General Awareness Updates – February 2011

Sports:

 

CRICKET

India in South Africa 2010-11

Test Series Result: SA and India drew the 3-match series, winning a match each 1-1.

Player of the Series: Jacques Kallis (South Africa)

ODI Series Result: SA beat India to win the five-match series 3-2.

Player of the Series: Morne Morkel (South Africa)

T20 Match: India won the lone match 1-0.

Player of the Match: Rohit Sharma (India)

Pakistan in New Zealand

T20 Series Result: NZL win the 3-match series 2-1.

Ashes 2010: England in Australia

Test Series Result: England thrashed Australia to win the five-match series 3-1.

Player of the Series: Alastair Cook (England)

 

TENNIS

2010 Chennai Open

Singles

Winner: Stanislaw Wawrinka (Switzerland)

Runner-up: Xavier Malisse (Belgium)

Doubles

Winners: Mahesh Bhupathi / Leander Paes (India)

Runners-up: Robin Haase (The Netherlands) / David Martin (U.S.)

Hopman Cup

Winner: United States

Runner-up: Belgium

Mubadala World Tennis Championship, Abu Dhabi

Winner: Rafael Nadal (Spain)

Runner-up: Roger Federer (Switzerland)

Qatar ExxonMobil Open

Winner: Roger Federer (Switzerland)

Runner-up: Rafael Nadal (Spain)

 

England retain Ashes

England clinched its first test series victory in Australia in 24 years by wrapping up the fifth and final match by an innings and 83 runs to take the Ashes series 3-1. The Sydney Cricket Ground triumph gave England an unprecedented third victory by an innings in a single series against Australia, which has been condemned in the domestic media as the country’s worst ever test team. It was also the first time since 1978-79 that England had won back-to-back test matches in Australia and the first time since 1987 that the English have won a test series Down Under.

England captain Andrew Strauss praised his squad, which humiliated an Australian lineup which only four years ago swept the Ashes 5-0 at home. Player of the Series Alastair Cook became the most prolific English run scorer in an Ashes series in eight decades with his 189 in England’s innings giving him 766 for the series - only Wally Hammond’s 905 in 1928-29 has been better for England.

 

FIFA Ballon d’Or

Lionel Messi’s mesmerising performances for Barcelona ensured the Argentina forward was named the World’s Best Player of 2010. Mr Messi won the FIFA award for a second straight year. The 23-year-old ace footballer scored 58 goals last year for an exciting Barcelona team which retained the Spanish league title and leads the standings this season.

The award was renamed this year after FIFA merged its World Player Award with the Ballon d’Or trophy, which had been presented to the best player in Europe by France Football magazine since 1956.