Weekend Of Champions

My Sporting Weekend 28-30^th May 2011:

Warm-Up's:

DLF Indian Premier League Final (Cricket):

Chennai Super Kings V Royal Challengers Bangalore, Now in its 4th season the IPL has become India's top domestic sporting competition, with the final probably the biggest annual sporting event in the country.

The Super Kings were playing in front of their home crowd at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium and were looking for the 2nd successive title after winning last years tournament. David Hussey and Murali Vijay made a fantastic start for the Super Kings taking just 63 balls to reach 100 with some good running and a few big 6's. The scoreboard then kept ticking over with more 6's and 4's, and they reached a partnership of 159 before the Royal Challengers eventually got their 1st wicket in the 15th over over, with Hussey being caught in the deep by Abhimanyu Mithun, as both batters looked extremely tired due to the humidity. The 2nd wicket fell with 11 balls to go when Vijay was out for 95 off 52 balls and then MS Dhoni was out, for 22, off the next ball for Sreenath Aravind's 2nd wicket. 2 more wickets fell in the last over to Chris Gayle but Dwayne Bravo hit a 6 off the last ball for the Super Kings to reach 205.

After looking like the Super Kings would put up a score of 220 plus the Royal Challengers late rally limited them to 205 but it would take a lot from the Royal Challengers to get the win, Zaheer Khan was the most economical bowler, going for 30 off his 4 overs, without taking any wickets. Their were a few mistakes in the field but it was the flat pitch and brilliant opening partnership that swung the game in the Super Kings favour and after flying in to from Monaco to see his team, owner, Vijay Mallya looked rather agitated with his teams performance as he sat in the stands, probably plotting some top signings for next season.

The Royal Challengers had a bad start to their innings with big hitter Chris Gayle out for a duck, off the 4th ball of the innings, and then Mayhank Agarwal going for 10 in the 3rd over, both taken by Ravi Ashwin. The Royal Challengers innings plodded along with AB de Villiers out for 18 in the 7th over and Luke Pomersbach fell in the 9th over for 2, both to Shadab Jakati. Two more wickets fell in quick succession, with Suresh Raina taking Virat Kholi for an LBW before Ashwin got his 3rd wicket when he bowled and caught captain Daniel Vettori. Abhimanyu Mithun went next, for 11, after being caught by Doug Bollinger and it took the Royal Challengers 15 overs to reach a 100, but being 7 wickets down and with only 5 overs to go it looked an impossible task to get any where near the Super Kings score. Zaheer Khan was the last wicket to fall as he went for 21 and the Royal Challengers only finished with to be emphatically beaten by the Super Kings for their 2^nd IPL Title.

European Champions League Final (Football):

FC Barcelona V Manchester United, Man U made a good start putting pressure on Barcelona, closing them down fast to stop them playing their fast passing game, but after Barcelona found their rhythm they started to dominate the game, keeping possession and leaving Man U players chasing shadows.

Barcelona got the opening goal on 27 minutes when Xavi Hernandez flicked through to Rodriguez Pedro, who found himself in lots of space and slotted the ball past Edwin van de Sar. From the ariel shots it looked as if Patrice Evra had come too far inside to cover Lionel Messi's run, but failed to see Pedro's run from deep, who then pulled away from Nemanja Vidic leaving him unchallenged going towards goal.

Barcelona's domination continued, but Man U got themselves back in the game by pressing Barcelona higher up the pitch and, after winning the ball back from a throw-in Rooney made two good one-two's before firing past goalie Victor Valdes to draw the scores level on 34 minutes.

Man U played well for the rest of the half and probably thought that they had a chance to win the game if they kept up this level of play in the 2^nd half.

Barcelona started the half on top and on 54 minutes they took the lead, again, with Messi curling the ball down van der Sar's left side, from outside the box, after Park Ji-Sung got sucked towards the ball leaving Messi a large space to run into behind him. Soon after a telling stat flashed up on screen revealing that Barcelona's Xavi had attempted around 75 passes whereas Man U's ball playing midfielder Michael Carrick had only 16 passes, with both players covering around the same distance.

Barcelona carried on their domination and David Villa got their 3^rd on 69 minutes with a high, looping shot from outside the area, which came from Nani mis-controlling in the area after he should have let the ball run past him to either Evra or Carrick, who should have had an easier chance to clear the ball. Paul Scholes made a bit of an impact on the game when he came on for Carrick on 77 minutes, as Man U held on to the ball more and passed it around, but they never looked like scoring and Barcelona cruised to the win, and their 2^rd Champions League title in 3 years.

Man U were extremely disappointing, not being able to hold on to the ball, or make any really good chances, having only 1 shot on target, but it was Barcelona's passing game that left Man U chasing shadows and as they tired Barcelona took advantage, moving the ball fast and counter attacking well.

Grand Prix de Monaco (Formula 1):

The F1 crew and entourage descended on Monaco once again for the annual dash around the streets of Monte Carlo for one of motor-sport's most famous events. The tight and twisty nature of the track, and lack of straights, means that overtaking is normally at a minimal and pit strategy will be what decides the winner.

Sebastian Vettel made a good start off pole position and pulled away from the rest of the field over the next couple of laps, Fernando Alonso made another good start from 4^th, getting around Mark Webber, but he wasn't able to get past Jenson Button before the 1^st corner. Michael Schumacher got bogged down off the start and going in to the 1^st corner he clipped the rear of Lewis Hamiton's car, before then overtaking him at the hairpin.

On the 10^th lap, after being slowed down behind Schumacher, Hamilton got around him at the 1^st corner, before Schumacher had to come in for new tyres and to replace his front wing. The 1^st set of pit-stops came early with Button coming in 1^st and finding a clean air behind Webber to get some fast laps in, both Red Bulls reacted straight away, but the pit crew had a slight issue with the tyres and Button was left leading the race.

On lap 34 Hamilton went up the inside of Felipe Massa at the hairpin, pushing him out wide, but he wasn’t able to get past him and later in the lap Hamilton passed Massa in the tunnel forcing him on to the marbles, before he hit the barrier bringing out the safety car, but these incidents earned Hamilton a drive through penalty later in the race. Also on the same lap Schumacher suddenly stopped before the pit-lane forcing Alonso to make a good move to miss him.

It looked as if McLaren had made a strategic mistake bringing Button in just before the safety car as they put him out on the same tyre option as what he had already being running on, meaning that he had to stop again, but he quickly caught Vettel up on the restart. On lap 48 Button came in for his set of 'Prime' tyres, leaving him in 3^rd behind Vettel and Alonso, but Vettel's tyres started to go off and he was being quickly caught, and as he missed the gap to come in and out ahead of Button it looked as if the only way he could win the race would be to stay out and made his car as wide as possible.

The leading 3 cars were then line-a-stern and they caught up a group of back markers including Vitaly Petrov and Jaime Alguersuari, who both subsequently crashed bringing out the safety cars and soon after the red flags. This was seen to give an exciting finish to the end of the race with the 3 leaders being close together with an open track in front of them, especially as Vettel's tyres were virtually worn out, whereas Alonso and Button's were fine. But in a twist of fate teams were allowed to work on their cars on the starting line under the red flag conditions meaning that Vettel could change his tyres without losing track position, now this rule is a complete and utter joke as surely under red flag conditions nobody should be able to touch the car, or at least have to start at the back of the pack if work is carried out.

After the restart the 3 leading cars never looked like changing positions, but further down in the pack Hamilton had a another incident where he ran up the inside of Pastor Maldonaldo, with 5 laps to go, and pushed him wide into the wall, ending his day, and after the race Hamilton was given a 20 second penalty, but this didn't affect his position after he finished in 6^th. But in a post-race interview Hamilton claimed to have being picked on by the race stewards, and even claimed racism may be a factor in this, but it was only one persons fault and that was Hamilton as he started to spit his dummy out and get upset as things didn't always go his way.

The 3^rd Brit in the race, Paul Di Resta, damaged his front wing and received a drive through penalty for causing a avoidable incident after trying to go up the inside of someone at the hairpin early in the race, and while running at the back of the field he damaged his wing again and eventually finished in12th, 2 laps down.

This was an unexpectedly action packed race from the normally boring Monte Carlo street circuit, but the end, where teams were allowed to work on cars under red flag conditions, robbed the viewers and spectators of a potential fiery finish between Vettel, Alonso and Button.

nPower Championship Play-Off Final (Football):

Reading V Swansea, the richest club game of football, with the winning team being guaranteed a reported £90 million over the next 5 years (even if they are relegated in their 1^st season in the Premier League), was contested at Wembley Stadium just 2 days after the Champions League Final, and it looked like the venue staff had been hard at work to change all the signage, banners other décor for this game.

The game was pretty even until Zurab Khizanishvili brought down Nathan Dyer in the box and Scott Sinclair converted the penalty to take the lead on 21 minutes. Then within a minute Sinclair got his 2^nd, after Dobbie found lots of room behind Reading left-back Ian Harte he crossed and all keeper Adam Federici could do was parry into Sinclair's path, who easily slotted in. Swansea carried on their domination as Reading dropped back and allowed them to play and they got their 3^rd when Dobbie slotted in after Khizanishvili shinned a cross in his direction.

Khizanishvili was pretty poor in the 1^st half, being involved in all the Swansea goals, but shouldn't have been on the pitch as he should have got his 2^nd yellow for taking Dyer down for the penalty, and then during half-time Reading had substitute Jay Tabb and assistant manager Nigel Gibbs both sent off for abusing referee Phil Dowd.

After their 1^st half woes Reading started the 2^nd half well and got their 1^st goal on 49 minutes when Swansea's Joe Allen deflected the ball into his own net from a Noel Hunt flick on off a corner. Swansea then started to panic giving the ball away easy and dropping back, but they still looked dangerous on the break, with Dobbie missing a good chance, after beating 2 players in the box. Captain Matt Mills got Readings 2^nd on 57 minutes, after scoring with a header off a Jobi McAnuff corner, and Reading kept up the pressure, creating a couple more chances, but they couldn't get the equaliser. Swansea then sealed the game on 80 minutes when Sinclair completed his hat-trick with his 2^nd penalty, after Fabio Borini was stupidly fouled by Andy Griffin as he was going away from goal.

It was good to see a fight back from Reading in the 2^nd half, but they just weren't good enough to catch Swansea's lead, who played some good football, and even though they did look a bit shaky in defence at times deserved the win and will hopefully play just as good football next season.

Main Event:

Indy 500 (IndyCar):

The centennial year and 95^th running of the Indy 500 included 6 Brits in the 33 car field with regular series drivers Dario Franchitti, Justin Wilson, and Alex Lloyd being joined by Pippa Mann, Jay Howard and Dan Wheldon. But series regulars Mike Conway and James Jakes failed to qualify after not being able to set a fast enough times on Bump Day, the final day of qualifying. In a rather odd situation Bruno Junqueira qualified in, but his seat was bought out by Ryan Hunter-Reay team and he got to start at the back of the grid, now surely this is completely wrong and a driver should only qualify on merit and not on how rich your team may be, but money talks and the big teams need to do all they can to please their sponsors.

Canadian Alex Tagliani qualified on pole position, but it was Scott Dixon who got the jump on the start, leading into the 1^st corner and they then battled between themselves with the lead changing several times.

The 1^st yellow flag came out on lap 21 when Takuma Sato went to high into the 2^nd corner and ended up in the fence, ending his day and during the pit-stops Will Power didn't have his left rear wheel fitted properly, but he didn't sustain any damage and on the next lap round he got his full set of tyres on the car, but was at the back of the grid. On the restart EJ Viso got 3 wide leaving him no room and he came back down across the track in front of James Hinchcliffe before spinning into the wall.

As the 1^st round of green flag pit-stops came Jay Howard spun coming off pit road, on lap 61, due to a loose rear wheel, leaving a few cars a lap down, but they got that back straight away with the wave around, and Franchitti was left to lead the race as they restarted.

The leaders started to come in for their 2^nd green flag pit-stops on lap 98 and 2 laps later James Hinchcliffe put his car in the wall on turn 3 re-jigging the field again as not everybody had pitted, putting Franchitti back in the lead again.

The 3^rd set of green flag pit-stops came and went without any major incidents with Franchitti cycling through and leading the race, but after his good start to the race Tagliani had some issues with the engine air ducts and on lap 148 he went wide on the 4^th turn, tagging the wall, ending his race and bringing out the 5^th yellow flag of the day.

The 1^st multiple car crash of the day happened on lap 158 when Townsend Bell and Ryan Briscoe got locked together going in to the 1^st corner before hitting the wall, and bringing out the 6^th caution, and during this caution a couple of drivers, including Franchitti and Marco Andretti, took the chance of pitting as late a possible as they looked to get to the end of the race on 1 tank of fuel.

Towards the end of the race, as cars pulled in for their final stops, both Danica Patrick and Bertrand Baguette led for a few laps each but had to pull in for fuel, and as Franchitti looked to save fuel JR Hildebrand got past him and took the lead off Baguette with 3 laps to go. But as Hildebrand was going past a back marker he got on the marbles and hit the wall on the last corner of the race, with Wheldon inheriting the lead and taking the victory, while Hildebrand's stricken car slid over the line in 2^nd place.

Tony Kannan had a good race, after qualifying in 22^nd, and although he lost a lot of time in the pits after missing his box due to Mann pulling out in front of him, he worked his way through the field getting up to 2^nd and eventually finishing in 4^th.

This was great race with a lot of action, with not much time wasted waiting for restarts, although the double-file restarts were exciting with cars going up to 4 wide as they bunched up in the middle of the field. JR Hildebrand was extremely lucky not win, but Dan Wheldon truly deserved his win, especially after finishing in 2^nd in both the the last 2 500's and unfortunately losing a full time ride for this season.

Cool-Down's:

After watching the play-offs unfold in the Football League over the last couple of weeks I have come to the conclusion that their needs to be a format change to favour the higher finishing teams, as realistically finishing in 4^th gives you just the same chance of winning the final as finishing 1^st does. I have thought of 3 different formats that could be used:

Option 1, 4 Teams, Play the games 1 legged at the home of the higher ranked team, so 1^st V 4^th and 2^nd V 3^rd at the home of the 1^st and 2^nd ranked teams, followed by the final at the home ground of the highest ranked team left. This is a format used at lower levels of the football pyramid and would need 2 match days.

Option 2, 4 Teams, 1^st V 2^nd with the winner going straight into the final, 3^rd V 4^th with the winner playing at the home ground of the loser of the 1^st V 2^nd Game, with the winner going into the final. The 1^st 3 games would be played at the home ground of the higher ranked team, with the final being played at a neutral venue. Sometimes called the Page playoff system, and was used in the IPL this season and would need 3 match days.

Option 3, 6 Teams, 1^st V 2^nd with the winner going straight into the final, 3^rd V 6^th and 4^th V 5^th with the winners meeting at the higher ranked teams home ground, with the winner of that game playing at the home ground of the loser of the 1^st V 2^nd Game, with the winner going into the final. All the games, apart from the final, would be played at the home ground of the higher ranked team. This is a expanded version of the Page playoff system and is used in 2^nd and 3^rd tier rugby league in the UK and would need 4 match days.

Now I don’t think that Option 1 would take off because the final would not be played at Wembley, robbing the Football League of their cash cow matches. Option 2 could work within the context of the current season as it uses 3 match days, just like the current system, but it gives the 2 higher ranked teams a 2^nd chance, and is my favourite system. Option 3 is just an expanded version of Option 2, and would extend the season by an extra match day, previously Football League clubs have voted against expanding to 6 play-off teams so this may be an non started, also this system could be a bit drawn out and confusion, especially when there is 3 separate divisions playing at the same time. So overall I think that Option 2 could work and gives the right reward for finishing higher in the division.

Sheffield Eagles had a big, 70-12, win over the Hunslet Hawks, but Hunslet were extremely disappointing and after an early score they were steamrollered by Sheffield and just didn't look interested. Sheffield did play well, creating good try scoring opportunities with some skillfull play, but, disappointingly, but a lapse in concentration let the Hawks in during the 2^nd half when they should have kept a clean sheet.

Recent Results:

England V Sri Lanka, 1^st Test, Cardiff:

England 496-5 dec beat Sri Lanka 400 & 82 by an innings and 14 runs

Feline Fever

My Sporting Weekend 21-22^nd May 2011:

Warm-Up's:

Heineken Cup Final (Rugby Union):

Leinster V Northampton Saints, The Northern Hemisphere’s biggest club game of the season was back in Cardiff for the 6^th time, (4^th at the Millenium Stadium), and their was a brilliant atmosphere under the closed roof that gave the game an extra edge.

The Saints made the better start putting pressure on the Leinster scrum, with Phil Dowson scoring the opening try on 7 minutes, after going over out on the left wing, which was followed by a fantastic conversion from Stephen Myler out on the touch-line. Leinster then got themselves back in the game with a bit of territory, before Jonathan Sexton slotted over the 1st penalty of the game from 40 meters out. Myler extended the Saints lead on 21 minutes with a penalty from out on the left wing, but after some pressure on their defence Saints went down to 14 men when front-rower Brian Mujarti was sin-binned for pulling back Cian Healy off the ball. Although they had to reshuffle their forwards the Saints scrum was still dominant and they got their 2nd try on 31 minutes when Ben Foden went over after powering through the Leinster defence and Myler scored his 3rd kick from out on the left wing. Leinster got their 2nd score on 36 minutes with Sexton slotting over a 2nd penalty, won after a high shot, but the Saints got another try 2 minutes before half-time when Dylan Hartley powered over, and was given the nod by the video ref, to take a 16 point lead into half-time.

Northampton had a fantastic 1st half and going down to 14 men didn't faze them at all, but it was Leinster handling errors that cost them, giving away the ball too easy.

Leinster had a good start to the 2nd half with Sexton going over after some good work through the centre, and he then went on and converted his try, Sexton then carried on his scoring run with his 2nd converted try, on the 53 minute, after more Leinster pressure on the Saints defence. Sexton then scored another 2 penalties in quick succession, with the 1st one won from a scrum and the 2nd one after the Saints had their 2nd player sent to the sin-bin, with Phil Dowson going off for a deliberate, try saving, knock on. Leinster then extended their lead to 11 points when Nathan Hines went over and Sexton converted, as the Saints just couldn't keep up with their opponents, and on 68 minutes Sexton missed his 1st kick of the game. The Saints came back into the game a bit during the last 10 minutes, but Leinster had already blown them away and they never looked like scoring, with the game finishing 33-22 to Leinster.

Leinster had complete control of the 2nd half as Northampton disappeared out of the game, and they showed great steel to come back out after half time and put on a fantastic performance to win the match. Jonathan Sexton came away with the Man-Of-The-Match and truly deserved it after a fantastic game with the boot, as well as getting 2 tries to pick up 28 points during the match. Also after the match it was revealed that it was Sexton's half-time speech that went towards motivating his team to such a fantastic 2^nd half.

Northampton will be extremely disappointed with their last 40 minutes of the 2010-11 season, but it cannot be forgotten how far they have come since getting promoted back to the Premiership in 2008, winning the European Challenge Cup, LV Cup, reaching the the Premiership play-offs twice, as well as this Heineken Cup final appearance, and if they continue to build it won't be long until the they have top-level European glory, or lift the Premiership trophy.

Santander Spanish Grand Prix (Formula 1):

Mark Webber started on pole but was swamped by Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel before he got to the 1st corner, Alonso made a fantastic start going from 4^th to 1^st after getting up the inside of the 1^st corner, but it was Button who was the biggest loser after getting pushed out wide and having to take the long way round he lost 5 places.

Pit stops started early as teams looked towards 4 stop strategies with Vettel pitting twice in the opening 19 laps, and he got past Alonso with the undercut (ie pitting earlier and coming out in clean air), but it looked like Hamilton had a good real chance of getting past Vettel during the latter pitstops to give him the lead. During lap 37 Button used DRS to get past Webber before overtaking Alonso nearly straight away to get up to 3^rd.

It was announced with about 20 laps to go that Vettel lost his KERS system, giving Hamilton, who was just over a second behind him, the encouragement to get past him and win, But 5 laps later it looked as if it was working again and even through Hamilton was able to catch him on the straight he never had the chance to get past him, leaving Vettel to win the race and Hamilton in 2^nd, 35 seconds in front of 3^rd placed Button. Webber finished in 4^th and Alonso eventually finished in 5^th, a lap down, after pitting early in a run to get the undercut left him in traffic later in the race.

After starting at the back of the grid, because he missed qualifying, Nick Heidfeld had a good race, finishing in 8^th.

During the race their was a lack of overtaking, with the DRS system being virtually ineffective in helping this situation, but the 3 and 4 stop pit strategies did at least make the race somewhat interesting with the constant changing of positions.

Challenge Cup (Rugby League):

Bradford Bulls V Wigan Warriors, After getting some good crowds this season the attendance was pretty pitiful, just short of 6,000, and although these low attendances are far too common for the Challenge Cup I don't think much can be done, apart from a major revamp of the competition which I don't think would be a very good idea. This game was played in very windy conditions which swirled around high up, but did favour one team, and it was the Bulls who played into it in the 1^st half. The Warriors Pat Richards had an early try attempt wiped off for dropping the ball, before Elliott Whitehead got the opening try for the Bulls on 11 minutes, after a long video ref delay. From the kick off Richards put it straight out of play and this put the Warriors on the back foot as the Bulls had some more good possession, but it was the Warriors who scored next with Richards going over down the left wing, on 18 minutes, after some good accurate passing, and the Bulls sliding defence not being able to get across. Sam Tomkins got Wigans 2^nd try on 30 minutes, but as he went over the line he was hit in the head and knocked unconscious by Gareth Raynor, who was subsequently sent off. 5 minutes later the Warriors lost a player of their own with Jeff Lima being sent to the sin-bin for persistent contact to the head.

Although they went down to 12 men Bradford were only trailing by 4 points at half-time, and playing with the wind in the 2^nd half gave them a chance to get back in the game, as long as their kicking game was good, and they kept their discipline, which is what Wigan had lacked, at times, in the 1^st half.

The Warriors Brett Finch got the opening try of the 2^nd half, on 43 minutes, after trapping the ball under his foot and running half the length of the field virtually unchallenged, from a poor kick through from Kyle Briggs, and 2 minutes later, after a good offload from Darrell Goulding, Richards went over for his 2^nd try of the game. Patrick Ah Van gave the Bulls a glimmer of hope when he went over down the right wing, on 48 minutes, and his conversion brought them back within 10 points. Then on 64 minutes Michael Platt made a good break to get the Bulls down the pitch and Shad Royston scored after retrieving a grubber kick through from Briggs, the momentum was then with the Bulls and the home crowd could be heard for the 1^st time in the game getting behind their team. But Liam Farrell seemingly secured the win for the Warriors with 5 minutes to go, stretching out and getting the ball down after finding a gap in the Bulls defence, Ah Van did get a consolation out on the right wing with the final play of the game but the final score was 26-22 in Wigan's favour.

Bradford played well to keep themselves in the game after the sending off, but I don't think that they had that much going forward against a strong Wigan defence, both teams had a lot of errors in their game with Wigan just switching off after getting the 2 early tries in the 2^nd half. This was not the best game to watch with neither teams defence or offence being outstanding, although Briggs and Royston had good games for Bradford.

 

Main Event:

Challenge Cup (Rugby League):

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats V Castleford Tigers, with a place in the quarter final at stake this 5th round match attracted a decent crowd for the big Calder derby. The Tigers got the opening score on 6 minutes, after Dale Morton lost control of the ball just short of the goal line, Brett Ferres collected it and dived over, but the Wildcats drew level 10 minutes later when Julian Rinaldi chipping through and Glenn Morrison touching down. The Wildcats then took the lead on 32 minutes after Josh Veivers slotted over a penalty, won after Willie Isa blocked Stuart Howarth after he kicked through from about 20 meters out.

The 1st half was pretty even, but most of the play was down the Wakefield end, due to the wind helping the Castleford kicking game, but neither team really made use of it to put either the back line under pressure with high bombs.

The Wildcats extended their lead at the start of the 2nd half with another Veivers penalty on 44 minutes, and another try on 48 minutes when a grubber kick came off the post and Tommy Lee touched down during the confusion, but the Tigers came back with their own try after Rangi Chase threw a couple of dummies before breaking through the goal-line defence and touching down. On 56 minutes a high kick worked when the Wildcats Josh Griffin lost the ball to Danny Orr who went over to level the scores, but with 10 minutes to go Veivers kicked his 3rd penalty, conceded by Nick Fozzard for an attempted head-butt, for the Wildcats to take the lead once again. On 77 minutes the Wildcats gave away a penalty 20 meters out for a high tackle and Kirk Dixon converted to set up golden point extra-time, and the inevitable drop-goal competition.

The lead in the 2nd half tooed and froed between each team with neither team really taking control of the game, but by playing the safe option of kicking the penalty's instead of running the ball Wakefield kept the scoreboard ticking over, and themselves in the game.

During extra-time both teams had some pretty awful drop-goal attempts as game plans disappeared when they reached the 5th tackle and wild kicks came from all over the pitch towards goal, instead of looking to pin the opposition back as close to their goal-line as possible and force the error. After 10 minutes, just as the half time hooter sounded, Morton was penalised for a 2-on-1 ball steal to give Dixon the opportunity to win the game for the Tigers, which he did with a curling kick from out on the left wing.

This was a tense game with a exciting, but slightly disappointing finish, (due to the awful drop-goal attempts), and eventually ending with a penalty, maybe 'Golden Try' would be a better option to find a winner in cup games if replays are out of the question.

Recent Results:

The Co-Operative Championship (Rugby League): Halifax 14-12 Sheffield

LV County Championship (Cricket): Lancashire: 329 & 121-4 (14.2 overs)

                                                        Yorkshire: 141 & 308 (130.3 overs)

                                                        Lancashire  beat Yorkshire by 6 wickets

CB40 (Cricket): Worcestershire: 155-9 (40.0 overs)

                          Yorkshire: 156-3 (36.3 overs)

                          Yorkshire beat Worcestershire by 7 wickets

Cup Final, Or Just Another Game

My Sporting Weekend 14-15^th May 2011:

Warm-Up's:

Engage Super League (Rugby League):

Huddersfield Giants V St Helens, Huddersfield opened the scoring early on with Eorl Crabtree powering over on 8 minutes, and Danny Brough extend their lead further on 33 minutes, after making a break through the Saint's defence from inside his own half. The Giants had a good 1st half and the Saints were lucky that they didn't concede any more points than they did, as the Giants had a lot of the ball within the Saints 20 metre line. James Graham had the Saints best chance of the half, after making a good break, but didn't off load fast enough and the chance went.

3 Minutes into the 2nd half Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook retrieved a James Roby kick through to get the Saints back in the game, but the Giants responded on 52 minutes, with Kevin Brown stretching out, and scoring, after a good use of dummy runners, and 3 minutes later Michael Lawence went over after receiving a brilliant pass from Leeroy Cudjoe to extent the Giants lead. Crabtree then got his 2nd try, and Joe Wordel his 1st as the Saints defence started to fall apart and leave big gaps. The Giants looked like they would run away with the game but Joe Ashurst got Saints 2nd score on 67 minutes, after they created an overlap down the left had side, and 2 minutes later Ade Gardener went over down the right wing, after the Giants seemed to have switched off. But the game had already gone for the Saints and Scott Grix completed the scoring for Hudderfield on 75 minutes, for the 40-18 win.

The Saints may have (supposedly) had 10 1st teamers out, but Hudderfield had a great game and blew the Saints away with 4 trys in 10 minutes during the 2nd half and although the Saints never gave up they were too far behind to really challenge for the win. Danny Brough had a great game creating some good chances and scoring a try, as well as having some exceptional kicking.

French Grad Prix (Moto GP):

The Repsol Honda's qualified in the top 3 positions and had a good start off the line, taking the 1^st 3 positions, but after a couple of laps Andrea Dovizioso dropped behind Marco Simoncelli and Jorge Lorenzo, who had a good battle for 3^rd, leaving Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa to fight it out for 1^st position.

On Lap 10 Dovizioso got past Lorenzo, but couldn't pull away, and Lorenzo got back past him a lap later, but this exchange allowed Valentino Rossi to catch them both up.

With around 12 laps to go Pedrosa's lap times started to drop off and a lap later Simoncelli overtook him and as he tried to get back past him he stood his bike into Simoncelli and came off, ending his day. A couple of laps later Simoncelli was penalised for, what was deemed, an unfair pass and given a ride through penalty, dropping him back down, and he eventually finished in 6^th.

With 7 laps to go Rossi got past Dovizioso, and with 5 laps to go both Rossi and Dovizioso got past Lorenzo, leaving him behind. Both riders then had a good battle to the end of the race with Dovizioso eventually finishing in 2^nd, 14 seconds behind winner Stoner.

French team Tech 3 had a poor race with neither rider finishing, on lap 5 Brit Cal Cruthlow came off, after clipping the curb, and on lap 14 Colin Edwards also came off, but he got back out and finished in 13^th.

This was a very an entertaining race with some good overtaking, and some big falls, but unfortunately for Pedrosa it was reported that he had a fractured right collar bone, putting him out for a few weeks.

Race Of Italy (World Touring Car Championship):

Race 2, I haven't really watch WTCC before and this was a short sharp 9 lap race around the famous Monza track. Robert Huff had a good start, getting around pole sitter Tiago Monteiro, and he then had a battle to the end of the race with team-mate Yvan Muller putting him under constant pressure. Behind them their was some good racing for 3^rd with Poulsen coming out on top, ahead of Monteiro, after some good overtaking. After starting at the back of the field, due to damage sustained in the 1^st race, Alain Menu, who was 2^nd on the championship standings, did well to get up to, and finish in 5^th. This was quite enjoyable to watch, but it seemed like it was very hard to overtake, but the cars seemed quite competitive and kept nose to tail for virtually the whole race, punishing any mistake.

Co-Operative Championship (Rugby League):

Sheffield Eagles V Leigh Centurions, The Eagles got the opening score with a penalty, but it was Leigh who got the 1^st try, with Mick Nanyn going over after a break gave Leigh men over down the left side. The Eagles were finding it hard to get over the half way line with the ball and Leigh had a couple more good chances, but handling errors close to the line gave Sheffield the ball back. Dean McGilvary sneaked in, in the left corner, to get Leigh's 2^nd try on 22 minutes, and Leigh got 3 more trys in the half with Martyn Ridyard, Matty Blythe and Stuart Littler going over during a 10 minute spell before half-time to lead 26-2.

Sheffield were poor in the 1^st half, not being able to get out of their own half, as well as giving away the ball with too many handling errors and penaltys, although Leigh did have some good play that opened up the Sheffield defence.

Sheffield started the 2^nd half better, with quicker play-of-the-balls and better control of the ball, but they still found it hard to get into the Leigh half and it was Leigh who got the 1^st try of the half, on 66 minutes, with Tommy Goulden going over. The Eagles eventually got their 1^st on 70 minutes with a fantastic move that started out on the right wing, and they then moved the ball across the pitch, with some good offloads, before Quentin Laulu-Togagae cut inside and scored near the posts. But Leigh had already won the game and they got a further 2 more trys, with Ridyard and Jamie Ellis going over, as the Sheffield defence fell apart.

Leigh had a great game and were just too good and way faster than Sheffield, who just didn't turn up and were extremely poor going forward. Full-back Misi Taulapapa didn't seem to be up too speed after arriving back in the country after coming back from injury and having visa problems, but hopefully in a couple of games he will be fully fit and will be more effective.

Main Event:

The FA Cup Final (Football):

Manchester City V Stoke City, Manchester City had a good start, and then pretty much dominated the game, with Stoke only having a few spells where they created any pressure and subsequent chances. David Silva had the best chance of the 1st half, volleying into the ground, but over the bar, after Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen parried the ball in his direction.

During the 2^nd half Stoke dropped deeper and deeper, leaving striker Kenwyne Jones isolated up front, and Man City eventually scored with Yaya Toure firing in, on 74 minutes, after the defence failed to clear a Mario Ballotelli shot. Stoke tried to change the game with some substitutions but the players who came on were just as ineffective as the one who went off and the game drifted to a conclusion as Man City dropped back and defended the 1-0 lead.

Ballotelli was awarded the man of the match and deserved it as he looked to get involved at every chance, as well as having 6 shots which were all on target. During the 1^st half David Silva played well with some good passing, but disappeared in the 2^nd and was pretty ineffective, also Man City's normal play-maker Carlos Tevez didn't have that good of a game and was outshone by fellow striker Ballotelli. Stoke's best player, by far, was keeper Sorensen as he kept them in the game to the end with some good saves, but the rest of the team were pretty poor, and will be truly disappointed with their performances in a major final. This wasn't the best game to watch as Stoke never got in the game and Man City were far superior, and they truly deserved the win, which could potentially kick start their attempt to become the best team in the world with the backing of their rich owners. To an extent the only way is down for Stoke, after surviving in the Premier League for a few seasons they may finish in the top half this season, along with a cup final appearance, but realistically what more can they achieve, especially compared to other teams that have much better resources.

Cool-Down's:

Probably the most famous trophy in club football has seemingly been relegated again and was contested, not as the traditional final game of the season, but 2 weeks before that, on the same weekend as a full round of Premier League fixtures. Now I can understand that UEFA want the Champions League final to end the European club season, and moving it from mid-week to a Saturday probably increases world-wide viewing figures, but with Wembley hosting the final this year, no other event could be staged there during the 14 days prior to the final. This means that the final had to be played even earlier, so surely the Premier League shouldn't have scheduled any games for the Saturday as they take away attention for the prestigious final, especially as Manchester United confirmed their Title win earlier in the day. The round of fixtures could have being played on Sunday (with the finalists playing mid-week) and this would have given the full attention the Cup final deserves.

Recent Results:

LV County Championship: Yorkshire: 355 & 165-8 (56.0 overs)

                                         Hampshire: 232 & 153-8 (59.0 overs)

                                         Yorkshire drew with Hampshire

Clydesdale Bank 40: Yorkshire: 230-7 (40.0 overs)

                                 Kent: 232-8 (39.4 overs)

                                 Kent beat Yorkshire by 2 wickets

My Sporting Weekend 7-8^th Of May 2011:

A Day At The Races

Warm-Up's:

Carneige Challenge Cup (Rugby League):

Leeds Rhinos V Crusaders RL, Crusaders had a strong start to the game, with Hep Cahill getting the opening try, on 6 minutes, after Ryan Hall lost the ball to Stuart Reardon after being put under pressure from a high kick. 6 minutes later Rhys Hanbury went over after collecting a good kick through from Elliot Kear, but Leeds then responded with consecutive tries from Paul McShane and Jay Pitts scored for Leeds to take the lead and on 32 minutes they extended their lead further when a couple of good offloads released Rob Burrow to speed through the Crusaders defence and get a try. Leeds started the 1^st half slowly, losing both Brent Webb and Danny Maguire in the first 15 minutes to injury, but they recovered well, scoring 3 tries, but they looked a bit shaky in defence after having to re-jig the team, due to the injurys.

Leeds got the 1^st try of the 2^nd half with Ryan Hall going over down the left wing, but they then lost their 3rd player of the game when Chris Clarkson had to be stretchered off after damaging his right ankle, and Crusaders then got themselves back in the game with Kear going over out on the left wing. Crusaders kept a bit of pressure on Leeds, but they went down to 12 men as Cahill got sent off for kicking out at Rob Burrow as he collected the ball from the full back position. Peter Luton got Crusaders 4th try on 69 minutes to bring them within 4 points, but from the restart Jarred Sammut knocked on, which gave Leeds good field position and Danny Buderus then went over from dummy half to virtually seal the game. Crusaders played well in patches, but just didn't get enough points on the board when they were on top as Leeds looked dangerous every time they got in the final 3^rd of the pitch.

La Liga (Football):

Athletico Madrid V Malaga CF, Relegation threatened Malaga had a really good game but Athletico looked as if they were already on the beach and not playing for a Europa League qualification spot for next season. They had no urgency in their game, for instance not closing down the Malaga defence, who are known for making mistakes, or either wingers trying to get around the Malaga full-backs, and during the 1^st half they only had 2 shots. At half time Malaga led 2 nil after both Rondon, on 29 minutes, and Julio Babtista, on 35 minutes, got on the end of crosses from the right to head past Athletico keeper David De Gea, and as they kicked off the 2^nd half they looked like they might be on the beach as they dropped back and allowed Athletico to have more of the ball. But Athletico still didn't look interested, and it took until after the 70^th minute, after Diego Forlan had come on, before they actually created some good chances, as well as winning a few free kicks around the box. But they still found it hard to get any shots on target and Malaga got their 3^rd goal, on 84 minutes, after a Baptista shot was parried by De Gea across his goal into Enzo Maresca's path who slotted in easily sealing the victory. After a run of 4 wins, as well as picking up 19 points from a possible 24, Malaga are now clear of the drop zone and should avoid relegation, and possibly finish in the top half, if they keep up their form, and if Athletico play like this for the rest of the season they are in danger of letting Espanyol go above them and claim the final Europa League place for next season.

WBO Welterweight Title (Boxing):

Manny 'Pac-Man' Pacquiao V 'Sugar' Shane Mosley, After beating Antonio Margerito last year at Light-middleweight level Pacquiao dropped back down to what is probably currently his natural weight, Welterweight, to face the 39 year old Mosley, going into the fight it looked like Pacquiao was a cert for the win and it was a case of when and how he was going to win, mainly due to his speed against the aged fighter Mosley.

It was a pretty even opening round, but in the 2nd Pacquiao took control and got some good shots off, which got the Las Vegas crowd behind him and in the 3rd Pacquiao knocked Mosley down with a right shot, straight down the center, as he increased the speed of the fight. Mosley made it to the end of the round, as Pacquiao couldn't take advantage of the dazed fighter, who has never lost by a stoppage. Mosley seemed to recover over the next couple of rounds, bt was constantly backtracking as Pacquiao seemed to slow the fight down as he looked to land the big shot, instead of the fast flurries that can be so destructive. As the fight went on the crowd started to get frustrated with the lack of action for either fighter, as Mosley kept backing off Pacquiao, forcing him to take the initiative. In round 8 Mosley landed a couple of good shots, but he didn't build on this momentum as Pacquiao got off some of his own shots in the 9th. In the 10th Mosley knocked Pacquiao down, but it was more like a push and replays confirmed this, and an angered Pacquiao came back strong at Mosley as he picked up the pace and looked to end the fight, but the 11th and 12th round came and went with neither fighter making a good case for a knock-out. The fight went the distance and unsurprisingly it was Pacquiao that came away with a unanimous win on point. This was not the best fight with Pacquiao being too laid back and not making good use of his pace, to keep Mosley under constant pressure, who never looked like taking control of the fight, or even landing any shots that really trouble Pacquiao.

Main Event:

Battle of Britain 2011 (Banger Racing):

This was Startrax's big annual unlimited banger meeting at Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield, and as well as having the Unlimited Bangers on the bill, their was also 1600cc Rookie Bangers and Junior Bangers. I missed the 1^st Unlimited race but the remaining 3 races only contained 12, or so, cars on the track at once, and I think I only saw a one hit and after the final race their was meant to be a destruction derby. Now this consisted of all but 2 of the running cars pulling on to the infield, which is fair enough if they want to save their cars, but then why are they running in a race that is specifically a destruction derby, the other 2 cars then circled around to each other and did a head on, and that was it, day over. Now this was a very poor showing from the Unlimited drivers as their was virtually no action, now I don't profess to knowing inter team politics, but surely if another car is painted a different colour to yours you hit it. Also the Juniors, who have previously been quite good to watch, didn't have that good of turn-out with only 6 cars getting on to the track, and the cars soon spread out during the races, and their was virtually no opportunity to overtake.

Anyway the main reason that I was at the meeting was to see 1600cc Bangers, and more specifically my two cousins who were racing for the 'Green Army' team. Their was a big turn out of cars, around 50, and like the Unlimited's this was team racing, so 2 cars from each group of 4 were placed in the 1^st heat and the other 2 in the 2^nd, with any survivors taking part in the 3^rd and 4^th races. Both of the heats featured a lot of action, with some big hits, a car rolling and a lot of cars spinning out on their own due to the 2^nd turn being semi-flooded, but as it was meant to be nudge and spin some of the hits seemed to bit over the top, leaving most of the cars stricken in the in-field, or against the fence. Each heat ended with, at most, 6 cars running on track, and the 2^nd heat had to be stopped, and ended, after 3 laps due to the fence being damaged and fact that their was so few cars still running. The 3^rd race featured the best racing of the day, after a big pile up on the start line, the track was blocked causing the cars to detour slightly onto the infield, giving a different dimension to normal oval racing. But the best thing about race was that the marshal’s let the action carry on, without the need of red flags that blighted the 1^st two races, and the pile-up cleared itself up a bit. The last race had a disorganised end as it was meant to finish with a destruction derby, but the red flags were shown and the tractors started to clear the track. At this point I started to make my way round to the pits, and by the time I got their some of the cars seemed to be running again and I got to the pit gate to see the DD end with a final hit on a Green Army car. Realistically neither of my cousins did much and probably only completed 6 laps between them which was a bit disappointing on a personal level, but as previously seen in the past you cannot rely on going to watch a single driver and expect them to be involved in all the action.

Apart from the 1600's the meeting was pretty disappointing with the lack of action in the Unlimited's and Juniors (but they can't be faulted), lengthy delays fixing fence and the time taken to get cars off track. Also that fact that the tannoys on the corner terrace weren’t working and the walk way around to the pits were flooded, these things could have been easily sorted by stadium management, but obviously weren't. In the past it was probably a given that I would turn up to watch my family race at Owlerton, but in future it will probably be given more thought, with the outcome probably still turning up and doing the complaining after the meeting.

Cool-Down's:

On Sunday night BBC 2 aired a programme where Lord Alan Sugar looked at Premier League football and gave his insight into how the teams could improve their financial situation with his 'Blueprint'. All of his points had some merit but no one in the programme would ever take any blame for any financial problems of football clubs, and realistically none of his points would be taken on board as neither UEFA or the FA are strong enough to implement real changes to curb over spending at all levels of the game.

1: Control Player's Wagers, I cannot see a salary cap coming into force due to the amount of mega-rich sugar daddies, like Roman Abramovich from Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour from Manchester City being involved in the game, as they would veto the idea. But maybe a gentleman's agreement of a % of turnover that can be spent on wages between certain clubs, ie middle to lower end could work, if only to stop clubs over spending with money they don't have or have no realistic chance of earning it in the future, but again any club with a over ambitious chairman would break this and spend what he wants.

2: Borrowing To Build, Not To Buy, Again a good point but if you buy a house with a mortgage you put yourself in debt and are classed as being in the red, even if you keep up with monthly repayments, which is what is happening at Manchester United, also the loans will be secured against the owners personal assets so there is risk for the owners in this situation, as shown with Hicks and Gillette losing the money that they did with Liverpool. Also I think that Arsenal's and Manchester United's debts are completely different and should not be compared, especially as Manchester United already have the facilities Arsenal put themselves into debt to build.

3: Tougher Penalties For Financial Failure, All football clubs should be run as proper businesses, but clubs have previously gone bust and have had to reform, Aldershot Town for instance, and this has made no impact on how clubs are run now. I think that if a club goes into administration it should be automatically relegated at the end of the season (giving a team that finished in the highest relegation place a reprieve), and if they also happen to finish in a relegation spot, they then drop down 2 divisions for the following season (for instance in a Premier League club goes into admin and then finishes in the bottom 3 they drop down to League 1), this would probably cause chaos for a couple of years, but it would even out when clubs get their finances sorted and they know the consequences.

4: End the Football Creditors Rule, Now this current rule is a joke why should football run by different rules to the rest of the business world, every creditor should be treated equally, but this will never happen as football will always look after football, also the PFA would make a big issue out of it, and would probably get their own way. This could change though if a company was to take a club to court over unpaid debts, even if they reform with a new PLC name, but trade under the same club brand.

5: A Football Trust Fund, This is quite a daft idea as you are telling a club what they can spend the money on and are taking away the responsibility of balancing, building a team and paying wages, as well as improving infrastructure, which are major business decisions and just leaving them to deal with paying players. Also will certain clubs lose out on money because they have invested in certain areas in the past, for instance Manchester United and Arsenal who already have top class facilities because of good investment would lose money, whereas teams like Blackpool or Burnley who don't have top class training facilities or stadium would receive extra money for not previously investing in those areas.

It would have been more interesting if their was more focus on teams from the lower leagues, especially as they have had the knock on from higher wages, but don't receive that much in TV rights, so have to charge extraordinary admission rates to help meet cover costs. Also I find it quite funny that he thinks ITV upping their bid for the 1^st TV rights deal for the Premier League was a 'Dirty Deed', but he then went to Sky and told them to up their bid, surely this is defiantly a conflict of interest and also a form of insider trading as they were probably sealed bids originally.

The main problem is that football will never change because people are unwilling to take any blame, football, like other sports always acts in house and will always look after its own and also the fact that people like Peter Ridsdale and Harry Redknapp, and other, are still involved when they have being involved in several clubs that have had financial problems, and have gone into administration, but play dumb and claim ignorance when questioned.

Recent Results:

Npower League 1 (Football): Sheffield Wednesday 1 Exeter City 2

LV County Championship (Cricket): Nottinghamshire: 428 & 31-0 (13.0 overs)

                                                        Yorkshire: 534-9 & 113-2 (51.0 overs)

                                                        Nottinghamshire drew with Yorkshire

CB40 (Cricket): Kent: 161 (31.4 overs)

                          Yorkshire: 254-7 (40.0 overs)

                          Yorkshire beat Kent by 93 runs

Storms Of Controversy

My Sporting Weekend 29^th April - 2^nd of May:

Warm-Up's:

Engage Super League:

Castleford Tigers V Leeds Rhinos, The first half was pretty even but the Rhinos were leading 12-0 after the Tigers had 2 tries wiped off, both times Rangi Chase was adjudged to have thrown forward passes to Richard Owen in similar moves. Callum Watkins opened the scoring early on and the Rhinos then got a controversial try with Rob Burrow throwing what looked like a forward pass to Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who went over on 21 minutes. The Tigers had some good, sustained periods of pressure but they didn't get the rub of the green and ended the half without a point.

Ryan Hall opened the scoring in the 2^nd half, on 53 minutes, after sneaking in just inside the corner post and they then extended their lead with Danny Maguire going over, after receiving a good offload from Jamie Peacock. Leeds then ran away with the game with Burrow scoring on 67 minutes, Paul McShane on 72, Ian Kirke on 76 and Hall, again, on 79. The Tigers did get some points, on 70 minutes with Joe Arundel going over, but apart from that they never really looked threatening in the 2^nd half and even through Rangi Chase never gave up and was always looking to create something the rest of the team just weren’t their to help him. Kevin Sinfield scored all his conversions with some fantastic kicking and the final score was 48-6 to Leeds, also Jaime Peacock made his long awaited return, after being out since last August, and received a warm welcome, as he entered the game, from the Leeds fans.

Barclays Premier League:

Chelsea V Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea pretty dominated the 1st half, but were lucky to be drawing at half-time, after a fantastic thunderbolt shot from Sandro gave Tottenham the lead, Frank Lampard had a controversial goal awarded, after ball found away through the big hole in Gomes's body, he then retrieved it just before it completely crossed the line, but the linesman adjudged it to have crossed the line. Now it will be the linesman that will be blamed for the incident, and that goal-line technology has to be introduced immediately, but it was only one person's fault, and that is Gomes for putting the linesman in that position where he has to make the decision, if he had got his body behind the ball properly and made a correct save their would be no argument. Tottenham created more chances in the 2nd half but it was Chelsea who dominated again, and they eventually got the winner on 89 minutes, after Salomon Kalou toed in a Didier Drogba shot that was going wide. But it wasn’t without controversy, when, on the replays it looked as if Kalou was slightly offside. This was quite an interesting match to watch with Chelsea creating lots of chances, but Tottenham were a bit disappointing, as they seemed to find it hard to link up the ball between the midfield and Roman Pavlyuchenko, who played up front for the 1^st hour or so, and although Chelsea's goals were lucky Tottenham didn't really do enough to deserve to win the game.

La Liga:

Real Sociedad V Barcelona, Barcelona fielded a 2nd string side that only included 3 regular starters (Lionel Messi, Xavi and Gerard Pique) as they looked to rest players in preparation of the 2nd leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, on Tuesday, but unlike Real whose 2nd string, which includes such names as Kaka, Laasana Diarra and Emmanuel Adebayor, Barca's is nowhere near as strong and included 4 players with limited 1^st team experience. And this inexperience showed as they couldn't close out the game, after taking the lead with a Thiago goal on 29 minutes, and Sociedad came back into the game in the 2nd half with Diego Ifrán scoring after just coming on off the bench, before Xabi Prieto got the winner with a penalty after Javier Mascherano committed a foul in the box. Like normal Barcelona had the majority of possession, and the young players fitted into their system well, but it is their ability to create good chances on target that need to be improved, as they have been a bit suspect in defence over the last month or so going into the last 1/4 of a game with a 1-0 lead, leading to late opposition goals.

Portuguese Grand Prix (Moto GP):

Within 2 lap 3 riders had come off due to cold tyres, Hector Barbera, Marco Simoncelli and Karel Abraham. Off the start Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa opened up a gap from 3rd placed Casey Stoner, and with 18 laps to go Stoner started to close the gap, but this was short lived as the front 2 pulled the gap back out. With 4 laps to go Lorenzo seem to allow Pedrosa past quite easily, so that he could then draft behind him and look to overtake fin during the final corners, but this was a costly error as Pedrosa easily opened up a gap and eventually finished 3 seconds in front of him.

Andrea Dovizioso had a good finish to the race catching Rossi and passing him on the line to take 4^th. This race was pretty boring, with not much action, and I think that their needs to be more riders on the starting grid, which would hopefully increase the amount of overtaking, but the only way that this would happen would be to make it cheaper to enter the championship at a competitive level, which probably won't happen.

Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle (IndyCar):

Will Power qualified on pole for the 4th time this season and just before the race started the weather dramatically changed and a heavy rainstorm soaked the track with the race started in wet conditions. On the 1st corner Helio Castroneves seemed to get faded across into the wall, leaving nowhere for Danica Patrick, Simona Di Silvestro and Tony Kannan, who were behind him, to go, bringing out the 1^st caution of the day. On the restart several more cars spun out, most on their own accord, but the green flag stayed out, and as the rain started again Vitor Meira spun into the wall damaging the rear of the car, bringing out the yellow flag. Not soon after the red flag was waved as drivers were finding it hard to keep the cars facing the right direction in the heavy rain, and with virtually no visibility. During the break race control allowed teams to work on the cars, and after about 2 hours of on and off rain the drivers received the signal to get back in their cars, and after a further half an hour they started circulating the track, under yellow flag conditions, with all the drivers running. The cars circulated for 7 laps behind the safety car, but race control then postponed the race for 24 hours due to the unsafe nature of the track, and it also looked as it would become a timed race.

The race re-started on Monday morning and as soon as they took the green flag the rain started to fall again, and after a mad dash for wet tyres, the yellow flags were back out after Sebastian Bourdais spun out with no contact, as did Ryan Hunter-Reay who damaged his 2^nd rear wing of the race. On the restart Takuma Sato, who was on a full wet set-up, made a good move down the outside of Power to take the lead, but before the lap was complete the yellows were out again. A few laps after restarting Dario Franchitti locked up at the end of the straight, missed the turn, and ended up in the tyres, but he kept it running and got back to the pits for a new nose cone, and as this happening Alex Tagliani spun around bringing out another full course caution, during which most cars pitted for what looked like their last pit of the race. Patrick and Kaanan, who were both 9 laps down had a good battle between themselves, as well as everybody else around them, and after being blocked by EJ Viso, which got him a black flag, Marco Andretti rolled the dice and was the 1^st driver to go to slick tyres with 13 minutes to go (the race did end up being a timed race). But the gamble didn't pay off as the track hadn't fully dried out, with him finished in 14^th, and with 8 minutes to go, leader, Sato had to pit, as he was about to run out of fuel, leaving Power to take the race win with a second lead over Grahame Rahal. After the race eventually got going their was some good racing and overtaking, but I would assume that not many saw it due to the delays, as well as Sky seeming to pull it at the last minute, after announcing on their website that it would be on.

Main Event:

Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A (Cricket):

Yorkshire V Derbyshire, Derbyshire opened the batting and both teams seemed to play quite defensive during the 1^st innings, with Yorkshire only taking 2 wickets, Ryan Sidebottom taking Chesney Hughes for 11 and Ajmal Shahzad taking Usman Khawaja for 20, but as they reached their batting powerplay Derbyshire started to increase their run rate, getting 31 during the 4 overs and then Yorkshire started to take more wickets. Wes Durston scored 95, off 91, before Shahzad made a fantastic 1 handed diving catch to dismiss him, several players came and went quite quickly, Jonathan Clare, Steffan Jones, Garry Park all for only 11, as well as Greg Smith who got 30 before being bowled by Sidebottom. Wayne Madsen had a good innings getting 66, off 41, before being stumped by Brophy in the last over and Derbyshire reached 245, for 8, off their 40 overs. This seemed to be quite a competitive score, especially after the start they had, and only getting 9 in the 4 over bowling powerplay. Yorkshire's 2 front line spinners were expensive giving away 105 off the 14 overs they bowled between them.

Adam Lyth and Andrew Gale opened the batting for Yorkshire and Lyth was dismissed in the 6^th over, for 15, after making a steady start and they made 42 during the opening powerplay. Gale and Joe Root built a long partnership over 18.3 overs, but only scored 90 between them before Root was out. Jonathan Baistow came in, but could only get 4, off 9 balls, before being caught by Hughes and in the next over Gale was bowled and caught by Durston, after scoring 74 off 101 balls, and this left Yorkshire needing 101 off 70 balls. The Yorkshire batting collapse then continued with Gerard Brophy, Richard Pyrah, Shahzad, David Wainwright and Sidebottom all coming and leaving pretty sharpish, with single figures, as well as Joe Sayers and Adil Rashid both getting 12, as Derbyshire bowled Yorkshire out for 193 with an over left. Derbyshire's bowlers had really good performances, with only Jake Needham having an economy higher than 6, as well as not taking a wicket, and Durston was the well deserved man of the match after scoring 95 with the bat and taking 3 wickets with the ball. After having batting collapses against Nottinghamshire, in a Country match, and in this game, as well as losing to Holland, in a CB40 match, Yorkshire need to get some consistency in their game if they are wanting to challenge for any titles this season.

Cool-Down's:

Sheffield United have been finally relegated after dragging it out for an extra few games, and it looks like next season could be a struggle to, with a wage bill supposedly between 10 and 12 million pounds this season, the loss of TV, sponsorship and corporate income next season means that the wage bill needs to be slashed drastically to they don't want to dip into McCabe's pockets.

The Sheffield Predators, who are an American Football team, have moved to Dronfield and will be playing on Gosforth fields. So hopefully, if the weather stays nice, I will have a walk across the valley and check out a few of their games, especially as I have never seen American Football live, but have been watching on TV for years. Their 1^st home game is the 29^th of May at 1pm.

Recent Results:

Npower League 1 (Football): Bristol Rovers 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1