Sheffield Sharks turn the tables on Cheshire Phoenix

Having lost 89-97 at home only 4 weeks earlier to Cheshire, the Sharks turned the tables tonight as they won 97-86.  This follows a fine 90-62 victory over Glasgow Rocks last Sunday to help the Sharks up the table.

Jeff Dirkin of Cheshire fouled out with only 62 seconds left on the clock and a number of free throws allowed Sheffield to extend their deserved winning margin.

MVP with 30 points and 9 rebounds - TJ Robinson.

 TJ Robinson wins the tip-off

 TJ Robinson puts in an early dunk.

 Jerrold Brooks contributed some fine long points

 Colin Sing dictates play under the basket

 Kyle Odister on one of his many runs into Cheshire territory

 Jerrold Brooks jumps for the basket

 Patrick Horstmann forces his way into the opposition area

Mike Tuck breaks away for an easy two points

Sheffield Sharks fail to upset unbeaten Leicester Riders

Sheffield Sharks couldn't quite keep last weekend's fine form going and remain winless in the British Basketball League as they go down 96-77 to as-yet-unbeaten Leicester Riders at the EIS, Sheffield.

In what had threatened to become a three-point shoot-out, Sharks took a 44-39 lead into the break after some fine work from the whole team to step up to the plate.

Leicester came back strong in the third quarter to lead 67-60 and they then kept it tight at the back to deny Sheffield a way back into the game.

 TJ Robinson at the tip-off.

 TJ Robinson finds some space to lay up

 Mike Tuck evades the Leicester defence for a finger-roll

 Mike Cook shoots in for two

 Mike Tuck blocked out

 Colin Sing jumps fastest and highest for two points

 TJ Robinson runs away for another two

 Patrick Horstmann finds a way past the Leicester defence

 Mike Cook lays up for two points

  TJ Robinson leaps for another two points

 Kyle Odister looks for a way through

 Mike Tuck has an easy shot having broken away near the end

 Jerrold Brooks finds space to make two

 Jerrold Brooks makes the And-1

Coach Rob Paternostro makes a point to the Leicester Riders

Sheffield Sharks enjoy a first home win against Manchester Giants in the BBL Cup

Sheffield Sharks defeated Manchester Giants 82-77 in a nail-biting finish at the EIS Sheffield to advance to the next round of the BBL Cup. The first quarter was dominated by Sharks, opening the game with some crowd-pleasing dunks from TJ Robinson.  But the Giants kept plugging away and brought it back to 1 point near the end before the Sharks saw out the game for a worthy win.

 TJ Robinson continued his fine form for his new team, with five baskets in the opening quarter to take Sharks to a 22-13 lead.  The second quarter continued in a similar vein with point guard Mike Cook driving the play for the Sharks and Jerrold Brooks driving the team on.  Giants kept on trying to shoot baskets, particularly the influential Yorick Williams and last season's Shark Olu Babalola brought Manchester back to 33-38 down at half-time.

Sharks went into the final quarter with a 64-55 lead after fine baskets from Mike Tuck who has started the season in great form and ended up as top scorer with 20 points.

Giants threatened near the end as three-pointers from Williams reduced the deficit to 1, but Sharks kept their heads to the delight of the home fans.

Brooks won MVP  with 7 assists and 17 points.

Scorers: Tuck 20; Robinson 18; Brooks 17; Odinster 10; Cook 10; Sing 7

 TJ Robinson goes for the tip-off against Babalola

 TJ Robinson with one of his early dunks

 TJ Robinson takes an easy two-points

 Jerrold Brooks out-paces the Giants defence for two points

 TJ Robinson goes up to claim another basket

 Mike Tuck jumps to tip in a rebound

 Jerrold Brooks takes a free-throw.  8 minutes to go and there is a comfortable 11 point margin...

 Jerrold Brooks does an aerial hustle to claim a foul

 Mike Tuck jumps in to attempt a basket

Mike Cook takes the ball in the air

Tom Bosworth: British racer walker comes out as gay

Race walker Tom Bosworth has come out as gay on today's Victoria Derbyshire show.

Tom Bosworth, British Championships, Birmingham, July 2015

He won this year's British Championships walk (in the July rain in Birmingham), has competed for Great Britain at the recent World Athletics Championships and is set to head to Rio next year.  He follows in Tom Daley's footsteps in coming out, which he cited as "...a huge step in the right direction, paving the way for others to follow suit..."  And I hope that he will continue to be accepted and supported by the athletics community.

Sheffield Sharks slip to defeat against Cheshire Phoenix

On a night when Mike Cook returned for the Sharks and TJ Robinson came in at #25, they produced a performance against a good side from Phoenix which fizzled out in the last quarter.  Cheshire maintained their 100% record on the road so far this sesaon to run out 89-97 winners.


Jerrold Brooks was MVP for the Sharks with 30 points.

First double-page spread in Athletics Weekly!

After getting picked up occasionally over the years by AW for the odd pic or two (blog passim), my coverage of last weekend's Great Yorkshire Run has made a double-page feature in the UK's no1 athletics magazine: http://www.athleticsweekly.com/

Kept off the cover only by the imminent retirement of the great Haile Gebrselassie?  Next time!