Australia v India: Hosts welcome No1 Test side while suffering an “identity crisis” in fallout from sandpaper scandal December 4, 2018 The first Test match of the Australian summer is usually a sacred time. Players, coaches, media and public alike typically home in on the cricket, each brimming with anticipation, excitement and confidence. But with India in Adelaide ahead of Thursday's first Test of a four-match series, the focus is far from concentrated. How could it [...]
Women’s Euro 2021: England’s hosting provides great opportunity for game’s growth and Lionesses to win silverware December 3, 2018 The announcement was expected, but the result still sparked excitement for those involved with women’s football in England. Uefa have confirmed that the Football Association’s bid to host the 2021 Women’s European Championship had been accepted. The fact there were no alternatives mattered little to the FA, which quickly trumpeted the news. “A home Euro in [...]
Sam Torrance: Majors and world No1 spot are next on agenda for rare talent Jon Rahm December 3, 2018 Players of Jon Rahm’s quality come around so rarely and he has already achieved so much in his short career – it is almost like when Usain Bolt burst onto the scene in athletics. So when Rahm puts in performances like the one he mustered at the Hero World Challenge at the weekend, it’s no [...]
Football fan club Otro nets £50m backing from 23 Capital December 3, 2018 Digital football fan club Otro has received backing worth tens of millions of pounds from venture capital firm 23 Capital ahead of its eagerly-anticipated launch today. Online platform Otro, which provides fans with curated content from global football stars, today revealed it had secured backing following weeks of growing speculation about the new site. City [...]
Tyson Fury’s dramatic draw with Deontay Wilder the perfect result for the heavyweight division December 2, 2018 After all the sparring, all the build-up and all the trash talk, the fight delivered what was promised. So often big title fights – especially those of the heavyweight variety – fail to live up to the hype, in an all-too swift conclusion or with haymakers giving way to extended close-range leaning as giant boxers [...]
Unai Emery enjoys his finest hour as Arsenal overpower Tottenham in pulsating derby December 2, 2018 If the jury has been out on Unai Emery’s ability to reverse Arsenal’s fall from the Premier League’s top four then this was the most compelling evidence yet that the Spaniard’s methods are working. His team’s deserved 4-2 win over Tottenham in Sunday’s pulsating north London derby was their first over another team from the [...]
Chelsea 2-0 Fulham: Five things we learned as Pedro leads Blues to west London derby victory December 2, 2018 Eden Hazard is undoubtedly the main man at Chelsea, yet the most influential player in a slightly lacklustre west London derby was a different player in a blue shirt. Pedro has often played second-fiddle in his career, from Barcelona to Chelsea, but the Spaniard underlined his importance with the opening goal and involvement in the [...]
Anna and the Apocalypse review: A festive merger of zombies, Christmas and high-school musicals November 30, 2018 A zombie high-school musical set in a provincial Scottish suburb at Christmas, Anna and the Apocalypse occupies a vanishingly thin sliver of a Venn diagram of mostly maligned sub-genres, but manages to be more entertaining than the sum of its body parts. Plucky heroine Anna (Ella Hunt) is about to graduate, with her plans to [...]
Dick Whittington at Lyric Hammersmith pantomime review: wholesome fun for children and utter filth for adults November 30, 2018 Dick Whittington at the Lyric Hammersmith is just the smutty, heart-warming silliness you need to kick off the festive season. Like all good panto, it works on two levels, with wholesome fun for children and utter filth for adults. In writer-director Jude Christian’s production Dick Whittington (Luke Latchman), a good-natured simpleton from Cardiff, somehow bumbles [...]
The Wild Pear Tree film review: A languorous exploration of cultural change in modern Turkey from Palme d’Or-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan November 30, 2018 There are two Turkeys in The Wild Pear Tree. One – the film’s backdrop – is the shabby provinces, where the summit of prestige is a career as a teacher. The other, lying at the story’s edge, is the cosmopolitan realm of high culture and aspirations. Sinan (Aydın Doğu Demirkol) is trapped in between. After [...]