The Sporting Hack

W hen it comes to controversy in sport, cricket is never far from the spotlight. Whether it is ball tampering or match fixing, often there is a point of interest and inevitably debate. And so it lived up to its slightly tainted image yesterday in match 64 of the IPL between Chennai Super Kings and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Michael Hussey, the Australian batsman leant forward to play a stroke off the bowling of the Tuskers’ slow left arm Ravindra Jadeja only for the ball to flick off the sweet spot of his bat, clip his shoulder and loop up and be taken easily by the wicketkeeper. Out? According to the rule book yes, however ‘not out’ was the decision given by umpire Rudi Koertzen. Naturally the Tuskers were up in arms about the decision and having appealed to Koertzen, they then set about the square leg umpire Kumar Dharmasena – who in turn could do nothing. These scenes immediately refreshed the way in which Manchester United secured their 19 th league title last Saturday....

Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid (3-1 Agg.) A year ago to the week, Jose Mourinho glided across the Nou Camp turf in the aftermath of progressing to the Champions League final. His suit jacket floated in the Catalan breeze behind him as he vigorously jabbed his index finger towards a small section of Milanese fanatics housed in one of the stadium’s many tiers. Mourinho’s Inter Milan consequently defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid to record his second European conquest. How times change. Firstly, the Portuguese maestro moved to Real Madrid and joined his countryman Cristiano Ronaldo in the Spanish capital. However, they are both entirely different characters, as was epitomised by this Champions League semi-final tie. Ronaldo’s outburst in the wake of a first leg 2-0 defeat courtesy of his personal rival – and perhaps nemesis – Lionel Messi, was one of many that emanated from Mourinho’s isolated camp. It was however, the most hard-hitting, and p...

Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Brentford Nicky Forster, the Brentford boss saw his side take all three points in the Steel City as the Bees ran out 3-1 winners over strugglers Sheffield Wednesday. The visitors warmed up for their Wembley showdown in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final with Carlisle on Sunday by inflicting yet more pain on the Owls boss Gary Megson. Megson who was appointed in mid-January by owner Milan Mandaric has yet to see his side record a home win. “We’ve eight games to go until the end of the season and we’re going to have to grind out some results,” said Megson. “The standards I set myself and the other football clubs I’ve been at haven’t been attained here. Jermaine Johnson is the only one I will single out for praise and that’s because he deserves it.” Johnson was isolated when he came off the bench after 55 minutes with his teammates already 2-1 down after Michael Spillane and Jeffrey Schlupp’s goals, either side of loan centre half’s Rob Jones effort, had ...

Liverpool 0-0 SC Braga (0-1 agg.) Manchester City 1-0 Dynamo Kiev (1-2 agg.) Rangers 0-1 PSV Eindhoven (0-1 agg.) ______________________________________________________________ Hopes of a European trophy reaching these shores were dealt a severe blow tonight when half of the remaining British teams in continental competition were knocked out by a single goal. Jeremain Lens’ 13 th minute strike for PSV Eindhoven saw them overcome Rangers, while Liverpool were unable to overturn their 1-0 deficit against Portuguese side Braga and Manchester City, despite winning 1-0, lost 2-1 on aggregate to Dynamo Kiev. Aside from a disappointing night, it reflects the current state of not only the Europa League, but football in England and Scotland. None of our representatives were able to sell out and Manchester City’s woeful attendance of less than 28,000 showed either that a 6pm kick off was wrong or no one could be bothered – may be a bit of both. All of which leads me nicely to the abstr...

Huddersfield Giants 50-16 Bradford Bulls Down the years, sets of Bradford Bulls supporters would travel to Huddersfield Giants’ Galpharm Stadium, expecting their side to come away with the two points on offer. Sunday’s convincing 50-16 victory by the home side though, shows how times have changed. The Bulls’ ‘transitional period’ has long since expired and failure to reach the end of season play offs for a third successive season would represent a seismic power shift in the region. Giants’ Head coach, Nathan Brown didn’t afford the luxury of his side getting carried away though. Aware that they are top of Super League and there to be shot at, he spoke of areas to improve on. “We need to be more intense for the Wigan game on Friday night. We’ve just got to keep working hard and maintain our standards.” Said Brown. With the formidable Brough and [Kevin] Brown partnership at half back pulling many strings the boot is firmly on the other foot as the Giants take the initiative...

Huddersfield Giants 50-16 Bradford Bulls Tom Biltcliffe Huddersfield Giants strolled to the top of the Super League with a convincing 50-16 victory over West Yorkshire rivals Bradford Bulls. Nathan Brown’s men recorded an impressive nine tries to reach the summit, with the loss to Castleford in round 2, the only blot on their copybook so far this term. “I was pleased with our intensity from the off” said Brown, “We’ve worked on our discipline and when you have players such as [Danny] Brough and [Kevin] Brown down the other end, we know we’re always capable of scoring.” England prospects Jermaine McGillvary and Leroy Cudjoe got the Giants on the board with tries in the first five minutes before David Fa’aologo was the beneficiary of a fortuitous kick that he took in his stride to open up a 12 point lead inside the first quarter of an hour. Despite missing his first three attempts at goal, Brough didn’...