Third Test: The Third and final Test between New Zealand and West Indies at Napier ends in a draw. Only 79 overs were possible on the first two days before rain washed out the match. New Zealand won the three-Test series 2–0. 3rd Test scorecard
Queensland defeats Victoria by an innings and 354 runs to secure the Pura Cup. Queensland scored 6/900 declared – the eleventh highest score in first-class cricket – to win Australia's domestic four-day cricket competition. Queensland's innings included two double centuries (Maher 223, Watson 201 retired) and two centuries (Perren 173, Love 169). Complete scorecard.
Minneapolis Region: (3) Florida 75, (1) Villanova 62. For the first time since the 1980 Final Four, and the second time since the tournament was seeded beginning in 1979, no No. 1 seeded teams made the Final Four.
Golf: Canadian Stephen Ames takes the 2006 Players Championship with a score of 14 under par, six strokes ahead of second-place Retief Goosen of South Africa. Ames will receive $1.44 million, 10 years' exemption for PGA Tour events and an invitation to the four major championships as a reward. In 2007, the event will move to May (May 10 – 13) in the month between The Masters and the U.S. Open. (ESPN)
(2) Tennessee 102, (15) Army 54: The Lady Vols' Candace Parker dunked twice in this game, the first time in NCAA Women's Championship history that has happened.
France win their third Six Nations title in five years, but had to struggle to overcome Wales; they then had to wait for the England-Ireland match to take place to confirm their championship – Ireland could have taken the title if they'd beaten England by 34 clear points. Ireland settle for the Triple Crown, defeating England with a last-minute try.
Aggregate score 2–2. Middlesbrough win on away goals.
Dogsled racing: MusherJeff King wins XXXIV Iditarod and becomes one of five four-time champions. At 50 years of age, he is also the oldest musher to win the race. The race covered more than 1,049mi (1,600+ km) from Anchorage, across the United States state of Alaska.
Monmouth 71, Hampton 49: The Hawks will play Villanova in Philadelphia Friday (March 17) at approximately 3pm US EST (2000 UTC). The win gives the NEC their first NCAA tournament win ever.
Australia compiled a world-record score of 434–4 from 50 overs, Ricky Ponting top-scoring with 164 off 105 balls. South Africa responded with 438–9, breaking Australia's record to win the match with one ball to spare. Herschelle Gibbs top-scored for South Africa with 175 off 111 balls, while Australian fast-bowler Mick Lewis (113–0 from 10 overs) became the first bowler to concede over 100 runs in a ten-over bowling spell. The match has been named as one of the all-time great one day game. Scorecard
Russia's second team of Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, Sergei Tchepikov, Irina Malgina and Nikolay Krouglov won the second World Championships in mixed relay at Pokljuka, Slovenia in strong winds. The four Russians were nearly a minute ahead of silver medalist team Norway, while bronze medalists France were a further minute adrift. (SI.com)
The last-ever Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road before the stadium is redeveloped sees an old-fashioned tryless game in pouring rain. Ireland's five penalties are scored by Ronan O'Gara, while Scotland's three penalties are scored by Chris Paterson.
CroatianJanica Kostelić wins the slalom World Cup after a second place in the race at Levi, Finland, though with a 254-point lead before the last four races in Åre she will have to take more points before she can be certain of the overall trophy. (BBC)
Tobias Angerer of Germany clinched the overall men's World Cup title despite finishing 40th in the 50km freestyle race in Holmenkollen, Norway, over nine minutes behind Swedish winner Anders Södergren. It is the third successive time a German wins the World Cup. (in German)(ZDF.de)
Chiefs 19–25 Crusaders in Hamilton. The Chiefs received one bonus point for finishing within 7 points of the winning score.
The Crusaders got an early lead, thanks to a Dan Cartertry. However, the Chiefs kept in touch for the whole half and managed to take the lead in the final minute of the first half with Sitiveni Sivivatu scoring under the posts. The Crusaders managed to regain the lead in the second half and held on to the win in the dying moments.
Major League Soccer: After controversy over their original chosen nickname being potentially offensive to Hispanics, the Houston 1836 Football Club rename themselves to the Houston Dynamo. The team unveiled their new name and logo (with the same colors of orange, black and white) on the 170th anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Alamo.
(4) Villanova 92, Syracuse 82: In the first advance sellout for basketball ever at the Carrier Dome, Allan Ray scores 28 points and Randy Foye adds 21 for the Wildcats to spoil Gerry McNamara's last regular-season game. McNamara led all scorers with 29.
Conference championship games (winners, in bold, advance to the NCAA tournament):
Davidson 80, Chattanooga 55: The Wildcats exorcised the demons of last season, in which they went 16–0 in the Southern Conference but lost in the conference tournament, by crushing the Mocs.
Dogsled racing: The ceremonial start the Iditarod XXXIV begins in Anchorage, Alaska. Eighty-three mushers and their teams of dogs are competing. The race runs more than 1,049mi (1,600+ km) to Nome, across the United States state of Alaska.
The Blues led the Crusaders at half-time 10–9, despite having Joe Rokocokosin-binned shortly before the interval. However the Crusaders performed well in the second half, keeping the Blues tryless, with Richie McCaw scoring 2 tries in a win over their biggest rivals.
Match five in the five match series, New Zealand led the series 4–0 (before match).
The West Indies defeat New Zealand by 3 wickets with 2 balls to spare. New Zealand win series 4–1.
New Zealand won the toss, electing to bat, with Scott Styris scoring 90 and Dwayne Smith taking 5–45, New Zealand ending all out on 233. Good opening bowling spells from Kyle Mills and Shane Bond restricted the West Indies to just 10–1 off 10 overs. After that, every batsmen made contributions and the West Indies got home in a tight match to avoid a whitewash.
South Africa made 289/7 off their 50 overs, with Herschelle Gibbs top scoring with 66. In reply, Australia crumbled without Ricky Ponting or Andrew Symonds, both unavailable for the match, making just 93 runs. Makhaya Ntini picked up 6–22 off 9.3 overs, his best figures in an ODI.
The Chiefs got off to a good start in their home opener with a try in the first ten minutes. The Reds fought back, but the Chiefs ran away with the game in the second half, with Stephen Donald scoring 20 points. The Chiefs picked up a bonus point with four tries.
The Brumbies had their first win at home this season, scoring 3 tries in their win. However, the Brumbies missed out on a bonus point, kicking the ball away twice in injury time. The loss was the Cats second in a row.
Penn becomes the first team to clinch a berth to this year's NCAA tournament. Their 57–55 win over Yale, combined with a 61–46 Brown defeat of Princeton, gives the Quakers the Ivy League title with two games to play. Penn qualifies as regular-season champion, as the Ivy League is the only Division I conference that does not conduct a postseason tournament.
March 2, 2006 (Thursday)
NFL Football: As a result of the labor negotiations stalemate between the NFL Players and the owners, the league extends the start of the Free Agency period for a few days.
UAB 80, (3) Memphis 74: The Blazers deny the Tigers an unbeaten Conference USA campaign, holding them scoreless for more than 8 minutes near the end of the game. This was the first road loss of the season for the Tigers.
Squash: One day after regaining the World No. 1 ranking, Jonathon Power announced his retirement from professional squash.
New Zealand continued their fine form this series, with Lou Vincent scoring 102 in the Black Caps 324–6 off 50 overs. In reply, the inability to create and maintain partnerships cost the West Indies any chance at winning, with only Runako Morton scoring more the fifty, going on to make 110 not out. The West Indies will be hoping the arrival of Brian Lara can inspire them to avoid a whitewash in the final match in Auckland. cricinfo
In a dramatic match, Croatia's Ivan Klasnić scored in the 3rd minute, but was canceled thirty seconds later by a Carlos Tevez goal, and two minutes later Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead. Darijo Srna equalised late in the second half and Dario Šimić scored an injury time header to give victory to Croatia.(Fox Sports Australia)
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