Ian Poulter - Photo Global Voyager CCANCND
Britain wins a winter gold
Remember when Amy Williams was just like any of us? Well, no, probably not - you probably hadn’t heard a great deal more than that she was also competing in the same event as Shelley Rudman, the skeleton, at the Vancouver Olympics. Sure enough, though, four excellent runs down an icy track head-first later and, as former Olympic gold medallists all vouched for, you become a media plaything. Williams was superb, and handled the pressures of being first overnight with icy calm. Will it be the start of something more in Vancouver?
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Britain wins golf
The WGC matchplay tournament saw a some tremendous displays from the European Ryder Cup likely men of 2010. Three of the four semi-finalists will surely go to Celtic Manor, and the final was contested between Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. The latter won, perhaps in part down to the exhausting semi-final Casey had played against Camilo Villegas. That game couldn’t be separated after 23 holes the previous day and darkness set in, so required settling on the morning of the final. The result means that Englishmen sit 4th, 5th and 6th in the world rankings, and points to a future where surely, sooner than later, someone from these shores is going to win a major.
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England wins T20 cricket… then normal service is resumed
The Pakistan side have been on something of a downer after losing every single international fixture of their tour to Australia. They must have been salivating, though, at the prospect of facing an English side who not only have no pedigree in this format of the game but had just, in a head-hurting paradox, managed to be not as good as the second best England team. Strangely enough, though, England arrived. A good performance in the field restricted the Pakistanis to a small total, and despite the predictable failure of the openers, Pietersen and Morgan saw the game through classily. It was a one-off, though; the following day England played competitively and looked to have their noses in front most of the way through the game. Then Abdur Razzaq hit five sixes in 18 balls, and the game was over.
