HOT WHAT’S NOT WHAT’S

HOT JAMES ANDERSON

The king of the swingers, still going strong on 600 wickets. It was wryly observed after his remarkable milestone that he has sent down 33,145 deliveries in Tests without a wicket, and in consideration of that, perhaps we can agree that persistent failure has never been achieved in such a magnificent way.

KATIE TAYLOR

She looked a little lucky to get the win against Delfine Persoon last weekend. She looked even luckier to get the win in their first fight a year earlier. But across those two thrillers for the undisputed lightweight world title, Taylor and Persoon combined to show why women’s boxing is rising so high so quickly.

CHARLIE WOODS

Unhelpful and unhealthy as it might be to gawk at the early results of a superstar’s child, it is fun to note the success of Tiger’s cub. The kid, just 11, is bludgeoning his rivals for fun. He has won his past two ninehole tournaments in Florida by a combined margin of eight strokes, going four under through 18. He might not get 15 majors, but he’s already 15 streets ahead of most of us.

NOT ROGER GOODELL

The NFL Commissioner says he wished the league had listened earlier to Colin Kaepernick when he began protesting during the national anthem in 2016. He also recognises it was not ‘about the flag’ and that ‘these are not people who are unpatriotic’. Stop the clock, Rog has finally got it.

DIAMOND LEAGUE

It is rare that folk in athletics agree, so congratulations to the misguided souls at the Stockholm Diamond League meet who came up with an innovation so bad that even the one guy who benefited loathed it. Their long jump event parted with the norm of rewarding the best jump across six rounds, and instead determined the winner by the best jump in the sixth. Ruswahl Samaai won with the third best leap of the day and thought it was nonsense.

RONALD KOEMAN

The good news, Ronald, is that you’ve been given keys to the greatest car ever built. The bad is that it’s missing three wheels and there’s a very strong chance the super engine won’t start for you. In fact it wants out. Enjoy.