Swann eyeing ‘ultimate Christmas double’

PERTH - England off-spinner Graeme Swann has firmly set his sights on securing the coveted Ashes urn for his team and wining the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

“The next few days could be very special - England can retain The Ashes and I’m a contender for Sports Personality of the Year,” Swann wrote in an article for the Sun.

“The prestigious BBC award is handed out on Sunday and even to be one of the top 10 is very humbling. I’d love to win, it would be absolutely brilliant,” he added.

Swann reckons that horse racing jockey Tony McCoy and golfer Graeme McDowell are the favourites, but said that “you never know”.

“Perhaps if Sun readers get behind me as well as my 100,000-plus Twitter followers, we might be able to cause an upset! Fingers crossed,” Swann said.

The 31-year-old further said that the little urn is guaranteed to be in England’s safe-keeping for at least the next 21/2 years, but also insisted that it would be very dangerous to start thinking too far ahead.

“England have a poor record in Perth and we know the Aussies will be chastened by their defeat in Adelaide. They are sure to come back hard,” Swann said.

“We went to Headingley in 2009 knowing a win would clinch the series. And we were thrashed out of sight. So, it’s one thing at a time for us. If you take your eye off the ball, cricket can bite you on the backside,” he added. (ANI)