England down to 12 fit men on the bus, and the coach is struggling too

ENGLAND go into today’s warm-up against South Africa A at Potchefstroom with just 12 fit players on the team bus. And the team coach is struggling too.
Andy Flower, the Cape Town-born Zimbabwean batsman in charge of England’s ailing tourists, finds himself under fire from the home side despite having conjured a 1-1 draw from a two-match Twenty20 series dominated by the hosts.
Their coach, Mickey Arthur, covets the England job and has been quick to offer advice. Their captain Graeme Smith has twice battered England’s bowlers after slamming rival Andrew Strauss for snubbing the shortest form of the game and their best batsman, AB De Villiers, has also waded in on Alastair Cook’s decision to give young Yorkshire spinner Adil Rashid just one over in Sunday’s crushing 84-run defeat at Centurion.
With the first of five one-day internationals looming at the intimidating Wanderers bull-ring on Friday, Flower came out fighting today, just like he used to as a tiny but significant batsman for Essex.
He said: “Yes, I’ll be analysing the opposition, but I won't be commenting on them. All I would say is that I have gone through my career as a player, and I will continue to do so as a coach, in as modest a fashion as possible.
"I have been asked repeatedly about some of the comments from the opposition coach. Perhaps their status as No 1 is encouraging them to react differently. But I am very comfortable about where we are as a team and I concentrate all my energies on us as a team.”
As a tactic, it wasn’t a bad way to put the South African trio in their place for speaking out of turn. Flower defended the Rashid decision with some gusto. Rashid only played because senior spinner Graeme Swann was out with a side strain. Swann twittered: “I’m stiff as a board, perhaps I’m getting too old for this,” and Rashid found himself slapped for four sixes and 25 runs before stand-in skipper Cook - later fined for a slow over rate - saw fit to turn to the part-time tweaking of Kevin Pietersen and Joe Denly.
But Flower pointed out: “Adil bowled six balls to two batsmen who were absolutely set. It was a flat wicket, it wasn't turning and it was a small outfield and he got punished in those six balls.
"I know Adil. He's a 22-year-old leg-spinner finding his way. He's very skilful, he's going to be a very good all-rounder. He's been doing some excellent work with Mushtaq Ahmed, our bowling coach. I'm not overly concerned about what happened yesterday. We obviously deal with the individuals in an appropriate way, regardless of comments from the opposition."
Rashid is set to play at Potchefstroom tonight in a side deprived of Swann, Paul Collingwood (back), Stuart Broad (buttock) and their only form bowler, Jimmy Anderson (knee). Asked about his injury problems, Flower laughed: "I'll have to get my note book."
But South Africa’s master-batsman AB de Villiers, hardly needed behind the opening assault delivered by captain Graeme Smith and self-styled “Bazooka” Loots Bosman in the Twenty20s, delivered a veiled joked aimed at the England casualties. With news of England’s injuries leaking, he said: "The likes of Broad and Anderson, they have quite a few good bowlers here.
"But our batters are aware of that, and we've analysed them pretty well. We've also played a lot of games against them in the last two years, so we know all about them and we're going to have to play very well. It's a big challenge for our batters."
De Villiers isn’t to be trifled with. In six Tests leading up to England’s arrival in his country, he has scored a 746 runs at an average of 49,73 with a high of 174. And now he’s looking forward to doing Rashid’s fragile confidence more damage.
He said of the decision to give Rashid six balls on Sunday: "We were actually talking about it when (Joe) Denly came on to bowl.
"I was sitting next to Mickey (Arthur) in the dugout, and he said 'what's going on here. Rashid is a class bowler - why are they bringing on a guy like Denly?'
"That's not mind games. That's just chatting about the opposition. I just think it's bad for a guy's confidence, especially a youngster just coming in, when you bring in a guy like Denly.
"He (Rashid) could have taken a wicket at any time. He's got a lot of talent and he's going to get a lot of wickets in the future."
With Strauss back in charge after the Twenty20s, De Villiers – who will bat at three in the ODIs, said: "He's a class captain. He showed it in the Ashes.
"To handle the last Test match the way he did, he´s obviously very, very good, and it's going to be a great challenge between him and Graeme Smith.
"They're both very strong captains. I've played under Graeme for the last six years and I think he's the best captain in the world at the moment.
"What is going to make the difference between them is the performance - I believe the one who performs better will have a bigger effect on the team."
Asked if he remembered Kevin Pietersen’s ton when he made his debut for South Africa in Bloemfontein in January 2005, De Villiers said simply: "I don't remember much I just remember we won the series 4-1."

Seven hours on an economy flight... and Lamps is out for seven weeks

FURIOUS Chelsea officials are likely to ask the FA for nearly £1m in compensation after Frank Lampard was ruled out until Christmas — because he was bundled aboard a budget flight to Qatar.
The England midfielder spent seven hours cramped in economy seats to Doha for tomorrow’s friendly against Brazil — and a scan today could confirm those conditions caused the thigh injury which will put him out of action for seven weeks.
Lampard pulled up during a training session at Doha’s Al Saad ground yesterday and was promptly sent back to London — first class.
The Blues are reported to be furious and will now claim for Lampard’s £151,000-a-week wages, according to The Sun. That would cost around £900,000.
The FA flew the England squad on a charter plane designed for shorter flights, with seats that barely reclined and no sign of the flat beds usually reserved for such long journeys.
It is reported that several members of the squad complained of cramps and muscle pains after the flight.
Lampard did train in Doha but after warming up, he strained his left thigh during sprint runs.
A FA statement read: “We can confirm Frank Lampard picked up an injury while training and will be returning home. There will be no further call-ups.”
If Lampard’s injury proves as bad as feared, he will miss vital clashes with Arsenal and Manchester City over the coming weeks.
The move is a further blow for Chelsea, who have lost Jose Bosingwa for three months, while Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba are also struggling with injuries.
Meanwhile, Michael Essien, John Mikel Obi, Salomon Kalou and Drogba are all set to play in the Africa Cup of Nations during January.
England aren’t in a great position either. Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who has been troubled by a groin injury, did not travel to Doha first class or economy — though he did play in the 2-2 draw with Birmingham City on Monday.
Gerrard’s Liverpool team mate Glen Johnson also withdrew from Fabio Capello’s squad while midfielder David Beckham has play-offs with LA Galaxy.
That leaves England to put out a midfield without the experienced trio of Lampard, Gerrard or Beckham for the first time since Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry and Stuart Downing were on duty in the 2-1 win against Germany in Berlin almost exactly a year ago.

Nuremburg, Twickenham, Molineux and Jarman Park

SOME weekend. David Haye was magnificent against the 7ft 2in Russian giant Valuev... and despite one judge in Nuremburg scoring it even, the Londoner is the new world heavyweight champion of the woooooorld! Not bad for a man seven-stone lighter than his oppo!
Thing is, the IBF and WBO world champion Wladimir Klitschko says he didn't watch the fight, says he was out "performing magic with a friend. It's a hobby of mine." Is that a euphemism? And Haye's euphoria may be tempered by Klitschko saying: "We've had enough of Haye spending our money promoting him to fight us. The result from Nuremburg makes little difference to me. They can shout all they want. I have two defences of my titles next year and neither are against them."
At Molineux, Wolves faced giants too, in the shape of on-form Arsenal, on a run of 18 games unbeaten... thought they were actually unlucky with the 4-1 scoreline, though the third and fourth goals from the free-scoring Gunners were pretty special. Poor old Wolves, an own goal and a deflection left their fans bleak in the Black Country.
Twickenham was an even gloomier place to be on Saturday... even Jonny Wilkinson couldn't lift an England side carrying so many injuries, though it was Wilko, like old times, who scored all England's points. Wales did the normal against the All Blacks in Cardiff... level at half-time, out of it by the end.
Few will have seen the events of Jarman Park, Hemel Hempstead yesterday where Goldhill Baptist saw off Adeyfield to move into serious contention for the South Bucks Church League Third Division honours. But hey, it matters to some of us!
While England prepare for the second game of their African safari - having won the first against the Diamond Eagles in Bloemfontein where Jonathan Trott received hardly any abuse - South Africa are crushing Zimbabwe in Benoni.
My betting career is going downhill fast. The opening win of £3,167 from a two pound stake three weeks ago - my first ever bet on football after a lifetime of writing about the game - appears impossible to follow. I was on for £6,000 until Bolton imploded against Aston Villa and Portsmouth succumbed to Blackburn's second half revival.
The two big stories of the day? Michael Owen is NOT going to replace the injured Carlton Cole in England's squad to play Brazil and Phil Brown is headed OUT of the door at Hull. Both mistakes in my view. Owen is a big game hunter, Brown's character will be impossible to replace at Hull.
So what about this afternoon? Chelsea captain John Terry is all over the Mail on Sunday suggesting Manchester United are there for the taking without Rio Ferdinand and his mystery back injury. Terry says: "It's a good time to be playing United. This is our chance to pull away at the top and put ourselves five points clear."
He's right of course. I'll just pop down the bookies...