Are you not wowed? Bazball, India and a one-armed man deliver drama and beauty | Barney Ronay

Well, that was something new. Have you ever seen the one‑armed man running a bye to the keeper while 20,000 people leap and writhe and hold their heads and the one-armed man shouts in agony?Have you ever seen figures picked out in silhouette at the top of the stand, posed in perfect shapes of triumph, dread and fear because another gobbet of time has passed, another dot, because essentially nothing has happened?Have you ever seen the one‑armed man walk down and prod the middle of the wicket between balls, like this is just another cricket day, and had to swallow a snort of disbelief at the extreme cinematic weirdness of this snapshot in time?At times such as these, immersed in the super-heated bubble at the final day at the Oval, all of this stuff undeniably happening but also basically nothing, a story told only to itself, you do wonder how you’d explain it to someone from Denmark.Words such as nuance, post-colonial, will, protocol gabbled out while the person from Denmark nods politely. Wait. Geopolitics! Hunger! Umpire’s call! And all of this expressed through 25 days of the most stiffly choreographed sporting activity ever devised

Ben Stokes hails Chris Woakes’ one-armed effort in dramatic defeat to India

Ben Stokes paid tribute to the ­bravery of Chris Woakes as a series during which players battled at various stages through broken feet and ­shattered fingers ended with a one‑armed man at the crease, his other arm in a sling, enduring ­obvious agony as England fell seven runs short of victory.Stokes said: “That never-say-die, never-back-down attitude we’ve installed in the group nearly paid off. It was never going to be a question for him to go out there. He was in a lot of discomfort even running between the wickets.“But we’ve had Rishabh Pant go out to bat with a broken foot, we’ve had Shoaib Bashir bowling, batting and fielding with a broken finger and then we had Chris go out there and try and get his team over the line with a quite recently dislocated shoulder

F1 2025: end-of-term report card as drivers head for their summer break

Oscar Piastri Leading the world championship and has earned his place at the top. He has not only been quick in the best car on the grid, but consistent and calm. This has not been the stuff of fireworks, but relentless precision. His execution and attitude have no little of the Alain Prost about them and he is shaping up to be a similarly formidable opponent as The Professor.He has gone toe to toe with his teammate, Lando Norris, in these opening 14 meetings and, overall, come out on top

Ferrand-Prévot’s Tour win ignites all of France in a joy missing from the men’s race

It took a long time to find a copy of L’Équipe on Monday morning. France’s flagship daily sports newspaper, emblazoned with an image of a yellow-clad Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, arms outstretched and triumphant, with the banner headline Geante, had almost sold out.Ferrand-Prévot, the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, has become a national icon almost overnight. After her Paris 2024 gold medal performance in mountain biking and the Paris‑Roubaix win this spring, Ferrand-Prévot fever has taken over. Cycling’s slumbering giant has finally awoken

Hundred returns for placeholder season before uber-rich enter the scene next year

On-field drama may compete with host of off-field questions as tournament hands control over to crop of global investorsThe Hundred continues to confuse. There are the endless comments online that deride it and then the kids at the ground, rocking their Southern Brave merch and living in a different world. This is a transformative competition for women’s cricket that has also produced a wild, maddening gap in pay. The highest earners in the men’s tournament this year will make £200,000, £135,000 more than the best women’s players; the difference in 2024 was £75,000.There is the mind-numbing debate over whether it should be a Twenty20 show, when the rhythm and beat is the same as that format

Bacon rashers, hi-vis jackets and a dog collar: all life is found among Oval early birds

Final day of Test summer will burn in the memory of some but what about those around the Oval who simply viewed it as any other August morning?Six o’clock. I think this is a good idea. It didn’t feel like it when the alarm went off 20 minutes ago as watery light crept under the curtains. But now, cycling through the deserted dawn streets of south London to the Oval, my faith is restored.They still teach the “Gravedigger” theory of news coverage in journalism schools around the world