Joe Root said his England side must learn quickly from their series-levelling 340-run
Tim Hardaway Jr.Womens Jersey defeat by South Africa after a grim collapse on the fourth day in Nottingham that their head coach, Trevor Bayliss, watched in disbelief and described as a “shocker”.England now head to the third Test at The Oval next week with the series level at one apiece and questions swirling over their inconsistency – they have lost seven of their past 10 Tests and followed their last three victories with a defeat – and a fragile batting line-up that was bowled out for 133 in 44.2 overs chasing a fanciful 474 to win.This disintegration, as Vernon Philander’s skilful seam-up picked up three for 24, came after being bowled out for 205 in 51.5 overs first time round, meaning England lost 20 wickets in one ball fewer than South Africa’s first innings. After the close Bayliss was at a loss.“I watched in a bit of disbelief. It was a poor performance,” Bayliss told Sky Sports. “I wish I could explain it, as it has happened over the last few years – we put in one good game and
http://www.officialhawkstore.com/Tim_Hardaway_Jr_Jersey win and then a poor game and lose well. We may have to have a chat but the boys are honest – they realise they have had a shocker.”Root, who is two Tests into his reign as captain, admitted the week in which their previous stronghold of Trent Bridge was ransacked had left him “feeling older” but said he felt in a position to address the long-term issues that continued on from under his predecessor, Alastair Cook.“I remember hanging tough,” he says. “I knew that Sunday was going to be a gruesome day. I didn’t have the expectation of: ‘Right, I’m going to shoot a low one here to go and win it.’ I was just trying to move up the board. I made an early birdie and thought at that point, if I could post a great score then anything could happen.“You see those old school leaderboards, it gives you a buzz. Every time they change the score, you are looking. That day it wasn’t a case of who was making birdies; it was about who was making bogeys. Guys were making mistakes, guys were dropping back really quickly, so it felt like last man standing.”Poulter regards the Harrington finish – he played the last four holes in three under – as “insane”. Earlier there had been hope. “The 18th was brutal, playing with a hard wind
Wilson Chandler Youth Jerseyoff the right,” Poulter says. “I didn’t hit a good second shot and chipped it on to 15ft.“I called Terry [Mundy, his caddie] over, for what he thought was to read his only putt of the week. I said to him: ‘Do you remember putting as a kid, saying this is for the Open?’ He said: ‘Yeah.’ I said: ‘Well I’ve got it. Go away.’ Then I holed it.“I haven’t been in the position where I had the lead at a major and didn’t get over the line. I don’t know what that disappointment feels like. To hole the putt at the right time? To feel like you have a chance to win? It was absolutely unbelievable.”Poulter’s 2017 has already proved quite the story. After a period beset by injury and loss of form, he looked certain to lose PGA Tour playing status before ranking points were recalculated. Buoyed in part by that escape, he finished second in the Players Championship. Suddenly the future looks bright again.“In February the panic button was being pressed,” Poulter admits. “We were having to evaluate everything that was going on. You can’t hide away from what was going on; you are only as good as your results and what you are allowed to play.“It was absolutely awful. It’s like: ‘What am I going to do?’ The stress and the energy you are using on that stuff is so great that you can’t play golf.”Poulter’s vice-captaincy
http://www.officialbuckstore.com/Spencer_Hawes_Jersey at last year’s Ryder Cup taught him one thing: “How much I missed playing in it. If I wasn’t included in that at all, it would have been horrific. That would have really hurt.” Quite clearly, then, a key aspiration is returning to that fold, where Poulter’s legacy has been forged, next September in Paris.“It would
http://www.authenticnuggetstore.com/Wilson_Chandler_Jerseybe like this,” he says. “It would be like missing out on majors and getting back to them. It would be pretty special. I absolutely want to make sure I’m there and I feel, with the level of golf I’m playing, I definitely can. I just need to be more ruthless.”Given history, recent and otherwise, it would be unwise to bet against Poulter fulfilling another dream.Team Sky may be leading the overall standings with Chris Froome but the British squad’s principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, is ruffling feathers with his attitude towards the world’s leading specialist cycle sport website, cyclingnews.com, with whom he has publicly fallen out during the race.Here, as journalists attempted to glean something from Team Sky’s limited media access on the rest day, Brailsford accused a cyclingnews.com writer, Barry Ryan, of “writing shit about [him]” and told him he was excluded from listening to Froome as the race leader spoke to television outlets. That came after a similar episode with the website’s editor Daniel Benson earlier in therace.Cyclingnews.com reported that Brailsford had told Ryan: “You’re not invited. We have invited the people we want to speak to. You’ve been writing shit about me.”The problem apparently related to an opinion piece written by Ryan before the Tour which criticised Brailsford’s handling of the media since the leaking of Sir Bradley Wiggins’s therapeutic use exemptions for the legal use of the corticosteroid triamcinolone.“Rigoberto Urán is more of the dark horse, he is probably the strongest time trialist of the GC riders, and with Marseille in mind, he’s a big threat,” said Froome, adding he expected the Colombian to finish on the podium in Paris. “He flies under the radar a bit because he doesn’t have a whole team at the front controlling the race for him, but he’s finished second in the Giro d’Italia, he’s certainly capable of backing up three weeks. He seems to be in great shape. I think Rigoberto is set to be on the podium and to challenge me for the yellow jersey.The mathematics say it all: 10 teams have won stages, with Quickstep the biggest winners thanks to Marcel Kittel. Realistically, there are two stages that might fall to a breakaway without specialist climbers – Tuesday’s stage into Romans-sur-Isère and Friday’s to Salon de Provence – although neither is nailed on. On those two stages there will be intense competition to get in the winning move, so the chances are the recent trend for large groups of escapees up front will be repeated. Movistar, BMC, Dimension Data, Lotto-Soudal, Bahrain-Merida, UAE and Lotto-Jumbo all have yet to win even if Lotto-Jumbo will hope that Primoz Roglic might deliver in Marseille. Even Lotto-Soudal know that with Kittel on his current form their sprinter André Greipel can’t bank on winning, so they will probably be in the breaks as well.
