Ben Stokes’s run-in with Aggers
There’s tetchy, and then there’s Ben Stokes ‘tetchy’ – pulling out his mic and stomping off cursing, or so I’m…
Ben Stokes will go down as the greatest captain of modern times
And so it begins, as Donald Trump likes to say, though not usually about cricket. He was offering his thoughts…
The maverick magnificence of Henry Pollock
‘Gosh he seems full of himself’ was how my friend’s wife reacted when she came in to see Henry Pollock…
From South Africa to Saracens, two rugby stars are born
Moments when a 24-carat superstar bursts on the scene are few and far between, but always something to cherish. And…
Does it matter that the BBC lost the Boat Race?
So we won’t be watching the Boat Race next year on the BBC, but on Channel 4. Never again will…
There’s nothing quite like the Ryder Cup
It’s never been easy to warm to golfers, an overpaid, self-obsessed bunch who rarely fail to ask for more. And…
Why three is the magic number in these Ashes
And so it begins, the Great Debate: no, not who will be deputy leader of the Labour party but the…
Good riddance to the traditional sports bar
They used to be places that reeked of testosterone, sweat and male egos, their floors sticky with lager spilled by…
Nothing can save Test cricket
Forgive me if I don’t join the general ‘Make mine a treble’ hoo-ha about the future of Test cricket after…
The Ashes just got spicy
You don’t have to look hard to find swaths of sports fans around the world who dislike England – England’s…
The sorry demise of Windies cricket
The tub-thumping atmosphere in the Long Room at Lord’s was so raucous late on Monday afternoon as India and England…
State-school cricket at Lord’s? Bring it on
A state-school cricket competition announced last week with a final at Lord’s is such a good idea you wonder why…
The (nearly) lost art of the Test match
If you can bear to turn away from the Fifa Club World Cup, take a moment to ponder cricket and…
Sportswashing? Bring it on…
If that was sportswashing, let’s have more of it. The Champions League final, when Paris Saint-Germain vaporised Inter Milan, was…
How football found God
Without wanting to sound like a refugee from the 1950s, it was a shame that last week’s Cup Final was…
The glorious sporting spectacle of snooker
I’m not sure quite what Sir G. Boycott would have made of it, but the People’s Republic of Yorkshire was…
A football regulator would be an own goal
It’s that time of the year again in football when the Championship sweeps all before it: it’s full of joy…
The Premier League is rubbish
Of the 73,738 benighted souls who pitched up at Old Trafford on Sunday for the Manchester derby – presumably even…
Boxing belongs in the Olympics
If there is anything more pointless than signing a five-year contract to be Emma Raducanu’s coach, it is the effort…
Angela Rayner’s war on Britain’s playing fields
With the world on fire – not to mention large swathes of the North Sea – it is understandable that…
The real reason for Scotland’s Six Nations defeat
The confused world of Duhan van der Merwe must seem more confused than usual after last weekend. The Scotland winger…
Emperor Trump and the spectacle of the Super Bowl
It’s easy to not quite get the Super Bowl. What exactly is it: a sporting event, a music show, a…
Can anyone stop France in the Six Nations?
Winter’s almost done and spring’s on the way. We can tell because the Six Nations is about to muscle into…
The unnecessary complexity of the World Test Championship
Have you booked your tickets for the World Test Championship yet? Did you even know it’s on? What seemed like…
Could Thomas Tuchel be the one?
You would have to be living a very sheltered life not to have noticed that the Premier League this season…
