The Guardian

Five-times Ashes winner has since had a varied coaching career and believes the red ball is still fundamental to the modern player It’s a sunny spring afternoon, a new season looms, and just a short stroll down the road from Knowle & Dorridge Cricket Club, Ian Bell is in his local stressing the importance of County Championship runs. One of the purest Test batters England has produced this centur…

Forward has struggled for form and focus this season but Galatasaray display was reminder of his brilliance It was perhaps as well that Mohamed Salah’s last game before the announcement of his departure from Liverpool was the home game against Galatasaray . After all the frustrations and disappointments of this season, all the games of drifting forlorn and disconnected on the right, after the mis…

Current trophy is embossed with old WSL logo WSL2 trophy also set for a complete redesign The Women’s Super League trophy will be redesigned for the 2026-27 season when the league expands to 14 teams. It is understood that the WSL and WSL2 trophies are set for a complete overhaul to bring them in line with the WSL rebrand which was introduced last summer. The current WSL and WSL2 trophies are emb…

Head coach has been preparing for playoff against Turkey in hospital and sees job as ‘duty to Romanian football’ Mircea Lucescu is fighting for one last World Cup while at the same time battling his own body. He has lived through thousands of games as a player and manager but these could be the hardest of them all: two playoff games to take Romania to their first World Cup in 28 years. Lucescu is…

Plus: swift ascents up the pyramid, Steve Palmer’s maverick set of shirts and an infamous 2004 Olympic penalty Mail us with your questions and answers “During a rather animated discussion at the pub recently, the topic of footballers ‘retiring from international football’ came up,” says Edd Crick. “We were reminiscing about the days when footballers simply stopped being picked for international g…

Australian says he has ‘barely done much swimming’ since August Longstanding 50m splash and dash record broken last week in China Cameron McEvoy knew he was fast, but he surprised both himself and the world of elite swimming when he hit the wall at the end of the 50m freestyle at the China Open on Friday. The clock read 20.88sec, securing the Australian a lifelong goal. The Queenslander had broke…

American No 4 seed beats Belinda Bencic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in quarter-final Gauff next faces 13th seed Karolína Muchová for a place in final Coco Gauff may be struggling with an unfamiliar arm injury, indifferent form and the pressure of attempting to transform her serve with the entire tennis world watching, but the one quality that will never evade her is her fighting spirit. Under far from ideal ci…

Four matches in four weeks for the men’s team compromises the quality of the sport – and makes the Test season a contradiction in terms This has long been on the way, and here it is. Test season, the centrepiece of Australia’s summer, will next time around consist of four matches played over four weekends, not starting until the second week of December and done a week into January. Cricket Austra…

Midfielder could make debut against Uruguay or Japan Garner: ‘I knew I had to show everybody what I’m about’ James Garner always planned this to be a defining year in his career and is reaping the rewards after receiving a first England call-up, the Everton midfielder has said. The 25-year-old could make his international debut over the next week, having impressed Thomas Tuchel with his form. Eng…

Holders Arsenal take a two-goal lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea next week after a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium, with the quality of the goals, two disallowed Chelsea goals and the Blues’ injury woes the talking points. A Stina Blackstenius header and Chloe Kelly long-range effort made it 2-0 after the visitors had twice hit the post before Veerl…

Our cartoonist on the master beating the apprentice as Manchester City got one over Arsenal at Wembley Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025 And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

66-year-old rapper is longtime women’s sports supporter Team did not attend Trump’s State of the Union address The rapper Flavor Flav will host a Las Vegas event in July to honour the US women’s ice hockey team’s gold medal at the Milano Cortina Olympics and celebrate other female Olympian and Paralympian achievement. The Hall of Fame rapper announced on X on Thursday that he will host a She Got …

The former England captain and head coach argues that elite stars need a proper training block to peak at 2027 World Cup – but warns even best-laid plans get ripped up England’s legendary World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson says the current management should consider resting key players this summer to boost the chances of history being repeated in Australia next year. Johnson was among sever…

French superstar played 10 years for Atlético Forward will join Orlando in July on a deal through 2029 Atlético plays Barcelona in Copa del Rey final in April Orlando City SC completed the long-anticipated signing of Atlético Madrid superstar Antoine Griezmann on Tuesday. The 35-year-old French attacker is signed from July 2026 through the 2027-28 season with an option for 2028-29. Financial term…

The world No 3 is backed to become the challenger but lost twice this week, to Wesley So and Levon Aronian Fabiano Caruana, the world No 3, reigning US champion and 5-2 favourite to win the world title Candidates at the Cap St Georges Resort, Pegeia, Cyprus, from 29 March to 16 April, planned to warm up with two events at his home town, St Louis, but events have not followed the script. Caruana w…