It's marvellous to be in the middle of a brilliant summer of sport.

The Ashes series is now under way and what better way to start than with Yorkshire’s Joe Root and Gary Balance getting England out of trouble and then Root going on to a century?

It wasn’t just the fact Root got a ton, but it was the positive nature of the performance after that initial chance went down, and he looked completely in control.

Let’s hope Root has put down a marker and can maintain that form all summer against the Australians.

I must admit, though, I’ve backed the draw at Cardiff in this First Test, because it looks like a pitch on which you can defend if you need to.

There’s not much in it for the bowlers, really, so that’s why I’ve gone for the stalemate to kick off.

My overall bet for the Ashes is for Mitchell Starc to finish as top Australian bowler and, indeed, top bowler in the series.

I know people will remember him with Yorkshire in 2012, but I watched him a lot on TV during the recent World Cup, where he was man of the tournament, and he was almost unplayable at times.

His left-arm inswing to right-handed batsmen is murderous when he gets it right, and he is a million times better bowler than Mitchell Johnson, who needs the pace and bounce of Australian wickets and might struggle to be as effective here.

Wimbledon has again provided some memorable tennis, particularly among the men, although overall I think Novak Djokovic has left the other leading players – Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal – in his wake in recent times and taken the men’s game to another level.

Andy backed independence - but we're glad he's still Team GB
Andy Murray

Football fans checking up on injuries may have been surprised to find the name of Rory McIlroy cropping up.

It’s one of the daftest injury stories I can remember and will keep him out of defending his Open Championship title at St Andrews next week, but to be fair to him you do have to switch off at times as a top sportsman, and what better way than to have a kick-about with your mates?

Jordan Spieth is now the 11/2 favourite to add the Claret Jug to his Masters and US Open titles, although it might be worth keeping an eye on Adam Scott – a previous runner-up – following his amazing final flourish in the US Open.

Tiger Woods is a ridiculously short 25/1 to win at the home of golf, but with the Scottish Open being played on a Links, I would see how the American contingent perform there before parting with my money.

The Formula One season has become boring, with Lewis Hamilton already 1/6 to win the drivers’ championship, so I won’t waste any time on that, but the Tour de France is again creating plenty of interest following the Grand Depart in our region last year.

It looks like we could have an English victory, too, with Chris Froome at 8/11 favourite in the early stages to win.

His Team Sky mates have been surrounding him to protect him and, with crashes galore, that looks like a wise tactic.