Rearview Mirror

If you slept through the weekend, here's what you missed:

EPL - for Saturday's action, see the update here. On Sunday, West Ham became the first relegated side when they went down 3-2 to Wigan in a game they needed to win to stay in with a chance of survival. That they lost after leading 2-0 at half time can't have helped the case of Avram Grant, who was sacked as manager shortly after relegation was confirmed. With one game remaining, Wigan and Blackpool sit in the danger spots, both tied with Birmingham on points, with Wolves and Blackburn just one point ahead. Blackpool and Birmingham have the toughest assignements, away to Manchester United and Tottenham respectively. Spurs still have a lot to play for, after surprising Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday to take a one point lead over the Reds for the Europa League place. Arsenal also have work to do, as Manchester City could overtake them for the automatic qualifying spot for the Champion's League, after the Gunners' loss at home to Aston Villa. (See here for table.)

IPL - the league table in the IPL continued to flatten out as the top teams continued to drop games, and a couple of teams who look finished stayed alive. Mumbai fell to Deccan, despite having a modest total to chase, while Kochi and Punjab kept their faint hopes of qualification alive. See the table here. Elsewhere in cricket, the first test in four months saw the West Indies triumph over Pakistan in a low scoring but gripping encounter. Debutant Devendra Bishoo had a fine match, taking four wickets in the first innings and making two gritty number eleven knocks, although he couldn't replicate his bowling form in the fourth innings. However, captain Darren Sammy took 5/29 and Rampaul again bowled superbly as they both finished with seven wickets apiece for the match.


NBA -  Oklahoma City bounced back in game 7 to take the series 4-3 over the Memphis Grizzlies, and will move on to play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Final. Kevin Durant stepped up bigtime for the Thunder, finishing with 39 points. Later on Sunday, the Chicago Bulls withstood a powerful first half from Chris Bosh to eventually subdue the Miami Heat as they took game one of the Eastern Conference final 103-82, with Derrick Rose scoring 28, while Luol Deng scored 21 and kept LeBron James to just 15. Bosh finished with 30, while Wade finished with 18.


AFL - in the possible, if not probable Grand Final preview, Geelong handed Collingwood their first loss since late in the 2010 season in a tense, low-scoring match on Friday night, despite some inaccurate kicking. Halfway through the last quarter the Magpies led by 10, but eventually Geelong snuck home by three points to take top spot on the ladder. Much of the rest of the round went according to script, although West Coast overcame some late key player losses to run down Fremantle in the local derby. Gold Coast got off to a flyer against Adelaide with the first four goals, but the visitors couldn't keep it up and went down eventually by 57 points. Hawthorn continued their improved form, and continued Saint Kilda's woes with a comfortable 30 point win.