England and India tied a pulsating Cricket World Cup contest in Bangalore on Sunday in just one highlight of a remarkable sporting weekend.
Tournament-favourites India posted a mammoth 338 all out thanks largely to Sachin Tendulkar’s sublime 120, but a one-day international-best 158 from England captain Andrew Strauss put his side on course for a remarkable win.
However, England nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and needed 14 from the last over to share the spoils with the competition co-hosts.
On Saturday Sri Lanka, one of the three hosts nations, suffered an 11-run defeat to Pakistan, who had been stripped of the right to stage games due to security fears.
England remain on course for their first Grand Slam and Six Nations title since 2003 – the year they won the Rugby World Cup – after beating France 17-9 at Twickenham on Saturday.
Earlier that day Wales kept their Championship hopes alive with a 24-16 win over Italy in Rome. Ireland did the same on Sunday, seeing off Scotland 21-18 at Murrayfield.
In the Premiership, there were wins for the top four – Leicester, Saracens, Gloucester and Bath – plus London Irish and Newcastle.
In Rugby League’s Super League, leaders Harlequins, Warrington, Bradford, Huddersfield, Salford and Catalan Dragons were victorious.
Birmingham pulled of the shock of the weekend, beating Arsenal 2-1 in the League Cup Final.
On-loan striker Obafemi Martins pounced on a defensive error to score the winner with a minute of normal time remaining. Nikola Zigic’s header had given City an early lead, which Robin van Persie’s volley cancelled out before the break.
Manchester United extended their advantage over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League to six points with a 4-0 thrashing of Wigan and Manchester City consolidated third place by drawing 1-1 with Fulham.
Wolves climbed off the foot of the table and out of the bottom three with a 4-0 demolition of Blackpool and West Ham boosted their survival chances by defeating Liverpool 3-1.
In the other games Aston Villa eased past Blackburn 4-1, Everton saw off Sunderland 2-0 and Newcastle drew 1-1 with Bolton.
Finally, England’s Luke Donald beat world golf number one Martin Kaymer to win the WGC match play in Arizona. Donald won 3&2 to jump six places to number three in the world rankings.
