After the shock announcement that he would retire after the fifth Ashes Test, Stuart Broad scored a six with his last ball as a batter and took the final wicket of the match to give England victory.

That was the 37-year-old’s 22nd wicket of a series in which he surpassed Ian Botham to become the highest wicket-taker from any nation against Australia.

He ended his career with 604 Test wickets, placing him fifth on the all-time list and behind only long-time England team-mate James Anderson among fast bowlers.

He is also one of only 10 men in history to score more than 3,000 runs and take 300 wickets at Test level.

Amid a thrilling summer of cricket, Stuart Broad bowed out of the game in 2023 with a fairytale ending.

BBC One

Young Sports Personality of the Year winner Mia Brookes on BBC One: "It’s one of my biggest dreams. I can’t thank anyone enough."

On what we can expect from her in the future: “Not any homework anymore. The Olympics in the next two years, I want to keep going and try and get the gold there.”

And on who she wanted to thank: “The obvious ones, thanks to mum and dad, GB Snowsport, all my coaches and sponsors.”

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport cricket reporter

Image source, Getty Images

2023 was yet another an action-packed year for cricket, so much so that two spectacular Ashes series feel like a lifetime ago.

But who could forget them?

Australia's dramatic win at Edgbaston, Alex Carey's stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord's, Tammy Beaumont's double hundred in Nottingham and Stuart Broad's sensational finale in South London.

After it all both series ended in draws, meaning Australia left the UK still holding the men's and women's Ashes. The Aussies also won the Women's T20 World Cup and men's Cricket World Cup.

England's dismal title defence in the men's World Cup last month has put a dampener on things since but in years to come we will still be talking about the Ashes of 2023.

Domestically, Surrey were far too good with the red ball again, Oval Invincibles and Southern Brave were victorious in the Hundred, Somerset were worthy winners of the T20 Blast and Leicestershire won a thriller to clinch the One-Day Cup. Not bad...

Netball wasn't the only World Cup success Australia were able to celebrate this year, of course...

Jess Anderson
BBC Sport netball reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a year of highs and lows for England’s netballers. Expectation was high at the beginning of the year but so was criticism as head coach Jess Thirlby came under scrutiny after England failed to medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and finished third in the 2023 Quad Series. But in Cape Town, South Africa this summer the Roses achieved something no England netball team has done before - reaching the final of the World Cup.

They agonisingly missed out to 12-time champions Australia but had beat the Diamonds for the first time at a World Cup in the pool phase and knocked out defending champions New Zealand in the semi-finals en route to winning the historic silver medal.

It is also another year in which the Roses have said farewell to several greats of the sport with shooter Jo Harten, veteran defender Geva Mentor and mid-courter Chelsea Pitman all calling time on their international careers. But with that comes the changing of the guard and a new-look England team who have showed they have the potential to do what it takes on the biggest stage of all.

Elsewhere, in the domestic Super League, Loughborough Lightning won their second title, pipping London Pulse in a tense final while plans were also announced for the league to turn professional by 2025 - an exciting development in what has been a history-making year for netball in the UK.

BBC One

World number one and Sports Personality of the Year 2023 nominee Alfie Hewett speaking on BBC One:

"Tennis means everything to me. It opened up a massive opportunity to me, which I didn’t see at the time. I couldn’t come to terms with accepting my disability but that’s when I found my love for tennis. It changed everything, I started to loved myself again, be competitive, really embraced myself and the sport. So when I look at my career and getting the opportunities like playing on Court One at Wimbledon in a major final and being on this stage tonight, it's something I'm very grateful for."

"I know it’s my name on the screen but I wouldn't be where I am without the people in my corner. The biggest thank you is to my family, they threw me in the deep end in wheelchair tennis and they’ve been my biggest fans since. And to my team. Who I think are the best team out there, they really are incredible. They’ve been massive in my year. There’s been a lots of highs but there’s also been some lows so I want to thank them for all their hard work and commitment. To my family I’m sorry for the stress and anxiety I cause in my matches, but I can't promise that will get any better!"

On what next year holds for him, Hewett added: "Wimbledon and a [Paralympic] gold. It’s a predictable thing to say, but there's only one Grand Slam left to win. It's an incredible place to go and display disability sport. I’ll try my best next year, I’ve had two heartbreaking years in two finals but I’ll be back with Gordon [Reid] to defend our doubles title too."

Mia Brookes became the youngest world champion in snowboarding history when she won slopestyle gold in February, little more than a month after turning 16.

On her way to winning the title, she also landed the first Cab 1440 double grab in the history of the women's event.

Brookes, who started snowboarding aged 18 months and was too young to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics, also won World Cup slopestyle silver and big air bronze this year.

She secured the overall freestyle snowboard World Cup Big Air title after finishing third in Copper Mountain, Colorado last week.

Congratulations, Mia!

Mia Brookes, the youngest world champion in snowboarding history, is the winner of Young Sports of the Year 2023!

The time has come to crown the first winner of the 70th BBC Sports personality of the Year awards show!

Snowboarder Mia Brookes, archer Penny Healey and wheelchair basketballer Charlie McIntyre have made the final shortlist for this year’s BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

A panel selected 10 outstanding young people from a longlist before narrowing that down to a top three.

Also making the final 10 were Sky Brown (skateboarding), Ben Doak (football), Cat Ferguson (cycling), Jack Jacobs (artistic gymnastics - Special Olympics), Poppy Maskill (Para-swimming), Toby Roberts (sport climbing) and Ranjuo Tomblin (artistic swimming).

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport rugby league reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Leigh Leopards’ first Challenge Cup triumph for 52 years came after they edged out a valiant Hull KR on golden point in a thriller at Wembley in August.

Meanwhile, two modern-day legends hung up their boots towards the end of 2023 as James Roby and Sam Tomkins retired. The 38-year-old Roby, who helped St Helens overcome NRL champions Penrith Panthers in Australia in February to win the World Club Challenge, bowed out as Tomkins scored the game-clinching try in their semi-final against Catalans Dragons.

But there was to be no fairy-tale goodbye for Tomkins, 34, either, with Catalans losing the Super League Grand final to his old side Wigan.

While the men’s game will be a poorer place without them, new stars like Harry Smith and Mikey Lewis excelled as England’s men wrapped up a 3-0 series win over Tonga.

England’s women thrashed Wales 60-0 in their November Test match and a ground breaking year saw Hollie-Mae Dodd, Georgia Roche and Fran Goldthorp head to Australia, with stand-off Roche helping Newcastle Knights to be crowned NRLW champions for the second year in a row.

Anna Thompson
BBC Sport winter sports reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a remarkably successful 2023 for British winter sport, which more than made up for a disappointing showing at the 2022 Winter Olympics where only two medals were won.

Mia Brookes became the youngest world champion aged 16 when she won gold in snowboard slopestyle, while Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale claimed the team snowboardcross title. Zoe Atkin clinched world championship silver in ski halfpipe and there were World Cup podium successes for freestyle skier Kirsty Muir and slalom specialist Dave Ryding.

In curling, Scotland men’s team beat Canada in the world final to claim a first gold for Bruce Mouat’s rink.

Great Britain’s four-man bobsleigh team sealed a first men’s overall World Cup medal for 28 years, while Matt Weston won world and European titles in skeleton.

In para sport, Neil Simpson and guide Rob Poth won three medals at the World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, including gold in super-G, while Menna Fitzpatrick and guide Katie Guest claimed two medals.

We've now heard from three of our six Sports Personality of the Year contenders - will bring you Alfie Hewett's interview shortly - so here's another reminder to make sure you're in a position to vote later in the show.

If you want to cast your vote online, you must be able to sign in to your BBC account.

If you do not have an account, you will need to register before you can vote.

To do that, follow this link HERE to register. Don't delay!

BBC One

Before we hear from Alfie Hewett, here's what fellow Sports Personality of the Year contender Frankie Dettori had to say when he joined the live show from afar a few moments ago:

"I'm not as smart as everyone else, sorry I didn't bring my tuxedo!" he begins on BBC One.

On being nominated for Sports Personality of the Year: "I'm already a winner. To get in the last six, racing to me is very important. But other sports appeal to a wider audience in England, so I feel like a winner already to be a nominated. Especially, bearing in mind, apart form Stuart Broad all the other contestants weren't even born when I started riding. I'm the old man of the group."

"Athletes can sympathise with me, you have to train more to compete with people half my age. Fitness very important, diet. The most important thing is the mental state, the hunger to keep on winning, That is what kept me going all these years."

On what made him decide to keep racing: "At the beginning of the season, I'm 52 and wanted to stop at top.

"When I called it a day, I thought things are going to ease up and I will say my last farewell to everyone. The opposite happened, I kept on winning. I thought am I doing the right thing, but unfortunately I told everyone I was quitting. I got myself snookered in the corner.

"I thought I couldn't carry on in England because they organised so many farewells, including a statue at Ascot. But I still had to get it out of system so my only option was to emigrate to the USA and the last chance I had to continue what I love until one day I say its enough. I'm still winning, the desire is there. I'm sorry I made a mistake."

Alfie Hewett won the Australian Open and US Open titles in 2023, while he narrowly missed out on a third Grand Slam at Wimbledon.

His achievements also included winning the Wheelchair Singles Masters, and ending the year as world number one for the first time.

In doubles, he and Gordon Reid claimed three of the four Grand Slam titles on offer - the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon - taking their career tally as a pairing to 18 major titles.

Hewett, 26, was also an integral part of the Great Britain squad that were crowned World Team Cup champions.

That brings us neatly to our third Sports Personality of the Year contender!

Alfie Hewett enjoyed a quite stunning 2023 season, winning two Grand Slam titles among successes at seven singles tournaments.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport tennis reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Not for the first time, Novak Djokovic was the standout player of the season. The guy is 36, but in the twilight of his career he’s become an even better all-round tennis player and possesses an aura which his younger rivals on the ATP Tour still find daunting.

Djokovic’s superiority brought Australian Open, French Open and US Open titles, helping him equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 majors, although he did fall agonisingly short of that elusive calendar sweep after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in an epic Wimbledon final which left him in tears.

Iga Swiatek was not quite as dominant on the WTA Tour as the previous year - but still won a Grand Slam on her favoured surface at Roland Garros and finished as world number one. The season began with Aryna Sabalenka finally landing her first major in Melbourne. Nobody expected Marketa Vondrousova to be crowned Wimbledon champion, while Coco Gauff fulfilled her long-heralded potential with the US Open title.

British success was sparse - unless you were Alfie Hewett. The 26-year-old won five Grand Slam wheelchair titles and finished as the world number one in both singles and doubles. Cameron Norrie did not reach the heights of 2022 but still finished in the world’s top 20, while 36-year-old Andy Murray soldiers on in search of one final hurrah at a major. Katie Boulter became British number one after a career-best season where she won a first WTA title, while Neal Skupski became a home Wimbledon champion in men’s doubles before Joe Salisbury celebrated a third straight US Open triumph.

As I said, there's a lot to pack in to tonight's show! And so, from football to tennis we go...