There are three sides to success at Oxford United
In the middle of Oxford is a socking great cinema: once the Ritz, it’s now an Odeon multiplex. Back in…
Every Test match should have a Ben Stokes (or even a Chris Gayle)
On Sunday morning a friend texted: ‘You watching the big bash, or the domestic stuff down in Australia?’ On one…
From the dismal to the delightful: the year in sport
So long, then, to another thrilling year of sport in which the full range of human possibility — from the…
The Davis Cup will be one final flourish for Andy’s Barmy Army
There’s nothing quite like a sporting celebration, but the lash-up after Britain’s (almost) inevitable victory in the Davis Cup tennis…
Seb Coe is a fine man... who deserves to feel uncomfortable
So Smiley was right all along: the bloody Russians were the baddest of the bad. The Pound report on the…
Rugby referee Craig Joubert is just the man to sort out Syria
Not since Walter Palmer, a cudddly Minnesota dentist, put down his drill and vanished off the face of the earth…
I know who’s going to win the Rugby World Cup. I think
England did have some clear winners in their otherwise beached Rugby World Cup campaign in the unlikely form of Lawrence…
Give Robshaw a break
Pity poor Chris Robshaw. England’s sturdy captain might have a knockout girlfriend and exceptional skills on the cappuccino machine, but…
Another Federer-Djokovic classic – let's pray it wasn't the last
A thumping physical confrontation testing mind, muscle and sinew to the ultimate degree, and from which there could only be…
A World Championships that puts Sebastian Coe on the right track
Sebastian Coe’s new job as head of world athletics will be a heck of a lot easier thanks to the…
Alastair Cook's victory for character, calm – and cunning
The roar of the Premier League is beginning to drown out everything else in sport (there’s even Friday night football…
The madness of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Jumping the shark isn’t yet an Olympic sport, but if it were the International Olympic Committee would be a shoo-in…
Australia’s amazing, exhausting sporting comebacks
I have never met an Aussie I didn’t like, but, crikey, their sporting indefatigability is exhausting. Don’t they ever give…
Nick Kyrgios is exactly the bad boy tennis needs
Well thank heaven for Nick Kyrgios. The lavishly inked, blinged and barbered Aussie is quite one of the most thrilling…
The twilight of Tiger Woods
A car crash is a terrible thing, but hordes of people still slow down to cop an eyeful on the…
The Kiwi tourists are a lesson in sportsmanship
A rather desultory Test series is taking place in the Caribbean where Australia are marmalising the West Indies, with a…
Thrills and chivalry at Lord’s
If heaven is a place on earth, as Belinda Carlisle so wisely observed, then surely that place has to be…
Ten steps to save English cricket
If you watched England’s three-day Test defeat by the West Indies in Barbados the other day to the bitter end…
Next time, David Cameron should pretend to support Bournemouth
Here’s an election-winning idea for Dave: forget about Aston Villa (or West Ham) and become a full-on Bournemouth fan. They…
However daft English cricket gets, there’ll always be Wisden’s obituaries
He’s a tall man, Kevin Pietersen, and he casts a long shadow. It loomed large over the Long Room at…
Rory McIlroy and the grandest prize in golf
The grand slam in golf is a feat almost impossible to imagine now. It meant winning all four golfing majors…
In praise of Ben Moon: the man who took rock-climbing to new heights
For anyone who knows or cares about rock climbing — a minority sport if ever there was one, albeit pretty…
I miss the days when French rugby was great. Thierry Dusautoir must, too
It used to be such a treat of a winter weekend, sitting down to watch France against Wales in Paris…
The Cricket World Cup needs minnows
Graeme Swann arrived late for the last cricket World Cup. His wife had given birth before the tournament and he…
We should be grateful for Andy Murray (and Kim Sears)
It wasn’t that long ago when the most exciting event in any British tennis fan’s life was whether Jeremy Bates…
