Five Ashes charts: the numbers that show how Australia got the better of England

The Ashes are over, and the post-mortems have begun. Some may point to a lack of preparation, uneven pitches or a mid-tour Noosa bender for England’s failures, and wonder what might have been if only one or two chances were taken.But in a series won quickly and then – despite an MCG blip – comprehensively, Australia did enough to retain the urn. Age is catching up with many of Pat Cummins’s team but their time has not yet come. This summer has instead been remarkable for the historic brilliance of the home side’s senior players

Nick Kyrgios rules out playing singles at Australian Open to focus on doubles

Nick Kyrgios’s surgically-repaired knee and wrist will not prevent him from taking part at Melbourne Park, where Australian Open qualifying begins next week, but he will not feature in the singles draw.The 30-year-old posted on social media saying he wasn’t ready for best-of-five set tennis, ruling himself out of contention for a wildcard, but he would still take to the court alongside friend and doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis.“After some good conversations with [Tennis Australia], I’ve made the call to focus on doubles for this year’s [Australian Open],” he said. “I’m fit and back on court, but five-setters are a different beast and I’m not quite ready to go the distance yet.”Kyrgios’s first singles ATP Tour match in almost 10 months ended in a quick defeat on Tuesday at the Brisbane International, where he lost in 66 minutes to world No 58 Aleksandar Kovacevic

Chloe Kim’s Olympic three-peat bid in doubt after dislocated shoulder

Chloe Kim’s pursuit of an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold medal has been thrown into uncertainty after the American snowboard star dislocated her shoulder during a training session in Switzerland.Kim, the dominant force in women’s halfpipe snowboarding for nearly a decade, revealed the injury on Thursday, sharing video of the fall that caused the scare. The injury occured while Kim was training in Laax, a regular World Cup venue and a key pre-Olympic stop on the circuit. The 25-year-old landed a maneuver cleanly but lost her edge shortly afterward, sliding awkwardly across the pipe and into the wall.With the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics less than a month away, Kim said she is still unsure whether she will be able to compete

The mediocre Ashes: England arrived as a rabble and Australia weren’t much better | Geoff Lemon

As far as endings go, it ended nicely. People streamed on to the Sydney Cricket Ground, wanting to get close to the trophy presentation and to have a canter on the turf. Nothing thrills an audience more than a chance to walk the stage. On a sun-kissed blue-heaven day, the match had finished early enough to leave plenty of afternoon to spare. Later Usman Khawaja soaked that up with his own crowd of family and friends, on his last day as a Test player

Sack the vibe: goodbye Bazball and hello England’s search for a cricketing soul | Barney Ronay

It seemed fitting, as the final moments ticked down at the Sydney Cricket Ground, as the day, the match, the tour seemed to ooze and melt a little at the edges under a hard white January sun, that Ben Stokes should finish this Ashes series still standing, but only just.It was at least a suitably slapstick final session in front of a scattered, holiday-ish crowd. Australia custard-pied their way to a victory total of 160, narrowly avoiding falling pianos, dangling off giant clocktowers along the way.It felt fitting too that the endgame should revolve around England’s tried and trusted short-and-wide masterplan, a series that will remain fixed in the mind as an endless looping meme of an English seamer being square-cut to some distant crowing boundary.In the middle of this Stokes spent the day wedged in at first slip, nursing his newly acquired groin injury, a cricketer who is by this stage basically a hat, a collection of splints nailed together and a grimace

Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel after missing playoffs for second season in row

The Miami Dolphins have fired head coach Mike McDaniel after the team missed the playoffs for the second straight season.“After careful evaluation and extensive discussions since the season ended, I have made the decision that our organization is in need of comprehensive change,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement on Thursday.“I love Mike and want to thank him for his hard work, commitment, and the energy he brought to our organization. Mike is an incredibly creative football mind whose passion for the game and his players was evident every day. I wish him and his family the best moving forward