Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport chief cricket writer

Image source, Getty Images

There have been enough ups and downs to fill a decade, never mind a year.

The England men’s Test team of the first half of 2022 was awful, only for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum to revolutionise the way the game is played, possibly forever. The 3-0 win in Pakistan capped it all off, making it nine wins from 10. The Ashes can’t come soon enough.

The exploits of the Test team almost overshadows the fact England won the T20 World Cup to become dual world champions. For coach Matthew Mott, it was a second World Cup triumph of the year after his Australia side lifted the Women’s World Cup in April. Even after Mott left, the Aussies were able to triumph as cricket made a welcome return to the Commonwealth Games.

Surrey were crowned county champions, Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles were the respective men’s and women’s Hundred winners, while Hampshire prevailed from an incredible T20 Blast final when the final ball had to be delivered twice.

Off the field, English cricket continues to battle the ramifications of racism allegations made by Azeem Rafiq, but the game did lead sporting tributes following the death of Her Majesty the Queen. The Saturday of England’s final Test against South Africa was respectful, poignant and moving.

Alistair Watkins
BBC Sport rugby union reporter

England head coach Eddie Jones and his Wales counterpart Wayne Pivac lost their jobs 24 hours apart after disappointing autumn campaigns. After just five wins in 2022, England go into a World Cup year with a new head coach - Steve Borthwick.

Warren Gatland returns as Wales boss after Pivac oversaw just three Test wins this year, including losses at home to Italy and Georgia.

Ireland claimed an historic Test series triumph against the All Blacks in New Zealand and rose to number one side in the world, while World Cup hosts France won a Six Nations Grand Slam.

English Premiership clubs Wasps and Worcester went into administration, resulting in big job losses and automatic relegation.

Rugby also said farewell to the great Doddie Weir. The former Scotland and British and Irish Lions lock, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2016, died at the age of 52.

Becky Grey
BBC Sport rugby union reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a record-breaking year for women’s rugby.

In November, a crowd of 42,579 - the biggest attendance in history for a women’s rugby match - watched hosts New Zealand beat England in the Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park.

England were on a record 30-Test winning run, but the Black Ferns produced their best performance since before the pandemic to win the World Cup for a sixth time.

It was not the result England fans wanted, but the thrilling final - where the Red Roses could have claimed victory with the last play of the game - will go down in history as one of the best ever.

Here's the moment Jessica Gadirova was announced as Young Sports Personality of the Year.

You'll be glad to hear that Perry, the 2022 Commonwealth Games mascot, is in the house...

It was quite the summer for Birmingham's multi-coloured bull.

Image source, PA Media

Neil: Sadly couldn't get to any of it but the Birmingham Commonwealths was pretty special, the city put on a fantastic show for everyone.

Elizabeth Hudson
BBC Sport disability sport reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games had the largest ever fully integrated programme with 350 athletes taking part in 43 events across eight sports, including a successful debut for 3x3 wheelchair basketball.

Among the many highlights were a fifth Commonwealth gold for Para-cyclist Neil Fachie who became Scotland’s joint best ever performer across the Games.

Sprinter Olivia Breen claimed the biggest win of her career, setting a new personal best in beating rival Sophie Hahn in the T37/38 100m to win Wales’s first track and field gold medal in Birmingham.

And there was an emotional gold medal for English swimmer Alice Tai in the S8 100m backstroke months after she opted to have her right leg amputated below the knee in January.

While calls for the Olympics and Paralympics to become one merged event have been rejected, the success of the integrated event will be something that individual sports may well look to replicate in the future.

Image source, Getty Images

Mike Henson
BBC Sport athletics reporter

Image source, Getty Images

After the Wightmans shared success in Oregon, it was another family affair that provided the highlight of the Commonwealth Games track programme. Roared on by the Birmingham crowd, Eilish McColgan followed in her mother Liz’s footsteps, winning 10,000m gold.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson defended her heptathlon gold after losing the World title the previous month. While Olivia Breen became the first female Welsh winner of a track and field Commonwealth gold in 32 years after seeing off English rival Sophie Hahn in a superb T37/38 100m final.

The drama kept on coming until the final race of the whole programme. England’s 4x400m relay team seemed to have snatched gold ahead of Canada by the slimmest of margins. It was only when the crowd were filing out of Alexander Stadium that the hosts’ disqualification for a lane infringement was announced.

More drama is in the pipeline already. Three months after the Commonwealth Games, it was announced that Alexander Stadium will host the 2026 European Championships.

Now it's time to turn our attention to the Lifetime Achievement Award, which has already been given to Jamaica's eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt.

The fastest sprinter in history, Bolt retired in August 2017 as a 19-time global champion, having been crowned Olympic 100m and 200m champion at three successive Games at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Here's what he had to say after receiving his trophy.

BBC One

Sports Personality of the Year contender Jake Wightman speaking to BBC One: "Sadly winter starts again and its back to work again. It's been nice [since winning at the World Championships], it's something I've dreamt of doing since I started the sport. Its a big milestone ticked off my list.

"You are running for your life. I kept thinking he was going to come past. The shock on my face was 'I've actually done this.'"

"I wish I could say I hear my dad but no, I didn't. It's special. for him to be my coach and also to be part of the atmosphere was truly special. Unless there was video footage, I wouldn't have believed my dad would have reacted like that.

"Tokyo was scarring for me, it was the perfect time for me and I felt I was destined to get a medal. To come away with 10th was just gutting.

"I did a lot more mileage, harder sessions, the stuff I didn't enjoy and gradually all that work paid off. If I didn't have that disappointment in Tokyo, I don't think I would have come back and did what I did."

We've heard from four of the six contenders for tonight's main award, though we will have to wait and see if Ben Stokes is going to be well enough to chat.

Another reminder that if you plan to cast your vote online this evening rather than by phone, you'll need to sign in to your BBC account. If you haven't already got one, just follow this link HERE to register.

You will be able to vote online HERE, by telephone or by scanning our new QR code displayed on screen during the show which will take you directly to the vote page.

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport

With just six places on this year's Sports Personality shortlist, there were some high achievers who were not nominated.

Fans of golfer Matt Fitzpatrick, athlete Eilish McColgan, swimmer Ben Proud and UFC fighter Leon Edwards were among those aggrieved they were not nominated.

Denise Lewis, who won Olympic heptathlon gold in 2000, was part of the judging panel.

"I think this year, because it was such a phenomenal year of sport, made it difficult but I’m hoping everyone will recognise the achievements of the six who are there," Lewis told me.

"We were round the table for a good while. The sport this year has been so strong, and unfortunately some people missed out."

Mike Henson
BBC Sport athletics reporter

At the biggest track and field meeting in the United States since Atlanta 1996, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone confirmed herself as an intergalactic-scale star.

The 23-year-old added world gold to her Olympic 400m hurdles crown, while dropping her own world record by almost three-quarters of a second.

Athing Mu saw off Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson to also double up on Tokyo success, while Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan dropped jaws with a 12.12 second world record in the 100m hurdles.

From a British perspective, it didn’t get any better than Jake Wightman’s superb 1500m win.

His father Geoff was on commentary duty high in the stands, calling home his son’s surprise win for the spectators in the stadium in Oregon. He held it together admirably. The viral video of their family moment though wobbled lips and moistened eyes at large.

Jake Wightman produced a stunning run to beat Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen to 1500m gold at the World Championships in Oregon, becoming the first British man to win the world title in the event since Steve Cram in 1983.

Wightman was called home by his father Geoff, who was the stadium announcer on the day, as he held on for a memorable victory.

"It's that moment you cross the line, it's just such euphoria, I just wish you could bottle that up because it soon fades away a little bit," Wightman told BBC Sport. "The disbelief and the shock are something that I will never have again."

The 28-year-old Scot also won 800m silver at the European Championships and 1500m bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

Jake Wightman delivered world gold for Great Britain in athletics, as he became the nation's first male winner of the 1500m title in 39 years.

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport

We wait to see if we will hear from Sports Personality contender Ben Stokes as wife Clare says he has been in bed with a stomach bug.

Stokes is not at the ceremony in Salford, having just returned from leading England's cricketers to a 3-0 Test series win in Pakistan.

Image source, Clare Stokes

Stokes also helped England win the T20 World Cup and skipper Jos Buttler has been on hand to praise his team-mate.

"He's a once-in-a-generation player and person. He's such a huge name for us and a great ambassador for England cricket," said Buttler.

Jess Anderson
BBC Sport women's football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

On the international stage, it has been an incredible year for women's football in this country.

Domestically, Chelsea lifted their second successive Women's Super League title at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, beating Arsenal to the trophy by just one point.

Emma Hayes' side have firmly asserted themselves as the dominant domestic force in the WSL, also winning the FA Cup for a second consecutive season.

Manchester City did, however, manage to prevent a domestic treble, pipping Chelsea to the Continental Cup.

The summer transfer window saw Keira Walsh move to Barcelona for a record women's transfer fee, along with England team-mate Lucy Bronze while Georgia Stanway moved to Bayern Munich - all from Manchester City.

This season, Emma Hayes' side are going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive WSL title with Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City all putting up a challenge.

The question remains whether someone can knock Chelsea off their perch.

Harry Poole
BBC Sport football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Football fans were left captivated until the final whistle at Etihad Stadium in May as Manchester City staged a stunning late comeback to secure their fourth Premier League title in five seasons.

As their chances looked to be slipping away, three goals in five minutes earned the victory they required in a dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa to deny FA Cup and League Cup winners Liverpool the title by a single point.

There was unrest across the city as Cristiano Ronaldo's second spell at Old Trafford came to an abrupt end in November in the aftermath of a controversial interview in which the 37-year-old criticised Manchester United and said he had "no respect" for manager Erik ten Hag.

Elsewhere, it's been a year of change for Chelsea and Newcastle United. The Blues were bought for £4.25bn by a consortium led by Todd Boehly after Russian owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while Newcastle look destined to be a force at the top after their recruitment drive began following a Saudi Arabian-backed takeover.

Norway striker Erling Haaland's prolific start to life at Manchester City appears ominous for all, but it is Arsenal who will resume the campaign top of the table on Boxing Day after a terrific start to the 2022-23 season.

BBC One

Young Sports Personality of the Year winner Jessica Gadirova speaking after winning her award:

"Thank you to my support team, my coaches, British gymnastics, my friends and family this goes to you - I wouldn't be able to achieve this without you. You mean the world to me so this goes to you."