Williams hints at return to big time

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RONNIE O'Sullivan's sour and graceless post-match interview took the gloss off an epic Masters final at Wembley.

I love watching O'Sullivan play the game and have no doubt he is the most gifted player ever to lift a cue.

But if that great sporting entrepreneur, Barry Hearn, is to weave his magic and transform a sport which is stuck in a rut then the game's number one attraction needs to get his act together.

The self-indulgent claptrap O'Sullivan trots out after beating inferior players has become tiresome and embarrassing, so do us all a favour, Ronnie, either learn to smile and become a better loser or go and spread your depressing twaddle far away from the green baize.

I say all of the above despite having some time ago recommended O'Sullivan for the world title at 7-2.

He is now a best-priced 3-1, while his Masters conqueror Mark Selby – who looks as though he could do with half an hour in the sunshine – has been cut to 8-1 for world-title glory.

John Higgins is 7-1 to retain his crown, while an interesting outsider at 25-1 is Mark Williams.

The two-time champion has been in the doldrums for several years, but was shaded 6-5 by O'Sullivan in the Masters semi-finals and seems to be regaining his best form.

Williams was a major force at his best and is capable of winning the world crown if recapturing his former touch. And that 25-1 is a big, big price.




AFTER scrapping so hard, it was disappointing to see England's cricketers fold so tamely while on the brink of a Test series win in South Africa.



Admittedly, they were dealt a pretty desperate hand by the referral blunders of Darryl Harper, but any fair-minded observer would concede that a drawn series was the least the host nation deserved.

A draw on the home soil of the top-ranked nation in the world is a fair achievement and while England have a long way to go if they are to even approach their aim of becoming the number one Test side, they do seem to have solid helmsmen in the two Andys, Strauss and Flower.

The former has copped some flak for opting out of next month's tour of Bangladesh, but I disagree with most pundits and believe it is the right thing to do.

Strauss has turned the side from an indisciplined rabble into a tight-knit unit which has beaten Australia and tied with the Proteas in successive series.

The effort and stress involved in pulling everything together will already have taken a heavy toll and, in my view, Strauss is quite right in taking a break before that situations reaches a critical point.

Surely the priorities in 2010 are the Ashes series Down Under and the World Cup. We need our captain fresh and if missing the Bangladesh tour achieves that, then so be it.

Talking of the Ashes, England have been cut from 9-2 to 3-1 to win the series, with the Aussies on 4-7 and the draw a 5-1 shot.

England are 11-8 to retain the Ashes, which they will achieve if they win or draw.




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