Trott happy to frustrate South Africa all over again

JONATHAN TROTT, the Cape Town-raised Englishman who proved to be such a thorn in South Africa’s side in the tumultuous first Test in Centurion, heads into the Boxing Day Test at soggy Durban insisting: “I will give it my all.”

Trott, who batted a marathon 212 balls and over five hours (316 minutes with five boundaries), scoring a defiant 61 to help guide England to a draw – by a single wicket – insists he relished the experience of playing under the baking sun for five days against the nation of his birth.

And he is all geared up for the post-Christmas showdown at Kingsmead, where he will get little sympathy from the partisan locals who inhabit the notorious Castle Corner.

Trott, red-faced from the blazing sun after his first overseas Test, said: "You always wonder what it will feel like if one day you have the opportunity to play a Test match back in South Africa – I enjoyed the whole experience and look forward to a few more, I hope."

Trott and Pietermaritzburg-reared Kevin Pietersen produced a 145-run partnership for the fourth wicket which held South Africa at bay for xxx hours – and both came under fire from South Africa captain Graeme Smith.

Smith felt Trott takes too long to prepare for each ball when he is settling down to repel the opposition. Smith ranted: “It’s frustrating. I take a while to prepare myself but when he’s stopping the bowler in mid-run-up all the time, something has to be done. He’s been warned in the one-dayers and he’s been warned in this Test.”

But Warwickshire warrior Trott, 28, appears undaunted by Smith’s trenchant criticism. He says, which a distinct South African burr: "I’ve never had complaints before and I won't be trying to do anything different."

It was only when Trott departed – the first victim of 29-year-old debutant Friedel de Wet in a devastating new ball spell of 3-11 off seven overs – that England began to look shakey, losing Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann in an alarming last hour collapse. No11 Graham “Bunions” Onions and the ever-reliable Paul Collingwood were left to see off the South Africans in a tense finish on Sunday night.

Trott shrugged off his endless crease scratching and pitch flattening, insisting: "It's one of those things I do to get myself prepared and make sure I'm in the right frame of mind to help contribute to the England side.

"I don't play cricket to get under people's skin - I play cricket to be effective. I have my things I do to get myself ready for battle.

"Maybe it can mess with their over rate or whatever, but it's just what I do - and I won't be changing it.

"It's what's got me to this position to be able to play for England - and it's an exciting time."

Though the Durban showdown is likely to be hit by rain – the local weather forecasters are saying there is a 60 percent chance of daily interruptions in the tropical port city – Trott says the mood in the camp is strong as they settle in at their plush hotel in Umhlanga, 10 miles north of Durban, where the Indian Ocean’s crashing waves draw the surfing fraternity.

He said: "It was a great effort by the guys to pull through and for Paul and Bunions to get us out of a spot of bother and keep the series level at 0-0. The team showed good spirit and guts to get through it."

Amid the fall-out, Smith has a quick pop at KP and Trott

SOMEHOW, amid the frantic fall-out from last night’s desperate draw in Centurion, South Africa captain Graeme Smith still found time for a quick poke at his old sparring partner, Kevin Pietersen and his fellow South African-born Englishman Jonathan Trott.

After seeing his side fail by just one wicket to snatch the first Test, Smith went through the usual routine of pretending his side were “taking the positives” from what could so easily have been an unexpected victory - but then launched into Pietersen, who ran himself out just after tea for 81.

Pietermaritzburg-born Pietersen and Cape Town-born Jonathan Trott, 69, had taken England to what appeared to be the verge of safety with a fourth wicket partnership worth nearly 145 from 43 overs. It was only later, when 29-year-old debutant Friedel De Wet took the new ball and knocked over Trott, Ian Bell and Matt Prior in four scintillating overs, that England really started to quake.

But Smith savoured Pietersen’s suicidal dismissal grinning: “Ya, look, it wasn’t a single was it? I’m glad KP took it though! That might have been what started England’s collapse.”

And then he rounded on Trott, snarling: “He’s been warned in the one-dayers and he’s been warned here today. He takes too long to set himself up. I’m not that quick myself but when your bowlers have to continually stop and wait, it gets frustrating. We won’t lose sleep over it, but something has to be done.”

Clearly, had the South African-reared pair not stuck to their guns, England would have lost the first Test yesterday. And their captain Andrew Strauss admitted as much. While complimenting Man of the Match Graeme Swann for his 5-110 with the ball and his Test-best 85 with the bat, Strauss added: “Trott and Pietersen made it look easy. Their partnership was the crucial factor.”

Paul Collingwood, who scored an over-looked 50 in the first innings and followed it with an obdurate 26 off 99 balls yesterday, was also the immovable object for most of the final day when England snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat against Australia at the first Ashes Test in Cardiff last summer.

He said: “It’s fair to say Cardiff was in the back of my mind. I got out there before the end and it’s not easy to watch the last few overs from the changing room. This time I was determined to stick it out. It was so satisfying to be there at the end.

“Right from the start today, with a wicket down, we set out to bat through the day. But when Bunny (apparently short for Bunions, Graham Onions) had to face the last six balls, I was sweating a bit. I know he’s got a good technique, but this was the first time he’d faced this sort of pressure situation.

“And he handled it incredibly well. He always says he’s got the best bat in the dressing room. I was just shouting at him to keep using it!”

In the end, with Makhaya Ntini controversially replacing the heroic De Wet to bowl the final over, England ended 228-9 with Onions showing a clenched fist to the ever-growing Barmy Army here. Smith insisted: “De Wet was tired. I was thinking of a romantic finish for Ntini with him winning his 100^th cap here. But it wasn’t to be.”

So was the World Cup draw in Cape Town fixed? Oh yes!

Golden Balls Beckham? Or was the World Cup draw fixed?

EVER the diplomat (well, ever since France 98), David Beckham said after the World Cup draw: "As a country we're just happy to be playing a part in an historic event."

Happy? We're ecstatic! England came out of the hat as planned in Group C, with their carefully planned trips to Rustenburg's Bafokeng Sports Palace complex coming up trumps, surprise, surprise. They've been organising it for months, almost like they knew all along they were going to get drawn to play USA in Rustenburg first.

Then they'll pop down to the coast to play Algeria and Slovenia, keeping their high-altitude conditioning as they were advised by the rugby medics who are accustomed to South African conditions.

Whether every element of the draw was fixed, who knows? Suffice to say, we've got the USA, the highest ranked but not-too-scary side from Pot 2, Algeria, who needed a play-off against Egypt to make it to Pot 3 and, best of all, the weakest team from dangerous Pot 4, Slovenia, who lost all three games in 2002.

Alan Shearer, on the Beeb, said: "I think Fabio Capello will be absolutely delighted. If you'd have said that beforehand, he would have snapped your hand off."

There is already talk of England being moved to a bigger stadium for their game at Port Elizabeth. It's going to be massive! But what about the other 28 nations?

Group D looks a tough one. Serbia, Ghana, Germany and Australia. None of them are pushovers. Michael Essien, Ghana's guiding light, will come up against his Chelsea team-mate, Michael Ballack, the German captain. May the wrestle in peace.

Group A was always South Africa's and when they came out with Mexico and Uruguay, who needed a play-off against Costa Rica (who are as unhappy as Ireland about the way they went out) the hosts were happy enough despite their lowest-ever host ranking of 86th. But then France popped out to finish the group and the battle is on, hopefully with Thierry Henry suspended for his handball against the Irish in Paris last month (sorry to harp on, but it WAS cheating).

Group B puts Argentina just where they want to be, at altitude as they planned when they booked Pretoria University's sports academy this week. Should have put money on that one too. They play twice in Johannesburg and once in Polokwane, no big trips, and they're with Nigeria, South Korea and Greece. Diego Maradona always said the balls were warmed to suit the big nations. It looks that way for the Argies.

Group E sees Holland, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon doing battle with Group F featuring Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand - with all their 'stars' from Plymouth, Halifax and Worksop - plus dangerous Slovakia.

But if it's a group of death you want, try Group G. Brazil were drawn first, North Korea are unknown, but Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal came out next. Ouch. I'm going for Ivory Coast and Portugal - with Brazilian Deco - to survive.

Group H sees Spain, perfect in qualifying, up against Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. If Spain don't make it out of the group, I'll run naked across Soccer City before the final on July 11.

The bookies agree. After the draw they go Spain 4-1, Brazil 11-2, England 13-2, Argentina 10-1.

England could play Germany, then France in the quarters and Brazil in the semi-final. If things go according to plan. They certainly have so far. But then David Beckham's nickname has always been the clue. Golden Balls. They certainly were tonight.

Rustenburg for England. Put your shirt on it.

STOP PRESS: England are, indeed, drawn as C1 in Rustenburg. It's a fix!

What I wrote three hours before: YOU may not have heard of Rustenburg. You will soon, that's where England are headed next summer to prepare for the World Cup. Sadly, they won't be based in surfers' paradise Durban or cosmopolitan Cape Town.

The wives and girlfriends, not to mention an estimated 25,000 England fans, might have hoped for bigger shopping malls, beaches and nightclubs. But it should be okay for the players, once the final details have been sorted out.

So what can I tell you about the town locally known as "Rusties", population 400,000, altitude 1500m (around the same as most ski resorts in Europe) with an average winter daytime temperature of 17C?

It's the fastest-growing South African town in the middle of the platinum belt about 60 miles from Johannesburg. A bit like Luton compared to London, it's not the place you'd really want to spend that much time as a tourist, though Las Vegas-lookalike Sun City is just 13 miles down the road. It boasts churches, monuments and battle fields as its major attractions, apart from the game parks.

But Rustenburg is where England will be based when, as I suspect, Fabio Capello's men get drawn in position C1 in Cape Town tonight with their first game scheduled for the nearby 42,000-capacity Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace (pictured) at 7.30pm on June 12. Great name for a stadium isn't it? It's in the North West Province of South Africa, close to Mafeking where Lord Baden-Powell and the British held out under siege around the turn of the 20th century. One of the great victories of the Boer War. Great history. Stubborn types around these parts. The locals insisted on a large slice of the precious minerals in their once-volcanic area and have pumped their money into football and tourism to offset to bleak mines which loom large on the road to Sun City.

And that kind of money can also influence World Cup draws, or so it appears. Why else would Capello keep worrying about the state of the training pitches in a town most Italian tourists wouldn't offer a second glance?

He was there again this week, complaining: "The facilities are OK but some things are not. The pitches are not great. We are working a lot. I think we will find the solution. The problem is the pitches. But we have time. The problem is the grass."

Capello is worried about what he calls "jungle grass" but in fact the 14 training pitches at the Sports Palace Training Complex are typical of the best surfaces around the high-altitude stadiums nearby. A mixture of rye grass and the local kikuyu, a hardly, deep-rooted, patchy plant which can withstand frost and heat, hail and drought, which is what the Highveld climate can throw at you.

And if England hoped to move their pre-tournament training camp to Pretoria University, where the metrosexual world champion 800m runner Caster Semanya was carefully developed,

they're stymied. Argentina booked their complex last week. Typical!

Bafokeng today joined the pitch battle with spokesman Martin Bekker telling Capello: "The pitches are looking pristine. We know all the hard work that has gone in there and everyone has trust in the guys who made the stadium. If anything the pressure is to make sure that the hotel is on schedule. For the pitches it is not a great fear."

But all this is mere detail. Though Capello says a final decision isn't expected until February, expect England to be based in Rustenburg for two weeks before the finals kick off on June 11. He will be able to keep the WAGs at arms' length, the fans will stay in the bigger cities (if they are drawn in group C, game two will be in Cape Town on June 18 and game three in Port Elizabeth on June 23).

England will return to Rustenburg if they win the group for the first knock-out round on June 26. Perfect. They will fly in and out with Rustenburg as their base and remain acclimatised for high altitude, which gives you more red blood corpuscles and more puff at sea level. How do I know? Because I've lived there, and like Capello, I've seen the progress of our cricket and rugby sides when they go over. Apparently the England and Lions rugby medics have been advising the FA on what to do in South Africa with such contrasts in climate, altitude and temperature.

Oh, and if it is all as I say, the really clever fans will immediately google Pilanesburg Game Reserve and book themselves in for a couple of weeks in one of the plush game lodges there, right next to Sun City and 15 minutes from Rustenburg.

You read it hear first!

Theron handles the balls with aplomb

BALLS won't be kicked, caught or smashed today. And they won't be handled by Thierry Henry. They'll just be plucked. Hopefully at random. The World Cup draw in Cape Town tonight has really captured the imagination, it dominates every media outlet.

There are two good reasons for this. Cape Town in summer is paradise, so all the heavyweight correspondents have had this one in their diaries for months. And to make things even more welcoming, the actress Charlize Theron - the first African to win an Oscar in 2004 (pictured) - is handling the balls.

And just to spice things up even further, yesterday, during rehearsals, she pulled out the French ball and exclaimed: "Ireland."

So clearly this is no Hollywood airhead. Theron, born in Benoni near Johannesburg, actually witnessed her alcoholic father being killed by her mother. After that gritty start, she left to act and model in Milan and then Los Angeles and has been living with Irish actor Stuart Townsend since 2004. Oh, and she also runs a charity which provides football grounds for young African footballers. What a woman. Yes, I know far too much about a non-sports star on this occasion.

We can only hope she repeats the Ireland joke today. It cannot be made enough times. You don't need an Irish boyfriend to explain why France don't deserve to be in the hat after Thierry Henry's blatant handball in Paris three weeks ago.

Sadly, that's now history. Today we must focus on the draw and, simultaneously, England's attempts to get their 2018 World Cup bid back on track.

David Beckham is there for both causes. And he's making all the right noises. Hoping to become the first Englishman to play in four World Cup finals, the veteran of 115 caps said: "When you go into a World Cup, I don't think you worry about who you're playing against It's great to be seeded and I am surprised that France are not, but if you want to go all the way you're going to play the best teams at some point. Whoever you come up against, it doesn't really matter."

I guess that's true, but it would be far easier if England came out of the hat with New Zealand, Algeria and Slovenia than the worst case scenario of well-organised USA, Ivory Coast - unbeaten in 18 games - and France or Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, our nemesis.

Personally I'm much more worried about the views of a Daily Telegraph journalist called Flanagan, who talked this week about "months of negative media attention focusing on poor local ticket sales, acute accommodation shortages, crime and transport problems". What tosh. This World Cup is Africa's first. It's going to be tough enough without that kind of negativity.

Mind you, if England are drawn to play Didier Drogba's Ivorians in Nelspruit... but enough negativity!

Sepp Blatter will be flanked by new South African president Jacob Zuma after a video message from Nelson Mandela at the draw. Diego Mardona, who once claimed the balls are warmed to aid the draw (perish the thought) is banned but Eusebio, born in neighbouring Mocambique, will be there, as will Makaya Ntini, the greatest of South Africa's black cricketers. Ironically, when the draw starts at 5pm English time, his Protea team-mates will be attempting to save the one-day series against Andrew Strauss's men, 1,700km up the coast in Durban, but I suspect the world will be focused on Ms Theron.

Oh, and spare a thought for the South Africans. After all this preparation, all the money spent on ten fine stadiums across the nation, they have to consider this. Their national side, Bafana Bafana (The Boys, The Boys) are ranked 86th in the world by FIFA. That's the lowest ranking ever for a side hosting the World Cup.

Long gone are the days when they won the African Cup of Nations in 1995. A suggestion? Get Clive Barker, the tiny but perfectly formed coach who once guided me at Durban City and Bush Bucks, back on board. He was the brains behind that Nations Cup triumph. The Rainbow Nation needs help!