Welcome to Duncanville: why the road to the NBA runs through Dallas

Another season, another name, another kid from Dallas. At street level, the city appears to be like any other – yet it continues to produce league-shaping NBA players. The main highway through Dallas cleaves down the middle of Texas. Taking it south brings you closer to the center of the state’s basketball talent pool. The road slopes downward as the city’s cosmopolitan polish thins out, neighborhoods split cleanly from downtown by sun-baked concrete and beige

The Spin | Ricky Ponting’s prescient call and the joy of being a cricket soothsayer

Have you ever accurately predicted what will happen on a cricket pitch before the ball has been bowled? It’s an incredible feeling. That moment when you glance at the field, remember who’s on strike and think: “Here comes the short ball,” only for it to arrive, be pulled and then safely pouched by the fielder you had mentally circled at deep square. For a split second you feel omniscient. Like you’ve cracked the code. Cricket, more than any other sport, invites this kind of clairvoyance

‘Pay up’: Rory McIlroy delivers Ryder Cup warning to LIV pair Hatton and Rahm

Rory McIlroy has challenged Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm to demonstrate their commitment to the Ryder Cup cause by settling fines for their LIV Golf participation.McIlroy pointed towards motivation used by Europe during victory at Bethpage last September after it emerged the United States players were paid to play in the Ryder Cup.The switches of Rahm and Hatton to LIV has drawn fines – totalling several million pounds – due to tournament conflict with the DP World Tour, where both remain members. Both golfers launched appeals against the sanctions in 2024 but the cases are still to he heard. Rahm has been adamant he will not pay fines

Significant sexual safety problem for women working in elite UK sport, says survey

There is a significant sexual safety problem for women working in elite sport in the UK, according to a survey, with 88% of respondents reporting they had been the target of at least one form of sexual misconduct in the past five years and five people (2%) saying they had been raped in work-related contexts outside the main workplace in that period.The report published on Wednesday, titled Women’s Experiences of Sexual Misconduct Working in UK Elite Sport, invited members of the Women’s Sport Collective to take part in the study anonymously and 260 people responded. Participants included administrators, coaches, current and former athletes, TV producers, lawyers and physios.The statistics make for grim reading, with 87% saying they had been the target of at least one form of sexual harassment and 40% reporting they had been the target of at least one form of sexual assault. For the study, sexual misconduct was broken into three categories: harassment, assault and rape

‘Head held high’: Raducanu refuses to be critical after early Australian Open exit

Emma Raducanu refused to be too critical of herself after crashing out in the second round of the Australian Open because of her injury-ravaged preparation for the tournament.The British 28th seed had been hoping to set up another meeting with the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka but she faded from a promising position and fell to a 7-6 (3), 6-2 defeat against Anastasia Potapova.“I don’t want to give myself too much of a hard time because I know my preparation going into this tournament,” she said. “I have to leave with my head held high because of the matches I’ve had here. I didn’t even know at the beginning if I would be coming to Australia, so it’s a positive in that sense

‘It’s not acceptable’: Brook admits he’s lucky to be captain after bouncer altercation

Harry Brook has admitted he is fortunate to still be England’s white-ball captain after clashing with a nightclub bouncer the night before a one-day international against New Zealand, adding that he has “work to do to try to regain the trust of the players”.As reported in the Telegraph this month, Brook was in an altercation on the eve of England’s third ODI on the tour of New Zealand which led into the Ashes. Overseeing his first away series as the side’s limited-overs captain, Brook reported the incident to team management before receiving a fine reportedly close to £30,000 while keeping his job.The England and Wales Cricket Board said it dealt with the matter “through a formal and confidential ECB disciplinary process. The player involved has apologised and acknowledged their conduct fell below expectations on this occasion