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...