Edgbaston vibe is a Davis Cup draw
AFTER Edgbaston produced easily the best atmosphere of the Ashes Test series, Great Britain’s Davis Cup semi-final against Australia could be heading to Birmingham as well.
One of the problems is finding a stadium big enough at short notice for the showcase tie starting on September 18. Andy Murray’s choice would be on home ground at Glasgow’s Hydro Arena, but that is booked for the live show of Mrs Brown’s Boys two days before the tennis.
Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre has staged the Davis Cup before and has the necessary capacity while the second city’s sports fans showed this week at the Test how passionate they are about cheering on their country.
Even defeated Aussie captain Michael Clarke called the Edgbaston atmosphere ‘fantastic’, while England’s Alastair Cook said it was ‘a privilege to play in front of them’. SKY SPORTS have persuaded top pundit Ricky Ponting, who is due to return to Australia, to stay on for the fourth Test at Trent Bridge next week. Good news for Sky’s armchair cricket fans who would otherwise have to put up with Shane Warne for the Aussie view. Meanwhile, foul-mouthed Warne, so upstaged on TV by Ponting (right), has now taken to insulting your Sports Agenda columnist in front of media colleagues, with his latest choice of obscenity being ‘f***head’. FAST bowler Steven Finn’s man-of-the-match return to Test cricket after two years out of the side wasn’t just a special moment for the player.
It also vindicated England Test sponsors Investec’s decision to keep faith with Finn as one of their two ambassadors — along with Stuart Broad — during his long period in the wilderness.
Investec had a meeting with their PR advisers at the end of last season to discuss whether they should keep Finn as their representative when he was so far away from a recall.
The answer was a unanimous yes — not just because of their belief in the bowler recovering from his run-up and rhythm difficulties but their highest regard for Finn as a down-to- earth affable personality. PAUL COLLINGWOOD has begun talks with Durham to extend his playing career into his forties. Discussions are complicated by his also being on England’s coaching radar, with Andrew Strauss and Trevor Bayliss due to review all the England backroom positions in September. The likelihood is that Collingwood will captain his county for one more year.