Vettel Storms Ahead of Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel won his first race for Ferrari by powering ahead of the Mercedes team at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The four-time World Champion was able to bring Ferrari their first win in 34 races on a day that Mercedes rued their strategy decisions.

Lewis Hamilton earned his 40th career pole position for his 150th race and only Ayrton Senna has had more poles after 150 races. Hamilton led the field through the first corner after Vettel had fought off Nico Rosberg's attempts to squeeze by the Ferrari on long the pitwall.

Marcus Ericsson's spin proved to be decisive (Sutton Motorsport Images)

The race unfolded on Lap 4 when Marcus Ericsson beached his Sauber in the gravel at Turn One and the need for a recovery vehicle led to a Safety Car period. Both Mercedes drivers pitted to change on to the harder tyre but Vettel stayed out and was able to stretch his first stint into a two-stop strategy thanks to Ferrari's lower tyre wear.

Vettel's Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen was having a harder time with his tyres after suffering a left rear puncture following contact with Sauber's Felipe Nasr as Raikkonen made his way up the field from 11th. Ferrari's ultimate pace was underlined by Raikkonen coming through the field to finish fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen suffered a puncture (Sutton Motorsport Images)

Mercedes made another tactical blunder when they fitted Hamilton with hard tyres on his final pit stop and the current World Champion was unable to close down Vettel on the same tyres. Hamilton questioned why he had been put on the "wrong" tyres and was puzzled to hear team director, Paddy Lowe, discuss a possible fourth pit-stop that was accidentally relayed to Hamilton's radio. 

Mercedes bosses Toto Wolff and Nikki Lauda rue their team's mistakes (Getty Images)

Mercedes had needlessly used a set of medium tyres in the first period of qualifying and Hamilton was told over the radio that the softer tyres had already been used. The team's confusing strategy was further highlighted when Rosberg was fitted with medium tyres on his final pit-stop.

Williams had finished pre-season testing on par with Ferrari but haven't been able to keep up with the Prancing Horse. Valtteri Bottas, racing for the first time this season after a back injury, pipped his team mate, Felipe Massa, to fifth spot by passing Massa on the penultimate lap.

Max Verstappen became the youngest-ever driver to win points (Sutton Motorsports Images)

Max Verstappen showed poised overtaking to take seventh and the 17-year-old became the youngest ever driver to score world championship points. His Torro Ross team mate, Carlos Sainz was the last driver to be lapped by Vettel and finished eighth.

Red Bull's lack of pace was shown in dry conditions and Daniil Kvyat finished ninth after tangling with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 2, ahead of fellow Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo. 

Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kyvat clash (Sutton Motorsport Images)

Romain Grosjean in the Lotus missed out on the points by finishing 11th after being spun by an aggressive Sergio Perez and finished ahead of Felipe Nasr's Sauber. 

Both Force India drivers were made to sit in the naughty chair after stewards awarded Perez and Hulkenberg 10-second penalties for their tangles but Hulkenberg may have felt aggrieved for being penalised for what looked like a racing incident. Hulkenberg was further frustrated by being beaten by his team mate by just 0.4 seconds.

Manor were able to bring home one of their cars with Roberto Merhi finishing three laps down in 15th and last place after Will Stevens was unable to start the race. Unreliability also hit the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso who both retired but McLaren will be encouraged with the cars competing with the rest of the pack.

Vettel’s first victory since the Brazilian Grand Prix in late 2013 signals a Vettel and Ferrari resurgence. Hamilton and Mercedes now have a serious contender to their current titles and, as Rosberg said on the podium, it's game on.

Drivers' Standings after Round 2 of 19:

1. Lewis Hamilton       43 points

2. Sebatian Vettel       40

3. Nico Rosberg          33

4. Felipe Massa           20 

5. Kimi Raikkonen       12

6. Felipe Nasr             10

= Valtteri Bottas         10 

8. Daniel Ricciardo       9

9. Nico Hulkenberg      6

= Max Verstappen       6

= Carlos Sainz Jr.        6

12. Marcus Ericsson     4

13. Daniil Kyvat           2

14. Sergio Perez          1

Constructor's Standings after Round 2 of 19:

1. Mercedes        76 Points

2. Ferrari            52

3. Williams         30

4. Sauber           14

5. Torro Rosso    12

6. Red Bull          11

7. Force India      7

Hamilton Leads the Way in Soggy Sepang

Lewis Hamilton took pole position in a rain-delayed qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.

The session was stopped for half an hour before the final round of qualifying began and Sebastian Vettel was able to split the two Mercedes with a time just 0.074 seconds behind Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg admitted in the post-qualifying press conference that he was "annoyed" by not "driving well enough" and was a second behind his team-mate on the first run of final qualifying. Hamilton was improving on his second run but had to back off after passing a slow Rosberg through Turns 7 and 8 and Hamilton remained coy afterwards when he couldn't recall the incident during the press conference.

Vettel showed skill in the rain to split the Mercedes pair

Traffic had earlier cost Kimi Raikkonen a likely second row grid slot after Marcus Erikkson slowed Raikkonen going round the final corner and the 2007 World Champion couldn't improve on 11th when the downpour curtailed the second qualifying period.  

The qualifying session had started in tropical sunshine and McLaren continued their fight at the back of the grid. Fernando Alonso returned behind the wheel this weekend following his pre-season accident in Barcelona that Alonso blamed on a car steering issue. The double world champion also rubbished wild rumours of the concussion he suffered after the accident. Alonso had the measure of his team-mate, Jenson Button, all weekend but a mistake caused Alonso to run wide and allowed Button to out-qualify his team-mate with a time of 1 minute 41.636 seconds. This underlined McLaren's lack of pace with a time that was almost 2.5 seconds off Hamilton's time at the top of the Qualifying One timesheets.

Manor hit the tarmac in Malaysia for the first time this season 

Manor returned to the track after not racing in Australia but only Roberto Mehri could post a time after Will Stevens suffered a fuel system problem. Mehri's time was outside the 107% classification rule but stewards cleared the team to race after Manor had earlier posted practice times that was within 107% of the fastest driver's time. 

Felipe Nasr was unable to continue his form from Australia and finished half a second behind the cut-off point and didn't progress into the second round of qualifying.

Tropical storm clouds gather over the Sepang circuit

Rain can often be a great equaliser and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Dannil Kyvat qualified in 4th and 5th in a turbulent week for the Milton Keynes-based team.  Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul told Friday's press conference that Renault may quit the sport after earlier accusing Red Bull Technical Director, Adrian Newey, of lying about their engine performance. 

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Abiteboul was "brave" to sit between him and Torro Ross team boss, Franz Tost, at the press conference as the two teams are unhappy about the quality of their Renault engines.

Unhappy couple - Renault's Cyril Abiteboul and Red Bull's Christian Horner

Abiteboul said that Renault "are looking at a lot of options, including getting out of Formula One" as well as purchasing a team. Horner joked that Renault's lack of power had left him "depressed" and contemplated the possibility of Red Bull being "forced" out of the sport if they cannot find an engine supplier. Despite achieving four consecutive Constructor's and Driver's titles, Horner conceded it's now "worrying times" for the Red Bull brand in F1.

It's also worrying times for the future of the German Grand Prix with the announcement on March 20 that owners of the Nurburgring have backed out of staging the race. The German Grand Prix had been alternating between Nurburgring and Hockenheim and it had been hoped that Hockenheim could step in but track officials were unable to come to an agreement with F1 commercial boss, Bernie Ecclestone.

Hockenheim officials may have been hesitant in promoting a race in just four months after last year's race brought low crowds. It's hard to understand why the Germans have quickly turned away from F1 after the success of German drivers, Michael Schumacher and Vettel, still fresh in their minds. The current German combination of Rosberg in a Mercedes racing for the championship should inspire the imagination of German motorsport fans but it hasn't.

There has been a German Grand Prix every year since 1960 and it's removal from the calendar once again highlights race entrance fees and the disappearance of F1's European race tracks.

Max Verstappen showed maturity beyond his 17 years by qualifying 6th in Sepang and, not only equalled his father Jos' best grid position, but he became the first teenager in 54 years to qualify in the top six. Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will line up on Row 4 after Lotus' Romain Grosjean received a two-place grid penalty after queue jumping in the pit-lane before the start of the rain affected second qualifying period.

Drivers line up in the pit lane below the oncoming storm clouds

The second of the 19-race 2015 season will see Hamilton looking to continue his successful start but Vettel and Rosberg will have other ideas going into Turn One.

Grid for Malaysian Grand Prix:

Hamilton (Mercedes)             Vettel (Ferrari)

Rosberg (Mercedes)              Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Kyvat (Red Bull)                   Verstappen (Torro Rosso)

Massa (Williams)                  Bottas (Williams)

Ericsson (Sauber)                 Grosjean (Lotus)*

Raikkonen (Ferrari)              Maldonado (Lotus)

Hulkenberg (Force India)      Perez (Force India)

Sainz (Torro Rosso)              Nasr (Sauber)

Button (McLaren)                 Alonso (McLaren)

Merhi (Manor)                      Stevens (Manor)  

* After two-place grid penalty

Fortune Doesn't Favour the Foxes

Matty James holds his head as David Nugent pleads with the referee (Leicester Mercury)

Leicester City's luckless Premier League season continued in a hard fought 4-3 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Nigel Pearson had previously hinted at personnel changes after Leicester's 0-0 result at home against Hull City and he made three changes to his side. A fit Kasper Schemichel replaced Mark Schwarzer, David Nugent was in for Riyad Mahrez and Leonardo Ulloa got the nod ahead of Andrej Kramaric, in the team's 3-4-3 formation.

The back three of Wes Morgan, Robert Huth and Matthew Upson started the game too narrow in the box after playing several games with five in defence and Tottenham were able to pounce. 

An early Spurs corner was parried by Schmeichel into the path of Harry Kane for an easy tap in six minutes into the match. Spurs were 2-0 after 13 minutes when a burst down Leicester's left flank, brought a cross to Kane who was able to convert after a heavy deflection off Huth. TV replays from behind the goal suggested Kane's shot was going wide and he was lucky to be credited with the goal and not Huth.

Leicester have often found themselves fighting from behind this season and time was on their side to mount a comeback. Nugent had earlier shown promise after nearly catching Spurs substitute keeper Michael Vorm off his line and dragged a shot across Vorm's goal from a tight angle. Jamie Vardy linked up with Nugent after 38 minutes to convert a nicely timed Nugent cross to get Leicester back in the game going into half time.

Leicester captain Wes Morgan heads his team level (Getty Images)

The teams were level when Morgan headed in a Leicester corner after 50 minutes and the Foxes pushed to take a second half lead. The pivotal moment of the game happened 64 minutes into the match when Kane completed his hat-trick by converting a dubious penalty.

Nugent was defending in his penalty box when Danny Rose ran into the back of him. Rose went down in the box and referee Mike Dean took time to consider his decision and awarded the penalty.

Pearson later told the BBC that he was bemused, annoyed and frustrated by Dean's decision and "arrogance." The penalty was the latest in a season of referring decisions that haven't gone Leicester's way and Ulloa would have felt aggrieved not to have a penalty himself after being slapped around the face by Nabil Bentaleb when the two tussled for a corner.

Leicester pressed for the equaliser and allowed Christian Eriksen in on goal against Schmeichel. Leicester's luckless afternoon was sealed when Schmeichel's save ricocheted off Jeff Schlupp into the net for an own goal 5 minutes before the end.

Wes Morgan and Leonardo Ulloa feel the strain of another defeat (Leicester Mercury)

Nugent gave Leicester some hope with a fine strike late on but the Foxes left White Hart Lane without any points and seven away from safety. 

Kane's hat-trick on the same week as his first England call-up may have got the national headlines but there was more to the story at White Hart Lane.  

Pearson's men played a much more attacking game than against Hull and this was due to starting both Vardy and Nugent up front. Leicester go into the two-week international break not taking advantage of the teams around them losing at the weekend and one game less to make the Great Escape. 

Back to the Future

England went back to the future today in their announcement of the Test squad for the three match series in the West Indies.

Jonathan Trott was recalled for the first time since leaving the 2013/2014 Ashes tour due to a stress related illness. Trott's progress seemed to be stagnating last April when he stopped playing for his county Warwickshire. But he returned to the Bears team after sessions with psychologist Dr. Steve Peters and ended the season with 628 first class runs.

Trott was given the captaincy of the England Lions tour of South Africa in January and the 33-year-old right handed batsman returned the favour by scoring a double hundred.

National selector James Whitaker told the BBC that Trott is a "player of proven international pedigree and we are delighted to welcome him back into the squad."

England may well benefit from Trott's experience (49 Tests, 3,763 runs at an average of 46.45) with a young squad that includes three of Trott's uncapped Lions team mates.

Yorkshire's successful 2014 county season was rewarded with call-ups for the county's 27-year-old leg-spinner Adil Rashid, and opening batsman Adam Lyth, also 27. The left-handed Lyth may have to bat at Number Three if the selectors prefer the left-right hand combination of Alastair Cook and Trott taking the new ball. Durham seamer, Mark Wood, 25, completes the Lions 2015 graduates and England will be relying on his ability to reverse swing the ball in the Caribbean.

Adil Rashid took 49 wickets for Yorkshire last season

England will soon be without a bowling coach as it was announced this week that David Saker will be returning to his homeland to coach the Melbourne Renegades in the next season of Australia's Big Bash League. 

Saker succeeded Ottis Gibson as England's bowling coach in 2010 and was instrumental in England's charge to the top of the ICC world rankings in 2011. However, England's tame bowling in the recent World Cup, typified by lack of variation, short lengths and death-bowling of slow bouncers instead of yorkers, highlighted the need for a change.

England have made a change to the top of the order by dropping opener Sam Robson. The enigma of Steven Finn continues with an under-par performance at the World Cup leading him to also be dropped from the Test side. Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali also miss out with injures that kept them out of the 9 wicket win over Afghanistan.

England's Player of the Winter James Taylor isn't rewarded with a call-up to the Test team but there are places for his One Day team mates Chris Jordan and James Tredwell, as well as Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett. Senior bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad will now have to show their experience and lead by example in taking wickets.

Unsurprisingly, Kevin Pietersen was left out of the squad, with Whitaker telling the BBC that the 34-year-old batsman is "not part" of England's plans and that the selectors "haven't had discussions at all" about his inclusion. 

The Test series in the West Indies begins in Antigua on April 13 will be the first of 17 Test matches over the next year including a home Ashes series and an away tour to top-ranked South Africa.

The Test squad was announced the day before Bangladesh play India in the World Cup quarter final in which England had hoped to be playing in. England will now have to put their disastrous World Cup campaign behind them and work together as a team. Test captain Alastair Cook told the BBC that the selectors were "wrong" to drop him from the One Day team. 

Cook said that the "lads were shell shocked from [losing] the first two games. That's when you need real leadership to help steer you through that. I would have loved to have had the opportunity that was taken away from me."  

Cook now has that opportunity with the Test team in a year that will either restore much needed pride or put more pressure on the England management to change the national set-up.

Full England squad for tour of West Indies:

Alastair Cook (capt, Essex), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Gary Ballance, Joe Root (both Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Jos Buttler (wk, Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett (all Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Mark Wood (Durham), James Tredwell (Kent)

The Terminator Is Back

Lewis Hamilton became the Silver Arrow Terminator as he lapped half of the field to win the season opener in Melbourne.

Hamilton must have said "hasta la vista, baby" to the seven drivers who failed to finish the race, three of which didn't even start. Valtteri Bottas wasn't passed fit from back pain suffered in qualifying with Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kyvat failing to make the grid with power unit and gear box issues.

Nico Rosberg was unable to get the jump on his team-mate at the start and a first corner incident behind the Mercedes brought out the safety car. Sebastian Vettel was alongside his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen going into turn one. Raikkonen backed out, ran wide, came back on to the track and sandwiched Felipe Nasr with Pastor Maldonado.

Nasr touched Maldonado and sent the Lotus into the barrier. Raikkonen would later retire after being released from the pits with an unsecured rear left tyre. Max Verstappen's early promise was cut short when he was forced to retire, as was Romain Grosjean.

Sauber ended a turbulent week by having both drivers finishing in the points. Nasr showed composure to take 5th with his team-mate Marcus Ericsson 8th. Force India also brought their cars home with Nico Hulkenberg 7th and Sergio Perez 10th. Daniel Ricciardo and Sainz took their Renault powered cars across the finish line in 6th and 9th.

With 11 finishers, the driver who missed out on the points was Jenson Button. The 2009 world champion Honda held off Perez before the first round of pit-stops. Button was able to get some much needed mileage by finishing the race after a truncated pre-season testing. McLaren will be looking forward to Fernado Alonso returning for Malaysia. 

Hamilton savoured his sixth victory in seven races when Hollywood came to Albert Park with Arnold Schwarzenegger conducting the podium interviews. A chill must have gone down the pit-lane when Hamilton and Arnie, in unison, told the crowd "I'll be back."

Toothless Foxes

Nigel Pearson looks on from the touchline (Leicester Mercury)

Leicester City's relegation struggles continued with a 0-0 draw against 10-man Hull City. 

Nigel Pearson described his attackers as "safe and laboured" to the BBC in a game that Leicester were unable to break down Hull's back line.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31776458 

Changes were made to the line-up with wing backs Jeff Schlupp and Richie De Laet, along with Jamie Vardy in mid-field, bringing some much needed pace to the team. Andrej Kramaric began the game as a lone striker and was unable to get a touch on to a threatening Riyah Mahrez cross during the first half. 

Hull should have been 1-0 up when Nikica Jelavic failed to connect with a pass in front of goal.

Tom Huddlestone was sent off after a second yellow card (BBC)

The game opened up in the 72nd minute when Hull went down to 10 men after Tom Huddlestone was shown a second yellow card. But it was Hull who had the best chance to take the three points late on when Abel Hernandez had a strong shot saved by Mark Schwarzer.

Leicester have played better in the second half this season when Pearson has changed to a more attacking formation. But the 84th minute substitution of David Nugent was far too late to make a significant impact.  

Leicester took far too long on the ball and were unable to take the game to Hull and this was confirmed by Pearson telling the Leicester Mercury that his team "didn't stretch them [Hull] enough."

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-0-Hull-0-reaction-

Pearson/story-26172694-detail/story.html

Leicester remain 7 points from safety but are in danger of getting cut adrift with Burnley's surprise victory against Manchester City taking them up to 18th and six points clear of the Foxes.

Pearson hinted to the BBC that there will be personnel changes for the next game away to Tottenham but there needs to be a change in mindset and that comes from Pearson. He had four strikers in his squad today and three of them should have started the game.

The only positive today was Leicester got their first clean sheet in nine weeks but goals are needed to make the Great Escape. 10 games remaining and the mountain gets ever steeper.

Business As Usual

Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off last season by going 0.594 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg to take pole at the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton had the edge over his team-mate throughout the session and was substantially faster than Rosberg through the first sector. Taking Turn 1 in fourth gear, Hamilton was able to get on the power quicker than Rosberg, who took the corner in third gear. Rosberg had felt the pinch in the first run in the third qualifying period when he ran wide at Turn 15 and later posted a time of 1.26.921 that was unable to dislodge Hamilton from pole position.

Williams showed their strength with Felipe Massa taking third position but his time was 1.391 seconds off the pace and further underlined Mercedes dominance. His team-mate Valteri Bottas was denied a place on the second row when he had a tank slapper after running wide on the last corner. Bottas qualified sixth but will have a medical assessment before the race after suffering back pains half way through the session.

Ferrari backed up their pre-season pace with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen taking fourth and fifth. Daniel Ricciardo took his under-powered Red Bull Renault to seventh and rookie Carlos Sainz Jr. impressed in the Torro Rosso in taking eighth. Lotus put behind their troubles of last year by rounding out the top ten with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.

The race to fill the bottom five spots on the grid in Q1 became a battle for the three lowest positions with Manor Marussia staying in the pit garage. 

Honda had decided to turn down their engines for reliability reasons and Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen fought for the ignominious last position on the grid. Button got the edge on his team-mate with a time that was almost four seconds slower than the Mercedes. McLaren have it all to do and can only hope for a 58 lap practice session.

Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber also missed the cut of Q1 and his team-mate Felipe Masr (11th on the grid) can be rest assured they'll be racing this weekend after the team came to an agreement with Guiedo Van de Garde. Van de Garde had earlier given up his claim to race this weekend and it remains to be seen whether Sauber will be willing to race the Dutchman this season.

Max Verstappen in the Torro Rosso qualified ahead of Red Bull's Daniil Kyvat and the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez to round out the grid in Q2.

To recap, the grid for the Australian Grand Prix is:

Hamilton - Rosberg

Massa - Vettel

Raikkonen - Bottas

Ricciardo - Sainz

Grosjean - Maldonado

Nasr - Verstappen

Kvyat - Hulkenberg

Perez - Ericsson

Button - Magnussen

Rosberg will be hoping to make the jump on Hamilton into Turn One but Lewis will have other ideas.

Results Are All That Matter

Points mean prizes. No matter how strong Leicester City have performed this season, they are bottom of the league with 18 points, leaving them 4 behind Burnley and QPR in the relegation zone and 7 from safety.

Leicester have 11 games remaining which include 4 of the 5 teams directly above them in the table. Now is the time for results, starting today at home against 15th placed Hull City. 

Defenders Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson have been talking about Hull being the game of the season and Simpson told the Leicester Mercury that "we'll be going for the win."

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Danny-Simpson-says-Hull-match-Leicester-City-s/story-26162142-detail/story.html

In order to do this, manager Nigel Pearson has to go for a more attacking formation than the 5-4-1 he has been using since the Arsenal away game last month. Deep defending and soaking up pressure in the first half is understandable against the top teams away from home but Leicester have played a lot better in the second half when they have changed to a more attacking formation.

Leicester are at their best when they attack and would do well by starting with a 4-3-3 formation against Hull.

The Leicester Mercury claimed earlier this week that this won't be the case and Matthew Upson was unsurprisingly defending it as he would be the player to miss out if the team reduced their starting defenders.

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Nigel-Pearson-stick-man-Leicester-City-defence/story-26149078-detail/story.html

Upson told the Leicester Mercury that 5-at-the-back has been the "right choice" in the games Pearson has played it and the "performances have maybe shown that, if not the results." But results are all that matter now.

Robert Huth has been a welcome addition to the back line and has assisted Morgan, with the captain looking a yard short of pace in the top division. Jeff Schlupp has shown his pace in midfield and was effective at Left Back in the second half at Manchester City. Danny Simpson has linked up well with Riyad Mahrez down the right flank all season. Mahrez was quiet against Man City but should line up with Matt James and Esteban Cambiasso in midfield. 

Andrej Kramaric has played relatively well since the club record signing arrived in January and would be ably assisted by David Nugent and James Vardy either side of him. Leonardo Ulloa can then be brought on in the second half in place of one of the strikers.

Left to right - Ben Hamer, Kasper Schmeichel and Mark Schwarzer (Leicester Mercury) 

Leicester's goalkeeping selection has been easy over the past few years with shot stopper Kasper Schmeichel leading the way. However, Schmeichel broke his metatarsal earlier in the season and this allowed Ben Hamer to stake his claim. Hamer's strong communication with the back line brought a tight off-side trap and 3 clean sheets. Nigel Pearson signed his former Middlesborough team-mate, Mark Schwarzer, to bolster the squad but soon took away Hamer's position.

Schwarzer's distribution has been lacklustre with him often kicking it up field to the small lone striker, Kramaric, instead of playing it through his defenders. Fumbling the ball over the line cost Leicester an FA Cup replay against Aston Villa but Schwarzer showed his experience with his saves against Man City. Schmeichel is now fit and Pearson has three credible choices between the sticks.

Schmeichel has a tendency to be flashy like his father, Peter, but can put himself out of position in the goal mouth. Distribution has been Schwarzer's weakness whereas Hamer has only put one foot wrong all season when Tottenham's Eriksen crept a free kick passed his front post. Hamer would be the ideal choice but Schmeichel is likely to get the nod today.

Hull are still looking over their shoulders in 15th place but have recently put faith in Steve Bruce by giving him a three year deal.

The relegation battle begins in earnest today - are Leicester up for the fight?

Pictures from Leicester Mercury

Back With A Bang - F1 2015 Season Preview

It doesn't seem that long ago that Lewis Hamilton made that quick start off the line and flew the Union Jack proudly around Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to become only the fourth British driver to win the Formula One World Championship more than once.

A lot has happened for the Stevenage racer since then. He pipped Rory Mcllroy to BBC Sports Personality of the Year and his six year on-off relationship with former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, looks to be permanently off. Hamilton was surprised when he realised that he was the oldest driver in the room during Thursday's Driver's Press Conference and he is a much more wiser man compared with the one that last defended the title in 2009.

Hamilton admitted he has a car more likely to defend the title than five years ago and the formidable Mercedes will take some beating. Across the Mercedes garage is Nico Rosberg. A driver who has now experienced a title fight and is hungry to make the next step. In order to do that, Rosberg will have to beat Hamilton in a straight fight, and not crack under the pressure like he did going into Turn One at Monza.

Hamilton, beginning this season's gamesmanship, said that Fernando Alonso is the best team mate he has driven against, and this is the season Rosberg has to prove himself.

Alonso has proved himself time and again what he can get out of an under performing car and he has just that with McLaren Honda. The team's glory days of late 1980s/early 1990s are a distant memory now as McLaren have had a lot of reliability issues in pre-season testing. Honda are a year behind the other engine suppliers in power unit development and their pre-season woes have been similar to Renault last year. Renault's reliability improved later in 2014 and Honda are hoping they'll do the same this year.

Pre-season testing was eventful for Alonso as he crashed out of the Second Test at Barcelona. Running wide on Turn 3, the McLaren snatched back across the track and hit the inside barrier side on at 134mph. With no tyre barrier cushioning the blow to the most unprotected area of the car, Alonso suffered a concussion and awoke in hospital with retro-grade amnesia. Momentarily, Alonso believed he was back in 1995 and had obviously forgotten the day we met when I got an autograph from a little known Minardi driver at a Donington Park race day back in 2001! 

The doctors were cautious about Alonso suffering a second concussion and have put him on bed rest. Kevin Magnussen gets his old job back, for a race at least, and partners Jenson Button once again. Button considered trying out for the Olympic triathlon at Rio 2016 if he hadn't got a drive this year and it is disappointing he hasn't had a fast car for most of his time at McLaren. Hopefully the team can get back up the field but they'll have to fight past a few teams.

Williams and Ferrari have shown in pre-season testing that they will be the best of the rest and will be hoping to clean up any scraps that the battling Mercedes may offer. Sebastian Vettel looks settled and rejuvenated at Ferrari and Valteri Bottas showed a lot of promise last year. Daniel Riccardo is now the undisputed Number One at Red Bull and can get a lot out of the car.

Red Bull's sister team, Torro Rosso, will be hoping success runs in the family with their rookie driving pair of Carlos Sainz Jr. (son of rally world champion) and Max Verstappen (son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen).

Lotus will look to improve on a poor 2014 and their change from Renault to Mercedes engine should help this. Lotus and Force India driver line-ups remain the same and this consistency may prove vital in the mid-field battles.

Marussia were destined to join Caterham as the defunct 2014 teams but an 11th hour deal has seen the team relaunched as Manor Marussia. Their 2014 car has been modified for this year's safety regulations and they should see a 2015 spec model by the European races in May. Jules Bianchi is unfortunately unavailable due to the horrific crash in Japan last year so British driver Will Stevens will have Roberto Merhi as his Manor Marussia team mate. However, Manor Marussia have had technical issues which have forced the team to remain in the pit garage. The driver line-up at Sauber has been a lot more problematic.

Giedo Van de Garde successfully fought Sauber in court over a breach of contract after he was ditched for Felipe Nasir and Marcus Ericsson and their more lucrative sponsorship money. Pay drivers have always been a part of the sport with Nikki Lauda paying his way into F1 but their necessity has become vital in modern F1. 

Van de Garde arrived at the Albert Park track this week and had to apply for a guest pass to be allowed into the paddock. Armed with the guest paddock pass, he had to wear Ericsson's overalls because he didn't have any of his own. 

Sauber's team principal Monisha Kaltenborn faces jail or a fine for contempt of court if Van de Garde doesn't drive this weekend. A fine is more likely, especially with Van de Garde not having a super licence. The FIA will have to grant Van de Garde a super licence before Saturday's final practice session for him to race and this may be unlikely with Sauber terminating his contract. Even if Van de Garde is successful in getting back in the car, his relationship with the rest of the team will surely be toxic.

Sauber are trying to settle the case out of court but the financial ramifications for the team could be fatal as they slip further down the grid.

The grid this weekend will likely be led by a Mercedes 1-2 with Rosberg pipping Hamilton in Second Practice by 0.1 seconds and Vettel by 0.715 seconds. Button finished in 13th and would be happy with that result in qualifying. But being 3.69 seconds off the pace, his team-mate hitting the wall, and four drivers not taking part in the session, the first aim for Button is to get into the second qualifying session.

Felipe Massa and Ricciardo sat out the session due to power unit issues and reliability problems plagued Pastor Maldonado and Verstappen as well.

So, can Hamilton join Sir Jackie Stewart, as a three-time British World Champion by the end of this season? Can Rosberg get the better of his team mate? Which other teams will win races this year? Can McLaren Honda surprise us all? Will Manor Marussia survive the season? Will Van de Garde get a drive?

The journey starts with lights out on Sunday.

Team Changes Make The Difference

England's Cricket World Cup campaign threatened to go out in a damp squib but the rain stopped to allow England to win their second game in the tournament and equal their poor showing at the 1996 World Cup.

At least England made the quarter-finals back in 1996. Going into this year's tournament, England had hopes of causing a surprise or two but we all expected they would scrape into the quarter finals and go out in the knockout stage just like they did in 2011.

Hopes of causing a surprise or two were realised but for all the wrong reasons. Poor team selection, timid batting and ineffective bowling tactics meant a lot of head shaking and scratching. England have been humiliated in this World Cup. James Taylor's batting made the defeat against Australia look respectable, but the defeats to New Zealand and Sri Lanka were demoralising, and Bangladesh fed on a rotting carcass.

The win against Scotland didn't set the world a light with England content on setting a target of 304 when they should have looked to smash a total closer to 400. 

All of this meant that today's encounter with Afghanistan was a dead rubber with England forced to make changes to the team due to injury. These team changes predictably resulted in a more balanced team and increased the frustration of previous team selections.

The opening bowling pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad took a wicket a piece but it was the change bowlers who led from the front. Chris Jordan put in a Man of the Match performance of 6 overs, 2 maidens, 2 wickets for 13 runs, going at 2.05 runs an over. Ravi Bopara, playing the first time in over a month took 2 wickets for 31 runs, as well as a good catch to give James Tredwell his only wicket of the tournament. 

Afghanistan made 111-7 off 36.2 overs before the rain came. England were set 101 off 25 overs via Duckworth and Lewis method. Ian Bell opened the batting with Alex Hales and they were cantering when Hales nicked off behind to the keeper. Bell made 50 and it would have been interesting to see if he had kicked on to 100 if it was a 50 over game. Taylor was circumspect coming in at Number Three and must be allowed to have that place in the team. The game was won with almost 7 overs to spare. Afghanistan, apart from a few fielding mistakes on the boundary, played well and should be proud of their showing in this World Cup with their victory over Scotland.

England, however, are left with what could have beens - explosive batting of Hales instead of the plodding Ballance (or even Bell) and variety and guile in the bowling of Jordan, Bopara and Tredwell instead of the predictable bowling of Anderson, Broad and Finn.   

England now leave Australia early but will be back in action next month in the Caribbean for a three match Test series against the West Indies. Oh, it's a hard life for an England cricketer! 

County Cricket T20 Franchises

Australia's Big Bash and the Indian Premier League have showed how successful domestic Twenty20 (T20) can be. 

This year's Big Bash was around a month in duration and was a great build up to the Cricket World Cup held in the same country. It's success was a combination of star players, franchise teams, innovative & laid-back broadcasting, and attacking cricket. Many of these qualities were shared with the original Twenty20 Cup launched in England back in 2003. However, the England Cricket Board (ECB) cooked the golden goose by dragging the tournament out and the sense of fun went out of the English domestic T20 game. 

T20 has made a huge impact on the One Day and Test Match format over the past five years. Average run-rates in the first 10 overs have jumped by three runs since the last World Cup in 2011 from 7 to 10 runs an over.

Every international team apart from England has embraced this attacking and pro-active form of cricket.

The ECB needs to learn why the Big Bash was so successful and has to bring in franchise domestic teams in order to catch up with the rest of the world.

The format should be as follows:

Six franchises each made out of three regional counties. Two teams based in LONDON, one made up of Surrey, Essex and Kent and the other made up of Middlesex, Sussex and Hampshire. WEST made up of Lancashire, Somerset and Glamorgan. WEST MIDLANDS of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. EAST MIDLANDS of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. NORTH of Yorkshire, Durham and Derbyshire.

Home matches would be played at the traditional test venues of each franchise, and the teams would be made up of three of the best players from each county, plus two overseas 'Star' players. 

The tournament would last around a month in the middle of the summer between the two Test Series.

This would bring some much needed impetuous into the domestic game and would go towards assisting England in playing attractive and attacking cricket. 

World Cup Swansong Buildup

So, a forgettable England campaign at the 2015 Cricket World Cup comes to an end tomorrow against lowly Afghanistan.

Unsurprisingly, England's head coach, Peter Moores, has been defended by his number two, Paul Farbrace, saying that Moores hasn't "cost" the team to be knocked out of the tournament.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/31846284

Moores' post match interview with Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports wasn't inspiring as he lamented the lack of experience in the team and an unsettled side going into the tournament.

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/cricket/9751526/moores-weve-let-people-down#ooid=MyaDJ1czrJemnf9PfGwbEKb52Xe1lImo


The team had six months to prepare for this tournament and should have left Cook out of the team earlier. An ideal number three in James Taylor had been found yet they replaced him with the ineffective Gary Ballance at the start of the tournament. England were simply makers of their own downfall.

The World Cup was lost mainly due to lacklustre batting and bowling in the middle overs which put extra pressure on the team at the end of the innings. Batting at 4/over between the 11th and 34th overs isn't good enough and, with no variety in England's bowling, other teams milked us. 

James Taylor and Joe Root showed in the Tri-Series what an effective partnership they have out in the middle and Taylor's ability to rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard ticking over was missed in the middle overs. England Player of the Tournament, Jos Buttler, is more than just a finisher and should bat higher in the order. His tournament strike rate of 135.57 would have a lot more impact across 20 overs instead of 10. Eoin Morgan's captaincy hasn't been special but he showed some initiative in his field settings against Bangladesh.

The opening attack of James Anderson and Stuart Broad was disappointing with Anderson only looking threatening against Bangladesh. Their bowling was simply too short to allow the ball to swing. Moeen Ali has developed in to a canny spinner who can take wickets and there is no surprise that he was England's most economical bowler going at 5.28/over. So why wasn't James Tredwell playing as well? Ali and Tredwell could have worked in tandem to frustrate other teams during the middle overs.

  

Michael Carberry, speaking on Sky Sports The Verdict, gave some valuable insight into the England set-up. Contrary to Moores and Farbrace, statistics are "very much apart of" how England play cricket according to Carberry. Carberry continued by saying none of his England playing career "made any sense" as he was told to play the percentages and not be aggressive.

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/cricket/9751858/revealed-how-england-use-statistics#ooid=dpazV1czp5Ar9gIBtWuixsxh6KPT3LTM

Analysing the percentages is better suited to Test Match cricket, not the modern one day game. The world has passed England by in the one day and T20 formats that require players to think on their feet, show initiative and adapt to the game situation.

A more pro-active, instinctive and ruthless approach is required. The next four years between now and the next World Cup should be spent on England developing young players who show these qualities in their game. A new coach with these qualities would help as well. Australian coach, Darren Lehman, has shown what a no-nonsense mindset can bring. Jason Gillespie has done well at Yorkshire and is a viable candidate.

But to the task at hand. Afghanistan await at the Sydney Cricket Ground and they surely fancy their chances. Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes will be out injured so my team would be Hales, Bell, Taylor, Root, Buttler (wk), Morgan (c), Bopara, Jordan, Tredwell, Broad, Anderson

England have only won one game this tournament and that was against Scotland. Will this be the first time England haven't won two games at a Cricket World Cup? It just could be.