WHO will bring the best out of David Beckham, Sven Goran Eriksson or Ali G?

Beckham certainly kept it tight and (not for the first time) let his wife do all the talking when interviewed by the self-appointed king of chat for Comic Relief.

And Eriksson will certainly hope his skipper is a little more expansive when England play their first World Cup qualifier under their new coach against Finland at Anfield on Saturday.

But Beckham did prove that he's a terrific sport and despite a dodgy dress sense the Manchester United midfielder can only be good for English football.

In simple terms he is arguably our best player and captain of our country.

So for Eriksson to even have to talk about what reception Beckham might be given when he leads England out at Liverpool is a damning verdict on the state of our game.

United players and Beckham in particular have been abused while on England duty and Eriksson told the Press: "I hope it will not happen this time. I know that those things happen, not only in England but everywhere. I hope all the people coming to see the game will support England. We need that support."

The new coach went on to say that he doesn't envisage any problems and let's hope he's right.

England need a fully focussed Beckham and a nation behind the entire team if we are to have any chance of recovering from our stuttering start to reach the finals in 2002.

Eriksson has brought in a new broom and with the backbone of his side set to be made up of Manchester United players it needs to sweep away any resentment of the best team in the country -- on international dates at least.

ENOUGH is enough and cricket is about to become a no-go zone in this column (for a fortnight at least).

Not only did I suggest that England would struggle to overcome their first Test defeat in Sri Lanka I then dug myself deeper into the hole by claiming a week ago that Australia were "grinding India into the dust."

In mitigation I point out that due to the travelling time to Watford for Burnley's clash at Vicarage I had to write the column earlier than usual.

But not only did the heroic Indians make me eat my words with that remarkable victory in Calcutta, they also had the Aussies on the run in Madras.

A black mark for me but a triumph for Test cricket, which proved again that at its best there are few better sporting contests.

DID anyone else notice it last week or was I just hearing things when one of the top brass from the world of rugby union proposed a second division to the Six Nations Championship?

The story didn't seem to receive much coverage and I must admit that my initial reaction was one of disbelief that a competition that kept Italy waiting for so long should suddenly open its arms to all and sundry across Europe.

However, after further consideration it would appear that the idea has some merit, if it breathes more life into a tournament that is great on occasion but short on competition.

With England looking ever more likely to sweep all before them added interest at the other end of the table would give the championship a welcome shot in the arm.

However, swapping the Italians for another set of potential whipping boys every year isn't the way forward and the rest of Europe should start their own mini-league for a year or two before relegation and promotion becomes an issue.