Manchester United will resist any bid for Paul Pogba during the remaining weeks of the European transfer window and have had assurances from the France international that he is committed to the club this season, sources have told ESPN FC.

There is concern at Old Trafford that Real Madrid could still launch a late move for the midfielder up until La Liga's transfer deadline on Sept. 2.

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However, United are set to reject any bid for Pogba -- even if it surpasses their £180 million valuation -- because there is no possibility of signing a replacement.

Following the 4-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday, Pogba said there was still "a question mark" over his future. His latest comments came two months after the 26-year-old said publicly he wants a "new challenge."

Pogba is still keen on a move to Real Madrid but there is an acceptance it will not happen this summer and he has assured manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he is fully committed this season.

United are prepared for another approach from Madrid next summer but there are doubts about whether the Spanish giants can afford a fee that would convince the club to sell.

Solskjaer is still open to offers for a number of first team players before the European window shuts. Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo are both available after they were left out of the 18-man squad for the win over Chelsea.

Rojo saw a deadline day move to Everton collapse while Darmian has been linked with Inter Milan. Sources have told ESPN FC that Inter made an offer for Darmian in January but were put off by United's demands.

The Italian is in the final year of his contract and will be available on a free transfer next summer. The 29-year-old, who arrived from Torino in 2015, made just seven appearances in all competitions last season.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Joel Pereira has joined Hearts on loan while Aidan Barlow has sealed a temporary move to Norwegian side Tromso until November. Midfielder Ethan Hamilton is also set to head out on loan with Southend and Rochdale both interested.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Ciara, are among 11 families to join the Seattle Sounders' ownership group, the club announced on Tuesday.

Hip-hop star Macklemore and his wife, Tricia Davis, are also among the new stakeholders.

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"Today we begin another chapter in the story of Seattle Sounders FC, this proud club that means so much to so many people," majority owner Adrian Hanauer said. "We are doubling down on this community and growing our local roots even deeper.

"Sounders FC was born right here in Seattle, and for more than 40 years, the club has forged a meaningful legacy that is deep and far-reaching. Today's news is a testament to what our community has accomplished, as 11 new families have joined with the broader Sounders family as fans and invested stewards of our club."

The new partners join Sounders FC's existing ownership group consisting of Hanauer, actor Drew Carey and Jody Allen. The organization also announced that Hanauer Futbol -- a group comprised of Hanauer, his wife, Lenore, and Paul Barry -- has increased its overall investment in the Sounders.

The group of new investors draws heavily from past and present executives of Microsoft. The group is led by former Microsoft executive Terry Myerson and his wife, Katie, and includes CEO Satya Nadella and wife Anu; CFO Amy Hood and husband Max Kleinman; vice president Joe Belfiore and his wife, Kristina; and former senior executive Soma Somasegar and wife Akila.

Former Fox Sports executive David Nathanson and his wife, Sabina, are also part of the group of additional investors, as are longtime technology executive Chee Chew and his wife, Christine, and former Pandora CEO and ABC executive Brian McAndrews and his wife, Elise Holschuh, who currently serves on the strategy committee of Hugo House. The new group of partners also features Mark and Tomoko Agne, with the former working as Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.

"This diverse, passionate group of new partners wants to continue developing the club's community-first approach, while also furthering its proud winning tradition on the field," Hanauer said. "Collectively, we believe that Seattle is the greatest city in the world and that Sounders FC has a responsibility to both preserve our region's unique spirit while also leading our community by fostering an environment that is inclusive and welcoming to all. On behalf of our entire Sounders family, I want to extend a proud and warm welcome to our club's new partners."

Hollywood producer Joe Roth, one of the club's owners when it joined MLS in 2007, has left the organization. His tenure witnessed a period in which the Sounders won five major trophies, including their first MLS Cup in 2016.

"When MLS gave me permission to look at the Pacific Northwest to start a soccer franchise, there was no question that Seattle was the place," Roth said. "The last 10 years watching our Sounders grow with their incredible fan support beat any hit movie I ever created.

"I love the team, from the players to the staff, and most of all I love the fans. When they write the history book of soccer in America, it was Seattle that propelled our game into being perceived as a first-tier sport."

Atlanta United manager Frank de Boer has said he does not believe in equal pay for men and women in football, or sports such as tennis, because women don't bring in as much revenue, according to a report.

"I think for me, it's ridiculous," De Boer told The Guardian when asked about the plans for equal pay. "It's the same like tennis. If there are watching, for the World Cup final, 500 million people or something like that, and 100 million for a women's final, that's a difference. So it's not the same. And of course they have to be paid what they deserve to [earn] and not less, just what they really deserve. If it's just as popular as the men, they will get it, because the income and the advertising will go into that. But it's not like that, so why do they have to earn the same? I think it's ridiculous. I don't understand that."

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De Boer represented the Netherlands at the 1994 and 1998 men's World Cups, and the Dutch women reached the final of the 2019 Women's World Cup before losing, 2-0, to the U.S. women in July.

The Royal Dutch Football Association has already pledged pay equity for its men's and women's teams. The women will receive yearly raises through 2023, when their earnings for national team service will equal that of their male counterparts. The U.S. women, meanwhile, sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in March, arguing that their pay and working conditions amounted to gender discrimination.

De Boer, the former Ajax coach who took over as manager for the defending MLS champions in December 2018, disagrees with gender pay gaps in the workplace but says they are still warranted in sports.

"I think it started because a woman [was] getting underpaid, especially at [managerial] positions," he told the newspaper. "They have to earn the same as a man. I think if you have a manager position for a bank or something, you have to earn the same what the men did because it's not physically, just only here [points to head], so why do you have to earn less, because you're doing the same job as a man? I think that's also dropped a little bit into the sports world, like tennis and soccer. But I think that's still different."

U.S. players, including Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan, say they have been consistently paid less than their male counterparts despite performing better. The prize money for the women's World Cup doubled to $30 million this year, but this paled in comparison to the €400m ($448m) available for the men's tournament winners last year. Last week, the U.S. Soccer Federation hired the services of two lobbying firms to counter the U.S. women's claims, a USSF spokesperson confirmed to ESPN FC. In the wake of the U.S. women's team's World Cup victory, legislation was introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives requiring the USSF to pay players on the respective U.S. women's and men's national team equally.

The 2019 Women's World Cup final drew 22% more viewers in the United States than the 2018 men's final, according to data from Nielsen cited by Fox Sports. The U.S. men did not play in the 2018 final, which saw France beat Croatia, 4-2.

According to Nielsen data for U.S. viewership, 14.3 million tuned in to the Women's World Cup final via linear television, compared with 11.4 million for the 2018 men's final. The addition of online streaming put total viewership at 20 million via Fox Sports, making it the most-watched soccer match on U.S. English-language television, men's or women's, since the 2015 Women's World Cup final, which saw 25.4 million viewers.

According to a report in CNN, an additional 1.6 million viewers watched the final match in Spanish on Telemundo in the United States.

Outside of a backup goalkeeper, a 17-year-old center-back with red hair and a 16-year-old winger, Liverpool haven't added any new players this summer. Before acquiring free-agent keeper Adrian on Aug. 5, the club hadn't made a single senior signing. (And since Alisson went down in the first half of the season opener vs. Norwich, Adrian's now the starting goalkeeper until further notice.)

While the teams chasing them at the top end of the Premier League all improved in the final week of the summer transfer window, the Reds decided to stay put, not adding anyone who will likely contribute significant first-team minutes this season.

Last year was about as good as it gets. Liverpool won the Champions League and racked up the third-highest points total in Premier League history. They did it with a team of players who all peaked together or whose best years were still years away. Among the 15 players who played at least 1,000 Premier League minutes last season, 14 of them were 28 years old or younger at the start of the campaign. The only player on the wrong side of 30 was James Milner, whose Premier League career will seemingly last forever.

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On top of that, there are plenty of "like a new signing" types who will be expected to contribute way more than they did in 2018-19. Naby Keita made only 16 starts in the league, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain missed all but 16 of the available minutes after tearing his ACL in the 2017-18 Champions League quarterfinal against Manchester City.

If you wanted to zero in on a weakness from last year's first XI, it would be the lack of attacking output provided by the midfield. Keita and Ox are two young, dynamic passers and dribblers with track records of scoring and creating goals from deep. There's certainly a case to be made that they'll provide some internal improvement or at least help stave off some of the inevitable regression for a team that experienced significant good fortune at both ends of the field (89 goals on 90.92 expected, 22 goals conceded on 34.64 expected).

Liverpool were one of the three best teams in the world last season. Milner remains the only significant contributor who is north of 29; barring an injury crisis or a season-long spell of rotten or impossible luck, Liverpool should be one of the best teams in the world once again. But Jurgen Klopp & Co. can't keep doing this forever. A squad that peaks together declines together, too.

They were smart in seizing on the market for Philippe Coutinho and reinvesting the money in the spine of this new team, but will they be so savvy again when Spain's super clubs come knocking for one of their all-star forwards?

In short, should Liverpool consider the unthinkable and break up their fabulous front three?

Set pieces are great, and the same goes for Virgil van Dijk (who is "Mr. Indispensable" for the Reds), Alisson and cut-rate world-class fullbacks, but Liverpool have climbed this high thanks to their front three.

Since Mohamed Salah arrived from Roma in the summer of 2018 to complete the trio with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool have the second-most points in the Premier League behind the impossibly deep Manchester City. From 2010 to 2017, the club never made it beyond the Champions League group stages. With those three attackers, the club has reached the last two finals and won one of them.

It goes further than that. Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, Salah, Mane and Firmino have combined for 158 goals in the Champions League and Premier League. That's nearly two-thirds of the team's 244 goals over that span. Beyond those three, no other player still with the club has more than seven goals.

Their value is obvious both inside and outside of Anfield. According to the CIES football observatory's transfer valuations, Liverpool's front three are worth a combined €521.6 million. Salah (€219.6m) is listed as the second-most valuable player in the world behind Kylian Mbappe, while Mane (€157.8m) is sixth and Firmino (€144.2m) eighth. Unsurprisingly, no other club has three players within the top 10.

However, those values won't be that high for that much longer. Salah turned 27 in June; Mane celebrated the same birthday in April; and Firmino turns 28 in October. Most attackers start to decline right around this time. Take a star player, throw in a minor drop-off in production and you've still got a star player, just slightly diminished. But when it happens to three guys at once, the effect on the team's performance could be exponential.

So Liverpool have a problem to solve. It's a problem they're lucky to have, but a problem nonetheless.

They can keep all three and get the maximum amount of on-field production out of them over the next couple of seasons, but that would eventually leave them with a trio of declining, expensive older players whose transfer values will have greatly declined. (All three are on contracts that expire on the same day, too: mark your calendars for June 30, 2023.) Or they could try to sell high on one right before the decline comes, running the risk of missing out on another great season or two, but then use that money to find a replacement, reinvest elsewhere in the squad, or both.

Among the front three, Salah is the untouchable. Over the past two seasons, he leads the team in -- deep breath -- shots, goals, assists, expected goals, expected assists, take-ons, chances created, big chances created, touches in the opposition box, sequences ending in a shot and sequences ending in a goal. Pick any attacking statistic that relates to putting the ball in the net and Salah is likely Liverpool's leader.

As for Mane and Firmino, it might just come down to age vs. current value. Despite functioning as the team's de facto No. 9, Firmino provides an aggressive defensive presence and leads the team in through balls completed over the past two seasons. He's just two goals behind Mane over that stretch, while also offering 22 assists to Mane's 11. But Firmino is seven months older and Mane tied for the Premier League in goals this year, so the latter would likely command a higher fee.

It seems absurd to even be considering breaking up one of the best attacking trios we've seen this century, but to remain competitive, the majority of clubs must constantly try to balance the present with the future. Time always wins. Every player eventually gets older and eventually gets worse, so managing a squad is a constant juggling act between making short-term sacrifices for long-term gain and vice versa, all while acknowledging that the whole point of this enterprise is to win as many points as you can, year after year after year.

Only a handful of clubs can really afford to maximize the present and the future at the same time. Liverpool aren't one of those teams -- at least not yet.

According to the most recent Deloitte Football Money League rankings, for the 2017-18 season, Liverpool recorded the seventh-highest revenue (€513.7m) in world soccer. That number, and potentially that ranking, will be even higher next time around. According to the Swiss Ramble, an anonymous expert in football finances, Liverpool's European Cup victory pushed their total revenue from broadcasting (Premier and Champions leagues, combined) up to €251m -- the most money any club has ever received from television.

The club has plenty of money to spend, and a source who works with European clubs told ESPN that he expects Liverpool's revenue, on the back of two deep Champions League runs plus the Premier League's world-leading TV deal, to soon catch up with the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, two clubs that can build for the future without having to sell off any of the present. However, Liverpool owner John Henry told The New York Times Magazine in May that the purchases of Alisson, Van Dijk and Fabinho would not have been possible had the club not sold Coutinho to Barcelona.

Whatever their financial future, it appears that not much will change at Liverpool this season or perhaps even next season. But at some point soon, the club is going to enter into a new era -- for one reason or another.

Western Storm 158 for 4 (Priest 55) beat Loughborough Lightning 118 all out (Davies 4 for 27)

Rachel Priest rediscovered her touch to propel top-of-the-table Western Storm to a 40-run Kia Super League victory over Loughborough Lightning at Bristol.

The former New Zealand international opener top-scored with 55 from 43 balls and shared in stands of 47 and 64 with Smriti Mandhana and Heather Knight for the first and second wickets respectively as Storm posted 158 for 4 after being put in.

Lightning never recovered from the loss of early wickets and were dismissed for 118 in 18.2 overs, undone by England pace bowler Freya Davies, who claimed 4 for 27.

Bidding to reach Finals Day for a fourth consecutive season, Storm completed the double over Lightning and now boast a 100 percent record from four games in 2019.

Having chased successfully in their opening three outings, Storm found themselves in the unaccustomed position of posting a score and defending it.

Hitherto short of runs, Priest and Mandhana set the tone in a fast-scoring opening stand that spanned 5.2 overs and laid solid foundations.

Yet to post 50 this season, Indian star Mandhana plundered three successive fours at the expense of Sri Lankan offspinner Chamari Atapattu. But her serene progress was terminated in the next over, the 23-year-old left-hander hoisting a half volley from Kathryn Bryce to deep mid-wicket and departing for a 22-ball 29.

Thereafter, Priest seized the initiative, sweeping and cutting to good effect against a Lightning attack that sought to take pace off the ball on a slow pitch. Understanding what was possible in the conditions, Storm's experienced opener scored a majority of her runs backward of square, running well between the wickets and accruing eight fours, most of them the product of deft placement.

Afforded a life when dropped in the deep by Matthews off the bowling of Jenny Gunn on 35, Priest eventually perished in the 14th over with the score 111, held at deep midwicket in the act of trying to hit Matthews for six.

If Lightning believed her dismissal would bring them much-needed relief, they were quickly disabused of the idea by in-form England captain Knight, who ensured there was no let-up in the rate by striking three fours and two sixes in an impressive innings of 45 from 37 balls. Knight was within sight of a third 50 in as many matches when, attempting to straight drive Georgia Elwiss, she was superbly caught one-handed by Georgia Adams running round from mid-off.

Quick between the wickets, Sophie Luff and Deepti Sharma then added 19 for the fifth wicket as Storm produced a strong finish.

In need of a fast start, Lightning lost Matthews and Atapattu during a powerplay which yielded just 30 runs. Matthews was pinned lbw by Davies for two, while overseas star Atapattu lost her off stump to offspinner Claire Nicholas.

Worse followed when Amy Jones, having scored 20 from 17 balls, was run out by Knight in pursuit of a dubious single, while skipper Elwiss slapped Knight straight to deep long-on for 12 as Lightning subsided to 55 for 4 at halfway.

Davies claimed two wickets in five balls in the 15th over, removing Adams for 17 and South African Du Preez for 30, Gunn fell to Sharma for four and Sarah Glenn was run out by Naomi Dattani as Storm tightened the screw.

Davies completed a fine performance by having Tara Norris caught at the wicket, while Sharma trapped Gordon lbw to signal the end with 10 deliveries unused.

Lancashire Thunder 151 for 6 (Winfield 56) beat Yorkshire Diamonds 142 by nine runs

Yorkshire Diamonds captain Lauren Winfield's excellent 56 followed by a polished bowling and fielding display under pressure secured a thrilling Kia Super League win by nine runs over Lancashire Thunder at Liverpool.

Winfield hit seven fours and a six in a 45-ball knock which underpinned a Diamonds total of 151 for 6 and took her beyond 500 career Super League runs.

The Diamonds then soaked up a Lancashire fightback from 83 for 4 in the 14th, including the loss of India star Harmanpreet Kaur for 37, to bowl their hosts out for 142.

Legspinner Katie Levick had Ellie Threlkeld caught behind with the first ball of the last over, defending 10, to secure a first victory in three.

The Thunder, for whom Emma Lamb impressed with a late 32 off 14 balls, have now lost four from four.

Winfield, having won the toss, and Alyssa Healy shared an excellent opening partnership of 68 inside 10 overs.

Winfield was particularly strong down the ground in her third fifty since the KSL started in 2016.

By the time she reached her latest milestone, off 42 balls, she had lost Healy - bowled by Sophia Dunkley's legspin having played on trying to reverse sweep.

Lancashire, despite a bright 33 from Hollie Armitage, fought back well, with Ecclestone and Lamb's offspin both striking, along with two wickets for Kate Cross.

After Ecclestone had uprooted Winfield's middle stump to make it 106 for 2 in the 15th over, Cross bowled Armitage and had Indian Jemimah Rodrigues superbly caught at deep midwicket by Sune Luus.

Twelve then came off Ecclestone in the last over to secure a competitive, but not insurmountable total.

The start of Lancashire's chase was eventful as Australian Tahlia McGrath and fellow overseas Luus, the South African both hit boundaries as 10 came off Linsey Smith's first over.

Then, in the third, Helen Fenby bowled a head-high full toss before McGrath hit the free hit for six. But the legspinner gained revenge towards the end of over by uprooting McGrath's leg stump.

The Thunder then lost their second wicket in the fourth, leaving them 23 for 2, when Luus miscued the impressive left-arm seamer Katie George to mid-off.

And that was when the Diamonds, chiefly with spin added to George, started to turn the game in their favour.

Smith, New Zealand offspinner Leigh Kasperek and legspinner Levick all bowled tidy overs as the scored moved to 41 for 2 after 7 overs.

Harmanpreet, key to home hopes, launched Kasperek over long-off for six in the eighth over and they reached halfway at 62 for 2, needing 90 more for victory.

But she then lost her partner Dunkley, who was caught at mid-off as medium pacer Alice Davidson-Richards struck, leaving the score at 69 for 3 in the 12th.

Harmanpreet was caught on 35 off a Smith no-ball before, having added two more runs, falling to Davidson-Richards when she sliced a catch to compatriot Rodrigues at deep cover - 83 for four in the 14th.

Lamb's superb 32 included a six off Davidson-Richards to keep the game alive, taking the target to 28 off 18 balls. But wickets continued to tumble, including herself caught at point off Smith.

Ultimately, wickets falling proved to be the issue for Lancashire, who lost Georgie Boyce and Cross to run outs, as they remain rooted to the foot of the table.

It's a been a fair few years now since Australia's formidable Test record at Lord's has been factored into the Ashes build-up - consecutive thumpings in 2009 and 2013 rather punctured their proud boast of not having lost at the ground since 1934. But on their last visit here in 2015, they atoned for those setbacks with a brutal 405-run victory - with a certain Steven Smith leading the line with 215 from 346 balls.

And now they are back at their favourite home from home, with Smith exuding an invincibility on English soil not seen since Graeme Smith's extraordinary awakening in the summer of 2003, and England - for all the hype and expectation surrounding Jofra Archer - looking as vulnerable in a home Ashes campaign as they have been in a generation.

It's not simply that England are 1-0 down in the series - that's nothing new for this set of players, as Root was happy to point out on the eve of the contest. They've been behind on home soil three times in the last six years, and recovered on each occasion, to beat India in 2014, and draw with Pakistan twice in 2016 and 2018.

But this time, the concern is the gulf between hope and expectation that appears to be opening up between the two teams, for all that Root was setting out to be bullish on the eve of the contest.

"We're in English conditions, we really back ourselves to come back strong after last week," Root said, after it had been pointed out that England have now lost six of their last seven Tests against Australia dating back to 2015, with only a bore-draw in Melbourne for respite. "I'm expecting a big response from the boys. We've proven that we do that, time and time again, when we've been defeated, especially at home. Last week will have hurt everyone and everyone will be absolutely desperate to go and win this week. And I expect nothing less."

That's a lot of expectation to shoehorn into one answer. But does Root really expect England to perform better than they did in the crunch moments at Edgbaston, or he is merely hoping that they will? Does he expect their misfiring middle-order to find renewed resolve with the series in the balance, or is he simply hoping that that is the case?

Or, to flip the sentiment on its head: Do England really expect Archer - and to a lesser extent, Jack Leach - to add a sting to their attack that Smith in particular so expertly drew in the first Test? Of course they don't … though they fervently hope that they might. "He's got a good bouncer and bowls at a good pace consistently, so I'm sure he'll cause problems on most surfaces," said Root of Archer. "Hopefully, he can exploit this one."

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Instead, it is Australia who really expects … and that has tended to be a deadly mindset when these two sides have clashed in the past. Whereas England tend to be a danger to themselves whenever they try to be frontrunners in a series, getting on top and staying on top is far more in tune with the Australian psyche, especially one that has been rebooted by a brains trust including both Justin Langer and Steve Waugh.

In fact, Australia's plans are falling so serenely into place that, in resting James Pattinson while tantalising both Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood with the carrot of a Lord's comeback, the management have been able to cast one eye towards next week's third Test at Headingley, even while ensuring their chosen 12 keep their thoughts firmly fixed in the present.

"It's always nice from a captaincy and a leadership point of view when you've got two senior players who are world-class left out and they cop it on the chin, run drinks, and train their backsides off in the lunch hours and tea breaks," said Australia's captain, Tim Paine. "It sets a really good example for the rest of our team."

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It's certainly not a policy that guarantees success, but as a mitigation against failure, it seems light-years removed from England's current suck-it-and-see approach - one which, in the penultimate month of this most exhausting of summers, seems now to be relying more on a Pakistani-style quest for Haal than any actual long-term planning.

And who's to say, just like Pakistan on any given day - or like Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad on the final day of the Ireland Test last month - a combination of rich talent and faint desperation won't propel this set of players to extraordinary and series-turning heights. There's certainly little doubt that, pound for pound and irrespective of fatigue and motivation, a team containing world-class individuals such as Root, Archer, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy ought to be a match for any opponent.

But, just as Australia couldn't be any more at home at Lord's - moseying around the pavilion as if to the manor born, and with their kids performing cartwheels on the square as they saunter back from the nets - so it is England who most resemble a put-upon touring team.

One Test down out of five, and among their fast-bowling stocks, already Mark Wood, Olly Stone and James Anderson are sidelined, with only the latter a realistic chance of being fit before the end of the series. And while Joe Root's promotion to No. 3 has applied a band-aid to their longstanding top-order flimsiness, the recent absence of Championship cricket makes the sourcing of battle-ready replacements as problematic as it would have been had the series been taking place Down Under.

"A big responsibility comes on the players, making sure that they look after themselves and keep themselves as fit as possible," said Root. "Throughout the rest of this campaign, there are certain things which you can't control and sometimes you get thrown a bad hand and you have to deal with it. And we've certainly responded well to that in the past when that's happened. And we've got to make sure that we do exactly the same this time. We've got some very talented players and bowlers that are fully capable of taking 20 wickets this week."

And yet, to riff on a recurring theme of the past month, England have already scaled their Everest for this summer, and in such glorious fashion too, on this very ground. Australia, by contrast, over-achieved in reaching the World Cup semi-finals, but only now are they really beginning to hit their stride. They've not won the Ashes in England for 18 years and counting, but much like England in the white-ball campaign just gone, they know they'll rarely get a better chance to drive home their advantage.