Ashes
Diary
In this summer of sporting dramas, every patriotic sports fan likes to think he’s done his bit to help. I…
If you thought Lord’s was rowdy…
Shouldn’t we all just calm down a bit after Lord’s? Once prime ministers decide to intervene, you know things have…
Why we all need an Ollie Robinson
It’s a long way from Edgbaston to Karachi, but that’s where my thoughts were turning after Australia’s last-gasp victory in…
Why England lost the Ashes
England’s wretched performance in the Ashes – which saw the side lose three tests and so the series to Australia…
So farewell, Alastair Cook: a wonderful cricketer and exemplary sportsman
I first became aware of Alastair Cook in the Ashes summer of 2005 when he was named the Young Cricketer…
Captain Cook proves good guys can triumph
The roar of the Premier League is beginning to drown out everything else in sport (there’s even Friday night football…
Best of enemies
Why nothing in sport beats thrashing the Aussies at cricket
Diary
I feel a bit about the Scottish referendum as I did about the 2005 Ashes series. In both cases, those of…
Flying boards and killer moustaches
You can trust the BBC to behave like a leaf blown by any breeze, but even that spineless leviathan (if…
Death of a team
Englishmen used to be deported to Australia as a punishment. Now they get sent back to England as an act…
Winter warmers
James Cook’s third voyage as an English captain ended in disaster, stabbed to death and disembowelled by a pack of…
England learn their lesson
My friend Miles was bowling in a festival of wandering cricket clubs in Oxford the other day. First wicket down…
A phoenix from the Ashes
Those of us who watched the last day of the final Ashes Test of the present series enjoyed a rare…
Teenage dreams
Were you still up, as they used to say about Portillo in the 1997 election, for Hedwall? It was well…
Can anyone save Aussie cricket?
Insomniacs, invalids and cricket obsessives (step forward yours truly) were probably the only people who stumbled on it, but BBC4…
Sir Ian Botham is a hero – and a fool
Mark Mason 28 November 2015 9:00 am
In 1981, when I was ten and Ian Botham was 26, I thought he was God. Now, the week after…