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The fallout from England’s latest damaging Ashes defeat has, as ever, focused largely on their struggling batters.

Brainless. Unwilling to learn. Reckless. The withering analysis goes on.

But in the second Test there was another concerning failure as a fast bowling attack built for this very moment performed desperately.

Stuart Broad, an all-time great not long out of the dressing room, has labelled England’s first-innings effort with the ball in Brisbane their worst bowling performance since 2008. A wayward start and a bizarrely flat end allowed Australia to canter towards a par score and stroll well beyond it.

Broad is right – that innings was a startling extreme.

But the overall bowling average of Ben Stokes’ side in 2025 is also their worst for 23 years and their sixth worst calendar year in 140 years of Test cricket.

Those 2025 numbers can, in part, be put down to who and where England have played.

Seven Tests in a row have come against India and Australia, with those India matches all lasting five days on some of the flattest pitches seen in the UK.

England’s only other Test this year was the four-day match against Zimbabwe, played on another slow surface at Trent Bridge, on which spinner Shoaib Bashir took nine wickets.

It is also undeniable an all-pace attack was both thrilling and threatening on first viewing in this Ashes series in bundling Australia out for 135 in Perth.

But that only makes the performances since, particularly the first innings in Brisbane with the game on the line and momentum with them, more disheartening.

“I have not seen a whole group get it wrong and bowl short and wide,” Broad told the Sky Cricket podcast.

The numbers were ugly.

Only once had Australia reached 100 quicker in a home Ashes Test while Brydon Carse conceded 95 runs in his first 12 overs. Stokes went for 64 in his first 11.

The number of balls on the ideal hard length (7-8m) dropped from 31% in the first 20 overs in the first innings in Perth to 17% at the Gabba and Australia scored 81 runs off the back foot – the most on record by any team in their first 20 overs of a match and the clearest sign England bowled short and wide.

Broad was not the only legend watching on for the first time in a generation.

“I was just thinking, ‘Pitch it up, just try and pitch it up a bit fuller’,” said James Anderson, whose Ashes contributions now come via the Tailenders podcast having been pushed aside in 2024 for these very bowlers.

England cannot deny they began this tour with the exact attack they’d have scribbled down on a whiteboard two years ago, more in hope than expectation.

In Brisbane they picked three tall fast bowlers – Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Carse – who thud the ball into the pitch at pace, plus a fully-fit Stokes.

This was their much-discussed plan – backing pace and steep bounce, while ignoring statistics that show bowlers operating below 83mph, who previously averaged eight runs per wicket worse than those reaching speeds above, have wiped out their inferiority in Australia in the past three years on livelier pitches and with the new Kookaburra ball.

Of course, there are caveats here too and, as ever, familiar criticism of the retiring of Anderson has resurfaced.

Chris Woakes’ shoulder injury in the fifth Test against India denied England the option of his nibblers while Essex seamer Sam Cook was overlooked after one underwhelming Test.

At his best, Anderson might have found more change from such surfaces but the 43-year-old played in less than half of Lancashire’s County Championship matches this summer amid injury struggles and averaged 85.40 with the ball against these Australians at home in 2023.

Are this crop simply England’s best Test bowlers, who happen to each be quick?

“They’re the right bowlers,” said former England bowler Steven Finn.

“I’m not sure anyone else in the country would have made a difference.”

Though six wickets for Michael Neser’s 82mph seam were an uncomfortable contrast at the Gabba, wickets are still falling more regularly to deliveries over 85mph than below in this series.

Archer has been England’s best bowler so far – the one capable of a match-winning spell – and he and Wood, England’s quickest two options before Wood’s series-ending injury, have the produced the highest percentage of false shots from Australian batters.

Despite taking only three wickets, Archer also comes out top of CricViz’s ‘Expected Average’ model across both sides while Mitchell Starc, Australia’s quickest bowler, is two Tests into an iconic Australian summer.

Broad, though, highlighted a deeper issue that could continue to thwart England’s plans.

“[Archer, Carse and Atkinson] don’t strike me as real tacticians of a game – thinkers of the craft,” said Broad on the For The Love of Cricket podcast.

“It struck me there were a lot of times Archer was at mid-on, Atkinson deep cover and Carse bowling. They would not say a word. You have got to work together.

“Stokes has to make all of the decisions along with other captaincy decisions. He is bowling, pouring with sweat and looks like he is taking so much on.

“It is first time he has captained without an experienced bowler.”

Suddenly the absence of Woakes and his 62 Tests of experience looks more significant, even with his history of struggling down under.

Remarkably, with Wood now to return home, 22-year-old Bashir’s 19 Test caps make him the most experienced of any of England’s frontline bowlers on tour.

Hopes Atkinson could grow from his quiet personality and be the attack leader were hit by injuries he suffered in the summer, which meant he only played one of the India Tests.

Archer is the most experienced quick with 17 caps, making his way back after four years out injured.

“That’s not me saying Anderson should be here or Woakes should be here,” added Broad.

“It is one of those things that happens.

“It struck me for the first time in two years that there is no-one helping Stokesy.”

Alfie Burden beat Stuart Bingham 63-8 to win the Snooker Shoot Out and claim his first ranking title in Blackpool.

He turns 49 on Sunday but started the celebrations early by climbing on the table to huge cheers once victory was confirmed at Blackpool Tower Circus.

Burden, who won the World Seniors Championship in May, takes home the £50,000 prize.

“I’ve had a 30-year career and it has been mainly downs – I’ve underperformed – but tonight is a night for me,” Burden told TNT Sports.

“I’d like to thank all my family and friends for all the belief they’ve had in me. This is a special moment and I’m going to cherish it.”

Bingham finished runner-up at the Snooker Shoot Out in 2014 but passed up the opportunity to mount a fightback from 56-7 with three minutes on the clock.

The 2015 World Champion put away a red but was well wide of the mark when going at the blue.

“He looked so cool and calm all the way through. He played brilliantly from the start,” Bingham told TNT Sports.

Snooker Shoot Out is a single-frame game with a maximum length of 10 minutes and players facing a shot clock.

Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the PDC World Championship as the 71-year-old claimed a stunning victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.

Backed by a partisan crowd at the Alexandra Palace, the Singapore veteran claimed a 3-1 success over the Dutch-born Swede.

He beat a record held by Northern Irishman John MaGowan, who was 67 when he knocked out Chris Mason in the first round of the tournament in December 2008.

“A moment like this has kept me going for all these years,” said Lim.

“The standard of play nowadays is not like how it was before. This tournament is the Super Bowl of darts so I would say this is a good moment.”

Lim will face Luke Humphries in the second round after the 2024 world champion progressed with a 3-1 win over Ted Evetts in his opening match later on Saturday evening.

Humphries had cruised into a 2-0 lead against his fellow Englishman before Evetts pinched a set back.

However, 30-year-old Humphries regained his intensity and clinically finished out the contest with an average of 98.58, throwing eight 180s.

Lim, who thew the first world championship nine-darter at the BDO event at Lakeside in 1990, beat Humphries when the pair last met at the Ally Pally five years ago.

On meeting again, Humphries told Sky Sports: “He’s amazing, he’s a legend. The crowd are going to be against me so it’s going to be a tough game.”

Lim said: “I hope on a given day it can happen again. I never give up. He is good but he can be beaten.”

The crowd roared on Lim, who is 72 next month, when he won the first set against De Graaf befofe his opponent levelled the match.

Lim went ahead again after a scrappy third set as De Graaf wilted while the experienced ‘Singapore Slinger’ held his nerve in a tense fourth, sealing victory with an average of 86.52.

Five-time world championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle said Lim was able to “take his chances” against De Graaf to secure an “incredible” win.

“If you have the desire, the passion but most of all the ability humans can achieve amazing things – and that was amazing,” said Mardle on Sky.

De Graaf was six years old when Lim made his PDC debut 29 years ago.

In the afternoon session, Gary Anderson booked his place in the second round with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Adam Hunt.

Two-time champion Anderson, 54, was given a stern examination by world number 84 Hunt but the Flying Scotsman was able to battle back from 2-1 down to progress.

Anderson, seeded 14th, will next play the winner of the match between Connor Scutt and Simon Whitlock .

“That’s probably the best Adam has played all season. The first game is the hardest, but I’m through,” Anderson told Sky Sports.

Anderson, who won back-to-back world titles in 2015 and 2016, held his nerve to win the first set 3-2 against the 32-year-old Englishman.

However, he missed double top in the deciding leg in the second set and Hunt took his chance to level the match up with a confident 72 checkout.

Hunt won the third set as Anderson’s average plummeted but the Scot raised his game in the fourth and took control early in the decider as Hunt failed to recover from an early break of throw.

Elsewhere, Welsh amateur David Davies secured a dream tie with defending champion Luke Littler in the next round after causing a minor upset on his World Championship debut.

Davies claimed a 3-0 win over Belgium’s Mario Vandenbogaerde – 66th in the PDC rankings – thanks to a checkout average of 37.5%.

Andrew Gilding saw off a spirited effort from 22-year-old tournament debutant Cam Crabtree as he progressed with a 3-1 win over his fellow Englishman thanks to an average of 97.89.

Afternoon session

Mario Vandenbogaerde 0-3 David Davies

Andrew Gilding 3-1 Cam Crabtree

Luke Woodhouse (25) 3-1 Boris Krcmar

Gary Anderson (14) 3-2 Adam Hunt

Evening session

Jeffrey de Graaf 1-3 Paul Lim

Wessel Nijman (31) 3-0 Karel Sedlacek

Luke Humphries (2) 3-1 Ted Evetts

Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)

Ritchie Edhouse (27) v Jonny Tata

Dom Taylor v Oskar Lukasiak

Richard Veenstra v Nitin Kumar

Joe Cullen (32) v Bradley Brooks

Evening session (19:00)

Lukas Wenig v Wesley Plaisier

Dimitri van den Bergh (23) v Darren Beveridge

Stephen Bunting (4) v Sebastian Bialecki

Liverpool’s all-time leading goalscorer Ian Rush is recovering in hospital after spending two days in intensive care with flu.

Rush, 64, was taken into the Countess of Chester hospital last week with breathing difficulties.

A Liverpool spokesperson thanked staff at the hospital for “providing the best care possible” and said “everyone at Liverpool wishes him a speedy recovery”.

Rush spent two hugely successful spells at Liverpool either side of a stint at Juventus in the 1980s.

He scored a club-record 346 goals in 660 appearances for Liverpool, winning five First Division titles and two European Cups.

The striker, who also played for Leeds, Newcastle and Wrexham over a 22-year career, won 73 caps for Wales and was their leading scorer with 28 goals until that record was broken by Gareth Bale in 2018.

After hanging up his boots in 2000, Rush moved into management and had an eight-month spell in charge of Chester.

He currently works as an ambassador for Liverpool and regularly attends matches at Anfield.

Flu cases are soaring across the UK. An average of 2,660 patients per day were in hospital with flu in England last week – the highest for this time of year since records began in 2021, and up 55% on the week before, NHS England said.