The summer Jimmy (and Mo) caught the train

ENGLAND finished the Test summer on their lowest note since Kiwi head coach Brendon McCullum took charge in May 2022 after a woeful eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at the Oval. 

Previously, it had looked as if England were going to be able to move on from the James Anderson era in impressive fashion by claiming a clean sweep of both home Test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. 

But the collective performance of the team against the Sri Lankans in the third Test smacked of the sort of arrogance of which England are probably often wrongly accused. 

Losing the toss for the third time in the series, the home side nevertheless reached a solid 221-3 at the end of a first day which was marred by bad light and the strange eagerness of umpires Chris Gaffaney and Joel Wilson to take the players off the pitch at the earliest opportunity. 

It meant ticket holders saw only 44 overs on a day of absolutely no rain in south London whatsoever - and it rightly reopened the debate over whether punters were getting sufficient value for money. 

Back to the match itself - and, on day two, England progressed to 261-3 but then proceeded to throw away their wickets with a series of loose shots, losing 7-64 to finish on a suboptimal total of 325. 

Following that, some outrageously attacking fields bordered on being somewhat disrespectful to Sri Lanka - while a further element of farce was introduced by umpires Gaffaney and Wilson in the seventh over. 

Examining their light meters, the officials insisted Chris Woakes finished his fourth set by bowling four balls of club-standard off-spin despite sunshine beginning to beam through the clouds.

Then, Gus Atkinson was allowed to take the next over and bowl at 88mph - and, considering this was meant to be elite sport, much of the action and officiating on display left a lot to be desired. 

Rather more satisfyingly, England produced a better performance with the ball at the start of day three to dismiss their opponents for 263 and gain a seemingly handy first innings lead of 62.

Here then was the chance for the home side to bat Sri Lanka out of the game and make a major stride towards that clean sweep of victories. 

Instead, England were 71-6 at the afternoon drinks break as left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando began to swing the ball beautifully. 

Then that became 82-7 in front of a stunned Oval crowd before Jamie Smith, to his credit, made 67 in a fine counter-attacking effort to drag England's lead beyond 200 at tea. 

On a pitch offering plenty, a prime English bowling unit might have been able to defend the 219 runs required by Sri Lanka - but this extremely raw attack was badly exposed against the finesse of Pathum Nissanka. 

The opener carried his bat for a delightful Test career-best 127 to earn his country a memorable win, 26 years on from the triumph in their only other visit to the Oval in 1998.

By contrast, for England, this was a highly damaging defeat which effectively ended their already slim hopes of a maiden appearance in the World Test Championship final.

Now, it seems quite a while ago - even though the first home Test of the year did not take place until July to accommodate the ICC T20 World Cup which took place throughout June.

But Anderson's retirement remained the main story of an underwhelming Test season - one without a high-profile visitor to these shores and in which tickets went unsold while big sporting events such as the Olympics, Paralympics and European Championship happened elsewhere. 

Ahead of the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's, Anderson announced it would be his last after the England hierarchy stated explicitly that, in preparation for the next away Ashes series, he would not be considered for any squads beyond the end of the summer. 

In that sense, it was a slightly awkward departure - but, although the now 42-year-old felt he still had more to give, he also confirmed understood the decision and there were no hard feelings. 

This was a far more understated farewell than that of his long-time strike partner Stuart Broad, who retired against the old enemy Australia by scoring a six from his final ball with the bat and taking a wicket with his final ball, 

And, in itself, that was quite typical of Anderson. While Broad finished with a fantastic return of 604 wickets, he particularly relished Ashes contests and revelled in picking his moments. 

By contrast, Anderson was simply the embodiment of consistency. Indeed, the opposition did not seem to matter to him as long as he was taking wickets. 

Never the fastest, the Burnley Express made up for a lack of outright pace with a prodigious ability to swing and reverse swing the ball. Sometimes, in cloudy and humid conditions, he was pretty much unplayable. 

Anderson, though, was more than a mere one-trick pony - and it was obvious he worked hard at his craft throughout his career. 

Unusually for a pace bowler, his average - like a fine wine - continued to improve with age, and even in overseas conditions - the flatter decks of Australia and rank turners in the subcontinent - he was rarely less than miserly in controlling the run-rate on days when he could not be at his penetrative best. 

Strangely, on English soil for his final Test, Anderson was in fact not quite at his best as, perhaps for once, the emotion of the occasion got the better of him. 

It certainly was not the West Indies batting outfit - and, even in this rather quiet conclusion to his career, he still took 1-26 and 3-32 to finish on an incredible 704 Test scalps. 

On the all-time list, Jimmy from Burnley sits third with only two spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (800) and the late Aussie great Shane Warne (708) - above him. 

Now, the strain on the body and the sheer plethora of opportunities available in the game for pace bowlers to swan off to less physically demanding and money-rich T20 competitions means that Anderson's record might never be beaten. 

However, Anderson loved the elongated struggle provided by First Class cricket - and, despite the positive results for England this summer, his longevity and consistency leaves a massive hole to fill. 

In fairness, there are some signs that England will be able finally to move on from the Anderson-Broad axis.

Surrey fast-bowler Atkinson enjoyed a dream debut, taking 7-45 and 5-61 for match figures of 12-106, as England blew away the West Indies for 121 and 136 in the first Test at Lord's. 

More remarkably still, Atkinson produced this effort despite playing while the speeding driver who killed his mother in a crash was being sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to eight-and-a-half years in prison.

And, commendably, the 26-year-old continued to take wickets throughout the summer to finish the home Test season on 34 scalps at an average of 20.17. 

Thankfully, for the sake of cricket, the second Test against the Windies at Trent Bridge was slightly more competitive as the visitors registered a score of 457 - and even took a first innings lead of 41 runs. 

On a good wicket in Nottingham, though, England also made hay with the bat, scoring 400+ scores in both innings for the first time in history as Ollie Pope (121), Joe Root (122) and Harry Brook (109) all reached three figures during the match. 

Inevitably, the resulting chase of 385 proved far too much for the West Indies as young spinner Shoaib Bashir made his first major contribution in an England shirt with a match-winning 5-41. 

As such, Bashir notably became - at the age of 20 years and 279 days - the youngest England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a home Test, coincidentally taking that record from Anderson. 

In the third Test at Edgbaston, West Indies - merely trying to salvage some pride - elected to bat in the third Test at Edgbaston, but could only produce another under-par effort of 282 in the first innings. 

The second innings was even tougher for the men from the Caribbean as Mark Wood (5-40) proved far too hot to handle - and openers Ben Duckett and skipper Ben Stokes were able easily to knock off the runs for a 10-wicket victory inside three days.

Stokes had opened the batting for only the second time in his Test career after Zak Crawley fractured a finger in the field. 

By the time that the Sri Lanka series came around, though, Stokes too was injured after tearing his left hamstring while playing for the Northern Superchargers in the truly lamentable Hundred competition.

That meant instead that Dan Lawrence came in at the top of the order - but the 27-year-old middle-order man rarely looked comfortable in the role and scored just 120 runs at an average of 20, with a top score of 35.

Lawrence was not alone in his struggles. Brook disappointed for the first time in a series while stand-in skipper Ollie Pope seemed slightly overawed by the position and his form suffered badly until his 154 in a losing cause. 

Consequently, the batting unit was again more often than not propped up by Root - and his twin tons in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's took him above Sir Alastair Cook to the top of the list of England century-makers in the format. 

Root now has 34 Test centuries and 12,402 runs - and his uncharacteristic failure to produce a significant score in the third Test defeat only served to emphasise just how greatly England rely upon their former captain. 

Wicket-keeper Smith at least can hold his head up following a more than decent start to his own Test career. 

Consistently smart behind the stumps with his glovework, the 24-year-old also made significant contributions with the bat including a maiden Test century in the first Test at Old Trafford to take that match away from Sri Lanka. 

Indeed, this was still a largely successful summer for an England team which is clearly in transition - and too much introspection for a side in development can be just as damaging as too little. 

Not that there is a lot of time for a deep analysis in any case. The Test team are back in action in just 26 days on 7 October in a three-match tour of Pakistan ahead of a further three games away in New Zealand before Christmas. 

And, prior to all that, England take on Australia in three home T20 Internationals and five One-Day Internationals in a series of matches which will begin today and end on 29 September as mid-autumn approaches. 

The main significance of the white-ball matches is that they will be the first for the team under McCullum after the 42-year-old replaced tactical dunce Matthew Mott

Unsurprisingly, McCullum has already moved to put his own stamp on the squads - and there is no room for 37-year-old Moeen Ali. 

Moeen took the decision upon his omission to retire from international cricket - but, while he cannot boast the sort of figures achieved by Anderson, his tally of 204 Test wickets included a dozen in the successful 2015 Ashes series. 

Meanwhile, Moeen's willingness to bat anywhere in the order made him a key figure over the years in white-ball squads - and he played a part in the triumphant 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup tournaments. 

Nevertheless, with little room for sentiment, the Bazball revolution continues unabated - and, despite the patchy results and some annoying performances, it has been largely good couple of years following the staid tactics of Chris Silverwood. 

But, with all of the teams united once again under one coach and an Ashes series just over a year away, the McCullum era really has now begun to enter the phase on which it truly will be judged. 


RESULTS

	WEST INDIES • England won the series 3-0
10-14 July	England 371 beat West Indies 121 & 136 by an innings and 114 runs	Lord's
18-21 July	England 416 & 425 beat West Indies 457 & 143 by 241 runs	Trent Bridge
26-28 July	England 376 & 87-0 beat West Indies 282 & 175 by 10 wickets	Headingley
	SRI LANKA • England won the series 2-1
21-24 August	England 358 & 205-5 beat Sri Lanka 236 & 326 by five wickets	Old Trafford
29 August -1 September	England 427 & 251 beat Sri Lanka 196 & 292 by 190 runs	Lord's
6-9 September	Sri Lanka 263 & 219-2 beat England 325 & 156 by eight wickets	The Oval

FIXTURES

	AUSTRALIA • Fixtures
11 September	FIRST T20  (D/N)	Southampton
13 September	SECOND T20  (D/N)	Cardiff
15 September	THIRD T20  (D/N)	Old Trafford
19 September	FIRST ODI  (D/N)	Trent Bridge
21 September	SECOND ODI	Headingley
24 September	THIRD ODI  (D/N)	Chester-le-Street
27 September	FOURTH ODI  (D/N)	Lord's
29 September	FIFTH ODI	Bristol

	PAKISTAN • Fixtures
7-11 October	FIRST TEST	Multan
15-19 October	SECOND TEST	Karachi
24-28 October	THIRD TEST	Rawalpindi
	NEW ZEALAND • Fixtures
27 November- 1 December	FIRST TEST	Christchurch
5-9 December	SECOND TEST	Wellington
13-17 December	THIRD TEST	Hamilton

Mixed feelings for Team GB at end of Paris 2024 Olympics

GREAT BRITAIN matched its total of 65 medals from London 2012 at the Paris 2024 Olympics as cyclist Emma Finucane and weightlifter Emily Campbell both closed the Games with bronze.

For Finucane, it was a third medal of the week following gold in the team sprint and an earlier bronze in the keirin - as she became the first British female athlete in 60 years to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.

Indeed, Paris 2024 was a groundbreaking Games for Team GB in some respects, notably in artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronised swimming.

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe took a silver medal in the women's duet to register the first ever British success in the sport at Olympic level.

Undoubtedly, though, the moment of the second week came in the truly gripping sport of climbing as teenager Toby Roberts struck an unexpected gold in the men's lead-and-boulder competition.

Roberts transferred his practice during the COVID-19 lockdown on a makeshift wall in his Surrey back garden to the biggest stage of all, scoring 92.1 points out of 100 on the lead wall for victory.

But, somewhat annoyingly, Roberts's golden moment was only one of two for Team GB during the last six days of competition.

Ellie Aldridge won the other gold in the first ever staging of women's kitesurfing - a welcome zippy addition to the sailing programme.

Curiously, though, the sailing regatta was staged off Marseille in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, rather than in the far more suitable Bay of Biscay - and there were numerous races either delayed or cancelled altogether.

That was not the only questionable decision made by the organisers with the main faux-pas being the staging of the swimming leg of the triathlon and the open-water swimming events in the river Seine.

Heavy rain for 24 hours turned an overly-ambitious Opening Ceremony - in which the parade of athletes was staged on boats - into something of a damp squib.

Worse still, though, the downpour increased pollution in the river to unsafe levels for several days, forcing the cancellation of the proposed triathlon training sessions and the postponement of the men's event by 24 hours.

Of course, making the Seine clean to swim in for the first time in 100 years was one of the key legacy pledges made by the Paris 2024 Olympics organisers to the extent that city mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the river herself ahead of the Games.

But, if anything, the whole thing smacked of a costly public relations exercise - and more than a few sceptical eyebrows were raised when, on the day of the women's competition, the water quality was suddenly deemed safe enough for both competitions to take place.

Nevertheless, it would be churlish in the extreme to deny Paris 2024 was a success - or to deny that the French are feeling the same sort of buzz which was evident in large parts of the United Kingdom at the conclusion of London 2012.

Following an early false start when the French high-speed railway network fell victim to a series of co-ordinated arson attacks, and looking beyond the problems with the Seine, there were no more incidents of major concern.

Meanwhile, the hosts enjoyed its best haul at an Olympics for 124 years since hosting in 1900 with gold medals in rugby sevens, cycling, canoeing, fencing, triathlon, judo, surfing, volleyball, taekwondo, and swimming.

Most notably in the pool, a new Olympic legend emerged for the French as Leon Marchand took four individual gold medals in the 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, and 200m individual medley.

And that was good enough to help France finish fifth in the medal table on 16 gold medals behind only United States, China, Japan, and Australia.

For the record, the Americans topped the table for a fourth time in a row and dominated the overall count with 126 in total.

However, the US finished level with the Chinese on 40 gold medals and only just caught up in the very last event of the Games by squeezing past France by a single point in the women's basketball final.

Netherlands crept above Great Britain into sixth place on the last day of competition after an excellent late run of success spearheaded by woman's marathon winner Siffan Hassan and track cyclist Harrie Lavreysen who took home three gold medals. 

By contrast, for the first time since Sydney 2000, no individual British athlete won multiple gold medals at an Olympic Games. 

Chief executive of the British Olympic Association Andy Anson said: "It’s frustrating to be seventh in the medal table but we’ve got to celebrate first the number of fantastic moments, the way athletes have won their medals.

"It’s about this continual fine-tuning figuring out what can be done better to move forward. The middle bit of the medal table below the United States and China feels incredibly competitive."

In fairness, the cycling squad is still in something of a transitional phase following the retirements of relentless winners Sir Jason Kenny and Dame Laura Kenny.

Katie Archibald was also badly missed having been ruled out with a broken leg and dislocated ankle after tripping up a step in her garden on the eve of the Games.

Furthermore, the competition now from other countries in cycling is so much stronger than it used to be. 

Ultimately, though, it was the missing gold medals in the velodrome which dropped Britain down the standings when compared to previous Games within the last 20 years.

After all, even outside of the velodrome, silver medals and bronze medals were in plentiful supply for Team GB. 

Inspired by Keely Hodgkinson's brilliant gold on Day 10 in the women's 800m, the track-and-field squad hit double figures at an Olympics for the first time since Los Angeles 1984. 

All five relay teams reached the podium with bronze medals coming in the men's 4 x 100m, men's 4 x 400m, women's 4 x 400m and mixed 4 x 400m - while the women's 4 x 100m squad took silver.

There was also a silver medal for Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m as he beat his great Norwegian rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen but failed to match a surprisingly strong late run on the inside made by Cole Hocker of the United States. 

Just over 24 hours later, Matthew Hudson-Smith was also agonisingly beaten by an American - Quincy Hall - by just four one-hundredths of a second in the men's 400m. 

However, the most blissful of the silver medals for Great Britain in the Stade de France undoubtedly went to heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson. 

At the age of 31, after being ravaged by injuries and bad luck at previous Olympic Games, Katarina Johnson-Thompson finally finished on the podium at the fourth attempt. 

Johnson-Thompson even pushed defending champion Nafissatou Thiam extremely hard for gold by recording her personal best in the shot put and the 800m.

Still, the required 8.5-second margin over Thiam in the 800m race which concluded the heptathlon always looked like a long shot and the Belgian duly made sure her deficit never fell below that.

But it did not matter really. For Johnson-Thompson, the silver medal was still a victory over the doubters who deemed the Liverpudlian had missed her last chance already - and a glittering reward for a sterling athletics career.

Elsewhere, Caden Cunningham was Team GB's only taekwondo medal winner at Paris 2024, as he took silver in the men's heavyweight division after a split-decision defeat to Arian Salimi of Iran.

Noah Williams won a bronze in the men's individual 10m platform event - a result which meant a diving squad of 11 matched the five-medal haul of the considerably larger swimming selection.

And, in the women's park event, 16-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown won a repeat bronze to join weightlifter Campbell in winning medals in back-to-back Olympic Games.

Finally, Lewis Richardson - with bronze in the welterweight category - ensured the disastrous Olympics in Atlanta 1996 remains the only time since 1964 in which Team GB did not win a boxing medal.

However, it is highly likely that no one will win any boxing medals at Los Angeles 2028 with the sport slated to be dropped - although this decision is set to be reviewed in 2025.

As usual, the whole competition was marred by rotten judging with fighters like Britain's Rosie Eccles somehow deemed to have lost against Poland’s Aneta Rygielska who received a points deduction for failing to keep her head up.

Horrible judging is sadly nothing new at the Olympics - but the women's competition became subject to further controversy over the eligibility of Algerian Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, both of whom won gold medals.

Certainly, if boxing wanted a quietly effective Games in order to save its place at the Olympics, this was not it.

But none of this was the fault of a Paris 2024 itself, though - and, despite plenty of frustration for Team GB, the squad as a whole still won medals across 18 sports so there is no need for wholesale changes to be made.  

Rather delightfully, Paris did not let itself down either.  In full glare following the unwanted Games in Tokyo 2020+1 in front of empty stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Lights reignited the Olympic flame for many sports fans around the world over the past two weeks. 

Merci beaucoup - and onto the Paralympics which begin on 28 August. 

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

MEDAL TABLE

Pos	Final standings	G	S	B	TOTAL
1	UNITED STATES (USA)	40	44	42	126
2	CHINA (CHN)	40	27	24	91
3	JAPAN (JPN)	20	12	13	45
4	AUSTRALIA (AUS)	18	19	16	53
5	FRANCE (FRA)	16	26	22	64
6	NETHERLANDS (NED)	15	7	12	34
7	GREAT BRITAIN & NI (GBR)	14	22	29	65
8	SOUTH KOREA (KOR)	13	9	10	32
9	ITALY (ITA)	12	13	15	40
10	GERMANY (GER)	12	13	8	33
11	NEW ZEALAND (NZL)	10	7	3	20
12	CANADA (CAN)	9	7	11	27
13	UZBEKISTAN (UZB)	8	2	3	13
14	HUNGARY (HUN)	6	7	6	19
15	SPAIN (ESP)	5	4	9	18
16	SWEDEN (SWE)	4	4	3	11
17	KENYA (KEN)	4	2	5	11
18	NORWAY (NOR)	4	1	3	8
19	IRELAND (IRL)	4	0	3	7
20	BRAZIL (BRA)	3	7	10	20
21	IRAN (IRI)	3	6	3	12
22	UKRAINE (UKR)	3	5	4	12
23	ROMANIA (ROU)	3	4	2	9
24	GEORGIA (GEO)	3	3	1	7
25	BELGIUM (BEL)	3	1	6	10
26	BULGARIA (BUL)	3	1	3	7
27	SERBIA (SRB)	3	1	1	5
28	CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)	3	0	2	5
29	DENMARK (DEN)	2	2	5	9
30	AZERBAIJAN (AZE)	2	2	3	7
30	CROATIA (CRO)	2	2	3	7
32	CUBA (CUB)	2	1	6	9
33	BAHRAIN (BRN)	2	1	1	4
34	SLOVENIA (SLO)	2	1	0	3
35	CHINESE TAIPEI (TPE)	2	0	5	7
36	AUSTRIA (AUT)	2	0	3	5
37	HONG KONG (HKG)	2	0	2	4
37	PHILIPPINES (PHI)	2	0	2	4
39	ALGERIA (ALG)	2	0	1	3
39	INDONESIA (INA)	2	0	1	3
41	ISRAEL (ISR)	1	5	1	7
42	POLAND (POL)	1	4	5	10
43	KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ)	1	3	3	7
44	JAMAICA (JAM)	1	3	2	6
44	SOUTH AFRICA (RSA)	1	3	2	6
44	THAILAND (THA)	1	3	2	6
47	ETHIOPIA (ETH)	1	3	0	4
48	SWITZERLAND (SUI)	1	2	5	8
49	ECUADOR (ECU)	1	2	2	5
50	PORTUGAL (POR)	1	2	1	4
51	GREECE (GRE)	1	1	6	8
52	ARGENTINA (ARG)	1	1	1	3
52	EGYPT (EGY)	1	1	1	3
52	TUNISIA (TUN)	1	1	1	3
55	BOTSWANA (BOT)	1	1	0	2
55	CHILE (CHI)	1	1	0	2
55	ST LUCIA (LCA)	1	1	0	2
55	UGANDA (UGA)	1	1	0	2
59	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (DOM)	1	0	2	3
60	GUATEMALA (GUA)	1	0	1	2
60	MOROCCO (MAR)	1	0	1	2
62	DOMINICA (DMA)	1	0	0	1
62	PAKISTAN (PAK)	1	0	0	1
64	TURKEY (TUR)	0	3	5	8
65	MEXICO (MEX)	0	3	2	5
66	ARMENIA (ARM)	0	3	1	4
66	COLOMBIA (COL)	0	3	1	4
68	KYRGYZSTAN (KGZ)	0	2	4	6
68	NORTH KOREA (PRK)	0	2	4	6
70	LITHUANIA (LTU)	0	2	2	4
71	INDIA (IND)	0	1	5	6
72	MOLDOVA (MDA)	0	1	3	4
73	KOSOVO (KOS)	0	1	1	2
74	CYPRUS (CYP)	0	1	0	1
74	FIJI (FIJ)	0	1	0	1
74	JORDAN (JOR)	0	1	0	1
74	MONGOLIA (MNG)	0	1	0	1
74	PANAMA (PAN)	0	1	0	1
79	TAJIKSTAN (TJK)	0	0	3	3
80	ALBANIA (ALB)	0	0	2	2
80	GRENADA (GRN)	0	0	2	2
80	MALAYSIA (MAS)	0	0	2	2
80	PUERTO RICO (PUR)	0	0	2	2
84	CAPE VERDE (CPV)	0	0	1	1
84	IVORY COAST (CIV)	0	0	1	1
84	PERU (PER)	0	0	1	1
84	QATAR (QAT)	0	0	1	1
84	REFUGEE TEAM (EOR)	0	0	1	1
84	SINGAPORE (SGP)	0	0	1	1
84	SLOVAKIA (SVK)	0	0	1	1
84	ZAMBIA (ZAM)	0	0	1	1

MEDAL ROLL OF HONOUR
TEAM GB

		GOLD
1	29-Jul	Rosalind Canter (Lordships Graffalo) Laura Collett (London 52) Tom McEwen (JL Dublin)	Equestrian	Team eventing
2	29-Jul	Tom Pidcock	Cycling	Men's mountain bike cross-country
3	30-Jul	Nathan Hales	Shooting	Men's trap
4	30-Jul	Matt Richards Duncan Scott Tom Dean James Guy Kieran Bird James McMillan	Swimming	Men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay
5	31-Jul	Alex Yee	Triathlon	Men's event
6	31-Jul	Lauren Henry Hannah Scott Lola Anderson Georgie Brayshaw	Rowing	Women's quadruple sculls
7	02-Aug	Emily Craig Imogen Grant	Rowing	Women's lightweight double sculls
8	02-Aug	Bryony Page	Gymnastics	Women's trampoline
9	02-Aug	Scott Brash (Hello Jefferson) Ben Maher (Point Break) Harry Charles (Romeo 88)	Equestrian	Team jumping
10	03-Aug	Sholto Carnegie Rory Gibbs Morgan Bolding Jacob Dawson Charlie Elwes Tom Digby James Rudkin Tom Ford Harry Brightmore (cox)	Rowing	Men's eight
11	05-Aug	Sophie Capewell Emma Finucane Katy Marchant	Cycling	Women's team sprint
12	05-Aug	Keely Hodgkinson	Athletics	Women's 800m
13	08-Aug	Ellie Aldridge	Sailing	Women's kite
14	09-Aug	Toby Roberts	Climbing	Men's lead-and-boulder combined

		SILVER
1	27-Jul	Anna Henderson	Cycling	Women's road time trial
2	28-Jul	Adam Peaty	Swimming	Men's 100m breaststroke
3	29-Jul	Tom Daley Noah Williams	Diving	Men's synchronised 10m platform
4	29-Jul	Adam Burgess	Canoeing	Men's C-1 canoe slalom
5	29-Jul	Matt Richards	Swimming	Men's 200m freestyle
6	31-Jul	Kieran Reilly	Cycling	Men's BMX freestyle
7	01-Aug	Helen Glover Esme Booth Sam Redgrave Rebecca Shorten	Rowing	Women's four
8	02-Aug	Ollie Wynne-Griffith Tom George	Rowing	Men's pair
9	02-Aug	Ben Proud	Swimming	Men's 50m freestyle
10	02-Aug	Duncan Scott	Swimming	Men's 200m individual medley
11	04-Aug	Amber Rutter	Shooting	Women's skeet
12	04-Aug	Tommy Fleetwood	Golf	Men's event
13	05-Aug	Joe Clarke	Canoeing	Men's kayak cross
14	06-Aug	Jack Carlin Ed Lowe Hamish Turnbull	Cycling	Men's team sprint
15	06-Aug	Josh Kerr	Athletics	Men's 1500m
16	07-Aug	Dan Bigham Ethan Hayter Ethan Vernon Ollie Wood Charlie Tanfield	Cycling	Men's team pursuit
17	07-Aug	Matthew Hudson-Smith	Athletics	Men's 400m
18	09-Aug	Elinor Barker Neah Evans	Cycling	Women's Madison
19	09-Aug	Dina Asher-Smith Amy Hunt Imani-Lara Lansiquot Daryll Neita Desiree Henry (heats) Bianca Williams (heats)	Athletics	Women's 4 x 100m relay
20	09-Aug	Katarina Johnson-Thompson	Athletics	Women's heptathlon
21	10-Aug	Kate Shortman Isabelle Thorpe	Artistic swimming	Women's duet
22	10-Aug	Caden Cunningham	Taekwondo	Men's heavyweight (+80kg)

		BRONZE
1	27-Jul	Yasmin Harper Scarlett Mew Jensen	Diving	Women's synchronised 3m springboard
2	28-Jul	Kimberley Woods	Canoeing	Women's K-1 canoe slalom
3	29-Jul	Laura Collett (London 52)	Equestrian	Individual eventing
4	31-Jul	Beth Potter	Triathlon	Women's event
5	31-Jul	Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix Lois Toulson	Diving	Women's synchronised 10m platform
6	01-Aug	Becky Wilde Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne	Rowing	Women's double sculls
7	01-Aug	Oli Wilkes David Ambler Matt Aldridge Freddie Davidson	Rowing	Men's four
8	02-Aug	Anthony Harding Jack Laugher	Diving	Men's synchronised 3m springboard
9	03-Aug	Heidi Long Rowan McKellar Holly Dunford Emily Ford Lauren Irwin Eve Stewart Hattie Taylor Annie Campbell-Orde Henry Fieldman (cox)	Rowing	Women's eight
10	03-Aug	Emma Wilson	Sailing	Women's IQFoil
11	03-Aug	Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec) Carl Hester (Fame) Becky Moody (Jagerbomb)	Equestrian	Team dressage
12	03-Aug	Jake Jarman	Gymnastics	Men's floor
13	03-Aug	Sam Reardon Laviai Nielsen Alex Haydock-Wilson Amber Anning Nicole Yeargin (heats)	Athletics	Mixed 4 x 400m relay
14	04-Aug	Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec)	Equestrian	Individual dressage
15	04-Aug	Harry Hepworth	Gymnastics	Men's vault
16	05-Aug	Alex Yee Georgia Taylor-Brown Sam Dickinson Beth Potter	Triathlon	Mixed relay event
17	05-Aug	Kimberley Woods	Canoeing	Women's kayak cross
18	06-Aug	Sky Brown	Skateboarding	Women's park
19	06-Aug	Lewis Richardson	Boxing	Men's welterweight
20	07-Aug	Elinor Barker Josie Knight Anna Morris Jess Roberts	Cycling	Women's team pursuit
21	08-Aug	Emma Finucane	Cycling	Women's Keirin
22	09-Aug	Jeremiah Azu Louie Hinchcliffe Zharnel Hughes Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Richard Kilty (heats)	Athletics	Men's 4 x 100m relay
23	09-Aug	Jack Carlin	Cycling	Men's sprint
24	10-Aug	Noah Williams	Diving	Men's 10m platform
25	10-Aug	Georgia Bell	Athletics	Women's 1500m
26	10-Aug	Lewis Davey Charlie Dobson Alex Haydock-Wilson Matthew Hudson-Smith Toby Harries (heats) Sam Reardon (heats)	Athletics	Men's 4 x 400m relay
27	10-Aug	Amber Anning Laviai Nielsen Victoria Ohuruogu Nicole Yeargin Yemi Mary John (heats) Hannah Kelly (heats) Lina Nielsen (heats) Jodie Williams (heats)	Athletics	Women's 4 x 400m relay
28	11-Aug	Emma Finucane	Cycling	Women's sprint
29	11-Aug	Emily Campbell	Weightlifting	Women's +81kg

EARLIER PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS BLOGS
26.07  Sport-by-sport preview
01.08  Flurry of gold for Team GB
07.08  Hodgkinson crowned new queen of British athletics

Index 2023

INDEX 2023

So, good riddance 2023, you utter shitfest of a year. Whether or not life actually does begin at 40, as the cliché would suggest, it has certainly changed a lot for me in the last 12 months. RIP Dad, I miss you every day and I will always love you.

Nevertheless, it would be churlish not to admit that there have still been some highlights. My lovely niece Maya is growing up fast, always makes me smile and usually makes me laugh like a gargling drain with her antics.

I also loved my trip to Greece (except for the bit when my phone got stolen), my latest Glastonbury Festival renewal (where the Foo Fighters especially were truly epic), yet another visit to Prague (where me and my friends got to have a go at being Pilsner Urquell tapsters), a raucous weekend in Ibiza (except for the bit when my phone got stolen), and I also bimbled around a bit of Germany which I had never previously seen.

Of course, that trip to Germany derived from a serious prolonged upturn in form from my beloved Newcastle United who finished last season in the top four for the first time in 20 years.

But, to be quite honest, even Newcastle United let me down this year in the biggest games of the calendar year at Wembley in February in the Carabao Cup Final - even if the crowd in Trafalgar Square on the night before was epic - and then again against AC Milan at St James Park this month.

There have been various other weekends away in the UK which have captured the imagination: the snooker in Sheffield in April, Nottingham in May to see Team GB regain their place at the top table in international ice hockey, York for Hallowe'en, and another visit to Lindisfarne Festival in September.

Unfortunately, though, I finished the year still partly recovering from a hairline fracture to my ankle sustained at Lindisfarne after the injury suffered several setbacks, although some of them were admittedly self-inflicted.

Additionally, I have spent much of the run-up to Christmas battling an acute bout of the lurgy which has hung around for the last seven weeks and, at times, made me sound like a 40-a-day smoker.

It basically made an already exhausting year just that little bit more difficult to get through - and, despite numerous undoubted highlights, I am afraid this is a year which, for quite some time, I have been desperate to consign to the archives.

For what it's worth, this blog still gets updated with the occasional updates - and, hopefully, 2024 will provide opportunities for some write-ups on a brighter note.

An index of the posts made in 2023 can be found below:

CRICKET
Ashes 2023
16.06  Baz-ball faces its biggest Test of all in Ashes
11.07  Ashes alive after England win Headingley nail-biter
01.08  Broad signs off in style as Ashes series ends drawn
World Cup
05.10  Preview: Confident India hold all the cards
14.11  Not defending anything
19.11  Australia tear down India's cloak of invincibility

FOOTBALL
Season 2022/23
04.05  Haaland breaks goal record to send Man City back top
13.06  Manchester City complete incredible Treble
Season 2023/24
15.08  Manchester City go for four in a row
04.12  Another chance for England at Euro 2024

RUGBY UNION
World Cup
08.09  Preview: C'est le moment... peut-être
04.11  Back-to-back Boks outlast All Blacks

SNOOKER
World Championships
14.04  Snooker finds itself in a terrible fix
01.05  Belgian Bullet slays maximum man Selby

POLITICS
By elections
24.07  Another messy night

PERSONAL
Glastonbury 2023
30.06  There goes My Hero

So, take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind

Down the foggy ruins of time

Far past the frozen leaves

The haunted frightened trees

Out to the windy beach

Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky

With one hand waving free

Silhouetted by the sea

Circled by the circus sands

With all memory and fate

Driven deep beneath the waves

Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Bob Dylan - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)

Australia tear down India's cloak of invincibility

CRICKET WORLD CUP

FINAL 19-Nov	INDIA	240
Ahmedabad	AUSTRALIA	241-4 43	[Head 137]    ▪️ AUSTRALIA won by six wickets

AUSTRALIA refused to read the script in India as Travis Head hit a stunning century to beat the previously unbeaten hosts and seal an amazing sixth Cricket World Cup title. 

Head smashed 15 fours and four sixes - more boundaries than the entire India team combined - on his way to 137 as the Aussies ultimately coped easily with their run chase on a difficult used pitch in Ahmedabad. 

The surface for the Final had been the subject to plenty of pre-match conjecture with India having also beaten New Zealand on a used pitch in Mumbai in the semi final.

But any attempt at influencing the result in the Final quickly backfired, or at least was neutralised, after Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss.

Cummins elected to field, rejecting the traditional strategy in big games of putting a score on board to defend after recognising the conditions favoured the risk of making a chase. 

Notably, three of the four league matches in Ahmedabad were won by chasing sides, and so were the two Indian Premier League finals which were hosted there. 

Still, Cummins's decision could have gone very wrong - and his counterpart Rohit Sharma, with his aggressive strike rate, threatened to set the tone, just as he had pretty much all of the way through the tournament. 

But, with two balls of the first powerplay remaining, Head made his first big intervention of the day with a wonderful over-the-shoulder catch to leave India on 76-2.

The Aussies sniffed an opening - and, sure enough in the next over, the in-form Shreyas Iyer feathered Cummins behind for just four. 

India then entered into a prolonged period of introspection as Virat Kohli and KL Rahul set about a rebuilding job. 

It was a painfully slow partnership, though - and the Indian batsmen actually only scored one single boundary in 173 balls between the start of the 11th over and the end of the 39th. 

Indeed, just as Kohli might have considered upping the pace of his innings, Cummins breached his defences - and the capacity crowd in Ahmedabad fell completely silent. 

"There's nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent," said Cummins in his pre-match press conference. 

Australia were well on their way with Rahul and new man Ravindra Jadeja continuing to find scoring difficult against an incredibly well-drilled, tigerish fielding side. 

Jadeja was next to go, edging behind a thin nick off Josh Hazlewood to Josh Inglis who took five catches behind the stumps, and wickets thereafter fell regularly. 

Twice, Mitchell Starc struck from round the wicket, inducing edges from Rahul and Mohammed Shami, to leave India on 211-7 and in danger of failing to use their allocated 50 overs. 

Suryakumar Ashok Yadav seemed to lose his ability to farm the strike with the tail - and it was only really the scrambled efforts of final pair, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj, who ensured the home side faced all of the balls available to them. 

Australia had completed the first part of job consummately then - but now also still had to hold their nerve with the bat.

In a frenetic start, Jasprit Bumrah immediately got the ball to swing and the very first delivery was edged by David Warner... through the slips to the boundary.

The second over, bowled by tournament leading wicket taker Shami, was no less eventful - and had the following outcomes in successive balls: a wide, a wicket, a bye, five wides, a four off the bat, a bye, and a leg bye. 

During the chaos, with the ear-splitting atmosphere in Ahmedabad having resumed at full volume, Shami took his 24th scalp of the tournament by removing Warner - and the Indians' urgent necessity for quick wickets appeared to outweigh the Aussie desire to see the match settle down. 

Indeed, at the end of the seventh over, Australia had been reduced to 47-3 after Mitchell Marsh swiped wildly to a wide delivery from Bumrah. 

And, in his next over, the rapid paceman was judged by umpire Richard Illingworth to have successfully trapped Steve Smith lbw with a slower ball. 

Smith, incredibly, walked off despite his reputation for reviewing just about any lbw decision against him - and, more incredibly still, replays showed that the ball had hit Smith's pads outside the line of off-stump. 

It felt, at the time, like a match-defining error. However, Head ensured it was nothing of the sort. 

Naturally aggressive, the Adelaide big-hitter toned down his approach somewhat as he set about turning over the strike with his new partner in the middle Marnus Labuschagne, while hitting the occasional boundary to avoid getting bogged down. 

The pair compiled a steady partnership bringing up their century stand off 119 balls to bring the runs required target below 100 with 24 overs still available. 

By this stage, Head had accelerated his innings to better than a run per ball - no mean feat on that strip - and, with a scampered single in the 34th over, he duly became the seventh man to hit a century in a World Cup Final. 

Head actually would have been run out on 99 with a direct hit - and immediately made the Indians pay by smashing the next ball from Jadeja through midwicket for six. 

Later, with his work just about done, Head could not resist another aggressive thrash at a wide ball from Siraj - but, for once, he could only direct it at chest height to Shubman Gill at deep midwicket for the simplest of catches. 

It mattered not, though. From the next delivery, with 42 balls still to spare, Australia confirmed yet another Cricket World Cup Final victory as new man Glenn Maxwell ran two after guiding another short ball from Siraj into the same gap at midwicket along the ground. 

To a man, the Indian players - all in stunned silence - collapsed to their knees in defeat.

It was not meant to end like this for India - after all, Sharma's men had crushed all-comers up until the Final. 

India triumphed easily in all nine group games and had gained revenge in the semi finals against New Zealand for their defeat to the same team at the same stage four years earlier. 

When batting first, the Indians had won by an average of 175 runs - and they were equally adept at chasing, winning by an average of 6.4 wickets with an average 64.4 balls remaining. 

But, at the Final in the stadium named after him, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched on impassively - powerless, for once, to intervene as Head and Labuschagne nudged Australia towards their target. 

By contrast, for the champions, this was a great victory forged by typical true Aussie grit. 

Defeat in their opening two group games against India and South Africa had actually left the eventual winners briefly bottom of the table. Thereafter, though, Australia won each of their remaining nine matches. 

Steadying the ship with comfortable victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and a record-breaking 309-run thumping of Netherlands, the Aussies continued to find the route to the Final rather bumpy. 

In their Trans-Tasmania clash, Australia squeezed past New Zealand by just five runs in a tightest match of the whole tournament - then, against England, the bowlers managed to defend a modest total of 286, winning by 33 runs.

The early struggles meant, even with their improved form, the Aussies could not be certain of their place in the knockout stage - and next up was a match against surprise package Afghanistan who remained in with a chance of the top four. 

Chasing 292, Australia fell to 49-4 and 91-7 as the Afghans sensed their biggest scalp yet in what was a tournament of great success for them. 

But Maxwell - who had earlier blitzed his way off 40 balls to the fastest century in World Cup history against the Dutch - produced an astonishing knock, scoring a massive 88.6% of the runs in an unbeaten eight-wicket partnership of 202 with captain Cummins, to finish on 201 not out. 

Ultimately in the Final, though, it was opener Head who proved yet again to be the key man on the big day as he continued his annus mirabilis.

Already with player of the match performances against India in the World Test Championship Final in June and against South Africa in the World Cup semi final under his belt, it was not Warner or Smith who was the Australian danger man in this Final. Maxwell was barely required. 

Instead, it was Head - an unusually understated and immensely underrated Aussie left-hander - who left a sixth world title for his country never in doubt. 

Not defending anything

AHEAD of the Cricket World Cup, England captain Jos Buttler stated plainly: "We're not defending anything" - and, on that note, he has been proven to be entirely correct.

Buttler intended his words to mean that England would attack this tournament head on - but, in reality, his team stumbled for the last five-and-a-half weeks from one miserable defeat to the next.

The campaign began back on 5 October with a heavy reverse to New Zealand, the side who they had squeezed past by the barest of margins in the Final at Lord's four years earlier.

And, although a thumping victory over Bangladesh in the second match gave little indication of what was to follow, England were brought quickly back down to earth following a historic 69-run defeat to Afghanistan.

From that point onwards, it got much worse. South Africa took the English bowling attack to the cleaners as the 2019 champions came within a single run of conceding 400 for the first time ever in a One Day International.

In response, England collapsed under scoreboard pressure and ultimately finished 229 runs behind on 170 all out.

Five days later in Bangalore, England's humiliation was complete as they succumbed by eight wickets to an erratic Sri Lanka side after being bowled out for 156 in 33.2 overs while a literal vulture circled the ground.

That left 16.4 overs unbowled in that innings - 100 balls exactly. A screeching irony if ever there was one.

One hundred balls one week - one hundred runs the next; it felt as if the cricket gods were actively haunting English cricket with the number 100.

England next went down against India by that margin despite an improved bowling display which restricted the hosts to 229-9.

It proved more than enough, though, as a brittle batting line-up wilted once again.

Ben Stokes attempted to hit his way into some form but was out for a duck off the 10th ball of a torturous innings.

Yet, remarkably, given their sheer collective incompetence, England had not officially been eliminated as a result of their fifth defeats out of six.

However, Australia were more than happy to hammer the final nail in the holders' coffin - and eventually did, as England failed to chase down a modest target of 287, despite the efforts of Stokes who played a far more measured innings.

That left rock-bottom England with two dead-rubbers against Netherlands and Pakistan - although the importance of these fixtures was rather randomly increased mid-tournament.

Confirmation came from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that only the top eight would qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, an announcement which caught several teams - including England - by surprise.

It is unclear exactly when the ICC had decided this and the cynic will find it difficult to believe the decision was nothing other than an attempt to give some sort of meaning to matches which would have been otherwise quite meaningless.

Ultimately, England finished seventh to avoid that indignity, comfortably beating Netherlands by 160 runs before making it back-to-back wins against Pakistan where they belatedly showed some signs of being back to their best to compile a score of 337-9.

Pakistan, and neighbours Afghanistan, were the only teams in the final round of matches with a technical chance of breaking into the top four.

However, both had been left with an almost impossible task to finish above New Zealand on net run rate after the Black Caps made light work of Sri Lanka.

Certainly then, there can be no doubt that the best four teams - India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand - have made it through to the knockout stage.

Pretty much everyone, though, had identified at least three of the sides since the end of matchday four back in mid-October.

Indeed, a lack of overall drama has been reflected by a scarcity of close finishes throughout the competition - with the two biggest World Cup wins in terms of runs both occurring during this edition.

By contrast, only one match has been won by less than a 20-run margin and only one match won by a chasing team more than seven wickets down.

Moreover, the fact that those two matches - Australia v New Zealand and South Africa v Pakistan - occurred within 24 hours of each other has left long stretches in the schedule with a tedious lack of jeopardy or excitement.

Nevertheless, there have been some outstanding individual performances - especially with the bat.

Leading run-scorer Virat Kohli engineered his first century of the tournament against Bangladesh by retaining the strike - then, against South Africa on his 35th birthday, he drew level with his idol Sachin Tendulkar on 49 ODI tons, equalling the all-time record.

Quinton de Kock was the second most prolific player, scoring four centuries against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand in what he has stated will be his last World Cup.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, in his first ever senior international tournament, 23-year-old New Zealander Rachin Ravindra has already made three tons against England on his World Cup debut, Australia and Pakistan.

The Australians have dominated in terms of producing the biggest individual scores with Glenn Maxwell hitting a mammoth unbeaten 201 off 128 balls to save the five-time champions from perilous positions of 49-4 and 91-7 against the doughty Afghans.

For good measure, Mitchell Marsh then smashed 177 not out off 132 balls in the Aussies' very next match against Bangladesh for the second highest score of the tournament.

It has been undoubtedly a much more difficult competition with the ball, in general - but it is yet another man in Canary Yellow, spinner Adam Zampa, who leads the way with 22 wickets.

Having said that, Mohammed Shami has easily been the pick of the bowlers in the group stage.

The veteran seamer took 16 wickets at an average of under 10-a-piece in just five matches - including 5-18 against Sri Lanka and 5-54 against New Zealand - as India successfully bowled out seven of their nine opponents on their way to a perfect nine wins out of nine.

At the risk of being accused of sour grapes though, this has sadly not been a well-organised or well-delivered tournament by the ICC, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) or the Indian authorities.

For a start, the organisers were still rejigging the match schedule and venues as late as 9 August, leaving travelling fans with no hope of making advance plans.

Pakistan supporters found it particularly difficult to gain visa access to their neighbouring country - and, against Australia, the few who had made it were even stopped from cheering on their side by police in the stadium.

Beyond the India matches which all had raucous atmospheres of course, crowds otherwise - while not low - have looked sparse in some of the more cavernous grounds.

Sometimes it makes you wonder if the people in charge actually want One Day International cricket to fail - and there is certainly plenty of concern for the future of the format.

Nevertheless, by far the biggest opprobrium in this regard should be reserved for the players and teams who have disrespected the 50-over game - and, as defending champions, England especially have charges to answer for their desperate performances.

Even before the start of the tournament, muddled thinking was evident with World Cup-winning opener Jason Roy told he was in the squad before being discarded at the last minute for Harry Brook because of concerns over a back injury.

Such worries did not seem to be considered when it came to Stokes after he dramatically reversed his decision to retire from ODIs and slotted back into the 15-man selection despite not being fully fit himself.

Worse was to follow. Spooked by the prevalence of T20 franchise leagues around the world, the ECB offered multi-year deals to centrally-contracted players for the first time.

Remarkably though, the deals were signed off right in the middle of a tournament with the very same players who were making a complete mess of their trophy defence - all with the sole exception of David Willey.

To his credit, Willey - who was far from the worst performer - continued to steam in and the left-arm seamer was rewarded on his final appearance against Pakistan with his 100th ODI wicket.

Understandably though, the 33-year-old has now retired from international cricket - and the decision not to offer him a deal was undoubtedly the final straw.

Rumours abounded of disharmony in the camp - rumours which were denied by Australian head coach Matthew Mott who merely watched on gormlessly as his team was routinely dismantled.

Mott - who had previously led an all-conquering Aussie women's team which barely needed coaching to beat their modest competition - seemed to lack any idea how to turn things around when England's hitherto talented batting unit began to falter.

Instead, the Aussie made few public statements and seemed to have even fewer ideas, shirking all responsibility as his side sank ever deeper into the quicksand.

Furthermore, the question must be asked that, if it was still such a happy camp, then how were England playing quite this poorly?

Some of it can be explained by a lack of practice with the holders playing only 42 matches in the 50-over format between their triumph and this tournament compared to 88 games between 2015 and 2019.

Additionally, some of those matches were played at the exact same time as England were also contesting a Test series, resulting in a lack of cohesion between the all-format players and the white-ball specialists.

Put simply though, some of England players in India are just too old and have been badly exposed by the intensity of a long, drawn out World Cup.

In the defeats to Sri Lanka, India and Australia, England did not field a single player aged under 30 - and it was really quite sad to see this golden generation fail over and over again.

Hopefully, once the dust settles, the players in this squad can be remembered for what it achieved rather than what it became - but, contracts or not, this really should be the end of the line for the majority, at least in ODI cricket.

That should include Buttler who has struggled to step up as Eoin Morgan's successor and has even seen his batting form crumble to the extent that he averaged an abysmal 15.33 at this World Cup.

Yet, ECB managing director Rob Key has backed Buttler and Mott with the former included by the latter in the next white-ball squad for a tour of the Caribbean next month.

For now, though, England must watch on as India, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia squabble over a prize which was so hard-won but sadly also so easily given away.

GROUP STAGE TABLE

		W	L	NRR	Pts	Results
(Q)	INDIA	9	0	2.57	18	WWWWWWWWW
(Q)	SOUTH AFRICA	7	2	1.26	14	WWLWWWWLW
(Q)	AUSTRALIA	7	2	0.84	14	LLWWWWWWW
(Q)	NEW ZEALAND	5	4	0.74	10	WWWWLLLLW
5	PAKISTAN	4	5	-0.20	8	WWLLLLWWL
6	AFGHANISTAN	4	5	-0.34	8	LLWLWWWLL
7	ENGLAND	3	6	-0.57	6	LWLLLLLWW
8	BANGLADESH	2	7	-1.09	4	WLLLLLLWL
9	SRI LANKA	2	7	-1.42	4	LLLWWLLLL
10	NETHERLANDS	2	7	-1.83	4	LLWLLWLLL

GROUP STAGE RESULTS

01 Thu 05-Oct	9:30	ENGLAND	282-9	▪️ NEW ZEALAND won by nine wickets
Ahmedabad		NEW ZEALAND	283-1 36.2
02 Fri 06-Oct	9:30	PAKISTAN	286 49	▪️ PAKISTAN won by 81 runs
Hyderabad		NETHERLANDS	205 41
03 Sat 07-Oct	9:30	AFGHANISTAN	156 37.2	▪️ BANGLADESH won by six wickets
Dharamshala		BANGLADESH	158-4 34.4
04 Sat 07-Oct	9:30	SOUTH AFRICA	428-5	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by 102 runs
Delhi		SRI LANKA	326 44.5
05 Sun 08-Oct	9:30	AUSTRALIA	199 49.3	▪️ INDIA won by six wickets
Chennai		INDIA	201-4 41.2
06 Mon 09-Oct	9:30	NEW ZEALAND	322-7	▪️ NEW ZEALAND won by 99 runs
Hyderabad		NETHERLANDS	223 46.3
07 Tue 10-Oct	6:00	BANGLADESH	227 48.2	▪️ ENGLAND won by 137 runs
Dharamshala		ENGLAND	364-9
08 Tue 10-Oct	9:30	PAKISTAN	345-4 48.2	▪️ PAKISTAN won by six wickets
Hyderabad		SRI LANKA	344-9
09 Wed 11-Oct	9:30	AFGHANISTAN	272-8	▪️ INDIA won by eight wickets
Delhi		INDIA	273-2 35
10 Thu 12-Oct	9:30	AUSTRALIA	177 40.5	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by 134 runs
Lucknow		SOUTH AFRICA	311-7
11 Fri 13-Oct	9:30	BANGLADESH	245-9	▪️ NEW ZEALAND won by eight wickets
Chennai		NEW ZEALAND	248-2 42.5
12 Sat 14-Oct	9:30	INDIA	192-3 30.3	▪️ INDIA won by seven wickets
Ahmedabad		PAKISTAN	191 42.5
13 Sun 15-Oct	9:30	AFGHANISTAN	284 49.5	▪️ AFGHANISTAN won by 69 runs
Delhi		ENGLAND	215 40.3
14 Mon 16-Oct	9:30	AUSTRALIA	215-5 35.2	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by five wickets
Lucknow		SRI LANKA	209 43.3
15 Tue 17-Oct	9:30	SOUTH AFRICA	207 42.5	▪️ NETHERLANDS won by 38 runs
Dharamshala		NETHERLANDS	245-8 43
16 Wed 18-Oct	9:30	AFGHANISTAN	139 34.4	▪️ NEW ZEALAND won by 149 runs
Chennai		NEW ZEALAND	288-6
17 Thu 19-Oct	9:30	BANGLADESH	256-8	▪️ INDIA won by seven wickets
Pune		INDIA	261-3 41.3
18 Fri 20-Oct	9:30	AUSTRALIA	367-9	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by 62 runs
Bangalore		PAKISTAN	305 45.3
19 Sat 21-Oct	6:00	NETHERLANDS	262 49.4	▪️ SRI LANKA won by five wickets
Lucknow		SRI LANKA	263-5 48.2
20 Sat 21-Oct	9:30	ENGLAND	170 22	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by 229 runs
Mumbai		SOUTH AFRICA	399-7
21 Sun 22-Oct	9:30	INDIA	274-6 48	▪️ INDIA won by four wickets
Dharamshala		NEW ZEALAND	273
22 Mon 23-Oct	9:30	AFGHANISTAN	286-2 49	▪️ AFGHANISTAN won by eight wickets
Chennai		PAKISTAN	282-7
23 Tue 24-Oct	9:30	BANGLADESH	233 46.4	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by 149 runs
Mumbai		SOUTH AFRICA	382-5
24 Wed 25-Oct	9:30	AUSTRALIA	399-8	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by 309 runs
Delhi		NETHERLANDS	90 21
25 Thu 26-Oct	9:30	ENGLAND	156 33.2	▪️ SRI LANKA won by eight wickets
Bangalore		SRI LANKA	160-2 25.4
26 Fri 27-Oct	9:30	PAKISTAN	270 46.4	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by one wicket
Chennai		SOUTH AFRICA	271-9 47.2
27 Sat 28-Oct	6:00	AUSTRALIA	388 49.2	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by five runs
Dharamshala		NEW ZEALAND	383-9
28 Sat 28-Oct	9:30	BANGLADESH	142 42.2	▪️ NETHERLANDS won by 87 runs
Kolkata		NETHERLANDS	229
29 Sun 29-Oct	8:30	ENGLAND	129 34.5	▪️ INDIA won by 100 runs
Lucknow		INDIA	229-9
30 Mon 30-Oct	8:30	AFGHANISTAN	242-3 45.2	▪️ AFGHANISTAN won by seven wickets
Pune		SRI LANKA	241 49.3
31 Tue 31-Oct	8:30	BANGLADESH	204 45.1	▪️ PAKISTAN won by seven wickets
Kolkata		PAKISTAN	205-3 32.3
32 Wed 01-Nov	8:30	NEW ZEALAND	167 35.3	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by 190 runs
Pune		SOUTH AFRICA	357-4
33 Thu 02-Nov	8:30	INDIA	357-8	▪️ INDIA won by 302 runs
Mumbai		SRI LANKA	55 19.4
34 Fri 03-Nov	8:30	AFGHANISTAN	181-3 31.3	▪️ AFGHANISTAN won by seven wickets
Lucknow		NETHERLANDS	179 46.3
35 Sat 04-Nov	5:00	NEW ZEALAND	401-6	▪️ PAKISTAN won by 21 runs DLS
Bangalore		PAKISTAN	200-1 25.3
36 Sat 04-Nov	8:30	AUSTRALIA	286 49.3	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by 33 runs
Ahmedabad		ENGLAND	253 48.1
37 Sun 05-Nov	8:30	INDIA	326-5	▪️ INDIA won by 243 runs
Kolkata		SOUTH AFRICA	83 27.1
38 Mon 06-Nov	8:30	BANGLADESH	282-7 41.1	▪️ BANGLADESH won by three wickets
Delhi		SRI LANKA	279 49.3
39 Tue 07-Nov	8:30	AUSTRALIA	293-7 46.5	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by three wickets
Mumbai		AFGHANISTAN	291-5
40 Wed 08-Nov	8:30	ENGLAND	339-9	▪️ ENGLAND won by 160 runs
Pune		NETHERLANDS	179 37.2
41 Thu 09-Nov	8:30	NEW ZEALAND	172-5 23.2	▪️ NEW ZEALAND won by five wickets
Bangalore		SRI LANKA	171 46.4
42 Fri 10-Nov	8:30	AFGHANISTAN	244	▪️ SOUTH AFRICA won by five wickets
Ahmedabad		SOUTH AFRICA	247-5 47.3
43 Sat 11-Nov	5:00	AUSTRALIA	307-2 44.4	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by eight wickets
Pune		BANGLADESH	306-8
44 Sat 11-Nov	8:30	ENGLAND	337-9	▪️ ENGLAND won by 93 runs
Kolkata		PAKISTAN	244 43.3
45 Sun 12-Nov	8:30	INDIA	410-4	▪️ INDIA won by 160 runs
Bangalore		NETHERLANDS	250 47.5

SEMI FINAL RESULTS

SF1 Wed 15-Nov	8:30	INDIA	397-4	▪️ INDIA won by 70 runs
Mumbai		NEW ZEALAND	327 48.5
SF2 Thu 16-Nov	8:30	SOUTH AFRICA	212 49.4	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by three wickets
Kolkata		AUSTRALIA	215-7 47.2

CENTURIES

201* Glenn Maxwell (Australia) v Afghanistan 

177* Mitchell Marsh (Australia) v Bangladesh
174 Quinton de Kock (South Africa) v Bangladesh 

163 David Warner (Australia) v Pakistan
152* Devon Conway (New Zealand) v England

140 Dawid Malan (England) v Bangladesh

137 Travis Head (Australia) v India FINAL
134 Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand) v India SF

131* Muhammad Rizwan (Pakistan) v Sri Lanka

131 Rohit Sharma (India) v Afghanistan

130 Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand) v India

129 Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan) v Australia

128* Shreyas Iyer (India) v Netherlands

126* Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan) v New Zealand

123* Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand) v England

122 Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka) v Pakistan

121 Mitchell Marsh (Australia) v Pakistan

117 Virat Kohli (India) v New Zealand SF
116 Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand) v Australia

113 Abdullah Shafique (Pakistan) v Sri Lanka

111 Mahmudullah (Bangladesh) v South Africa

109 Quinton de Kock (South Africa) v Australia

109 Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa) v England

109 Travis Head (Australia) v New Zealand
108 Rassie van der Dussen (South Africa) v Sri Lanka

108 Sadeera Samarawickrama (Sri Lanka) v Pakistan
108 Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand) v Pakistan
108 Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka) v Bangladesh

108 Ben Stokes (England) v Netherlands

106 Aiden Markram (South Africa) v Sri Lanka

106 Glenn Maxwell (Australia) v Netherlands

105 Shreyas Iyer (India) v New Zealand SF
104 David Warner (Australia) v Netherlands
103* Virat Kohli (India) v Bangladesh

102 KL Rahul (India) v Netherlands

101* Virat Kohli (India) v South Africa
100 David Miller (South Africa) v Australia SF
100 Quinton de Kock (South Africa) v Sri Lanka

FIVE-WICKET HAULS

7-57 Mohammed Shami (India) v New Zealand SF
5-18 Mohammed Shami (India) v Sri Lanka
5-33 Ravindra Jadeja (India) v South Africa
5-52 Mitchell Santner (New Zealand) v Netherlands

5-54 Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan) v Australia

5-54 Mohammed Shami (India) v New Zealand
5-80 Dilshan Madushanka (Sri Lanka) v India