And, with that, my 33-plus years as the BBC’s cricket correspondent come to an end.

There have been two aspects to my job. One is presenting Test Match Special, the other is being responsible for news coverage.

There’s been a little bit of confusion. I am not leaving TMS and will carry on as normal with that programme. It’s the news I’m handing over and it’s definitely the right time to do so.

The game has changed. It is so much more about franchise leagues. I like T20 cricket, but find it hard to get excited about leagues that are simply the same players shuffled into a different shirt from the one they were playing in two weeks prior.

TMS means the world to me. I feel like the bridge between a bygone age of Brian Johnston and Fred Trueman, to a new era involving the likes of Steven Finn and Alex Hartley.

Looking back, it was just a bunch of middle-aged white blokes, or even a bunch of late-aged white blokes. Now the modern TMS team is nothing like that. I’m very proud of what we have achieved.

As correspondent, the biggest story I covered was South Africa’s readmission to world sport, with cricket leading the way. I got to interview Nelson Mandela. People say sport and politics shouldn’t mix, but sometimes they do. When it works, it can be such a force for good.

Allen Stanford was a huge story, as was the fallout from the Kevin Pietersen row. The KP saga felt so divisive, at a time when social media was really starting to take hold.

My favourite moment, without a doubt, was the end of England’s victorious 2010-11 Ashes campaign in Australia.

We had won down under for the first and only time in my life working for the BBC. There was a spare pass in the commentary box and I was able to slip it around the neck of my wife, Emma, and take her on to the pitch with me.

She was there as I was talking to the England players, drinking in the celebrations and seeing the delight of the travelling fans in the crowd.

Mine has been a very selfish job, yet in that moment I was able to show Emma just why I do it. It was the absolute best.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt.

Jorge Martin says he has no designs on playing the points game as he chases his first MotoGP world title despite the possibility of doing so without winning another race this season.

The Pramac Ducati rider scored a small but significant success with his run to second place in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race at the Chang International Circuit by finishing ahead of arch title rival Francesco Bagnaia, who took third.

Extending his advantage to 22 points over the Italian with five races remaining – three grands prix and two sprints – it means Martin can finish second to Bagnaia in each and still clinch the title.

However, it’s a permutation Martin isn’t dwelling on: “If they said you only need to be fifth or 10th, I don’t know how to be that.

“I only know how to do my best. So the best way to give 100% is to do my best – but I’m not silly, I want to control the risk.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Indeed, Martin gave an example of the small margins that exist between himself and Bagnaia when he ran deep into Turn 1.

Having dropped to sixth behind Bagnaia as a consequence, Martin says he can take satisfaction from having still gotten the better of his Ducati stablemate come the chequered flag, having factored in the defending world champion in the first corner tussle.

“It was either release the brakes and lose some position or go wide and hit Pecco, so I decided to go wide,” he added.

“It was difficult afterwards, I was sixth or seventh going into the third corner, it was really hot in the pack but I was riding well and competitive, that’s the important thing.”

He added: “I had to push more than expected and overtake riders like Acosta and Pecco, who are really strong on the brakes, which was complicated.

“It has been a good sprint, but I know that tomorrow more riders will improve, and it is essential to start well, keep calm, and do our best.”

MANCHESTER CITY accidentally named an injured star on their bench to play Southampton – before quickly changing it.

The Premier League champions host the Saints sitting a point behind leaders Liverpool.

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And they went into the match with four first-team players missing; Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish.

But there was actually a fifth with Oscar Bobb also sidelined – but the matchday teamsheet said otherwise.

Bobb – out with a horror broken leg injury – was mistakenly named instead of James McAtee.

But City soon amended the mistake with a re-print of the team sheet.

Bobb was a standout in City’s pre-season tour but a freak training injury before the season started has left him sidelined until the New Year.

City are still without playmaker Kevin de Bruyne too after he came off in the Champions League against Inter Milan in September.

He has missed the last seven games with manager Pep Guardiola unsure when he will return.

Guardiola said when probed: “I don’t know. Of course, I prefer to have all of the squad with the amount of games but it is what it is.

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“Hopefully he comes back soon but I don’t know yet. I would like to tell you but I don’t know.”

City come into the game having won their last four, running riot midweek with a 5-0 hammering against Sparta Praha.

Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear says that the team “hasn’t changed anything” despite murmurings over internal changes to its front wing to benefit from greater flexing.

The Italian squad had been one of the teams to lodge a query with the FIA over the front wings of Mercedes and McLaren, under the belief that these were flexing beyond a permissible amount despite passing the governing body’s rigidity tests.

After the FIA offered clarification, it opened the door for other teams to pursue a similar design, with Ferrari understood to have pressed its own version into service. This was considered as a potential contributor to the team’s dominant 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix last weekend.

But Clear stated that it was “questionable” to discuss how the other teams were progressing with their own designs, and that the FIA was happy with Ferrari’s adherence to the regulations.

In response to a question about lead times for flexing front wings following the FIA’s clarification, Clear said: “I think that what you’re talking about there is specifically a fairly questionable discussion.

“We don’t know what other teams are doing. We only know what we’re doing on our car. We interpret the rules in the way that we think is the correct interpretation and the FIA have never questioned any of our interpretation of the rules.

“We continue to develop as much as we can and as fast as we can within the scope of the rules. We haven’t changed anything. 

Jock Clear, Senior Performance Engineer, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“If we look at what other people do, we can only guess what actually is going on. We can’t do physical tests on it. We could only work on our own car and we are comfortable with the development, pretty much since Austria.

“And since the summer break, we’ve really got a grip of what direction to go in, both on the development and on the set-up.”

Clear explained that Ferrari’s form at Austin came from its own understanding of how it missed the mark at the Austrian Grand Prix in June, noting the similarity between the two venues.

He added Austin also proved that Ferrari’s upgrades at the end of the European season had worked to alleviate its mid-season slump following a misfiring Barcelona update package.

“There were things we did on the set-up; I think we got it wrong in Austria, which is a very similar circuit to Austin, funnily enough. 

“Not absolutely true, but the aspects of Austin that worked for us were a result of what we didn’t get working in Austria.

“So effectively, the package was very similar. Obviously, we brought upgrades in Singapore, we brought upgrades in Italy that were generic [not track-specific].

“I think Austin was a proof of that package. But more than that, what we did correctly in Austin was correcting the errors we made in Austria in terms of set-up.”

Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos, who played at left-back, was second in the 2002 Ballon d’Or, which was won by Brazil team-mate Ronaldo after their World Cup triumph that year.

England’s Lucy Bronze, a right-back, came second to USA’s Megan Rapinoe in the women’s award in 2019.

Two full-backs have been nominated for the men’s 2024 award – Spain and Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal and Spain and Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo. The ceremony takes place on Monday.

Real Madrid are reported to be interested in signing Alexander-Arnold, who is out of contract at the end of this season.

He has won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup at Liverpool, his boyhood club, and made more than 300 appearances.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate occasionally played Alexander-Arnold in midfield, including during Euro 2024.

Asked how he wants to be remembered after he retires, Alexander-Arnold said: “A legend of football, someone who changed the game.

“That is the main thing that I have – ‘don’t play the game; change the game’. I want that legacy of being the greatest right-back to have played football.

“I have got to reach for the stars and that’s where I believe my ceiling can go.”