christophe Lemaire, who will be required to partner Siyouni for his boss the Aga Khan in the Group One race. Georges Rimaud, the Aga Khan’s racing manager, said last night: ‘Siyouni will go to the St James’s Palace and Christophe Lemaire will ride him.’
Siyouni, meanwhile, will be looking to redeem himself after disappointing as a 2-1 favourite under Lemaire in the French equivalent behind Lope De Vega.
The Andre Fabre-trained winner boosted the form with success in Sunday’s French Derby at Chantilly.
A little gloss was rubbed off the Royal Ascot Horse racing Festival yesterday when hopes that the dual 1000 Guineas winner Special Duty would run were dashed.
Criquette Head-Maarek, whose filly won the English and French Classics in the stewards’ room after passing the post in second place in both, will divert her from the Coronation Stakes to Newmarket’s Falmouth Stakes on July 7.
‘This will give her a little more time to recover after her Classic double.’
Head-Maarek said: ‘She’s looking beautiful and will now run in the Falmouth Stakes.
Luca Cumani is planning to run his globetrotting star Presvis in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Ascot on Wednesday.
Kingsgate Native will run in the King’s Stand but it is rival Australian raider Nicconi, favourite for the race, who has been burning up the gallops.
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John Dunlop rules Pimpernel out of Royal Ascot as he finalises plans

Elusive Pimpernel will miss both the St James’s Palace Stakes and the Irish Derby after suffering a setback.
As he finalised plans for next week’s Royal Ascot Festival, trainer John Dunlop revealed the three-year-old colt, who has not run since finishing fifth in the 2000 Guineas, is on the easy list.
Dunlop said: "Elusive Pimpernel has had a hiccup. It is not anything major but he is ruled out of the St James’s Palace Stakes and won’t be out again in the next month. It’s very disappointing but these things happen."
"Mudaaraah goes in the Ribblesdale Stakes. She was fourth in the Height of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood behind the subsequent Oaks winner, so the form looks good.
Dunlop has been training horses at Castle Stables in Arundel for almost half a century. The 70-year-old has saddled almost 3,500 winners, including 10 Classics. Keen to add to his haul of 34 Royal Ascot victories, he sends a small but highly select team to the Berkshire track.
He said: "Perfect Shot runs in the Ascot Stakes. He won the other day at Newmarket but the two-and-a-half miles is on trust. He ran well over two-and-a-quarter miles at York but even then I’m not sure he stayed it.
"In the Gold Cup we have Akmal, who won the Henry II Stakes at Sandown well last time. He hasn’t gone two-and-a-half-miles but neither have any of the others. He took his time this spring but he is in good shape and one would be hopeful."
Dunlop relies on Waseet in the 1m 4f King Edward VII Stakes on Friday week. He said: "The track and trip will suit him. He ran well when second in the Royal Lodge at Ascot last season."
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Horse racing: Prince Charles will miss Royal Ascot to recover from chest infection

The Prince of Wales will miss Royal Ascot 2010 next week on doctors’ orders, so he can recover from an ongoing illness.
He is to take three days off next week, cancelling all planned engagements, so he can try to shake off a persistent chest infection.
But the heir to the throne decided against rest and recuperation this week because he had so many important events to attend.
A spokesman for Clarence House said: “On doctor’s advice, The Prince of Wales will be taking three days off at the beginning of next week.
The Prince’s commitments this week include taking part in The Queen’s Birthday Parade, hosting two military receptions, visiting the Royal Cornwall Show and giving a lecture on Islam and the environment to mark the 25th anniversary of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
“The Prince has been suffering from a persistent chest infection for over a month and doctors have advised him to find a number of consecutive days in which to have a complete rest.”
Instead of cancelling them, he will take three days off at the start of next week. The Prince will travel to Birkhall, his private home on the Queen’s Balmoral Estate in Scotland, with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.
He will miss Royal Ascot 2010, the week-long race meeting and highlight of the social calendar that dates back to 1711.
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The Prince will also miss the Garter Service and Procession, which always takes place at Windsor Castle on the Monday of Royal Ascot week and which is traditionally attended by all senior members of the Royal family.
In her throne room, the Queen will formally invest new Companions of the Order of the Garter – the senior British Order of Chivalry, founded in 1348 – with the insignia.
Following lunch, there is a procession of the Knights to St George’s Chapel followed by an installation ceremony.
The Prince’s illness is not believed to be serious and he is scheduled to return to work on Thursday.
It is believed he has attended every Garter ceremony since 1989, and Ascot each year for most of the past decade.
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Horse racing: Richard Hannon Jr confident Paco Boy is ready for Ascot

The Queen Anne looks like being race of the week at Royal Ascot 2010 and Paco Boy’s team are in confident mood.
Dual Breeders’ Cup Mile heroine Goldikova and Sussex Stakes winner Rip Van Winkle are preparing to take on the apple of Richard Hannon’s eye in what should be a thriller.
Hannon Jnr admits Paco Boy still has it to prove against opponents of that calibre, but believes if he is ever going to do so, then it will be this year.
He said:"Goldikova is very good and she’ll be very hard to beat. She is a champion and Paco Boy is not at that status yet, but he does seem better this year than ever."
In the St James’ Palace, Hill make another Hannon star, Canford Cliffs favourite to take revenge on French raider Makfi, who brushed him aside in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Last year’s Coventry Stakes winner finally got it right when bolting up in the Irish 2000 Guineas.
Hannon Jnr said:"He came home so well at Newmarket I was a little bit disappointed he didn’t win that day.
"He’d had a prep run and there was no issue with the trip so it was maybe the dip that beat him. We’re taking on the winner again but we still fancy him."
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Ladbrokes slashed French Derby runner-up Planteur to 16-1 from 25s for the Arc and spokesman David Williams explained: "Lope De Vega seems unlikely to get the Arc trip so we’ve taken the runner-up Planteur out of the race and suspect he is capable of better later this year."
Michael Bell reckons Sariska is in for a lucrative campaign after her great run in the Coronation Cup. Last season’s dual Oaks winner found only the brilliant Fame And Glory too good in a vintage renewal.
Bell said: "She ran a huge race, but just came up short against a very good horse on the day. We’ve got some big targets ahead but I have to have a proper chat with her owner."
Haljaferia is worth the wait in the last at Salisbury. The son of Halling bounced back to form at HQ recently in an amateur race and the booking of Fallon looks interesting.
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Rugby: Summer tours are back on the right track at last

Ignore the logistics for a minute and imagine if the Lions toured the southern hemisphere every year, playing one Test annually against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Now traditional tours by individual countries are thankfully back on the global agenda. From 2012, the leading countries in Europe will play proper three-Test series against the SANZAR giants, plus Argentina, while also returning to the Pacific Islands and even Japan.
In the case of sporting conflict, familiarity so often breeds tedium, which is exactly why pleas for Lions tours to become more frequent have been rightly ignored. Scarcity is part of the appeal.
England will get the ball rolling with a series in South Africa and it will have the feel of a Lions expedition.
A series also gives time for sub-plots and dramas and conflicts to emerge and evolve.
Reviving proper tours in June may be a nod to nostalgia, but the move is founded on commercial imperatives, too, as crowds and revenues are down for these June matches, which are too often one-sided.
With midweek games thrown in it allows fringe players to stay involved and the whole exercise will hold a greater sense of resonance and purpose.
In Europe, attendances and bank balances are well catered for during the November Test window, but proper series would be an improvement then, too.
On the flip-side, when a true contest materialises, as was the case last summer when France won a Test in Dunedin and New Zealand hit back in Wellington, 1-1 is not a satisfactory conclusion. It was crying out for a decider.
This is where the familiarity argument kicks in. Back in the day, a visit by the All Blacks was a major event, but now that mystique and air of expectation has been somewhat eroded by regularity. They have come to Twickenham during the last four years of autumn internationals.
A real series would carry more weight than the endless round of one-off Tests. England could play the likes of Fiji or Samoa at the start of November, followed by a three-Test series against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa or Argentina.
In the interests of expansion, the RFU could take one match each year to the provinces – to Old Trafford, Villa Park or St James’ Park.
The public don’t moan about repetition during an Ashes series, which comes to these shores once every four years.
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Rugby: Olly Barkley tells England team mates: ‘We must behave’

Olly Barkley last night backed Martin Johnson’s demand that the England rugby squad behave themselves on tour next month.
Johnson wasted no time yesterday in issuing a stark warning of the "pitfalls" which potentially lie await for them off the field on a five-match mission to Australia and New Zealand.
It will be England’s first trip Down Under since the 2008 tour to New Zealand when allegations of serious sexual assault were made against four of the squad.
"In the world we live in there are pitfalls, some can be put there deliberately, some are just the pitfalls that young guys face when they’re out and about in big cities
"We’ll be together for three and a half weeks in hostile territory, staying in different hotels and city centre locations," he said. "There will be distractions and potential areas to get embroiled in so we’ll need to be smart and look after each other.
No formal complaint was made in 2008 against the so-called Auckland Four of Danny Care, David Strettle, Topsy Ojo and Mike Brown, whom NZ police sought to interview over claims made by an 18-year-old woman.
"I don’t think they will be targets but this is the world we live in. People have cameras on their phones these days."
But Barkley acknowledges that the whole episode was a wake-up call and that it is vital no-one invites embarrassment onto the tour this time.
Indeed, an RFU inquiry found no evidence of any such incident having taken place – though it did adjudge Ojo and Brown guilty of misconduct for staying out all night.
"The management and the players are confident we will all adhere to that.
"We’ve put the 2008 issue behind us and there’s now a code of conduct in place," said a player who has had his own off-field problems in the past.
The difference between this one and the last is that Johnson will be with it every step of the way. In 2008 he stayed home to await the birth of his second child and in his absence chaos ensued.
"The big thing is if you don’t you compromise not only the squad but the individuals involved as well. That’s the last thing anyone wants to do to a tour that we’re all so positive about."
At Twickenham yesterday he left nobody in any doubt that he will be on top of matters in Perth and in Sydney and across the Tasman Sea in Napier.

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