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Summer swing

We check out how Britain and Australia's sportsmen and women have been performing during the month of January

Ahead of back-to-back Ashes series and a Lions tour later in the year, we'll be keeping an eye on each country's sporting fortunes.

Limited impact

The cricket field was one place where Australia held their own.Michael Clarke's men completed a 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka at the SCG, taking their record to 12 wins and three defeats in 20 Tests since the conclusion of the last Ashes series. It was, however, a bitter-sweet success as Michael Hussey headed off into retirement, leaving another middle-order hole to fill so soon after Ricky Ponting's departure. Australia came good under pressure in the final game to salvage a 2-2 draw against the same opponents in the ODIs that followed, although Sri Lanka won both Twenty20 internationals. Meanwhile in India, England went down 3-2 in Ashley Giles' first foray as limited-overs coach - a result that meant they surrendered top spot in the ODI world rankings. Those two wins - in the first and last matches of the series - still represented improvement for England, who had previously been without an away ODI victory against India in 13 attempts dating back to 2006.

Men at work - Down Under

The opening race of the UCI World Tour season, the Tour Down Under, saw several impressive performances among the British and Australian riders. The standout was Team Sky's Geraint Thomas, who won stage two and finished third in the general classification. The highest placed Australian in the GC was Adam Hansen in 16th, although Simon Gerrans did uphold home pride with victory on stage five on Australia Day.

Wood burning bright

There were two British winners on the European Tour in January, while Australian golfers were left empty handed. Welshman Jamie Donaldson and England's Chris Wood triumphed in consecutive weeks during the Middle East swing at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and Qatar Masters. No Australian managed a top 10 on the European Tour, although they had slightly more success on the PGA Tour. Americans have won every week so far on the PGA Tour, but Aaron Baddeley - who holds dual American and Australian citizenship - managed a sixth-place finish in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Full Power

England's Phil Taylor turned back the clock at the Alexandra Palace to claim his 16th world title. Taylor's main opposition came from the Netherlands, with Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen falling to 'The Power' in the semi-final and final. Taylor was one of five Englishmen to make it into the quarter-finals, while Simon Whitlock was Australia's lone representative.

Verdict

January belonged to Britain with Murray's performances in Australia and the England netballers providing the main highlights. In contrast it was such a barren time for Australia that Toadfish almost merited a mention for his third-place finish on Celebrity Big Brother. Almost.