THIS WEEK IN SPORT HISTORY

• 1882: Sir Jack Hobbs, one of England’s finest cricketers, was born. In a first- class career lasting from 1905 to 1934, he scored 61,237 runs at an average of 50.65 – mostly for Surrey. He made an all- time record 197 first- class hundreds. He died on December 21, 1963.

• 1996: Blackburn announced the appointment of Sampdoria coach

Sven- Goran Eriksson as their new manager. The Swede, who went on to manage England from 2000 to 2006, later changed his mind about a move to Ewood Park.

• 1997: Frank Williams, former chief designer Adrian Newey and technical director Patrick Head were cleared of manslaughter charges in Imola at the inquest into the fatal crash of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

• 2001: Tottenham’s Les Ferdinand scored the 10,000th Premiership goal, against Fulham at White Hart Lane.

• 2004: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was fined £15,000 and ‘severely reprimanded’ by the Football Association after being found guilty of improper conduct. He accused Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy of cheating in a television interview.

• 2008: Blackburn announced manager Paul Ince had been relieved of his duties, with the club secondbottom of the Premier League.

• 2013: Andre VillasBoas was sacked as Tottenham manager after 18 months in charge.

• 2014: England slumped to an 87- run one-day international defeat against Sri Lanka in Colombo to concede a 5- 2 series defeat.

• 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick gave Real Madrid a 1- 0 win over Brazilian side Gremio as they retained their FIFA Club World Cup title in Abu Dhabi.

• 2019: Former Wales assistant coach Rob Howley was given an 18- month ban from all rugby activities, with nine months suspended, for breaching World Rugby’s anticorruption and betting regulations.

• 2022: Mark Williams, 47, became the oldest player to make a competitive 147 break but still crashed out of the English Open snooker quarter-finals after a 5-3 defeat to Neil Robertson.