Photo Conor Lawless CCA
The best is still to come
One round of Six Nations matches down, and the tournament has failed to live up to the waxy poetry afforded it by Morgan Freeman and the BBC. The Irish were described by Brian O’Driscoll as “mediocre” against the Italians, the English beat a misfiring Welsh side by virtue of a moment’s stupidity from Alun Wyn Jones, and the French looked good for forty minutes before going nowhere fast in the second half at Murrayfield. It still leaves a competition which is rarely short on drama the time to explode into life. One or two teams will emerge from the mediocrity, and the place to be watching will be the Stade de France next weekend, when the French entertain the Irish. Elsewhere, the English are likely to grab a second win without having faced the sternest tests, and the Welsh meet the Scots with one side set to inject some momentum into their campaign. It was as if the first round served only to whet the appetite further.
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The best in the business
The English have never really seen the most devastating qualities of Dale Steyn, and he’s currently best known for his fierce but fruitless spell to Paul Collingwood just a month ago. But make no mistake, he’s the best quick in world cricket by some stretch, as his 7/51 against the Indians on a pitch where South Africa had just accumulated 558/6 indicates. Should Steyn find 8 wickets in his next 3 innings, he will be the second fastest bowler of all time to 200 wickets, level with Waqar Younis and Dennis Lillee. His strike rate for bowlers who’ve taken at least 100 Test wickets is second only to George Lohmann, who hasn’t bowled since 1896. Steyn is doing this in an era where the bat talks and usually the quick bowlers listen. Long may it last.
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Still one step from the best
In a league table in which Arsenal had not yet faced Chelsea or Manchester United, the Gunners would be sitting pretty in third:
Chelsea P23 W16 D4 L3 Pts 52
Man U P23 W16 D2 L5 Pts 50
Arsenal P21 W15 D4 L2 Pts 49
But as it is, they have no points from four clashes with the two sides above them. They are still third, but it is a distant third. Arsenal have flattered to deceive for some time, never more so than this season. Will the seminal moment that transforms the side from contenders to winners arrive?
