competition

England cricket team players Alastair Cook and Tim Bresnan have both been included on the prestigious list of Wisden's five cricketers of the year. The pair both excelled as part of the England team that took top spot in the world rankings in 2011.

The Five Cricketers of the Year have been chosen annually by the editor of Wisden (a cricketing magazine and almanack) ever since 1889. The list includes the players who have had the biggest impact on English cricket in the previous 12 months, though no-one can be chosen more than once.

The Winners

Alastair Cook is England's opening batsman and scored 927 runs in 10 Test matches- all of which England won, in the last year. Similarly, Tim Bresnan took 21 wickets and chipped in with some invaluable runs throughout the year.

The other three players named on the list were Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, Lancashire county captain Glen Chapple and Worcestershire county bowler Alan Richardson. Sangakkara made an amazing 2,267 international runs last year (including a century in England), Chapple lead his team to their first County Championship in 77 years, and Richardson was leading wicket taker in the competition with 73 wickets.

This weekend saw the latest round of football fixtures for the FA Cup in England. It brought the normal mixture of upsets (or ‘Cupsets' if you like that sort of thing), giant killings and rivalries, cutting the competition from 32 teams, to just 20 still standing. The competition that each year goes against all football betting hasn't disappointed this year.  

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and is very much a part of English history and culture. A huge range of teams are allowed to enter, meaning everyone from the best in the country to local amateur sides have a chance to enjoy the ‘magic of the cup' (a favourite phrase of football commentators and journalists).

This year, some of the country's most successful teams have been drawn against each other, meaning that whilst Manchester United and Manchester City (who won it last year- above) are both out, teams like Crawley and Stevenage are going strong.