Sport
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…
A great comedy about a terrible sport
I’m trying to think of things I’m less interested in than American football. The plant-based food section? Taking up my…
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…
Death and glory: the politics of the World Cup
The choice of ‘tiny boiling Qatar’ as a venue in 2022 – where thousands of construction workers lost their lives – typifies Fifa’s cynical favour-auctioning, says Simon Kuper
The search for a Kenyan Stonehenge
Cradle of Mankind Paleoanthropologists tried to kill me a few days ago. Luckily I was saved by Max Mutkin, a…
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…
Welcome to the Republic of Dyslexia
Kenya It used to be that the black sheep from prominent British families were sent out to Kenya and told…
QPR’s downward spiral
Charlie, my 17-year-old son, was hopeful about QPR’s chances this season. True, we managed to avoid relegation only by 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…
Don’t believe the doomsday talk about London
It is one of the joys of sport that friendships forged in changing rooms and on playing fields can be…
Why is sport so obsessed with Goats?
It was late at night in rural France and Martin wanted to discuss Goats. And he didn’t mean livestock. ‘You…
The unorthodox appeal of the Shergar Cup
With DJs and MCs inviting the crowd to dance on the parade-ring steps as if they were on a beach…
Will Ben Stokes be fit for the Ashes?
What a marvellous summer this has been for Test cricket, which is sadly at risk of becoming an endangered species.…
How bad can August storms get?
Injury time England bowler Chris Woakes won a standing ovation for coming out to bat against India at the Oval…
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…
Does AI belong on the tennis court?
The evidence was clear, the official had dropped a clanger. At 4-4 in the first set of the women’s match…
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…
The titans who shaped Test cricket
Cricket histories are a dangerous genre both for writers and readers. They can be incredibly boring, the dullest of all…
