Shay Given, a pundit and former Aston Villa goalkeeper, calls Emiliano Buendia’s winning goal in Villa’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham “world class.”
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There are plenty of contenders for the most famous first ball of an Ashes series.
Phillip DeFreitas is being slashed by Michael Slater for four. Stephen Harmison’s wide. Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns. Zak Crawley crunching Pat Cummins through the covers.
One man has the details right for the most famous final ball.
Stuart Broad’s place in Ashes history was already assured before his fairytale finale at The Oval two years ago.
The celebrations that have become a part of English cricketing folklore include the headband, Alex Carey’s edge, and the bail-switching.
“I feel like extremely lucky it ended the way it did,” Broad tells BBB Sport. “My last ever professional ball, taking that favourite wicket you could ever take – last wicket to win a Test, against Australia, crowd going berserk.
” I’ll never get bored of talking about it because it takes me back to a feeling and a moment that was so special. “
Everything that had already happened made Broad’s final appearance as an England cricketer flawless. The 604 Test wickets were more than enough for a hall-of-fame career, but few England players are as synonymous with Ashes cricket as Broad.
No England bowler has taken more wickets than Broad’s 153. No fast bowler on either side has played more than Broad’s 40 Ashes Tests. Few people have participated in as many Ashes battles, planned as many special events, or produced as many memories as the numbers suggest.
Broad’s life has been entwined with Ashes cricket and his early career was heavily influenced by Australia.
Broad’s father Chris, who was playing for England on the successful Ashes tour of 1986-1987, scored three hundred for England at the age of six months old. The young Broad’s cricketing hero was Australia metronome Glenn McGrath, and his development was accelerated by a spell as an 18-year-old with Melbourne club Hoppers Crossing.
Three years after joining the Hoppers, Broad began playing Test cricket. With a baby face and bouncing blond hair, the Draco Malfoy lookalike was a bowler of obvious promise but no clear identity. Broad put on a performance that made him feel at home in an England shirt two years into his career, earning his 22nd cap in the fifth and deciding Ashes Test.
When he was handed the ball on the second day, his career bowling average stood at an unsatisfactory 37.63. In nine overs, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, and Brad Haddin were all removed to push the urn into English hands, which was the first of Broad’s signature spells.
” I walked off the field and felt ‘ maybe I do belong in this England shirt’, “says Broad.
The next time Broad was an Ashes winner, England’s famous triumph down under in 2010-11, he played only two Tests before his series was ended by a side injury. Before returning home to watch the rest of the series from his sofa, he sobbed as England team doctor Nick Pierce gave him a hug in the Adelaide Oval’s dressing room. He spent the third Test with the Test Match Special team in Perth before returning home to watch the series in its entirety.
Broad was two from two in Ashes series, but his role as the Pom the Aussies loved to hate was not forged until 2013.
In the first Test, Broad’s edge off Ashton Agar’s spin deflected off Haddin’s glovebox and into Clarke’s hands at first slip. Broad did not walk, Australia were out of reviews and the runs he went on to add helped England win the match.
Haddin’s inability to hang on to the edge caused Broad’s brass neck to look worse, according to Broad’s defense, but that did not stop Australia coach Darren Lehmann from calling him a “blatant cheat” who “hoped” cries and goes home in the return series down under six months later.
Broad knew he was going to cop it, not least when the Brisbane Courier Mail refused to print his name and ran a headline calling him a ‘ smug Pommie cheat’.
He says, “In the warm-up games, I walked on my own or with the psychologist around the boundary.” If you walk around the Gabba there might be 45, 000 people, so you just hear noise. Every word is heard if you walk around during a warm-up session with only 100 people in attendance.
“I wanted to build a shield around me. To comfort me, I listened to the abuse. I worked with the psychologist, because I knew it was coming, to strengthen my resolve.
The boos were unbelievable when my name was revealed that I was bowling my first ball at the Gabba.
“The day before, I’d done my pre-match mental routine. I imagined the boos as I sat at the end of my mark and bowled four overs. I could feel it. I had already been there before, I thought. It definitely fazed me. A short one that was hit for four first ball was the no-ball I bowled. It was quite overwhelming”.
Broad, who had the Courier Mail tucked under his arm, recovered from that experience and took five wickets that evening. It was England’s best day in a series where they were dismantled by Mitchell Johnson and lost 5-0.
Eighteen months later, Broad put his own pieces together in a groundbreaking and Ashes-clinching performance.
In the fourth Test on his home ground of Trent Bridge, Broad was bowling England’s first over for the first time in the absence of the injured James Anderson. Broad urged captain Alastair Cook to bat first if he won the toss using his local knowledge.
“I was marking my run-up out and Shane Warne came over and said ‘ That’s a bowl first, isn’t it? “,” Broad says. “I remember thinking Shane Warne is bat first everywhere. If he believes bowl first,…
” I went over to Cookie. ‘ A bowl might come first, chef. He said ‘ Don’t worry, I’ve made that call already’. “
Broad’s legs were pounding. Australian edges were swallowed by England slip fielders. The pace bowler’s 8-15 figures are still the best in Ashes history. Australia were torn apart in 18.3 overs and 94 minutes. All out, 60.
” You can’t take it in, “says Broad”. I got the five-for, it appeared on a large screen, and I had no idea what to do.
The 2015 series marked Broad’s final Ashes victory. England were again blown away down under in 2017-18 and the following contest in the UK was drawn 2-2.
Ben Stokes’ exploits are remembered by many people in 2019, but Broad’s triumph was when he strangled David Warner. Seven times in five Tests Broad got Warner, part of an overall hoodoo of 17 dismissals. Only two other bowlers have ever dismissed the same batter more frequently in a test.
“Technically, I worked him out at the back end”, says Broad. He didn’t hit the ball through the square leg and didn’t hit it straight through mid-on after doing a lot of strategy and stats work.
” In 2019 I made a complete technical shift to try to hit his leg stump. If it went down the leg side, I didn’t care. I said to Jonny Bairstow, the wicketkeeper, just understand I’m going to be bowling leg side so make sure you give yourself some room.
Even with Broad knocking over Warner twice more in the three Tests he played in Australia in 2021-22, England were once again hammered 4-0. Broad would later end up with the Aussies by suggesting that the series should be “void” due to the limitations imposed on the England squad in Covid.
Broad was left out in the aftermath of that tour, only to be recalled when Stokes and Brendon McCullum were installed as captain and coach respectively.
No other pace bowler took more Test wickets in what turned out to be Broad’s final year of career, and Broad was the one who led England’s attack even with his old teammate Anderson chasing his 700th scalp.
In the epic 2023 Ashes series, when England were denied the greatest comeback of all time by the Manchester rain, Broad was the only home seamer to play all five Tests.
“Deep down,” says Broad, “I always knew I wanted my final professional game to be in an England shirt.”
“I wanted to finish at the top. You must make the call in order to accomplish that. You don’t want to go on too long. I was concerned that a 21-year-old would play against me and say, “I thought he was supposed to be good.” I definitely could have played another couple of years”.
One more opportunity to criticize the Australians, one more opportunity to be at the center of a hot Ashes feud, was waiting before the denouement.
When Bairstow was controversially stumped by Carey at a baying Lord’s, Broad was next in to join Stokes. When Carey and Australia captain Pat Cummins were to be criticized and heckled, it was this one time. Stokes and Cummins were furious and yelled at the tourists.
“It was red mist to start”, says Broad. It was walking over that line and feeling Lord’s energy, not necessarily my opinion of the dismissal.
” Something triggered inside me that anyone in a green hat was getting it. I had a very competitive side, and I grew. After about 20 minute I started working with Stokesy and quite deliberately twisted the situation our way. We looked to carry that out because my behavior may have sucked the Australians out of their trip to Stokesy.
“I remember getting home, sitting with my partner Mollie and we were watching a compilation BBB Sport had put together of the nonsense I’d done. I was filled with embarrassment. ‘Oh my goodness me. What on earth was I doing?’ I was 36 years old. How did I let myself get to that stage?”
Despite the Broad-Stokes assault, England were well beaten, 2-0 down and staring into the abyss.
“We had situations where we put ourselves on the back foot, so we would have sung the line that day, and that day there would have been the narrative that “england have thrown this away,”” says Broad.
To The Oval, with a series to draw and, as it turned out, a career to end. Broad visited Stokes’ hotel room on the evening of the final Test.
“I knocked on Stokesy’s door, wandered in, held out my hand out and said ‘ that’s me, mate'”, says Broad. “Stokesy just extended me a massive hug,” said S.
” I said to him as I left the room ‘ don’t tell anyone’, because I needed to see how I would feel the next morning.
“I woke up, I pulled the curtains open, and it felt right.” The first person I called was my dad, then my mum, then (England managing director) Rob Key. When I first arrived that morning, I informed the changing room, and I also informed the press that evening.
What followed was a joyous celebration of all things Broad, scripted to the very last ball.
He struck the final six-of-a-kind delivery he faced as a batter. In a legendary moment of sporting theatre, Broad had Carey caught behind to win the Test and square the series. Broad was no longer a member of England when the ball snuck into Bairstow’s glove.
“It was the best. “Incredible,” says Broad. “That saying to ‘ play like it’s your last game’. It was, after all. Go and have some fun and some freedom – be a bit silly.
I’m never going to feel that way again, even if I bowl another 5, 000 balls. I feel so content with how it ended. “
He has no desire to “lace the boots up” and confront Australia once more now that the next Ashes are on the horizon, the first in almost 20 years, are on the horizon.
” It’s everything you wish for as a player, “Broad says”. Everything about you is tested. It brings out emotion, character, mental strength, technical ability and physical hardship.
The Ashes: Australia v. England
Former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney says that former England and Manchester United star Alexander Isak’s record signings do not make enough sense to start ahead of Hugo Ekitike for Liverpool.
Isak, 25, signed for the Reds from Newcastle for £125m, but he has only scored one goal in seven league games overall appearances.
His third Premier League start in a row without a goal was suffered by Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.
With three goals in the league, his fellow forward Ekitike, who started as a substitute for the Red Devils, has scored four goals for Liverpool.
On The Wayne Rooney Show, Rooney said, “I wouldn’t play Isak because he hasn’t looked ready since he came from Newcastle.”
He hasn’t practiced or had a pre-season, he claims. It is very significant. Newcastle probably spent six hours a day chatting with his agent while he was training, trying to find a job.
When there isn’t a pre-season, it’s really difficult. He may have done it on his own, but he is also paying the price.
He doesn’t deserve to be playing before Ekitike, according to reports.
Liverpool lost four straight games to Manchester United, which is their first loss in a row since November 2014.
Even though Liverpool won the Premier League last year with seven straight victories, they have rarely put together consistently impressive displays throughout their entire careers.
Rooney remarked, “They’ve got a little complacent.”
You forget Arne Slot because he won the Premier League, but he’s still a young man, 46 years old, and this was his first career loss in four consecutive games.
I haven’t seen that from him before when he was arguing with the officials on the touchline against Manchester United.
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s talismanic forward, is another concern, according to Rooney, who is “one of the top five greatest Premier League players ever”.
With a total of 29 goals in 38 Premier League games, the Egypt international was a key contributor to Liverpool’s triumph last year.
He has struggled to make an impact against Manchester United, a team he had scored 16 goals against in 17 previous starts, but he has appeared a shadow of his usual self this season.
Salah has put on a lot of pressure over the past few years and has done so, Rooney said.
Salah’s future at Liverpool, which he left for Roma in 2017, had sounded uncertain prior to his signing of a new two-year contract in April.
Rooney continued, “There was talk that he might leave, and he did, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did,” adding that.
Manchester United won their first game at Anfield since 2016 with this victory.
Although Ruben Amorim has struggled to adjust to his current situation at Manchester United, the win on Sunday leaves them only two points clear of fourth-placed Liverpool.
Rooney praised the situation as being “a huge win for the manager.”
Over the past two seasons, I’ve questioned players’ motivations, decision-making, and tactics. That is a huge win. It’s challenging to win at Anfield.
I’ll be the first to admit that he got it right away, both from the players and the manager.
British-record signing Alexander Isak is not doing enough to justify starting ahead of Hugo Ekitike for Liverpool, says former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.
Sweden international Isak, 25, joined the Reds at the start of September from Newcastle for £125m, but has scored one goal – in the League Cup – in seven appearances in all competitions.
Sunday’s defeat by Manchester United at Anfield was his third Premier League start in a row without scoring.
His fellow forward Ekitike, who was a substitute against the Red Devils, has scored four goals for Liverpool with three of those in the league.
“I wouldn’t play Isak, he hasn’t looked ready since coming from Newcastle,” Rooney said on The Wayne Rooney Show.
“He hasn’t trained, hasn’t had a pre-season. It’s so important. While Newcastle were training he was probably sat at home on the phone to his agent for six hours a day trying to get a move.
“It’s so difficult when you don’t have a pre-season. He might’ve done stuff by himself but he’s paying the price of it.
“On performances, he doesn’t deserve to be playing ahead of Ekitike.”
Defeat by Manchester United was Liverpool’s fourth loss in a row in all competitions, the first time they have endured such a run since November 2014.
Liverpool won the Premier League title last season and even though they started strongly this term with seven successive wins in all competitions, they have rarely put together consistently impressive displays across entire games.
“They’ve got a bit complacent,” added Rooney.
“For Arne Slot, you forget because he won the Premier League, but he’s still quite young – 46 years of age and this was the first time he’s lost four in a row in his career.
“[Against Manchester United] he was arguing with the officials on the touchline, I haven’t seen that before from him.
Another concern for Liverpool is the form of their talismanic forward Mohamed Salah, who Rooney believes is “in the top five greatest ever Premier League players”.
The Egypt international was a key factor in Liverpool’s title win last season, scoring 29 goals in 38 Premier League games.
However, he has looked a shadow of his usual self so far this season and struggled to make an impact against Manchester United – a side he had scored 16 goals against in 17 previous appearances.
“Salah has played a lot of games over the last few years and been the main man, carried that pressure,” added Rooney.
Salah’s future at Liverpool, who he joined from Roma in 2017, had appeared uncertain last year until he signed a new two-year contract in April.
Rooney added: “There was talk of him leaving, he signed a new deal but it wouldn’t surprise me if in the summer he does leave the club.
The win for Manchester United was their first at Anfield since 2016.
Ruben Amorim has endured a largely difficult time at Manchester United so far but Sunday’s win means they are up to ninth, but just two points behind fourth-placed Liverpool.
“It’s such a huge win for the manager,” Rooney said.
“I’ve questioned decisions, I’ve questioned tactics, I’ve questioned players’ desire over this season and last season. That win is massive. To win at Anfield is not easy to do.
“The confidence that gives the players and the manager, I’ll be the first to say he got it absolutely spot on.
Max Verstappen from Red Bull won the US Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, leading everyone in every lap, extending Oscar Piastri’s Formula One championship lead to seventh place in Texas.
Five laps from the chequered flag, McLaren’s Piastri passed Lando Norris, his teammate and closest competitor, just seconds after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the winner of the previous year, at the finish line.
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With five rounds and two sprints left, Piastri now leads Britain’s Norris by 14 points, while Verstappen cut his Australian lead to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.
Verstappen also won the weekend sprint at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas from pole position, helping the McLarens collide and retire on a weekend with maximum points for the four-time world champion.
McLaren has already clinched the title of constructor.
Verstappen remarked of the title battle, “For sure, there is a chance.” We just need to make an effort to deliver these weekends until the very end.
We’ll make every effort possible. He continued, “It’s exciting,” after recording his 68th victory in his career in his third of his career.
Piastri asserted that he still had full confidence in his ability to win the title for Australia the first time since 1980’s Alan Jones.
The 24-year-old added, “I’d still rather be where I’m than the other two.”
Leclerc won the race for Norris at the start, but it took 21 laps to get back in as the , Monegasque, held a defensive masterclass on the faster but less durable soft tyres.
Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton then squared off in a battle that moved up to third and fourth, with Piastri moving up to third and Lewis Hamilton returning in ninth place.
Verstappen was already ten seconds away from his closest rival.
After the rest of the frontrunners had made their pit stops, Leclerc was once more in second place behind Verstappen and Verstappen, with Norris third having to overtake with a track limitations warning hanging over him.
Done, Norris fought back and finished in a time of 7.9 seconds behind Verstappen and 7.4 ahead of Ferrari.
It was difficult, they said. We made every effort possible in a fight that generated some excitement for the fans as Verstappen completed lap after lap that was largely absent from the global television feed.
I anticipated a second attempt to pass, but that wasn’t the case. A very strong race was led by Charles. Good battles and good fun ensued. Therefore, we must take the break. There isn’t much else we can do right now.
Andrea Stella, the McLaren team’s manager, claimed Norris could have won if Ferrari hadn’t obstructed his efforts.
Piastri was just 1.1 seconds away, and Mercedes took the chequered flag in sixth place after George Russell, who won the previous race in Singapore, took the title.
Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg of Red Bull placed third, ahead of Oliver Bearman of Haas and Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull. Aston Martin’s driver took the win in the end, taking Fernando Alonso.
When Mercedes’ rookie Italian Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz collided on lap 7, the Spaniard retired after attempting to overtake for seventh place inside.
Sainz a , five-place , grid penalty at the Mexican Grand Prix next weekend, plus two penalty points, were awarded by stewards for the collision.
Alex Albon, Sainz’s teammate, and Gabriel Bortoleto, a rookie from Brazil, collided in the first corner.
Although the race was held at a lower temperature than anticipated, the weekend was declared a heat hazard (about 28.6 degrees Celsius (83. 5 Fahrenheit).
World championships in track cycling in 2025
Location: Santiago, Chile, Velodromo Penalolen, 22-26 October
At the Track Cycling World Championships in Chile, Great Britain are aiming to win their third straight world title in the women’s team pursuit.
The British team won the Glasgow gold medal in 2023 before successfully defending their title in Denmark in 2024. From October 22 through October 26 in Santiago, the 2025 event will take place.
Maddie Leech will make her World Championship debut after narrowly missing out on the women’s omnium European title earlier this year, while Josie Knight, Jess Roberts, Katie Archibald, Anna Morris, and Megan Barker make their return to aim for gold once more.
Since its inception in 2008, Britain has been the dominant force in the women’s team pursuit, winning eight gold medals, six silvers, and two bronzes without ever capturing a single medal.
Knight says she understands the strain placed on the British team given their ongoing success.
“They established the status of one of the world’s best teams,” they said.
You might be asking yourself, “How did we end up being these people?”
We want to keep up the standard that you set for us thanks to Laura Kenny, Elinor Barker, and Joanna Rowsell.
In addition to claiming seven world titles, Kenny won five gold medals at the Olympics and seven gold at the same time. Rowsell has won five Olympic medals and five world championships.
Whether or not we are the best, Knight remarked. So we just need to take comfort from that and realize that other countries are all looking at us, just like we do them.
We have hope because we can do it a tenth of the time, so we can do it.
It would be really nice to win it three times in a row because it would be something special, despite the fact that I don’t want to jinx anything.
Roberts, who was a member of the 2024 team, predicts a tough Santiago challenge.
Roberts, one of three Welsh riders in the sextet along with Morris and Barker, said, “Everyone is so strong, I guess we’re thinking about other teams as well.”
You’ve got to bring your A-game, really, because the strength in women’s cycling is now extremely high.
The four riding in the team may look different once more with the addition of 22-year-old Leech, but the team are looking forward to it.
With the program we have here at British Cycling, the podium potential, the younger riders, and the coaches, “you know whenever a younger one comes up, they know what they’re doing, they’ve done it,” Knight said.
You can instantly have that trust in them because it was done at a slower speed, so it’s never a trust thing.
It’s just learning how to ride; challenges come with them, but it’s a part of the experience and the team’s beauty.
All women’s endurance team members will compete in individual events in addition to the team pursuit.
Knight will compete for the title in the individual pursuit, but Morris, a fellow GB team member, will be in stark opposition. He has already broken two world records in the event this year.
A reigning world champion in a particular sport has worn the rainbow jersey since 1927, continuing the tradition.
Roberts and Knight haven’t ridden with the rainbow stripes this year because they both took a break from the cycling after the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In front of a home crowd in Glasgow, I won the team pursuit, which occurred a year before the Olympic games, Knight said.
Every time you put those on, it was something special because that was quite a lot of racing.
“I believe that’s what makes cycling so special,” he said.
You won’t see me on the track without them because neither of us has really raced this year, so we’re making the most of it in training.
Roberts shares the sentiment, “I haven’t raced in them, so I’d love to, we’d love to win it again and hopefully actually race in it next year.”
In training, I’m just trying to wear the rainbow jersey, like Josie.
As the team prepares for the Santiago track, there is no end in sight of their goals.
Roberts remarked, “We all want to go and win, that’s what we’re going there for.”
“We’re looking to put three strong rides together that we’re proud of.
