The Sports Matrix: Friday 23 September 2011

Jones ‘pleased’ with season’s best

British gymnast Frankie Jones achieved her highest scoring clubs routine of the year at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at Montpellier yesterday. The 20-year-old scored 23.825, and said she was “pleased” with her performance afterwards.

Swann: Captaining England ‘is surreal’

Graeme Swann has admitted his surprise at being England captain for the T20 series against the West Indies, which starts at The Oval today. “No-one would have believed this four or five years ago, least of all myself,” he said. “It is surreal in a way.” MORE

Ashes Test venues announced by ECB

The venues hosting the Ashes Tests in 2013 and 2015 were announced yesterday. Trent Bridge will host Ashes Tests in both series, although Headlingley and the Rose Bowl will not have an Ashes Test either time. MORE

Radcliffe nearly quit over thyroid

Paula Radcliffe, who runs the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, admits she nearly quit earlier this year with a thyroid problem: “I got to the point where I thought, ‘Do I want to do this any more?’. And then you come home, have two days off, and think, ‘I do’.” MORE

Habana sets record in Springbok rout

Bryan Habana became South Africa’s record try scorer yesterday as the holders beat Namibia 87-0 to move towards the quarterfinal. Habana scored his 39th Springbok try to move one ahead of former scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen. MORE

Gerrard pleased to be over injury

Steven Gerrard is looking forward to putting his injury woes behind him now he is playing again: “The last six months have been a rollercoaster, but it’s behind me now and I’m looking forward to getting match fit and trying to get back in the starting line-up.” MORE

Johnson wants to focus on Romania

Martin Johnson insisted yesterday that the controversy over Mike Tindall was over. “This is old news, we’ve moved on,” he said. Tindall is likely to start at inside centre tomorrow against Romania, who are set to rest most of their stronger players. MORE

Opinion: James Lawton

Given the distraction caused by Mike Tindall’s off-field behaviour, it is hard not to believe that Martin Johnson has made another error. Why had Tindall not been sent home the moment his indiscretions were public? MORE

Hagreaves: United medical treatment ‘absolutely’ wrong

Owen Hargreaves believes that Manchester United prescribed the wrong treatments for the knee injuries which devastated his time at Old Trafford. The midfielder was given prolotherapy injections: glucose injected into knee ligaments. “They [United’s medical staff] said it [prolotherapy treatment] would help and that I wouldn’t have any side effects from the injections,” Hargreaves said. “That obviously wasn’t the case and if I’d known I could have had a reaction like that, I wouldn’t have done it.” Asked whether he thought the prolotherapy was the wrong course of treatment, Hargreaves said: “Absolutely, yes. Absolutely. With my tendon injury, I’ve had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments.” Hargreaves made just five appearances in his last three seasons at United, and played less than 10 minutes of first-team football in his last two years. On Wednesday he made his Manchester City debut and played 57 minutes, scoring a goal. MORE

Capello considers return of SWP

Fabio Capello will be at Loftus Road on Sunday to watch Shaun Wright-Phillips, who is on the brink of an England recall. Fellow QPR midfield Joey Barton is further away from the squad. Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge may also be selected. MORE

Haskell: Players need to speak up

James Haskell believes the England players must be candid with each other after two poor games. “In a World Cup environment, it’s so important that people are honest about their performances,” he said. “I did feel that strong points had to be made.” MORE