With next month’s one-day cricket World Cup looming into view, the game’s big guns are beginning to flex their muscles. Perhaps it was South Africa’s limited-edition hot pink kit – worn to raise breast cancer awareness – that fuelled the butch intent in AB de Villiers’s fastest-ever one-day hundred, off just 31 balls, against West Indies in Johannesburg. World Cup hosts Australia, meanwhile, looked mean and keen as they won the first two games of their Tri-Series against India and England. “Hopefully we reopened a few scars,” said pace bowler Mitchell Starc, alluding to last winter’s Ashes thrashing, after a three-wicket win over England. Meanwhile Kevin Pietersen, the perma-grinning bogeyman of English cricket, maintained his impressive form in the Australian T20 Big Bash league. “I’m playing as good as I have ever played,” he hinted with a characteristic lack of subtlety to the England management.
Ginola’s Fifa bid exposed
Just when you thought Fifa couldn’t descend into any deeper farce, step forward David Ginola. The former Tottenham and France player announced plans to challenge Sepp Blatter as the president of football’s world governing body, only for it to emerge that his bid was being bankrolled by an online bookmaker to the publicity-hungry tune of $380,000. In the English Premier League, Chelsea went five points clear at the top after swatting Swansea aside 5-0 in a game so one-sided that the Welsh side’s manager Gary Monk apologised to his Chelsea counterpart José Mourinho for not giving them a proper game: “The players are hurting and I’m hurting,” groaned Monk. Arsenal then did Chelsea a huge and frankly quite surprising favour by beating second-placed Manchester City 2-0.
Allenby’s Hawaii nightmare
It’s unlikely Australian golfer Robert Allenby will forget his latest appearance at the Sony Open in Hawaii in a hurry, and not just because he missed the halfway cut. Allenby was drinking in a Honolulu wine bar when he was apparently abducted, before being robbed and dumped in a park 10km away. “I don’t care about the money or my cards or anything like that. I am just glad I have survived this one,” he admitted. At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Martin Kaymer had a dismal time of a more conventional golfing nature, blowing a 10-shot lead in the final round to hand Frenchman Gary Stal victory. “I am surprised and a little shocked,” said the German master of understatement, who had been priced at 1-500 with the bookies to win at one stage.
Triple crown for Murphy
Shaun Murphy became only the 10th player to win snooker’s triple crown after thrashing Neil Robertson 10-2 in the Masters final at Alexandra Palace, London. Murphy added the title to his World Championship win from 2005 and UK Championship in 2008, thus completing the coveted collection of titles. “Shaun was brilliant in all departments and I’d just like to say, ‘welcome to the triple crown club,’” said Robertson, cleverly finding a way to emphasise the fact that he’d achieved the feat first.
This article was amended on 26 January to change the location of AB de Villiers’ record-breaking century from Pretoria to Johannesburg
