The Spin | Intriguing and deep list of overseas stars head for County Championship

Those of us lucky enough to watch county cricket in the 1980s, with a packet of Salt’n’Shake in one hand and an autograph book in the other, could tick off Viv Richards at Somerset, Malcolm Marshall at Hampshire, Michael Holding at Derbyshire (imagine!) and Courtney Walsh at Gloucestershire in only a couple of games. And that was just for starters.The growth of franchise cricket means that players at the peak of their powers will rarely now sign on the dotted line to spend their entire summer in northern climes perfecting their red-ball skills. But the appeal remains, like a sudden blast of Madonna’s Into the Groove from a passing car as you wait for the lights to change. The 2025 County Championship overseas roster is an intriguing one

The NBA’s tank-off isn’t just embarrassing. It’s unnecessary

A third of the league is tanking with a third of the season remaining, creating a lose-lose situation for the NBA, its fans and TV partners. What’s the fix? The Toronto Raptors aren’t new to losing. But they are new to whatever this is.After taking over as the Raptors’ president of basketball operations in 2013, Masai Ujiri refused to embrace the blatant, in-your-face tanking that Sam Hinkie and the “process” Philadelphia 76ers were busy popularizing during that same era, instead opting to build from the middle. “I’m not sure the karma is great when you do stuff like that,” Ujiri said about tanking

From the Pocket: Andrew Krakouer blazed his own trail beyond family history and football feats

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains the name and images of a deceased personSome of the best Australian sportswriting of the 1980s came from a young journalist from Tasmania, Martin Flanagan. He was particularly fond of Fitzroy and North Melbourne – two clubs with scarcely a dollar to their name, but rich in character and talent. Flanagan would write about anything – politicians, war heroes, graffiti artists, homeless people, police and paramedics attending catastrophic car accidents.But where he really excelled was writing about Aboriginal footballers. Many of the scribes and coaches of that era downplayed the Aboriginality of players like the Kangaroos’ Jim and Phil Krakouer

AOC appoints Mark Arbib as CEO for run-in to 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games

Sports administrator and former Labor government minister Mark Arbib said the AFLW and NRLW pose a threat to the country’s future successes on the international sporting stage, after he was appointed chief executive of the Australian Olympic Committee for the run-in to the 2032 Brisbane Games.The 53-year-old has served on the AOC’s executive committee since 2016, and has been central in preparations for the 2032 Games as chair of the AOC’s Brisbane Legacy and Impact Committee. He was previously a federal government sport minister and president of Athletics Australia for six years until 2021.Arbib said it was an honour to lead the Australian Olympic movement. “The Olympics are the pinnacle of sport – both in Australia and across the globe,” he said

MPs deliver warning over DCMS chase to recoup tens of millions in Covid loans

There remains a “high degree of uncertainty” over whether tens of millions of pounds paid to rugby union clubs and other sports teams during the Covid-19 pandemic will ever be repaid, the House of Commons’ public accounts committee has warned.In a report published on Wednesday, the committee also criticised the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for being “overly optimistic” in believing it will recover most of the £474m it paid out to 120 organisations in the sport and culture sectors to help them survive the impact of the pandemic.“There remains a high degree of uncertainty over how much of the loan book will ever be repaid,” the report stated.The report also highlighted what it said was a “gap in oversight and accountability” in the £123.8m loaned to rugby clubs – citing the fact that Susannah Storey, the permanent secretary of the DCMS, is married to Pev Hooper, a director of Premiership Rugby and a managing partner of CVC Capital Partners

Hong Kong in frame to host Nations Championship finals and Lions matches

Hong Kong has emerged as a candidate to stage future Nations Championship finals at its new Kai Tak Sports Park and would be an ideal British & Irish Lions stopover, according to a senior World Rugby executive.The inaugural Nations Championship finals – the biennial playoffs among the world’s leading international sides – is to be held in London in 2026 with Qatar lined up for 2028 but the Hong Kong stadium is an increasingly popular suggestion for subsequent editions.The stadium hosted its first international sporting event last weekend by staging the Hong Kong Sevens, relocating the famous tournament to the site of the former airport in Kowloon which now hosts the Cathay Pacific sponsored sports park. Transforming the site, which hosts the 50,000-seat stadium, a 10,000-capacity indoor arena and a track and field venue, cost £3bn.On Monday it was confirmed that in July, Tottenham will play Arsenal at Kai Tak stadium in the first north London derby staged outside the UK while Liverpool will also be in action against Milan