The week in numbers: w/e 27/3/11

Bonds faces the possibility of being expunged from the MLB record books (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

762 – Career home runs struck by Barry Bonds, a Major League Baseball record. Bonds is now facing trial for perjury, having previously told a grand jury that he had never knowingly taken performance enhancing drugs. He is alleged to have doped as part of the Balco conspiracy.

4 – Oxford won the 157th University Boat Race by a surprisingly easy four lengths over favourites Cambridge on Saturday.

19 – Age of Oxford’s Constantine Louloudis, the youngest rower on either crew. The Londoner is considered to have a chance of representing Great Britain at next year’s Olympics.

1 – Rowers named Redgrave racing on Boat Race weekend. Natalie, 19-year old daughter of Sir Steve Redgrave, was part of the winning Oxford crew in the women’s race in Henley on Sunday.

3 – Sebastian Vettel secured a dominant victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. It was his third consecutive win dating back to last season, and his 11th overall in F1.

New Wales captain Ramsey got off to a losing start

20 – At the age of 20, Aaron Ramsey became Wales‘s youngest captain ever, but England nevertheless won 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium thanks to early goals by Frank Lampard and Darren Bent.

49 – Spain came from 1-0 down to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 courtesy of two second half goals by David Villa. They have now have lost just one of their 49 competitive home matches since 1991 (1-0 vs Greece, June 2003).

118 – World ranking of Alex Bogomolov Jr, who defeated Andy Murray in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open. It is the second consecutive tournament in which Murray has lost to a qualifier, having been eliminated from BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells by Donald Young.

1 – Number of gold medals won by the Great Britain team at cycling’s World Track Championships at Apeldoorn in Holland. Only the women’s team pursuit won their event, although Britain did win three silver and five bronze medals. Australia topped the medal table with eight golds.

The cricket World Cup in numbers

8 – Pakistan’s slow bowlers took eight of the ten West Indies wickets in bowling their opponents out for a miserly 112 in their quarter-final victory.

Ponting produced a brave century in defeat

104 – Australia captain Ricky Ponting scored 104 against India – two more runs than he had managed in total in his five previous innings in the tournament – but it was not enough to prevent the three-time defending champions from sliding to defeat.

1996 – India’s quarter-final win means someone other than Australia will win the World Cup for the first time since 1996. It will also be the first final not to feature the Aussies since 1992.

51 – South Africa lost their last seven wickets for just 51 runs, throwing away a seemingly dominant position as New Zealand won a thrilling match by 49 runs.

3 – Eoin Morgan was dropped three times by Sri Lanka en route to making 50 during England’s ten-wicket quarter-final defeat.

2 – Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Thuranga are the only opening pair to both make centuries in a World Cup match. Their unbeaten stand of 231 against England marked the second time they have achieved this feat.

3 – England have now lost on all three occasions after winning the toss and choosing to bat in a World Cup knockout match (also against India in 1983 and Sri Lanka in 1996).

2 – Two of the four quarter-finals were won without losing a wicket by the team batting second – Pakistan against the West Indies, and Sri Lanka against England.

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @InfostradaLive, Cricinfo and @StatManJon.)

The week in numbers: w/e 20/3/11

Evans won Tirreno-Adriatico by 11 seconds

21 – Australia’s Cadel Evans became the 21st different winner of the Tirreno-Adriatico seven-day cycling race, defeating Robert Gesink by just 11 seconds.

1 – Australia’s Matt Goss became the first non-European to claim the Milan-San Remo one-day classic, winning a thrilling eight-man sprint in Saturday’s 102nd edition of the race.

2 – Inter Milan became only the second club ever to win a Champions League knockout tie after losing the first leg at home. They won 3-2 at Bayern Munich, going through on the away goals rule after the tie finished 3-3 on aggregate.

0 – Number of representatives from Germany, Italy, England and France in the quarter-finals of the Europa League – the first time this has happened in the history of the Europa League/UEFA Cup.

27 – Barcelona‘s 2-1 win over Getafe means they are now unbeaten in their last 27 La Liga matches, a new club record.

8 – England‘s points total in the 24-8 defeat to Ireland which denied them a grand slam. It was their lowest score in a Six Nations game since a 31-6 loss to France in March 2006.

25 – Brian O’Driscoll scored his 25th Five/Six Nations try against England, breaking the competition record set by Scotland‘s Ian Smith between 1924-33.

18 – Novak Djokovic improved his 2011 record to 18-0 by defeating world number one Rafael Nadal 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells. Djokovic had already guaranteed he would move up to the number two spot by defeating Roger Federer in their semi-final.

60:23 – At his first competitive attempt at the distance, Mo Farah won the New York half-marathon in a new British record time of 60:23.

The cricket World Cup in numbers

131 – Ireland‘s 131-run defeat by South Africa was their largest losing margin in a World Cup match, surpassing their 129-run loss to New Zealand in 2007.

Duminy fell one run short of a century against Ireland

99 – In that same game, South Africa’s J P Duminy became only the second batsman (after Adam Gilchrist) to be dismissed for 99 at a World Cup.

183 – Shane Watson and Brad Haddin put on 183 runs, the highest opening-wicket partnership for Australia at the World Cup, as they cruised to a seven-wicket win over Canada.

2 – The Netherlands‘ Ryan ten Doeschate scored his second century of this tournament, tying with A B de Villiers and Sachin Tendulkar. However, his 106 was not enough to avoid defeat as Paul Stirling‘s 101 (off 72 balls) helped Ireland to a six-wicket win.

206 – Bangladesh‘s 206 -run defeat by South Africa – they were bowled out for just 78 – was their largest margin of defeat in a World Cup match, and their second-largest in all one-day internationals.

34 – Pakistan ended Australia’s 34-game winning streak after bowling out the defending champions for just 176.

0 – Kenya‘s 176-run defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe ensured they finished this World Cup with no wins from their six games. The Netherlands were similarly winless.

21 – The West Indies lost their last eight wickets for just 34 runs as they were beaten by India by 80 runs in the final group phase match. They have not beaten a Test-playing nation in an ODI since June 2009 – a period of 21 months.

The Premier League in numbers

31 – Including blocked attempts, Tottenham had 31 shots in their goalless draw with West Ham.

Van Persie averages exactly a goal per game in his last 19 appearances (image courtesy of arsenal.com)

19 – In scoring Arsenal‘s equaliser in their 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion, Robin van Persie improved his record to 19 goals in his last 19 Premier League games.

28 – West Brom have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 28 consecutive matches – a new Premier League record.

1 – Steven Reid‘s third-minute goal in that game marked the first time Arsenal had conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes of a league game this season – making them the last team to do so.

4 – Stoke City‘s 4-0 win over Newcastle marked the first time they have ever scored more than three times in a Premier League game.

22 – Junior Hoilett‘s 93rd-minute equaliser in Blackburn‘s 2-2 draw with Blackpool should have come as little surprise. There have now been 22 goals in the last ten minutes of matches involving these two teams this season.

18 – Everton‘s 2-1 win over Fulham was their 18th straight home league win against these opponents (and the tenth in the Premier League era).

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @InfostradaLive, Cricinfo and @StatManJon.)

The week in numbers: w/e 6/2/11

Torres cost Chelsea a British transfer record £50m

50,000,000 – Fee paid (in pounds) by Chelsea for Spain striker Fernando Torres, setting a new British transfer record. It is the fourth biggest transfer ever.

11 – Career Premier League goals scored by Andy Carroll, for whom Liverpool paid Newcastle £35m to sign.

16 – Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 courtesy of a Lionel Messi hat-trick, setting a new La Liga record of 16 consecutive wins.

2 – Crashes suffered by British cycling sprinter Mark Cavendish so far this season, after he crashed in the prologue at the Tour of Qatar yesterday. He has yet to win in 2011.

Bobridge broke Boardman's iconic 4km pursuit record

4:10.534 – Time clocked by Australia’s Jack Bobridge for the four-kilometre individual pursuit at the Australian National Track Championships, breaking Chris Boardman‘s 15-year-old world record by 0.58s.

10 – Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt was handed a ten-year ban for spot-fixing by the ICC. Teammates Mohammed Asif and Mohhamed Amir were handed seven and five-year bans respectively.

137 – Runs scored by Jonathan Trott as England lost the sixth one-day international against Australia. It was the third highest ODI score by an England batsman abroad (David Gower 158 vs New Zealand, 1982/83; Graham Gooch 142 vs Pakistan, 1987/88).

The Premier League week in numbers

1 – West Ham‘s 3-1 win at Blackpool in midweek was their first away win of the season.

A fast start from Rooney

54 – Wayne Rooney scored after just 54 seconds in Manchester United‘s 3-1 win over Aston Villa.

43 – Goals scored in this weekend’s Premier League games, the most ever in one round since the division was reduced to 20 teams in 1995/96.

8 – Penalties scored in Saturday’s eight games, breaking the previous record of six for a single day.

1 – Arsenal became the first team in the Premier League to fail to win after leading 4-0 as they drew 4-4 at Newcastle.

23 – West Bromwich Albion‘s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City was their 23rd consecutive game without keeping a clean sheet.

16 – West Brom manager Roberto di Matteo was subsequently sacked yesterday morning, becoming the 16th league manager to be dismissed in the 44 days since Christmas.

Pantsil completed a hat-trick of own goals

3 – John Pantsil scored his third own goal of the season in Fulham‘s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa, tying the Premier League record for a single season.

2 – Carlos Tevez became only the second player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick on his birthday (his 27th), after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in March 2004.

4 – Stoke City defeated Sunderland 3-2, the fourth consecutive time they have beaten them at the Britannia Stadium by a one-goal margin.

29 – Wolves‘ 2-1 win over Manchester United’s ended their unbeaten league run at 29 games.

2 – Both Manchester United’s defeats this season have been against clubs at the bottom of the Premier League table – Wolves on Saturday and West Ham in the Carling Cup.

1 – Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge made them the first club to do the double over Chelsea since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

The Super Bowl in numbers

4 – The Green Bay Packers‘ 31-25 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ was their fourth Super Bowl win in five attempts.

8 – This was the eighth straight year in which seven or fewer points separated the two teams in the fourth quarter.

2 – The Packers joined the 2005 Steelers as the only number six seeds to win a Super Bowl. (They are the sixth wild card team overall to win a Super Bowl, and the third team to do so after winning three road playoff games.)

21 – Points scored by the Packers off Pittsburgh’s three turnovers.

36 – In confirmation that the modern NFL is a pass-focused league, the two teams combined for just 36 rushing attempts, a record low. Green Bay ran the ball just 13 times, tying the record for the fewest rushing attempts by one team in a Super Bowl.

7 – Pittsburgh’s LaMarr Woodley recorded a sack for an NFL record seventh straight game.

14 – Green Bay won the pre-game coin toss, the 14th consecutive time the NFC team has won the toss at the Super Bowl.

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @InfostradaLive, @StatManJon and NFL.com.)

The week in numbers: w/e 26/9/10

England captain Andrew Strauss (image courtesy of HNM_1977)

8 – Andrew Strauss‘s 68 in last Monday’s fourth one-day international against Pakistan was the eighth time he has passed 50 in ODIs in 2010, more than any other batsman. England went on to win the series 3-2.

68 – Points scored by both Collingwood and St Kilda in Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, after St Kilda recovered from a 24-point, third quarter deficit to level the scores with just 1:31 remaining. The teams will replay the final next Saturday.

3 – It was only the third tied final in AFL history, and the first since 1977.

0.293 – In seconds, Fernando Alonso‘s winning margin over Sebastian Vettel at yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix.

25 – The points difference between F1 championship leader Mark Webber and fifth-placed Jenson Button, equivalent to the points available for a single race win. There are four grands prix remaining (assuming the Korean Grand Prix goes ahead).

31 – Age of Terry Newton, the former Wakefield and Great Britain rugby league star, who was found hanged at his home near Wigan yesterday afternoon. Newton had been serving a two-year suspension after testing positive for human growth hormone (HGH).

Ronnie O'Sullivan

10 – Ronnie O’Sullivan scored a record tenth career 147 break at the World Open in Glasgow last Monday. He had to be asked to pot the final black for the benefit of the crowd, having stopped at the pink in protest at the lack of a sizeable prize for a maximum break.

1 – Australian Neil Robertson defeated O’Sullivan 5-1 in last night’s final to confirm his position as the new world number one. He has now won all six of the world-ranking finals he has contested.

1997 – West Ham‘s 2-1 victory at Sunderland was the first time they had won a League Cup tie against top-tier opponents since 1997.

6 – In each of Wednesday’s six Carling Cup third round ties, the team scoring first ended up being knocked out of the competition.

69 – League positions between Liverpool (16th in the Premier League) and Northampton Town (17th in League Two) when the teams faced each other at Anfield in the Carling Cup. Northampton won on penalties when the match finished 2-2 after extra time, advancing to the fourth round for the first time since 1966.

30 – By winning 4-3 at Stamford Bridge, Newcastle ended Chelsea‘s run of 30 home domestic cup ties without defeat.

The Premier League week in numbers

Carlos Tevez

6 – Carlos Tevez has scored six times in his last five Premier League appearances against Chelsea. In scoring the only goal of the game on Saturday, he raised his record to 25 goals in his last 29 league appearances.

0.70 – Goals per Premier League match conceded by Manchester City (27 games, 19 goals) since Roberto Mancini took over as manager. Under his predecessor Mark Hughes, they conceded goals at exactly twice that rate – 77 goals in 55 games, or 1.40 per match.

2 – Since the start of the 2009/10 season, Chelsea have failed to score just twice in the Premier League – against Birmingham last season and at Manchester City. The opposing goalkeeper on both occasions was Joe Hart.

5 – By drawing 0-0 at home to Everton, Fulham became only the second Premier League side to draw five of their opening six league games of the season, after Ipswich in 1992/93.

6 – Fulham are unbeaten in their first six games, their best ever start to a Premier League season.

Samir Nasri (image courtesy of arsenal.com)

3 – Samir Nasri has scored all three Arsenal goals in West Bromwich Albion‘s two visits to the Emirates Stadium. His two goals on Saturday were his first at home in the Premier League since scoring two against Manchester United in November 2008.

18 – Their 3-2 win at the Emirates ended West Brom’s run of 18 consecutive Premier League away games without a win (four draws, 14 defeats).

5 – Manuel Almunia has saved five of the last six Premier League penalties he has faced at the Emirates Stadium. (He saved Chris Brunt‘s first-half spot-kick on Saturday.)

2 – West Ham, who won their first league game of the season (1-0 versus Spurs), have collected exactly two yellow cards in each of their six Premier League games to date.

21 – Birmingham‘s goalless draw with Wigan extended their run of unbeaten home league games to 21.

2 – Six games into the Premier League season, there are now only two undefeated teams – Manchester United and Fulham.

1 – West Ham’s victory over Spurs means Everton are now the Premier League’s only winless club.

The NFL week in numbers

Tom Brady (image courtesy of Keith Allison)

22 – Consecutive home starts won by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (New England 38 Buffalo 30). Brady passed for 252 yards and three touchdowns.

22 – Consecutive road losses by the Detroit Lions, tied for the third-longest streak in NFL history (Minnesota 24 Detroit 10).

2 – Seattle‘s Leon Washington returned kickoffs 101 and 99 yards for touchdowns, becoming only the tenth player in NFL history to record two kick return TDs in a single game (Seattle 27 San Diego 20).

3 – There will be just three undefeated teams in the NFL after week three. The Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers are both 3-0, and the Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers tonight, with both currently 2-0.

5 – Conversely, there are five teams still looking to record their first win (Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, Detroit and San Francisco).

(Some statistics courtesy of @OptaJoe, @optajim, @OptaJean, @StatManJon and NFL.com.)

Related Articles

• Terry Newton found dead at home, aged 31 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Rugby league mourns Terry Newton (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Saints and Pies in a draw (theage.com.au)

The week in numbers: w/e 12/9/10

Kim Clijsters won her third US Open title

14 – Since her return from retirement, Kim Clijsters has won all 14 of her singles matches at the US Open, winning back-to-back titles to add to her 2005 victory. She crushed Vera Zvonereva 6-2 6-1 in Saturday’s final.

3 – Roger Federer‘s new world ranking after his US Open semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic. It is the first time he has been out of the top two since 2003.

89 – Pakistan recorded their lowest ever Twenty20 total in Tuesday’s defeat to England in the second of their two T20 matches.

7 – England’s victory in that game was their seventh consecutive T20 win, equalling the best sequence in T20’s short history, set by both Pakistan and South Africa in 2009.

3.4 – In seconds, the length of time Fernando Alonso‘s Ferrari was stationary during his only pit stop in yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix. Jenson Button had pitted a lap earlier, stopping for 4.2 seconds. The Ferrari pit crew’s speed was enough to leapfrog the Spaniard into a lead he would not relinquish.

24 – Number of points separating Formula 1 championship leader Mark Webber from his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel in fifth after yesterday’s race. There are 25 points available for a race win.

Mark Cavendish (image courtesy of Graham Watson)

2 – Mark Cavendish became only the second British rider (after Robert Millar) to record a stage win in each of cycling’s three Grand Tours by winning stage 12 of the Vuelta a España on Thursday. For good measure, he won the following day too.

967 – Wayne Rooney‘s goal against Switzerland on Tuesday ended an international goal drought of 967 minutes stretching back 12 matches.

10 – Emile Heskey‘s longest run of England starts without a goal. Rooney’s goalless sequence ended at 11.

1 – In his seventh England appearance, Darren Bent registered his first shot on target in international football – and scored from it.

23 – Jermain Defoe has still never played a full 90 minutes for England, after 23 caps.

Stephen McManus spared Scotland's blushes with a 97th-minute winner against Liechtenstein

97 – Scotland did not take the lead against Liechtenstein in Tuesday’s Euro 2012 qualifier until the 97th minute. They won 2-1, with Stephen McManus scoring the crucial late winner.

36,000 – The whole of Liechtenstein’s 36,000 population could fit into Scotland’s Hampden Park – and still leave 16,000 seats empty.

22 – Argentina beat Spain 4-1 in an international friendly in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, despite the losers registering 22 shots to just seven for the home side. It was the first time Spain had conceded four goals in a game since 2000.

10 – The All Blacks have now won their last ten meetings against Australia. They came from 22-9 down with 20 minutes left to win 23-22 in their final Tri-Nations encounter. New Zealand finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record.

1 – Barcelona lost 2-0 at home to newly promoted Hércules, meaning they have already equalled the one defeat they suffered during the whole of their 2009/10 La Liga-winning campaign.

3 – Darren Ferguson‘s Preston North End were leading 3-1 at Burnley on Saturday, but conceded three goals in the last six minutes to lose 4-3.

The Premier League week in numbers

2 – Sir Alex Ferguson‘s Manchester United were leading 3-1 at Everton on Saturday, but conceded two goals in injury time to draw 3-3.

48 – Everton have attempted 48 shots in their last two games (against Aston Villa and Man Utd) – but secured only one point.

8 – Arsenal have now won their last eight Premier League games against Bolton, scoring 21 goals and conceding seven. Bogey team? Not any more.

Alex Song (image courtesy of arsenal.com)

1,000 – In scoring the third goal in their 4-1 win over Bolton, Alex Song registered the 1,000th Premier League goal for Arsenal under Arsène Wenger.

24 – Carlos Vela‘s goal for Arsenal ended a sequence of 24 passes, the most for any Premier League goal so far this season.

10 – Bolton forward Kevin Davies has been booked more times against Arsenal (ten) than any other opponent.

24 – Blackpool‘s 2-0 win at Newcastle ended their hosts’ run of 24 straight home league games without defeat.

4 – Newcastle’s James Perch became only the second player ever to be booked in each of his first four Premier League appearances.

4 – Sunderland have conceded four goals so far this season, all in the last 15 minutes of games. Wigan‘s Antolin Alcaraz scored his side’s goal in Saturday’s 1-1 draw in the 87th minute.

5 – Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole was shown his fifth Premier League red card since the start of the 2008/09 season, more than any other player in that time.

4 – On the three previous occasions that Chelsea have won the Premier League, they have won their opening four games – a sequence they equalled with their 3-1 win at West Ham.

5 – Yesterday’s 0-0 result was the fifth consecutive Premier League draw between Birmingham and Liverpool.

The NFL week in numbers

New Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll

3 – The Seattle Seahawks‘ new head coach Pete Carroll completed a hat-trick of debut wins in his first game with his third NFL team (also New York Jets and New England Patriots). The Seahawks’ 31-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers meant he has won those three games by a combined score of 95-16.

48 – The Green Bay Packers recorded their first win at Philadelphia in 48 years, when Vince Lombardi was in his fourth season as Packers head coach.

12.2% – Percentage of games won by the St Louis Rams since the start of the 2007 season (won six, lost 43). The Rams lost 17-13 to the Arizona Cardinals last night.

9 – By beating Cincinnati 38-24, the New England Patriots raised their record in home openers at Gillette Stadium to 9-0.

Tom Brady (image courtesy of Keith Allison)

21 – New England quarterback Tom Brady has now won his last 21 starts in regular season home games.

5 – The Houston Texans recorded their fifth straight win (dating back to 2009) in outlasting the Indianapolis Colts 34-24, setting a new franchise record for consecutive wins.

31 – Despite losing, the Colts’ Peyton Manning had 40 pass completions, compared to just nine for Matt Schaub. It was the largest differential in completions by opposing quarterbacks who played the entire game since at least 1960.

50 – Rashard Mendenhall’s 50-yard scoring run was the longest overtime rushing TD run since Herschel Walker had a 60-yard score for Dallas in 1987. Final score: Pittsburgh 15 Atlanta 9.

8 – By losing 38-13 to Tennessee, the Oakland Raiders lost their eighth straight season opener, the longest active streak in the NFL.

151 – Matt Forte’s 151 receiving yards in Chicago‘s 17-14 win over Detroit was the second-highest total by a Bears’ running back in franchise history, and the most in nearly 63 years. (George McAfee had 157 receiving yards vs the Rams in December 1947).

(Some statistics courtesy of @OptaJoe, @optajim, @StatManJon and NFL.com.)

There will be no ‘Week in numbers’ next week, as I am on holiday. Normal service will be resumed the following week.