Ben Stokes the thunder god primed for Ashes series that may change his Australian legacy

Perth has some good memories for England captain at the culmination of a four-year project cast in his aggressive imageEngland hope to strike a healthy balance between work and play and at the start of this Ashes week: as Australia trained at the ground to prepare for the first Test, the tourists were being, well, tourists.As well as the usual golfers, a handful of players took a boat trip out to Rottnest Island, with Brydon Carse later showing off an impressive fish he had caught. No doubt some of the grouchier past players would sooner his mind was on reeling in a far bigger one: Steve Smith.But they resumed in earnest on Tuesday morning in nets that had Joe Root purring about their quality. There was certainly more pace and bounce than during the warmup game at Lilac Hill last week, Root confident that three good sessions is plenty before the big push on Friday

‘This wasn’t about money, this was a life at stake’: the world of a sports lawyer

Simon Leaf was sitting in the doctor’s office next to a footballer receiving news that would change the player’s life. The footballer knew something wasn’t quite right and medical tests had been ordered. This was not long after Fabrice Muamba had been saved by the speed of paramedics after having a cardiac arrest on the pitch at White Hart Lane, Leaf recalls, so tensions were heightened.As the player’s lawyer, Leaf was asked to attend when the worst was confirmed and the consultant revealed the player had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – the same condition as Muamba, where the heart muscles thicken and blood is pumped less efficiently.“To get the results with him, to talk him through his options, to try to guide him through that process was a truly humbling experience,” Leaf says

Why Australia will win v why England can win: two Guardian cricket writers make their Ashes cases

Even the greats of the Ashes have been weighed down by 143 years of shared history, tradition and controversy. For keen observers of Australia and England, Ashes anxiety can cloud judgments, hopes and dreams. Personally, a heart still bearing the scars from more than a decade spent living behind enemy lines as a once all-conquering Australia failed to tie – let alone win – an Ashes series in England, now insists on managing expectations. But as the ICC’s top two-ranked men’s Test teams prepare for a contest set to be shaped as much by endurance as execution, the head is ready to rule with a quiet confidence that Australia will triumph in a fourth straight Ashes as hosts.The current Australia outfit falls short of the best the nation has produced just in this century

A trooper’s shove showed stardom doesn’t protect Black athletes from police | Etan Thomas

It was 1996, my first day stepping foot on Syracuse University’s campus. I saw a big student protest was taking place so, with my freshman’s inquisitive mind, I ventured over to see what was going on.I listened to a passionate sista named Kathy Ade, the president of Syracuse’s student African-American Society. She stood there with her Bantu knots and a megaphone addressing the crowd, discussing the fact that campus security was now going to be able to carry pepper spray. In the 90s – which my daughter Baby Sierra calls “the 1900s,” just to keep me humble – campus security carrying pepper spray was a big deal

The Breakdown | Could new Nations Championship transform Test rugby? The jury is out

There is logic to the fresh international format, due to launch next year, but glaring issues and logistical challenges tooOK, let’s just pick the ball up and run with it for a little while. A reimagined global Test landscape pitching the northern hemisphere against the south commencing next July. Twelve men’s national sides playing six games each with a final playoff weekend. Concluding with one champion team hoisting a shiny trophy aloft in front of, hopefully, a worldwide television audience of millions.On paper – and years of scribbling on the backs of envelopes have gone into this – there is some logic to it

Mark Wood declared fit for first Ashes Test as England seamers ‘lick their lips’ at surface

Mark Wood is fully fit and available for selection in the first Ashes Test on Friday, having come through an extended spell of bowling at full pace in the Perth Stadium nets without any problems – before emerging with his pads on to have a bat minutes later – as England’s seamers found conditions at the ground so good they were “licking their lips”.Wood’s left leg was heavily strapped throughout, as it has been since he returned after surgery to that knee in March, but the tightness in his hamstring that concerned him during the first day of England’s warm-up against the Lions at Lilac Hill last week has dissipated. It is believed that the scan he had last Friday was primarily intended to alleviate the player’s fitness worries, with the team’s medical staff never hugely concerned.Jamie Smith was one of the batters who faced Wood in the nets on Tuesday. “He was absolutely rapid today, I can tell you that first-hand,” he said