2006 ... adieu Zizou, tschüss Schumi, laters Warney

The year just gone by has seen three of the world's greatest ever sportsmen retire. There can hardly have been a time in history when three of the best exponents of their craft have all quit at the same time, bowing out at the top.

Here are the facts, the simple facts which underline the brilliance of this terrific trio:

ZINEDINE ZIDANE



• Winner, 1998 World Cup - scores first two goals in 3-0 win over Brazil - France's first ever World Cup triumph, on home soil to boot.

• Winner, 2000 European Championships - scores crucial goals in quarter-final and semi-final wins en route to the 2-1 extra-time victory over Italy.

• Winner, 2002 Champions League - scores winner in 2-1 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen - a sublime left-foot volley, one of the finest goals ever to grace a European Cup final.

• Runner-up, 2006 World Cup - comes out of international retirement to inspire France all the way to the final, nonchalantly scoring a penalty in 1-1 draw before being undone by the gamesmanship and deceitfulness of the malicious Marco Materazzi, getting sent off as France lose 5-3 on penalties to Italy.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER



• 7 world championships (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) - more than any other driver in Formula 1 history.

• 91 race wins (from 250 grand prix starts) - more wins than any other driver in Formula 1 history.

• 68 pole positions - more poles than any other driver in Formula 1 history.

• World championship runner-up twice - 1998 and 2006.

SHANE WARNE

    

• Winner, 1999 World Cup - bowls Australia to 8 wicket win over Pakistan in final at Lord's - takes 4-33 to earn man-of-the-match award.

• Runner-up, 1996 World Cup - picks up 12 wickets to guide Australia to final, going on to lose to Sri Lanka by 7 wickets.

• 706 Test wickets - more than any other bowler in history.

• 3,083 Test runs - greatest number of runs without scoring a century.

Warney, Schumi, Zizou, thanks for the memories! The world of sport will be all the poorer for your retiring.

You sixy things!

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his sixth goal in three games to send Manchester United six points clear at the top of the Premiership.

United's closest challengers Chelsea, meanwhile, conceded their sixth goal of the festive period to slump to a second successive home draw and their fourth in eight in the league.

Elsewhere there were wins for Blackburn, Bolton, Charlton, Everton, Liverpool and Man City; while at Vicarage Road Watford's clash with Wigan was abandoned just before the hour due to a waterlogged pitch.



What a day it's been! Saddam swinging, United winning, Chelsea drawing ... and rain stopping play in a football match!!!

Watch highlights of all 10 of today's games on Match of the Day tonight on BBC One at 10:45, repeated tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Going ... going ... hung!

So long, farewell, I hope you burn in Hell!!!

For the unofficial video of Saddam's execution, check out The Phantom's website; and for the view from the other side take at look at "Iron" Mike's site and this well though out piece from stroppyblog.

As for gormless George, 'ol Galloway has dried the tears from his eyes and come up with this gut-wrenching drivel. We can but pray that some time soon he too will be held to account ...

Burn, Ba'athist burn!

    

Read it and weep, Galloway, read it and fucking weep, you piece of shit.

A fantastic day for the people of Iraq, to rank alongside April 9th 2003 (fall of Baghdad) and December 13th that same year (capture of Saddam). Be in no doubt as to the guilt of Saddam Hussein and all his lackeys; we can but hope that one day they too will be brought to justice ...

The free world owes a debt of gratitude to the British and American troops and their brave leaders who have made this possible.

Tony Blair and George Bush, democrats everywhere salute you!

I'll leave the final word to Nouri Maliki, the first ever democratically elected Prime Minister in Iraqi history: "No-one can oppose the decision to execute the criminal Saddam.

"Those who reject the execution of Saddam are undermining the dignity of Iraq's martyrs."

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (1937-2006)

Poms in need of emergency help as Warne hits 999

    

Melbourne, Fourth Test, Third Day: England 159 & 161 (Lee 4-47, Clark 3-30) lost to Australia 419 (Symonds 156, Hayden 153; Mahmood 4-100) by an innings and 99 runs

England suffered the ignominy of an innings defeat inside three days as Australia completed a perfect ten for 2006 to remain on course for the first Ashes whitewash since 1921.

Shane Warne once again was the star of the show, scoring an unbeaten 40 and snaring Sajid Mahmood and Steve Harmison to clock up 999 international wickets on this his final appearance at the MCG.

It was Australia's tenth win out of ten this calendar year, their 15th success out of the 16 Tests they've played since losing the urn in 2005; while for England the current series represents their worst run by some distance for many years.

The raising of the white flag was as swift as it was predictable: not one England batsman scoring more than 31, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood once again flattering to deceive, with even Kevin Pietersen among those to throw his wicket away - clean bowled by the impressive Stuart Clark for a solitary run despite having been promoted up the order.

With morale at an all time low and the attitude of the players leaving much to be desired, England are in need of some urgent assistance ...

    

... time to put in that S.O.S. call to Springfield and get Superintendent Chalmers and his fixer Leopold to whip this lamentable bunch of preening Prima Donnas into shape!

Merry Christmas!!! It can only get better in 2007, can't it!?! ;-)

Catch the third day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:10, and watch The Simpsons on Channel Four this afternoon from 5:00 to 6:00

EXCLUSIVE: England's Ashes plans revealed

Hot on the heels of England's bowling plans for the Fourth Test being leaked, I can now bring you full details of the other dossier they tried to keep quiet: the secret plan to surrender the Ashes.

PREPARATION



• Embark on a 15,000 mile round trip from India to Australia via England, as opposed to the 6,500 mile direct route from the Champions Trophy to Oz. As illustrated, the flightpath from London to Canberra practically goes over Ahmedabad!

• Play only two three-day games and a one-dayer against the Prime Minister's XI before the Test series begins.

• Allow 14 players to feature in one of the three-dayers, thus stripping the contest of any credibility whatsoever, and in the only other non-international match of the tour - between the Second and Third Tests - allow 12 men to play.

MANAGEMENT



• Keep faith in Duncan Fletcher, despite his poor record since regaining the Ashes.

• Leave team selection not to the England and Wales Cricket Board, not even to the coach, but to a "management committee" made up of Fletcher, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones.

• Wrong on so many levels! Had Marcus Trescothick not quit the tour, Collingwood probably wouldn't have played - and as for Geraint Jones, do the powers that be need a bloody slide-rule to figure out why that's a joke???

CAPTAINCY

    

• Appoint Andrew Flintoff (record as skipper prior to the Ashes tour: P6 W2 D2 L2) as captain at the expense of Andrew Strauss (record in charge: P4 W3 D1 L0).

• Overburden Flintoff: new-ball strike bowler, destructive middle-order batsman and now captain, using Strauss solely as an opener.

SELECTION

• Pick Ashley Giles, despite having not played in over a year, instead of Monty Panesar, for non-bowling reasons.

      

• Select Geraint Jones to keep wicket at the expense of Chris Read, because he can bat better. Allegedly.

TACTICS

• Allow Flintoff to bowl himself into the ground, while giving his fellow bowlers little of the ball.

• Set defensive fields, enabling the Australia batsmen to play themsleves into form and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

• Don't pressurise new batsmen with men round the bat while bowling a tight line of good length.

Any more reasons why England relinquished the urn? If you can think of them, let me know - or better still, let the ECB know!

Australia make Hay while the Sym shines

Melbourne, Fourth Test, Second Day: Australia 372/7
(Symonds 154*, Hayden 153; Flintoff 3-77) v England 159

Australia made a mockery of England's pathetic first innings total as Andrew Symonds and Matty Hayden struck big centuries to keep the hosts on course for a whitewash.

The pair came together with Australia teetering at 84 for 5 following some good early work from the England quicks and put on a massive 279 runs for the sixth wicket.

    

Hayden's ton was his fifth Ashes century and 27th overall, moving him up to joint seventh in the all-time list and level with Allan Border - from 68 fewer Tests.

For fellow Queenslander Symonds it was century number one at this level - to go alongside his five one day international hundreds - brought up in style with a mammoth straight six off Paul Collingwood.

England now find themselves 213 runs adrift and facing the very real possibility of their first innings defeat for 14 Tests.

Catch the second day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:20, and listen to live coverage of day three on Radio 4 198LW and the
BBC Sport website from 11:30.

Five-star Warne in 700th heaven

Melbourne, Fourth Test, First Day: Australia 48/2 v England 159 (Strauss 50; Warne 5-39)

Shane Warne bagged his 700th Test wicket as Australia took control on day one of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Fittingly, Andrew Strauss was victim no. 700, the opener falling to Warne for the eighth time in 17 Ashes innings having just passed 50 - the only England batsman to exert the scorers.

    

Chris Read, Steve Harmison, Kevin Pietersen and Monty Panesar also fell to Warne as England capitulated having earlier won the toss and chosen, quite inexplicably, to bat first in overcast conditions with a slow, wet outfield which yielded only nine boundaries as the visitors crawled along at 2.14 an over.

Glen McGrath joined in the fun by snaring Sajid Mahmood for a duck - picking up his 150th Ashes wicket - while Brett Lee and Stuart Clark grabbed two scalps apiece to dismiss England for a paltry 159.



But it was Shane Warne, playing on his home ground in his penultimate Test match in front of the highest recorded Test attendance anywhere in the world of 100,000 who stole the show.

Catch the first day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:00, and listen to live coverage of day two on Radio 4 198LW and the BBC Sport website from 11:30.

Godfather of soul, Rest in peace

Legendary soul singer James Brown is dead. He was 73 years old.

Here are a couple of his classics. First up, I feel Good:



And now a legendary performance of Sex Machine:



Class! Oh yeah! :)

James Brown (1933-2006)

Shane Warne, man of the millennium

Just two Tests left for the greatest bowler of all time. Here is that ball to Gatting:



I feel privileged to have watched the great man in action on numerous occasions. Four Ashes tours, the World Cup final of 1999, the tsunami match ... so many memories!

Warney, we'll miss you mate!!!

Goodbye, Joe!

    

Joseph Barbera, one half of the great cartoon double act Hanna Barbera, has died aged 95.

Among the great shows created by the Americans were
Captain Caveman, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear,
The Smurfs, The Jetsons and Wacky Races - featuring the indomitable Dick Dastardly and Muttley!

    

    

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera also dreamt up The Flintstones and Top Cat ...

    

... Yes he's a chief, he's a king, but above everything,
He's the most tip top, Top Cat!

Jospeh Barbera (1911-2006)

The HighVeld history makers

India have won a Test Match in South Africa for the first time ever, beating the Proteas by 123 runs with a day to spare.

VVS Laxman (28 & 73) and returning hero Saurav Ganguly (51 & 25) scored the runs while Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (5-40 & 3-59) and veteran spinner Anil Kumble (2-2 & 3-54) delivered with the ball to put India 1-0 up with two Tests to play.



The win extended Rahul Dravid's good run of results as captain - only two defeats in his last 14 Tests in charge.

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Meanwhile, Sri Lanka drew their series against New Zealand with a crushing 217 run win in Wellington - Muttiah Muralitharan picking up his 19th ten wicket haul in Tests.

Murali's second innings analysis of 6-87 was also the 57th occasion he's taken five or more wickets in a Test innings, as he spun Sri Lanka to a
1-1 draw.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye ...

Perth, Third Test, Fifth Day: England 215 & 350 (Cook 116,
Bell 87, Pietersen 60, Flintoff 51; Warne 4-115, Clark 2-56) lost to Australia 244 & 527/5 dec. by 206 runs

Australia have regained the Ashes. Was there really ever any doubt? England held the urn for just 463 days - the shortest period ever in the history of the Ashes.

15 months on from that magical day at the Oval, 15 days of Test cricket later, and England surrendered the oldest prize in the sport shortly after lunch on the final day.

Shane Warne (who else?) triggered the downfall, superbly bowling Andrew Flintoff, bamboozling Geraint Jones into getting himself run out and trapping Steve Harmison lbw.

    

Then, two balls after lunch, Warne clean bowled Monty Panesar to win back the Ashes - the world's number one bowler picking up his 699th Test wicket in the process.

With all hope lost, England's last five wickets fell for a paltry 14 runs, a collapse reminiscent of the old days.

For England, the inquest will follow in due course. At the moment, let us just marvel at the brilliance, the sheer, unadulterated class of Australia:

16 Tests without defeat, dating back to England's thrilling fourth innings run chase at Trent Bridge; 14 wins in their last 15 Tests; 10 Test wins on the spin, 9 wins out of 9 this calendar year; 23 series without defeat;
14 years since their last home series defeat ...



What price now a 5-0 series whitewash?

Catch the final day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:20, or watch them now on the BBC Sport website - if you can stomach it, that is!

Cook's brilliance undone by McGrath's late burst

Perth, Third Test, Fourth Day: England 215 & 265/5 (Cook 116, Bell 87, Pietersen 37*; McGrath 2-50) v
Australia 244 & 527/5 dec.

Alastair Cook scored a magnificent century - his first against Australia - to give England hope on the penultimate day's play at the WACA.

But Cook's dismissal three overs from the end signalled the beginning of the end as Glen McGrath showed once more why he's still a force to be reckoned with, teasing an edge out of Cook and yorking nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard just minutes later.

    

Cook's fourth Test century - the most ever for England by someone so young - took six and a half hours and 290 balls to compile, and was exactly what was required in the circumstances.

    

Ably assisted by Ian Bell, the pair put on a record second wicket partnership at the WACA of 170 runs before Bell fell just 13 short of a century, undone by a Shane Warne special.

With Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff at the crease, there's just the slimmest of possibilities England will retain the Ashes ...



... but with another 292 runs required to win, or more likely a minimum of 540 balls to be negotiated for the draw, the Aussies are seemingly just hours away from getting their grubby mitts back on the urn.

Catch the fourth day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:00, and listen to live coverage of day five on Radio 4 198LW and the BBC Sport website from 2:30am.

'Ol Gil pummels Poms to take hosts to brink of glory

Perth, Third Test, Third Day: England 215 & 19/1 v Australia 244 & 527/5 dec. (Clarke 135*. Hussey 103, Gilchrist 102*,
Hayden 92, Ponting 75; Panesar 3-145)

Adam Gilchrist struck the second fastest century in Test history to put Australia within touching distance of the Ashes.

Gilchrist's 57 ball, run-a-minute hundred was the quickest ever by an Australian, and took just one ball more than Viv Richards's 80 minute, 56 ball ton 20 years ago - also against England, also on his home ground.

    

The left-hander's innings lit up the third day, with Monty Panesar coming in for the harshest treatment. Gilchrist struck 24 runs off one Monty over - .26646 - and raced away to his second fifty off just 17 balls.

The world's best wicketkeeper/batsman has now struck a world record 97 sixes in Test cricket, in addition to 123 in One Day Internationals.

Below is the wagon wheel of Gilchrist's innings:



Also in the runs on the middle day of the 2006/7 Ashes were the not out overnight batsmen Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden, who scored 75 and 92 respectively ...

      

... while Michael Hussey (103) and Michael Clarke (135 not out) will consider themselves unlucky to have their centuries overshadowed by Gilchrist's heroics.

For England the equation is simple: Chase down a world record fourth innings winning score of 557 or pray for rain or bat out 180 overs; otherwise say goodbye to the urn.

Catch the third day's highlights tonight on BBC Two at 11:00, and listen to live coverage of day four on Radio 4 198LW and the
BBC Sport website from 2:30am.