G24 Sport Sunday July 14 2013 12:30 GMT
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| pdf edition | Sunday July 14 2013 Sport G24 Downloaded 12:30 GMT Ashes 2013: Trent Bridge final-day crowd share Nottinghamshire bonanza Nottinghamshire’s most lucrative fixture in club’s 172-year history was toasted by sellout crowd who had gambled £20 on a fifth day Page 2 Manchester United happy to let Wayne Rooney’s contract run down Manchester United chief executive Edward Woodward says the club are not discussing a contract extension with Wayne Rooney, who has two years left on his deal Page 3 James Dasaolu runs second fastest 100m in history by British athlete James Dasaolu became only fourth British athlete in history to break the 10-second barrier for the 100m as he ran 9.91 sec Page 4 Andy Murray: LTA Lance Franklin Adelaide Luke Campbell starts should focus on offered huge deal yb Thunderbirds professional boxing getting kids to start Hawthorn Page 6 win the trans- career with rapid playing earlier Page 5 Tasman netball victory Page 8 Sam Perrett stars as championship Page 7 Fremantle’s late Canterbury Bulldogs Sport in brief Page 9 charge sees off West beat Melbourne Sydney Swans thrash Coast Eagles Page 5 Storm Page 7 GWS Giants Page 8 guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396. Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP Page 2 G24 Sport Sunday July 14 2013 12:30 GMT them that they’ve got a great finish to watch. Ashes 2013: Trent Bridge final-day “Bear in mind we have the usual costs of police, stewards and staff, so it’s not going to be a huge earner.” crowd share Nottinghamshire bonanza However once the additional sales of food and drink – a club spokesman estimated 190,000 pints will have been sold Nottinghamshire’s most lucrative fixture at the ground over the five days – are taken into account, the in club’s 172-year history toasted by sellout fifth-day’s play will generate profits for the county well into crowd who gambled £20 on a fifth day six figures. Steve Birks, the head groundsman whose pitch has helped to produce such a fascinating – and lengthy – game of Andy Wilson at Trent Bridge cricket must surely deserve a bonus. Tracey Francis, who runs the Trent Bridge Charitable Trust, has already received some good news from her boss. “I told Tracey that if we go five days, she can have a new minibus for the Trust,” Pursehouse said. “So she’s very happy.” Now the other counties staging matches in the series hope to enjoy a similar Ashes boost. The Oval is already sold out for the scheduled climax of the series, and Lancashire followed Nottinghamshire’s example by pre-selling fifth-day tickets for the first time for the third Test at Old Trafford. A club spokesman confirmed that the pace of sales has picked up noticeably over the last few days – with more than half the 25,000 capacity already sold. That will prevent a repeat of the remarkable scenes ahead of the last day of the last Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 2005, when England supporters at Trent Bridge enjoy Jimmy Anderson queues snaked around the ground and seemingly halfway back taking the wicket of Australia’s Ashton Agar. Photograph: to Manchester to witness a dramatic climax which ended with Ryan Pierse/Getty Australia clinging on for a draw. The Nottingham Evening Post billboard on the Mansfield Road out of town on Saturday night summed up the mood beautifully. “Ashes – It’s been brilliant!” It certainly has for Nottinghamshire, for whom this will be the most lucrative fixture in their 172-year history. The county had never before pre-sold tickets for the fifth day of a Test match – the last Ashes epic at Trent Bridge, in 2005, was finished in four. But the calculated gamble of doing so this time has paid off handsomely. All 17,000 tickets were sold by January, at £20 for adults and £10 for concessions, despite the usual uncertainty over how much of the match would be left. The gamble those punters took has therefore also paid off, with a first-hand view of a fascinating finish in a pent-up atmosphere. For Nottinghamshire, having paid a flat – and substantial – fee to the England and Wales Cricket Board for the right to stage Ashes Tests this year and in 2015, that represents a significant and unbudgeted boost to their finances. “It’s just been perfect, as an advert for Trent Bridge but also *From Beirut to Big Brother, for cricket,” said Lisa Pursehouse, who became the first female chief executive of a first-class county last year. Murdoch to Millionaire, “There has been the most amazing atmosphere in the ground, mutual respect between the supporters, and that discuss the hot topics in the thing only cricket can provide with the topsy-turvy nature media on not one, but two blogs of the game all through the five days. That’s been great for Nottinghamshire as a county, not just the cricket club. We’ve Organ Grinder and Greenslade had financial projections that the international matches we’ll blogs.guardian.co.uk/ stage over the four years to 2016 will generate £30m for the local organgrinder/ economy, because 51% of tickets are sold to people from outside the county, meaning that all the hotels are full. blogs.guardian.co.uk/ “We took the decision to put day-five tickets on sale mainly greenslade/ because people wanted us to. Seat tickets for the first four days have been £70 or £80 so putting them on sale for £20 and £10 made it more attractive for families, especially with the last day being on a Sunday. I’m really pleased for the people who bought guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk Page 3 G24 Sport Sunday July 14 2013 12:30 GMT many goals as we can,” said Moyes. “Wayne can play up on his Manchester United happy to let Wayne own, he can play dropped in. Overall my thought on Wayne is, if for any reason we had an injury to Robin van Persie, we’ll need Rooney’s contract run down him. “But I’ve also got to make sure we don’t just concentrate • Striker has two years left on his current on him. Manchester United aren’t about Wayne Rooney. deal at Old Trafford Manchester United are about the team, the club. We are talking • Contract not being discussed says new about him now, and rightly so, but what I won’t allow is Wayne to become more important than the football club and the chief executive football team.” Press Association Moyes confirmed he has already given his players the hairdryer treatment during a training session, although overall he is delighted at the intensity his new charges have been working with. However he admitted he is still finding his feet too. “I feel comfortable in the job but I still think there are bits of it that are strange,” he said. “These players are so used to seeing Sir Alex and I’ve been used to seeing the Everton players, so there are bits of it that I’ve got to say that I can’t turn round and say, ‘I’m cool with this, everything’s fine’ because there is a little bit of unease.” That first major signing would help, although it seems Thiago Alcantara will opt for Bayern Munich gu.com/p/3h8h5 rather than accept a switch from Barcelona to Old Trafford as seemed certain a fortnight ago. Manchester United say they would not be afraid of running “We are not looking to change the way we do things Wayne Rooney’s contract down. Photograph: Dave Thompson/ – it’s been a successful formula,” said Woodward. “We want PA the manager to be investing. We are not in the business of Manchester United are not concerned about the prospect of delivering him players. That structure works for some, but not Wayne Rooney’s contract running down, suggesting they will here at United.” not offer him a new deal this year. While the club’s manager David Moyes has been repeating his mantra about wanting Rooney to stay, albeit pointing out he will not let any single player become bigger than the club, United’s new chief executive Ed Woodward has been spelling out their policy on contracts. With two years to run on Rooney’s, the perceived wisdom has been if the striker is to remain at Old Trafford then an extension will have to be negotiated, otherwise United risk either a collapse in the 27-year-old’s market value or him leaving for nothing should he remain for a further two seasons. Given their aggressive approach to the financial side of their club, it seemed impossible the Glazer family would allow that to happen. However, speaking to reporters in Thailand prior to Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Singha All Stars gu.com/p/3ha38 , Woodward said that is not the case. “There are no contract renewals that are being discussed. I am not sitting down with any player on an extension and there is no trigger date in the diary,” said Woodward. “Would we be afraid to run a contract down? Of course not.” *Compare and buy On Friday, Moyes showed the first signs of becoming Use our free independent exasperated by the Rooney saga gu.com/p/3h9gg , stating: “Unless I was speaking double Dutch last week, we said Wayne comparison services to switch Rooney is not for sale.” suppliers and save money on Yet, with José Mourinho managing to keep the forward’s name at the forefront of people’s minds and no confirmation all your household bills.