Phil Hughes, Lewis Hamilton and SPOTY - the World Sport Column
Kunal Wagle takes you through the sport you may have missed this week
In the early hours of Thursday, Australia batsman Phil Hughes was pronounced dead at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. He had been struck on the side of the head by a bouncer from New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott in a Sheffield Shield match on Wednesday. In response, Cricket Australia chose to abandon the round of domestic matches being played this week. They also chose to cancel India’s warm-up fixture ahead of the series in Australia. Pakistan and New Zealand chose to extend their test match by a day and suspend play on Thursday out of respect, while England and Sri Lanka will have a minute’s silence ahead of their match on Friday. An obituary for Phil Hughes is on page 39.
In Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit to win the World Championship. Nico Rosberg, who was the only person who could catch Hamilton, was only able to finish 13th, after his car had power issues.
In the Champions League Chelsea produced the “perfect” performance as they beat Schalke 5-0. Sergio Aguero provided two goals as Manchester City came back from 2-1 down to beat Bayern Munich 3-2 to keep their hopes of qualification alive. But it was another frustrating night for Liverpool, as Ludogrets scored in injury time to draw the match 2-2. Liverpool go into the final game knowing a win over Basel at Anfield will send them through. In the Premier League Wayne Rooney scored as Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates.
In tennis, Andy Murray has announced his engagement to girlfriend Kim Sears. The couple met at the US Open in 2005. In January, Murray joked on Twitter that he would be getting married after Wimbledon, a statement he retracted an hour later.
In actual tennis, Roger Federer helped Switzerland win the Davis Cup for the first time in their history with victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet. He had lost his opening match against Gael Monfils.
The BBC has announced the nominees for the Sports Personality of the Year award. They are: Gareth Bale, Charlotte Dujardin, Kelly Gallagher, Charlotte Evans, Lewis Hamilton, Rory McIlroy, Jo Pavey, Adam Peaty, Max Whitlock and Lizzy Yarnold.
