Injuries Hurt Winning Australia

The Big Picture
Australia should feel like an international heavyweight again after starting the one-day series against England with two wins to follow their success in the second Twenty20. But despite the sudden reversal in form after the Ashes, they remain in a bruised state. Nathan Hauritz went to hospital for x-rays on the shoulder he hurt while fielding in Hobart, and will have further scans today. Shaun Tait picked up a thigh strain, his second injury in a week, while Michael Hussey (hamstring) and Ricky Ponting (finger) are recovering from serious problems.

Hauritz is unlikely to play in the final five games of the series but is hoping to be ready for the World Cup starting next month. Tait had better news on Saturday when scans showed no new injury, but his health is a huge worry and the latest setback came only a couple of days after he boasted he was "probably the fittest I've been". This was despite him picking up a back strain which ruled him out of the win in Melbourne.

England's problems are more to do with form and, almost certainly, a let-down following their dominant, drought-breaking Ashes win. It was two weeks ago in Sydney that Andrew Strauss and his team-mates got their hands on the urn and celebrated long and hard. They will be back at the SCG on Sunday aiming to regain some much-needed momentum.

Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WWWLL
England LLWLL
Watch out for...
Brad Haddin is a man starting to feel significant pressure, but he can breathe freely again with a big score on his home ground. Tim Paine was named in Australia's World Cup squad a few days after he had been appointed vice-captain of the Twenty20 team, a decision which led to Haddin being dropped. Haddin then missed three stumpings in the first ODI against England, and gained scores of 39 and 5 as an opener.

Ian Bell has made two starts in the opening games, but England need him to push on to a big score. While his opportunities were limited in the Test campaign, Bell has received chances for long stays in both 50-over contests. He was 23 in Melbourne when he chipped Steven Smith to cover, and last night in Hobart he fell to the second ball of Brett Lee's spell when he tried to drive through the offside on 32. England require more steel from their side's most attractive run-maker.

Team news
Xavier Doherty comes in for Hauritz, while a replacement needs to be found for Tait. Doherty played in the opening ODI before being dropped when he wasn't in the World Cup squad. "Xavier has an excellent domestic one-day record and we are sure he will seize this opportunity to again play for Australia," Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. Mitchell Johnson isn't available having not had enough time to prepare after his throat infection so Peter Siddle has been added to the squad.

Australia (possible) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Cameron White, 5 David Hussey, 6 Shaun Marsh, 7 Steven Smith, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Xavier Doherty, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Doug Bollinger.

Andrew Strauss felt he was a fast bowler short in Hobart, which makes the offspinner James Tredwell vulnerable. Chris Woakes or Luke Wright could both come in, with Tim Bresnan hurting his calf in Hobart. What England really want is the return of James Anderson, who isn't available until Adelaide after taking time off back home.

England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Michael Yardy, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 Ajmal Shahzad.

Stats and trivia

• The SCG is a treasured ground in Australia's history, but it isn't a pleasant place to play England. In 18 games there, Australia have won seven and lost 10. Four of those defeats came in the 1980s when the locals won only once.
• Michael Clarke sits in 10th spot on the ground's one-day run list with 754. Allan Lamb's 373 are the most by an Englishman.
• Geoff Boycott has the second-highest batting average at the ground, with his 127.00 in four matches only slightly worse than Ian Chappell's 131.00 in three games.
• Darren Gough is the only Englishman to have taken five wickets at the SCG, with his haul coming against Zimbabwe in 1994-95.

Pitch and conditions
The SCG pitch usually has something for the spinners, but it has also supported the fast bowlers at times this year. Sydney's forecast for Sunday is sunny and a top of 27C.

Quotes
"What's most pleasing for me is when you see someone come in like Shaun Marsh and get hold of his opportunity. That continues to show the depth in first-class cricket in Australia."

Say What? Jabbering Jets Keep Talking and Winning

Call them whatever bleepin' names you want — and plenty already have. Rex Ryan's bunch of blabbermouths isn't shutting up anytime soon.

They insult the other team's quarterback, needle the opposing coach and never stop yapping.

Not the way it's normally done in the NFL. Not in any sport, really.


Only with these jabbering New York Jets, it's working. Cover your ears because they're talking all the way back to the AFC championship game.

"We've got guys who are confident," defensive back Dwight Lowery said Monday, "and we all show that confidence in different ways."

They take their cue from Ryan. He's made bold predictions from the moment he took over two years ago, coaching a franchise that had lacked an identity ever since Broadway Joe made the biggest boast of all 42 years ago.

Sometimes, Ryan and his guys have been a bit profane. But if that offends other people, well, then too bad.

Besides, a win Sunday in Pittsburgh and the Jets reach the Super Bowl for the first time since that famous 1969 win over the Baltimore Colts.

No wonder Joe Namath loves what he's seeing — and hearing.

"THATS WHAT WE'RE TALKIN ABOUT!!!" Namath tweeted after Santonio Holmes' tremendous TD catch Sunday against New England.

Next up, the green-and-white sequel in this made-for-TV season.

"Everybody's true to their colors here," defensive lineman Sione Pouha said. "This is Rex's style, and as everyone can see, we love it."

Just ask the Patriots, who've seen and heard enough of the Jets to last an entire offseason. After New York's wild on-field celebration in Foxborough — complete with Braylon Edwards' backflip — following a 28-21 win, Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch called the Jets "classless."

"Just take the loss like a man," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "Just take it like a man, and move on."

So far, the Jets have backed up their tough talk.

First, Peyton Manning and Indianapolis.

Then, Tom Brady and the Patriots.

All on the road.

Standing in their way to the Super Bowl are Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers.

"I think we know the formula that it takes to win," Ryan said. "Now, we just have to go out and do it, albeit in an incredibly tough environment."

No, Ryan's confidence hasn't wavered one bit. Not with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake.

"I just talk the way it is," he said. "If you can't get motivated to win an AFC championship game, I don't know what else you need."

When Ryan first took over, he was hailed by many as a breath of fresh air in a league filled with tightlipped coaches who play things close to the vest.

"New York is very diverse and I think your team should reflect where you are," Lowery said. "That might have something to do with it. It might be that this is just the right coach for this organization and this area."

Anything goes with Ryan, whether it's self-deprecating humor about his weight or talking about how his team will meet the President Barack Obama someday soon.

The Jets' locker room is filled mostly with players who speak openly about themselves or their opponents — not worried about consequences or perceptions.

"I totally disagree with people saying we're trash talking," Pouha said. "We're confident talkers more than we are talking trash."

But there have been few teams in professional sports that have been successful on the field while being so loose off it.

Sure, there were the Super Bowl Shufflin' Bears of 1985, a team whose defensive coordinator was Ryan's father, Buddy. There were also the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, the renegade Raiders of the 1970s, the 1986 New York Mets, the NBA's Bad Boy Pistons, and the stormy and scandalous Miami Hurricanes of the '80s.

These Jets under Ryan are the closest to a team people love to hate as we've seen in a while.

"Part of it is maybe because when you see a team that wins Super Bowls, or has a lot of repeated success, people try to duplicate that," Lowery said. "So, when the Patriots were winning a lot in the 2000s, it was like, that's what you needed to do to win. So, now, you have a lot of teams trying to adopt that style and it may not fit their style. Rex got a head job and just came in and this is how he wants to run the ship."

And, who knows? It could be the start of a louder, new trend in the NFL.

"Hopefully, because I feel like this is a better environment to be in and play football because there's a lot of stress that goes into this job," Lowery said. "You want to be able to have some kind of outlet, and one outlet to have is being yourself. You don't have to walk around with your arms at your side and stand straight and wear a suit everywhere.

"It's still a kid's game."

With big-boy dreams.

"Obviously, we set a goal to go to the show, and everybody has the same goal in August and the majority of people don't say it," Pouha said. "A lot of teams have great players and don't say it. Well, we say it."

And, people in other sports are taking notice. In fact, Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry imitated Ryan — who said the Jets-Patriots game was between him and Bill Belichick — before the team's 129-121 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

"It's personal," a joking Gentry said, referring to his former boss, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. "It's me and Mike, OK? It just comes down to me and Mike, that's it. It doesn't have anything to do with the players, anything. It's me and Mike. I've got to be a better coach than Mike today, OK?"

Talk about the ultimate form of flattery.

"Rex has said something like, 'There's always going to be people who like what you do, and others who don't like you, whether you're a football player, an astronaut, a doctor or just some guy on the street,'" Lowery said. "He's told us that people are not going to like us, and there are people that love us and others who are in between. So, you've just got to be yourself."

Film Critic Insults Award-Winning Actors, Makes Annette Bening Cry

New York Press film critic Armond White isn't exactly beloved in Hollywood -- in fact, he's quite the opposite -- and things came to a head last night during the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, with 'Black Swan' director Darren Aronofsky chastising White from the stage and a teary-eyed Annette Bening pleading for everyone to "just get along."

According to the Village Voice, things were tense from the get-go after White, chairman of the Critics Circle, brought Aronofsky onstage to present an award to his 'Swan' cinematographer, Matthew Libatique. In an obvious wink to White's negative 'Swan' review, the director said, "Keep it up, because you give us all another reason not to read New York Press."

"Aronofsky was saying this stuff with a smile," Gawker reports. "He was riffing." White, however, wasn't laughing, and took his next turn at the mic to stir the pot, saying, "That's all right. Darren reads me. That's all I want. And because he reads me, he knows the truth."

White is notorious for, well, being deliberately antagonistic. Gawker perhaps puts it best: "[White] is a very angry critic who feels very passionately about movies and tends to hate what everyone else likes and like what everyone else hates." To wit: White wrote a favorable review of Jonah Hex, last summer's 80-minute debacle currently ranked 13 percent fresh on RottenTomatoes, and he gave 'Toy Story 3,' 2010's best-reviewed film at 99 percent, one of only three negative reviews.

The atmosphere at last night's event appears to have been volatile, to say the least. "Armond broke the bank on insulting award winners he didn't agree with," an attendee told Gawker.

When 'Blue Valentine' actress Michelle Williams was presented with a prize, White introduced her by praising her performance in the 2004 film 'Land of Plenty,' leading the Oscar-nominated actress (for 'Brokeback Mountain') to say, "I made that movie almost 10 years ago. I can't imagine what you've said about me since then if you had to go back that far to say something nice."

Later, when White brought 'Angels in America' playwright Tony Kushner to the stage to award director David Fincher's universally acclaimed 'The Social Network' with the Best Picture prize, he said, "Maybe he can explain why it won best picture."

White also made sure to thank his peers for not awarding any honors to director Noah Baumbach's well-reviewed indie hit 'Greenberg.' Baumbach's continued success has long been a thorn in the critic's side; in his review of Baumbach's 1997 film 'Mr. Jealousy,' White said the director's mother should have had a "retroactive abortion." How tasteful and professional of him.

The tone of the evening, however, was apparently set in stone when Annette Bening took to the stage to accept the Best Actress prize for her turn in 'The Kids Are Alright.' "Bening, tearfully, came close to lecturing critics for being mean little s**ts," an attendee told Gawker, while another reported, "She said something like, 'Can't we all just get along?'"