WEEKEND SPORTS ROUNDUP

Football

First-half goals from Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli took England to a 2-0 win over Malta in the second match of their World Cup qualifying campaign. Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard played the full 90 minutes on his international debut.

There was disappointment for Wales, who were once again held to a draw. Their 2-2 draw away to Austria on Thursday was a creditable result, but only managing a 1-1 draw at home to Georgia on Sunday was much more disappointing.

The Republic of Ireland are currently ahead of Wales in Group D after beating Georgia 1-0 and then Molodova 3-1.

A late James McArthur equaliser secured a 1-1 draw for Scotland at home to Lithuania.

Northern Ireland beat San Marino 4-0, after scoring three goals in the last 11 minutes, two of them credited to Kyle Lafferty. A much harder test awaits Michael O’Neill’s side in Germany this week though.

Motor Racing

Nico Rosberg won the Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen in second and his Red Bull team-mate Lewis Hamilton in third. Rosberg extends his lead in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship to 33 points.

Rugby Union

Saracens ended Wasps 100% record in the Aviva Premiership by beating them 30-14, and in doing so took over at the top of the table. Bath remain third after a 30-3 win over Sale. Leicester are fourth after claiming a 34-13 bonus point win over Worcester, fifth placed Exeter drew 27-27 with Gloucester and Newcastle are up to sixth after beating winless Bristol 19-14.

New Zealand ruthlessly swept aside South Africa in the Rugby Championship, recording a 57-15 victory that means the All Blacks have equalled the record of 17 straight international wins amongst major nations. New Zealand (twice) and South Africa have previously recorded 17 consecutive wins, but based on current form, few would bet against the current New Zealand team claiming the outright record when they play Australia in two weeks’ time.

Rugby League

Wigan Warriors are the Super League champions for 2016, after beating Warrington Wolves 12-6 in the Grand Final. Their two tries both came in the second half as they overturned a 6-2 deficit – first Oliver Gildart touched down, and then Josh Charnley supplied the coup de grace in his final match before departing to play rugby union for Sale.

Tennis

Andy Murray won his fifth title of the year after beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final of the China Open. Murray remains number 2 in the world rankings. However, there was no British double as Johanna Konta was comprehensively beaten by Agnieska Radwanska in the women’s final. Konta is however in the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time, and on course to claim a place in the WTA Finals later this month.

Cricket

England won a dramatic first match of the one-day international series in Bangladesh, but then lost the second. In Friday’s opening match, 101 from Ben Stokes, 63 from Jos Buttler and 60 from debutant Ben Duckett led England to 309-8, which many thought would be a winning total. At 271-4 in reply though, Bangladesh were firmly in charge, but the remaining six wickets fell for 17 runs, including that of Imrul Kayes for 112. Jake Ball became the first England player to take five wickets on his ODI debut, while Adil Rashid took four wickets.

Bangladesh, who have either won or drawn all of their last six home one-day series, bounced back on Sunday to set up a series decider on Wednesday. The home side reached 238-8, but this total proved beyond England, who slumped to 26-4, and were eventually all out for 204. Buttler top scored with 57.

Mark Wood’s injury problems continue and he has now been ruled out of the Test series with India as he requires further ankle surgery.

England Women won the first of their five-match ODI series in the West Indies. The hosts folded from 53-0 to 144 chasing England’s paltry total of 149 – the game turned when left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone dismissed both West Indies openers in quick succession.