Hampshire’s Rose Bowl will host its maiden Test match in 2011 when Sri Lanka tour England for a three-Test series in May and June. The decision was announced by the England & Wales Cricket Board as they unveiled their schedule for the next three seasons.”This is a truly historic day for The Rose Bowl and Hampshire Cricket,” said the chairman, Rod Bransgrove. “Staff, players, members, supporters, commercial partners, in fact anyone with an association with this fantastic ground can feel a huge sense of pride in what has been achieved.”The Rose Bowl has been fighting for Test recognition for the past four years, and in 2006 it suffered a major setback when Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens jumped the queue to land a prestigious Ashes Test for next summer. There was a feeling that the ground was hamstrung by a lack of direct transport links, not least during the Champions Trophy in 2004, but Bransgrove believes that a corner has been turned.”This is the culmination of an enormous amount of hard work and dedication and yes, it is the fulfilment of a personal dream,” he said. “It is important that this is not seen as ‘mission accomplished’ though, as we fully intend to be a permanent fixture on the Test-match calendar from 2011 onwards.”Bransgrove added: “This allocation of matches was hard-fought and demonstrates that with our new £45million development, turning the ground into the first ever model Test match ground, we are now one of the major sports and entertainment venues in the country. The allocation perfectly matches our proposed development timescale, due for completion in the summer of 2010 and fully tested, well before our historic first Test match in 2011.”The Rose Bowl will become the tenth Test venue in England and Wales, after the decision was reached by the independent Major Match Group, chaired by Lord Morris of Handsworth, and endorsed by the ECB Board which met at Lord’s this week.”We were presented with a more than 200 excellent and professional bids for the ECB major matches until the end of the 2011 season. It demonstrated to us the ever growing strength of international cricket in England and Wales.”We were delighted to note the increasing quality and quantity of world-class facilities provided by our venues,” said Lord Morris. “The MMG examined each and everyone against our balanced scorecard which specifically rewards grounds for the excellence of their facilities. We have nominated the venues that were best suited and most deserved to be awarded the major matches.”
Kenya’s Under-15s will take part in a three-week tournament in the West Indies this week, to prepare for the 2010 Under-19 World Cup. Kenya are the only African nation following the withdrawal of Zimbabwe, who had visa problems. Malaysia have replaced them.”We are focusing on the 2010 Under-19 World Cup that will be held in Kenya and intend to prepare our team most of whose players will come from this age group,” Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya’s chief executive, said.Aside from West Indies and Kenya, the other countries participating are Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, Pakistan and an ICC American Development team – a composite of players from Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands and Bahamas.Kenya open their campaign against the American Development team in Barbados on April 19.
It’s the tale of two captains under pressure. Rahul Dravid has tried everything – he has opened, moved down the order and come up again but without much success. VVS Laxman, after looking clueless in the initial encounters, is beginning to find some form but he has been unable to convert the starts into substantial scores. The captains’ desperation seems to have caught on to the teams. Bangalore should have won against the Chennai Super Kings but choked; they could have won against the Delhi Daredevils but couldn’t find that one big over that they desperately needed. Similarly, the Deccan Chargers have had their close encounters. Both teams have registered their solitary wins against fellow-strugglers Mumbai Indians.If the captains are under similar pressure, the teams, though, couldn’t be more different. Deccan were supposed to be the powerhouse team with attacking batsmen while Bangalore had batsmen who had great Test records but were not known for their big hitting. But both set of players have been unable to gel as a unit. In their last two games, Bangalore did seem to find some momentum but were unable to finish off.
Watch out for …
… Herschelle Gibbs. This could be the format to showcase his game, which depends a great deal on hand-eye coordination. His paddle-scoops, his pulls off the front foot and the innovative adjustments can make for a fascinating viewing experience. Also, look out for Misbah-ul-Haq. With Ross Taylor leaving for England, Misbah, the man who burst into prominence with his showings at the World Twenty20, should get a chance here. A veteran of domestic Twenty20 games in Pakistan, he has the nous and the wherewithal to shine in this format.
Team news
Bangalore are stuck with a problem more than one team has faced in the IPL: which foreign player to play and whom to bench. They have had starting problems, but if they play Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they might not be able to pick Misbah. Jacques Kallis is wanted for his all-round skills, Mark Boucher is the wicketkeeper and you can’t drop Dale Steyn. Dravid said that Anil Kumble will replace Sunil Joshi and either J Arun Kumar or Bharat Chipli could get a chance.Bangalore (likely): 1 Praveen Kumar, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Misbah-ul-Haq, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Rahul Dravid (capt), 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Virat Kohli, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 R Vinay Kumar.Deccan came close to playing the aggressive Hyderabad opener Ravi Teja but have chosen to stick with the tried-and-failed Venugopal Rao. There is also Arjun Yadav who could slot into the middler order in place of Rao. The team landed in Bangalore only late on Friday evening and they will have a light practice session on the morning of the match.Deccan (likely): 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 VVS Laxman (capt), 3 Hershelle Gibbs, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Arjun Yadav, 7, Sanjay Bangar, 8 Nuwan Zoysa, 9 D Kalyankrishna, 10 RP Singh, 11 Pragyan Ojha.
IPL form
Bangalore Royal Challengers: LWLLL Deccan Chargers: LLLWL
Stats and trivia
Dravid has already batted in three different positions – opening, No. 7 and 5 – in five games.
Adam Gilchrist has scored the IPL’s fastest century so far – off 42 balls against the Mumbai Indians
Quotes
“You have to challenge yourselves to fight back when you have your backs to the wall. Playing Deccan (who are struggling) doesn’t make any difference because in Twenty20 the team that executes their plans best wins. They have a very good players, any one of them can crack the game open. But we have started gelling as a team in the last two games.”
Through all the months and years of work on James Pattinson’s bowling action, the prevention of injury was tantamount in everyone’s thinking. But in the middle of his first Test match appearance for nearly two years, Pattinson reached an epiphany of sorts – if he wasn’t taking wickets, he would find himself dropped no matter how fit he was.So it was that Pattinson that did some mid-match tinkering against the West Indies in Hobart, and duly found the rhythm that had been frequently missing at times over the preceding year. A rediscovered outswinger enabled Pattinson to claim his first wicket of the match, and a series of fast deliveries that stood up the seam which led to a return of 5 for 27 and a feeling of relief akin to the completion of a Test debut.At the same time, Pattinson acknowledged that by reverting to elements of his former bowling action – namely an arm path closer to his body that allows him to get his wrist position right – he was taking a risk of re-injuring his back, which still carries traces of the stress fractures that had stalled his career. He is hopeful that at a more mature age of 25 and 93kg, as opposed to the 86kg he once weighed in at, his body will be able to cope with the load.”I just ran in and wanted to bowl fast like I did when I first came on the scene,” Pattinson said. “I looked at a bit of vision the night before and I wasn’t releasing the ball in the right position, where I wanted to. So I did a little bit of work on it in the morning just to get my wrist behind the ball a bit more and get that seam good for out swing.”It was frustrating because I had changed my action and I didn’t feel completely comfortable with it and I think in the second innings here I just went ‘stuff it really, I’m just going to go out and try and bowl like I used to bowl’ and just run in and bowl fast.”And I thought if I bowl like I did in the first innings I probably won’t be getting too many more games, so you better change something. So it’s been a frustrating six months or so but it’s good to get a bag of wickets now. Every time I ran in to bowl I was just hoping and waiting for that bag of wickets and that confidence that I’ve been lacking over the last couple of years.”I’ve sort of gone back a bit now. It’s hard because when you run in and bowl you don’t want to be thinking about your action. I’ve made the change to try and stop injuries but hopefully now that I’m back in the team and I’m a bit older, hopefully my body will hold up and I can go back a little bit to where I was when I first started playing because that’s when I think I’m bowling my best.”Craig McDermott, the assistant coach, has worked closely with Pattinson for more than five years. Upon hearing of his pupil’s distress at how he bowled in the first innings, his advice was for Pattinson to simply run in and bowl fast, without thinking of the minutiae. A similar conversation with the captain Steven Smith also provided reassurance about the path Pattinson took.”I was speaking to Craig McDermott after the first day about where I was releasing the ball from and my action, and I said ‘I haven’t really been feeling that comfortable with it over the last six months’. And he said just run in and don’t worry about it and I did that. I’m a bit older now and hopefully my body will be right and I’m sort of somewhere in between.”I was really struggling to get it through to the keeper, and bowl that good channel and get that good outswing with my wrist behind the ball. That was the trouble. It felt like I was trying extremely hard to do that, whereas the second innings when I came out I was running straight lines and had my wrist behind the ball it felt pretty easy.”It’s all got to do with my arm path, it’s not much but it’s just little things that I can see on video and pick up and try and change along the way.”Injuries are something that have to become a commonplace part of the life of most pace bowlers. Technical changes designed to prevent them will never be 100% successful, as Pattinson knew from suffering a hamstring strain earlier this summer as a result of his new method. Therefore he has decided simply to go for it – whatever will be, will be.”At the end it’s a game so the big thing for me is having fun when I’m out there playing and that’s what I did in the second innings,” he said. “Coming back from a long spell out I felt like I was debuting again in the first innings, so there was a bit of nerves around but they soon settled.”I’m just looking forward to the next Test. It’s great to see Josh Hazlewood bowling so well again, he’s a great guy to have in the team and Sidds is doing his job and keeps it tight for all the bowlers. It’s really good to be back and a bit of relief to get some wickets and get some pressure off my back.”
Nicholas: Batting was straightforward against inconsistent bowling
Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja adjusted from Twenty20 to Test match gears with all the smoothness of a well calibrated sports car, as Australia’s top order put their stamp on Boxing Day despite a well grassed pitch and a slightly improved West Indies.Both Burns and Khawaja had turned out for their BBL clubs in the gap between Tests, but it was the unsigned and rested David Warner who let adrenaline get the better of him in an early flurry that ended with his wicket after Jason Holder sent the Australians in to bat.The vast majority of a day delayed by an hour due to considerable morning rain was then taken up by a union that reaped 258 runs and centuries to Burns then Khawaja, who joyfully passed their milestones in the space of three deliveries after tea. Burns was ultimately out stumped at the hands of Kraigg Brathwaite, and Khawaja glanced Jerome Taylor into Denesh Ramdin’s gloves before the close.Their exits should not detract from the ruthlessness shown by Burns and Khawaja, two members of the Boxing Day selection triangle that ultimately cost Shaun Marsh his place. Burns showed excellent judgment around off stump while finding the boundary 17 times. Khawaja carried on with the rich vein of form and confidence that began at the Gabba against New Zealand: few batsmen in the world are capable of making the game look quite as simple as he does at his best.Australia’s batsmen were aided by another disappointingly muted display from the West Indies bowlers, who conceded runs at a lesser rate than they had done in Hobart but were nonetheless unable to create sustained pressure on the batsmen. The debutant Carlos Brathwaite was at one point reduced to bowling well outside off stump to a 7-2 field, a gambit the umpire Marais Erasmus opposed by calling a pair of disapproving wides.The tourists’ fielding was also indifferent – one Khawaja flick through the leg side was chased so languidly by Jerome Taylor that the batsmen might easily have run five. Later Marlon Samuels, who had juggled Warner’s skier, turfed a ball Khawaja struck more or less straight to him at cover. Melbourne’s smallest Boxing Day crowd since 1999 expressed appropriate disbelief.Holder had expressed hope that his pacemen would be able to exploit the moisture evident in the pitch after rain delayed the start by an hour. But they were stunned by Warner’s early salvo, striking five boundaries in the second and third overs of the day as 27 were heaped in the first three.Having stated his desire to make a century on Boxing Day – the MCG is the only Australian Test ground where he is yet to pass three figures – Warner was flushed with adrenaline, and overreached to his 12th ball when he tried to pull Taylor over midwicket and skied to Samuels at cover.This episode had been manic, and Khawaja’s arrival signalled something more orthodox as he tried to find his rhythm after playing only one BBL match for the Sydney Thunder on his way back to fitness following a hamstring strain. Not quite as initially fluent as he had been when making hundreds in Brisbane and Perth, Khawaja slowly found his range, while Burns looked safe at the other end having been retained in a decision that showed the selectors’ faith in him.The scoring rate built up once more as lunch neared, with Carlos Brathwaite, included for the injured Shannon Gabriel, going for 11 runs in his first two overs. Kemar Roach extracted one edge from Burns as the interval near, but it fell short of the slips cordon. Few such moments could be found in the afternoon, as Khawaja and Burns accumulated steadily while the MCG crowd swelled nearer to the gathering of around 50,000 hoped for by the MCC. Even so, 53,389 was the smallest Boxing Day attendance in at least a decade.They were witness to some attractive batting but also an assortment of bowling and fielding that veered from mediocre to awful. Holder’s control of proceedings was loose at times, his fields invariably defensive due to inconsistent bowling, and his choices of bowlers also odd – having exploited some moisture on the first morning in Hobart to gain useful spin, Jomel Warrican was unused this time until the day’s 42nd over, by which time there was precious little purchase for his slow left-arm.The evening session’s highlight was undoubtedly Burns and Khawaja passing three figures in the same Warrican over. It was otherwise something of a slog as the batsmen accumulated soundly while Holder tried with some success to limit the flow of boundaries. Khawaja was to reach or clear the rope seven times in his 144, a testament to his strike rotation but also the freely available diet of singles.There was a hint of tiredness in the dismissals of both Burns, advancing at Brathwaite but misjudging a ball fired flatter and wider, and a leg-glancing Khawaja. Their graft had left the match and series firmly in Australia’s lap, with the captain Steven Smith and the Hobart double centurion Adam Voges there at the close.
Australia 371 and 349 (Head 170, Carey 72, Tongue 4-70) beat England 286 and 352 (Crawley 85, Smith 60, Jacks 47, Starc 3-42, Cummins 3-48, Lyon 3-77) by 82 runsIn the third Test, they rose again, but there was to be no Christmas miracle. Despite a gutsy fight from England’s lower order that hauled an already lost cause deep into the afternoon session of the final day, Australia held their nerve – and their catches – to seal the 2025-26 Ashes with their third victory in a row on only the 11th day of the series.The winning moment was delivered by Scott Boland, who induced a thick edge from England’s No. 11 Josh Tongue, straight to Marnus Labuschagne at first slip, who swallowed his fourth take of a truly sensational display in the field. That left Brydon Carse high and dry on 39 not out; his efforts, alongside fighting but ultimately thwarted knocks of 60 and 47 from Jamie Smith and Will Jacks, had given England genuine hope that their performances at other key moments of the Test, and the series, simply hadn’t warranted.Labuschagne’s efforts included his second one-handed screamer of the match, this time to prise out Jacks at first slip, and it was a fitting reminder of one of the key differences between the sides. The winning margin of 82 runs was exactly the same score that Usman Khawaja had reached on the first day of the match, after being dropped by Harry Brook on 5, while the 71 runs that Travis Head made after the same fielder had reprieved him on 99 would prove to be the death knell of England’s series hopes.Related
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And yet hope is most certainly what England had, right up until the moment it was finally snuffed out… and by a familiar nemesis.For the first time in the series, the Player-of-the-Match award would elude Mitchell Starc, but his claim to the Compton-Miller Medal is now beyond any further discussion. On a day when Australia’s resources were stretched by a potentially series-ending injury to Nathan Lyon, Starc stepped up with the first three of the final four wickets required. His left-arm angles and command of seam and swing were able to extract rare life from an unthreatening Adelaide surface, and once armed with the harder new ball, the end was always nigh despite England’s doughtiest day’s work of the series.The day of reckoning had dawned with 17 overs remaining until Australia’s new ball, so Lyon and Cameron Green shared the early workload to keep the senior seamers fresh. Despite some early alarms against the short ball, Smith and Jacks settled quickly into a confident stand, with Smith smashing a brace of sixes over the leg-side off spin and seam alike to whittle the requirement below 200.Jamie Smith and Will Jacks made the running for England as Nathan Lyon suffered injury•Getty Images
It was a boon for the Barmy Army on an overcast morning, and their ever-mounting optimism reached an early crescendo midway through the day’s 11th over, when a persistent shower blew across the ground to force a 40-minute delay.Jacks brought up the fifty stand soon after the resumption, but the biggest moment of the morning came one over later. Lyon, at fine leg, dived valiantly to intercept a Jacks pull, but was in obvious discomfort as he clambered back to his feet. It was instantly apparent that he’d damaged his right hamstring, and as the physio came out to assist him back to the dressing-room, his involvement in the series – as with his torn calf at Lord’s in 2023 – appeared to have come to an abrupt end.That was the cue for England to step up their tempo. With the new ball looming, Smith cracked three fours in a row off the part-time spin of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, and then – having taken a few sighters as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins re-entered the attack – decided the new ball had to travel as well.Smith reeled off a quartet of superb, imposing boundaries – two in a row off each man, including a straight-batted launch through long-off off Cummins to bring up his first fifty of the series. But just when it seemed he’d rocked Australia back on their heels, Smith attempted one big shot too many: a wild pick-up across the line off Starc. Cummins at wide mid-on backpedalled to swallow the chance, before turning to the crowd to celebrate with a combination of triumph, and some relief.Jamie Smith brought up his fifty but it was not enough•Getty Images
It was all too familiar from an England point of view: opportunity not so much knocking as ding-dong-ditching, as another moment of optimism came and went with indecent haste. Jacks, however, stayed true to the methods that had served him well in adversity at the Gabba, remaining watchful outside off and dealing largely in nudged singles square of the wicket. Despite one alarming deviation from that norm – a pre-meditated whip to leg off Cummins that he was lucky not to snick to the keeper – he and Carse carried England through to lunch on 309 for 7, a deficit of 126.Australia thought they had their breakthrough shortly after the resumption, as Cummins pinned Carse on the pad, but umpire Nitin Menon’s verdict was a shocker – the ball was shown to be missing a second middle stump, and Carse, on 15 at the time, marched on. He responded to the reprieve by planting Head’s part-time spin over deep midwicket for six, and when he flicked Boland off his pads through fine leg, he had hauled the requirement down to double figures.Australia, however, were starting to create chances and pressure with seam at both ends, and two balls later, Starc served up a wobble-seam outside off, and Labuschagne sprung to his left at first slip to pluck a fat edge in one hand, almost out of Alex Carey’s waiting gloves.The end was nigh. Carse was dropped by Green at second slip – standing so close to ensure every half-chance carried – and even Carey, Player of the Match for a peerless performance both in front and behind the stumps, endured a rare blemish as Archer snicked one into his elbow: had he been standing back to Boland, it would have been a regulation take.It mattered not, however. Archer has been one of England’s batters of the series to date – which, for a No.10/11 is a damning indictment of their efforts – but this time he couldn’t be the hero. A slashing cut at Starc picked out deep point, and eight balls later, Australia’s fourth home Ashes in a row was in the bag, and once again at the earliest opportunity.
After leaving Liverpool last Thursday Rafa Benitez already looks set to move back into management by taking the vacant job at Inter Milan after Jose Mourinho departed to Real Madrid, but can he be a success at the club?
His six-year-tenure at Liverpool saw the club win the Champions League, the FA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Community Shield. Arguably Benitez didn’t achieve as much success as he should have, and last year’s dismal campaign which saw the side finish 7th in the league was the final straw for the Anfield board. Although winning the Champions League was an incredible feat and so was getting to the final two years later that wasn’t enough success for him to keep his job.
However his next challenge now awaits and it looks to be managing Inter Milan, he will have a tough act to follow as his predecessor won the treble last season which pretty much means that he will have to win at least one trophy in his first season there. His tactics which same under a lot of scrutiny from the English press will no doubt be more suited to the Italian game as Benitez is a very defensive-minded coach.
Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has already sung the praises of his former coach by saying that he would be perfect for the Inter Milan job. Mascherano said:
“Only Benitez could take the place of a coach like Mourinho, he is a great coach. He has charisma, personality, a winning mentality.” He added: “Moreover, he will find himself brilliantly in Italy because of the tactical game. Rafa studies everything on the table and directs the team from the bench like a orchestra conductor. After Mourinho, he is the only man capable of continuing Inter’s winning run.”
Despite these praises, Benitez has had to cope with a lot of pressure during his time at Liverpool and whilst winning the Serie A title with Inter will be a lot easier than winning the Premier League with Liverpool due to the inferiority of the other sides. Therefore the expectation will be greater than at Liverpool because they had a lot of strong sides to compete with and in Italy the competition simply won’t be as fierce. At times it looked like the pressure got to Benitez at Liverpool so he will have to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen whilst in charge of Inter.
It will be interesting to see how individual players cope under Benitez’ management, players like Maicon who love to get forward at every opportunity could be made to adapt his game to suit that tactics Benitez employs. A big question will be the future of Mario Balotelli, the youngster who recently revealed he had a love-hate relationship with Jose Mourinho, and Benitez will surely be looking to keep him at the club. Benitez was criticised in England for failing to develop any youngsters at Liverpool with the likes of Stephen Warnock being sold to Blackburn Rovers, before moving on to Aston Villa and is now in England’s World Cup squad. So it will be interesting to see what happens with Balotelli.
Benitez should do well at Inter Milan as it won’t be as tough as managing Liverpool and with Inter President Massimo Moratti already praising Benitez before he has even signed a contract. It shows that he is going to get the full backing of the owner which is something he never had at Liverpool and was one of the reasons why Benitez couldn’t do a better job at the club. He may not have the charisma of Mourinho but Inter fans can be confident that their period of domination in Italian football looks set to continue for a few more years at least.
Do you think Rafa Benitez is the right man for Inter?
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England national team head coach Fabio Capello hinted that he will make changes for the crucial World Cup Group C showdown with Slovenia, after seeing his side labour to a 0-0 draw with Algeria.
Capello's side gave an insipid display in Cape Town, leaving them needing a win on Wednesday to ensure a place in the knockout stages in South Africa.
The Italian commented:"We still have to play another game and we hope that will be happier.
"I don't know if it's pressure or we're not in a good moment. We lost too many balls, it's not the same team I know.
"We played a good team, but we played too slowly. The players play well during the training – I don't know why it is.
"I want to see the spirit of the team and I didn't see it this evening. I said to the players it wasn't a good performance, but we are really lucky because we can play another game and I'm always confident in my team."
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"I don't like to speak about individual players. When you don't play well it's because of the team.
"I can change the tactics, I will try to do something different. It won't be difficult to lift them before Slovenia – they know what they have to do."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Chelsea have boasted some great British talent since they were founded in 1905 even though they are not always recognised for it, especially during the 1990s when the club had many foreign players treading the turf at Stamford Bridge.
In this article I will highlight who I think is Chelsea’s greatest British XI of all time and I have decided to opt for a 4-3-3 formation:
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Goalkeeper: Peter Bonetti
Bonetti, nicknamed ‘The Cat’ because of his quick reflexes, agility and grace is Chelsea’s second highest appearance maker of all time playing 729 times for the club. The former England goalkeeper will be best remembered by Chelsea fans for his part in the FA Cup run in 1970 which saw the Blues win England’s most prestigious domestic cup for the first time against Leeds United. He also played between the sticks when the Stamford Bridge club beat Real Madrid, Europe’s most decorated club, in the 1971 European Cup Winners’ Cup after a replay at the Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens.
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Left Back: Eddie McCreadie
The Scot became a crucial part of the Chelsea defence for over a decade at the club and was blessed with great timing and pace. One of his most memorable moments would have been his goal in the 1965 League Cup final when he dribbled 80 yards and finished by slotting the ball past Leicester City’s Gordon Banks, who was probably the best goalkeeper in the world at the time. His goal proved vital as it proved to be the winner after the two legs were played out. McCreadie was also part of the 1970 FA Cup winning side and later managed Chelsea after his retirement.
Centre Back: John Terry
The former England skipper currently wears the armband for the Blues and his their most successful captain ever after lifting three Premier League titles, three FA Cups as captain (four in total), twice winner of the league cup and has also won the FA Community Shield on two occasions. Affectionately known as ‘JT’ he first moved to Stamford Bridge at the age of 14 and is that last major talent that has come through the Blues’ ranks to make it in the first XI. Terry represents the final bastion of the old English centre-half and often fearlessly puts his head where most wouldn’t dare, but that’s his game and the reason why there is a banner draped over a hoarding at the Matthew Harding stand which reads ‘JT. Captain. Leader. Legend.’
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Centre Back: Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris
Chelsea’s record appearance maker with 795 games certainly lived up to his nickname during his career at the club in the 1960s and 1970s. Chopper was one of the toughest defenders of his day and as Blues’ skipper became the youngest captain at 22-years-old to lead a side out into an FA Cup final (1967), a competition he eventually won just three years later. He would never get away with his unforgiving physical style today, but his hard challenge on Eddie Gray eight minutes into the FA Cup final in 1970 left the Leeds man as a passenger for the rest of the game, which proved vital as he was one of their biggest threats.
Right Back: Steve Clarke
Most of Chelsea’s younger fans would mostly recognise Steve Clarke for his work as Jose Mourinho’s and Avram Grant’s assistant manager, but to most he will always go down as one of the best right-backs the club have had and was voted as the best Chelsea player to occupy that position in the club’s centernary XI. Clarke made 421 appearances in a Chelsea shirt and had won a few honours during his time at the club including the Full Members Cup (1990), FA Cup (1997), League cup (1998), with his final performance for the club coming in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1998 against Stuttgart. Clarke was always reliable, even at a time when the team were struggling in the league during the early days of Glenn Hoddle’s tenure which is just one of the reasons he deserves to be in this list.
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Midfield: Charlie Cooke
The skilful left-winger was signed from Dundee FC by Tommy Docherty for £72,000 in 1966 as part of the restructuring of the Chelsea side replacing Terry Venables, who moved to London rivals Tottenham. Cooke was a star in a flamboyant but unpredictable Chelsea side and became a bane for many defenders, including England World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore who Cooke waltzed past on his league debut against West Ham before scoring Chelsea’s winner. In his two spells at Stamford Bridge Cooke made 373 appearances and scored 30 goals for the club.
Midfield: Dennis Wise
If Cooke represents the flamboyant and skilful aspect to this Chelsea British XI, then Wisey definitely represents the aggressive and competitive aspect which is important to many teams. Wise was the club’s most successful captain before JT came along winning two FA Cups (1997 and 2000), FA Charity Shield (2000), League Cup (1998), UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (1998) and the UEFA Super Cup (1998). Wise made 445 appearances for Chelsea and scored 76 goals, the most famous being at the San Siro against AC Milan with 10 minutes to go during a Champions League fixture in 1999. Wise’s famous goal is still sung about at Stamford Bridge to this day.
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Midfield: Frank Lampard
Many thought after Roman Abramovich took over the Stamford Bridge club in June 2003 players like Lampard would fade into the distance as the club spent vast fortunes on new players. But Lampard has grown as a player since then and 157 goals for Chelsea from midfield during the club’s most successful period in its history easily makes him an absolute shoo-in for this list. The England midfielder is currently third a list of the Blues all-time goal scorers and has also laid on 94 assists for team-mates during his time at the club. Lampard has been The Blues’ Mr Consistent for the club scoring 20+ goals a season five consecutive years and played a record 164 consecutive Premier League appearances.
Forward: Kerry Dixon
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Dixon was blessed with great aerial ability as well as being able to use both feet, which is why he was so successful at Chelsea and scored a fantastic 193 goals for Chelsea making him their second highest goal scorer of all time, as well as being 7th in their all-time appearance list. Whilst at Stamford Bridge the forward enjoyed a good relationship with fellow striker David Speedie (despite an initial personality clash) and winger Pat Nevin, the trio scored over 200 hundred goals between them (1983-1986).
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Forward: Peter Osgood
The late Chelsea striker will always be a legend amongst the Stamford Bridge faithful who sign “Osgood, Osgood. Osgood, Osgood, always the king of Stamford Bridge.” Osgood made 150 appearances for the Blues in 380 appearances and famously scored in every round of the 1970 FA Cup run, as well as one in each of the games against Real Madrid European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1971. Ossie was arguably the biggest celebrity during his time at Chelsea when the club were not the most successful, but he epitomised England’s most fashionable and glamorous outfit. “Osgood is good,” as the fans on the Stamford Bridge terraces used to chant during his days there and that makes him an obvious choice for this list.
Forward: Bobby Tambling
Couldn’t really do a Chelsea’s all-time British XI without putting their record ever goal scorer in the team, could I? After the departure of one prolific forward in Jimmy Greaves, for AC Milan the Sussex-born Tambling became Chelsea’s primary goal threat and scored 202 goals in the club’s colours. Despite scoring so many goals for the club it is a shame that he only managed to win one trophy during his time at the club, the League Cup in 1965, but it was an exciting season as Chelsea were challenging for a domestic treble.
These lists are obviously always open for debate, so who do you think should make Chelsea’s all-time British XI?
Benfica and Brazil midfielder Ramires has urged his current club's supporters to understand why he has chosen to leave Lisbon to join Chelsea.
The 23-year-old is poised to complete a big-money switch to Stamford Bridge, with a fee of around £18million having been agreed between the two clubs.
Ramires told A Bola after opting to leave the Portuguese champions:"I hope everyone understands this decision. This is football and this outcome is good for the club and for me.
"I love this club. I took Benfica into my heart. I am very happy. I will never forget how I got here, where I was a champion, where I improved and I was very happy. It was a wonderful year.
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"I hope that everyone understands that it was a very good opportunity for me on a personal, sporting and financial level."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email