Ben Duckett would accept 3-0 series defeat if England beat India in Champions Trophy final

Ben Duckett does not care if England endure a series whitewash in India, so long as he and his teammates beat the same opponents in the final of the Champions Trophy.England lost their fourth consecu­tive one-day international series on Sunday as India went 2-0 up with a four-wicket win in Cuttack, Rohit Sharma the headliner with a 90-ball 119. One game remains in Ahmedabad on Wednesday before the focus turns to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, with England’s campaign beginning against Australia on 22 February.“We have come here for one thing, and that is to win the Champions Trophy,” Duckett said. “We still believe we can do that

Tom Brady, TV’s No 1 jaw, oozed stagnant charisma in Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast

This was the biggest test yet in the former New England Patriots quarterback’s fledgling television career, and the results were not prettyThe weeks leading up to this Super Bowl saw a predictable swirl of questions about the on- and off-field direction of America’s big game. Could the Philadelphia Eagles neutralize the golden arm of Patrick Mahomes? Would Travis Kelce commit elder abuse against Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid again? How would the crowd react to the presence of the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl? Might half-time show headliner Kendrick Lamar use the big stage to provide further insight into the content of Drake’s character? And would Sunday night cap the successful conclusion of Tom Brady’s years-long search for a personality, or would he remain the same on-screen plank who’s shout-talked his way through his first season as Fox’s top football analyst?As ever, however, a bigger question hung over these small opportunities for speculation: would it be any good? As a game, as a spectacle, as a raw demonstration of American ingenuity and might, would Super Bowl LIX have the juice?Well, now we have the answer: it would not. A non-entity as a contest and a televisual flop, this Super Bowl will live long in the memory of no one but fans of the Eagles. This was a Super Bowl so galactically bad that even Donald Trump – whose appearance at the event took on the sheen of a victory lap after a years-long culture war with the NFL essentially ended with the league’s surrender, and who drew cheers whenever he was shown on the screens inside Caesars Superdome – left early to beat the traffic. The president, perhaps embarrassed by his pre-game selection of the Chiefs as likeliest victors, exited the building on the stroke of half-time, conveniently missing the pointedly “political” performance that Lamar dished up during the intermission

‘A lovely sweet kid’: tributes paid to John Cooney after Irish boxer’s death

John Cooney, the young Irish boxer who has died after a title fight in Belfast, has been described by the former world champion Barry McGuigan as a “lovely sweet kid” whose life was “snapped away”.As a condolence book was opened at Belfast’s Ulster Hall, his manager Mark Dunlop said the death was “a complete tragedy”.McGuigan told BBC Ulster it was “terrifying that this could happen to a 28-year-old kid who was looking in the prime of his life”.“He was just a lovely, sweet kid. Ambitious, determined and driven

Travis Kelce declines to address retirement rumours after Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss

Travis Kelce did not address rumours that he intends to retire as he contemplated his team’s heavy defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl.The Kansas City Chiefs star will turn 36 at the start of next season, an age at which most NFL players have long since retired, and he has already built a lucrative off-field career, which includes a series of endorsements and a wildly popular podcast with his brother, Jason.Kelce did not attend the postgame press conference in the Superdome after the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Eagles but did briefly answer questions in the locker room. “We haven’t played that bad all year,” said Kelce. “[We] just couldn’t find that spark, couldn’t find that momentum

Patrick Mahomes was chasing Super Bowl history. He left humbled and harassed

The Chiefs may well contend for the championship again next season. But Sunday’s loss to the Eagles exposed problems that had been there all yearSome losses sting. Others echo throughout a career. The Philadelphia Eagles pummeled the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, ending any hope of a historic three-peat. It was a humbling

England win has fans dreaming again as Borthwick’s plans come together | Robert Kitson

After it was all over on Saturday night, England’s players peeled away to seek out their loved ones in the stands. Fin Smith’s parents, Andrew and Judith, were awaiting their match-winning boy and the shared family embrace, when it came, was among the more heartwarming things you’ll see in sport all year. All those unsung hours on school and club touchlines, all those youthful ups and downs, distilled into a tight group hug of the purest emotional joy.In a strange way it also captured the tangled charm of the Six Nations. Andrew Smith is a proud Scot who met his wife – whose father Tom represented Scotland and the British & Irish Lions – at a post-match curry night in the clubhouse at London Scottish