The Weekend in Review

A review of the sporting weekend...

Formula 1
The return of F1 was well worth the wait as Brawn GP made a dream start with a one-two in their opening race.

Jenson Button rammed this correspondent's words down his throat by living up to the tag of favourite by leading from start to finish, but this was far from a boring procession.

While Button got off to a flier, team mate Rubens Barrichello was slow off the start and got involved in the usual first-corner mayhem at Albert Park which took out Heikki Kovalainen and ruined Mark Webber's home race.

Instead it was left to Sebastien Vettel in the Red Bull to carry the fight to Button but the main hindrance to the man from Frome was the appearance of the safety car on lap 19 which wiped out his lead.

Nevertheless, Button built it up again but Vettel looked good value for second place until a late crash with BMW's Robert Kubica which was followed shortly after by them both spinning out, promoting Barrichello back to 2nd.

World champion Lewis Hamilton confounded expectations and was classified as third after Jarno Trulli was handed a 25-second penalty for passing Hamilton under yellow flags.

He had started in 18th on the grid in his under-performing McLaren but had managed to find his way to 12th after the first lap before avoiding the carnage in the rest of the race.

Timo Glock finished fourth in another impressive race for the German and Fernando Alonso got his wish for a top-eight finish by coming in fifth.

Nico Rosberg's sixth-place finish would have surely been higher, had he not been let down by his pit team on lap 15. Debutant Sebastien Buemi and Torro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais finished 7th and 8th in the final point-scoring positions.

It was an engrossing spectacle and the Beeb did a good job in its first coverage of F1 since 1996, a particular highlight being Richard Branson calling himself "a lucky bastard" live on air after seeing his investment pay immediate dividends.

Football
Mixed fortunes for the home countries with wins for England and Northern Ireland but losses for Scotland and Wales.

While Scotland's 3-0 loss in Amsterdam was to be expected - and was indeed a significant improvement on their last showing in the Dutch capital when they lost 6-0 - it leaves their qualification hopes resting on them beating Iceland on Wednesday and picking up enough points in their remaining matches to finish as one of the top eight second-placed teams.

At least Scotland have qualification in their own hands. Wales' meek defeat at home against Finland in front of a pitiful 22,600 has left their World Cup dreams in tatters already, although it was never a likely proposition considering they face Germany and Russia in their group.

But the only way Wales, who face the Germans next, will get easier draws is by improving their qualifying performance and home losses to Finland completely undermine any other efforts.

The Welsh could learn a lot from Northern Ireland who have had excellent home form in recent qualification campaigns and continued this with a fine 3-2 result at Windsor Park against Poland, for whom Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boric had a nightmare.

The result lifted the Irish to the top of their group although this is a somewhat misleading position considering they have played more matches than any of their rivals, including two games against group minnows San Marino.

The Republic of Ireland took the lead within a minute against Bulgaria through Richard Dunne but threatened rarely after the goal and will be happy that the draw keeps them seven points clear of their opponents.

The chase is not over yet, however. Bulgaria have a game in hand and the Irish must play Italy twice and Cyprus away where they have previously had problems before the campaign is over.

England could just about finish off their campaign on Wednesday if they beat Ukraine and they warmed up in convincing style with a fine 4-0 win over Slovakia with the two goals from Wayne Rooney particularly delightful.

The England forwards, however, failed to heed my warning about 'skating around Slovakian challenges' as Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch all limped off, although Crouch should be fit.

Cricket
England and West Indies traded victories over the weekend with the Windies the first to strike on Friday after another England batting collapse.

England were bowled out for 117 in the 42nd over, which the Windies had no problems chasing down.

Indeed, captain Chris Gayle looked set to record the fastest ODI century but his stunning attacking display was brought to an end on 80 when he was bowled by James Anderson.

The embarrassing loss for England came in the wake of comments by Kevin Pietersen in the Mail on Sunday, expressing his desire to go home.

And so it is to Andrew Strauss' great credit as England captain that he replied to Gayle's onslaught with one of his own in the next match.

Although it was less extravagant than Gayle's effort, Strauss hit an unbeaten 79 to level the series at 2-2 as England comfortably chased down a readjusted target of 136 from 20 overs.

The series decider on Friday in St Lucia will determine if England have anything at all to take from this hitherto fruitless winter.

Other sports
In ice hockey, the Elite League playoffs mainly went to form with Sheffield Steelers emerging victorious against Edinburgh Caps in a high-scoring tie (12-7 on aggregate: 8-2, 4-5) but one which was won in the first match.

Nottingham Panthers also did most of the damage in their home first leg against Manchester Phoenix, winning 9-5 on aggregate (6-3, 3-2).

And although Newcastle Vipers held Coventry Blaze to a 2-2 tie in the first leg, the Blaze were too difficult to overcome and won 6-4 on aggregate.

Cardiff Devils beat Belfast Giants in the most competitive of the ties, winning 6-5 on aggregate. The Devils beat the Giants 2-1 away before a 4-4 tie after OT in the return.

Thus, the semi finalists are Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry and Cardiff.


Great Britain finished a disappointing third in the medal table at the World Track Championships behind Australia and France.

They managed just two golds from the efforts of Victoria Pendleton and the women's team pursuit trio of Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead.

But the absence of Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero must also be factored as a genuine reason why Britain did not perform better.


In non-league football, Gateshead stayed top of the Blue Square North on goal difference with a smashing 5-0 win over Hinckley United, the best home win of the season. Lee Novak got two of the goals and an assist.

And Whitley Bay will take a 2-1 lead to Lowestoft after the first leg of their FA Vase semi final.


Finally, Oxford beat Cambridge by a comfortable three-and-a-half lengths on the Thames in the 155th staging of the Boat Race.

The victory was Oxford's fourth win in the last five years, although Cambridge still lead the series 79-75, with one dead-heat.