Mass clearout of England leadership not in ECB plans after Ashes failure

The England and Wales Cricket Board is eager to avoid a mass ­clearout of England’s senior leadership in the wake of another humiliating away Ashes series defeat.England’s hopes of winning the urn were expunged inside 11 days for just the fourth time in the contest’s 143-year history with Sunday’s 82-run defeat in Adelaide, and a fourth Ashes whitewash is on the cards in Melbourne and Sydney, unless the tourists can arrest a dismal 18-match run without a win in Australia that stretches back to 2011.A full review of the tour’s planning and execution will take place following the final Test next month when jobs could be on the line, with Brendon McCullum’s position as head coach expected to come under the most scrutiny.The Guardian has been told that the ECB do not want to repeat the mass cull that followed their 4-0 defeat in Australia four years ago, however, when coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles were sacked the following month, with Joe Root resigning as captain following another series defeat in the West Indies two months later.While changes could still be made depending on the outcome of the rest of the tour, the ECB believes that mass sackings would be a mistake and leave England less well-placed to learn the lessons of the tour

Dan Frost freezes out Newcastle to put dominant Bath back on top of Prem

Bath returned to the summit of the Prem, ruthlessly exposing the gulf between top and bottom at Kingston Park. Despite resting several front-liners, including Finn Russell, they ran in eight tries against Newcastle to bounce back emphatically from last week’s Champions Cup defeat in Toulon.They simply had too much firepower for Newcastle who were shut out for the last 53 minutes of the game.If there was a disparity between the starting lineups, the bench mis-match was colossal and Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, rubbed it in by introducing all eight of his replacements in one fell swoop with 25 minutes to go.It was a shock and awe move with Sam Underhill, Ted Hill and Thomas du Toit emerging from the fog and Bath, leading 33-14 at the time, eased away with three more fine tries to reach their half-century

My surf addiction didn’t need more fuel. Then I found the WSL third-tier live stream | Kieran Pender

At first, it seemed like a natural progression. I have long been a surf fan, I regularly write about the World Surf League Championship Tour, and once even tried my hand in a local surf competition. And so in recent years, during breaks between top-tier WSL events, I found myself glued to live streams for the second tier, the Challenger Series.Only this year, the WSL wrapped up in September, and the Challenger Series had major gaps in its schedule. And that was how I found myself addicted to third-tier surfing, the WSL Qualifying Series (QS)

Arrogant England’s cricket machine collapses like a castle of dust in 11 days | Barney Ronay

So this is Christmas. And what have we done? The Ashes is over. With two Tests still to comeWhen the moment finally came the visuals were perfect: clean lines, neat angles, figures picked out in crisp afternoon sun against the almost satirical splendour of Adelaide Oval.Scott Boland took the final wicket to seal Australia’s unassailable 3-0 Ashes series lead, the 74th time this moment has been played out down the centuries, and immediately the white shapes converged to form a bobbing huddle. England’s batters stood in an attitude of formal deflation

Stokes vows to remain England captain as McCullum admits regret over Ashes preparations

As Ben Stokes stressed his commitment to leading England after losing the Ashes inside 11 days, Brendon McCullum gave his first admission of regret. Poor preparation has been widely blamed for this failed tour of Australia and, in that regard, the head coach was prepared to hold his hand up.Speaking after the 82-run defeat at Adelaide Oval that took Australia 3-0 up with two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney to come, Stokes offered a simple “absolutely” when asked if he had the energy to continue as captain but played down England’s threadbare warm-up period.“That dream that we came here with is now over, which is obviously incredibly disappointing,” said Stokes, at the ground where he made his Test debut 12 years ago. “I hate living in hindsight because you can never change what you have done

Dominant Australia defeat England in third Test to retain Ashes – as it happened

With the third Test wrapped up, I’ll do likewise. Thanks for your company throughout five (!) thrilling days of Test cricket and see you all in Melbourne.Ali Martin has delivered his match report.And Geoff Lemon has written about Pat Cummins and his Ashes legacy. Enjoy!Having wrapped up the series in 11 days and retained the Ashes in ruthless fashion, Australia will have a very merry Christmas indeed