WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT

HOT

DOM BESS

TO PARAPHRASE one of club cricket’s favourite truisms: bad balls get wickets. So for second-rate spinners, like yours truly, it was comforting to see that occasionally applies at the top, too. Bess’s five-for against Sri Lanka won’t make any coaching compilations, but who cares? Bowling spin can be a thankless task. He deserves a slice of luck. Or five.

SCOTT PARKER

THE Fulham boss may have struck a dud note when he fumed over football’s ‘scandalous’ scheduling during times like these. But don’t let that distract from the job he is doing on the pitch. The midweek comeback at Tottenham was the latest evidence of a side reshaped and re-energised.

FRANCESCA JONES

BRILLIANT to see an uplifting British singles tennis tale after a miserable 2020 French Open. Jones, who has only three fingers on each hand — and three toes on her right foot — will tackle her maiden major after storming through Australian Open qualifying.

NOT

TIM PAINE

FOLLOWING sandpaper-gate, coach Justin Langer has rebuilt Australian cricket on flimsy foundations like ‘elite honesty’ and ‘elite mateship’ (no, me neither). And after Paine abused Ravichandran Ashwin, Langer praised his captain’s ‘courage’ for apologising. The baggy green is shielding this bunch from reality. Words never mean more than actions. No matter how catchy.

GOLF BOSSES

OH, the courage. The R&A and the PGA of America have disowned Donald Trump — neither the US PGA Championship nor the Open will head to his courses. As with those Republicans fleeing a sinking ship, it feels rather too little, too late. Golf should have stopped indulging the American President well before last week’s insurrection.

PREMIER LEAGUE GOALSCORERS

LET’S be clear, footballers celebrating goals is little more than a convenient distraction for politicians. Frank Lampard is right — players act on instinct. But couldn’t more look like they’re trying to show restraint? Even if just to improve ‘optics’ and curb Westminster’s faux outrage.