The Premier League season reached it’s conclusion on Sunday and this season’s final day didn’t disappoint as Manchester City scored twice late on to win the title. They very nearly surrendered their lead to Manchester United who kept up the pressure on their rivals with a 1-0 win away to Sunderland.

QPR, down to ten men after Joey Barton was dismissed for elbowing Carlos Tevez, had recovered from Pablo Zabaleta’s opening goal to lead City 2-1 thanks to goals from Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie

Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero struck in stoppage time to rescue their side and deny United their 20th title.

QPR survived relegation despite the defeat: a dubious Stoke penalty restricted Bolton to a 2-2 draw to condemn Owen Coyle’s side to the Championship along with Blackburn and Wolves.

Arsenal won the race to finish third with a 3-2 win at West Brom. Tottenham finished fourth and will have to wait on the outcome of next weekend’s Champions League final before knowing whether they will play in the competition next season.

Alex McCleish looks set to be the first managerial casualty of the close season as his Aston Villa side finished 16th, just two points above the relegation zone.

Pastor Maldonado won the Spanish Grand Prix to register his first race win; the first for his team Williams since 2004. Some clever pitting enabled him to finish ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and the Lotus of Kimi Raikonnen.

Lewis Hamilton fought back from the back of the grid to finish eighth, while Jenson Button came ninth.

31 Williams crew were injured in a fire in the team’s garage after the race, seven of whom had to be treated in hospital.

Leicester and Harlequins will contest this year’s Aviva Premiership final after beating Saracens and Northampton respectively. Leicester won 24-15, largely thanks to the kicking of teenage fly-half George Ford who had started in place of the injured Toby Flood.

Harlequins came from behind to beat Northampton 25-23. Lee Dickson’s try was converted to give Northamopton a 23-15 lead with ten minutes to play but Nick Evans converted Joe Marler’s try and kicked a goal to give Quins the win.

Wigan will play Leeds in the Challenge Cup semi-final. Leeds beat Leigh and Wigan beat St Helens to set up a repeat of last year’s final.

Huddersfield scored nine tries in their quarter-final victory over London Broncos and will play Warrington in the other semi-final.

Roger Federer won the Madrid Open, beating Tomas Berdych 3-6 7-5 7-5 in the final on the controversial blue clay which had been criticised by Rafael Nadal and novak Djokovic.

Manchester City took the penultimate step to what would be their first top-flight title in 44 years with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Newcastle.

Yaya Toure struck twice in the second half to leave City knowing victory at home to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday will in all probability do the job.

Manchester United stayed level on points with their rivals thanks to a 2-0 win at home to Swansea, but their goal difference is eight worse than City’s.

Arsenal stayed third, despite being held to a 3-3 draw at home to Norwich, because Tottenham could only draw 1-1 at Aston Villa and Newcastle lost to City.

QPR boosted their survival hopes with a 1-0 defeat of Stoke while Bolton were held 2-2 by West Brom. Relegated Wolves drew 0-0 with Everton and Fulham beat Sunderland 2-1.

In Saturday’s FA Cup final Chelsea defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley. Ramires gave the Blues an early lead which Didier Drogba doubled in the second half. Andy Carroll pulled one back just after the hour but it was not enough.

In Rugby Union, Harlequins will play Northampton and Leicester will face Saracens in the Premiership semi-finals on Saturday.

The line-up was decided by the final round of regular season games when Newcastle were relegated despite beating Wasps 14-10.

Quins came top of the table with a 24-10 win at Sale and Leicester secured second by beating Bath 28-3.

Sarries saw off Exeter 40-22 and Northampton sealed the last semi-final berth with a 42-14 victory over Worcester. London Irish thrashed Gloucester 52-18.

In Rugby League’s Super League Wigan went top with a 36-22 win over Hull KR while previous leaders Huddersfield, who also have 20 points, lost 27-20 at Catalan Dragons.

Warrington were one point behind after a 24-20 defeat of Salford. Hull FC beat Leeds 34-20, St Helens saw off Wakefield 38-12 and Bradford were 29-22 winners over London.

In Cricket, Warwickshire stayed top in Division One of the County Championship with a nine-wicket win over Durham.

Second-placed Nottinghamshire thrashed Lancashire by 185 runs and Middlesex beat Worcestershire by 132 runs.

In Division Two Yorkshire saw off Leicestershire by an innings and 22 runs, Northamptonshire surprised Hampshire by 117 runs and Derbyshire drew with Gloucestershire.

Surrey began their Clydesdale Bank 40 defence with two wins from two. There were also victories in that competition for Kent, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire and the Netherlands.

(By Rob Barnett)

Fernando Torres finally found form in front of goal with a hat-trick against QPR on Sunday. His Chelsea side cruised past local rivals Rangers 6-1, with Daniel Sturridge, John Terry and Florent Malouda scoring the other goals before Djibril Cisse pulled one back for the visitors.

Blackburn gave a poor account of themselves against Tottenham, failing to register a single shot over the 90 minutes in a 2-0 defeat which sees them with three points to make up to avoid relegation with two games remaining.

Wigan’s survival hopes continued to improve with a remarkable 4-0 victory at home to Champions League-chasing Newcastle. Four first half games gave Wigan some breathing space and would have been enough even if Papiss Cisse had scored in a seventh-straight game rather than hit the woodword twice.

Bolton gained a well-deserved point away at Sunderland thanks to a brace from club captain Kevin Davies who showed his worth after being recalled to the starting line-up.

The shackles were off Wolves whose relegation was confirmed last week as they battled back from a three-goal deficit to draw 4-4 with Swansea.

Southampton confirmed their place in next season’s Premier League with a 2-0 win over already-relegated Coventry. West Ham beat Hull but needed Saints to slip up stand any chance of reclaiming the automatic promotion place which they occupied for so much of the season.

They will now face Cardiff in the playoffs semi-final while Birmingham play Blackpool in the other tie.

Celtic beat Rangers 3-0 in what could be the last ever Old Firm derby. They made light work of their rivals and after the match Rangers manager Ally McCoist suggested liquidation was a real possibility, saying after the match that it “looks more of a possibility now than ever”.

Leinster have made it to the final of the Heineken Cup with a 19-15 victory over Clermont Auvergne. The French side led at half-time but a Cian Healy try helped Leinster take the lead before Welsey Fofana was thought to have gone over for the home side only for the try to be ruled out by TMO Geoff Warren.

Ulster will be Leinster’s opponents in the final at Twickenham after an equally close win 22-19 over Edinburgh. A Pedrie Wannenburg try and more points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar put Ulster in control and Jim Thomspson’s try came too late for Edinburgh to mount a serious comeback.

Leeds Rhinos progressed to the quarter finals of Rugby League’s Challenge Cup but didn’t have things all their own way against Salford. They eventually won the match 16-10, but only gained the lead with eight minutes remaining.

Cup holders Wigan will face sterner challenges in their defence than that which was provided by Featherstone Rovers. Wigan ran in six tries to book their place in the next round, winning 32-16.

Leigh scored a vital golden point to beat Halifax 19-18 after they had mounted a second-half comeback and will be the only Championship side in the quarter-final draw.

Reigning champion John Higgins conceded the worst World Championship defeat of his career, losing 13-4 against seven-time winner Stephen Hendry. He will face fellow Scot Stephen Maguire who beat Joe Perry 13-7.

Ryan Day completed a 13-7 victory over Cao Yupeng while 2010 champion Neil Robertson progressed, winning 13-9 against David Gilbert. Ronnie O’ Sullivan has an 11-5 lead over Mark Williams while Matthew Stevens and Barry Hawkins are level at 8-8.

Rafael Nadal’s imperious form on clay continues as the Spaniard beat compatriot David Ferrer to win his seventh title Barcelona Open title 7-6 (7-1) 7-5.

Chelsea will meet Liverpool in the FA Cup final on 5th May after they won their semi-finals at Wembley this weekend.

Andy Carroll scored a late winner for Liverpool against Everton in a 2-1 win on Saturday. His side had initially gone behind to a Nikica Jelavic strike but Luis Suarez levelled things up on the hour after picking up a back pass from Sylvain Distin.

Carroll headed Craig Bellamy’s free kick past Tim Howard with three minutes to play to put his side into their second Wembley final of the season one day before the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Chelsea beat Tottenham 5-1 in the weekend’s other semi-final but the scoreline was harsh on Spurs who threatened in the first half. They went behind to a sensational Didier Drogba strike just before half time but Chelsea’s second, minutes after the restart, was dubious at best.

Juan Mata’s shot appeared to be blocked in front of the line by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but referee Martin Atkinson awarded the goal to the astonishment of the Tottenham players.

Gareth Bale then scored for Spurs after Emmanuel Adebayor was taken down by Petr Cech for what would have certainly been a penalty and a red card for the Chelsea keeper had the ball not fallen to Bale.

Any hopes of a Spurs comeback were kocked by Ramires’ 77th-minute goal and Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda completed the rout late on.

In the Premier League the five-point gap was maintained between the two title contenders. On Saturday Manchester City thrashed Norwich 6-1 and Manchester United responded with a 3-0 home win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Carlos Tevez scored a hattrick as City piled the pressure onto their rivals but United responded with goals from Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck.

In the Championship, Reading went top after beating Southampton 3-1 on Friday evening, before West Ham battered Brighton 6-0 to cut the gap between themselves and Southampton in second to three points with three games to play.

Hibernian and Hearts set up the first all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final for 116 years after they beat Aberdeen and Celtic respectively, both by a 2-1 scoreline.

The Grand National was won by Neptune Collonges, but the world’s most prestigious steeplechase was marred by the death of two horses. Synchronised, which was ridden by Tony McCoy to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup just last month, and According to Pete both fell at Becher’s Brook.

Neptune Collonges, trained by Paul Nicholls, won by a nose ahead of Sunnyhillboy in a compellingly close finish.

Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix, the first race win of his 111-race Formula 1 career, ahead of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, having started the race in pole.

Harlequins beat Wasps 33-17 to maintain their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership and push their London rivals one step closer to relegation. Fellow strugglers Newcastle took advantage of Wasps’ defeat with a 29-20 win away to Gloucester.

Leicester and Saracens, Harlequins closest rivals at the top, both registered away wins. Leicester beat Northampton 35-21 and Saracens overcame London Irish 28-19.

The scorer of the Exiles’ two tries, Delon Armitage, has announced his intention to leave London Irish for French side Toulon at the end of the season.

In the Rugby League’s Challenge Cup, Featherstone Rovers upset the odds as they defeated Super League side Castleford 23-16 on Saturday. St Helens held off Widnes to win 40-38. A few Super League sides posted big scores – Wigan demolished Championship 1 side North Wales Crusaders 98-4, Bradford beat Doncaster 76-6 and London Broncos thrashed Dewsbury 77-4.

Peter Crouch put a dent in Manchester City’s title challenge as his outstanding long-range volley helped Stoke to a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium. However, Manchester United went three points clear at the top after winning 1-0 against Fulham last night.

Bolton won a key match in their fight against relegation, beating Blackburn 2-1 on Saturday. It was clear before the match that emotions were running high in what was Bolton’s first match since last weekend’s FA Cup tie against Tottenham in which Fabrice Muamba collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

Chelsea and Tottenham played out a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge. Ashley Cole made a goal-line block in the final seconds of a dire first half to keep the Tottenham out and Gary Cahill slid in to deny Emmanuel Adebayor after he had rounded Petr Cech.

Celtic missed out on the opportunity to win the Scottish Premier League title with seven games of the season remaining, losing the final Old Firm derby of the season 3-2 away at Rangers.

Three players were sent off – two from Celtic and one from Rangers – as well as Celtic boss Neil Lennon. Rangers made their numerical advantage pay as they took a three-goal lead before Scott Brown and Thomas Rogne scored for Celtic in the dying moments.

Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian Grand Prix in stormy conditions on Sunday. Alonso’s Ferrari built a sizeable lead while the track was wet but he was nearly caught by Sauber’s Sergio Perez as the track dried. Lewis Hamilton finished third for the second time in first two Grand Prix’s of the season. Jenson Button, who won last week’s season-opening race in Australia, finished 14th.

Reigning Super League champions Leeds were humbled at St. Helens on Sunday evening, going down 46-6. Saints ran in eight tries in all in their first fixture since the sacking of coach Royce Simmons. Ade Gardner, Gary Wheeler and Jonny Lomax both scored two tries each.

Warrington now lead the Super League table with a tight 22-20 win away at Wigan. Huddersfield dropped into second after losing 40-22 at Hull KR.

Tiger Woods won his first PGA tour title in two and a half years, finishing five shots ahead of Graeme McDowell to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, Florida.

Andy Murray made it through to the last sixteen of the Miami Masters after opponent Milos Raonic pulled out before the match with an ankle injury. He will face Gilles Simon on Tuesday.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic both progressed to the second week of the competition with wins over Ryan Harrison and Marcos Baghdatis respectively. Federer will play Andy Roddick and Djokovic takes on Viktor Troicki.

The world of darts mourns the death of Jocky Wilson, who died on Saturday evening after battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Wales completed a third Six Nations grand slam in eight years after beating France 16-9 at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Wales took a first-half lead through an Alex Cuthbert try which proved to be the only one of the match. Two second-half penalties from Leigh Halfpenny helped Wales to maintain their seven-point lead with France unable to make a breakthrough.

The result put an end to England’s faint title hopes finished before their evening kick off against Ireland at Twickenham. Despite having nothing to play for, England’s inexperienced side were excellent in a 30-9 victory.

The sides traded penalties in a scrappy first half before England stepped things up after the break. Owen Farrell converted a penalty try and with seven minutes remaining Ben Youngs’ quick thinking from a penalty England a second try.

In the day’s early game, Italy beat Scotland 13-6 to finish avoid finishing bottom of the table for the first time since 2007 and condemn their opponents to an embarrassing whitewash.

Leicester held off Northampton Saints to win the LV= Cup final 26-14. Teenager George Ford impressed at fly-half with an excellent kicking performance.

The weekend’s football was overshadowed by tragic scenes at White Hart Lane, where Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest. His condition is described as “stable”, but critical. The FA Cup quarter-final was abandoned after Muamba left for hospital with the score at 1-1.

Chelsea’s upturn in fortunes under the stewardship of Roberto di Matteo continued in their tie at home to Leicester City. Fernando Torres ended his notoriously barren spell in front of goal, scoring twice in a 5-2 victory to end a run of more than 24 hours without scoring. Chelsea will face the winners of the rearranged tie between Spurs and Bolton.

Liverpool set up a potential all-Merseyside semi-final with victory over Stoke at Anfield on Sunday thanks to Stewart Downing’s 57^th-minute winner. Everton will have to beat Sunderland in a replay at the Stadium of Light if they are to meet their rivals in the semi-final after they drew 1-1 with Sunderland.

Manchester United increased their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points over Manchester City with a comfortable 5-0 win against Wolves at Molinieux.

With the scores at 1-0, Wolves full-back Ronald Zubar was sent off for a second bookable offence and his side crumbled after his departure. Javier Hernandez scored twice in a contest which at times resembled a training match for the defending champions.

A man-of-the-match performance from Kilmarnock goalkeeper Cammy Bell helped his side upset the odds to defeat Celtic 1-0 in the Scottish Communities League Cup final. Dieter van Tornhout gave Kilmarnock the lead in the dying minutes and Celtic’s Anthony Stokes was booked for diving for what looked like a foul in the Kilmarnock penalty area.

The 2012 Formula One season kicked off in Melbourne in the early hours of Sunday morning and the high-profile British drivers had a promising start to their seasons. Jenson Button won ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished in third, with defending champion Sebastian Vettel between the two.

Luke Donald returned to the top of golf’s world rankings with victory in the Transitions Championship in Florida. Donald won a first playoff hole after finishing tied on 13 under with Robert Garrigus, Jim Furyk and Sang-Moon Bae.

Requiring victory to reclaim the number one spot, Donald started his final round three shots behind Furyk and Retief Goosen but registered five birdies in seven holes around the turn to claw back the deficit.

In the Super League, St Helens head coach Royce Simmons was sacked after a 12-8 defeat at Bradford which left them in ninth, with five points from seven games. The entire top half of the table won over the weekend, so Huddersfield retain their position as league leaders ahead of Warrington, Wigan, Leeds and Catalan Dragons with a 32-30 win over Wakefield.

Wales beat Italy 24-3 to set up a potential Grand Slam-winning match against France at the Millennium Stadium next weekend. Their opponents were stern in defence in the first half, restricting Wales to a 9-3 half-time lead before Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert scored second half tries.

England and France contested an exciting match in Paris and England prevailed 24-22 thanks to tries from Manu Tuilagi, Ben Foden and Tom Croft. England raced into a 14-3 lead early in the first half but a succession of French penalties brought them back into contention.

Tom Croft’s excellent solo try had appeared to secure the win for but an late try from Wesley Fofana put France within touching distance. Francois Trinh-Duc eyed up a drop goal which would have given France the win but his attempt dropped short of the posts.

Ireland registered a comfortable 32-14 win against Scotland in Dublin. Rory Best scored the game’s first try for Ireland after two penalties from Greig Laidlaw had given Scotland a 6-0 lead, and two more tries from Eoin Reddan and Andrew Trimble helped Ireland to a 22-14 lead at half-time.

A further ten points were added in the second half from Fergus McFadden and the boot of Jonathan Sexton.

Wales are in the driving seat as far as winning the championship is concerned. England need to beat Ireland and for Wales to lose to France for them to have any chance of snatching the title from under Welsh noses. Wales’s superior points difference means England would need themselves and France to win by a combined total of 38 points.

In the Premier League, Manchester United returned to the top of the table for the first time since October after beating West Brom 2-0 at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney flicked in Javier Hernandez’s shot in the first half and he scored a second from the penalty spot after Ashley Young was fouled.

Manchester City slipped up away at Swansea to give United a one-point lead in the title race. Scott Sinclair missed a first-half penalty for the Swans but they continued to cause City problems in what was an open game.

Luke Moore headed in on 83 minutes to give Swansea a well-deserved lead.  Micah Richards thought he had equalised late on but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside.

Liverpool kissed goodbye to any faint hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland courtesy of a Nicklas Bendtner goal.

Interim Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo made it two wins from two – Didier Drogba scored his game’s only goal against Stoke.

Celtic scored four second-half goals to beat Dundee United 4-0 in the quarter final of the Scottish Cup to set up a semi-final against either St Mirren or Hearts who drew 2-2. Aberdeen beat Motherwell 2-1 and will face Hibs in the other semi.

Andy Murray suffered a shock defeat in his opening match at Indian Wells, going down 6-4 6-2 to world number 92 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Rafael Nadal progressed along with Juan Martin del Potro and Fernando Verdasco.

Justin Rose won the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral on Sunday after clawing back a three-shot deficit to American Bubba Watson. Rose finished 16-under – one ahead of Watson and a further shot clear of Rory McIlroy.

Great Britain’s women’s 4x400m relay team posted a world-best time of three minutes 28.76 seconds in winning gold at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Mo Farah finished fourth in the men’s 3,000m behind champion Bernard Lagat. Edwin Sol, whom Farah had collided with during the race, had been disqualified, moving Farah into a bronze medal-winning position, but the decision was reversed on appeal.

Bradley Wiggins won the Paris-Nice race, finishing just two seconds ahead of Dutchman Lieuwe Westra. Wiggins is only the second Brit to win the race after Tom Simpson’s victory in 1967.

Andre Vilas-Boas was sacked as Chelsea manager after just ninth months in charge in the aftermath of his side’s 1-0 defeat away to West Brom.

The club’s owner Roman Abramovich lost patience with his man after a poor run of form which sees the side fifth in the Premier League and facing the possibility of missing out on qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Gareth MacAuley reacted to a powerful Chris Brunt cross to give West Brom a deserved lead after 82 minutes.

Two goals from Ashley Young – his second a spectacular strike – helped Manchester United to a 3-1 against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Despite Tottenham having the better of a first half in which Emmanuel Adebayor had a goal disallowed for handball, United went in at half time 1-0 up thanks to a Wayne Rooney header from a corner. Jermain Defoe came on towards the end of the second half and scored what was just a consolation goal in the final minutes.

Robin van Persie continued his fantastic goalscoring form with two vital goals against Liverpool at Anfield. The Dutchman’s 24^th and 25^th league goals of the season were enough for Arsenal to register a valuable 2-1 win at Anfield to consolidate their position in the qualification places for the Champions League.

In their rearranged Six Nations fixture, Ireland drew 17-17 against France in Paris. Two first half tries from Tommy Bowe – one a exceptional solo effort – had given Ireland a 17-6 lead at half time.

But France responded after the break and a Wesley Fofana try after 51 minutes and two penalties from Morgan Parra levelled things up.

Wales remain the only side capable of a Grand Slam and lead the Six Nations table with France and England trailing.

Rory McIlroy has gone to the top of golf’s world rankings after winning the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida. McIlroy finished 12-under, two shots ahead of Tiger Woods and Tom Gillis, and four ahead of fellow Brit Lee Westwood.

At 22-years old becomes the second-youngest man ever to reach the rankings top spot behind Woods, who was 21 when he became number one in 1997.

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray 7-5 6-4 in Saturday’s Dubai Championships final. Murray had beaten world number one Novak Djokovic on Friday but was unable to halt Federer’s impressive return to form which has see him win ten straight matches.

Dereck Chisora lost his WBC world title fight against champion Vitali Klitschko in Munich on Saturday night, but the event will be remembered more for the antics before and after the matchup than the fight itself.

First, at Friday’s weigh-in, Chisora slapped Klitschko, then in Saturday’s post-fight press conference, he left the stage to brawl with fellow British boxer David Haye, who lost his last fight to Vitali’s brother Wladimir in Hamburg last July.

Both men were arrested and Robert Smith, General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, has said that both men may face lifetime bans.

In the FA Cup fifth round Liverpool put Championship side Brighton in their place with a comprehensive 6-1 win at Anfield. Although Liverpool clearly had the better of the game the scoreline was perhaps a little unfair on Brighton, with two own goals from midfielder Liam Bridcutt and one from Lewis Dunk contributing to the home side’s tally.

Bridcutt’s first came just before half time after Kazenga Lua Lua had equalised for Brighton following Martin Skrtel’s opener, and his second was followed by teammate Dunk’s own goal after 74 minutes to make it 4-1.

Andy had scored Liverpool’s third, heading in a Stewart Downing cross, and Luis Suarez made amends for a missed penalty by scoring his side’s sixth.

Stevenage earned a replay at White Hart Lane after a plucky 0-0 home draw and will hope that Tottenham’s tough Premier League schedule between now and the replay – they face Arsenal and Manchester United – will leave Harry Redknapp’s side jaded and help the League One side to qualify for a quarter final at home to Bolton.

Chelsea’s poor run of form continued in their 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham to increase the pressure on manager Andre Vilas-Boas and Arsenal followed up their embarrassing midweek Champions League defeat with a 2-0 loss at Sunderland.

In Scotland, Rangers ended their turbulent week losing 1-0 to Kilmarnock at Ibrox thanks to a 12^th-minute Dean Shiels effort. Celtic thrashed Hibernian 5-0 to increase their lead at the top of the SPL to a massive 17 points after Rangers’ points deduction.

In cricket, England went some way towards making amends for their awful performance in the test matches by securing the one-day series with a game to spare.

Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen drove England towards their third win in the four-match series with scores of 80 and 111 n.o. respectively. Cook’s wicket was the one lost by England who won by nine wickets after Pakistan had been bowled out for 222, with Steven Finn the pick of England’s bowlers.

Sir Chris Hoy stormed to victory in the men’s keirin final at the Track World Cup in London, beating Maximilian Levy of Germany for his second gold medal of the competition.

Britain also won gold in both the men’s and women’s team pursuit and individual sprint, as well as the women’s team pursuit in a successful dress rehearsal for the Olympic Games at the same venue in August.

Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra met on the field for the first time since Suarez completed an eight-game ban for racially abusing the Manchester United defender in Saturday’s Premier League clash between United and Liverpool.

Two goals from Wayne Rooney in the first five minutes of the second half helped United to a 2-1 win, but it was the scorer of Liverpool’s consolation, Suarez, who received the most attention after he refused to shake the hand of Evra in the pre-match ceremony.

Players from both sides clashed at half-time when intervention from the police was required and on the full-time whistle Evra celebrated with an over-exuberant celebration in front of the Liverpool fans, yards from Suarez.

The win saw United overtake Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table but a second-half goal from Joleon Lescott was enough for United’s city rivals to reclaim the top spot with a 1-0 win away at Aston Villa.

The home side offered very little going forward until the last moments of the match when Joe Hart was called upon for the first time in the match, pulling off an excellent reflex save from Darren Bent.

Mick McCarthy has been sacked as manager of Wolves after his side fell into the relegation zone with an embarrassing 5-1 home defeat to West Brom in the Black Country derby. Blackburn profited from the defeat, climbing out of the relegation zone on goal difference after a 3-2 win over QPR. Wigan beat Bolton 2-1, leaving just two points separating the bottom five.

Chelsea manager Andre Vilas-Boas described his side’s 2-0 defeat at Everton as “one of our worst displays – if not the worst”. Steven Pienaar and Denis Starcqualursi scored for the Toffees.

Thierry Henry signed off from his second stint at Arsenal with an injury-time winner at Sunderland. In his final game for the Gunners before returning to MLS side New York Red Bulls, Henry added to Aaron Ramsey’s equaliser to help Arsenal move into fourth place.

Wales and England top the Six Nations tables after two matches, beating Scotland and Italy respectively. After a tight first half, two tries from Leigh Halfpenny followed Alex Cuthbert’s opener to help Wales to a 27-13 win over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium. Greig Laidlaw scored for Scotland in the 62nd minute but were not able to threaten Wales’ 14 point lead in the final 20 minutes.

After a shoddy first half performance England came from behind to register a 19-15 win against Italy in Rome. Two tries from the home side in the final three minutes of the first half gave them a 12-6 lead at half time after two Chris Farrell penalties had given England the lead.

Charlie Hodgson followed up a charge down for the second week running to score England’s only try in the 51^st minute and Farrell converted. Another Farrell penalty gave England the lead three minutes later and he scored again on 65 minutes to give England a four-point lead which they held on to close out a tense match.

The match between France and Ireland at the Stade de France was called off at the eleventh hour due to a frozen pitch.

Zambia won the African Cup of Nations, dashing the hopes of pre-tournament favourites and perennial underachievers the Ivory Coast after a long penalty shootout.

Didier Drogba missed a spot-kick in normal time and after neither side could find a goal the match went to penalties, where players from both sides converted 14 kicks before the Ivory Coast’s Kolo Toure Rainford Kabala of Zambia both missed. Gervinho missed again for the Ivory Coast, allowing Stoppila Sunzu the opportunity to score the winning kick.

In the Super League, Huddersfield thumped newly-promoted Widnes 66-6, with four of his side’s twelve tries coming from Leroy Cudjoe including one pitch-long run.

St. Helen’s join them at the top of the Super League table after they came back from 10-4 down at half time to beat Salford 38-10 on Friday night. Wigan beat Leeds 20-6 and Warrington thrashed London Broncos 50-1.

Dan Evans won a deciding rubber for Great Britain’s Davis Cup team in a tense five-set match against Slovakia’s Martin Klizan. Evans had won the first two sets 6-1 6-1 but his opponent his back to force Evans to go the distance but the Brit triumphed 6-1 6-1 4-6 3-6 6-3 to win against an opponent ranked 156 places higher in the world rankings.

Phil Mickelson won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, shot an eight-under par 64  to come back from six shots behind while Tiger Woods bogeyed the final three holes to fade dramatically.