Phil Harrison: Stick with Root as Ashes opener regardless of what Warne thinks

It is sometimes said that you can have too much of a good thing, so we can only hope that this winter’s ‘eagerly-anticipated’ series between cricket’s oldest enemies lives up to all the hype.

There were flashes of brilliance and memorable moments during this summer when England made hard work of securing a 3-0 victory over what was a generally poor Australian side.

It certainly won’t be a summer as memorable as that of 2005 when Yorkshire’s Michael Vaughan led England to a memorable 2-1 victory – nothing is ever likely to compare to those wonderful few months.

The 2009 series had its moments but, at times seemed like a foregone conclusion under Andrew Strauss – the man who had he been given the captaincy three years earlier when England suffered in Australia, would have ensured that the calamity of a 5-0 whitewash which unfolded under the leadership of Andrew Flintoff would have been avoided.

Many column inches have been devoted recently to the debate – started by Shane Warne – over whether Yorkshire’s Joe Root, pictured, should open the batting for England, or bat lower down the order with Hampshire’s Michael Carberry striding out to bat at the top of the innings alongside captain Alastair Cook.

In the past few days, Warne has also come out and been critical of Alastair Cook, Michael Clarke and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Nobody, it seems, is safe.

“I don’t think Root’s an opener because of his technique,” Warne was quoted as saying last week. “Australia found him out in England, and in Australian conditions they’ll find him out more. You can’t get stuck on the crease in Australia because of the pace of the wickets.

“It could be crucifying him if he has got to face Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson on some fast, bouncy pitches. I think he’s just going to nick off a lot. Besides Lord’s, where he got 180, Australia had his number.”

Warne also thinks Carberry – who impressed recently against Australia A – should open the innings with Cook, although that should not come as too much of a surprise given the close relationship the two struck up at Hampshire and given the left-hander’s recent interview when he cited Warne as one of the most positive influences on his career.

For what it’s worth, coming from the presenter of a regional newspaper’s rarely-listened to cricket podcast, I would stick with Root at the top of the order.

As Warne alludes to, the 22-year-old’s technique did come into question during the summer and on occasion he did struggle to deal with the quicker bowlers.

But, if he is to succeed at the top of the order then he is going to have to deal with such situations – something likely to be highlighted even more, as Warne states, on Australia’s faster pitches and if the likes of Mitchell Johnson can find any kind of consistent, troubling aggression.

If he finds the going tough then over the first three Test matches, fair enough, bring in Carberry.

Regardless of all the debate, Root has, wherever he bats, a bright and long future for his country but what England should avoid doing, at all costs, is let an Australian – however great he may have been as a player – influence their team selection.

IT can only be hoped members of the International Olympic Committee – those who determine which venues and sports are part of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ – had their eyes fixed on Manchester recently.

Had they been, they would have witnessed a fantastic advert for a sport which, bafflingly, they chose not to admit to the 2020 Games, or the two before.

The decision to re-admit wrestling, just seven months after throwing it out of the Olympic programme, stunned many, not least the officials who had led the squash bid, which eventually came in third behind baseball/softball.

It brought to an end an extremely stressful, not to mention expensive campaign by several sports which, once wrestling had been taken back into the fold, must have felt like a complete and utter waste of time.

Squash has long had an image problem, particularly when it comes to TV coverage – apparently so vital to a sport’s chances of being selected for the Games.

The men’s World Squash Championships in Manchester last week were successful on many levels – not least because it produced a three-time world champion in Sheffield’s Nick Matthew. Crucially, it was able to answer comprehensively the question of whether it is a ‘TV sport’, this time via the BBC Red Button service.

Fittingly, the event had a thrilling final with Matthew edging out Gregory Gaultier 3-2 after almost two hours and, once the event was transferred to it’s city centre Manchester Central venue from the quarter-finals onwards, it was a sellout.

The sport has transformed itself in recent years and answered many questions thrown at it by the IOC during its three failed bids. Whether the sport has the stomach for a fourth bid for the 2024 Games remains to be seen, but it would be wrong to give up now, given how far it has come.

The appointment of a new IOC president in German Thomas Bach has given renewed hope to some in the sport that there may even be a late chance of inclusion for Tokyo 2020. Despite the selection process being long finished, there is a belief the new president was unhappy with the 2020 bidding process. Meetings are scheduled between Bach and representatives from squash and the other failed bids in the coming months.

Lee Beachill, Yorkshire’s former world No1 and now chief operating officer of the Leeds-based Professional Squash Association, the body which runs the men’s world tour, said the recent world championships will only have further widened the sport’s image and appeal.

“I think in general, the sport is in a lot better position now having gone through the bid process,” said Beachill.

“As a sport we just have to keep trying to grow and trying to answer the questions from the IOC as to why we failed to get in this time, with a view to being a sport that will ultimately appeal to the Olympics. I can’t see how last week’s world championships in Manchester didn’t do the sport any good. There were four brilliant nights at Manchester Central and it was pretty much stacked out every night – and I think the viewing figures on the BBC were very good.

“Anyone who has seen that event, went near the event or read about it – I just don’t see how that can’t be classed as an Olympic sport.

“I think one thing that came out of the 2020 bid process was that it was flawed in many ways. It resulted in several sports going through an extremely expensive and stressful process and, at the end of it all, I’m not sure there was anything more the sports could have done, not just squash, but baseball and all the others, to affect the result.

“Now there is a new president and new members of the board and we are all waiting now with bated breath to find out what is going to come from these meetings.”

and another thing...

THE recent announcement of a new TV deal to broadcast live games from the UK’s Elite League Ice Hockey League, is something that, at first glance at least, should be welcomed.

Like squash, ice hockey is often criticised for not being a game that transfers to the small screen too well – presumably due to the size of the puck. Personally, I’ve never had any problems following the action on TV, and have been a subscriber to the various channels that have broadcast North America’s National Hockey League to UK viewers in recent years.

The Elite League will now sit alongside the NHL on Premier Sports with a live game every Saturday night. And while that will help expose the sport to a wider audience – although most ice hockey fans will probably subscribe to the channel already – it can only be hoped it doesn’t affect attendances at those games to be screened live.

Attendances, together with a plethora of imaginative sponsorship deals, are the lifeblood of vast majority of ice hockey clubs in the UK – so if they do have to take a hit in terms of ticket sales for live TV games, it is vital they are somehow compensated for that loss.

Since the introduction of the split Conference system last year, the quality of the league has improved greatly.

It should be ensured that the new TV deal should be made to help further that improvement.