The Lankan Premier League finally got up and running and has served up some truly excellent cricket so far with the very first games between Kandy Tuskers and Colombo Kings going all the way to a super over. Jaffna Stallions led by Thisara Perera and his blistering form are unbeaten at the top after 3 games, with Dasun Shanaka’s Dambulla Viking and Colombo Kings in hot pursuit. In a rain-curtailed 5 over game Andre Russel blasted a 16 delivery half-century, while other standout performances include wonderful knocks from Kusal Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Isuru Udana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perera and Danushka Gunathilaka. The highest wicket-taker so far is Asela Gunaratne of the Kandy Tuskers.
The Women’s Big Bash League ended in a victory for Sydney Thunder, defeating Melbourne Stars by 7 wickets in the final. Sophie Devine won the player of the series for the second consecutive season while Shabin Ismail was the player of the final.
India’s tour of Australia got off to a poor start with a 2-1 loss in the ODI series. Steven Smith was the star of the show, scoring consecutive 62 ball hundreds.
England whitewashed South Africa 3-0 in the T20I series, with David Malan scoring an unbeaten 99 in the series finale
New Zealand defeated Windies 2-0 in the T20I series between the two teams
The Pakistan Super League was won by the Karachi Kings after defeating Lahore Qalanders in the final. The player of the final was well as the series went to Pakistan’s new all-format captain, Babar Azam.
Football
Argentine footballing legend, Diego Armando Maradona died at the age of 60 after suffering a sudden heart attack. Commonly regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Maradona led Argentina to victory at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, scoring a brilliant goal against England in the quarterfinals. At the club level, he was known for his exploits with Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli. On the weekend both Barcelona and Napoli showed respect for Maradona during their goal celebrations, with Messi unveiling a Newell’s Old Boys shirt, a club which Maradona played for at the end of his career. He will be fondly remembered for his exploits on the football pitch.
The UEFA Champions League neared the end of its group stages with a couple of groups having all teams in contention. 13 time champions Real Madrid suffered a second surprise loss to Shakhtar Donetsk leaving them under pressure going into the final game of the group stage. Braut Erling-Haaland of Borussia Dortmund became the fastest player to reach 15 Champions League goals, achieving the milestone in just 12 games.
The UEFA Nations League took place during the international break with Belgium, Italy, France and Spain progressing to the 4 nation finals. Meanwhile, Scotland qualified for Euro 2020, their first major tournament since 1998 while North Macedonia qualified for their very first major international tournament. Euro 2020 ( not 2021), will take place across several European Stadiums in the summer of 2021
Tottenham Hotspur under Jose Mourinho moved to the top of the Premier League table after an excellent month where they beat Manchester City and drew against Chelsea. Defending champions Liverpool remain in hot pursuit, on equal points with Tottenham while Chelsea and Leicester City take up the remaining Champions League places.
Real Sociedad maintained their surprise lead in the La Liga Table, with 3 wins and a draw in the month of October. Atletico Madrid remain one point behind, but with 2 games in hand while usual suspects Real Madrid and Barcelona are yet to find their best form with Real Madrid losing to Alaves over the weekend while Barcelona were also beaten by Atletico Madrid during the month
Business as usual in the Bundesliga as Bayern Munich maintained their lead in the table, 2 points above RB Leipzig. Der Klassiker, the rivalry between Bayern and Dortmund ended in a 3-2 victory for Munich, consolidating their lead at the top.
AC Milan maintained their unbeaten start in Serie A, buoyed by the goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic who unfortunately was injured in their win against Napoli. Inter Milan and Juventus as well as surprise package Sassuolo take up the rest of the top 4
Rugby
The 2020 Six Nations Rugby Championship commenced after the initial postponement due to the pandemic with England emerging as champions following a victory against Italy.
Argentina defeated New Zealand for the very first time in their history with a 15-25 win in the Tri-Nations tournament in Sydney
F1
November F1 weekend kicked off after a week’s break from the last race in Imola.
It was yet another return to an iconic race track, it was none other than Turkey. This track has given us a lot of exciting races and just 3 drivers of the current grid have raced in F1 when they were last here.
Max Verstappen was so confident coming into the weekend where he said in a podcast that he can take the magnificent double apex turn 8 in full throttle and with his eye closed.
But from FP1 it was obvious that it was not gonna happen as the track had been resurfaced and drivers often referring to it to be smooth as a baby’s bottom. It was a very slippery track indeed.
The Turkish GP was the first time this season where the dominant team was genuinely struggling and did not secure a pole position for the first time this season.
But yet a Mercedes powered Racing point (Some Say its the copy of last years Mercedes) of Lance Stroll secured pole from the weekend dominating Max Verstappen who would have been gutted to not get Pole and secured P2 while Sergio Perez got P3
Despite leading the race for the most of the first part of the rainy race Lance Stroll had damage on his car and a wrong strategy call made him lose the lead. Sebastian Vettel got a superb start while Bottas and Ocon spinned into Turn 1 at the start.
With a lot of spins on track and varying track conditions, drivers had to improvise. What most drivers did was use the softer intermediate tyres and wear out the tread to make it a tyre good for the wet and the dry.
With all this happening Lewis Hamilton drove a Championship worthy drive till the end and Won the Turkish GP along with securing his 7th world title Equaling him to the record held by Michale Schumacher.
Sergio Perez Secured P2 while Sebastian Vettel finished in P3. These 3 drivers were the only 3 drivers to have raced in F1 the last time F1 was in Turkey.
After another week of a break F1 is in the middle east for the final 3 back to back races including the season finale.
First race of the final triple header was in Bahrain.
The race was filled with one very big incident at the exit turn 3 on lap 1 where fans were in shock when the car of Romain Grosjean went into the barrier and went up in flames instantly.
Thanks to the FIA and F1 for increasing the safety of the modern day F1 car, the driver only suffered 2nd degree burns on the back of his hands despite his car breaking into two and him being in a raging fire for more than 20s before jumping out to safety.
This incident also meant that any argument on the Halo will no longer be spoken of as if it hadn’t been there the outcome would have been very bad.
After a 90 minute delay they restarted only to have the safety car deployed since Lance Stroll was hanging upside down after having contact with Kyvat.
Despite the incidents in the opening stages the race continued with much excitement in the mid field, with multiple strategies being used in the high degradation circuit and at the closing stages the Podium finishes seemed to be settled.
Perez was in P3 at the closing stages but with just a few laps to go his MGU-H gave up and burst into flames which ended his race.
Lewis Hamilton collected his 95th win with Max Verstappen P2 and Alex Albon P3. The first time Redbull had a Double podium finish since the 2017 Japanese GP.
The final 2 races of the season will be held at the outer ring of the Bahrain circuit where lap times will be under a minute and the Season closer in Abu Dhabi.
On the 30th of November, the day after the Bahrain GP, the 2020 world champion Lewis Hamilton was tested Positive for Covid-19, which will now make the Battle for 4th in the drivers standing and 3rd for the Constructor Championship very interesting and there is a lot of speculation on who the replacement will be.
Will it be Hulkenburg? Will it be Vandoorne? Will it be Russell? Wait for the 2020 December edition of the sports express to find out!
Editor
Editor