Cricket
Another year of brickbats and bouquets
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…
Testing times
In London, the weather is a gentle sashaying mockery. An Indian summer reminds us of the sullen apology of summer…
Busted flush
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…
Cricket notebook
Although it was a miracle that he survived until a few weeks before his 95th birthday, the death of John…
Hateful Hundred
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
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…
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…
A strange and beautiful language
So wickets are out and outs are in for the new Hundred competition. But why? The language of sport is…
A glimpse into cricket’s future
After the thrills and spills and last-gasp excitements of England’s triple-headed series in India, the attention of the cricket fan…
How to tackle rugby’s doldrums
French rugby has always been well stocked with boeuf but now it has added lashings of exceptionally tangy moutarde and…
Letters
Too many bishops Sir: As a former Anglican clergyman, I have been following your articles about the current state of…
Portrait of the week
Home On Sunday 7 February, as the week began, 11,465,210 people in the United Kingdom had received a first vaccination…
The BBC is failing the Test
Michael Vaughan might disagree but — putting aside 2005 and all that — was there a more thrilling and satisfying…
Letters
Joy Sir: Alexandra Coghlan identifies the coincidence between the rise of recording and broadcast technology and the flourishing of the…
Farewell to four of the finest
So the Good Lord really wants to fill out his team: how else to interpret the passing in recent months…
Sit back and enjoy the spectacle ahead
‘At least there’s sport,’ said the woman in the supermarket queue. True enough, and in a welcome sop to an…
Football without the crowds is a winner
The Liverpool defence might have decided in a rare show of togetherness to demonstrate what the word ‘appalling’ means, and…
A scene with Harry and Son
José Mourinho, it was surprising to read, recently said how relieved he was that the Amazon Prime cameras were out…
Sport as a TV event
Crowds, Covid and sport: could it get any crazier? I don’t mind about golf: no idiots yelling ‘Get in the…
