Spectator sport
Wesley Hall represents everything that cricket should be
Few sights in the history of cricket have been more thrilling – or more terrifying for batsmen – than the…
Eddie Jones must go
So should he stay or should he go? That’s Eddie ‘I don’t really care what other people think’ Jones, currently…
Rugby’s new golden age
This column may have been somewhat negative about the future of rugby recently – so how cheering to report a…
The future of sport is in the Middle East
When the burly honchos of the Rugby League World Cup gushed about taking the game to new heights, no one…
Rugby union needs its own Richard Thompson
Dear oh dear, as exasperated kings are known to murmur – just look at the state of rugby union. But…
English rugby is in crisis
Make no mistake: the game of rugby, which many of us love so much, is in serious trouble: it will…
Is there any limit to what Erling Haaland can do?
Don’t bother watching those gazillion-dollar TV prequels to The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. Who needs gratuitous…
Drama at Lord’s: Stumped is a treat for cricket fans
So farewell to cricket’s The Hundred tournament, or what seemed by the end to be beefy South Africans in ‘Butterkist’…
I fancy Emma Raducanu’s chances at Flushing Meadows
British tennis fans famously only acknowledge the sport exists for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer in…
What Richard Thompson can do for English cricket
Well alleluia, English cricket doesn’t seem able to put a foot wrong these days. After hitting three cherries with Rob…
I’ve seen the future of motor racing, and it’s quiet
Are petrolheads’ days numbered? I only ask because having just been introduced to the quiet, petrol-less world of Formula E,…
How Kyrgios saved Wimbledon
What separates this year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal from every other year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal?…
Is any sporting event more brutal than the Tour de France?
That great Frenchman the Marquis de Sade would have been justly proud of the Tour de France had he lived…
The brilliance of Ben Stokes
Test cricket, bloody hell! For years, it’s been getting the last rites – now it’s the most exciting way anyone…
Rob Burrow is in a league of his own
What a privilege the other night to see Rob Burrow, the Rugby League legend, win Autobiography of the Year at…
My one to watch at the French Open
The timing of Brendon McCullum’s appointment as England’s Test match coach couldn’t be better for him, or for the matey…
The rise and rise of women’s sport
You might have missed this but something very big is happening in women’s sport. The sheer numbers watching are sensational:…
What English cricket needs now
You couldn’t ask for a more amiable man than Rob Key to run English cricket: affable, shrewd and universally liked,…
Pep and Klopp, kings of England
It’s a game for the ages all right, City againstLiverpool on Sunday as the Premier League moves to its most…
Where Eddie Jones is going wrong
Rugby Union, bloody hell. We’ve got to talk about Eddie, but before that, what about something much cheerier? Just when…
Let’s scrap the Six Nations
If you were one of the sharp-suited head honchos at CVC Capital Partners, the private equity megalith that has ploughed…
Is football hooliganism on its way back?
Forty-odd years ago a friend, a Liverpool supporter, somewhat unwisely took his girlfriend to Elland Road for a Leeds match…
Mason Greenwood and football’s obsession with prodigies
Well, there’s a surprise: Nike have cancelled their sponsorship of the Manchester United and England footballer Mason Greenwood, who is…
Why everyone should be shouting about Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding
As we digest another Ashes thrashing for England’s cricketers in Australia, and wonder whether the 1966 World Cup victory will…
The BBC is killing cricket
Full homage to the nail-biting cricketing miracle in Sydney, while bearing in mind that miracles, like lightning, rarely strike twice…
