Archive December 5, 2025

Ronnie O’Sullivan is undoubtedly the best snooker player there is.

The Englishman turned 50 on Friday, breaking almost every record in the sport since becoming a professional in 1992. He is regarded as the sport’s greatest-ever player.

The Rocket has won eight Masters titles, eight victories, and seven world titles overall, making it the record for the most Triple Crown victories in the UK Championship.

He has also compiled more century breaks and maximum 147s than anyone else.

Additionally, he holds a record number of ranking positions, five more than Stephen Hendry’s previous total of 36.

O’Sullivan won the UK Championship title just over 32 years ago, making him the youngest competitor to win a ranking contest.

In the 1993 final, O’Sullivan defeated Stephen Hendry 10-6, Alan McManus, Nigel Gilbert, Ken Doherty, Steve Davis, and Darren Morgan.

O’Sullivan has made 17 maximum breaks in his glittering career, but his first professional break is unquestionably his most memorable and quickest ever recorded.

His name became a thing when he recorded a 147 against a stunned Mick Price in the first round of the 1997 World Championship.

How about stopping play after eight points to inquire about a maximum break prize?

O’Sullivan defeated Mark King at the 2010 World Open, and that’s exactly what he did.

O’Sullivan won the 2013 World Championship admirably despite only playing one competitive game the entire season after taking a sabbatical from snooker.

Amazingly, he won the tournament without losing one session, and Mark Selby became the fourth player to do so after beating Barry Hawkins 18-12 in the final to claim his title at the Crucible.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the first to surpass 1,300 century breaks, surpassing Judd Trump, John Higgins, and Neil Robertson, who all have attained that milestone.

In 2020, O’Sullivan set a new record for the fastest match in Crucible history by taking just 108 minutes to finish the 10-1 first-round demolition job on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

O’Sullivan, who has since made his first appearance at the top of the world rankings since 2019, arrived at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2022.

And it was unique. With his Tour Championship victories over Neil Robertson, he reclaimed the top spot in the world in March 2019 after a nine-year hiatus.

It only seemed a matter of time before O’Sullivan reached his seventh Crucible title, which he won in 2020 after earning his sixth.

And after making an appearance in his 30th game against David Gilbert in the famous Sheffield venue in his 2022 first-round appearance, he won 18-13 against Judd Trump to set Hendry’s modern-era record for titles.

With a record-extending eighth title in York, O’Sullivan defeated Ding Junhui to become the oldest UK champion.

The Englishman won the UK Championship just two days before his 48th birthday, just three years after becoming the youngest player to do so at the age of 17 years old.

Imagine winning the best-of-11 match not once but twice. In their earlier this year’s Saudi Arabia Masters semi-final, O’Sullivan defeated Chris Wakelin 6-3 to win the same thing.

Two wicketkeepers are the subject of this story.

Jamie Smith had a crucial chance in the opening session of the second day of the Ashes Test, but Alex Carey from Australia did so on day one.

Australia tucked into some poor England bowling at the Gabba as a result of Smith’s miss of Travis Head, who scored a match-winning century in the first Test in Perth.

Smith will be playing in an Ashes for the first time in this significant series. With this tour in mind, he was given the opportunity to play for England at the beginning of the 2024 summer, defeating Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes.

Smith has a fantastic start to his Test career. He had a fast 47 before the Test at Gabba. His glovework is frequently neat.

However, there have also been indications that the 25-year-old may have some obstacles to overcome.

Smith has a stunning 184 not out and 88 in the second Test at Lord’s since taking the first wicket with 51 in the first innings of the third Test at Lord’s in July, his highest knocks total in seven starts.

As the India series progressed, he appeared more lethargic, his batting struggling as a result.

In a series where each of the five Tests reached its conclusion, the Surrey man was in unfamiliar territory.

Foakes takes the gloves at The Oval because he is not the first-choice keeper for his county, and he was having a record workload.

Another five-Test series will be similar to Ashes. Yes, the first Test in Perth was over in just two days, but Australia still faces many more difficulties.

The steep bounce and true carry, as well as the feared heat, and its associated advantages, take some getting used to.

Smith appeared to be unprepared as a result of the edge off Head. Archer’s superb delivery snipped away from round the wicket. One leap at Head was made by Archer during a spell with an average of 89.3 mph, and Smith was still receiving the ball.

Smith moved to his left and landed the rebound, but Smith was unable to parry in the direction of the slips.

On Test Match Special, former England captain Michael Vaughan praised “that was a beauty from Archer, it went quickly to Jamie Smith.”

Former England international Matt Prior, who played for the team when they won the Ashes in 2010-11, said on TNT: “It’s the worst place in the world to be, having just dropped that catch.

He “did not do a lot of things wrong.” At the Gabba, he was able to add a little more energy and pace. He was quite severely hit on the gloves.

You might want to take that more often than not, you might say.

Smith’s glovework is indistinguishable from other Test keepers, according to data analysts Cricviz.

With 54 chances already available, this was only his fourth drop of his career. For all wicketkeepers in Tests since the start of 2024, Smith has a catch efficiency of 93%, and for all other wicketkeepers, it has been around 89%.

Interesting is that three of his four Test starts were against left-handers, three of which he has had.

For the first time in his career, Smith will participate in any kind of pink-ball game.

Before this Test, the debate over whether England should have sent more players to a floodlit match between the England Lions and a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra was stifled by the significantly different circumstances in Brisbane from the capital.

Smith will not be familiar with the media scrutiny that comes with playing cricket in Australia as an England international.

Smith was one of three players who were photographed riding e-scooters without helmets, an offense against Queensland law, along with captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Mark Wood.

Another similarity between Smith and Carey can be found in that area. In the UK during the 2023 Ashes, Carey found himself at the center of attention for his opposition to Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s.

In fact, a Cricket Australia staff member privately criticised Carey after the incident two years ago when BBC Sport inquired about the media coverage of the England team on this tour.

Carey was incredible on his first day in Brisbane, particularly when he faced the fast-medium bowlers.

When the England batter missed an attempted scoop, the 34-year-old almost nearly stumped Harry Brook, and Carey once gathered a bouncer one-handed above his head.

A spectacular turn, run, and full-length dive by Gus Atkinson off the top edge was the highlight.

When Atkinson wrongsided Mitchell Starc, Carey hurled first-slip fielder Marnus Labuschagne back toward the boundary while muscling out his team-mate as they both threw themselves in the direction of the ball. It caught beautifully.

And Carey, a former Australian Rules Football player, claimed Labuschagne was never going to overshadow him.

“In the past, I’ve had players try to tag me.” I just out-bodied him late, according to Carey, because Marshall was one of them today.

He talks a lot of rugby, but AFL, I believe, did prevail. The face of Marcus was a big one. I almost got kissed by him. One of those that you “go hard early and put in the dive” was that.

England are on the cutting-edge when it comes to using artificial intelligence in the men’s international game.

The Three Lions’ plans for the World Cup’s upcoming summer are supported by AI, which includes assisting players with penalties and improving players’ health as well as addressing their opponents’ tactical flaws.

England’s staff includes groups of analysts, data scientists, and internal software development teams in addition to the coaches and physios who sit alongside head coach Thomas Tuchel on the bench.

They use a variety of AI tools, some built by themselves or purchased from outside tech firms, to analyze data, discover intriguing information, and make presentations for meetings to make complex information understandable for coaches and players.

The idea is that England’s players can then choose better tactics for the field, including how to handle penalties.

Rhys Long, who has been the FA’s head of performance insights and analysis since 2016, explains that AI can reveal some trends for where opposition players have placed their penalties.

Where has every player in every squad committed every penalty since they were 16 when we have 47 teams’ worth of information to profile at a World Cup?

We used to gather penalty-taking data from five teams. That can now be reduced by about five hours using AI. Then our goalkeeper and I have a five-minute conversation about saving a penalty.

In theory, Jordan Pickford’s water bottle’s penalty list is now more precise and in-depth than ever.

And so far, they have been impressive.

Conor Coady, a member of England’s squads for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, says, “The penalty stuff really opened my eyes.”

Before the Euros, there was a diagram up on the board that would show you where you were more likely to score, and they would then give you detailed information about where you should go.

The visuals are based on both the opposition’s guerrilla style and their preferred ball-striking methods, such as if they dive to the side more frequently.

They said, “It’s on us, it’s on us,” and “Coady says,” so they put the pressure on you to decide where to go. We needed it, I suppose.

Players’ willingness to use the data and comprehend the information provided to them is essential to the success of such analysis.

Long claims that “players are becoming much more adept at interpreting their own data.”

“We’re trying to make sense of a lot of information,” the statement read. To have a productive conversation with a coach and then a player, you must filter all that information down.

AI football software has advanced in recent years to the point where it can now track tens of thousands of on-field movements and events every second, tag tactical patterns during live play so that analysts can find them on video for in-game adjustments and half-time feedback, and create graphics instantly.

Spain, France, and Argentina have won the most recent international competitions, and they will be among the favorites next year. However, it is widely believed that England, Germany, and the USA are using AI to gain a competitive advantage.

Allistair McRobert, a professor of performance analysis at Liverpool John Moores University, says, “England has a big resource and has heavily invested in this.” Behind the scenes, across all of their teams, from junior to senior, they have data engineers, data analysts, and performance specialists.

We collaborated with one of the analysts at England to develop tactical knowledge.

England uses AI to monitor players’ well-being, not just for on-field purposes.

According to Long, “AI is surfacing things up; it can look at what is having an impact on a player physically, tactically, or technically.” It might discover something in the player wellness data that is having an impact on their training.

The player needs to be consulted with a doctor, physiotherapist, coach, or specialist analyst to ensure that we get the most out of them.

“It took days to try and accomplish everything really quickly.” It’s now taking several hours. Future events may require minutes.

Every morning, you wake up and there is a wellness area where you fill out an iPad form. Coady describes the process.

“How did you fall asleep?” What were your feelings this morning? You’re tired, are you? And then you comment something like, “My hamstrings are sore from yesterday’s training.” The staff then provides training, food, and session setting for you during the day.

Every day, new AI tech companies are being created, and one piece of software can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds for national federations.

According to Long, “It’s not about using every brand-new AI toy just for the sake of it,” going after each new one. What you need to do is to determine whether it will actually improve performance.

Some of the less wealthy nations may be left behind because of the high costs involved.

Tom Goodall, an analyst for Iceland, predicts that AI will close the gender gap. For instance, “England has essentially unlimited resources, money, and staff.” The polar opposite of that is us.

Because I’m the only full-time analyst working here, money is tight. We have a lot of trouble taking a chance on a priceless piece of technology.

Additionally, the future impact of AI is a big deal.

It’s important to remember that Long says, “It’s not a silver bullet. AI will greatly improve efficiency, but it will depend on the presence of sportspeople who are well-versed in using this new technology.

We won’t replace people; rather, it will improve their ability to make decisions. AI won’t choose the team or play the game.