Twinned

Recently, twins Craig and Jamie Overton, were called up to the England ODI squad, and Adam and Simon Yates, are both going to ride the Tour de France.

I thought I'd have a look at these twins, and some other notable sporting twins.

Craig and Jamie Overton (Cricket)
The twins are both at Somerset, and were both recently called up for England's ODI squad against New Zealand.

Craig boasts better bowling and batting figures at this stage, but both are only 21, and have the speed and potential to play at international level.

At 21 their talent is still raw, Jamie has had to work hard to try and eradicate no-balls from his game, and is more of a work in progress than Craig.

The big concern for both brothers is if England's coaches alter with their natural game, as they did with Steven Finn, hopefully they will be able to progress and become future England test bowlers.

Adam and Simon Yates (Cycling)
These cycling twins are precociously talented, and smart as well, as they turned down Team Sky, to join Orica-Greenedge, so they were able to challenge for races from the start of their career, rather than ridign for others.

In his first year as a pro, Adam won the Tour of Turkey , as well as coming 5th in the Tour of California and 6th in Dauphine Libere (the French Tour de France warm-up race). He then finished his first grand tour at the Vuelta.

His 2015 has been disrupted somewhat by a broken finger in the Tour of Basque country in April.

Simon's neo-pro year was not as straight forward as Adam's, in the Tour of Turkey which Adam won, Simon broke his collarbone, which hampered his debut year. However, it did have the unexpected consequence of allowing him to ride the Tour de France, where he performed admirably, getting into 2 breaks, which in the Tour is no mean feat, before being withdrawn by his team, so as not to over exert him.

In 2015, Simon has been on an upward trajectory, finishing 6th in Tour of Romandie and 5th in the Dauphine, two impressive performances, which suggest he maybe able to ride with the front group in the mountains at the tour.

At present both riders are scheduled for the Tour de France, and both will be a force.
They won't be the first twins to ride the Tour, as most recently Peter & Martin Velits rode for Omega-Pharma Quick-Step in the 2012 Tour de France.

Bob and Mike Bryan (Tennis)
Men's doubles tennis has been dominated for the last decade, by these tennis twins.

Bob and Mike Bryan have won 16 grand slam men's doubles titles, while in mixed doubles they Bob has 7 titles and Mike has 4.

They are Olympic champions, won the 2007 Davis cup, have 4 world titles and over 100 tournament titles, in fact they have won every major title, and have not failed to win a grand slam title since 2004.

They are mirror twins, Bob is left handed and Mike is right handed, which helps them compliment each other in covering the court.

Football
The most famous current footballing twins, is probably Fabio and Rafael, the Brazilian full-backs, who were both at Manchester United. Fabio, has since left to join Cardiff City. The most famous incident involving Fabio and Rafael, was in 2009, where the referee Chris Foy, mistakenly booked the wrong brother, the decision was later reversed.

Further down the leagues, Adam and James Chambers play together at Walsall and both started their career in the West Midlands with West Brom.

The De Boer brothers, Ronald and Frank, were probably the most notable past footballing twins, they had a combined 179 caps for the Netherlands, Frank with 112 of them. They both started at Ajax, before playing for Barcelona, Rangers, Al-Rayyan and Al-Shamal.

Monday news - post weekend blues - 13th October

The weekend that was

F1

Whilst many thoughts in F1 stayed with Jules Bianchi, who remains in critical condition in Japan, the race at Sochi in Russia went ahead.

The axis of evil?

Indeed, the weekend was not just uneasy because of the horrific Bianchi crash in Suzuka, but the sight of Bernie Ecclestone and Vladimir Putin, sends shivers up most people's spines.

However, the race did go ahead, and whilst the first few laps were eventful, the rest of the race was a procession.

The circuit was very unabrasive and meant that there were very few tyre issues, and that only one pit stop was necessary, even if that pit stop was on lap 1 for instance.

The circuit also played into the hands of the speed focused cars, and indeed the results show clearly that it was a performance based race, aside from Alonso and Massa, the cars came in 2 by 2, Noah would have been proud!

The main story of the race, was the very first corner. Although Hamilton had a good start, Rosberg got the run on him and went to pass Hamilton, however Rosberg was carrying too much speed and locked up both the front tyres and passed both Hamilton and the corner.

This ultimately cost Rosberg the race win, although the nature of the surface in Sochi, meant he could pit on lap 1 to ditch the tyres he'd shredded and go all the way on the harder compound tyre.

Massa did the opposite, started on the harder tyre and pitted one lap in for a set of softs, Williams must be ruing that strategy, as Massa ultimately finished outside the points, surely in hindsight, they could have started on the soft and pitted after one lap, and then gone all the way, a la Rosberg.

The other performances of note, were Button once again beating Magnussen, Alonso beating the Red Bulls and the dramatic fall of the Toro Rossos. Kvyat produced a great qualifying performance to start 5th, but by the end of the first lap was 10th. They clearly compromised race performance for qualifying, and paid the price.

Cycling - Paris Tours

Known as the sprinters classic, Paris Tours is the last big one-day race on the calendar, although the UCI may not agree, as it is only on the UCI Europe tour and not the UCI World tour.

Nevertheless, the race provides great intrigue, with a balance between sprinters fighting for one last win and the barondeurs, breakaway riders, taking a chance for a win.

Gurner par extrordinaire - Thomas Voeckler

It was the breakaway riders who prevailed, Voeckler and Jelle Wallays went in the early break, and were the only ones left by the end. A lack of cohesion in the bunch behind, caused by crashes, rain, attacks on short sharp hills and a lack of willingness from any team other than Giant-Shimano, lead to a straight out sprint between Voeckler and Wallays.

Wallays prevailed and Voeckler was left pulling faces. Indeed Voeckler ends the season winless, the first time since 2002. Voeckler also showed a lack of class but failing to turn up for the podium, and lost his prize money as a result.

Football

There was very little football on display on Sunday, I missed the match, although miss is probably the wrong word to use.

Predictably, it was a poor match, which in truth, most qualifiers are, due to the gulf in class between the sides in the competition. It is mainly a training ground exercise where England have to break down the other side.

Eventually Rooney prevailed with a free-kick in the 73rd minute, from the edge of the box.

Job done for England 6 points from 2 games, bring on the Premiership next week.

Rugby League

If the NRL (Australian Rugby League competition) showed the guts of Rugby League, with Sam Burgess playing the whole game with a fractured cheekbone, the Super League Grand final, showed the gutlessness, as Ben Flower of Wigan, retaliating to a forearm from Lance Hohaia of St Helens , knocked down Hohaia and proceeded to add another blow for good measure as his opponent lay stricken.

Flower was sent off for his reckless act,  and Wigan manfully took the lead, but ultimately St Helens won.

Monday news - post weekend blues

Review of the weekend that was

Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix

Jules Bianchi - a member of the Ferrari young drivers programme

Unfortunately, the biggest news at the weekend, was the serious crash involving Marussia driver Jules Bianchi.

Bianchi is in intensive care, after having brain surgery, following a horrific crash at the Japanese circuit. Bianchi collided with a recovery vehicle, that was recovering Adrian Sutil's car from a crash on the previous lap. 

The race

The results of the Grand Prix are secondary after such an incident, however they are still significant in the course of the season.

Hamilton won the race with a great pass, around the outside of Nico Rosberg into turn 1, in the small window in the race where DRS was enabled.

Jenson Button confirmed his wet weather prowess, finishing a highly credible 5th, just missing out on the podium to the Red Bulls.

Big Transfer News

Button's performance was commendable, not just for the gamble to move on to intermediates and the difficult conditions, but also because of the intense speculation surrounding his future, as Vettel confirmed he is leaving Red Bull. He is almost certainly heading to Ferrari to replace Fernando Alonso, who is rumoured to be heading to McLaren to replace either Button or Magnussen, but rumours are that Button is the most likely to be replaced, despite consistently outperforming Magnussen.

Button's 5th was also key as it helped McLaren cut the gap in the constructors to Force India, by 5 points, so the gap is now only 1 point.

Rugby Union

Bath continued their great early season form, with a 21-11 win against Saracens, to move into 2nd place in the Aviva Premiership. After beating Leicester 45-0, 2 weeks ago, the win against Saracens highlights Bath's potential.

Bath's centres Eastmond and Joseph both scored tries and outlined their England credentials.

Burgess

The form of Eastmond and Joseph and at international level, Twelvetrees, Tuilagi and Burrell, all adds to the intrigue around the signing of Sam Burgess from Rugby League.

Burgess is joining Bath, after having won the NRL grand final with Sydney Rabbitohs at the weekend, in which he won the Clive Churchill medal (for best player in the final) after playing on despite a fractured cheekbone, in the very first action in the game.

Cycling

One of the final classics of the season, the Tour of Lombardy (also known as the race of the falling leaves) was run at the weekend.

Irishman, Dan Martin own the race for Garmin-Sharp, with a late attack, to collect his second 'monument' after Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013.

Highlights of the finale at Lombardy are here

I'll hopeful cover a few other sports stories this week as well.

Tour de France Stages Preview

With the Tour de France just over a week away from starting, I'm going to do a series of previews of what to expect in the Tour de France.


The first one is a preview of the stages of the tour de france, what to expect on each one and where the best action will be.


Stages for Sprinters
Stage 2 - Vise - Tournai
Stage 4 - Abbeville - Rouen
Stage 5 - Rouen - St Quentin
Stage 6 - Epernay - Metz
Stage 13 - Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux - Le Cap d'Agde
Stage 15 - Samatan - Pau
Stage 18 - Blagnac - Brive-la-Gaillarde
Stage 20 - Rambouillet - Paris Champs Elysees


Stages for Puncheurs (Punchy climbers)
Stage 1 - Liege - Seraing
Stage 3 - Orchies - Boulogne Sur Mer


Stages for Climbers
Stage 7 - Tomblaine - La Planche des Belles Filles
Stage 8 - Belfort - Porrentury
Stage 10 - Macon - Bellegarde sur Valserine 
Stage 11 - Albertville - La Toussuire LesSybelles
Stage 14 - Limoux - Foix


Stages for Time Trialists
Stage 9 - Arc et Senans - Besancon (41.5km)
Stage 19 - Bonneval - Chartres (53.5km)


Stages for breakaways
Stage 12 - St-Jean de Maurienne - Annonay Davezieux
Stage 16 - Pau - Bagneres-de-Luchon
Stage 17 - Bagneres-de-Luchon - Peyragudes


I've separated the stages in to who I think they will suit. Although, stage 13, 15 and 18 I've listed as sprinters stages, they could equally be breakaways as they are not straightforward flat stages.


Where the Tour will be won
The time trials will be key, with nearly 100 km of time trialling compared to just 42.5km individual and a team time trial of 23km.


Last year the first 20 were separated by 2mins 41secs. This means that time gaps between time trialists like Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins and climbers like Robert Gesink could be 5 minutes.


With only two high summit finishes on stage 11 and 17 and one mid mountain summit finish stage 7, the Tour certainly favours the time triallists, especially without protagonists such as Rodriguez, Contador and Andy Schleck. The time gaps in the mountains are unlikely to be as high as without them.


Stage 7 is going to be a key one. This will be where the key contenders will come to the fore and we will see who the challengers for the yellow jersey, podium and top 10 will be.


Sprinters
On paper the sprinters have 8 chances to win a stage, however it is not that simple. Many of the stages have sharp climbs close to the end, stage 3 and 4 being the case and point. These could be a perfect springboard for an opportunist to get away. This could stretch the resources of Lotto-Belisol and Team Sky especially. Team Sky will have to try to measure their resources to ensure their is enough support for both Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins.


Even though the stages are not necessarily as exciting as previous years, it is the racers not the stages that make a great tour. I think this Tour is going to be as tight as ever and hopefully as exciting as ever.


I can't wait!

Superbowl, Spinners, Switch-hits and Clenbuterol

It's been a big week in the world of sport. Well, the truth is there are rarely quiet weeks. There is always something going on whether in the ups and downs of the season or the season curtain-raiser.

Switch-Hits

This is a re-hash of a previous controversy. Kevin Pietersen first sparked this of with his switch-hit, but David Warner re-opened the can of worms by switch-hitting Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin 100m for a 6.

The controversy is that a switch-hit involves the batsman switching stance either from right handed to left handed or vice versa.

The fact that a bowler cannot change style of bowling, or the side of the wicket or hand he releases from but the batsman can suggests an unfair advantage.

The shot has been legalised by the ICC, and is a very difficult shot. Warner hit it 100m, further than most batsman can hit with their chosen hand, but this is less to do with the shot and more to do with his frakish and exceptional talent.

I think the fact only the best players can succeed with the shot, is a proof that it is not cheating but a highly-skilled shot.

Spinners

England have just been beaten 3-0 by Pakistan in the latest cricket series. It was by all accounts an abject performance, with averages amongst the batsman ranging from low teens to mid twenties, with only Matt Prior (coming in at no.7) averaging over 30.

The fact is England were undone by the spinners from Pakistan, Rehmann and Ajmal, and struggled to play them at all. Thier overconfidence due to their no.1 world ranking and the fact that many of the batsmen seemed out of touch, didn't help.

The truth is in my opinion to be truly no.1 in the world, you have to be able to win home and away, against both seam attacks and the spinners, hopefully we can improve in Sri Lanka.

With matches against Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa and India still to come, if England are still no.1 at the end they will truly deserve it.
Superbowl

There is little to say about the superbowl as I've only seen highlights. This was probably my most bizarre superbowl experience, being at work on a Monday morning while the game was being played. The game did not finish until mid-afternoon Australian time. It makes it very difficult to watch the game being at work and all!

The game featured two very good quarterbacks, but this is only ever half the story, a quarterback needs the support of a good offence to protect him, good wide-receivers to offer options to pass to and good running backs to offer an alternative and take pressure off.

For instance Tom Brady's touchdown throw for the Patriots came due to a great set of plays culminating in some great offence that provided him with what seemed like an age (or a superbowl in itself - it seemed so long) that he could easily pick out a receiver for the touchdown.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d826aedd4/Super-Bowl-XLVI-highlights

In the end i believe the best team won.

Clenbuterol

Finally to my favourite sport, cycling, unfortunately so often overshadowed by doping, and no more so than today.

I will post more on this soon, but just to give an overview of my thoughts.

Today was no shock, the investigation has been a long saga, much longer than was necessary and cycling has been greatly damaged for it.

This only shows once again the incompetence of the authorities and the muddle of the doping authorities. CAS overrules the Spanish body on behalf of WADA and the UCI, with the Spanish Government also interfering.

There are no winners from this, just losers and defacto winners, but that means very little, to them or anyone else.

On the face of it, it seems like the case was a trial of guilty until proven innocent, in many ways this is true, but a better analogy is one of a crime scene.

A murder has occurred and the suspect's DNA has been found, now he must prove why it was there. The fact is he couldn't, and even though the burden of proof for doping was lacking, there was equally no proof that it was contaminated meat, although as ludicrous as that sounds it is plausible.

What is clear is that cycling is the big loser, Contador was able to continue competing and winning, despite now being judged to be guilty, others are denied their glory and cycling seems no further ahead than in the mid-noughties, despite the opposite being true.