MARCH 2003

1 India’s six-wicket victory over Pakistan - thanks to a masterful 98 by Sachin Tendulkar - booked their place in the World Cup Super Six stage.
Kenya also made history by becoming the first non-Test playing nation to qualify for the Super Six stage with victory over Bangladesh.
Newcastle moved level on points with second-placed Manchester United after a 2-1 Premiership win over Chelsea at St James’ Park.

2 Goals from Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen gave Liverpool victory over arch-rivals Manchester United in the Worthington Cup final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Australia’s jinx over England was extended to 14 one-day internationals after Michael Bevan rescued the world champions from a perilous 135 for eight chasing 204 to guide his side to a two-wicket win.
Swiss challengers Alinghi became the first European team to win the America’s Cup after whitewashing Team New Zealand 5-0 in the best-of-nine series.

3 Hosts South Africa controversially crashed out of the World Cup on the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain ruined their run chase against Sri Lanka.
Jonny Wilkinson was named England captain for the first time after Martin Johnson was ruled out of the RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy at Twickenham.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman produced another howler to gift city rivals Birmingham victory in a derby which was marred by the sendings off of Villa duo Dion Dublin and Joey Gudjonsson’s red card.

4 Nasser Hussain quit as England’s one-day captain following their exit from the World Cup after the Zimbabwe v Pakistan game was abandoned due to rain.
The Football Association launched an investigation after crowd trouble at the Aston Villa v Birmingham game, during which fans ran onto the pitch and one confronted Blues midfielder Robbie Savage.
Irish 1,500m runner Geraldine Hendricken tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone in an out-of-competition test.

5 Yorkshire County Cricket Club announced record financial losses of almost £1.3million for the previous year.
Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie was ruled out for the rest of the World Cup with a right heel injury.
Manchester City chairman David Bernstein and chief executive Chris Bird tendered their resignations after boardroom unrest.
Tim Henman’s former coach David Felgate was confirmed as the Lawn Tennis Association’s new performance director

6 Michael Vaughan revealed he wanted to be the next England one-day captain, although Australia batsman Darren Lehmann tipped Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake for the job.
Birmingham midfielder Robbie Savage revealed he had received death threats - on his own official fanclub website - from disgruntled Birmingham fans.
Cardiff flanker Martyn Williams was named as Wales’ third captain of the current RBS 6 Nations championship, succeeding Jonathan Humphreys (injury) and Colin Charvis (dropped).

7 Annual accounts of England captain David Beckham’s public limited company revealed the Manchester United midfielder made more than £2million away from football in the previous 12 months.
FIFA announced the 2014 World Cup would be played in South America.
Newcastle parted company with Argentinian midfielder Christian Bassedas - a £4million signing from Velez Sarsfield in July 2000 - after just 25 appearances for the Magpies.

8 London rivals Arsenal, the holders, and Chelsea drew 2-2 in an FA Cup quarter-final at Highbury in a game when the Gunners’ French striker Thierry Henry was struck by a missile thrown from the Chelsea end.
Scotland beat Wales 30-22 at Murrayfield in the RBS 6 Nations.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter criticised English clubs for claiming their stars are being forced to play too many matches - and then arranging lucrative new competitions in the close season.

9 Sheffield United shocked Leeds with a 1-0 win in their FA Cup tie at Bramall Lane, with other victories for Watford (over Burnley) and Southampton (over Wolves).
Great Britain’s David Coulthard won the opening Australian Grand Prix for McLaren. Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW) was second and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) was third.
England & Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb said he had no regrets over their World Cup boycott of Zimbabwe which effectively ended the team’s participation in the competition.

10 Sunderland manager Howard Wilkinson and his assistant Steve Cotterill were sacked after 20 games in charge with the club still bottom of the Premiership.
Sheffield United were rewarded for their win over Leeds with an FA Cup semi-final over either Arsenal or Chelsea, while Watford drew Southampton.
Former world motorcycling champion Barry Sheene died after a long battle against throat cancer.

11 New Zealand paceman Shane Bond claimed the joint fifth-best bowling figures in the history of the World Cup with six for 23 but it was not enough to prevent his side losing to Australia.
Both Arsenal and Newcastle’s Champions League hopes hung in the balance after draws against Roma and Inter Milan respectively.
England international Charlie Hodgson was dealt a World Cup blow when his knee injury sustained in the victory over Italy two days previously was deemed serious enough to keep him out of action for six months.

12 Sunderland unveiled former Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy as their new manager.
UEFA announced they were to investigate an official complaint from Newcastle that Inter Milan striker Christian Vieri made racist comments to Lomana LuaLua during their Champions League match.
Minnows Kenya continued their historic run in the Cricket World Cup by beating Zimbabwe to set up a semi-final against India.

13 The first leg of the Battle of Britain UEFA Cup quarter-final between Celtic and Liverpool ended 1-1 but was overshadowed after the Reds’ Senegal striker El Hadji Diouf spat into the crowd at Parkhead after a minor altercation with supporters.
Watford chairman Graham Simpson said he would buy back Vicarage Road if the cash-crippled club won the FA Cup.
Best Mate became the first horse since L’Escargot in 1970 and 1971 to win consecutive Tote Cheltenham Gold Cups.

14 Liverpool’s El Hadji Diouf was reported to Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for his spitting incident against Celtic, while UEFA also pledged to investigate.
A hamstring injury ruled Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman out of his 1,000th senior club appearance in the Premier League game against Blackburn.
South African Braam van Straaten announced he was quitting Leeds Tykes rugby club at the end of the season to enable him to play in the World Cup later in the year.

15 Premiership leaders Arsenal allowed Manchester United to close the gap at the top as they lost 2-0 at home to Blackburn and the Old Trafford side beat Aston Villa 1-0.
Liverpool striker El Hadji Diouf invited the Celtic fan he spat to be his VIP guest for the return leg of the UEFA Cup tie and the club announced the player’s fine of two weeks’ wages would be donated to a Celtic charity.
Shaun Pollock was sacked as captain of South Africa following their exit from the Cricket World Cup.

16 Former England striker Alan Shearer ruled out a return to international football despite fevered speculation he was about to end his exile.
Celtic’s bid for an historic quadruple ended at Hampden Park as arch-rivals Rangers snatched the first silverware of the season - CIS Insurance Cup - from their grasp.
110m hurdles world record holder Colin Jackson ended his 18-year international career at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham but finished outside the medals.

17 Aberdeen manager Steve Paterson revealed his “alcohol management problem” after he missed the 3-3 draw with Dundee.
Derby County manager John Gregory was banned from the touchline for five matches and fined £7,500 by the Football Association after using abusive and insulting language towards the fourth official during the First Division match with Portsmouth.
Darren Gough agreed a new contract with Yorkshire.

18 Liverpool’s El Hadji Diouf was banned for two matches by UEFA for spitting at Celtic fans.
Celtic striker Henrik Larsson announced he was coming out of international retirement to play in Sweden’s Euro 2004 qualifier in Hungary.
Australia reached World Cup cricket final after beating Sri Lanka by 48 runs under Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-halted semi-final.

19 Arsenal and Newcastle were knocked out of the Champions League after defeats to Valencia (2-1) and Barcelona (2-0) respectively.
Llanelli Rugby Club issued legal proceedings against the Welsh Rugby Union to prevent the governing body from imposing their proposed four-province structure.
Waqar Younis was sacked as Pakistan captain after a disappointing World Cup.

20 Arsenal made an official complaint to UEFA about racist abuse of their players by Valencia fans, while striker Dennis Bergkamp was fined £7,500 by the Football Association after admitting elbowing Lee Bowyer in the 3-1 win over West Ham.
England forward Danny Grewcock was cited on two counts of striking another player during the Zurich Premiership match between Bath and Northampton.
India reached the World Cup final after beating Kenya by 91 runs, while Scotland revealed they wanted batsman Rahul Dravid to play for them in the English National League.

21 Leeds parted company with Terry Venables after a dismal run of six defeats from their last eight Premiership matches. Peter Reid took over as caretaker manager.
Manchester United were drawn against nine-time winners Real Madrid in the quarter-final of the Champions League.
Derby manager John Gregory was suspended by the club because of “serious allegations” regarding the treatment of players.

22 Manchester United moved to the top of the Premiership for the first time in the season with a 3-0 victory over Fulham.
The Football League announced plans to provide parachute payments for relegated clubs.
The International Cricket Council withheld £2.33million of England’s World Cup share following their refusal to play in Zimbabwe.

23 Everton’s 17-year-old striker Wayne Rooney was named in England’s squad for his first competitive matches in the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Turkey. Chelsea’s John Terry was called into the senior squad for the first time.
For the second time in three years Celtic were knocked out of the Scottish Cup - this time in the semi-final - by minnows Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Australia retained the cricket World Cup after a 125-run victory over India in Johannesburg, becoming the first team to win the competition three times.

24 Newcastle signed Ipswich midfielder Darren Ambrose for a fee of around £1million.
Rangers captain Barry Ferguson pledged his future to Rangers until 2008 by signing a new five-year deal.
South Africa’s cricketers withdrew from the Sharjah Cup because of the Iraq conflict.

25 Holders Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in FA Cup quarter-final.
A shoulder injury ruled Wales hooker Jonathan Humphreys out of the final RBS 6 Nations match against France, ending his international career as he had vowed to retire after the tournament.
UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner announced he was to step down from his job after 34 years working for European football’s governing body.

26 Fulham announced manager Jean Tigana’s contract would not be extended beyond the end of the season.
Wales’ European Championship qualifier with Serbia & Montenegro in Belgrade was postponed by UEFA because of the political unrest following the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Scotland’s debut in England’s National Cricket League was placed in jeopardy because of a lack of funding.

27 Aston Villa and Birmingham were charged by the Football Association with failing to control their players following a mass confrontation during the game at Villa Park on March 3.
Hermann Hreidarsson’s £900,000 switch from Ipswich to Charlton was the biggest move on transfer deadline day.
The International and European cricket councils bailed out Scotland with a grant of £50,000.

28 Manchester City midfielder Kevin Horlock quit international football with Northern Ireland.
England seamer Andrew Caddick announced his retirement from one-day international cricket.

29 Michael Owen and David Beckham scored in England’s laboured 2-0 win against Liechtenstein in their Euro 2004 qualifier.
After their disagreements at the World Cup, Zimbabwe confirmed they would tour England in the summer.
Moon Ballad, ridden by Frankie Dettori, won racing’s Dubai World Cup.

30 England won the Grand Slam after beating Ireland 42-6 at Lansdowne Road in the RBS 6 Nations.
England retained their Hong Kong Sevens crown with a 22-17 victory over New Zealand.
Former Leeds boss David O’Leary, eyeing the Fulham job, declared he was ready to return to management.

31 Peter Ridsdale quit as chairman of Leeds and was replaced by Professor John McKenzie.
Derby appointed George Burley as interim manager pending an inquiry into allegations against suspended boss John Gregory.
Padraig Harrington became the leading European in the world golf rankings after a second-placed finish in the Players’ Championship.