Sir Ian Botham may soon have a rival in the opener who went out in a blaze of glory this summerMy admiration for sportspeople is always at its most intense at this time of year. After all, it’s the season when I can make it to the end of a week and realise that my food consumption, extensive as it was, consisted only of items in varying shades of beige. When I wake to discover mince-pie crumbs in my bed and sometimes in my hair. The only physical exercise I engage in follows a YouTube search on “Yoga for Digestion” and getting the rubbish to the bins feels like the 10,000m, requiring me to pace myself in the early stages...
Our writers offer their choices for the highest honours at the prestigious ceremony, from Ronnie O’Sullivan to Tracey NevilleRonnie O’Sullivan has been winning for 25 years now: five world championships, seven Masters and seven UK titles, the latest of them this month. His 19th major victory means he has overtaken Stephen Hendry and become the most successful player in snooker history. Related: The Anti-Sports Personality of the Year awards 2018 | Simon Burnton Related: Dina Asher-Smith a real contender for BBC Sports Personality of the Year Related: Who are the team of 2018? My vote goes to England’s women netballers Continue reading...
The retiring England opener had his moments in one-day cricket but always put the Test game firstWhen Alastair Cook made his Test debut against India, following a 10,000-mile dash from the Caribbean to Nagpur as an 11th-hour replacement for the stricken Marcus Trescothick, back home in England Leo Sayer was top of the charts with Thunder in My Heart.This was not 1977, but 2006, and Sayer’s original single was back in vogue thanks to a remix by the house DJ known as Meck. Nevertheless, it was a different time, with cricket in the UK about to begin life behind the paywall of Sky after the heady Ashes summer the previous year, the radical new Twenty20 Cup three seasons old and...
Former captain shares season-best opening stand of 60 and goes on to make 71 in the first innings of his 161st and final TestIt was the sound of Alastair Cook leaving the crease at the Kia Oval that you really noticed. There were three parts to it. First was the weird, involuntary groan as Jasprit Bumrah rushed a ball through Cook’s defences to splay the stumps. It was 4.22pm. Cook had nudged and cuffed and occasionally flashed his way to an autumnal half century on one of those sunny, steady opener’s days where the game is still crisp and starchily in order, there to be tickled into shape, and where, briefly, anything seems possible.Bumrah has been the best of India’s...
The retirement of England’s record runscorer means a new senior man at the top of the order is needed for the upcoming winter tour of Sri LankaAll eyes will be upon England’s opening batsman at the Oval. Lean, dignified, quick to smile and forever diligent in the way he goes about his business – combatting the new ball so that the fancy Dans down the order can have some fun – he will make his way to the middle to warm applause. The spotlight is on Keaton Jennings. Related: Six years of change leave England with a big post-Cook hole to fill | Andy Bull Related: Keaton Jennings shipwrecked amid a storm of failure by England’s top order | Andy...