Good Week/Bad Week: Sky Sports take a look at the heroes and villains from the sporting world
Seven days is a long time in the brutal world of sport, indeed, long enough for some to rise to prominence and others to fall from grace. Sky Sports takes a look back at the winners and losers...
Monday 3 November 2014 19:00, UK
From the soul-destroying depths to undulating joys, we sift through the highlights and lowlights from the past seven days of sport from around the globe.
In a week when Virgin Galactic’s bid to break new ground and take passengers into space suffered a devastating setback, Lewis Hamilton and Novak Djokovic enjoyed landmark weeks, while reigning Premier League champions Manchester City took the spoils in a fiercely-contested Manchester derby.
It was a heart-breaking weekend to forget to England’s rugby league side as they were denied what seemed a certain try in the final minutes of their clash with world champions Australia, while Mervyn King endured a mammoth capitulation to lose the UniBet Masters in Edinburgh.
Good Week
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton edged closer towards the World Championship on Sunday when he overcame polesitter and title rival Nico Rosberg to win the United States GP in Austin. The win, his fifth in a row, has enabled Hamilton to beat Nigel Mansell's records for most victories by a British driver in a season - ten - while the Mercedes driver also surpassed the 1992 World Champion's career tally with his 32nd win. Surely more important for Hamilton right now, though, will be the manner in which his latest triumph was achieved and what it means for his aspirations towards a second world title.
Having outqualified Hamilton by an impressive 0.4s on Saturday, Rosberg had appeared similarly comfortable in the early laps at the Circuit of The Americas. However, Hamilton closed on his Mercedes team-mate after their first pit stops and took over the lead with a bold move at the end of the back straight on lap 24. He was never headed thereafter and was 4.3s ahead by the chequered flag. And in terms of the title battle, Hamilton now holds a 24-point lead over Rosberg with just two races remaining.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic heads to the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals at the peak of his powers. The dominant Serb is driving towards another year-ending No 1 spot having recently becoming a proud father and then collected his third Paris Masters crown for his 600th ATP victory. The 27-year-old Belgrade native breezed through an elite field in the French capital without dropping a set and he emphasised his dominance in world tennis by demolishing big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 6-2 6-3 in Sunday's final to secure the 20th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown of his career.
It was also his 27th consecutive indoor victory and he became the first man to successfully defend the title at Bercy. In the process, he became the fifth active player to pass the 600-mark with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt and David Ferrer the others. His lead over Federer in the ATP rankings is now 1,310 points with up to a possible 1,500 available to the winner in London. We should be in for a fascinating climax as the top eight players in the world collide at the O2, starting on Sunday 9 November, live on Sky Sports 3.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns as he moved 11-5 in front in his head-to-head record against rival quarterback Peyton Manning in a high-scoring game that saw the pair combine for 110 pass attempts. The New England Patriots stretched their winning run to five games as they demolished the Denver Broncos 43-21 at Gillette Stadium in week nine of the season. Such an aerial assault didn’t appear likely when New England was hit by a snow storm in the morning, meaning the groundstaff had to work diligently to clear the field at Foxboro in time for kick-off.
Julian Edelman put the hosts ahead again when he and Brady, making his 200th career start, teamed up for a five-yard TD, then followed that up by returning a punt 84 yards to the end zone. Manning threw for 438 yards and two touchdowns in total, was sacked once and picked off twice. He lost Wes Welker from his offence when the former Patriots receiver suffered a back injury trying to reel in a pass that ended up being intercepted.
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams marked his return to action for New Zealand with a pair of tries as the All Blacks crushed USA 74-6 in front of a sold-out crowd at Soldier Field. Playing a Test Stateside for just the second time in their history, the reigning world champions warmed up for their European tour with a 12-try show of flamboyance.
Williams’ tries came either side of a score for Charles Piutau in the left corner as he offered an impressive warning salvo on his comeback from rugby league. He was denied a hat-trick when the pass to him was ruled forward, but there was nothing wrong with Cruden’s try that took his team beyond the 50-point barrier. Few have enjoyed such success on both sides of the code divide and Williams continues to defy logic; after starring in the Rugby League World Cup for the Kiwis last year, the 29-year-old is on course to feature for the All Blacks as they bid to defend their Rugby World Cup crown in 2015 – and not to forget his six from six record as a professional boxer, too.
Bad Week
Chris Smalling
Stupid. The only word Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal could conjure up to describe Chris Smalling’s decision-making in the Manchester derby. Defending Premier League champions Manchester City prevailed 1-0, but the major talking point were two needless yellow cards for United centre-back Smalling. Smalling picked up his first yellow card for impeding Joe Hart as he tried to clear the ball and handed his second booking for scything down James Milner.
Van Gaal had no complaints with referee Michael Oliver sending off Smalling admitting the England defender, who later apologised for his actions, was "not very smart" to make the challenge on Milner when he was already on a yellow card. "I think the first yellow card for Chris Smalling, I did not see but OK, the referee gives a yellow card," van Gaal told Sky Sports. "Then you know as a player you have a yellow and you cannot do what he did for the second yellow card. That is logical.” After seeing three penalty claims turned down in the match Sergio Aguero grabbed the crucial breakthrough for Manchester City just past the hour mark with a fine strike.
England
England find themselves in the ‘bad week’ column this time around, but in all truth this entry could well listed in the ‘robbed week’ section. Steve McNamara’s men gave their all against Australia in the Four Nations on Sunday and could have should have toppled the Kangaroos for a famous victory. England were unlucky to fall behind in the game when Michael Jennings’ try was awarded by the video referee despite replays hinting the centre failed to have any downward pressure while planting the ball down one-handed.
The visitors trailed only by four points in the closing stages. When Greg Inglis made a meal of a grubber kick Ryan Hall pounced seemingly getting downward pressure with a finger only for the video referee to rule out the possible four-pointer, effectively clinching a crucial victory for Australia as they regained possession for the final minute of the contest. England now head to Dunedin to face the Kiwis next Saturday needing a win before casting an eye on Australia's game on Sunday when a win for Australia would take qualification all down to points difference.
Australia
Australia’s two-decade hex over Pakistan in the Test cricket arena was thwarted this week – and emphatically so. Pakistan wrapped a historic whitewash with a first series victory over Australia in 20 years after completing a resounding 356-run win in the second Test. Steve Smith missed a fighting hundred by just three runs but added an invaluable 107 in a fifth-wicket stand with Mitchell Marsh, who fell after scoring 47 as the duo defied Pakistan for a major part of the morning session. But Australia lost five wickets in quick succession after lunch and could not avoid a series defeat for the first time since losing 1-0 in Pakistan in 1994.
In the opening Dubai Test, Zulfiqar Babar took five wickets as Pakistan beat Australia by 221 runs in the first Test in Dubai. Australia, set an unlikely 438 to win, were finally bowled out after tea on the fifth day for 216 as the hosts took a 1-0 lead courtesy of left-arm spinner Zulfiqar’s return of 5-74 as well as 4-50 from leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
Mervyn King
As much as James Wade was credited with a remarkable comeback to win the UniBet Masters in Edinburgh, Mervyn King must be condemned for surrendered five and seven-leg leads. Wade, going for an eighth major PDC title, was 9-2 down but came back to win 11-10, taking out a 135 checkout to land the £50,000 prize. King looked certain to win his first major tournament at a fifth final attempt but he missed eight darts for victory – including an agonising six in leg 17.
King started much the better, breaking three times to race to a 5-0 lead at the first break before Wade finally took out an 88 checkout with double seven to land his first leg against the throw. King hit back, sinking double 16 to checkout 101 and go 6-1 up before Wade took out tops to break back. But Wade missed four darts at tops in the next leg and King sunk double two to go 7-2 ahead and then took the next two legs to give himself a huge lead. However, King could only one of the subsequent 10 legs as he slipped to one of the most embarrassing defeats of his career.
