Live: fifth Ashes Test, day five

James Anderson celebrates the wicket of David Warner. Source: Getty Images

THE final day of the final Ashes Test is upon us.

The English weather is once again refusing to do Australia any favours, delaying the start of play, but the action is set to get underway at 8.30pm (EST).

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Freddy's advice to ground Brooks

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LUKE Brooks, if you are reading this, stop now.

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That is the advice from rugby league great Brad Fittler, who also starred as a teenager in his first-grade debut.

Brooks, 18, was brilliant on Saturday for Wests Tigers, scoring a try and setting up two in an eye-catching and mature debut against St George Illawarra.

As Andrew Johns suggested, his life has changed forever after 80 minutes of football.

Fittler, who roared into first grade for Penrith against Wests at Campbelltown in 1988, on Sunday offered some sage advice for young Brooks, who appears ready to take over from Benji Marshall as the Tigers' dominant playmaker.

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"I made my debut at Orana Park and had a blinder," Fittler recalled.

"But the next game we played Balmain at Leichhardt and I got smashed.

"That's just a little heads up (for Brooks). My advice would be not to read the papers and not to read this article."

Former Raiders champion and NSW coach Laurie Daley, who worked at the Tigers-Dragons game for Fox Sports, offered similar advice to the young halfback.

"He shouldn't listen to everyone, just those he trusts," Daley said.

"I think he should also try to stay out of the media as much as he can. He has to continue to work hard. He is certainly a huge talent.

"A lot of people had heard about him before the weekend but we saw exactly what he is capable of doing on the field.

"It was a fantastic debut in a key position."

Brooks will return to the Holden Cup this week due to Wests Tigers' second-tier salary-cap issue, but he already has fans wanting more.

The young half recently re-signed with Wests Tigers and will now be at Concord until the end of 2017.

"We are being cautious with Luke and will take time to develop him," said Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer.

"I understand why there has been so much attention on him, but the club is very keen to take our time with him because many people within the game have seen his ability for some time now."

Marshall said Brooks is a star of the future.

"Without putting too much pressure on him, if he keeps training hard and working the way he works, he'll be great for them," Marshall said.

"The future of the club is definitely bright in terms of talent with 'Brooksy' and a few of the other younger guys we've got coming through."

Victory on Saturday snapped a six-game losing streak for Wests Tigers and gave hope for next year.

The Dragons were poor again.

"They just didn't look like they were interested," said former Saints winger Wendell Sailor on Triple M.

"That's probably as bad as it has got for us. We just can't put 80 minutes together as a club."  

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NRL to blame for horrific injury

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A 23-YEAR-OLD NRL footballer is lying in a Townsville hospital with a broken jaw, his season over.

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Surgeons operated on Sunday afternoon to repair a one centimetre bone displacement and a hairline fracture.

He is Ray Thompson, 23, Cowboys hooker and victim of a shoulder charge.

He was rushed to hospital in the back of an ambulance on Saturday night, with a crying mum at his side and a morphine drip to ease the pain.

For years doctors and all medical professionals have been warning us about the dangers of the shoulder charge.

About the possibility of serious neck injuries, concussion, even brain damage, broken jaws and cheekbones.

This was supposed to be the year it was outlawed. The message went out at the beginning of the season that shoulder charges were officially banned.

The usual suspects complained the game was going soft.

It's easy to blame Knights front-rower Kade Snowden for Thompson's terrible injury.

His shoulder hit the Cowboys forward with such power and such force that it shattered the jaw in two places.

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I blame the NRL. They are as much at fault as Snowden for what happened and the sickening TV images we witnessed on Saturday night.

The poor bugger clutching his jaw, holding it together with blood covered hands.

The only reason players are still using the shoulder charge is that the new rule hasn't been properly policed.

When Paul Gallen belted Nate Myles in Origin I, the NRL introduced an AFL-style no-striking rule.

One punch and you're off. The very next Origin game four players were sent to the sin bin for striking opponents.

We haven't seen a punch since because players know they cannot afford to leave their team a man short. Simple as that.

At the same time nothing has been done to stop shoulder first tackles.

We saw one on Friday night when Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard launched himself like a missile at Bryson Goodwin.

That hit was just as bad as Snowden's. It jolted the ball free and left a stunned Rabbitohs centre on the ground.

The only difference is that it didn't break his jaw.

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Channel Nine's Phil Gould even half-applauded it as a good hit during the commentary.

Pritchard has got form too. About a year ago he put Panthers winger Dave Simmonds into the back of an ambulance with an identical tackle.

Towards the end of the game Josh Reynolds launched himself shoulder first at a Rabbitohs opponent, desperately trying to force an error.

Again it was a similar tackle to Snowden's, the only difference being that no-one got hurt.

So why should Snowden face a lengthy suspension for basically the same technique that others have been using and getting away with all year.

The NRL and referees have stuffed this up badly.

The first player to do a shoulder charge in the early rounds this year should have been sent to the sin-bin.

Same with the second and even the third. Players would have got the message by now.

Kade Snowden would have used his arms and not his shoulder.

And Poor Ray Thompson wouldn't have been in the operating theatre at Townsville's Mater Hospital on Sunday afternoon getting his jaw wired.

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Furner one of the good guys

Dave Furner watched Sunday's Raiders v Sea Eagles match from a holiday house in Kiama.

It was the first time since 2009 Canberra had taken the field without the former second-rower and club legend in the coaches box.

A lot of football types I've met over the years would have been death-riding the team, hoping to prove management wrong.

Dave Furner is not that sort of person. He genuinely wants his replacement Andrew Dunemann to steer the team into the semi-finals.

I spoke to him shortly before the kick-off of Sunday's game.

"I'm about to watch and cheer for them," he said, "I can't wait for the game actually. I reckon they'll win.

"As for the other stuff, what's happened, has happened and I've just got to move on - hopefully there will be other opportunities."

In the meantime he'll take a break before joining the Kangaroos as Tim Sheens's assistant for the World Cup.

"It's nice to be a father and a husband again this weekend," he said.

"I can't remember the last time that happened during a footy season." 

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Ten things we learned from the Ashes

LUCKILY for England they have won the Ashes. You'd hate to think what people would be saying about them had they lost.

MacGill calls for patience

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Vettel extends championship lead

Vettel extends his championship lead. Source: John Thys / AAP

THREE-time world champion Sebastian Vettel edged towards a fourth successive Formula One world crown on Sunday winning the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.

The 26-year-old German Red Bull driver came home clear of Ferrari's Spanish two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to record his fifth win of the season and second in this race.

Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber finished fifth.

Alonso's second placing was the first podium finish in the Belgian race for Ferrari since Kimi Raikkonen won in 2009.

Lewis Hamilton, driving a Mercedes, finished third having started on pole for the fourth successive race.

Vettel extended his lead in the championship to 46 points over Alonso as Raikkonen, who was second going into the race, failed to finish in his Lotus for the first time in 39 races.
 

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Armstrong, Sunday Times reach settlement

BRITISH newspaper The Sunday Times has reached a settlement with Lance Armstrong after suing the disgraced cyclist to recover damages from a libel settlement.

The paper paid Armstrong STG300,000 ($A520,000) in 2006 to settle a case after printing claims that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

But confirmation that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams came last year from a US Anti-Doping Agency report, prompting a confession by the American, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The Sunday Times announced it was suing Armstrong for around STG1 million ($A1.7 million) to reclaim the 2006 settlement payment plus interest and legal costs.

In Sunday's editions, the paper said it and the article's authors had reached a "mutually acceptable final resolution" with Armstrong, but said the terms are confidential.

It was The Sunday Times chief sports writer David Walsh's co-authored book, LA Confidential, that detailed Armstrong's role in cycling's doping culture and was serialised by his paper in 2004.

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Vettel extends championship lead

Sebastian Vettel celebrates his win in Belgium. Source: Clive Mason / Getty Images

SEBASTIAN Vettel delivered a crushing blow to his title rivals on Sunday when he increased his lead in the drivers' championship with a consummate triumph for Red Bull in the Belgian Grand Prix.

On a welcome dry afternoon at Spa Francorchamps in the Belgian Ardennes, the 26-year-old German took the lead from pole-man Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap and then pulled clear to claim his fifth win of the year and the 31st of his career, pulling him level with Briton Nigel Mansell.

The defending triple world champion came home a comfortable 16.869 seconds ahead of second-placed Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari with Hamilton third for Mercedes.

It was his fourth third-place of the year and the 54th podium finish of his career, drawing Hamilton alongside three-time champion Austrian Niki Lauda.

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate German Nico Rosberg finished fourth ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull and sixth-placed Briton Jenson Button for McLaren.

Vettel's win, his second in Belgium, lifted him to a total of 197 points while Alonso climbed back to second on 151 with Hamilton third on 139. In the constructors championship Red Bull lead with 312 points ahead of Mercedes on 235.

Lewis Hamilton (right) congratulates Sebastian Vettel on his win.

"Brilliant drive, fantastic performance," said Red Bull chief Christian Horner on the team radio. "Nice one boys, nice one," responded the winner.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. This car was so nice to drive, unbelievable. Thank you guys."

With eight races remaining, Vettel's win was an emphatic riposte to Hamilton's speed and recent form, and his maiden victory for Mercedes in Hungary.

Finn Kimi Raikikonen failed to finish for the first time since he returned to Formula One for rallying. He was forced to retire for the first time in 39 races due to a brake problem with his Lotus.

Briton Paul Di Resta was also forced out after a collision when Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Williams drove into his Force India in the closing stages.

The Red Bull team cheer after Sebastian Vettel wins the Belgian Grand Prix.

The race began in cool and overcast weather with high anticipation among a big crowd, boosted by many visiting Britons hoping to see Hamilton succeed again.

Starting from the 31st pole of his career and his fourth in succession, Hamilton made a clean departure from the grid to lead through La Source hairpin and down through Eau Rouge.

But Vettel, showing the speed of his Red Bull car uphill through Radillon, was able to glide past the Mercedes on the long run down to Malmedy.

Behind the two leaders, Alonso made a typically excellent start from ninth and climbed to fifth as Webber, from third, slipped back to sixth. It was the first time in five years that the Spaniard had survived being hit by a rival on the opening lap.

The two-time champion revelled in the welcome dry conditions, passing Button and Rosberg as he climbed to third by lap 10, Hamilton hanging on to Vettel at the front where the gap was 4.3 seconds.

Australia's Mark Webber during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton pitted after 12 laps for new medium compound tyres, rejoining ninth, while Perez was handed a drive-through penalty for forcing Grosjean off the circuit at Les Combes.

This left Vettel leading Alonso by 7.4 ahead of Webber, before they both pitted after 13 laps while Hamilton struggled to pass a feisty Grosjean until he surged by on lap 14.

Vettel pitted after 14 laps and emerged second behind Button's McLaren until lap 17 when he regained the lead with Alonso third after passing Hamilton.

Once Button pitted Alonso moved into second and with Hamilton in third the status quo for the podium places remained unchanged.

Vettel looks on as a security officer tries to remove a banner that appeared on the podium.

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Australia sets up intriguing finish

Steve Smith goes the tonk on day five of the fifth Ashes Test. Source: AFP

AFTER England had put the fifth Test to sleep with a combination of slow over-rates, soporific batting and wet weather, Australia did their best to shake it back to life with some daring second innings batting.

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After England had been bowled out for 337, Australia declared at 6-111 at tea, with Michael Clarke 28 and Mitchell Starc 13. That meant England were set a target of 227 to win.

Earlier in this series, the heavy loss of wickets was the result of poor Australian wickets. This time, it was the consequence of the tourist's admirable attempt to revive a contest England had tried to kill.

Australia promoted Shane Watson to open with David Warner, and used a succession of pinch-hitters in an attempt to set England a target. Watson (12), Warner (26), James Faulkner (22), Brad Haddin (0), Steve Smith (7) and Ryan Harris (1) all came and went in the pursuit of quick runs.

After the fourth day was washed out, England resumed at 4-247 in reply to Australia's 9-492 declared, with their major chore to eclipse the follow on target of 293 and ensure they achieved the cynical draw they had contrived to create.

James Faulkner managed to salvage something from what, until Australia's enterprising play, threatened to be a futile day.

The Tasmanian all-rounder's first scalp was the prized wicket of Ian Bell, and he finished with 4-51 in a memorable debut.

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Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin also achieved a milestone when he caught James Anderson. Haddin's 28th dismissal equalled Rod Marsh's all-time Test series record.  Marsh, the duty selector at this Test, watched from the balcony.

Ryan Harris took 2-64 from 28 overs and further enhanced his credentials as Australia's player of the series despite having been overlooked for the first Test at Trent Bridge.

Some late hitting by English tailender Graeme Swann who smashed 34 from 24 balls, and Australia's slogging, had given the crowd something to cheer despite England's unwillingness to take the game on.

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In trying to defend their go slow on the third day, England batsman Joe Root had blamed the sluggish Oval wicket which, he claimed, had made shot making difficult.

However, as Australia had demonstrated on the first two days, it was nowhere near as difficult as the England batsmen made it seem as they deliberately played for a draw rather than attempting to record an unprecedented 4-0 home series victory.

The Oval was packed with fans celebrating England's third consecutive Ashes triumph. This is the first time England had won three consecutive Ashes series since 1956.

But while they rightly celebrated England's triumph, the final Test had demonstrated that the gap between the two teams was narrowing. Something apparent in England's unwillingness to risk defeat by playing more aggressive cricket.

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