The Guardian

Up against the brilliant Mitchell Starc and his band of bowlers, even a dot ball for England in the Ashes is a moment of relief “Must be amazing to be in Australia for the Ashes, whats the atmosphere like?” It’s an understandable, if slightly daft question. Brett Lee isn’t in my house. I don’t wake up next to a furious Jonathan Agnew. “WHY AREN’T YOU IN CANBERRA MAX?” I’m 850 miles from Brisbane.…

The rookie plays like a linebacker at quarterback. His reckless style is costing his teammates and coaches as well as himself Jaxson Dart wants you to know something: this is real football . It’s not soccer or flag. It’s tackle football, the kind where quarterbacks go airborne. After taking the latest in a growing compilation of bone-crushing hits, Dart brushed himself off and delivered a post-ga…

Perhaps the data-soaked discourse of modern football actually does this Premier League centurion something of a disservice Stack them up. Pile them high. Sort them and arrange them, parse them and categorise them, order them to your table like items in a Chinese restaurant. Personal favourites? Give me the No 33 against Arsenal, the one with the flowing hair. I’ll also take a No 81 against Chelse…

Our cartoonist on what inspired him to draw some of his finest cartoons this year Buy a special print from his collection here David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now “Denis Law is one of the few footballers I’m too young to have seen play live, but like all followers of the game, I’m aware of his impact and talent. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was what a kind and generous person he was…

Gus Poyet’s assistant says ‘moment of misunderstanding’ led to his being punished by the K League Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors had their “La Decima” banners ready on the second weekend of November to celebrate a 10th South Korean title won in style by the head coach, Gus Poyet. Their game with Daejeon Hana, however, turned out to be the most controversial and divisive of the season. Jeonbuk were leadin…

Oliver Glasner inflicted a fifth successive defeat on Burnley to move Crystal Palace up to fifth, giving the hierarchy a further nudge to provide the investment he desires in January to boost another push for Europe. Burnley are also in need of entering the market, desperately requiring a striker if they are to get out of the relegation mire in which they find themselves, despite providing the br…

“Sorry for the rant,” said Sean Dyche and, fortunately on the night, the reason behind it was not damaging for his Nottingham Forest side, Igor Jesus’s first league goal earning victory over bottom club Wolves. Dyche had just finished giving his opinion on an excruciating delay of five and a half minutes for a video assistant referee review that culminated in the Brazil striker’s first-half heade…

Inaugural prize expected to be handed to Donald Trump but ‘process’ for choosing future winners to be proposed by controversial tycoon’s committee It was the timing that set off the first alarm bells. With Donald Trump brooding over missing out on the Nobel peace prize, and shortly before Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was due to meet the US president in…

Chelsea beaten 3-1 by Leeds after meek first-half display Maresca: ‘I think they were better than us in all aspects’ Enzo Maresca conceded that Chelsea were second best “in all aspects” and the head coach offered no excuses after a disappointing defeat at Leeds as his side’s hopes of a Premier League title challenge took a significant hit. Maresca’s side are now down to fourth place and nine poin…

Advertising expert questions origins of slogan selected by Games organisers who hail its ‘significant symbolism’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast If you typed the words “believe, belong and become” into a Google video search on Thursday morning, the first return may have been a sermon by TJ Mauldin, the lead pastor…

Brisbane start: 2pm local/3pm AEDT/4am GMT Ashes top 100 | Get the Spin newsletter | Email Martin We might have to wait to find out the Australia XI until either Pat Cummins or Steve Smith walk on to the Gabba alongside England captain Ben Stokes for the toss. But Geoff Lemon has already dived into what that call will mean for the hosts and the second Test. Cummins, it seems, is now feeling good …

The Northern Irishman’s appeal was clear at the Australian Open with queues forming at the crack of dawn to catch a glimpse of the golf star Organisers didn’t have to wait long to feel the full impact of Rory McIlroy’s appearance at the Australian Open on Thursday. Two thousand fans were waiting outside at Royal Melbourne at 6.30am, eager to get to the 10th tee for the Northern Irishman’s first s…

Sport and Rights Alliance has made seven requests for action Amnesty International USA worried by US government’s role Fifa risks becoming “a public relations tool of an increasingly authoritarian US government”, human rights organisations have warned as they call on football’s international governing body to do more to protect the rights of residents and supporters at the World Cup next summer. …

Liverpool’s big name, big money summer signings owed Arne Slot following poor starts to life at Anfield and, right on cue, Florian Wirtz delivered. A deflected shot from the potential £116m recruit spared the Premier League champions the ignominy of a 10th defeat in 14 games with a late equaliser against Sunderland, who will count this as an opportunity missed. Chemsdine Talbi had set the in-form…

A night on from the chaos of Manchester City beating Fulham 5-4 , Arsenal seized the opportunity to prove that they are a sturdier proposition than Pep Guardiola’s side. They kept their eighth clean sheet of the season despite losing another centre-back to injury and restored their five-point advantage at the top of the Premier League by seeing off Brentford thanks to an early header from Mikel M…