RESIDENTS of Yarm must have heard a low grating noise on Sunday morning as Steve McClaren rose from his bed and decided to recall Emile Heskey to the England squad for Saturday's crucial European Championships qualifier with Israel.

After a succession of strikers dropped out of the game, it was the bottom of a barrel being scraped.

But while the return of a striker who boasts five goals in his previous 43 internationals has been greeted with inevitable derision, McClaren has made the right call.

Without wanting to put too much of a downer on things ahead of England's must-win double-header, Heskey represents the best of a very bad bunch.

After all, who would you rather have playing up front alongside Michael Owen on Saturday?

Wayne Rooney? Injured. Peter Crouch? Suspended. Alan Smith? A midfielder. Andy Johnson or Jermain Defoe? Average Premier League strikers who have previously been exposed on the international stage.

England's attacking resources are currently threadbare and, despite his obvious weaknesses, Heskey represents the best chance of securing three priceless points in two days time.

True, the Wigan striker has never been a natural marksman and, if anything, his scoring record has somehow got worse since he made his last international appearance against Azerbaijan in March 2005.

But he poses a physical threat that Israel's well-marshalled defence will be fearful of facing and, most crucially of all, has previously developed a profitable relationship with Owen.

The Newcastle striker might have scored two goals in his last two games but, as he continues to build up his match fitness following a succession of serious injuries, he is going to need all the help he can get if he is to fire England towards Euro 2008 at the weekend.

That means playing alongside a tall, muscular striker, and if past form is anything to go by, Heskey appears to fit the bill better than most.

He might be ungainly and cumbersome, but he will undoubtedly be trying his heart out and his physical presence will guarantee his opponents an uncomfortable afternoon.

Of course his return is a short-term measure - Crouch's availability for Wednesday's home game with Russia will no doubt see Heskey relegated to the substitutes' bench no matter how well he plays against Israel - but it should not be derided simply because of that.

According to most of the England manager's critics, McClaren should be planning for the future instead of revisiting past failures.

But what kind of a future will England be planning for if they fail to qualify for next summer's finals? Nine months of meaningless friendlies building towards a summer spent on the beach as the rest of Europe battle it out in Austria and Switzerland.

Sometimes, the needs of the present must take priority and, for England, that means finding a way through a notoriously parsimonious Israel defence.

England need a victory and if Heskey helps to achieve it, McClaren's gamble will have paid dividends.

In the 12 international matches Heskey and Owen have played together, Owen has scored 11 goals. If he can make it a round dozen on Saturday, Heskey's recall will have been worthwhile.

Some sporting authorities, it seems, never learn. Despite watching the Cricket World Cup descend into a never-ending farce earlier this year, the International Rugby Board have still scheduled their own tournament to stretch to an interminable six weeks this autumn.

A World Cup that effectively boils down to the Tri-Nation representatives from the southern hemisphere taking on the Six Nations teams from Europe will still include 48 matches and span a period of some 44 days. To put it succinctly, it is far too long.

There has to be an opportunity for rugby's developing nations to participate in the game's global jamboree, but any tournament that includes matches such as Georgia v Namibia, Romania v Portugal and Canada v Japan is always going to struggle to hold the public's interest.

Had it lasted for three weeks instead of six, perhaps the IRB would have got away with it. As it is, it's a fair bet that fatigue will have set in by the time the two finalists line up at the Stade de France on October 20.

Another World Cup also kicks off this weekend, although you could be forgiven for not having noticed given the lack of coverage on any of the major television stations.

England's women footballers are in China as they prepare to begin a World Cup campaign that will see them face Japan, Germany and Argentina in the group stage.

The North-East has three representatives in the tournament - Carly Telford, Lindsay Johnson and Jill Scott - and we wish them all the best. After all, this might be the only major tournament any of England's football teams are involved in for quite a while.