Broad signs off in style as Ashes series ends drawn

STUART BROAD produced a picture-book ending to his cricket career by taking the last two Australian wickets as England won the fifth Test to draw a thrilling Ashes series.

Broad, in fact, became the only cricketer in Test history to score a six from his final delivery with the bat and take a wicket with his very last ball.

Alex Carey was Broad's final victim edging behind a classic delivery shortly after Todd Murphy had done similarly, as Australia fell 50 runs short of their target.

Such a conclusion to Broad's career came as no great surprise really.

The 37-year-old sits proudly in fifth place on the list of all-time leading Test wicket-takers with 604 scalps.

But, much more than that, Broad particularly seemed to love singlehandedly winning matches by getting his wickets in great big bunches.

From his 6-17 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg to dismiss South Africa for 83 in 2016 to his 5-5 against India at Trent Bridge in 2011 in a spell which included a hat-trick, Broad knew almost instinctively when to pick his moment.

Most of all, though, Broad loved to bowl at the Aussies - and his 6-22 at Chester-le-Street in 2013 was merely an aperitif for what followed at his home ground two years later.

On a beautiful bright August morning at Trent Bridge, Broad simply destroyed Australia, taking 8-15 having at one stage enjoyed figures of 5-6.

With the Baggy Greens 2-1 down and 60 all out before lunch on the first day of the fourth Test, he had effectively decided the course of the Ashes.

This time at the Oval, it was not quite one of those great big bunches as the two wickets served to end an afternoon of frustration - but it was really no surprise that they came together to finish the match.

Annoyingly, Australia had already retained the Ashes urn after preserving their 2-1 lead at Old Trafford where downpours allowed for only 30 overs to be bowled on the last two days.

Defeat in south London, though, leaves the Aussies still without an outright series win on English soil since 2001.

Back then, 22 years ago, Australia remained in the midst of an utterly dominant period as they won eight consecutive Ashes series - four at home and four away - between 1989 and 2003.

Indeed, the 4-1 evisceration of England by Steve Waugh's side in 2001 was perhaps the purest demonstration of their complete supremacy - and only the exploits of Mark Butcher prevented England from suffering the ignominy of a home whitewash.

By contrast, this time, Australia have been really rather stealthy in taking home the urn.

After all, England scored more runs than their opponents by a margin of 3,079 to 3,010, and also took 93 Australian wickets compared to the tourists' tally of 85.

The top run-scorer in the series might have been an Aussie - Usman Khawaja - who adapted better to English conditions than he has in the past to rack up an aggregate of 496 runs at an average of 49.60.

But the only other three batsmen to top 400 runs in the series were all English as Zak Crawley (480 runs at 53.33) enjoyed his best spell so far in an England shirt alongside Joe Root (412 at 51.50) and Ben Stokes (405 at 45.00).

The top wicket-taker was also an Australian as Mitchell Starc's 8-182 at the Oval lifted him above Broad with 23 scalps to 22.

Ultimately, though, England more than competed in this facet too as the combined totals of Chris Woakes (19) and Mark Wood (14) fell just one short of matching Pat Cummins (18) and Josh Hazlewood (16), despite the Englishmen playing fewer matches.

Certainly then, this has been a series decided by extremely fine margins - and the whole contest perhaps even came down to Stokes's declaration on 393-8 towards the end of the first day of the first Test at Edgbaston.

Root stood tall on 118 not out but was not allowed to continue as Stokes sought quick wickets at the end of Day One which never came.

Eventually, England had to work hard on Day Two just to dismiss Australia for 386, a meagre lead of seven runs heading into the second innings. Then, in tough batting conditions, the hosts were all out for 273.

It was not a straightforward chase by any measure - and, at 227-8, it actually looked as if Australia would fall short of their target of 281.

But steely Aussie skipper Cummins produced an assured knock of 44 not out to leave his counterpart Stokes surely ruing his rather reckless first-day declaration.

The second Test at Lord's was a little more clear-cut as Australia made the most of their lead of 91 on first innings to prevail by 43 runs despite a gallant ton from Stokes.

Those are the bare facts of that match - but the Test will be probably best remembered for the incident on the fifth day which, remarkably, served to riled up the most genteel crowd in world cricket.

Wicketkeeper Carey had noticed his opposite number Jonny Bairstow walking out of his crease after balls which he had left - so, when the Yorkshireman did just that from a ball by Cameron Green in the middle of the morning session, the Aussie gloveman threw down the stumps.

The controversy derived from the interpretation of Law 20.1.1.1 which states that the ball is dead when it is finally settled in the hands of the wicketkeeper or of the bowler.

In fairness to Carey, though, he released the ball quickly before Bairstow had moved in anticipation that he would again leave his ground.

And so, while the slightly underhand nature of the wicket was not exactly within the spirit of the game, it was also criminally dozy cricket from Bairstow.

At 193-6, England were heading for a heavy defeat - but the Bairstow controversy actually served to galvanise the home side and Stokes in particular.

The skipper quickly moved into top gear and thrashed the ball to all corners, smacking nine fours and nine sixes in his eventual total of 155.

Australian thoughts surely will have drifted back to the previous Ashes series in England when Stokes, batting for exactly an hour with last-man Jack Leach, almost singlehandedly won the match at Headingley.

Leach famously finished on one not out from 17 balls in support of Stokes's unbeaten 135 - but, this time, the skipper's counter-attack ended with a top-edge and England still 64 runs short, before Broad and Ollie Robinson quickly followed.

There was some unexpected resistance from Josh Tongue - but, without talisman Stokes, it felt only a matter of time and Tongue was duly cleaned up by Starc for 19.

The series had moved apace and the 2-0 lead for Australia left the third Test as must-win for England.

Incredibly, it was another rollercoaster Test match at Headingley as England came out on top by a narrow three-wicket margin.

Man-of-the-match Wood, having recovered from a customary niggle which had until then kept him out of the team, made an immediate impact, taking 5-34 as Australia were bowled out for 263 after tea on the first day.

England struggled in response, however - and Cummins claimed 6-91 in reply as Australia took forward a 26-run lead on first innings.

But, in a truly topsy-turvy contest, Australia were reduced to 116-4 at the end of the second day.

There followed the first of many rain delays across the summer, interruptions which would threaten to mar the remainder of the series.

Play on the third day, in fact, was delayed until after tea - but the England bowlers came out firing, and Ben Duckett and Crawley were batting by close of play.

Resuming on day four on 27-0 with a target of 251, England then engaged in something of a white-knuckle ride, scoring at around five per over while losing wickets regularly.

At 230-7, still 21 runs short, England lost their last recognised batsman as Harry Brook - having made a fine 75 - top-edged to Cummins off Starc despite a minor collision on the catch between the two Aussies.

However, this time, Durham fast-bowler Wood made a crucial intervention with the bat - and, alongside Woakes, guided England to victory and reduced their series arrears to 2-1.

For the most part, the fourth match in Manchester also went to plan for England.

Australia were sent into bat and were dismissed for 317 early on day two - and then, despite the early wicket of Duckett, England again scored at over five per over to finish the day 67 runs ahead on 384-4.

On this occasion especially, England had good reason to score quickly, even by their own Baz-ball standards, with bad weather expected ahead of the Test.

As such, it came as something of a surprise that Stokes waited for England to be dismissed for 592, their highest score at home against Australia since a total of 595-5 at Edgbaston in 1985.

It brought a mammoth lead of 275 - but, in these circumstances, a first innings declaration would have been far more prudent than the decision made at 398-8 on a decent pitch.

Rain in Manchester ultimately only gave England a limited chance to get at Australia with 71 overs bowled on the afternoon of the third day, and the afternoon and evening of the fourth day.

Rather ridiculously, the match on that fourth day threatened to descend into something of a farce when, having convinced the umpires of the need of a change of ball, England were almost immediately restricted to bowling only their spinners due to bad light.

Of course, that decision was determined by clownish sunglasses-wearing arbiter Joel Wilson who has long stolen a living in his role.

In any case, the dreadful Manchester weather meant there was little, in truth, which England could have done. Thanks a bunch, Manchester...

In the fifth Test, Australia - upon winning the toss for the first time in the series - inserted England and squeaked out a narrow 12-run lead on first innings.

Nevertheless, the approach of the two teams - which had been markedly different throughout the summer - was laid completely bare across the first two days.

Whereas England made their total of 283 in 54.4 overs at a startling run-rate of 5.17 per over, Australia at times almost ground to a halt in their reply.

The tourists' 295 came off 103.1 overs at a rate of 2.85, and Marnus Labuschagne - who dawdled to nine runs off 82 balls before edging Wood to a magnificent catch by Root - was especially guilty of being happy to let the game drift.

True, not everything in Test cricket needs to be crash, bang, wallop in the Baz-ball style.

But Labuschagne, who is a more than competent batsman, was so self-indulgent in that innings that it could only be described as anti-cricket.

Thankfully, England improved on their first effort at the second attempt as Crawley, Root and Bairstow all contributed half centuries to an impressive total of 395.

Still, though, the pitch was playing well and the Aussies sauntered to 135-0 when yet more rain brought a premature end to Day Four.

At the juncture of a further delay on Day Five, Australia were 238-3 and well more than half the way to their target.

However, England emerged refreshed from the break - and, after getting a dud of a ball changed by the umpires, Woakes especially found some fine swing, and Australia ended up losing all 10 wickets for 194 runs inside 54 overs.

It was only right, though, that it was Broad who had the final word - and there can be few players in the long history of the game who have combined pure skill and unbridled desire as well as he did.

Go well then, Stuart Christopher John Broad. England - and indeed cricket - will miss you. 

FIRST TEST 16 June-20 June		ENGLAND	393-8dec & 273	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by two wickets
Edgbaston		AUSTRALIA	386 & 282-8
SECOND TEST 28-June-2 July		ENGLAND	325 & 327	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by 43 runs
Lord's		AUSTRALIA	416 & 279
THIRD TEST 6 July-9 July		ENGLAND	237 & 254-7	▪️ ENGLAND won by three wickets
Headingley		AUSTRALIA	263 & 224
FOURTH TEST 19 July-23 July		ENGLAND	592	▪️ DRAWN
Old Trafford		AUSTRALIA	317 & 214-5
FIFTH TEST 27 July-31 July		ENGLAND	283 & 395	▪️ ENGLAND won by 49 runs
The Oval		AUSTRALIA	295 & 334

CENTURIES

▪️ 189 Zak Crawley (England) in the fourth Test at Old Trafford
▪️ 155 Ben Stokes (England) in the second Test at Lord's
▪️ 141 Usman Khawaja (Australia) in the first Test at Edgbaston
▪️ 118* Joe Root (England) in the first Test at Edgbaston
▪️ 118 Mitchell Marsh (Australia) in the third Test at Headingley
▪️ 111 Marnus Labuschagne (Australia) in the fourth Test at Old Trafford
▪️ 110 Steve Smith (Australia) in the second Test at Lord's

FIVE-WICKET HAULS

▪️ 6-91 Pat Cummins (Australia) in the third Test at Headingley
▪️ 5-34 Mark Wood (England) in the third Test at Headingley
▪️ 5-62 Chris Woakes (England) in the fourth Test at Old Trafford
▪️ 5-78 Mitchell Starc (Australia) in the third Test at Headingley
▪️ 5-126 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) in the fourth Test at Old Trafford

Ashes alive after England win Headingley nail-biter

ENGLAND kept the Ashes alive with a tight victory at Headingley by three wickets to reduce their series arrears to 2-1.

It was a third nail-biting finale of the summer after similar knife-edge chases by Australia in the first Test at Edgbaston and England in the second Test at Lord's. 

Australia were successful in their pursuit while England were 44 runs short at the Home of Cricket to leave the series at 2-0 to the Aussies.

As holders, the Baggy Greens had made the ideal start - and, even just a draw at Leeds would have been enough for them to retain the urn.

The third Test at Headingley had therefore become a must-win for the hosts.

Sent into bat after losing a third toss in a row, Australia soon found themselves reduced to 85-4 as David Warner (4), Usman Khawaja (13), Marnus Labuschagne (21) and Steve Smith (22) all fell cheaply.

But the unheralded Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh almost took the tourists to Tea without further damage when, on the stroke of the interval, the latter nicked Chris Woakes behind.

Still, Marsh had made 118 by then at exactly a run-per-ball and had made Joe Root pay for dropping him on 12 early in his innings.

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Infuriatingly, for home fans, this was nothing new - and sloppiness from England is, frankly, a major reason for the Aussies' series lead.

In the field, England have dropped 18 catches - with Root in the slips guilty of shelling six alone.

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow has had a torrid time behind the stumps, missing seven chances including an easy stumping.

Ben Foakes would appear to be a ready-made replacement, even if Bairstow was still retained as a batsman.

However, the Surrey glove-man remains out-of-favour with the team selection for the fourth Test next week at Old Trafford already confirmed.

Bairstow can consider himself pretty fortunate to have retained his place - although, to be fair, he still has some credit in the bank following his heroics last summer against New Zealand and India.

In this series, though, he averages just 23.50, a figure which can be partly attributed to his controversial stumping by Alex Carey in second innings at Lord's.

Carey had noticed Bairstow walking out of his crease after balls which he had left so, when the Yorkshireman did just that from a ball by Cameron Green, the Aussie keeper threw down the stumps.

The controversy derives from Law 20.1.1.1 which states that the ball is dead when it is finally settled in the hands of the wicket-keeper or of the bowler.

In fairness to Carey, though, he released the ball quickly before Bairstow had moved in anticipation that he would again leave his ground.

Perhaps, in the interests of the spirit of the game and to avoid the rather unexpected barracking which they received in the usually genteel Long Room at Lord's, Australia could have used the incident to serve a warning before withdrawing their appeal.

Regardless, though, it was dozy cricket from Bairstow - and, indeed, far more worthy of a wicket than the catch claimed by Mitchell Starc when he had slid the ball with his hand along the ground on the previous evening.

In terms of other head-scratching moments, the decision of skipper Ben Stokes to declare at 393-8 on the very first day of the series has also come in for criticism, particularly as Root was in control at the crease on 118 not out.

True, it meant Australia had to survive a tricky period before the close of play - but they duly did survive - and it seemed instead that England had failed to heed the lessons of their defeat to New Zealand in February.

That match at the Basin Reserve in Wellington brought another first innings declaration by Stokes - but, after the Black Caps made 483 in their second knock, England ended up short in the chase by a single run. 

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Back to the vital third Test - and, with Marsh removed by the last ball before Tea, England resumed after the break re-energised.

Mark Wood (5-34) prompted a collapse of 6-23 as Australia were bundled out for 263 - but, unfortunately, the wickets did not end there.

Just before the close, England lost Zak Crawley (33) to finish the day on 68-3 with Ben Duckett (2) and Harry Brook (3) having earlier barely troubled the scoreboard.

Then, on the second morning, it got worse. From the second ball of the day, Root was caught at first slip by Warner off skipper Pat Cummins and Bairstow could only make a dozen before nicking Starc to Smith at second slip.

England were 87-5 and even first innings parity looked a long way off.

But, to his great credit, Stokes (80) intervened to play a truly great captain's knock, scoring steadily with Moeen Ali and Woakes before Wood also brought fireworks with the bat.

The Ashington-born fast bowler hit 24 off just eight balls - and Stokes then joined the fun by hitting Starc for three consecutive boundaries before twice cracking successive sixes off the bowling of spinner Todd Murphy.

Eventually, England were bowled out for 237, a mere 26-run deficit when it had looked as if it was going to be a lot worse.

Indeed, with Warner - removed by Broad for the 17th time in Tests - and Labuschagne (33), Smith (2) and Khawaja (43) again gone early, there was little at that point to choose between both teams.

Head and Marsh guided the Aussies to stumps as the lead neared 150 - and, in the Yorkshire drizzle, much of day three was an exercise in frustration.

In the end, there was actually more play than expected - enough time, in fact, for the express pace of Wood to bowl out the Aussies for 224, which left England with a target of 251.

Crawley and fellow opener Duckett eased England unscathed to 27-0 at the close of play - but, in truth, it was never going to be a straightforward chase, even though the pitch clearly held no demons.

Four overs after Lunch on day four, England were 171-6, still 80 runs short, after Bairstow completed a miserable Test by dragging an attempted drive off Starc onto his stumps.

Thankfully, though, Brook was still there - and the Keighley-born right-hander on his home ground settled into a good rhythm with Woakes to put on 59 for the seventh wicket.

Brook departed for 75 with 21 still required to leave the door open for one final twist if the Aussies were able to run through the tail.

By then, though, Woakes had played himself in and he provided the perfect foil for the more aggressive Wood who added 16 runs off eight balls to make it 40 off 16 in the match.

Nevertheless, it was Woakes who deservedly hit the winning runs with a confident drive through point to ensure England kept the Ashes alive.

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Remarkably, in the eight Ashes series - four home and four away - between 1989 and 2002-03, England won just one live Ashes Test, the first match at Edgbaston in 1997.

That series still finished 3-2 to Australia - but, in fairness, over the past 20 years, the overall contest has been more evenly matched.

At home, England are unbeaten in the contest since 2001 with four wins and a draw in the intervening 22 years.

However, Down Under, there have been two whitewashes of England in 2006-07 and 2013-14 - and another two 4-0 results in the Aussies' favour in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

In truth, Australia remain strong favourites for this Ashes series as well - they have lost all three tosses, generally have had the worst of the conditions, and yet still lead 2-1.

Moreover, the only side in Ashes history to win from 2-0 down were the Australians in 1936-37 with a team featuring a certain Donald Bradman.

But at least this time, with this attacking line-up and mindset, England have given themselves a chance - and, in never settling for the draw, it is win-win or bust between now and the end of July. 

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Baz-ball faces its biggest Test of all in Ashes

A RESURGENT England team begin their quest to regain the Ashes today against the newly-crowned World Test champions Australia.

England have not held the Ashes for almost six years now with successive 4-0 thrashings in the 2017-18 and 2021-22 away series having sandwiched a 2-2 draw at home in 2019.

On the other hand, the last time that an Aussie team won an Ashes series on English soil outright was back in 2001, with four England victories and that draw in the intervening 22 years.

Nevertheless, only 14 months ago when Joe Root stepped down as captain, any chance of a competitive series this summer looked extremely slim.

England had departed Australia in January 2022 in a complete mess - and matters got worse again on the next tour against West Indies as Root's team collapsed to 120 all out in the third Test in Grenada to lose the series 1-0.

That defeat spelled the end for the Yorkshireman's difficult tenure as captain, and - without a skipper, head coach, chief selector or a managing director - England were frankly in complete disarray.

Suddenly, though, at the start of the summer of 2022, Baz-ball arrived.

Led by new head coach Brendan McCullum and his freshly-appointed, similarly-minded skipper Ben Stokes, England began to determine their own fate by attacking with the bat and setting aggressive fields.

Last summer, it felt like just about anything could be chased down in the fourth innings even though it is meant to be the toughest period to bat due to the wear of the pitch.

Indeed, England reached targets of 277, 299 and 296 against New Zealand, and 378 in the rearranged match against India, with a ridiculous amount of ease.

The good form continued into the winter as England toured Pakistan for the first time in 17 years - and, in less than three weeks, more than doubled their number of Test wins there in history.

A 3-0 series triumph featured yet more blistering batting, peaking at an average rate of 7.37 runs per over in the second innings of the first Test as England pushed for victory after the teams' first innings suggested a high-scoring draw was on the cards.

Further victories in Multan and Karachi meant that, having only ever previously recorded two Test wins in Pakistan in 1961 and 2000, Stokes's side had brought the total number of match triumphs by an England team there to five.

In fact, altogether, the hosts head into the Ashes with 10 wins in their last 12 Tests under Stokes and McCullum - a sequence which represents quite the turnaround after having tasted success in only one of their previous 17 under Root.

Certainly, though, Australia will be formidable opponents over the next six-and-a-bit weeks.

The Baggy Greens have only lost Test series against India since 2018, although there have been three such defeats, including a 2-1 home reverse in 2020-21 when an injury-ravaged Indian team recovered from being 1-0 down after the first match when they crumbled to 36 all out.

Nevertheless, earlier this month, the Aussies comfortably beat their bogey team in the World Test Championship final at the Oval after dominating from the very first ball - and, as such, will be as battle-hardened as touring sides get nowadays.

Meanwhile, England had the far easier task of beating a rather weak offering from Ireland which they did easily, despite fielding back-up bowler Matthew Potts and debutant Josh Tongue alongside Stuart Broad and Jack Leach.

Unsurprisingly, with the ailing Jofra Archer ruled out of the entire series, Ollie Robinson previously troubled by a sore ankle, and James Anderson turning 41 at the end of July, England did not want to risk causing further damage to their bowling options. 

On that matter, it was a perfect match for skipper Stokes. Still nursing a niggly knee injury, the 32-year-old remarkably became the first captain in Test history neither to bat, bowl, or keep wicket at any stage in the proceedings.

But then came the sort of news which England had been fearing. On 4 June, spinner Leach announced he was out of the whole Ashes series after sustaining a stress fracture to the lower back.

It is a real shame for Leach who had played in every Tests under McCullum and benefited from the greater confidence shown in his ability by Stokes compared to predecessor Root.

Moeen Ali has stepped into the breach and confidently asserted that Baz-ball will also suit his style.

"I spoke to Stokesy about how he talked to batters and there's no question marks over any shots you play; that gives me licence to play a few more rash shots I guess," said Moeen.

"Even with the ball, [Stokes is] more on the aggressive side. I know I go for runs but he knows there's also some wicket-taking deliveries in between, which is all he cares about really."

Nevertheless, the 35-year-old will still be under pressure to improve his distinctly average record against Australia which, even on home soil, reads 15 wickets in six matches at an average of 47.86.

By contrast, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins has an embarrassment of bowling riches at his disposal, including himself of course - to the extent that either Mitchell Starc or Josh Hazlewood will struggle to make the cut.

Instead, Cummins is likely to line-up alongside Starc or Hazlewood, experienced spinner Nathan Lyon, and medium-fast Scott Boland who was a remarkable find during the last Ashes series.

Boland might not have express pace but he looks perfect for classic English conditions favouring swing and seam.

Then again, Stokes has requested "fast, flat" pitches rather than traditional English green-tops with the aim of taking advantage of his side’s batting prowess.

But, while these surfaces have obvious benefits for performance with the bat, they will also make even the strongest bowling unit toil.

And, if England are weakened by further injuries on this front, there could be some particularly painful afternoon ahead this summer, watching the likes of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne rack up the runs.

Now, regardless of all that, a fully-fit England team - at their Baz-ball best - is genuinely capable of blowing away even this talented Aussie outfit.

However, fears of an England implosion are never too far away - and, of all the Australian sides to visit these shores since the heydey of Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, this particular squad appears to be best-placed to deliver that long-awaited away win.

Excitingly, if both teams play to their maximum, this really could be one of the all-time great Ashes series, akin to 2005.

But perhaps the biggest unknown is just how Baz-ball tactics stand up against an opponent who will simply refuse to take a backward step, especially as England appear to be vulnerable to a mid-series injury crisis. 

FIRST TEST 16 June-20 June		ENGLAND	393-8dec & 273	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by two wickets
Edgbaston		AUSTRALIA	386 & 282-8
SECOND TEST 28-June-2 July		ENGLAND	325 & 327	▪️ AUSTRALIA won by 43 runs
Lord's		AUSTRALIA	416 & 279
THIRD TEST 6 July-10 July		ENGLAND	237 & 254-7	▪️ ENGLAND won by three wickets
Headingley		AUSTRALIA	263 & 224
FOURTH TEST 19 July-23 July		ENGLAND	592	▪️ DRAWN
Old Trafford		AUSTRALIA	317 & 214-5
FIFTH TEST 27 July-31 July		ENGLAND	283 & 395	▪️ ENGLAND won by 49 runs
The Oval		AUSTRALIA	295 & 334

SQUADS

ENGLAND  ▪️  Ben Stokes (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope (wk), Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

AUSTRALIA  ▪️  Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

Yet more hard times ahead

LATEST Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fired a grim warning in his first speech outside Number 10 Downing Street, stating that the country was in a "profound economic crisis", and there would be “difficult decisions to come".

Mr Sunak - the first ever Asian to hold the highest office in United Kingdom politics - replaced the deposed Liz Truss yesterday after she lasted only 50 days in the role, a record shortest tenure for a PM.

The markets appear to consider Mr Sunak, who previously worked in finance and was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson, to be a safer and more cautious pair of hands than his predecessor Ms Truss.

For, when it became clear on Monday that Mr Sunak was likely to be unopposed, trading in government bonds quickly rallied with the implied interest rate on these bonds dropping sharply.

That is a far cry from the reaction by the markets to plans laid out by Ms Truss and then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in their mini-budget on 23 September.

At first, Ms Truss tried to ride out the storm by defending her strategy - and, when that failed, by sacking Mr Kwarteng on 14 October.

That same day, Ms Truss subsequently gave an extremely unconvincing appearance at a press conference - and she was reportedly little better at presenting her vision in a meeting with her backbench MPs, known as the 1922 Committee.

Jeremy Hunt came in as replacement Chancellor and promptly pulled apart the economic plans launched by Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng.

Meanwhile, Ms Truss - under severe pressure from all sides of the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Questions - declared herself to be "a fighter not a quitter" and committed her government to protecting the Triple Lock on pensions.

The problem with this was that, only a few days earlier, Mr Hunt had not ruled out a review of the Triple Lock policy - and it became evident that Ms Truss was not going to be able to extricate herself fully from her economic ideas.

Just after 1.30pm at 20 October, the 56th Prime Minister bowed to the inevitable.

Humiliatingly, the end of Ms Truss's tenure will be remember for her failure to outlast an iceberg lettuce which had been placed by the Daily Star on a bench alongside a photograph of her. 

The newspaper responded to the resignation with the headline, "Lettuce rejoice", and bookmakers offered odds of 500/1 that the lettuce would become the next PM.

Instead, it was Mr Sunak, and he now appears to have calmed the storm in the financial sector. 

At the same time, though, the Richmond (Yorks) MP has caused an immediate stir in Westminster by conducting a major reshuffle to remove many of the figures involved in the brief Truss administration. 

Mr Hunt remains as the current Chancellor, while James Cleverly - a single person argument against nominative determinism - has retained his position as Foreign Secretary. 

However, Steve Barclay, a non-entity of a former Brexit Secretary, becomes the fourth Health Secretary since July - and Gillian Keegan has been named as the fifth Education Secretary of 2022. 

Most extraordinarily, though, the reshuffle produced the return of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary who replaced Grant Shapps less than a week after she had been forced to resign from the same job.

Only just over a week ago, in a major breach of the ministerial code, Ms Braverman admitted she had been sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP.

But Ms Braverman did not leave Ms Truss's Cabinet quietly, penning a scathing resignation letter in which she raised concerns about "the direction of [the] government" and said "key pledges promised to voters" had been broken.

In his speech, Mr Sunak pledged to bring “integrity and accountability” to office of Prime Minister - but, with this appointment, that does not seem to have lasted for long.

Remember too that the new Prime Minister defended Mr Johnson throughout the Partygate scandal - and was even himself given a fixed penalty notice by the Metropolitan Police. 

Fortunately for Mr Sunak, the Conservative Party is currently in such mess that his fine had no bearing at all on him being installed at the head of the UK government. 

Indeed, in the end, it was remarkably straightforward.

On Monday afternoon, Penny Mordaunt withdrew her candidacy despite her supporters earlier that day stating she was closing in on the backing of 100 MPs, as required by the rules to make it to the members' ballot. 

In the previous contest, Ms Mordaunt had attracted as many as 105 MPs' votes - but, this time during a much shorter campaign, she gained far less traction.

Earlier, on Sunday night, former Prime Minister Mr Johnson pulled out of the running despite claiming to have enough support to be considered by the membership. 

The second Conservative leadership contest since July therefore concluded without an opponent to Mr Sunak. 

Still, the 42-year-old does not exactly have much of a mandate in the country at large, securing his position solely on the strength of the confirmed backing of 197 MPs. 

However, Mr Sunak has resisted calls so far from all of the opposition parties to call a General Election. 

This is perhaps unsurprising given the Tories' current standing in the polls which have shown them to be trailing Labour by huge margins. 

Mr Sunak will hope that, by framing himself as a safe pair of hands with the economy, he can make at least a dent in the type of leads not enjoyed by Labour since the early days of Tony Blair.

Undoubtedly mind, current polling showing Labour on more than 50% is a reflection of the temporary withdrawal of support by traditional Conservative voters in the Truss administration - and not necessarily a sudden massive swathe of excitement at the prospect of a government led by Sir Keir Starmer.

In fact, it should be noted that no single party has gained an actual majority (i.e. more than 50%) of the votes cast at a General Election since the Conservatives in 1931. 

Nevertheless, Labour is in its strongest position in years politically - and, with Mr Sunak warning of difficult days ahead economically, an already exhausted UK public is unlikely to take too well to further tax rises and spending cuts. 

Certainly, the narrative now is different to when austerity measures were brought in by David Cameron's coalition government. 

Back then, austerity was successfully framed as a necessary evil to reduce the deficit and bring down government debt - and, even then, the government increased the Personal Tax Allowance from £6,475 in 2010/11 to £10,600 in 2015/16. 

By contrast, with inflation rampant, Mr Sunak is unable to produce a similar boon - and, as such, this next period should remain a favourable time for Labour, politically at least. 

Economically, though, there is already some concern on the Opposition benches. 

Labour - if it wins the next election - is unlikely to find anything other than a difficult situation bequeathed to them, and therefore will find it difficult to do anything too radical. 

Now, Ms Truss's plans were the reckless wet dreams of Brexiteer libertarians living in a unreal world of only sunlit uplands - but, in their own way, the proposals were pretty radical. 

Nevertheless, a plan of cutting taxes and increasing spending at a time of uncomfortably high inflation was always going to bring only one reaction from the financial sector.

Yet, at the same time, is not something of a concern that it was effectively the markets which determined the fate of a Prime Minister? 

After all, it must be queried if, even with a significant electoral mandate from the public, the mere suggestion by a Labour government of a modest attempt of income redistribution and a bit of spending would cause the same sort of financial turmoil. 

Living in a society in which any type of government can only operate within an extremely narrow orthodoxy would demonstrate a clear schism between the concepts of capitalism and democracy. 

And, with tough times ahead on the back of a decade of tough times, perhaps this social contract has already been broken.

THE SUNAK CABINET	Elected	Constituency	Department
Rishi Sunak	2015	Richmond (Yorks)	Prime Minister
Jeremy Hunt	2005	South West Surrey	Chancellor of the Exchequer
James Cleverly	2015	Braintree	Foreign Office
Suella Braverman	2015	Fareham	Home Office
Steve Barclay	2010	North East Cambridgeshire	Health
Gillian Keegan	2017	Chichester	Education
Ben Wallace	2005	Wyre and Preston North	Defence
Mel Stride	2010	Central Devon	Work and Pensions
Dominic Raab	2010	Esher and Walton	Justice | Deputy Prime Minister
Michael Gove	2005	Surrey Heath	Levelling Up, Housing, Communities
Kemi Badenoch	2017	Saffron Walden	International Trade
Grant Shapps	2005	Welwyn Hatfield	Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy
Therese Coffey	2010	Suffolk Coastal	Environment, Food, Rural Affairs
Mark Harper	2005	Forest of Dean	Transport
Chris Heaton-Harris	2010	Daventry	Northern Ireland
Alister Jack	2017	Dumfries and Galloway	Scotland
David TC Davies	2005	Monmouth	Wales
Michelle Donelan	2015	Chippenham	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Lord Nicholas True	-	-	Leader of the House of Lords
Penny Mordaunt	2010	Portsmouth North	Leader of the House of Commons
Oliver Dowden	2015	Hertsmere	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Nadhim Zahawi	2010	Stratford-on-Avon	Party Chairman

Windswept Europe battered by Americans in Wisconsin

UNITED STATES  [19] | [9] EUROPE

EUROPE suffered a record-breaking Ryder Cup defeat, losing four of the five sessions to be crushed 19-9 by the United States at the Whistling Straits course in Wisconsin. 

Previously, since 1979, when players from Continental Europe were first invited to the competition, the record score was 18½-9½ - achieved once by the Americans in 1981 and twice consecutively by Europe in 2004 and 2006.

But, after Matt Fitzpatrick, in the final match of the Singles, dumped his second shot into the water on the 18th, the history books had to be rewritten. 

It basically confirmed the total dominance of the United States under captain Steve Stricker in this edition as they completed a first ever 10-point win over Europe. 

Rather oddly, in hindsight at least, Europe won the first point of the competition as Spanish pair Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia defeated Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. 

However, the visitors did not win another match for the remainder of the opening day.

The United States won the remaining three foursomes matches as Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa (3&2), Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger (2&1), and Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (5&3) beat Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland, Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick, and Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter. 

Then, in the afternoon fourballs, the hosts doubled their advantage as Johnson and Schauffele (2&1) beat Casey and Bernd Wiesberger while Tony Finau and Harris English (4&3) beat McIlroy and Shane Lowry. The other two matches finished all-square. 

Europe needed a fast start in the foursomes on Saturday morning and seemed up for the fight, going up in two matches and holding parity in another around the turn. 

But, in keeping with the rest of the weekend, the American players were far superior on the greens and took another big step towards the trophy by winning 3-1 in the session for a third time in a row. 

Thomas - rested for the fourballs in the afternoon - was already in jovial mood and chugged down a beer on the first tee to the delight of a partisan home crowd.

However, the fourth session was finally a more even contest as Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton (1up) and Rahm and Garcia (2&1) took the top two matches for Europe. 

Scottie Scheffler and DeChambeau (3&1) and Johnson and Morikawa (4&3) replied in kind for the United States as McIlroy conceded his match on the 15th green for a third time. 

As such, it was more out of necessity than anything else that Europe captain Padraig Harrington put on a brave face and refused to give up hope. 

"It's still possible," said the Irishman. "It's only half a point more than we won in the Singles at Medinah. There's no doubt that is going to be strong in our minds." 

But this was never going to be another Medinah miracle. Simply put, there were too many American players in good form and too many Europe players in poor form, something which again became crystal clear in the Singles. 

In fairness, McIlroy recovered some personal standing for the week with a strong 3&2 win over Olympic gold medal winner Schauffele, ahead of a highly emotional interview in which he lamented his own performances. 

However, five of the next six matches went to the Americans as Cantlay, Scheffler, DeChambreau, Johnson and Koepka beat Lowry, Rahm, Garcia, Casey and Wiesberger, respectively. 

Oddly, the tipping point came in the only match of that half dozen which the United States did not win as Morikawa settled for a half against Hovland. 

That was enough to make it official, though - and, with Morikawa's half-point, the young United States team could begin to celebrate the return of the Ryder Cup to American soil. 

At the same time, there were still matches out on the course and a place in the record books to chase. 

But, after surprise wins for the out-of-sorts Poulter and Westwood over Finau and English - and Fleetwood's tied match against Spieth, it actually looked like the United States might miss out on the outright record. 

Berger and Fitzpatrick approached the 18th tee all-square - and another tied match would have left United States on the previously-achieved total of 18½. 

Better still, if Fitzpatrick could have eeked out a win of hole and match, European blushes may have been further somewhat spared. Instead, as mentioned above, Fitzpatrick found the water to lose the hole and match. 

Taking the weekend as a whole, though, the margin of this defeat was actually the least that the United States deserved - while it also should leave no hiding place for the Europeans when they come to analyse their own performance. 

Iain Carter, writing for the BBC, mentioned the restrictive qualification system in which four players qualify automatically from the European points list and five from the world rankings list leaving space for just three wildcards. 

However, Ewan Murray was slightly more critical of Harrington, specifically with regard to the "inflexible" pairings picks of the Irishman, with the contest effectively lost on the first two days. 

In reality, though, there was no way of stopping this hungry, well-oiled United States outfit, something which their skipper Stricker was not slow to acknowledge. 

"This is a new era right here," said Stricker. "They are young, motivated, [and] they came here determined to win."

Of course, it should also be noted that home wins have become extremely commonplace in the recent history of the Ryder Cup - seven of the last eight events have been won by the hosts. 

Indeed, this edition was particularly difficult for the Europe players as travel restrictions reduced their on-course support in Wisconsin to a handful of hard-core fans. 

Meanwhile, on that subject, many American fans ramped up their habitual displays of classlessness far beyond even their usual level, booing and heckling the Europe players from tee to green.

But the quality - and, indeed, the unity - of the American players shone through all weekend. The home side featured eight of the top 10 in the world rankings. 

Additionally, eight of the 12 Americans are in their 20s - which rather suggests there will be a first away win in 30 years for the United States in 2023.

That edition, which will be hosted by the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio near Rome, will be here in the blink of an eye. 

And, while Europe must rebuild, the United States could name their team tomorrow.

2021 RYDER CUP • The full results

• Foursomes (Fri)
Justin Thomas | Jordan Spieth			3&1	Jon Rahm | Sergio Garcia
Dustin Johnson | Collin Morikawa	3&2			Paul Casey | Viktor Hovland
Brooks Koepka | Daniel Berger	2&1			Lee Westwood | Matthew Fitzpatrick
Patrick Cantlay | Xander Schauffele	5&3			Rory McIlory | Ian Poulter
• Fourballs (Fri)
Dustin Johnson | Xander Schauffele	2&1			Paul Casey | Bernd Wiesberger
Bryson DeChambeau | Scottie Scheffler		A|S		Jon Rahm | Tyrrell Hatton
Tony Finau | Harris English	4&3			Rory McIlroy | Shane Lowry
Justin Thomas | Patrick Cantlay		A|S		Tommy Fleetwood | Viktor Hovland
• Foursomes (Sat)
Brooks Koepka | Daniel Berger			3&1	Jon Rahm | Sergio Garcia
Dustin Johnson | Collin Morikawa	2&1			Paul Casey | Tyrrell Hatton
Justin Thomas | Jordan Spieth	2up			Viktor Hovland | Bernd Wiesberger
Xander Schauffele | Patrick Cantlay	2&1			Lee Westwood | Matthew Fitzpatrick
• Fourballs (Sat)
Tony Finau | Harris English			1up	Shane Lowry | Tyrrell Hatton
Brooks Koepka | Jordan Spieth			2&1	Jon Rahm | Sergio Garcia
Scottie Scheffler | Bryson DeChambeau	3&1			Tommy Fleetwood | Viktor Hovland
Dustin Johnson | Collin Morikawa	4&3			Ian Poulter | Rory McIlroy
• Singles (Sun)
Xander Schauffele			3&2	Rory McIlroy
Patrick Cantlay	4&2			Shane Lowry
Scottie Scheffler	4&3			Jon Rahm
Bryson DeChambeau	3&2			Sergio Garcia
Collin Morikawa		A|S		Viktor Hovland
Dustin Johnson	1up			Paul Casey
Brooks Koepka	2&1			Bernd Wiesberger
Tony Finau			3&2	Ian Poulter
Justin Thomas	4&3			Tyrrell Hatton
Harris English			1up	Lee Westwood
Jordan Spieth		A|S		Tommy Fleetwood
Daniel Berger	1up			Matthew Fitzpatrick

• Year	• Course				• Holder
1979	The Greenbrier, VA	Europe	11-17	United States	United States
1981	Walton Heath, England	Europe	9½-18½	United States	United States
1983	Palm Beach, FL	Europe	13½-14½	United States	United States
1985	The Belfry, England	Europe	16½-11½	United States	Europe
1987	Muirfield Village, OH	Europe	15-13	United States	Europe
1989	The Belfry, England	Europe	14-14	United States	Europe
1991	Kiawah Island, SC	Europe	13½-14½	United States	United States
1993	The Belfry, England	Europe	13-15	United States	United States
1995	Oak Hill, NY	Europe	14½-13½	United States	Europe
1997	Valderrama, Spain	Europe	14½-13½	United States	Europe
1999	Brookline, MA	Europe	13½-14½	United States	United States
2002	The Belfry, England	Europe	15½-12½	United States	Europe
2004	Oakland Hills, MI	Europe	18½-9½	United States	Europe
2006	K Club, Ireland	Europe	18½-9½	United States	Europe
2008	Valhalla, KY	Europe	11½-16½	United States	United States
2010	Celtic Manor, Wales	Europe	14½-13½	United States	Europe
2012	Medinah, IL	Europe	14½-13½	United States	Europe
2014	Gleneagles, Scotland	Europe	16½-11½	United States	Europe
2016	Hazeltine, MN	Europe	11-17	United States	United States
2018	Guyancourt, France	Europe	16½-11½	United States	Europe
2021	Haven, WI	Europe	9-19	United States	United States
	• MATCHES SINCE 1979	Europe	11-9	United States	(1 Tie)

Hamilton revives title challenge after dramatic day at Silverstone

LEWIS HAMILTON collided with World Drivers' Championship leader Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix - and then won the race - to revive his ailing title defence. 

The victory following the incident on the opening lap at Silverstone reduced the Dutchman's title advantage back down to just eight points - and sparked an angry set of exchanges between the drivers and team bosses at Mercedes and Red Bull. 

Christian Horner, the Red Bull principal, said he considered Hamilton to have earned a "hollow victory" and commented in a tone dripping with sarcasm: "I hope Lewis is very happy with himself." 

Verstappen later wrote on Twitter from hospital where he underwent precautionary checks: "Very disappointed to be taken out like this. 

"Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike but we move on."

In the case of the defence, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff responded: "It is a situation we all have seen in the past when great drivers race with each other. 

"When nobody is prepared to give in, these kinds of situations can happen. But it takes two to tango."

Hamilton himself added his own comment on Twitter which read: "Today is a reminder of the dangers in this sport. I send my best wishes to Max who is an incredible competitor. 

"I'm glad to hear he is ok. I will always race hard but always fairly."

In fairness to Hamilton's critics, the stewards at Silverstone did not entirely agree with that assessment on this occasion - and they punished him with a 10-second penalty. 

Red Bull criticised the leniency of the punishment - the second-lowest available - but they are increasingly in danger of coming across as rather sore losers. 

For sure, Hamilton stuck a wheel up the inside of Copse corner and failed to make it to the apex - but it felt as if the main reason for the clash was that neither driver wanted to give an inch to their title rival. 

In this regard, the British Grand Prix stewards judged Hamilton to be "predominantly at fault", adding that Hamilton went into the corner "slightly behind and on the inside". 

However, they appear to have assessed the incident accurately - and their penalty award, while not harsh, was a pretty fair outcome. 

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took the main immediate advantage from the shunt, gaining the lead from third place on the grid, and going onto hold it for the next 49 laps of the 52-lap race. 

But the 23-year-old Monegasque in the red Prancing Horse came up just short as Hamilton - despite his penalty - got into position to complete a clean overtake, ironically at Copse, on lap 50. 

Hamilton therefore secured an eighth win at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix - but this was not any ordinary victory at home. 

Following the recent dominance of Verstappen during this first half of the season, this must count as one of the most important wins in his 15-year F1 career. 

Ahead of the race at Silverstone, the Dutchman had won four of the previous five races to turn a 14-point deficit after the Spanish Grand Prix into a 32-point lead following his lights-to-flag victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

In Monaco and in the Styrian Grand Prix - which was also at the Red Bull Ring - an utterly dominant Verstappen had also led from start to finish. 

Indeed, it could easily have been so much worse this year for Hamilton so far.

At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 6 June, in the sixth race of the season, Verstappen retired from the lead with a left-rear tyre failure on lap 45 of 51. 

The Dutchman's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez scored only his second win in F1 after Hamilton made a bad braking error on the restart to fall out of the points altogether - but a Verstappen victory in Baku would have been far more costly to the Stevenage-born champion.

Even this weekend at Silverstone, Verstappen - once he recovers and calms down - will still feel as if he has the edge on Hamilton. 

The British driver qualified ahead of Verstappen in the traditional qualifying session, held on Friday evening - but his Dutch opponent was in front of him before the first corner in the new-fangled one-third distance sprint qualifying trial held on Saturday afternoon. 

In a break from tradition, it was the latter session which confirmed Verstappen on pole for the Grand Prix itself - and, perhaps more vitally, confirmed to everyone that the Red Bull is the faster car. 

Undoubtedly, Verstappen has had a rough weekend - and a hell of a heavy crash at the force of 51G, that is 51 times the force of gravity - but he is still rightly odds-on for the Drivers title. 

Next week, the Hungaroring in Budapest will host the last Grand Prix before the four-week summer break - but, after the recess, the races really come thick and fast. 

The nine visits to Belgium, Verstappen's Netherlands home race, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Japan, United States, Mexico and Brazil are all scheduled to be crammed into a 10-week period between 29 August and 7 November - ahead of two races in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

In other words, Mercedes must work fast to improve their pace if Hamilton is going to have a genuine chance against Verstappen.

It may have been a tough weekend - but the future remains bright for Verstappen.

HAMITON v VERSTAPPEN

		HAMILTON			v			VERSTAPPEN
28-March	BAHRAIN	1st	25		(+7)		18	2nd
18-April	EMILIA ROMAGNA	2nd	19	44	(+1)	43	25	1st
02-May	PORTUGAL	1st	25	69	(+8)	61	18	2nd
09-May	SPAIN	1st	25	94	(+14)	80	19	2nd
23-May	MONACO	7th	7	101	(-4)	105	25	1st
06-June	AZERBAIJAN	15th	0	101	(-4)	105	0	18th
20-June	FRANCE	2nd	18	119	(-12)	131	26	1st
27-June	STYRIAN	2nd	19	138	(-18)	156	25	1st
04-July	AUSTRIA	4th	12	150	(-32)	182	26	1st
18-July	GREAT BRITAIN	1st	27	177	(-8)	185	3	Retired

REMAINING CALENDAR

(11)	01-August	2pm	HUNGARY	Hungaroring, Mogyoród
(12)	29-August	2pm	BELGIUM	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot
(13)	05-September	2pm	NETHERLANDS	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort
(14)	12-September	2pm	ITALY	Monza Circuit, Monza
(15)	26-September	1pm	RUSSIA	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi
(16)	03-October	1pm	TURKEY	Istanbul Park, Tuzla
(17)	10-October	6am	JAPAN	Suzuka International Course, Suzuka
(18)	24-October	8pm	UNITED STATES	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX
(19)	31-October	7pm	MEXICO	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City
(20)	07-November	5pm	BRAZIL	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo
(21)	21-November	-	TBC	-
(22)	05-December	4pm	SAUDI ARABIA	Jeddah Street Circuit, Saudi Arabia
(23)	12-December	1pm	ABU DHABI	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

FIA F1 DRIVERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2021

			Points
1	Max Verstappen (NED)	Red Bull-Honda	185	(5 wins)
2	Lewis Hamilton (GBR)	Mercedes	177	(4 wins)
3	Lando Norris (GBR)	McLaren-Mercedes	113
4	Valtteri Bottas (FIN)	Mercedes	108
5	Sergio Pérez (MEX)	Red Bull-Honda	104	(1 win)
6	Charles Leclerc (MON)	Ferrari	80
7	Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP)	Ferrari	68
8	Daniel Ricciardo  (AUS)	McLaren-Mercedes	50
9	Pierre Gasly (FRA)	Alpha Tauri-Honda	39
10	Sebastian Vettel (GER)	Aston Martin-Mercedes	30
11	Fernando Alonso (ESP)	Alpine-Renault	26
12	Lance Stroll (CAN)	Aston Martin-Mercedes	18
13	Esteban Ocon (FRA)	Alpine-Renault	14
14	Yuki Tsunoda (JPN)	Alpha Tauri-Honda	10
15	Kimi Räikkönen (FIN)	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1
16	Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA)	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1
17	George Russell (GBR)	Williams-Mercedes	0
18	Mick Schumacher (GER)	Haas-Ferrari	0
19	Nicholas Latifi (CAN)	Williams-Mercedes	0
20	Nikita Mazepin (RUS)	Haas-Ferrari	0

FIA F1 CONSTRUCTORS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2021

			Points
1	Red Bull-Honda (AUT)	Max Verstappen - Sergio Pérez	289	(6 wins)
2	Mercedes (GER)	Lewis Hamilton - Valtteri Bottas	285	(4 wins)
3	McLaren-Mercedes (GBR)	Lando Norris - Daniel Ricciardo	163
4	Ferrari (ITA)	Charles Leclerc - Carlos Sainz Jr	148
5	Alpha Tauri-Honda	Pierre Gasly - Yuki Tsunoda	49
6	Aston Martin-Mercedes (GBR)	Lance Stroll - Sebastian Vettel	48
7	Alpine-Renault (FRA)	Fernando Alonso - Esteban Ocon	40
8	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari (SUI)	Kimi Räikkönen - Antonio Giovinazzi	2
9	Williams-Mercedes (GBR)	George Russell - Nicholas Latifi	0
10	Haas-Ferrari (USA)	Mick Schumacher - Nikita Mazepin	0