Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 47

A day of Total Moeen is the perfect example of England’s new approach | Jonathan Liew

Mercurial spinner proves he is the polar opposite to Jack Leach with a performance of highs and lows on return from Test exile

“Ashes?” “Lol.” And so, after a two-word WhatsApp exchange and a two-year break, Moeen Ali is back at the top of his mark. There’s a roar of approval as his name is announced, a newish red ball in his hand and a fresh page to be written. Moeen has bowled 11,854 balls in Test cricket and most of them, like most of everything, have been instantly forgettable. But then there are the ones you remember.

For his nine years in international cricket this has been the eternal illusion of Moeen: a cricketer in whom you can see whatever you want to see. Do you see the boundary balls or the magic balls? The soaring sixes or the squandered starts? Even his abrupt recall – by Ben Stokes, via text – felt like its own little self-contained paradox. It was the bold call. It was the safe call. It was a counterintuitive gamble. It was a grave insult to county cricket. He was going to take vital Australia wickets. He was going to get collared.

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Mbappé on the move? And an end-of-season mailbag – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jonathan Liew for an end-of-season Q&A

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Today: was 2022-23 a memorable season? A good one? The panel look back on the last 10 months of football and assess.

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Why this Ashes is critical for the future of cricket – video explainer

Guardian sportswriter Jonathan Liew explains why this Ashes is so critical for the sport as Test cricket struggles for audiences and revenue. England and Australia are not only battling each other, but in many ways they are battling this decline in popularity, with the Ashes existing as a 'window into the sport' for non-traditional fans. Liew also previews the series and examines how England's new aggressive style of play, known as Bazball, will hold up against the reigning champions.

Australia ponder Ashes bowling options to counter England’s rapid batting

Will rock’n’roll England of Stokes and McCullum blow away Australia?

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Saudi golf takeover is blueprint for what they want to do everywhere else | Jonathan Liew

The Saudis came for golf. Will your favourite sport put up any more of a fight?

Perhaps you were invited to the exclusive Venice wedding of a billionaire’s daughter where Jay Monahan and Yasir al-Rumayyan are reported to have met for the first time. Perhaps you happened to be playing a round at Beaverbrook Golf Course at the same time as Rumayyan and the PGA board member Jimmy Dunne were thrashing out the early stages of a deal that would change golf for ever. Perhaps you happened to be eavesdropping at the next table as they ate dinner or at least close enough to hurl a well-aimed bread roll or slip something into the ceviche.

Short of that, however, there is very little you or I could have done to prevent the effective merger of the PGA Tour with the rebel LIV Golf organisation, backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Your opinion was not consulted. Your vote was not canvassed. Players who had turned down eye-moistening sums of Saudi money out of what they laughably believed was a reciprocated loyalty to the PGA Tour found out, like everyone else, when their phones started pinging.

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All-conquering Novak Djokovic moves into house that Rafael Nadal built

Wily record holder is now the uncontested keyholder to the French Open – as well as the wider world of men’s tennis

No longer the polite and begrudging ripple of applause. No longer the soft shuffle of designer shoes towards the exits. This time the sound of triumph would be resounding and unqualified: from the plush seats where Zlatan Ibrahimović and Tom Brady were on their feet, to the windswept upper tiers where the cascade of Serbian flags caught the evening Parisian light. Roland Garros, and by extension the lineage of men’s tennis, is now the house of Novak Djokovic.

He wore a royal red training top emblazoned with the number 23. He gave his victory speech in flawless French. And in the moments before he was called forward to accept the trophy, Djokovic was to be found reclining in his chair, eyes closed, a broad and cryptic smile on his face. He took his time, spoke for as long as he chose, because in your house you can do whatever you want.

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Iga Swiatek’s cold logic makes sure French Open trophy is in safe hands | Jonathan Liew

The champion lost a set for the first time in this tournament but she knew how to drag herself out of a dangerous place

The man holding the camera leaned in towards Iga Swiatek. The man holding the pen held it out to her. The new French Open champion thought for a while about how to encapsulate her torrent of thoughts and emotions into a little glass square around the size of a Pop Tart. Eventually she scrawled a number – #4, for her fourth grand slam title – and a single word. “Surréel.”

And it really was surreal, or at least as about as surreal as it can ever be watching a habitual major champion win another major. For if the outcome was expected then virtually nothing else about this final was. It was one thing, and then suddenly it became a whole other thing: a regal procession that somehow morphed into a scrap for survival against the fearless and admirable Karolina Muchova, a match that dragged the world No 1 to places she had never been before, places she never wanted to go.

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Weghorst’s inept Cup cameo shows chasm Manchester United must cross | Jonathan Liew

Erik ten Hag turned to striker for equaliser against Manchester City but only underlined how money bloat sealed fate years ago

With 14 minutes remaining, Pep Guardiola made his first substitution of the afternoon. Off came Kevin De Bruyne, the best player on the pitch, perhaps with a view to giving him a rest before next Saturday’s Champions League final. On came a fresh Phil Foden, one of the best young players in Europe. Right. Your move, Erik ten Hag.

So it was that a minute later, Manchester United unveiled the secret weapon that they hoped would win them the 2023 FA Cup: Wout Weghorst.

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The season of Stones: how Barnsley Beckenbauer sparked City’s surge | Jonathan Liew

Manchester City’s treble bid has been built not only on Erling Haaland but on subtle changes and innovations further back

“Talk about John Stones. Please, before Haaland.” And Pep Guardiola banged his head on the press conference dais in mock exasperation. It was September last year, at the height of Erling-mania, and Manchester City had just beaten Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League with a goal from their big new striker. But Guardiola was keen to shift the conversation elsewhere.

And in hindsight, Guardiola was not really joking. Instead, he was trying to give us a clue. He was, as ever, urging us to look beyond the superficial and see what was happening under the bonnet. The season that may well be remembered as the greatest in City’s history has been built not merely on the goals of Haaland and the assists of Kevin De Bruyne, but on the subtle changes and innovations further back. It has been, above all, the season of Stones.

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Is Manchester City’s dominance of English football fair? – podcast

Manchester City have added this season’s Premier League title to their collection of honours and are favourites to win the FA Cup and the Champions League. But are they playing fair? Jonathan Liew reports

This weekend Manchester City will contest the FA Cup final with Manchester United at Wembley. It’s the first time the two rivals have ever met in the final and represents the past and present of English football dominance. For years Manchester United were the all-powerful force, now it is Manchester City.

As Jonathan Liew tells Michael Safi, the transformation of Manchester City, from perennial also-rans to the most powerful club in the country, has been achieved in just 15 years. That current dominance can be traced to one crucial moment: the takeover of the club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi royal family. The millions of pounds ploughed into the club have bought not just the best players but the best coach, the best medical staff, backroom analysers, scouts – and lawyers.

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We cling because where else do we go when it’s over for Jimmy Anderson? | Jonathan Liew

Test cricket will lose a part of itself when England’s elder statesman retires and, while it will survive, it will be painful

“Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head.” A few weeks ago English cricket was thrown into a medium-sized spasm by the news that Jimmy Anderson had sustained a groin injury playing for Lancashire against Somerset. On one level it felt faintly ridiculous that England’s Ashes chances should rise or fall on the fitness of a man old enough to have bowled at Derek Randall. But the predominant sensation was really a kind of paralysing fear: the sort that grips you when you hear that an elderly relative has fallen over at home. Everyone knows the stakes here. Every twinge, every niggle and every limp now comes with a sinister metatext: “this time, you know, it might really be over”.

But still we cling, because we don’t know where else we can go. Naturally Anderson’s injury turned out to be little more than a minor setback. He will be rested for the Test against Ireland this week. And so come 16 June, in all likelihood, we will once again be treated to the sight of Anderson gingerly grimacing his way to the bowling crease: blisters popping in his boots, face writ with that peculiar mixture of acute discomfort and acute satisfaction. Anderson, more than any bowler of his generation, has learned to associate pain with reward. This thing is supposed to hurt. That’s how you know it’s worth it.

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