The question that prevailed last night, as the fireworks exploded and the Italian players paraded the World Cup in ecstasy, was quite simple: why did Zidane do it? How did a player of Materazzi’s mediocre talents – a forgettable former servant of Everton – provoke one of the greatest players ever into such a moment of madness? From a man like Zidane, playing his last game before retirement, it felt like an unholy denial of everything he represents.. But Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, would have none of it. He has made a career out of cheesing people off who aggravate him, and he chose to highlight how pathetic England’s approach was by keeping them in the field until 6.30pm.. Zinedine Zidane has been awarded the Golden Ball as the best player at the World Cup despite his sending off in the final last night. The France legend, playing in his final match before retirement, was dismissed in extra time for butting Italy’s Marco Materazzi..

The Italians may wish to call it the night their football got its soul back. The rest of us will remember it for one of the most self-destructive acts of violence on a football pitch, a moment that vandalised a great reputation and ended a brilliant career. Zinedine Zidane’s last act as a footballer was to headbutt viciously the chest of Marco Materazzi and then step off the stage forever at the brandish of a red card. Instead, Chris Read took his pads off and bowled while Key, Cook, Owais Shah and Bell sent down an assortment of filth.England A spent the last 90 minutes of the game attempting to make the cricket so trivial that Pakistan accepted the draw and walked off. All they did was show a lack of ambition.Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, will moan that his players lack experience against international opposition, yet here they wasted a golden opportunity to see how Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Ravi Bopara fare against one of the best batting line-ups in cricket. If Robert Key, the England A captain, imagines that his tactics – possibly under instruction from officials higher up the ladder – will have a detrimental effect on Pakistan’s performance at Lord’s, he is kidding himself.

Counties had become guilty of playing weakened teams against visiting sides bringing down the quality of the cricket. But, after this showing, counties have every right to demand the right to once again host these potentially lucrative matches. The attitude of England A, whose aim was to reduce the amount of worthwhile batting practice Pakistan could obtain before the first Test, was especially disappointing because, after scoring 595 for 9 and bowling the tourists out for 242 in their first innings on Saturday, they had an excellent chance of victory.
But instead of asking Pakistan to follow on and pushing for the win they let Alastair Cook and Ian Bell score meaningless runs against two part-time spinners.England A games were introduced to make tourists’ matches more worthwhile. Pakistan face a bowling crisis ahead of the first Test at Lord’s which starts on Thursday – with injuries to Rana Naved-ul Hasan and Mohammad Asif, and Shoaib Akhtar not yet in the country – so it came as little surprise to see the tourists opt to rest the fit members of their attack on the final day of the four-day match against England A. This approach, along with that of England A, who chose to bat on and on and on before declaring and bowling joke bowlers, resulted in the game reaching a farcical conclusion. England Test squad for Lord’s A J Strauss (Middlesex, captain), I R Bell (Warwickshire), P D Collingwood (Durham), A N Cook (Essex), S J Harmison (Durham), M J Hoggard (Yorkshire), G O Jones (Kent), J Lewis (Gloucestershire), S I Mahmood (Lancashire), M S Panesar (Northamptonshire), K P Pietersen (Hampshire), L E Plunkett (Durham), M E Trescothick (Somerset)..

Its energy subsidiary, RWE npower, is seeking to dump half a million tons of power station ash in an Oxfordshire lake that is particularly rich in wildlife.
The lake, at Radley near Abingdon, is treasured not only for its peace and tranquility but also because of the extraordinary range of plant, insect, bird, mammal, reptile, and fish life that it shelters.Its banks and its waters are host to a spectacular flora, including many wild orchids, nearly half of all the British dragonfly species, a rich community of butterflies and moths, bird life that includes four species of breeding warblers, plus kingfishers and great crested grebes, visiting otters and water voles, grass snakes, and a suite of fish species headed by giant carp.Yet the lake, on the site of a former gravel pit, has slipped through the net of official environmental protection and has no nature conservation designation whatsoever Its only defence is the concern of local people. What is there to dislike about Matt? He beat me, he was the better fighter on the night,” admitted Williams, who once again in an important fight went through the motions in too many crucial rounds.Williams did enough in February to win a split decision but started far too slowly and cautiously on Saturday and at a career-high 20st 8lb was often an easy target for Skelton to hit from a safe distance.In the other main attraction, theOlympic silver medallist, Amir Khan, moved to eight fights unbeaten as a professional with a second-round stoppage of Scotland’s Colin Bain. “I hope to get a world title fight but I will probably be learning how to use all the carpentry tools two or three times each week at college. There is nothing wrong with being a carpenter.”Before turning to professional boxing as a way of making a living, Skelton fought on the K-1 circuit of full contact fighting in Japan and since turning professional he has refused to boast, belittle any of his opponents or respond to the many insults that other fighters have thrown his way.”He’s a nice guy He opens the doors for old ladies. In 12 months’ time he hopes to be a world champion – and a carpenter.

Skelton avenged his only loss in 19 fights with a points decision over 12 often gruelling rounds against Danny Williams at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, and immediately created a heavyweight precedent when he announced his future plans.
“I’ve always wanted to be a carpenter,” Skelton insisted. Fallon can continue to make all the difference in pivotal races – such as the Irish Champion Stakes or the Arc – but in the meantime their choice of substitutes in Britain will include the likes of Johnny Murtagh, who has a superb record on their horses.If Fallon cannot clear his name, they will be in no greater pickle than they would be anyway, if they felt it imperative to sign a replacement. If he can, it would certainly be in their own interest to have kept faith with him in the meantime.Chris McGrathNap: Malakiya (Bath 3.45)NB: Conkering (Windsor 8.05). Matt Skelton started to box when he was 35, and on Saturday – at the age of 39 – he won the Commonwealth heavyweight title. He must demonstrate a readiness to resume here the moment he is free to do so.Of course, it is not that simple Much depends on his patrons at Coolmore.