Cricket
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…
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…
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…
Rest in peace, Shane Warne
Headingly, July 22nd 1993 and the opening day of the fourth test that summer between England and Australia. This, as…
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…
Letters: The BBC licence fee is a protection racket
Russia’s star Sir: Wolfgang Münchau is surely right to highlight the risk posed to European peace and stability by Germany’s…
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…
Why England lost the Ashes
England’s wretched performance in the Ashes – which saw the side lose three tests and so the series to Australia…
The year sport and politics became inseparable
Sport and politics have always been intertwined, but this was the year they became joined at the hip. Yorkshire racism;…
The ridiculous rehabilitation of Azeem Rafiq
Has Azeem Rafiq been forgiven yet? He’s certainly working on it. After finding himself on both sides of a racism…
Why the Reds have got the blues
Not so much the hair dryer: more a gentle home perm. Contemplating the increasingly less youthful visage of Ole Gunnar…
England’s shameful betrayal of Pakistan
Any English person with a love of cricket knows life has its ups and downs. But until now we have…
Spain vs Italy: who would win the wine Test?
In London, the weather is a gentle sashaying mockery. An Indian summer reminds us of the sullen apology of summer…
The absurdity of tennis players’ toilet breaks
Forgive the personal question, but how long does it take you to, you know, go to the gents, ladies, non-binary?…
Can the Lions prise open the strong Boks?
You would need a digger to explore the levels of irony in a Springbok chief slagging off an opponent’s dirty…
My 46 days on the road with John Woodcock
Although it was a miracle that he survived until a few weeks before his 95th birthday, the death of John…
The hateful Hundred is putting cash before cricket
This slick new tournament will ruin cricket
Ollie Robinson’s ritual humiliation
One of the more egregious innovations of Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution was something called the ‘struggle sessions’. This involved the…
Portrait of the week: Pub staff shortages, a baby called Lilibet and a slap in the face for Macron
Home The government pondered delaying the end of coronavirus restrictions on 21 June. But Chris Hopson, the chief executive of…
Judge Ollie Robinson on his cricket skills, not his tweets
Ollie Robinson, who made his Test debut for England at Lord’s last week against New Zealand, is an outstanding cricketer…
Thoughts on a foreign clash of the English titans
Thank heavens the Champions League final is being played in Portugal, now Turkey’s off the menu (sorry). It will certainly…
