Big Bash League 2019

Melbourne Renegades snatched their first ever Big Bash League title from the Melbourne stars by forcing an extraordinary collapse from their crosstown rivals, after Ben Dunk and Marcus Stoinis had appeared to have taken their side to the outskirts of victory.

Needing 53 from 43 balls with all 10 wickets in hand, the Stars lost a shuddering 7 for 39 from those remaining deliveries, turning a momentarily moribund spectacle into that familiar but always entertaining scenario, the rush of late wickets in the face of a mounting required run rate. Having previously monstered a pair of chases against the Renegades, the Stars fell in a heap, unable to be pulled out of their dive by the captain Glenn Maxwell.

Credit was due to the doughty bowling of Cameron Boyce, Harry Gurney, Chris Tremain, and Daniel Christian, as they aptly exploited the vagaries of a slow surface to prevent the Stars from scoring any boundaries between the end of the 12th over and midway through the last. Christian and Tom Cooper had earlier shrugged off the loss of early wickets after the Renegades were sent in to bat by Maxwell, forging a vital stand to mount a defendable total in the face of excellent work by the Stars spin bowlers in particular.

Given two qualifying matches that both followed remarkably similar scripts - Stars bowling first, Renegades being restricted, Stars powering to a successful chase - it was not surprising to see the visiting captain Maxwell choose to attempt a similar path. He was to be well served by his bowlers seeking out well-defined weaknesses in the Renegades' top order: Marcus Harris coaxed into a pull shot he seldom controls, Sam Harper deprived of room to free his arms, and Cameron White pinned on the crease by Zampa's skidding leg spin.

Comilla Victorians won BPL 2019

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal came up with one of the most eye-catching T20 innings in the Final of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2019. Tamim heroics with the bat in Dhaka helped Comilla Victorians beat three time champions Dhaka Dynamites by 17 runs and win their second title.

Tamim had been struggling for form in the lead up to the final but he stepped up on the big night and broke an array of records as he took the Dhaka Dynamites attack to the cleaners. Tamim hit an unbeaten 141 from just 61 balls, his first century in the BPL that had 11 sixes and 10 boundaries. Tamim 141 was the second highest score in a T20 tournament final and it helped the Imrul Kayes-led Comilla Victorians post 199. He also became the first Bangladesh batsman to hit more than 10 sixes in a T20 match.

Even as his much-fancied teammates were struggling to put bat to ball on a tricky Mirpur wicket, Tamim was hitting the big ones at will. Tamim showed little respect to the likes of Andre Russel, Shakib Al Hasan and Rubel Hossain as he scored heavily against the big boys of Dhaka Dynamites. Dhaka Dynamites looked like they would render Tamim special knock in vain when Upul Tharanga and Rony Talukdar took on the Victorians' bowling attack after Sunil Narine was run out in the very first ball of their 200-run chase.

Tharanga and Talukdar stitched a 102-run stand in just 8.4 overs before Thisara Perera got the wicket of his Sri Lankan teammate with a slower ball. Once the big partnership was broken, the Dynamites imploded as the likes of Shakib, Andre Russel, and Kieron Pollard were dismissed cheaply. Talukdar looked to keep the Dynamites in the hunt but he was run out (for 66 off 38 balls) after a mix-up with Pollard in the middle.

The Dynamites felt the pressure of chasing a big total in the final as their seasoned campaigners, including the likes of Shakib, Pollard and Russell, were unable to get going. Wahab Riaz shone for the champions with figures of 3/28 while Mohammad Saifuddin and Thisara Perera picked up two wickets each. There were a couple of costly run outs that brought the downfall of the Dynamites.

New England Patriots win Super Bowl LIII

Once again, the New England Patriots are champions, grinding to win Super Bowl LIII 13-3 at Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta and launching Tom Brady and Bill Belichick into a different stratosphere. They have now won six Super Bowls together, extending their record for the most by a head coach and starting quarterback combination. With the win, the Patriots are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles in NFL history.

Brady now has won more Super Bowls than any other player in history, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley (five). At 41 years old, Brady also is the oldest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl, eclipsing Peyton Manning, who was 39 when he won Super Bowl 50.

Belichick is the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl at age 66, and no head coach has won more Super Bowls than him. Now, he joins George Halas and Curly Lambeau as the only NFL head coaches with six championships since the league began postseason play in 1933. This was the pair's ninth Super Bowl appearance together, the most title games for any head coach and starting quarterback duo in NFL history.

Brady was 21-for-35 passing for 262 yards, and most of those yards went to wide receiver Julian Edelman, who is boosting his hall-of-fame resume. Edelman -- who was named the game's MVP -- had 10 catches for 141 yards. In addition to already having the second-most receptions in postseason history, he's now second all-time in postseason receiving yards. He trails just the legendary Jerry Rice in both categories.

Women Big Bash League: Brisbane Heat won maiden WBBL title

Australia wicketkeeper batswoman Bath Mooney skillful innings helped Brisbane Heat to clinch their maiden Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) title in Sydney. Bowling efforts of Delissa Kimmince (2/25) and Grace Harris (3/23) assisted the Heat to wrap up hosts Sixers for 131 for the loss of seven wickets.

Although Harris failed with the bat, opener Mooney powered to add 84 for the third wicket with her skipper Kirby Short in hot and testing conditions. Mooney brought up her fifty in just 35 deliveries, which included nine boundaries, before departing for 65, while short pitched in with 29.

No other Heat batswoman got to double figures, as they slipped from 98/2 to 126/7. With just four runs needed off five balls, Laura Harris walloped the ball to the boundary to seal a memorable three-wicket victory over two-time champions Sydney Sixers.

Ellyse Perry, on the other hand, was declared Player of the Tournament for amassing 744 at an average of 93 and scalping 10 wickets. Short heaped praises on Sixers skipper Perry for making it a great contest.

Novak Djokovic wins record seventh Australian Open

At 31 years old, Novak Djokovic has established himself as the player to beat on the ATP circuit. The No. 1 player in the world claimed his third consecutive Grand Slam with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open men’s final with the sweep also giving Djokovic his seventh career title in Melbourne.

The achievement makes Djokovic the Australian Open's winningest player in history, drawing him ahead of Roy Emerson and Roger Federer. Federer was eliminated by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Round of 16 after winning the last two opens on the hard court. Djokovic put on an utter clinic against Nadal, serving up eight aces to Nadal's three and notching five break points while never having his own serve broken. He won on 81 percent of his first serves, and he somehow won on 84 percent of his second serves. He somehow took a Nadal who had not lost a set all Open coming into the final and made him look completely toothless for the 2 hour and 4 minute duration of the match.

Djokovic now has 15 career Grand Slam wins, after having 12 at this time last year. Nadal, 32, retired in the US Open semifinals due to pain in his knee, so his greatness in this tournament perhaps flew under the radar a bit. The last time these two greats played was in Wimbledon, a 5-hour 17-minute thriller that saw Djokovic win in five sets. This match went a little differently.

In Women’s Singles Japan's Naomi Osaka beat Czech Petra Kvitova in a thrilling Australian Open final to win back-to-back Grand Slams and become the new world number one. N. Mahut and P.H. Herbert won Men’s Double title. S. Zhang and S. Stosur won Women’s Doubles title. B. Krejcikova and R. Ram won mixed double title.