Related items

• Walsh remembers the magic of O’Brien, as Mullins goes for British crown

  Ted Walsh believes even if Willie Mullins does not manage to emulate Vincent O’Brien by being crowned champion trainer in the UK when based in Ireland, both have played their part in changing the face of National Hunt racing.

  Given the feats will be over 70 years apart – O’Brien was champion trainer for successive seasons in the early 1950s – Walsh feels it is difficult to compare their achievements.

  However, he is left in no doubt that just like O’Brien, Mullins is destined to be remembered as a man who changed his sport.

  “It’s very hard to compare anything like that because the prize-money was totally different,” said Walsh.

  “Willie has never been that bothered about it, he admits it, but now he’s in front he may as well have a good go. He was very close one year when Vautour fell at Aintree (2016), if he had won Willie would have been champion.

  “Whether Willie is champion trainer in England or not – it would be a great achievement, but he’s the real deal whether he does it or not.”

  O’Brien was a pioneer who after dominating the National Hunt scene in the 1950s and 1960s, later switched his attentions to the Flat, winning the Triple Crown with Nijinsky in 1970. He remains the last man to win the Triple Crown.

  “Vincent won three English Nationals with three different horses three years in a row (Early Mist 1953, Royal Tan 1954 and Quare Times 1955), three Champion Hurdles with Hatton’s Grace (1949–1951), the Gloucester Hurdle at Cheltenham used to divide and in 15 years he won 11 of them!” said an incredulous Walsh.

  “Of course after doing all that he went and did the same on the Flat!

  “He told me once that he always travelled first class on the train because there was a chance of meeting someone with money! He met John McShane on a train going to Doncaster for the sales and he bought him Ballymoss and Gladness. Ballymoss he won an Irish Derby, the Leger and the Arc and Gladness won the Ebor and the Ascot Gold Cup the following year.

  “Vincent set the standard. I knew him, but whenever I saw him I would say ‘Hello Mr O’Brien’ – it was never Vincent. My father knew him well, he was from a similar area to us.”

  The victory of I Am Maximus in Saturday’s Grand National means Mullins holds an advantage over Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls, setting up a fantastic finale with Closutton set to be well represented at Ayr and Sandown over the next two weekends.

  “Like Willie is now, Vincent was a hero, everybody looked up to him. I remember growing up as kid listening to my dad and my uncle Ted talking about Vincent,” said Walsh, who won the National with Papillon in 2000.

  “I’d say it was pretty similar in those days of people getting sick of Vincent winning, he didn’t quite dominate Cheltenham like Willie does – but I’m sure people were sick of it!

  “It was a huge achievement Vincent winning the UK title, I don’t know if he was the first man to try, but he was the first to do it. But Vincent did so many things first.

  “He was the first to fly horses from Ireland, the first person to put in an all-weather gallop in Ireland and now everybody has them. He was a pioneer, he brought the sport forward years.

  “Like Willie really, Willie has changed it as well but the scale of what he is doing makes it different. Transporting the horses now is different, they have lovely lorries with air conditioning, the roads are so much better so that makes it easier. Everything has moved on.

  “I wouldn’t say one fellow was better than the other, but Vincent set the ball rolling and it hasn’t been done by anybody since Vincent.

  “When I was growing up Vincent was inaccessible, he was almost treated like royalty, but Willie is the most approachable fellow, he’s very good for the sport and he’s a great ambassador for racing.”

• England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt named Wisden’s leading women’s cricketer in the world

  Nat Sciver-Brunt has become the first English woman to be honoured as Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world, heading an awards list that also includes Harry Brook and Mark Wood among the almanack’s five cricketers of the year.

  Sciver-Brunt takes top billing in the women’s game following an outstanding run of form in 2023, with Australia captain Pat Cummins picking up the men’s trophy having led his country to success in both the World Test Championship and 50-over World Cup. He succeeds Ben Stokes, who has landed the prestigious title three times in the last four years.

  Sciver-Brunt’s star power was acknowledged by Mumbai Indians at the start of the year, when her £320,000 Women’s Premier League deal made her the United Kingdom’s highest-paid female team athlete and her worth only rose as the calendar unfolded.

  She hit three ODI centuries in five innings, including two Ashes tons in the space of 72 hours as England came from 6-0 down to draw the marquee series 8-8.

  Sciver-Brunt also thrashed a 66-ball hundred against Sri Lanka, a new English record, having previously been named player of the final and second top run-scorer in the WPL to justify her huge price tag.

  In earning Wisden’s nod, Sciver-Brunt finally places an English name on the women’s gong, which has been won five times by Australians in the 10 years since its inception.

  There was also a distinct Ashes flavour to the historic cricketers of the year panel, the coveted once-in-a-career award dating back to 1889 and focused on performances during the preceding English summer.

  Brook appears on the back of scoring 363 runs at a shade over 40 in his maiden series against the Australians, capped by a fourth-innings turn of 75 in the pressure of a must-win home Test at Headingley. The Yorkshireman also won a place in both limited-overs teams and hit the only men’s century in the third edition of The Hundred.

  “Harry Brook passed 50 four times during the Ashes – more times than anyone – and played crucial hands in England’s wins at Headingley and The Oval,” noted Wisden editor Lawrence Booth.

  “He smashed a record 41-ball century for Northern Superchargers, then forced his way into England’s World Cup squad with some breath-taking innings against New Zealand.”

  Wood, almost a decade older than Brook at 34 and perhaps running out of chances to make the cut, is honoured for a transformative impact on the Ashes contest. Entering the contest with England 2-0 down, his raw pace helped lift the hosts off the mat in Leeds and he finished with 14 wickets at 20.21 in three undefeated outings against the old enemy.

  “The selection of Mark Wood for the Third Test at Headingley turned the Ashes on its head,” Booth concluded.

  “He topped 96mph, took five for 34, and pushed Australia on the back foot, literally and figuratively.”

  That England did not regain the urn with an outright win owed much to the efforts Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Starc. They finished a thrilling series as top run-scorer with 496 and top-wicket-taker with 23, respectively, and also take their places in the cricketer of the year lineage.

  Compatriot Ashleigh Gardner joins them, with a 12-wicket haul in the standalone women’s Ashes Test proving a pivotal contribution.

  Yet another Australian will take custody of the Wisden Trophy for Test performance of the year, Travis Head winning out for his decisive 163 in the WTC final against India at The Oval.

  West Indian Hayley Matthews becomes the first woman to be named leading T20 cricketer of the year after seven years.

• The numbers which prove Derek Underwood had plenty of players in a spin

  Derek Underwood, one of Test and first-class cricket’s all-time leading wicket-takers, has died aged 78.

  Underwood, who retired in 1987 and played his last Test in 1982, still ranks sixth among Test wicket-takers for England and is the leading spinner on that list.

  He also ranks 14th all-time for first-class wickets and here, the PA news agency looks at his career record.

  First-class record

  Underwood took 2,465 first-class wickets in a 25-year career with Kent and England spanning 676 matches.

  That ranks him comfortably inside the top 20 in the game’s history, while his wickets came at an average of 20.28.

  While that excellent mark is actually bettered by most of those ahead of him, on a list headed by fellow slow left-armer Wilfred Rhodes’ 4,204 wickets at 16.72, Underwood’s economy rate of 2.14 runs an over is the best of the many spinners in that group and trails only Derek Shackleton and Maurice Tate.

  He took 100 wickets in his debut first-class season in 1963 – becoming the youngest bowler to do so, only turning 18 in June of that summer.

  Nicknamed “Deadly”, he had career-best figures of nine for 28 and was noted for his match-winning spells – particularly on damp pitches, such as his seven for 50 in a 1968 Test against Australia at the Oval and eight for nine against Sussex five years later.

  Though not noted for his batting, he recorded a solitary first-class century in 1984, aged 39. Sussex were again the opponents as he nudged his way to 111 in a tied game. He added just two half-centuries in 710 innings.

  A further 411 matches in List A cricket, with 572 wickets at 19.40, took him beyond 1,000 matches and 3,000 wickets in his career.

  England record

  No other England spinner has taken as many Test wickets as Underwood’s 297, in 86 games between 1966 and 1982.

  His wickets came at an average of 25.84, with his best innings and match figures both coming against Pakistan in August 1974 with eight for 51 in the second innings and 13 for 71 in the match.

  James Anderson and Stuart Broad have broken new frontiers for England in recent years, with 700 and 604 wickets respectively, but only three other bowlers have exceeded Underwood’s tally.

  Lord Ian Botham took 383 between 1977 and 1992, Bob Willis took 325 and Fred Trueman 307.

  Graeme Swann is Underwood’s nearest challenger among England spinners, taking his 255 wickets in just 60 matches but at an average over four runs higher than Underwood’s.

  Underwood ranks 38th on the all-time Test wicket list and is in the top 10 among spinners, a list headed by Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan’s record 800 and Shane Warne’s 708 for Australia.

  Anil Kumble took 619 for India, Australia’s Nathan Lyon and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin are over 500 and Rangana Herath and Harbhajan Singh broke the 400 barrier. Daniel Vettori (362) and Lance Gibbs (309) are the others ahead of Underwood.

  On the spinning pitches of India, Underwood edges out Australia’s Richie Benaud as the leading visiting spinner with 54 wickets.

  Underwood also played 26 one-day internationals, taking 32 wickets at 22.93 with a best of four for 44 against the West Indies.