Forget the Hundred, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year pulverised South Africa’s bowlers in Cape TownBen Stokes missed the start of this tour to make sure he could pick up the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award in person after a stellar 2019. Six days into 2020 the all-rounder looks like he is in the mood to hang on to that crown for another year.Following a record-equalling five catches in South Africa’s first innings, Stokes pulverised the home bowlers during a remarkable 75-minute cameo in which 72 runs flowed from his bat in only 47 balls. Those who remark that this form of the game is boring or that it needs to be altered should have been at...
Coming 14 years after Flintoff in 2005, Stokes’s coronation felt like a vindication of something. But what, exactly?No sooner had the polls closed than the recriminations could begin. Horror and dismay at Katarina Johnson‑Thompson HQ. Rumours that Dina Asher-Smith would announce her resignation as early as Monday morning. Sources in the Lewis Hamilton campaign briefing that their candidate’s tax policy had gone down disastrously on the doorstep. Back in the studio, meanwhile, white-haired psephologists feverishly picked over the historic implications of the vote, and in particular the crumbling of Alun Wyn Jones’s “red wall”.Well, maybe not. And yet, as the ticker tape tumbled in Aberdeen, as Ben Stokes clutched the Sports Personality of the Year trophy in his meaty hands,...
Ben Stokes produced two match-winning innings but Dina Asher-Smith made history and Lewis Hamilton got title No 6Stride by stride, second by second, Dina Asher-Smith had a 2019 for the ages. To win one world athletics medal would have been staggering enough. To become the first Briton to leave with three from the same championships was a monumental statement of intent. Best of all was her 200m gold in 21.88sec, a time so fast it smashed her national record and made her the first British woman to win a global sprint title. Further silvers in the 100m and 4x100m highlighted the potential for more glory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. No wonder Sebastian Coe has predicted she will be the...
Raheem Sterling, Lewis Hamilton and Ben Stokes have used social media to fight back against a hostile pressLet’s begin with Bob Nudd. Now, this may seem a strange place to start an article about the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards when the show has come up with its strongest shortlist since the 2012 Olympics and, in all honesty, even Bob himself seemed a bit surprised when I called him up this past week to talk about it. “You can probably guess why I’m calling,” I started. “No,” he stopped. “Is it something to do with the election?” Not the election Bob, but the other big vote. The one you should have won, back in 1991 when Nudd, four‑times...
Rather than being booed, Australia’s leading batsman should be saluted as a brave and decent cricketer for his stirring batting performances against EnglandFor tonight we’ll merry merry be,For tonight we’ll merry merry be, Related: Returning Steve Smith plays down impact of Jofra Archer bouncer Related: There have been 2,358 Tests since 1877 and this was the greatest of them all | Matthew Engel Continue reading...