The thrills of  sporting shocks make each sport ever so interesting . North Korea did so in 1966 FIFA  World Cup, Kenya beating Windies in 1996  ICC World cup, the unknown Boris Becker winning Wimbledon in 1985  at the age of 17. These are seven of the famous ones that have shaped 2015 so far.  

    The Ashes

Heading into the summer, Australia as world champions in the ODI format and defending a 5-0 whitewash of England from Down Under were overwhelming favourites to take the urn again . The tests were one sided depending on which team took the first two days. England strangled the Edgbaston and Trent bridge tests on the basis of moving wickets on opening days and and recurring  Aussie collapses. Joe Root had a remarkable series with the bat.

England  hung on to a 3-2 series win after the visitors won at the Oval  in Michael Clarke’s final ever test. In a stunning summer of test cricket , they  had regained the Ashes signposting  Nasser Hussain’s famous words ” Cook has his redemption!”

The Triple Crown of Horse Racing

     Not since the Affirmed in 1979 as a thoroughbred horse won the  triple crown of horse racing. The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont stakes provide a 3 set series in early May to early June over 4 weeks that sets the thoroughbred season alight in USA.

   This year American Pharoah, a colt owned by Ahmad Ziyat broke the 37 yr old jinx which many before in the last generation have failed to. The challenging Belmont Park often has confounded many horses in achieving the hat trick . For American Pharoah, it was a dream running the second fastest Belmont stakes to complete the crown.The colt became the 12 th horse to win the triple crown.

 Interestingly , American Pharoah  won the ” grand slam” winning the Breeders Cup last month.

Stan Wawrinka beats Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

   The only grand slam final lost by Novak this year . It sent the famous Paris crowd applauding the usually unemotional Serb into a moment of reflection at the end. Djokovic has totally dominated the year in tennis but Stan on the red clay on Paris provided a big shock on the day coming back from one set down to win in four.  It  was the 3rd time Djokovic lost in Paris.

    He did win in the same city later on in the year , a record Masters tournament win  beating Andy Murray .

                               

Bangladesh ‘s One Day Home stand 

The shocks started in the world cup when the beat England but that wasnt a shock to England fans. A young Pakistan side toured in April and found the bitter end of a “Bangla wash ” losing 3-0  in the one dayers. In the ensuing series versus India, a 19 yr old left arm slingie called Mustafizur Rahman shot into stardom claiming 11 wkts in the first two games and rolling the home team to another unlikely series win.

Next up, South Africa. The Proteas won their opening game but lost the next two, Mustafizur playing a part in those wins as well. Bangladesh had qualified for the Champions trophy in 2017 in England by claiming the no 7 spot in ODI rankings.

They completed a fourth series win earlier this week with a comprehensive series win over Zimbabwe.

Women’s US Open :  Serena’s semi 

    The grand slam  event hyped to be the famous crowning of Serena Williams’ slam ended up being pear shaped as she bundled out of her home grand slam in the semi final to unheralded Roberta Vinci .Vinci came from one set down in the huge Arthur Ashe stadium and the partisan crowd to record one of the biggets wins of her career.

    Roberta played the final against compatriot Flavia Panetta, a day later but lost to her dear tennis friend. Moments after lifting the trophy , Flavia announced her retirement from the sport.

 Rugby Union World Cup : Japan beat South Africa 

      The Rugby world cup always posts some interesting results, this year’s World Cup in England was no different. Japan took on South Africa on 19th September at Brighton Community stadium in a group B match.

The last minute try in the 83rd minute was the biggest moment in Japanese rugby history for sure but also registered one of ,if not the biggest upsets ever in sport itself. It was only Japan’s second ever win in the world cup and ended a run of 18 straight defeats.

Michael Leitch & Goromaru had tries, Goromaru kicked 5 penalties  and a conversion. The winning try came form Karne Hasketh. Many tweeted comparing the upset to James Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990.

Netherlands failed to qualify for Euro 2016

Known to be one of the most cheerful fans in the football, the Dutch will have little to cheer next summer in France as the national squad failed. Total football became ” total failure” as Robin van Persie scored an own goal in a 3-2 home defeat to Czech republic in a crucial final game in October.

Iceland had started their run of autumn losses with a 1-0 away win in Amsterdam. Turkey who had earlier in September beaten the Dutch 3-0 , qualified  as the highest 3rd place team in a tournament that sent the Bosphorus on fire . The Euro has been expanded to 24 teams from 16 in France next year which made it even more stunning for them to miss out.