WEEKENDS SPORT PREVIEW
Cricket
England take on the West Indies at the Oval on Saturday for the title of ICC Champions. If England win it would be there first ever one-day cricket title, having failed in 3 World Cup finals. This mini world cup has been a pretty damp squib so far, with the main highlight being England giving the Aussies a hiding for once in the semis. It should be a cracking game with both sides seeming to play well above themselves at present, and big names such as Lara, Sarwan, Flintoff and Harmison will all have opportunities to display their talents. I think at least an hour nursing a lemonade at the bar in Dot Cod will be required at some point.
Rugby
Tigers v Saints this weekend! It’s the big midlands local derby, Leicester v Northampton. Northampton are second only to Bath in the average Tigers fans “team you most want to beat” list and a victory would be sweet indeed. For Leicester the major news is that first choice fly-half, Andy Goode, will be out for six weeks with a knee injury which means we have a 19 year-old debutant Ross Broadfoot at fly-half. Heck of a game to start your career in.
Soccer
Some mindless thugs will try to kick a ball around, while on the terraces some mindless thugs will try to kick each other. In Asia people will bet on the outcome. The winner (in HK at least) will be the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Sounds like fun eh.
Formula One
I must admit that I used to be a big fan of F1, but the races became so boring, with so little overtaking, that I largely gave up on it. I will however be watching the race this weekend. China’s first attempt to host such an event could be interesting and the track is supposed to be excellent, with plenty of space for overtaking manouevres. Fingers crossed for a good race. A measure of how new the Chinese are to this sport though is that one local journalist asked Michael Schumacher (who drives for Ferrari, the well known blood-red liveried racing cars for those of you who have spent the last 50 yrs living under a rock) why he always wears red!
