Sporting News of the Week

Football

· Jose Enrique moves to Liverpool for £6million.

· Tottenham v Everton is postponed due to the London riots.

· Fabregas finally realises his dream with a move to Barcelona worth £35million.

· Barca then win the 2nd Leg of the Super Cup 3-2 (5-4 on aggregate) at the Nou Camp in a physical affair. Fabregas assists Messi’s winner.



Cricket

· Alastair Cook hits a career best 294 as the records tumble on the third day of the Edgbaston test, with England declaring on 710/7 after Eoin Morgan scored a century, and Pietersen, Strauss and Bresnan all hit fifties. England win by an innings and 242 runs to go 3-0 up in the series and claim the Number 1 Test Team spot.

· England win by an innings an 8 runs to secure a 4-0 whitewash at the Oval. 235 runs from Bell and a big Pietersen hundred got the hosts to 591/7dec. India were then removed for 300 following a peerless Dravid century. Graeme Swann then took a 5 wicket-haul to get the Indians 283 all out after a supreme 91 from Tendulkar.


Golf

· Keegan Bradley makes it four first-time Major champions for the season as he secures the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods enjoyed opposite fortunes as he missed the cut.


Tennis

· Andy Murray wins the Cincinati Open after Novak Djokovic had to retire mid-way through the final.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 6

FOOTBALL

• Safety fears hit football as 3 legs are broken in 3 days. The unlucky recipients were; Bobby Zamora, Luka Modric and Antonio Valencia.

• Europa League – Man City 2 v 0 Salzburg: Silva and Jo the scorers.

 Liverpool 4 v 1 Steaua Bucharest: Ngog x2, Cole and Leiva

CRICKET

• England win both the 1^st and 2^nd ODI’s versus Pakistan;

1^st ODI

England – 274/6 (41overs) = S Davies 87, Trott 70, Strauss 41, Bopara 35*.

Pakistan – 250/9 (41overs) = K Akmal 53, U Akmal 43.

ENGLAND WIN BY 24 RUNS.

2^nd ODI

Pakistan – 294/8 (50overs) = K Akmal 74, Shafiq 74, Broad 4-81.

England – 295/6 (49.3overs) = Strauss 126, Trott 50.

ENGLAND WIN BY 4 WICKETS

• Clydesdale Bank Semi-Final’s;

1^st Semi

Somerset – 312/6 (40overs) = Trescothick 76, Compton 55, Suppiah 42*, Butler 36.

Essex – 217allout (29.3overs) = Foster 58.

SOMERSET WIN BY 95 RUNS.

2^nd Semi

Yorkshire – 257/5 (40overs) = Rudolph 106, Brophy 64.

Warwickshire – 260/6 (35overs) (D/L) = Chopra 76, Bell 57.

WARWICKS WIN BY 4 WICKETS ON D/L.

• The sad news has emerged that Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, one of England’s finest ever all-rounders, has been forced to retire from all forms of cricket due to a troublesome knee. His presence will be missed from the game but his legacy will live on forever as a superb athlete, player, character and performer.

TENNIS

• A great couple of week’s tennis at Flushing Meadows for the US Open has come to an end. After defeating Novak Djokovic in a superb finale in 4 sets, Rafa Nadal finally completed his career slam. This came alongside Kim Clijsters beating Zvonareva in the Women’s tournament.
• The best match of the tournament was not the final though. Instead the epic semi-final between Djokovic and Federer which went to 5 sets with Djokovic finally prevailing after having gone 1-0 and 2-1 down. It was a match played with heat, intensity and rhythm and was the very finest brand of tennis that has been seen for quite some time.
• A very close friend of mine, Pearl, is a huge Djokovic fan. I would like to pay homage to her as, though her hero put her through just about every emotion (something relayed quickly on to me!) she never lost hope in him and supported him to the bitter end with great pride. She also taught me much about the passion in tennis and I must admit, I have more of a soft-spot for Djokovic than I did, even supporting him in his semi and final! “I am so proud of Nole”, says Pearl. “He played so well, I was crying when he had his match point against Federer after Federer had had two of his own”.

A magnificent spectacle for tennis and here’s to hoping for more of it next season!

FORMULA ONE

• After taking a brilliant pole-position, Ferrari man Fernando Alonso backed it up with a superb victory in front of the Tifosi to kick-start his championship challenge. After having been overtaken by Button to the opening corner things didn’t look good for him. His pit-stop managed to catapult him ahead of Button – who finished 2^nd – and he never looked back.

BOXING

• Amir Khan agrees a defence of his WBA light-welterweight title against Marcos Maidana for December 13^th in Las Vegas.

• Wladimir Klitschko successfully retained his IBF and WBO Heavyweight belts against Samuel Peter, stopping him in the 10^th round in front of the Frankfurt crowd.

• Ricky Hatton has entered rehab after allegations of cocaine snorting has appeared.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 5

FOOTBALL

· Theo Walcott, Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe all pick up injuries on international duty as England win twice, ruling them all out for at least 6 weeks.
· Robin Van Persie’s ankle injury is to keep him out for 6 more weeks.

· John Toshack is sacked as manager of Wales.

· Gerard Houllier is set to take over the reins at Villa Park.


CRICKET

· Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy are main stars as England cruise to victory against Pakistan in both T20’s.

· Somerset are due to play Essex in the first Clydesdale Bank 40/40 semi-final, with Yorkshire and Warwickshire contesting the other.


GOLF

· After much speculation, Tiger Woods is handed a wildcard for the Ryder Cup by captain Corey Pavin along side; Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler.


TENNIS

· Novak Djokovic will take on Roger Federer in the First US Open semi-final after the Serbian defeated; Troicki, Petzschner, Blake and Fish. Federer beat; Dabul, Beck, Matthieu and Melzer to find his spot in the semi. The other two quarter finals are between; Wawrinka v Youzhny and Nadal vs Verdasco.



BOXING

· Audley Harrison and David Haye agree terms for a World Heavyweight Championship bout for the first all-British title fight in this weight range for 17 years.

· Ricky Burns defeated Roman Martinez in a unanimous points victory to claim the WBO Super-Featherweight Title in Glasgow.


FORMULA ONE

• Ferrari manage to dodge charge of team orders in use after FIA investigation.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 4

A week of vast sporting activity, with Carling Cup, Champions League and Europa League action with draws for the Group Stages of Champions League and Europa League, the Transfer Deadline, Test Match Cricket and squad selections for ODI and T20 series, selections for the Ryder Cup and a Fromula One race in Spa

FOOTBALL

• Newcastle beat Accrington Stanley 3-2 with weakened side in Carling Cup, with Everton thrashing Huddersfield 5-1 with a stand-out performance from young Englishman Jack Rodwell. Fulham slaughtered Port Vale 6-0 with goals from Zamora, Gera, Dempsey and new signing Dembele. Mame Biram Diouf scored a treble against Norwich to give Blackburn a 3-1 where Diouf is currently enjoying a loan spell.

• 3RD ROUND CARLING CUP DRAW!!
Brentford v Everton
Portsmouth v Leicester
Stoke v Fulham
Chelsea v Newcastle
Aston Villa v Blackburn
Tottenham v Arsenal
Millwall v Ipswich
Wolves v Notts County
Burnley v Bolton
Birmingham v MK Dons
Liverpool v Northampton
Scunthorpe v Man Utd
West Brom v Man City
Sunderland v West Ham
Peterborough v Swansea
Wigan v Preston

• Tottenham secure Champion’s League Group Stage spot with 4-0 trouncing of Young Boys FC, with Peter Crouch scoring a brilliant hat-trick to have a 6-3 aggregate.

• Aston Villa lose home-leg to Rapid Vienna 3-2 late on after Agbonlahor and Heskey score as they crash out of Europa League on 4-3 aggregate.
• Man City beat Timisoara 2-0 at Eastlands to give 3-0 win on aggregate.
• Liverpool leave it late as Kuyt scores winner against Trabzonspor to ensure the Reds’ qualification.
• Celtic crash and burn away to FC Utrecht 4-0 to fall out of Europe 4-2 over the two legs.

DEADLINE DEALS

• After Alberto Aquilani’s exit for Juventus and, more importantly Javier Mascherano’s £18million Anfield departure, Raul Meireles has been confirmed as Liverpool’s latest transfer for £11.5million.

• Stipe Pletikosa has signed for Tottenham on a year-long loan deal.

• Birmingham have allowed Marcus Bent to go to Wolves on a loan-deal until January. They have also captured the signings of ex-Gunner Alexander Hleb on a season-long loan and Jiranek on a one-year deal. John Beausejour – one of Chile’s brightest World Cup players – has also signed.

• Wantaway City player Robinho has gotten his wish with a permanent deal to AC Milan on a 4-year contract.

• Paul Konchesky has rejoined old manager Roy Hodgson at Anfield in player-exchange plus cash deal, with Dalla Valle and Kacaniklic going to the Cottage in return

• Asamoah Gyan has become Sunderland’s new, transfer record setting signing in a move worth £13+million.

• Roberto Martinez has successfully secured a season-long loan for Manchester United youngster Tom Cleverley.

• Stoke have confirmed deadline swoops for Eidur Gudjohnsson and Jermaine Pennant as well as Portsmouth captain Marc Wilson coming to the Brittania.

• Wigan sign Franco Di Santo from Chelsea on a three-year deal with 2 minutes left on the transfer window clock to join Tom Cleverley

• Young Arsenal left-back Armand Traore has gone to Juventus on a season-long loan after the Old Lady earlier released long-serving Zebina. Emiliano Insua has made a similar move to Galatasaray from Liverpool.

• DJ Campbell has re-signed for Blackpool for an undisclosed fee, much to the delight of Blackpool fans.

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has made a £10.5million move to Schalke from Real Madrid to end speculation linking him with Spurs.

• Rafael Van Der Vaart makes headline deal to Spurs for £8million just before the deadline.


CRICKET

• England beat Pakistan at Lords amidst rumours of Pakistani match-fixing after two no-balls were supposedly set up after The News of The World had paid a middle-man £150,000 to make these two no-balls occur. After having been 102-7 in their first innings, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad hit a record 8th wicket partnership of 332 to take England from being 102-7 to being 446all-out with Trott finishing on 184 and Broad 169 after Amir (one of the suspected fixers) took 6-84. Pakistan were then dismissed for 74 with Swann taking 4-12 and Finn 3-38. England put them in for the follow-on and again rolled them, this time for 147 with Swann helping himself to 5-62 this time to ensure a 3-1 series victory for England. However this series will forever be pitched into darkness after such disgraceful allegations.

• England have chosen their Natwest Series and T20 squads to face Pakistan. The shock omission being star-man Kevin Pietersen who will instead play on loan for Surrey, with Kieswetter being used as a batsman and Steven Davies being the keeper.

The 20/20 squad is as follows; P Collingwood (Durham, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), C Kieswetter (Somerset), E Morgan (Middlesex), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).

The Natwest ODI Series squad is as followed; A Strauss (Middlesex, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), P Collingwood (Durham), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), E Morgan (Middlesex), A Shahzad (Yorkshire), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).



FORMULA ONE

• After qualifying 2nd behind Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton got a brilliant start to leap-frog his rival into the first corner and drove a supreme race in mixed conditions – including rain – that had many others slipping and sliding. Hamilton himself also ran into the wall laps from the finish, but managed to regain control.. Button was removed from the race by Vettel who skidded whilst pursuing Button – 2nd at the time – leaving him with no drive and an early retirement. Webber managed to finish 2nd with Robert Kubica 3rd.

GOLF

• Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie picks Eduardo Molinari, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald as his wildcards. With the rest of his squad as follows; L Westwood (Eng), R McIlroy (NIr), M Kaymer (Ger), G McDowell (NIr), I Poulter (Eng), R Fisher (Eng), F Molinari (Ita), MA Jimenez (Spa), P Hanson (Swe).

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 3

• Tottenham lose first leg of first Champions League game 3-2, after being 3-0 down after 28 minutes away from home against the Swiss outfit, Young Boys. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a brilliant second after Bassong got Spurs on the board.

• Babel gives Liverpool a 1-0 advantage of Trabzonspor in Europa League with the away leg next Thursday.

• Aston Villa draw 1-1 with Rapid Vienna away in their Europa League opener, with youngster Roy Bannan scoring after another youngster, Mark Albrighton set him up.

• Alastair Cook gives his Test career a much needed kick-start with 110 in the 2nd innings of the 3rd Test versus Pakistan as England lose at the Oval after a collapse with England falling from 194-3 to 222 all out following Cook’s dismissal as well as having been 94/7 in the first innings.

England 233 (Prior 84*) Wahab 5-63
Pakistan 308 (Ali 92*) Swann 4-68
England 222 (Cook 110) Amir 5-52
Pakistan 148/6 (Butt 46) Swann 3-50
Pakistan win by 4 wickets.

• William Gallas secures North London switch from Arsenal to Tottenham
• French International defender Squillaci comes to Arsenal for rumoured fee of £6.5million.
• Algerian defender Haliche moves to Fulham.
• ·Mario Balotelli makes his long awaited move to Man City history with supposed £24million bid.
• Liverpool misfit Alberto Aquilani is sent on loan to Juventus with a permanent deal to the Old Lady looking on the cards.
• Craig Bellamy makes eventual shock move to Cardiff after too many personal differences with City see him left out in the cold.

• Roger Federer wins in Cincinatti in the run up to the US Open after beating Mardy Fish in the final.

• New Zealand defeat South Africa in a thriller of a rugby match in front of 95,000 at Soccer City, the All Blacks win narrowly 29-22 to break Bok hearts.

• Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll grab hat-tricks in the Premier League as Newcastle, Arsenal and Chelsea all beat Aston Villa, Blackpool and Wigan 6-0 respectively.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 2

• Tyson Gay won again this week, although he was not racing Usain Bolt in Crystal Palace. He won in a time of 9.78seconds, the fastest time in the World this year.



• Hampshire became T20 Champions this week in a highly dramatic finish against Somerset in a last over that contained byes straight to the keeper and a runner for the last ball. Hampshire won on wickets lost after they hit 173/5 the same amount of runs Somerset got for 6 wickets.



• Steve Coppell and Kevin Blackwell both left their clubs this week. Coppell due to mutual consent. Blackwell was given the sack after the Blades lost 3-0.



• James Milner made his big money move to Man City, with Craig Bellamy going from one City to another, Manchester to Cardiff.



• The Toronto Masters saw some brilliant tennis which culminated in a Murray, Federer final. Murray had to beat Nadal, Nalbandian and Monfils to get through with Federer beating Djokovic and Berdych. Murray won 7-5, 7-5 in the final after having broken and been broken by Federer several times in a match that had an hour long rain break. Congrats Andy!



• German Golfer Martin Kaymer lifted the USPGA trophy at Whistling Straits after having beaten Bubba Watson in a playoff by a single shot over three holes. Young Irishman Rory McIlroy was only a few shots of the pace for the whole tournament.



• The Premier League got underway once more, providing some excellent scenes such as Blackpool’s victory and Paul Scholes’ individual performance at Old Trafford on Monday night.

Sporting News of the Week

Man Utd beat Chelsea 3-1 in the season's curtain raiser, the Community Shield with goals from; Valencia, Hernandez, and a beautiful lob from Berbatov, with Chelsea's Kalou scoring in return.

Martin O'Neill has stunned English football by resigning from his post at Aston Villa with immediate effect, leaving, fans, pundits and football followers alike wondering whether his power was taken from him with the issue of James Milner's apparently impending move to Man City. This leaves Villa vulnerable and worried about a mass exodus of players who may have lost faith in the club's apparent lack of ambition to finance new signings.

England annilihate Pakistan by 9 wickets on the 4th Day, with 118 to win, Trott and Strauss both finnished on not out half-centuries.

England manager Fabio Capello's grip on his England squad seems to be slackening, with only 16 of the 23 players called-up turning up to training. Wes Brown and Paul Robinson having retired, with 5 others apparently unfit. Arsenal youngsters Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wiltshere have been called up in a new look team alongside, Gary Cahill (Bolton), Phil Jagielka (Everton) and Fulham's Bobby Zamora.

Cesc Fabregas pledges his allegiance to Arsenal in what looked like somewhat of a forced move. It has left fans interested and anxious to see how he performs come the season.

An in-form Tyson Gay stormed to victory in the Diamond League meet in Stockholm ahead of a lethargic, yet still under 10 seconds Usain Bolt, in a time of 9.84secs.

The long awaited return of the Premier League will arrive on Saturday noon, with an epic battle, with plenty of unfinnished business in it's backstory between Manchester City and Tottenham, followed (for ESPN viewers) with Chelsea's opener against West Brom. Then to Super Sunday which sees the mouth-watering fixture of Liverpool vs Arsenal, hopefully with, Torres, Gerrard, Reina, Cole, Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas and Arshavin all on show. Then to round of Week 1 of the League, a match with plenty of history, Manchester United vs Newcastle Utd in the return of Monday Night Football on SkySports.

Tendulkar's Tonnes of Tests, Murali's Masses of Magic!

There are simply some things, people and achievements that will forever live on in the memory, transcending generations and change, people whose ability and presence allow them to shine on any stage that they arrive at. Player who will have won matches for their countries before they have even begun, because the opponents will have seen their name on the team-list and turned to stone.

With India playing Sri Lanka at the moment, a culmination of adjectives can describe the matches that are likely to occur, one’s with spice, drama and quality between arguably the two best Asian cricketing nations. But another element it provides viewers with is the tantalising head to head battle of the most prolific run-scorer in Test and One-Day International (ODI) history, against the most prolific wicket-taker in Test and One-Day International match history.

The career statistics of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan makes the eye boggle. They also well and truly speak volumes of the quality of play given by the two over the quantity of time they have played (or did play for Murali). Tendulkar, on top of his run-scoring prowess, has, in this test series become the most-capped Test player in the history of cricket, overtaking Steve Waugh having represented his country at Test-level a whopping 169 times.

Matches     Innings     Runs       Highest Score     Average     100’s     50’s

       168          274    13742                 248*         56.08         48       55

Matches   Innings    Wickets    Best Bowling Innings    Average      10wkts       5wkts

      133        230           800                           9/51          22.72            22            67

Above – Top Row, Tendulkar’s Career Batting Statistics. Bottom Row, Muralitharan’s Career Bowling Statistics.

The records that the two share between them are a list of hall fame achievements; Highest run-scorer in Test and 50over cricket, Highest wicket-taker in Test and 50over cricket, Most-capped Test player and highest individual score (200) in ODI history to name but a few. But it is not just the numbers, statistics and records that mark these two individuals out as true legends of the game. They are also probably two of the most popular cricketers around; Tendulkar gets mobbed in India wherever he goes by his fans. This led to ex-Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden saying, “I have seen God, and he bats at number 4 for India”. Muralitharan gets similar treatment in Sri Lanka for his humanitarian work after the 2006 tsunami on top of his cricketing abilities.

A batsman best known for his balance, poise and compact technique, Tendulkar has been terrorising bowling attacks since 1989, when he made his debut against Pakistan as a 16 and a half year-old batsman. The world was never ready enough for such a talent and his career statistics reflect this heavily. He is still playing today, 21 years later, and has scored runs in any situation, whoever, wherever and whenever. He has always been able to play both sides of the wicket with comfort as well as straight back down the ground. Neither did he ever have an issue playing of front or back foot either, with his signature shots being the pull and back foot punch through cover.

Best of Both Worlds; Most Prolific Run-Scorer, Tendulkar (left) and Most Prolific Wicket-Taker (right)

‘Murali’ as he is affectionately known, first came to fame in 1992 versus Australia, his unusual bowling action due to his abnormal wrist and elbow and ability to get the ball to spin off almost any surface. Many have protested the legitimacy of his bowling action, yet such objections have always been unfounded. Beyond this, the fact remains that he is a magnificent bowler, the likes of whom the world will never see again and with that one of the best ever seen. His 800 Test wickets stand as the proof in this pudding, he created a ball batsmen all round the world have been struggling to fathom ever since, the ‘Doosra’. It has caused such problems because of the brilliance and subtlety with which he disguises it, not allowing the batsman to ‘pick’ it, only for it to spin in the other direction to his normal, stock delivery. Calling it a stock delivery however, makes it sound terribly average, an adjective it has always been far from being, due to this infamous ability to get turn on nearly any strip. The ball to remove Indian number 11, Ojha, the one that subsequently brought about his 800th wicket was the last of his career, as he retired with immediacy after the match. It was truly a fairytale fashion with which to end a truly awesome 18 year international Test cricket career.

With Tendulkar still playing strong, having scored the 5th double hundred of his illustrious tenure, along with the flawless double hundred he scored against South Africa last year in the 50 over version of the game. It looks as though Murali will be missed even more keenly than off immediate impulse.

Undoubtedly the best players their countries have ever produced and arguably 2 of the greatest cricketers of all time. Watching either play really does let you know you are witnessing something truly unique and special. The world of cricket has been blessed plentifully by them and will be a sadder place for it when Tendulkar finally decides to rest his bat. Only then will cricketers worldwide realise just how good the “Little Master” and the “Spinning Genius” really were. With Murali’s abdication from the throne of bowling, I’m sure many international batsmen will have blown a great sigh of relief.



In other news ; Congratulations to Surrey, scoring the highest ever 40 over score in domestic history in their 38 over (rain delayed) innings. Skipper Hamilton-Brown scored 115 from 69 balls, legend Ramprakash 85* off 45 deliveries, with Spriegel 56* and Davies 88. All of this action coming at a run rate of over 10 an over! Incredible scenes down at The Oval.

Pakistan, after having won the toss at Edgbaston, slipped to 72 all out with Anderson and Broad taking 4-20 and 4-38 respectively and Steven Finn taking 2-10. With England currently on 75-2 with Trott and Pietersen at the crease, giving them a 3-run lead.

Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay meet in Stockholm tonight in a rematch of the Berlin World Championships 100m Final. In said race, Bolt set the current World Record of 9.58 and Gay, despite running the 3rd quickest time in history had to settle for 2nd, just ahead of Asafa Powell who unfortunately had to pull out through injury.