I went to play cricket in Corfu and it turned out rather unexpected.

“A lot of people think: ‘What is this guy doing?’ But the money is so good and it’s an easy lifestyle. I’m my own boss.” Meet the cyclists earning more competing virtually from their own living rooms than they did as top-tier road-racing professionals.

The Enhanced Games is dangerous, exploitative and those in charge could not care less about sport. It is all about money, and to hell with the consequences.

What does all this cricket mean?

Last month, I wrote about the world's greatest air hockey player. Now, it's on to tug of war (where England/Britain this weekend bid for an unprecedented golden summer). To think I got ditched from my last job because athletics is supposedly too niche...

Ahead of Sunday’s finals, an overview of The Hundred season in a series of exactly 100-word sections. A task that started off oddly enjoyable and ended with a wish to never again count words.

Seamus Derbyshire's story is important, because sport is for everyone. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

This season, eight players have emerged from the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) to earn professional contracts, including four in the past month alone. A huge success story that tells a deeper tale.

Two sets of worried fans turned up. Now there is only one. Brilliantly drilled Brentford, woefully impotent Aston Villa.

There are 14 sets of brothers playing first-team county cricket this season.

Ignored by the masses, but adored by a select few. Meet Colin Cummings, the greatest air hockey player of all time.

A once-great competition pushed to English cricket’s unloved margins. Welcome to the One-Day Cup in 2025.

A couple of harsh decisions went against them, but plenty to hearten Birmingham fans after a dominant start to what they hope will be a Premier League promotion campaign. Match report from Birmingham City 1-1 Ipswich Town.

Mid-season upheavals are avoided in athletics, but last month Dina Asher-Smith left her American coaching setup and returned to London. Now happy again, she claimed the British 200m title in a time quick enough for last year’s Olympic podium.

With none of GB’s five Olympic medalists contesting their primary event this weekend, it’s over to the next generation to shine at UK Championships. Step forward Max Burgin, Molly Caudery, Amber Anning, Charlie Dobson and the rest…

- Zharnel Hughes misses his aunt’s funeral to win British 100m title. - Amy Hunt clocks another PB after harsh Daryll Neita DQ. - Molly Caudery says Olympic pole vault disaster is forgotten history.

Over the first half of this year, the Professional Cricketers’ Association referred 79 cases for mental health treatment, putting it on track for its highest ever annual figure. Is there a link between cricket and depression? And if so, then why?

Georgia Hunter Bell will next week ask to be selected for the 800m and 1,500m at the World Championships. But actually contesting both events is another matter.

The Wrexham Effect: How non-league football became glamorous (with Hollywood’s help) Celebrities, publicity-hungry entrepreneurs, social media gurus, foreign investors and an attendance increase of almost 50% in five years

“It’s not good. There is no point in pretending this is a satisfactory situation.” Seb Coe says World Athletics is closely monitoring Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track with athletes still waiting to be paid.

The Hundred is accentuating a "yawning gap" between county cricket's rich and poor. But it's also providing clubs a lifeline for their survival.

What does a 1500m specialist do when they cannot stop winning over 800m? Georgia Hunter Bell could attempt an audacious World Championships double. It depends what Kelly Holmes (the last woman to win Olympic 800m and 1500m gold) says.

Positivity has been in short supply for athletics in Britain over recent years. It would be great to have it stay.

This week, Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become the first woman ever to run a mile in under 4 minutes. It's contrived and won't count as an official time... but it's compelling and great for the sport. Read the whole @athleticsweekly.com piece here: athleticsweekly.com/news/opinion...

While England's Test bowlers battle India with the country's traditional Dukes ball, their county counterparts are spending the next few red-ball games using a Kookaburra. It's all in the hope of generating more spin and greater speed.

“If it doesn’t deliver the results we want then we, the counties, have only got ourselves to blame.” The latest review of English domestic cricket enters its next phase this week. But will it leave anyone happy?

In any other era, Shoaib Bashir and Will Smeed might be seeking alternative occupation. Instead, they embody a very modern cricketing phenomenon: prospering around the world, but yearning for a chance at home.

Halfway through the County Championship season, a look at how everyone is faring… with ‘little’ Leicestershire flourishing and winless Lancashire in need of a coach and captain.

Sarah Roberts had never run in her life until she turned 67. Now she's the fastest 75-year-old woman in history. I went for a run with the extraordinary grandmother who holds every 75+ world record from 800m to 10km (she can also plank for 10 minutes).

Why are netball umpires paid to officiate on local park courts, but only given expenses when overseeing the elite? A piece for @observeruk.bsky.social on the success - and teething problems - of the relaunched 'Netball Super League 2.0'.

Ahead of this weekend's World Relay Championships, a chat with Asha Philip for @athleticsweekly.com... on guiding Britain's next sprint generation, TV presenting at the Paris Olympics and potential retirement plans (not yet). athleticsweekly.com/news/the-gui...

A debut outing for @wisdenalmanack.bsky.social, on whether county members owning clubs is (or could soon be) nearing an end.

Did you know: The average London Marathon runner brings 5.4 people to watch and the average watching person goes to 2.2 locations. How the London Marathon grew from a pipe dream into the world's biggest marathon, for the new @observeruk.bsky.social

Mikel Arteta will have spent more arduous Easter Sundays attempting to hunt hidden chocolate eggs. Report from Ipswich 0-4 Arsenal.

For so much of this match, Watford did a mighty job against Premier League-bound, clean-sheet titans Burnley. Then they had two men sent off. Game over. Match report from Watford 1-2 Burnley.

Usain Bolt appeared on Justin Gatlin's podcast recently. It was captivating, but also a bit strange. Is it naive to think that everyone in sport possesses the same disdain for dopers? Read the full piece in the latest @athleticsweekly.com here: pocketmags.com/athletics-we...

“They say if you shoot for the moon, you reach the stars. But occasionally you end up at the bottom of the ocean.” Held hostage by a disreputable owner who doesn't care, Reading fans are clinging onto the club they love. A cautionary tale for English football.

“We don’t have an ice track and we’re still beating them. It’s a kick in the teeth for everyone else.” GB have skeleton gold and silver-medal favourites for next year’s Winter Olympics. Yet there’s not a single ice track in Britain. So what’s the secret?

“I want to finish my track career on my terms, not epilepsy’s.” Last summer, near the end of the European 10,000m final, Olympian Jess Warner-Judd collapsed on the track and suffered two seizures. It’s been a rollercoaster, but now she’s back.

“Five days after I learned I was pregnant, I found out on TV that I was to become Zimbabwe’s sports minister. It was a surprise.” From the archives: A 2019 interview with the newly elected IOC president Kirsty Coventry. It’s been a big six years since.

More and more Brits are ditching the Cheltenham Festival to watch horse racing’s biggest week in Benidorm instead. I went to find out why. It was quite something.

A penalty shootout, a wonder strike, an extraordinary red card (punch, kick, head-butt combo) and the very worst of video officiating. That will teach the television companies for making this the only FA Cup fifth-round tie not chosen for broadcast.

Billionaires, bitcoin and a bitter battle over Bedford’s football clubs. A delve into the compelling story (and likely merger) of Real Bedford and Bedford Town - and everything it says about the changing world of non-league football.

Fabian Hurzeler said his Brighton side were "the lucky winner" in the battle between two unlikely European-chasing clubs. Match report from Brighton 2-1 Bournemouth.

A familiar story all round: Two more Alexander Isak goals and a gallant, but futile, Southampton defeat. Match report from Newcastle's 3-1 win on the south coast.

“You’d think the death of two individuals would cause outcry. But it hasn’t.” On the sixth anniversary of Emiliano Sala’s death, an exclusive interview with Cardiff City’s chairman, who is urging a crackdown on football’s shady transfer industry.

It might sound like a joke, but a World Treadmill Championships would be good for athletics. A column for @athleticsweekly.bsky.social. Read the latest issue here: pocketmags.com/athletics-we...

Southampton are surely doomed. But there was some rare encouragement in this performance, even if new manager Ivan Juric did urge his players to be "more like bastards". Match report from West Ham's 1-0 win over Southampton.

At midday on December 28, my friend Dan and I are scoring in all 137 (yep, that is bizarrely correct) goals at Hackney Marshes. And everyone is invited. Come and join us. Bring a football. Full details below.

Trying to find a Christmas present for the cricket-lover in your life? Search no more: - Cricket Writers' Club Book of the Year, shortlisted - "Excellent piece of journalism," The Cricketer - "Sensational. Some achievement," Test Match Special Buy here: linktr.ee/BattingForTime