Chelsea duly confirmed what had looked a formality for much of the English Premier League season, a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace delivering the championship to west London and an eighth title in 12 years across three different countries for their manager José Mourinho. “Today was not a game to enjoy. Today was a day to finish the job,” he said delivering a masterclass in the kind of deadpan pragmatism that some less charitable observers feel has characterised Chelsea’s football all season. Still it was hard not to admire the Portuguese, who also became the first manager to regain the league title after returning to an English club for the second time. Facing him next season as newly promoted sides from the Championship will be Bournemouth, joining the top flight for the first time, and Watford.
Windies peg back England
The winning feeling proved all too brief for England’s cricket captain, Alastair Cook, who was left staring helplessly into the middle distance once again after his side squandered a first-innings lead and lost the third Test to the West Indies by five wickets in Barbados. Cook’s first hundred for two years proved irrelevant as England were skittled for 123 in the second innings of a match that may also have been a swansong for West Indies great Shiv Chanderpaul and England’s Jonathan Trott, bothof whom were shadows of their former selves. It was difficult, too, to see a positive outcome for England coach Peter Moores after a 1-1 series result against a team the incoming ECB boss Colin Graves had dismissed as “mediocre”.
Toulon on top of Europe again
A corner of south-west London became French for the weekend as Toulon and Clermont-Auvergne descended on Twickenham for the newly minted European Champions Cup final. The name change made little difference to star-studded Toulon, who ran out 24-18 winners to ensure they remain European club rugby’s top dogs for the third successive season. Toulon’s Welsh full-back Leigh Halfpenny – or “Demi Cent” as he is dubbed in France – kicked four penalties and a conversion to help condemn Clermont to a second final defeat by the same opponents in three years.
Murray triumphs on clay
The big guns of men’s tennis made hay on clay as preparations for this month’s French Open continued. Roger Federer beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6 at the inaugural Istanbul Open for his first clay court title in three years, while Andy Murray triumphed 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 over German Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Munich Open for his first-ever ATP title on clay. All of which was observed dispassionately through the red glowing eyes of Novak Djokovic, in such Terminator-like form so far this season that he decided he would be better off sitting out this week’s Madrid Open.
