HOT

MITCHELL STARC

THE Australian quick has made life uncomfortable for the England batsmen and will now be remembered for the ‘ball of the Ashes’ that did for James Vince in Perth. Just as well it hit that crack in the pitch, mind. Had it not, we would have been talking about a leg-side wide.

EDWIN VAN DER SAR

THE Ajax general manager has been criticised for sacking Dennis Bergkamp from his coaching role but why? It would have been much worse to keep Bergkamp on just because of his status in the game.

THE FA CUP DRAW

NOTTINGHAM FOREST v Arsenal in the third round next month gives us a chance to resurrect one of the game’s great quips. Having mistakenly sat in the away dug-out ahead of his first home game as manager of a struggling Forest — against Arsenal in 1999 — Ron Atkinson (above) said: ‘I saw Vieira and Overmars sitting there and thought to myself: ‘‘How the hell are this lot bottom of the league?’’.’