LAWRENCE BOOTHS TOP SPIN: Come in No 14! Are Cook and Kieswetter Englands ultimate partners on time?

Craig Kieswetter may just possess that crucial ingredient, the one which sportsmen hate to admit exists but without which no successful career would be possible. The ingredient is called luck.

Its not so much that he was badly dropped only four runs into his 66-ball 81 for England Lions against the full England team in Dubai last week, although that certainly helped.

But his official transition from a South African to an Englishman coincides a) with a trip to the subcontinent, where one-day openers tend to enjoy themselves, and b) with a trip to Bangladesh, where one-day openers tend to enjoy themselves very much indeed.

Openign door: Craig Kieswetter hits a six against Bangladesh Cricket Board XI

More from Lawrence Booth... THE TOP SPIN: Player-by-player tour ratings as England say bye to Bangladesh 24/03/10 THE TOP SPIN: Twirler Tredwell deserved his chance in the sauna 16/03/10 THE TOP SPIN: Trott rides the peaks and troughs in his quest for recognition 08/03/10 TOP SPIN: Captain Cook sails on over the waves of doubt 02/03/10 THE TOP SPIN: The key questions for England as Bangladesh await 16/02/10 THE TOP SPIN: Forget the doom and gloom even if England need to buck up 19/01/10 THE TOP SPIN: So England have suddenly found a backbone? Johannesburg might just test the theory 12/01/10 THE TOP SPIN: Come on cricket, let"s stick to these 10 New Year"s resolutions! 05/01/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

Theres more. England wont say so, because it would insult the incumbents, but they are desperately seeking an opener capable of by-passing the infield, or at least bruising hands when he doesnt. Kieswetter could be the man.

Here, though, is the thing: assuming Kieswetter makes his international debut in Dhaka on Sunday, he and presumably the captain Alastair Cook will form Englands 14th one-day opening partnership since the end of the 2007 World Cup.

Fourteen! And in only the 58th game a tinker every fourth match on average (see table below). Englands selectors have been indecisive in their time, but their experimentation with nine different openers in two years Kieswetter would become the 10th may just sum up the mercurial nature of a one-day side that can lose 3-1 to New Zealand twice in a matter of months and thrash South Africa 4-0 soon after; lose 6-1 at home to Australia, then respond with a series win in South Africa.

There have, its true, been spells of consistency. Cook and Matt Prior were given nine matches together at the top of the order after Michael Vaughan played his last one-day game in Barbados in April 2007. And Cook and Phil Mustard opened in 10 successive innings in Sri Lanka and New Zealand in 2007-08. Those, however, are the two longest alliances, and they produced only three stands of 50 or more in 19 attempts.

Englands decision to stick with Cook was partly the product of his 102 against India at the Rose Bowl in August 2007 Andrew Strausss 105 in Guyana last year is so far the only other one-day hundred by an England opener since the last World Cup. But it may also have been influenced by the selectors desire to turn him into Englands captain-in-waiting.

Yet even Geoff Miller and Co grew so unconvinced by Cook as alimited-overs batsman that he has not played a one-day internationalsince November 2008. If his batting at Durban and Cape Town was enoughto persuade the selectors he was ready to lead the Test side, then hehas long squandered the credit built up by the Rose Bowl ton. He is, inessence, starting all over again.

Leading man: Alastair Cook trudges off after losing his wicket

To recap briefly, Cook averages 30 as a one-day opener, which wouldnt be bad if he scored quickly. Yet if he repeats his strike-rate of 68 in the three-match series against Bangladesh, the onus will be on Kieswetter to keep things moving. The newcomer may need all the luck he can get.

There is an uneasy sense here that England are moving forward with one leg and back with the other. Because if Kieswetter possesses precisely the kind of high-octane game that could take the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent by storm, Cook must prove he is more than a throwback necessitated by the captains armband.

The situation will be complicated still further when Andrew Strauss returns at which point Cook, an England captain no less, will presumably be dropped. Then there are Jonathan Trott and Joe Denly to think about. And Ian Bell, who like Strauss averages 33 as a one-day opener may believe he is still in with a chance too.

The Cook-Kieswetter alliance if that is what materialises could yet be the start of a new era. But if recent history is anything to go by, it will probably turn into another blip on a chart full of them.

Those 14 partnerships in detail: Englands opening batsmen since the 2007 World Cup...

BatsmenInningsRunsHighest partnershipAverage partnershipHighest individual scoreCook/Prior92787630.89102 CookPrior/Wright10006 PriorCook/Mustard1034215834.2083 MustardBell/Wright4934923.2546 BellBell/Cook1535353.0027 BellBell/Prior729810159.6073 BellBopara/Bell2807940.0060 BoparaBopara/Cook1333333.0024 BoparaStrauss/Bopara728910841.29105 StraussStrauss/Denly826810633.5063 StraussTrott/Strauss*21027451.0087 TrottStrauss/Wright1414141.0024 both

*Two innings divided by the Strauss/Wright partnership

FOLLOW THE TOP-SPIN ON TWITTERFor cricket-related snippets through the week, go to: twitter.com/the_topspinTHAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

Brilliance: Hashim Amla

Glorious failure

You make 114 and 123 not out and your side still loses a Test match by an innings. Hats off to Hashim Amla, who creamed 490 runs in three innings during the 1-1 draw with India while being dismissed only once and has now made 660 runs in his last five Test knocks at an average of 220. And to think this was the bloke England kept trapping lbw.

Still, at least the South Africans now appreciate the effort involved in saving a game nine wickets down.

With Test crickets No 1 ranking at stake, Amla and last man Morne Morkel survived for 76 minutes and more than 20 overs as South Africa sought to preserve their series lead in Kolkata.

A karmic response to Centurion and Cape Town seemed on the cards, only for Harbhajan Singh to remove Morkel with minutes left on the clock. Shame on these two-Test series

With friends like that...

The fun doesnt stop once Bangladesh walk off the pitch. Oh no. Because their Australian coach Jamie Siddons plays as many shots behind the mic as his batsmen do out in the middle.

After the Bangladeshis had slumped to 88 for five on the fourth evening of the one-off Hamilton Test against New Zealand a game they went on to lose by 121 runs Siddons hedged his bets and suggested the collapse had been the result of ;terrible batting.

And he had a direct message for struggling middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful, a player who began his Test career nine years ago with a debut century in Colombo at the age of 17 but has struggled so badly since then that he currently averages 22 from 53 Tests.

Siddons verdict? ;He had a terrible tour and he kept making the same bad decisions. We might have to reassess Ashraful when we get back.

England may be hoping any decision is deferred.

Remember,to avoid being trapped without your personal edition of The Top Spin,sign up now to receive the column direct to your inbox by clicking here A strange sort of decline

If Australia are over the hill, the Top Spin will have some of what theyre having. This winter they have won Test series against Pakistan (3-0) and West Indies (2-0), as well as 50-over series (5-0 v Pakistan, 4-0 v West Indies), two Twenty20 matches and presumably the daily race to bag the best net facilities. Englands only hope in Ashes year is that the Aussies like New Zealands rugby players are peaking at just the wrong moment. You read it here first.

Dont mention the hurling

If this column was paid a pound for every mention of Eoin Morgans supposed background in hurling, we would be far away, laughing. The myth cropped up again while he was smashing an unbeaten 67 off 51 balls to help England win the first Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Dubai, but the Top Spin can exclusively reveal that Morgan is sick and tired of it. ;I played the sport for three years and havent played since I was 12, he recently confided. ;My cricket skills have got nothing to do with hurling. Let that be an end to it.

Hurly burly: Eoin Morgan"s focus is on cricket - and certainly not hurling

The ultimate all-rounder

It was great to see Stuart Broadsinclusion in a Beano cartoon with Roger the Dodger in aid of theexcellent Sport Relief project. But has he been working on skills weneed to be told about? In the first few illustrations, Broad usuallya southpaw is clearly batting right-handed, only to switch to hismore customary method later on. A simple mistake? Or has KevinPietersen been divulging his switch-hit secrets? Watch this space.

Arrogant? Moi?

Anyone who has followed the first two seasons of the Indian Premier League will know of the omnipresence of Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood star and owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise who doubles up as a demi-god in his spare time. Khan is a charming man, though not without a sense of his own worth, as he showed in an interview with the Financial Times at the weekend.

Denying that the title of his new film, My Name is Khan, derived its inspiration from his own surname, he insisted: ;People think Im very arrogant, which Im not. Later, though, the mask slips when he considers the possibility of tackling ;weightier themes in his movies. ;Maybe when you reach a level of stardom and universal appeal that perhaps I have he begins, possibly adhering to the old dictum that if youre not going to big yourself up, nobody else will

Its a mans life

The news that Northamptonshires South African-born batsman/keeper Riki Wessels has been denied a work permit for the new season will strike some as a welcome blow against the legion of non-England qualified players in county cricket. But Wessels, who is currently playing domestic cricket in Zimbabwe, did not have long to go before he officially became English, and has now told friends he is considering a career in the Australian army. Those who recall his dad Keplers sergeant-major approach during his stint as coach at Wantage Road may not be entirely surprised.

Two teenagers arrested after 17-year-old is murdered outward motion picture

Three teenagers have been arrested following the murder of a 17-year-old boy in east London last night.

The victim was found by police officers outside of the Showcase cinema in Beckton at about 8.45pm. He was already dead having suffered a stab wound and has yet to be identified.

A post-mortem examination was taking place this afternoon at East Ham Mortuary, Scotland Yard said. The teenager"s next of kin have been informed.

Police had been called to the scene to control fighting in the area outside the multiplex. Officers have today been investigating whether the victim had been at the nearby Powerleague football ground where a fracas is thought to have broken out.

The Showcase cinema in Beckton, east London, where the teen was found dead

Two teens - aged 15 and 16-years-old - were found near the body and taken into custody in different police stations in east London.

Police today confirmed a third teenager was arrested this afternoon and is being questioned by detectives at another east London police station.

Detective Inspector Ian Goldsborough, the investigating officer from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) at Scotland Yard, said: "We believe there will have been people in the area, either going to or from the Showcase cinema or the nearby restaurant, that may have seen or heard the incident that has lead to the tragic death of a teenager.

"We are appealing to them, or anyone else that was in the area at the time of the incident to contact us and lets us know what they saw or heard."

Officers were keeping an open mind as to a possible motive.

Anyone with any information should call police on 020 8345 4142 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Protests as Lord Adonis reveals plans for 30bn high-speed railway network

Philip Pank, Transport Correspondent, and Mary Bowers & , : {}

Across the Chiltern escarpment and the fields of Warwickshire and in to the extrinsic constituencies of the West Midlands, the lines were drawn yesterday for a formulation conflict over Britains high-speed rail network.

Indeed, daggers had been already drawn prior to Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, told Parliament of plans for a thirty billion Y-shaped railway from London to Manchester and Leeds around the Midlands.

The initial phase, 128 miles of lane from the collateral to Birmingham, will if finished as programmed by 2026 cut tour times in in between Britains dual greatest cities to in in between thirty and 50 minutes. By 2032, the Government hopes that the network will be complete, putting Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield inside of 75 mins of London and in the future slicing tour times to Edinburgh to 3 hours.

In so doing, genius on the swarming West Coast Main Line would be trebled, 10,000 jobs created, and informal and inhabitant economies boosted. Business leaders and the traffic unions have praised the scheme.

Related LinksHigh speed rail network to cost twenty billionAdonis sum 30bn high speed rail networkMultimediaGRAPHIC: the programmed track

The Conservatives are heading the protests. The partys ride group says that Labour has tricked the prophesy of high-speed rail that would magnify the length of the country, receiving in Heathrow and the cities to the North. Electoral governing body are at play, with the line set to run by the Buckinghamshire Tory heartlands and contested seats in the Midlands. So as well is Conservative antithesis to Heathrow expansion, that is firm to the high-speed plans.

If internal criticism groups are disturbed about blight, regions abandoned by the network fright that they will be left behind. Road user groups contend that the immeasurable cost will good comparatively couple of passengers.

Transport campaigners fright that the plan will come at the shortcoming of paltry works, such as stuffing in potholes and mending the existent railway. We entirely admit the shortcoming to assistance those influenced by the scheme, Lord Adonis said.

Local authorities and debate groups would be called from currently to voice their concerns prior to a grave six-month open conference duration starts in the autumn, he said.

The Government will afterwards list a hybrid formulation Bill that contingency pass by both Houses of Parliament and their committees. So there are mixed opportunities for those influenced by this track to have their voices heard, he added.

Already, the people of Great Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, were scheming to have their voices heard. We were meditative of station for Parliament, pronounced Chris Russell, a businessman. Its so Tory, I could probably win on the rail ticket.

Sir John Johnson, authority of the Chiltern Conservation Board, said: This is directed towards as one of the countrys excellent landscapes. There are beechwoods, grasslands, marker streams. It will cut a swath by the lot. We will see the drop of very old rights of way.

Detailed formulation work for the stretched network will right away proceed and should be finished by late subsequent year. Public conference on routes to Manchester and Leeds would proceed in 2012, Lord Adonis said.

hair wig

BP sloping to sign Brazilian offshore deal

Rebecca OConnor & , : {}

BP has emerged as a front-runner to buy $5 billion (3.3 billion) of oil resources from Devon Energy, the eccentric US oil and gas producer.

It was reported yesterday that the deal, that could be voiced in days, would give BP a foothold in the sought-after oil segment off the Brazilian seashore and serve make firm the companys on all sides as the largest writer in the Gulf of Mexico. It is accepted that the sale could additionally give BP a interest in Devons Canadian fields.

Other intensity bidders are thought to embody China National Offshore Oil and Chevron.

Devon, formed in Oklahoma, pronounced in Nov last year that it would cruise offloading a little assets, to capacitate it to combine on projects in North America that are less unsure than the growth of new fields. It has 1.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, majority of it undeveloped.

Related LinksBP embarks on a new turn of cost-cuttingBritish groups vie for Iraq oil and gas contractsBrazil dazzled by guarantee of new oil cache

In December, Devon pronounced that it would sell 3 growth projects in the segment to Maersk Oil, the Danish company, for $1.3 billion.

BP has eleven start-ups programmed in the Gulf of Mexico in the subsequent five years, as well as dual in Canada. In the plan display dual weeks ago, the association pronounced it had identified serve event in the region.

It has been upgrading the refinery in Indiana, that analysts pronounced would be a great vital fit with Devons Canadian assets.

However, BP has so far not had any bearing to offshore Brazil, where the Tupi field, estimated to enclose pot of in between five billion and eight billion barrels, is located.

BP and Devon were taken for comment.

hair wig

David Cameron comes out fighting over Ashcroft Politics The Guardian

David Cameron says the Conservative celebration is not in Lord Ashcroft"s debt Photograph: Chris Young/PA

David Cameron claimed tonight that he had succeeded in diluting the Conservatives" faith on income from their argumentative emissary chairman, Lord Ashcroft, as the celebration reliable the billionaire counterpart would not offer in a Tory supervision after the election.

In a BBC interview, Cameron attempted to pull a line underneath the issue that has stubborn his celebration for some-more than a week, observant Ashcroft"s donations to the Conservatives were "entirely legal" and insisting he "has answered the questions about where he pays his tax".

Ashcroft suggested last Monday he had concluded with the supervision that he could sojourn a "non-dom" notwithstanding earnest when he became a counterpart in 2000 to take up permanent residency in the UK. Cameron insisted reporters were "flogging a passed horse" in posterior the story.

"When I became personality of the Conservative celebration it was in debt to the balance of £20m. That is right away in singular figures," Cameron said. "I have sorted out the debts of the Conservative party. I have sorted out the appropriation … I have finished it less reliant on a couple of rich people. I"ve broadened the base. I"ve paid off loans together with a really large loan to Michael Ashcroft so the celebration is not in his debt one piece. That is what I"ve finished – traffic with the debts of the Conservative party. I see brazen to rolling up my sleeves and traffic with the debts of the country."

Cameron deserted the perspective that he was as well diseased to take on Ashcroft. "I would put it to you that it"s right away time for the BBC to go after the Labour celebration and ask questions about their donors and where they compensate tax. We have answered those questions a little time prior to the ubiquitous choosing and I"m really gratified we"ve finished so."

Tonight a orator for the Tory personality went serve than Cameron did in his interview, divulgence that Ashcroft would not turn a minister. "Michael Ashcroft has pronounced that he is station down as emissary authority of the Conservative celebration after the choosing to combine on his media and commercial operation interests. Under the ministerial formula this would bar him from holding a supervision post."

Pressure is ascent on ministers to have a matter about the surprising approach that Ashcroft was authorised to explain non-dom standing and equivocate taxation notwithstanding his British origins.

A array of parliamentary questions are due for answer by the Treasury this week about the resources in that Ashcroft was postulated his taxation benefaction in 2000, believed to have saved him tens of millions of pounds.

One, tabled by the Labour MP Paul Farrelly, asks underneath what resources a chairman innate in the UK, whose relatives were UK citizens, and who is a "long-term resident" of the UK, can validate to be personal as a UK non-dom. Another asks what mandate Belize passport-holders contingency prove to be authorised to explain UK non-dom status. Ashcroft, who describes himself as "proud of my radically British roots", was innate in Chichester, Sussex, prior to long after the second universe war, in that his father fought for Britain. His relatives came from Burnley and Bolton and both also, says Ashcroft, were "sturdy Lancastrians and unapproachable of their roots" .

Ashcroft outlayed 3 years as a kid in Belize, where his father was quickly posted as a colonial administrator, prior to he returned to be scholastic and to work in England. In the 1990s, he outlayed less than a decade as a taxation exile, a non-resident with a chateau in Florida and commercial operation interests in the Belize taxation haven.

The extenuation of non-dom status, underneath that it was ruled that Ashcroft"s loyal headquarters was in a unfamiliar country, enabled him to resume British chateau and acquire a nobility but carrying to compensate full British taxes.

William Hague, Conservative personality at the time, betrothed the honours inspection cabinet Ashcroft would compensate "tens of millions a year" in British taxes, and a honest endeavour was finished open at the time from Ashcroft that he would again turn a "permanent resident" of Britain. But he has given claimed the cabinet members concluded he could personally shift the word "permanent" to "long-term", definition temporary.

Ministers routinely equivocate giving report about individuals" taxation affairs, but the apportion in assign of tax, Stephen Timms, might find it tough to equivocate responding one forked parliamentary subject due to crop up on the sequence paper: "To ask … how most people holding Belize passports are a) personal as non-domiciled in the UK for taxation purposes and b) on what date each was postulated such status?"

The unanswered subject at the back of the domestic row about Ashcroft is what report his accountants gave the income to convince it of the doubtful topic that he had incited himself in to a foreigner.

On the face of it, Ashcroft did not fit the criteria set out in income discipline newly drafted in 1999. These pronounced that a chairman of British origins could shun his "UK domicile" usually if: "You leave your nation of dwelling and solve in an additional country." Before permitting a Briton to forgo his domicile, the Revenue pronounced it additionally needed: "strong justification you intend to live there henceforth or indefinitely".

Yesterday the Lib Dem counterpart Lord Taverne wrote to the subcommittee on Lords interests to ask for an review in to Ashcroft"s peerage. Taverne said: "Lord Ashcroft does not crop up to have been true with the Lords. This without delay contravenes the beliefs of standards in open hold up and thus raises the subject of his bearing for open office."

Britain stairs resolutely out of retrogression as expansion is revised up to 0.3%

Francesca Steele, Gr�inne Gilmore & , : {}

Britain emerged from retrogression some-more strongly than formerly estimated in the fourth entertain of last year, total showed today, but interpretation additionally referred to that the downturn was deeper than primary forecasts suggested.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) pronounced that British GDP grew by 0.3 per cent in the last 3 months of 2009, revised up from the primary guess of 0.1 per cent.

The climb will be seen as a progress to Labour prior to the ubiquitous election.

However, downward revisions to alternative GDP interpretation in prior buliding prove that outlay plunged by 6.2 per cent since the retrogression began in Apr 2008, rather than the 6 per cent formerly estimated.

Related LinksAnalysis: is Gordon Brown free?US GDP revised up to 5.9% for fourth quarterOsborne puts debt at centre of choosing conflict

GDP in the fourth entertain forsaken by 3.3 per cent on an annual basis, compared with the strange foresee of 3.2 per cent.

Analysts warned that the revised interpretation for the last 3 months of 2009 was not sufficient to vigilance that the UK economy was out of the woods, and that GDP expansion could lose movement in the initial entertain of this year.

Colin Ellis, European economist at Daiwa Capital Markets, said: "The interpretation could well have one big repercussion. Given the expected proxy progress to expansion in the last quarter, GDP in the initial entertain of this year could be weak, generally since the bad continue in January.

That equates to that April"s rough GDP interpretation for the initial entertain could show a weakening in mercantile growth, rather than a strengthening."

He added: "With a ubiquitous choosing due by June, now, or might be only after the Budget, might be the most appropriate time for the Government to go to the voters, at slightest in mercantile terms."

Howard Archer, arch UK and European economist of IHS Global Insight, said: "Modestly stronger GDP expansion at the finish of 2009 gives the economy a small firmer substructure for liberation in 2010.

Nevertheless, it is far as well shortly to call the mercantile all-clear as critical mercantile and monetary obstacles sojourn in the approach of sustainable, decent growth.

"Consequently, we think that liberation will be light and disposed to relapses.

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Tameside NHS certitude to be reinvestigated after residents campaign

David Rose, Health Correspondent & , : {}

A sanatorium certitude with higher-than-average genocide rates is to be reinvestigated by health regulators after a debate by internal residents and MPs.

The Department of Health pronounced last night that it welcomed an examination by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health watchdog, in to caring at Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester.

The certitude was found to have a little of the tip genocide rates in the nation in Nov when the eccentric researcher Dr Foster, published the Good Hospital Guide.

At the time, the CQC was criticised as toothless when it claimed that no serve movement was indispensable to examine the trust, formerly rated great for peculiarity of care.

Related LinksSystemic failings killed 71 at hospital"s AEReport criticises Birmingham Children"s Hospital

But an unannounced review in Dec found justification that the certitude had breached discipline on the impediment of infections such as MRSA.

The CQC pronounced that it would additionally see again at mankind rates and surveys of patients and staff at the hospital, whilst Monitor, the eccentric regulator for substructure trusts, will additionally lift out an eccentric examination of the approach the certitude is run.

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary and MP for Leigh, appeared last night to behind the examination by the regulators.

He pronounced that the NHS was the excellent essence of Labour values but added: There are places where it [the NHS] is not great sufficient and I will never bashful afar from observant that. Where it isnt, we have to move it up to standard.

The proclamation comes after the hospitals 4 internal Labour MPs pronounced that they had lost certainty in certitude management.

More than 470 people have so far assimilated the MPs James Purnell, Andrew Gwynne and David Heyes in signing a apply to to the Prime Minister that calls for an eccentric examination in to a catalog of failings at the trust.

Tom Levitt, the Labour MP for High Peak, is additionally pronounced to await the campaign, and a Facebook debate with some-more than 1,500 members additionally called for bosses to go.

Christine Green, arch senior manager of the trust, that runs Tameside General Hospital, insisted that the sanatorium was an in effect and protected place to be treated.

The Department of Health pronounced in a statement: We are gratified that the eccentric regulators the CQC and Monitor, along with the North West Strategic Health Authority and the Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are operative together to examine concerns about the opening of the trust.

Patient reserve is the tip priority and we design any issues identified to be quickly addressed and actions taken to safeguard standards are softened where required so that internal people can be assured in the peculiarity of caring supposing by the trust.