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Royce Simmons insists he is more worried about his team’s defence than losing his job.

And the St Helens coach has told daughter Carly not to include him in any wedding plans for next year quite yet.

Simmons, who guided Saints to last season’s Grand Final and the Challenge Cup semi-finals, is out of contract at the end of the

year. Fellow Aussie Nathan Brown has been tipped for the role when he quits Huddersfield.

But popular Simmons, whose unbeaten team host Catalans Dragons at Langtree Park on Friday, laughed off the link.

He said: “I am just doing my job and trying to win a Premiership at the end of the year.

“I have not discussed a new contract with the chairman but we get on really well.

“It hadn’t even crossed my mind what I am doing next year until my daughter rang about a wedding next March.

“All I care about are my players and getting our defence right for this weekend.”

* Widnes have lost Aussie Anthony Watts for six months with a cruciate knee injury.

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/royce-is-fixed-on-his-st-helens-role-737257

Shamed former heavyweight champ David Haye flew out of Britain in style yesterday – and into permanent retirement.

He boarded a plane to Las Vegas after his camp admitted his punch-up with Dereck Chisora in Munich had killed off any hope of fighting Vitali Klitschko.

Klitschko’s manager insisted the Ukrainian would never face Haye and the British Boxing Board of Control are highly unlikely to grant him a licence to fight again because of the shameful scrap with Chisora.

Haye’s trainer and manager Adam Booth admitted the one-time WBA king, still wanted for questioning by Munich police, had abandoned plans to make a comeback against Vitali this summer.

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Booth said: “Bernd Boente categorically said that fight would never happen. So David is still retired and has no plans to fight again.

“David was in Munich to see if there was a fight with Vitali Klitschko because he’s always said the only people he would come out of retirement for are one of the Klitschko brothers. What happened on Saturday doesn’t change that.”

Haye scuffled with Chisora at a press conference after his fellow Briton’s defeat to Klitschko.

Last night he tweeted a photo of himself relaxing in first class on the flight, wearing a Stars Wars t-shirt.

And he wrote: “Managed to shake off them bird watchers on M25! Jetting off to warmer climates. Its PARTY TIME!”

German detectives must sit and wait for up to a fortnight as their pursuit of Haye is held up by red tape.

A police spokesman said: “We’re going to ask the British to help us but this is not a quick process. We have to go through the right channels, send letters, et cetera.

“We don’t expect something to happen for around two weeks. It is not a serious charge, like murder, it is just a case involving two famous people.”

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/shamed-david-haye-flees-to-las-737337

Kevin Pietersen saved his best ever until last to secure Alastair Cook a second whitewash as England one-day captain.

Cook’s first arrived against Bangladesh in 2010. But this was far sweeter and more impressive against a superior Pakistan team, in their preferred conditions and in the wake of a 3-0 Test ­drubbing.

Back-to-back tons for Pietersen matched his ­skipper’s efforts in the first two games.

But in reaching his highest one-day score of 130 from 153 balls, Pietersen produced the innings of the series.

Chasing 238 to win under lights thanks to more quality bowling, England took the 4-0 series triumph courtesy of a four-wicket win with four balls to spare.

And when he plays as he did last night, there is no doubt that Pietersen’s new life as a one-day opener has been an unqualified success.

With Cook falling early, it was full of responsibility and classic Pietersen strokeplay illuminated by 12 fours and two sixes. It really was a special knock.

England took a new-look bowling attack into action with Jade Dernbach, Tim Bresnan and debutant Danny Briggs replacing the Test men Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann. But crucially they kept the best bowler revved up and ready to go.

And yet again Steven Finn didn’t disappoint with another high-quality 10 overs.

He was outgunned on the wicket front as Dernbach celebrated his recall with 4-43, but Finn’s 2-42 was a cut above – especially during the first powerplay when Pakistan got off to a flyer.

Both Dernbach and Bresnan looked a little rusty to begin with which allowed Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq to collect fifties, but once they departed England took greater control.

Their bowling and fielding has been superior throughout the one-dayers and again England held some tidy catches and effected a run out from Samit Patel to help peg back Pakistan. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq made sure of a competitive total with 46.

But his wicket and that of Saeed Ajmal at the death meant England had bowled them out in every game.

Never before has an England team dismissed the ­opposition so completely – and for that the credit lies with Finn, whose 13 wickets in the series have been just as important as any of the four hundreds.

Cook scored two of them in the first two games, but his hopes of a third were ended surprisingly quickly when he played round a straight one to fall lbw.

At 68-4 this was Craig Kieswetter’s first real test at No.6 and he passed with flying colours. By the time he was run out for 43, his stand of 109 with Pietersen had broken the back of the chase.

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/odi/kevin-pietersen-hits-knock-of-the-series-737261

England were grateful to Kevin Pietersen’s “best one-day innings” of his career for the win that lifts them above Pakistan in the rankings.

They jumped up one spot to fifth in the one-day charts as Alastair Cook’s men took a giant step forward in their plans for one-day domination.

“I’m allowed to say that is probably the best one-day innings I’ve played,” said ­Pietersen.

He drew level with Graham Gooch in reaching a record 28 international hundreds for England – and added:

“I knew that if I batted for 50 overs and used my experience and took the game deep, then we would come close.

“For an innings like that you need to have runs behind you and Test match experience in order to keep the situation simple and back your ability.

“You need to have a lot of confidence in your ability and your work ethic, and at the moment the work being put in by the team has been rewarded.”

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/odi/kevin-pietersen-that-was-my-best-one-day-innings-737259

Geoff Parling is one of three England players to be given full debuts against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Leicester lock replaces Tom Palmer in the starting line-up, with scrum-half Lee Dickson and No.8 Ben Morgan also promoted.

The trio have come off the bench in each of Stuart Lancaster’s first two games in charge, against Scotland and Italy.

Although England won both, their line-out has not impressed and former Newcastle star Parling, 28, will be tasked with putting it right when the team is named tomorrow.

The fit-again trio of Manu Tuilagi, Toby Flood and Courtney Lawes are earmarked for bench duty, though a hand injury to fly-half Charlie Hodgson could conceivably force a change of plan.

What is certain is Morgan will go into his first start, against the country in which he plays his club rugby, feeling no fear.

The Scarlets No.8, Bristol-born and set to join Gloucester in the summer, will play at a sold-out Twickenham for the first time, against four club team-mates.

But he said: “We’re such a tight group in this England squad that I will feel I’m just going out to play with my mates, chuck the ball about and have a good time.”

Graham Rowntree, England’s forwards coach, said Morgan, 22, had made “giant strides” since coming into the squad.

“He is a very coachable man,” Rowntree added. “He has really taken in everything.

“The little extra things we are asking him to do differently in this environment, he is doing really well.”

Lancaster added: “We’ve had a great two days of training and some difficult selection decisions with players coming back into the equation.”

Wales are hot favourites, despite just one victory in the fixture at Twickenham since 1988, and England have wasted no opportunity to remind them of that.

“They are the form team,” said Rowntree. “A complete outfit in terms of what they can produce in the tight and dynamic in the loose.

“They have a great opportunity to come to Twickenham and roll us at the weekend. They will be fancying their chances.

“Something we spoke about all week is matching that challenge. We’re going to be up for it. I think we’re going to be able to step up.”

- ENGLAND (probable): B Foden; C Ashton, B Barritt, O Farrell, D Strettle; C Hodgson, L Dickson; A Corbisiero, D Hartley, D Cole, M Botha, G Parling, T Croft, C Robshaw (capt), B Morgan

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/england-v-wales-leicesters-geoff-737397

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Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/england-v-wales-win-tickets-739039

Triathlon star Jonny Brownlee can’t wait to compete at the London Olympics – and says the added pressure of being one of the world’s best is a privilege.

The 21-year-old and his brother Alistair are two of TeamGB’s brightest medal hopes as they continue to dominate their sport.

But Jonny refuses to be intimidated by the opportunity of racing in his home country, and insists it will only serve to spur him on.

“The extra pressure of competing at home is definitely something that pushes me on more, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it – of course you do”, he says.

“We know all eyes will be on us, but the pressure is also a privilege.

“It’s great to go into a home Games and be talked about as having a medal opportunity because you would rather have that than not be talked about at all – you want to be part of the race and fighting for the medals.”

Jonny and Alistair have been tipped by Olympic legend Daley Thompson as ones-to-watch at this summer’s Games.

But as the countdown to the summer spectacle continues, Jonny says there is still a long time to go due to the risk of injury.

“The Olympics is something that has been talked about for a long, long time – but now we’ve hit 2012, it definitely feels a lot closer”, he says.

“But six months is still a long time for us, because our season doesn’t actually start until early May. We can definitely feel it building though, with all the ads in the papers and on TV.

“Even in the gym where we train, there is a countdown clock saying how many days and minutes there are to go.

“We do 35 hours of training a week, and that’s 35 hours where you run the risk of injury. When it’s icy, you can slip on your bike or when you’re out running.

“With triathlon, there’s always the danger of doing too much because it’s a sport where you frequently train tired.

“But you can’t worry about it really – if you get injured, you get injured. You just have to put it at the back of your mind.”

Jonny finished third at the London Olympics test event in Hyde Park last year, and intends to replicate his training this year as the Games approach.

“We had to peak for August last year to qualify for the Olympics, so I’ll keep my training very similar to that in terms of time-scale”, he says.

“A few things have been different – last year it snowed a lot, so we were forced into doing different things but that hasn’t really happened this year.

“But my basic training has stayed the same. I don’t want to increase it too much or doing anything too different and hopefully I’ll have the same result.

“We focus on endurance at this time of year, and when it gets warmer – around March or April – we pick it up another level when we start racing.

“And that extra intensity comes naturally when you start to race too.”

He frequently jets off for warm weather training around the world – but the proud Yorkshireman admits there is nowhere else in the world he would rather be preparing than at home.

He explained: “I went to Lanzarote for two days before Christmas and I’ve spent two weeks there recently as well.

“But it can be a bit boring there because there’s a lot of black rock, so when that is all you are seeing for four hours when out on the bike it can be a bit dull.

“We also go out to San Moritz because of the altitude and it’s beautiful out there too. Switzerland is just amazing, I enjoy training there.

“But I love to train in Yorkshire. We cycle out to the Dales and I love it there. It’s my favourite place in the world to train.”

Each triathlon consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run and once the Games are over, the brothers plan to take some time out to recuperate from their gruelling regime.

“After the Games, because there has been such a build-up, we will take some time off”, says Jonny.

“But our season doesn’t end until November in New Zealand. We’ll see how the Games go, but I would like to take some time off.”

For now, though, all of Jonny’s focus is on London 2012 – both competing and supporting TeamGB team-mates.

“I love everything about the Olympics”, he laughs.

“In Beijing, I was addicted to the TV watching Chris Hoy and Usain Bolt.

“I’d love to see what Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe can do – I’m looking forward to seeing all the big names compete.

“And of course, it would be a dream to compete in Rio 2016, but London dominates for now – it is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

- Jonathan Brownlee was speaking at the launch of BMW Presents, a series of short films that celebrate the BMW London 2012 Performance Team and explore Ultimate Performance.

To view the films, visit www.youtube.com/bmwuk

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/london-2012-triathlete-jonny-brownlee-739605

1) Whitewash complete.  Job done.  It’s been a clinical performance by England throughout this series.  One wonders if the ODI series had been played before the Test series whether we wouldn’t have been whitewashed.  If it was up to me to decide these things, and it’s hard to believe it isn’t, ODIs would always be played as the warm up to the headline of the Test series followed by the T20s.  A yummy Test sandwich as it were. 

2) Picking the youngsters when you are 3-0 up in a series is an infinitely sensible way of blooding them into the side and giving them match practice before the T20 series. And Swann, Broad and Anderson deserved a rest.  In Test Cricket you should ALWAYS play your best side but there’s a very clear case for squad rotation in the shorter formats. However, today it was really apparent at points how much we miss Broad, Anderson and Swann when they aren’t in the side. Briggs, who finished with more than respectable figures is a very talented young man and had a good recent tour with the lions. He struggled with his line and length to start with. To state the obvious, spin bowling is very hard and people tend to blossom into it much later than the seamers. He’s got work to do but he’s got time.  Remember how late a bloomer Swann was. Jos Buttler came to the crease with the score 68-3 after Eoin Morgan completely missed a sweep shot in the 16th over.  Buttler oozes natural talent and is a real finisher but sometimes you get out for 0 – it happens to the best, especially against Saeed Ajmal. This shouldn’t be used against him   

3) Steven Finn has been an absolute revelation this series. Not only has he picked up a yard or two of pace but his line has been immaculate.  In the second batting powerplay Misbah and Malik just could not get him away to accelerate the scoring.  Jade Dernbach in his first match after his not great 1-168 off 25 overs in last year’s India series gave a good account of himself. He made a fantastic start by getting Hafeez to nibble at one just outside off.  But his ODI economy rate is still above a run a ball and that’s not quite good enough really. He may try to vary it just too much and needs to decide what his stock ball is but he is definitely a great death bowler and he is worth persevering with.

4) Pakistan seem to have sorted out their batting order.  Azhar Ali must be an opener and Umar Akmal needs to come in where he did at 4.  Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali (who scored his maiden ODI half century) are impressive stroke players.  Both use their feet exquisitely and work the ball round the gaps.  Mohammed Hafeez hasn’t had a good series scoring 8,5, 26 and 29. – he is lacking confidence and may have a technical problem that needs some work.  After he got out nibbling one he should have left or played properly out. Azhar and Shafiq got their heads down and set about building a very nice platform albeit against a weaker bowling attack than the previous 3 matches.  Despite a good platform, throughout the whole series, none of the Pakistan batsmen, even if they got starts, pushed on and took responsibility for seeing through the innings in the way that Alastair Cook has for England. Someone has to push on to get a big score and no one has managed that for Pakistan.  After the start that Azhar and Shafiq gave them they should have got at least 250 today probably 260 or more. 

5) Craig Kieswetter’s keeping has improved and continues to improve but good grief he loves an appeal doesn’t he?  Even when he’s the only one and it’s clearly not even close to being out. Admire the enthusiasm but it does get a little grating after a while. All was forgiven though once he started playing his shots.  He’s not a natural number 6, he’s a starter not a finisher but he played very well today particularly looking for the gaps and his running between the stumps (well until he was run out at least).  

6) Captain Misbah Ul Haq is sometimes very defensive with his fields. The key to winning this one was to taking wickets and as soon as he put catchers in place, he did just that. 

7) Back to back tons for KP.  Isn’t it wonderful to see the Kevin Pietersen of old? He’s re-found his confidence, he’s playing aggressively and using his feet.  He’s showing signs of the 2005 KP again and it’s very exciting to watch.  This was a good pitch to bat on and 237 was not a difficult chase.  In contrast, Jonathan Trott has not had a successful tour and he is probably feeling a little under pressure although he shouldn’t – his ODI average is nearly 50 and everyone is allowed a bad tour.

Not only can the Akmals not really catch, it doesn’t seem as though they can run between the sticks very well either.  A family of 6 brothers and we’ve seen 4 of them on our telly at some point or other.  I wonder if they have a sister who can catch?

9) Pakistan only played one seamer – Junaid Khan and he really didn’t bowl very well at all.  Given England’s problems with spin on this tour you can understand why they went for so many spinners and it paid off today in the first part of England’s innings but Kieswetter and Pietersen showed that you need to attack – get on either the front or back foot and play the shots. If you get after the spinners it becomes a whole different ball game.  Well obviously it doesn’t it’s still cricket – but you know what I mean right?

10) Just in case you were wondering, it’s quite hard to live blog when the fire alarm goes off and you have to walk down 22 flights of stairs.  Just in case you were wondering, I’m guessing you probably weren’t.

That’s the end of the ODI series.  Mirror Sport will be back with you on Saturday for the first of the T20’s.

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/odi/england-v-pakistan-10-lessons-730028

After being whitewashed by Pakistan in the Test series in Dubai and Aby Dhabi, England’s cricketers took revenge in the one day internationals.

Alastair Cook’s men had already raced into an unassailable series lead before today’s final ODI and they sealed victory by four wickets for the 4-0 whitewash. 

It means England move up to fourth in the one-day rankings.

MirrorSport’s cricket blogger Lizzy Ammon was here to guide you through the game along with comments from readers on the live blog and through the Twitter hashtag #mirrorcricket.

3rd ODI

REPLAY: How England won the 3rd ODI v Pakistan

10 lessons we learned from England’s win v Pakistan in the third ODI
 

2nd ODI

REPLAY: How England won the 2nd ODI v Pakistan

10 lessons we learned from England’s win v Pakistan in the second ODI

1st ODI

Replay: England win first ODI by 130 runs

10 lessons we learned from England’s win v Pakistan in the second ODI

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/replay-pakistan-v-england---692674

Wales will fire “Cannonball Ken” Owens at England on Saturday.

Injuries have ruled out Test hookers Huw Bennett and Matthew Rees for the Triple Crown clash. So Warren Gatland will throw rookie Owens into the Twickenham cauldron for his first start after just an hour of international rugby.

But team-mates reckon Owens, Rees’ understudy at the Scarlets, will smash holes in England’s chariot.

Wales skipper Sam Warburton said: “We call him ‘Cannonball Ken’ because of his ball carrying abilities. “Skill-wise he has it all and he’s a lump as well. He works very hard around the pitch and he’s done well in the Test matches when he’s come on.

“His lineout throwing is a strength and he should slot in easily.”

Alun Wyn Jones has been catapulted back into the team after just two hours of rugby in three months. The British Lions lock has been out since he dislocated a toe in training last November.

Gatland said: “He is going to struggle for the full 80 minutes but we have no concerns about his experience or ability. That’s why we’re throwing him in.

“Physically and mentally he is in good shape. No one is more diligent when it comes to looking after himself both on and off the field.”

That means Ryan Jones is forced to sit on the bench while Andy Powell misses out altogether.

But Gatland warned his squad: “Ryan was disappointed but we expect that. It’s about how players respond and support the rest of the guys.

“If they throw their toys of the cot and act like a d**k-head, then they’re not going to be around here long.”

George North is named in an unchanged backline after recovering from an ankle injury.

WALES:
L Halfpenny; A Cuthbert, J Davies, J Roberts, G North; R Priestland, M Phillips; G Jenkins, K Owens, Adam Jones, AW Jones, I Evans, D Lydiate, T Faletau, S Warburton (capt). Replacements: R Hibbard, P James, R Jones, J Tipuric, L Williams, J Hook, S Williams.

Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/wales-set-to-unleash-cannonball-ken-723532