‘With an office next door to the event, we are excited to be involved’
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

The Canary Wharf Classic, London’s most popular squash tournament, looks forward to a period of renewed growth following the announcement of St. James’s Place Wealth Management as the new title sponsors.

The 2020 event, rebranded as the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, takes place from March 8-13 at the spectacular East Wintergarden venue at Canary Wharf.

Now in it’s 17th year, the PSA World Tour Gold status tournament attracts the world’s leading players and continues to sell out every season. Tickets for this year’s event went on sale in October and were snapped up within six days.

Tournament Director Tim Garner said: “We are delighted to welcome St. James’s Place on board as our new title sponsors. It’s wonderful to partner with such a quality brand as we strive to maintain equally high standards at the event and we look forward to working together to keep the event moving forward.

“We are sure the St. James’s Place team and their guests will enjoy interacting with the world’s greatest players in a beautiful venue packed with knowledgeable spectators, who create a brilliant atmosphere throughout the week.

“With an office next door to the East Wintergarden on Bank Street, it’s fitting that their company logo will take pride of place in the middle of the front wall of the glass court.

“Here it will be constantly visible to a huge number of viewers who will be tuning in to the live TV coverage, online streaming and highlights packages that will be available in a variety of formats and help cement their presence on the Wharf.”

Paul Ainslie, Head of Sponsorship at St. James’s Place Wealth Management, said: “We are delighted to be title sponsor of the 2020 Canary Wharf Squash Classic tournament and support one of the area’s most high-profile events.

“With an office next door to the venue, and a close association with Canary Wharf, we are excited to be involved with this year’s tournament.”

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About St. James’s Place

St. James’s Place Wealth Management is a leading UK wealth management organisation.

Founded in 1991, St. James’s Place was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997 and is a FTSE 100 company, with over £109 billion funds under management.

The company provides face-to-face advice to clients based on their individual needs and circumstances, adapting the advice as requirements change over time to ensure that recommendations remain appropriate.

Website: www.sjp.co.uk

Twitter: @sjpwealth
 

Pictures by KEN MEARS 

Scottish Rugby has made a bid for Murrayfield to host a British and Irish Lions match before the South Africa tour in 2021.

It would be the first time a Lions team has ever played on Scottish soil.

The Welsh and Irish unions have also made bids to host the match against an as yet unnamed opponent, which would be a warm-up game before the squad flew.

The SRU wants to make the event a weekend festival of rugby at the end of June 2021.

Twickenham is set to be unavailable with the Premiership final due to take place there on Saturday, 26 June.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The sun won’t stop shining on Graeme McDowell.

That’s what kind of roll he’s enjoying.

Two days after claiming the Saudi International, McDowell brings momentum and confidence to one of his favorite places, Pebble Beach Golf Links, where the weather can be a challenge this time of year.

“When the sun shines, there’s no better place on the planet to be,” McDowell said.

And no better place for McDowell, 40, to keep his climb going in the Official World Golf Ranking with the sun forecast to shine all week. He won the U.S. Open here 10 years ago.

“It will be 10 years in June,” McDowell said. “Lots of great memories.”

Lots of good mojo to draw upon as he continues to rebuild his place in the game. McDowell’s victory in Saudi Arabia, his second worldwide title in 11 months, moved him among the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time in almost five years.

“One of my big goals is to get myself back up in the top 20 and have a chance to experience that back nine at a major championship with a chance to win again,” McDowell said.

Maybe at this spring’s Masters. At No. 47 in the world, he needs to remain among the top 50 in the rankings the week of the Masters to get back to Augusta National after failing to make the field the last three years.

“Last week has really given me that little bit of a boost, given me an opportunity to get back in some of the big fields, which is where I want to be,” he said.

McDowell is looking at getting in the WGC-Mexico Championship in three weeks and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in late March. Those events weren’t on his radar a year ago, when he arrived at Pebble Beach ranked 246th in the world.

“I think I was in the top 50 in the world for five, six years,” McDowell said. “Just to be back in those (World Golf Championships), I think I’ll appreciate them a lot more this time around. I think all those years, when it’s expected, maybe you don’t appreciate what it is and what they are and how important they are at the time. I always felt like if I got the opportunity again, I was never going to take it for granted, and prepare well, and make sure I continue to work hard, because you just don’t know when this is going to go away.”

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Patrick Cantlay played Pebble Beach Golf Links for the first time with his father when he was 12.

It was a special memory.

So was his tie for ninth at the AT&T Pebble Beach in 2013, his first top 10 as a professional.

Even his tie for 48th in this tournament was memorable three years ago, because he proved something to himself in making his return from a back injury that derailed his career for almost three years.

“In a weird way, it was an accomplishment to finish a golf tournament, just because I hadn’t played in one for so long,” Cantlay, 27, said. “I was just happy to play a whole golf tournament and not have any serious pain.

“It gave me confidence going forward that I hadn’t really lost much, and I was still the player that I used to be.”

A California kid who starred at UCLA, Cantlay looks poised for big things again. At No. 8 in the world, he continues to impress the most discerning eyes with his rebuilt game.

“By the end of 2020, he’ll be No. 1,” NBC and Golf Channel analyst Paul Azinger predicted at year’s start.

Chances to make the Ryder Cup and Olympics ride with Cantlay’s profile soaring again. He sees  his comeback at Pebble Beach as a foundation for those possibilities.

“There are so many big events between now and those two events,” he said. “The way to get there is to focus on all of the events between now and then. Those would be big honors and they’re definitely big things I would like to do. They’re goals of mine, to make those teams.”

If Azinger is right, those won’t be all that end up as highlights for Cantlay this year.

Tottenham Hotspur's England striker Harry Kane could return to action for the club's final two games of the Premier League season in early May following an operation on a torn hamstring, manager Jose Mourinho told reporters on Tuesday.

Kane had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his left hamstring in January when Spurs said he would be back to training in April after suffering the injury during their 1-0 league defeat at Southampton on New Year's Day.

Speaking ahead of Tottenham's FA Cup fourth-round replay at home to Saints on Wednesday, Mourinho was asked if Kane, who has netted 27 goals for club and country this season, would play again before the end of the current campaign.

"Last [home] match against Leicester. Maybe we need that match for something. To be fourth, to be fifth, to be sixth. Maybe he can help us in this last match I hope," said Mourinho.

"Everything is ok. He's having his treatment. No pressure, he keeps going. No setback. It's better not to put any kind of expectation, any kind of pressure. Let's see."

Referring to the Leicester game on May 9 and Tottenham's last league fixture of the season at Crystal Palace on May 17, Mourinho added: "I think [Kane can play in] these two matches".

Kane will miss England's Euro 2020 warm-up games with Italy and Denmark in March but should return in time for matches with Austria and Romania in early June before their first Group D match in the tournament against Croatia at Wembley on June 14.

The 26-year-old had been injury-free this season but had two lengthy layoffs last term with ankle ligament injuries.

The Adelaide Strikers have a fight on their hands to keep Peter Siddle on their contract list ahead of next summer's 10th edition of the Big Bash League, with the Melbourne Renegades eager to bring him back to the club after he became one of the tournament's savviest and best pace bowlers over three years in South Australia.

Siddle is understood to have one more year remaining on his contract with the Strikers, but the Renegades' interest in him may well extend to attempts to work out a deal with the Strikers to bring him back to Victoria for a contract that would be of great value given he is now available for the whole BBL without any international commitments.

Adelaide are believed to be equally eager to hang onto Siddle, judging him to be a required player and at the very least requiring significant compensation should the Renegades push hard to regain the 35-year-old's services.

His first BBL contract had been with the Renegades, but Siddle's record with them - when his priority was to deliver as a Test match bowler for Australia - was far from flash, returning 3 for 35 from one game in 2013-14 but then only two wickets at 44.5 in six matches the following season, albeit at the tidy economy rate of 7.05.

Encouraged by his existing relationships with the Strikers' high performance manager Tim Nielsen and head coach Jason Gillespie, Siddle moved to the Adelaide club in 2017 while the Australian limited-overs paceman Kane Richardson went the other way to the Renegades.

Siddle found himself slotting perfectly into a Strikers bowling line-up that also featured Rashid Khan, Ben Laughlin and Michael Neser, being one of the leading performers in their successful title bid in 2017-18, and strong displays in the two subsequent seasons. Over that time, Siddle has collected 36 wickets from 31 matches at an average of 19.86 and for the concession of just 6.85 runs per over.

He has impressed a wide variety of judges with his addition of numerous subtle variations to his bowling in T20 matches, proving fiendishly difficult for batsmen to attack, while also serving as an ideal mentor to the remainder of the Strikers' bowling attack.

Having retired from international cricket in all formats earlier this season, Siddle's value as a domestic T20 bowler has increased through his ability to be available for a whole tournament: an attribute that few bowlers performing to his level in recent years have been able to offer BBL clubs, particularly once the tournament grew to a 14-game home and away season.

Having lost Laughlin to the Brisbane Heat last year, the Strikers would need to recoup a senior bowler or two to replace Siddle. There would be the possibility of getting Richardson back from the Renegades, while salary cap relief is another area for negotiation between two clubs in the event of a trade.

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead's one-week pre-planned holiday at a time when they look to back bounce back from a 5-0 drubbing in the T20Is has sparked outrage in New Zealand, but David White, the NZC chief executive, has defended the break citing workload issues.

"Player and support staff's workload is a big issue in international cricket," White said. "We lost our last coach, Mike Hesson, to workload issues. We want to make the role sustainable going forward. That is why Gary is having the week off this week."

It is the timing of the break - even if pre-planned - that has irked the critics, former captain Jeremy Coney being at the forefront. This is an important summer for New Zealand, who are playing the Big Three, all in one season. After a successful home series against England, they have been blanked 3-0 in Tests in Australia followed by the T20Is at home against India. Also, captain Kane Williamson is injured, which many fear, leaves a leadership void.

ALSO READ: 'Just one of those things' - New Zealand lick wounds

It remains important for New Zealand to come back strongly from the reverses if they are to fight the growing reputation of being a side that does great against lesser opponents, something Coney suggested too.

"This is probably the most important season we've had for 10 years, with no Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and West Indies to feast on," Coney told Radio Sport Breakfast. "We're facing the three big boys (Australia, India, and England). They were marmalised in Australia and it's now five-zip at home. Wouldn't you think the main coach and selector would be there?

"Can you see Steve Hansen leaving the All Blacks after they are one-nil down against the Lions, and taking a week off before the second Test? This is the job and this is the main part of the season. It's ridiculous this is happening at this crunch time. You don't take your captain away from the helm when you are wanted most, when the ship is in deep shook, amongst the rocks."

Coney went on to call it a "desertion'". "Would you call it desertion or would you just say, 'It's really bad look fellas'? If I was David White I would say to myself, no I'm sorry Gary, you can wait a week. If you are really finding it tough and have to be away from the family, let's have a chat and find another coach for the T20 format.

"I'm quite annoyed about it. I've heard they want to freshen up for the other challenges ahead after this series. What? What? What series are they? They've got three T20 and three ODIs versus Australia. They have the rest of March off, all of April, all of May, a couple of weeks in June off, then we face the might of Ireland, Scotland and West Indies.

"I've seen wayward bowling, mismanaged games resulting in losses, bungled run outs, I've seen the fielding coach away, the bowling coach away, the batting coach away. If it is too much for them...you can go and get a job in a hardware store and see your family every night. It seems to me this is your job and this is the time of year when you really work."

ALSO READ: 'Super Overs certainly haven't been our friend' - Kane Williamson

White, though, presented a calm defence of the situation. "I can understand the passion," White said. "It has been a challenging time for us but this planning was done six months ago. Please go back and look at the schedule: World Cup, tour to Sri Lanka, then full tour by England, then going to Australia, then playing India now.

"It has been a big time commitment. It is not just Gary, we are constantly rotating the support staff, so we can manage the workload. Of any sport in New Zealand, the one that has the most demand for time is cricket. These guys are away for a long time, so we must manage their workload."

White was asked if Stead could not have taken the break during any other time on the tour, including the nine-day gap between the ODIs and the Tests. "For this Indian tour, we have prioritised preparation for the T20 World Cup and also the Test match Championship is our priority," White said. "When they play a Test match, a lot of preparation goes into it. The guys go into a camp. A lot of planning, a lot of preparation. A big time commitment.

"I just want to point out to everyone that when we did the schedule some six months ago… Gary has been always reluctant to take a break, the man works very, very hard, so it is something as managers we must manage the workload. Otherwise we will have a burnout. As you know, coaching, at international level, is one of the toughest jobs in cricket."

White said Stead had been away from home for "something like 350 days" over the last 16 months. Because of this workload, White said they had even considered splitting the coaching job over formats, especially keeping in mind how Hesson had to give up because of the workload. However, they went ahead with a unified head coach and specialist support staff. Stead has copped a fair bit of criticism for this break, but White said he was doing fine.

"We have some contact with him," White said. "He is fine. He is a professional. He is a seasoned first-class coach. Very, very successful coach as well. He has had a very successful time of 16 months, Test series wins away, taking the team to the World Cup final. Yes, we have had a challenging time in Australia and now, but gee, if you look at it as a whole over the last 16 months, he has done a fantastic job."

England batsman Tom Banton has signed a new two-year deal with the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash after his successful debut season with the club hopeful he will be available throughout the 2020-21 campaign.

Banton scored 223 runs in seven matches at a strike-rate of 176.98 - the highest in the tournament of anyone to have batted more than once - before being replaced by AB de Villiers for the second half of the tournament.

Currently, England do not have any limited-overs commitments following the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year until late March 2021 - they play a five-Test series in India from mid-January, a format Banton is unlikely to be in the frame for - which potentially leaves the way clear for him to play the whole tournament.

"I think anyone who saw Tom during his seven games for the Heat in the BBL would agree that he is a special player and someone we think can play an important role for us over the next two years,'' the Heat's coach, Darren Lehmann, said.

"We wanted to move quickly and are very pleased that Tom has agreed to terms. He's a good young lad and we think his cricket will only get better from here. He's got his first IPL coming up and he's in the English set-up, so we know how highly he is thought of around the world.''

Lehmann added that conversations had also been started with de Villiers about returning for another year with the club which missed out on the finals when they were beaten in their final regular season match by the Melbourne Renegades to end a campaign that had been dotted with frequent collapses.

"AB was very positive about the prospects of returning to the Heat, so that is encouraging. We will keep working on things to see what the options are ahead of BB10,'' Lehmann said. "We certainly didn't have the type of finish to our season that we would have hoped for, and we know our fans were as disappointed as we were. We've spent some time since then reflecting on what worked and what we could improve on, and the best ways to achieve the goals we have set ourselves."

Entering the semi-final, Divyaansh Saxena had an average World Cup. Barring an unbeaten 52 against New Zealand in a rain-hit game, he had got starts but failed to make them big. That's not to say his innings haven't been attractive; they've just been too short.

However, in the semi-final against Pakistan, Saxena showed the temperament to not throw his wicket away till India hit the winning runs. His batting in their chase was measured and collected, letting his more enterprising partner Yashasvi Jaiswal hog the limelight, while he went about his business stroking six fours in his unbeaten 99-ball innings of 59.

ALSO READ: Jaiswal's coach and father-figure watches his hundred from the stands - in secret

Saxena's resolve to bat in this manner may have been the result of the knowledge gained while he was on the field. Saxena is India's mainstay near the square boundaries and, as it happens with India-Pakistan games, boundary riders have to listen to all that the crowd, which was supporting the opposition, had to tell them. This couldn't have been easy for a teenager, but Saxena didn't react. Not until he took a spectacular diving catch off Atharva Ankolekar's bowling to dismiss Mohammad Haris.

After completing the catch to remove the fifth Pakistan batsman, Saxena turned to the crowd behind him and put a finger to his lips. "Yes, it was a different feeling altogether today," he said after the match. "Before, there was no crowd in previous matches. Today the crowd was good, but there was more support to Pakistan. Whatever they were saying, it was normal, but the celebration was needed.

"I just try to ignore everything and focus on the ball. On the field also, the catch came and it changed the match eventually, so I have to be focused all the time on the ball, not the crowd."

Saxena's catch near the square-leg boundary not only shows his agility but also gives a glimpse into the mindset of the India Under-19 team. Against Australia in the quarter-final, India were defending a modest total of 233 but they won that game by a comfortable 74 runs. Saxena said that fielding in that match, too, was a major point of difference.

"[The] Fielding effort was really crucial today," Saxena said. "In the previous game, we saved 28 runs - we were informed about that in the team meeting after the Australia win. We were shown videos of it in our meetings. Today also, we gave a decent effort."

As for his batting performance, Saxena said that a target of 173 was delicate, especially since the weather was overcast when India began their chase. He confessed battling a difficult period in the middle overs, but consultation with his batting partner helped him pull through.

"The target of 173 is tricky because you don't want to lose early wickets," Saxena said. "We thought if you leave the ball initially, it's fine. They were coming hard at us, so we had to respect that early. After the 10th over, we got the better of them. In the middle, I was struggling a little but I spoke to Yashasvi and he guided me."

India, unbeaten through the tournament, now have four days off before they play the final on January 9. They had a seven-day gap between their quarter-final and semi-final, which they utilised to holiday at Kruger National Park, in the north-east of South Africa. Saxena said that it was crucial "to switch off mentally" during long tours and that the trip had "refreshed the team" before the semi-final.

This time though, the break will not be used for a holiday. They will be observing the second semi-final between Bangladesh and New Zealand on Thursday. And once they know who their opponents are for Sunday's clash, there might even be a sleepless night or two.