Australia enter Ashes series with transition abruptly forced upon an ageing squad | Geoff Lemon

The Ashes may offer one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team host more birthday parties than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.For two or three years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack

Stokes wants to be one of ‘lucky few’ England captains to claim Ashes victory in Australia

Ben Stokes is aiming to become one of the “lucky few” England captains to claim an away Ashes victory as he called on his players to forget a 15‑year barren spell in Australia and “create our own history”.After being shut out by the pandemic four years ago, up to 40,000 England supporters are estimated to be descending on Australia over the course of this winter. All are hopeful of witnessing an all-time classic and a change to the story after three winless Ashes tours.Stokes, ready to unleash Mark Wood and Jofra Archer when the series begins in Perth Stadium on Friday, is fully aware of the challenge: succeed and he will become just the sixth postwar England captain to do so after Andrew Strauss (2010-11), Mike Gatting (1986-87), Mike Brearley (1978-79), Ray Illingworth (1970-71) and Len Hutton (1954-55).“I have come here absolutely desperate to get home on that plane in January as one of the lucky few captains from England to have come here and been successful,” Stokes said, having named a 12‑member match‑day squad that includes Shoaib Bashir as the spin‑bowling option

Jake Paul’s Joshua fight is all about fame and bluster, money and eyeballs | Jonathan Liew

“If it’s all straight up and proper, you would worry that he takes this kid’s head off,” reckons Barry McGuigan. “Could get his jaw broke, his head smashed in, side of his head caved in, God forbid he could get a brain bleed,” says Carl Froch on his YouTube channel. “It could be the end of him. It could be his last day on Earth,” David Haye tells Sky News, with the sort of apocalyptic glare I try to give my children when they want to jump in a muddy puddle.Yes, this week everyone appears to be deeply concerned for the wellbeing of 28-year-old YouTube celebrity Jake Paul

The Spin | Stokes’ England have reminded us all that cricket is meant to be fun

Nobody talks about the last ball of the Ashes. It’s the first that’s famous. That wide that flies to slip, that cover drive for four, that wicket, bowled him! Last balls? I had to look them up. Moeen Ali slicing a drive behind to finish an innings defeat in a dead rubber in 2015; Boyd Rankin being taken at slip off Ryan Harris, Rankin playing in his one and only Test at the fag-end of a 30-over collapse in a 5-0 whitewash that’s been full of them in 2014; a Steve Harmison bouncer ricocheting away off Justin Langer’s shoulder for four leg byes, the only four Australia score in a run chase they’ll never get to make in 2005.It’s the difference between wondering how things will go, and knowing how they do

Starc says Australia players upset at Ashes opener’s move from ‘Gabbatoir’ to Perth

Mitchell Starc has admitted that Australia’s players are upset at the decision to shift the opening Ashes Test from its traditional home of Brisbane’s Gabba – nicknamed “the Gabbatoir” because of its reputation as the graveyard of touring sides, and a ground where England have won just two of their last 20 games dating back to 1946 – to Perth Stadium.Asked whether his side could expect to enjoy a similar advantage at the first Test’s new venue, Starc said: “We’ll find out in a week, won’t we? They don’t listen to the players, we would have liked to start in Brisbane, too.”England’s Gus Atkinson said that though “there are no scars for me” from his country’s previous failures in Brisbane given he is a first-time Ashes tourist, “history would say it’s probably a good thing we’re not starting at the Gabba”.But Isaac McDonald, the chief curator at Perth Stadium, defended the decision, saying that the city’s relative proximity to England makes it a sensible first stop, and adding that he is enjoying the extra attention that comes with hosting the first game of a marquee series.“We’ve actually opened the last four summers here,” McDonald said

The NFL says Jameis Winston is a ‘national treasure’. The NFL is very wrong | Melissa Jacobs

Hear the term “national treasure” and odds are you think of someone like Dolly Parton, Betty White, Simone Biles or Tom Hanks. They are comforting, widely admired and have uncontroversial histories.And then there’s Jameis Winston.To celebrate Winston getting the call as the New York Giants starting quarterback last weekend, the NFL created a hype video, splicing a bunch of his goofiest quotes during his meandering journey through various NFL teams. It also, somewhat dubiously, accompanied the video with a comment calling him “a national treasure”