Ramires close to shock £25m move to China January 25, 2016 Defending champions Chelsea are on the verge of a hefty windfall after it emerged last night that midfielder Ramires is close to joining Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning for a fee in the region of £25m. The 28-year-old cost the Blues £18m when he joined the Stamford Bridge ranks from Benfica in 2010 and [...]
Australian Open 2016: Johanna Konta becomes first Briton to reach a grand slam quarter-final for 32 years January 25, 2016 Rising star Johanna Konta insists she is no overnight success after becoming the first British woman for 32 years to reach the quarter-finals of a grand slam tournament. Konta, 24, continued her giddy ascent yesterday by beating No21 seed Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 in a titanic fourth-round slug-fest – the biggest win of her [...]
Anderson returns fire on De Villiers after pre-match jibe although England face uphill battle to save Test January 25, 2016 England seamer James Anderson returned fire on out-of-form AB de Villiers after dismissing the South Africa skipper for a third successive duck during the penultimate day a seemingly doomed fourth Test at Centurion. De Villiers was interpreted as aiming a pre-match swipe at Anderson, the seventh highest Test wicket-taker of all time, by implying that [...]
Rickie Fowler can win a Major this year after Abu Dhabi triumph – but will find it hard to break dominance of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day January 25, 2016 The spotlight was on Rory McIlroy for what was his first tournament of the year – the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which finished on Sunday – and it has to be said he did very little of note all week. Despite that, the Northern Irishman finished just two shots behind eventual winner Rickie Fowler and generally [...]
There is more risk not appointing bad boy Dylan Hartley as England captain, insists head coach Eddie Jones January 25, 2016 England head coach Eddie Jones believes the potential reward of appointing Dylan Hartley as skipper far outweighs the risk after unveiling the controversial Northampton hooker as his Six Nations captain yesterday. The 29-year-old has racked up more than a year’s worth of suspensions during his career and was axed from England’s World Cup by Jones’ [...]
Legal comment: How can Adidas escape from a multi-year contract with the IAAF? January 25, 2016 Complex sponsorship contracts of this nature can run to hundreds of pages – with often the most crucial and heavily negotiated part of the deal being each party’s right to terminate early. Read more: Adidas decides to end IAAF sponsorship four years early Sponsors, like Adidas, will try to insist on wide rights to walk [...]
Arsenal 0, Chelsea 1: Wenger hits back as old foes dent Premier League title bid January 24, 2016 Tetchy Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger defended his decision to sacrifice 18-goal top-scorer Olivier Giroud following Per Mertesacker’s early dismissal after his side’s title bid stuttered against old foes Chelsea yesterday. Wenger’s decision was met with a chorus of boos, while the Gunners registered just one shot on target during the entire clash as they forlornly [...]
England head coach Eddie Jones calls up wing Semesa Rokoduguni as Six Nations cover for Chris Ashton January 24, 2016 England head coach Eddie Jones last night summoned Bath wing Semesa Rokoduguni to join his Six Nations squad as cover for Saracens counterpart Chris Ashton. Sarries have until this afternoon to decide whether to appeal the 10-week ban dished out to Ashton for making contact with the eye of Ulster centre Luke Marshall in a [...]
Rabada heroics leave England in deep trouble although Moeen urges tourists to attack January 24, 2016 England all-rounder Moeen Ali has urged his side’s bowling unit to go on the offensive in a bid to wrestle initiative away from buoyant South Africa after a sobering third day of the final Test in Centurion yesterday. Paceman Kagiso Rabada demolished England’s batting order to claim 7-112 and help South Africa rout the tourists [...]
Michael Vaughan urges cricket bosses to consider Kevin Pietersen for World T20 January 24, 2016 Former skipper Michael Vaughan has re-opened the Kevin Pietersen debate by insisting that England’s cricket bosses should swallow their pride and select the maverick batsman for this year’s World Twenty20. Pietersen was sacked by the England and Wales Cricket Board in February 2014 before his hopes of rekindling an international career during last summer’s Ashes [...]