Sean Bowen, jump jockey great who can’t buy a winner at the Cheltenham festival

Mike Trout is 34 years old, weighs 235lb and plays baseball for the Los Angeles Angels. Sean Bowen is 28, tips the scales at around 140lb and is the reigning champion jockey over jumps. At first sight, they do not have a great deal in common besides both being professional athletes (and even then, Trout earns more in a fortnight than Bowen can ever hope to bank in a year).But when you break down what they do and, above all, when they do it, there are some distinct similarities.Trout is widely recognised as the greatest baseball player of his generation, consistently putting up numbers during the six-month, 162-game regular that put him among the all-time greats

Scott Boland seeks to inspire next generation as Indigenous history beckons in Ashes opener

Scott Boland expects Brendan Doggett to help inspire a new generation of Indigenous cricketers, as a slice of history beckons for the duo when the Australia XI is named for the Ashes opener in Perth.The fast bowlers are on the verge of shattering the glass ceiling and becoming the first pair of Indigenous cricketers to be included in the same Australia side as spots open up with Josh Hazlewood joining injured captain Pat Cummins on the sidelines.Only two of Australia’s 471 men’s Test players are Indigenous – former fast bowler Jason Gillespie and Boland – with Doggett poised to join the all-too exclusive club.Boland backed Doggett – whose Indigenous heritage traces back on his mother’s side to the Worimi people from around Newcastle – to make an impact on more than just the Ashes if he is selected to face England in the first Test starting on 21 November.“Hopefully Brendan does get the nod and that happens,” Boland said on Monday about the prospect of two Indigenous players being selected in the same Australia side

Mind guru Gilbert Enoka: ‘England are about to go to war, and I want to be in the trench with them’

“We’ve got a smooth lake at the moment,” Gilbert Enoka says, relaxing in the bar of England’s team hotel in Perth a few days before the battle for the Ashes gets under way. “But the series is going to start and then there’s going to be really, really choppy water in terms of what we actually have to sail. All I want is to help the guys develop structures that can help them be reliable when those waves come.”Enoka is the mental skills coach most famous for instigating a “no dickheads” policy during his 21 years in the All Blacks dressing room, and a man whose path to the pinnacle of team sport is as remarkable as the impact he has had since getting there. He spent much of his childhood in an orphanage before moving back in with his mother, who had settled with a new partner Enoka describes as “alcoholic, dysfunctional”

Anthony Joshua will ‘break internet over Jake Paul’s face’ as fight is confirmed

Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul will face each other in a heavyweight fight in Miami on 19 December, it has been confirmed.Rumours of the fight between Paul, a YouTuber-turned-boxer, and Joshua, the British former heavyweight champion of the world, had been trailed earlier this month and Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, confirmed the news on Monday. The fight will be shown live on Netflix.“This isn’t an AI simulation. This is Judgment Day,” said Paul

Australia target Joe Root as the England batter to ‘take down’ on eve of Ashes

Scott Boland has flagged Joe Root as the England batter to “take down” this Ashes series as Pat Cummins stepped up his return from a back injury with an encouraging net session at Perth Stadium.England were handed a day off on Monday after their warm-up fixture at Lilac Hill, as Australia’s players began their preparations after flying in 24 hours earlier. A green-tinged pitch was being watered out in the middle as temperatures hit 33C inside the ground.Boland, scourge of England on their previous tour here four years ago, was already the seamer chosen to replace Cummins in the Australian XI, with a further hamstring injury to Josh Hazlewood likely to result in South Australia’s Brendan Doggett being handed a debut this week.Asked about the tourist he was targeting, the soft-spoken Boland plumped for the obvious answer

England to launch first Nations Championship campaign with visit to South Africa

England will begin their inaugural Nations Championship campaign next summer by travelling to South Africa to lock horns with the two‑time defending world champions.As revealed by the Guardian in June, Steve Borthwick’s side, who are not playing the Springboks this autumn, also face fixtures against Fiji and Argentina next summer.England last toured South Africa in 2018 and the clash next year – likely to be at Ellis Park in Johannesburg – will be only the second meeting between the two sides since the 2023 World Cup semi-final.The game with Fiji is also set to take place in South Africa in an attempt to minimise travel, as per tournament protocols. Fiji had wanted to play the match in Europe, either in France or at Twickenham, but the expectation is England’s first two matches will be in South Africa before they return to Argentina, having played two Tests there last summer

Déjà boo: Sam Darnold didn’t think he’d see ghosts on the field again. Then he faced the Rams

The Seahawks quarterback has looked like an MVP this season. But his old failings returned in Los Angeles on SundayThe biggest game of Week 11 was undoubtedly the matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. Both teams came in with 7-2 records, and were seemingly evenly matched on both sides of the ball, with dynamic offenses and stingy defenses. In the end, it was a defensive battle that the Rams won, 21-19, by the skin of their teeth.Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who had played at a near-MVP level this season for the most part, did absolutely nothing to help his team – and plenty to hurt them

England keep sights on rugby’s Everest in relentless climb to game’s summit | Robert Kitson

After finally scaling Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953 the first person Edmund Hillary encountered on his descent was his longtime climbing friend, George Lowe. “Well, George,” Hillary said, “we knocked the bastard off.” Which is basically how England’s captain, Maro Itoje, and his team felt on Saturday having lifted the Hillary Shield, named in honour of the indomitable New Zealander who conquered the world’s most famous summit.English rugby’s ultimate Everest is still up ahead of them, of course, in the form of the 2027 World Cup, but this was their South Col moment. And while a first home win against the All Blacks since 2012 and their second‑highest margin of victory in this 120-year-old fixture will both be sources of satisfaction there was also a powerful sense that their upwardly mobile trek is far from complete

Ashes 2025-26: player-by-player guide to England and Australia squads

Visitors have their strongest Ashes squad in years but face an Australian team brimming with experienceAge 32 Caps 71 Captain/right-arm fast/right-hand batWhile technically not in the squad for the first Test while recovering from a back injury, Cummins remains captain in the full-time sense, and will still go to Perth with the coaching staff. Leadership aside, he recently passed 300 wickets while averaging 22.10: only Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Kagiso Rabada have taken more for less. Pace and movement create his ability to remove set batters. England will hope he stays sore