The week in numbers: w/e 22/1/12

Joe Paterno, RIP (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

85 – Age of Joe Paterno, former football head coach of Penn State University, who died after a short battle with lung cancer. Paterno won 409 games and two national championships in nearly 46 years as coach, but was sacked last November for his links to a child abuse scandal.

0 – Number of sets won by the five British players – Laura Robson, Heather Watson, Elena Baltacha, James Ward and Anne Keothavong – who competed on the first day of the Australian Open. They lost ten sets and all five matches between them.

3 – Former Chelsea and Leeds defender Michael Duberry scored an unusual hat-trick for current club Oxford United. He conceded two own goals to put visitors Hereford United 2-1 up at the Kassam Stadium, before snatching a last-minute equaliser to earn Oxford a point.

4 - Defending champion Kim Clijsters saved four match points before defeating Li Na, who she defeated in last year’s final, 4-6 7-6 6-4. She will now play world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.

31 – By defeating Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-2 6-2, Roger Federer reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 31st consecutive time.

Anderson proved more productive than several of England's specialist batsmen combined

27 – Runs scored by England number 11 James Anderson, in the ten-wicket defeat by Pakistan in the first Test in Dubai – nearly twice as many as Alastair Cook (eight runs), Kevin Pietersen (two) and Ian Bell (four) combined. (Thanks to @Chris_RHE for that one.)

125 – South Africa’s Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers both scored 125 in the fifth one-day international against Sri Lanka in Johannesburg. However, Kumar Sangakkara’s 102 helped Sri Lanka to a two-wicket win with one ball remaining.

3 – Number of stages won by German sprinter Andre Greipel at the season-opening Tour Down Under. No other rider won more than one stage. Simon Gerrans took overall victory.

6 – Munster beat Northampton 51-36 to become the only team to win all six games in the Heineken Cup pool phase. Aironi, who lost 33-6 at Leicester, were the only side to lose all six games.

7 – Barcelona‘s 2-1 win against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final made them the first team to stay unbeaten in seven consecutive visits to the Bernabeu.

16 – In centimetres, the height by which pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale beat her own British indoor record at a meeting in Lyon. She cleared a height of 4.87m, putting her second on the world indoor all-time list.

7 – Neil Robertson maintained his unbeaten record in leading finals, winning his seventh such title at the BGC Masters, defeating Shaun Murphy 10-6 at Alexandra Palace.

The Premier League in numbers

Dempsey's hat-trick was an American first

1 – Clint Dempsey became the first American player to score a Premier League hat-trick in Fulham’s 5-2 win over Newcastle.

6 – Robbie Keane scored twice as Aston Villa won 3-2 at Wolves, becoming the seventh player to score for six different Premier League clubs (also Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Craig Bellamy, Peter Crouch, Nick Barmby and Marcus Bent).

4 – Although Wigan lost 3-1 at QPR, goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi saved his fourth penalty of the season, highest in the Premier League this season. (He has faced eight in all.)

1 – In their 22nd game of the season, Norwich City finally registered their first clean sheet as they drew 0-0 with Chelsea. Their previous clean sheet in the top flight was against Birmingham in May 2005.

Balotelli grabbed a dramatic late winner

16 – Mario Balotelli‘s 95th minute penalty gave Manchester City a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham. It was their 16th Premier League home win in a row.

1 – Balotelli’s penalty was the first penalty Spurs have conceded in the Premier League this season. Fulham are now the only Premier League club not to have given away a penalty in the current campaign.

4 – Balotelli’s goal was also the first time in four years that City have won a Premier League with a goal scored in the last ten minutes of a game.

11 – Arsenal‘s 2-1 loss to Manchester United was the 11th consecutive game they have failed to win in which Mike Dean has been the referee (five draws, six defeats).

The NFL in numbers

7 – The New England Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 to win their seventh AFC Championship. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers (eight) have won more.

Brady put up poor numbers passing, but scored the winning TD on the ground (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

0 – Touchdown passes thrown by New England’s Tom Brady, having thrown 39 in the regular season (fourth-highest in the NFL). Brady did, however, score the winning touchdown with a one-yard run in the fourth quarter.

32 – Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff pulled a 32-yard field goal attempt wide right with 11 seconds remaining which would have sent the game into overtime.

16 – The win was Brady‘s 16th career postseason victory, tying former San Francisco legend Joe Montana for the most playoff wins in NFL history.

3 – The New York Giants upset the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park in the NFC Championship Game to record their third consecutive road win this postseason. They also achieved this feat en route to Super Bowl XLII four years ago, when Lawrence Tynes also kicked an overtime field goal in the NFC Championship before they beat this year’s AFC champion, the Patriots, 17-14.

5 – The Giants have now contested five NFC Championship games, and won all five.

2 – Fumbles by the 49ers’ Kyle Williams on punt returns, the only turnovers of the game. They set up the Giants’ only second half score, a fourth quarter touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Mario Manningham, and Lawrence Tynes‘ game-winning 31-yard field goal in overtime.

1 – Number of successful third down conversions (in 13 attempts) by the 49ers ’offense. Even their sole conversion was meaningless, coming as time expired in regulation.

3 – 49ers tight end Vernon Davis caught just three passes, but they went for 112 yards and included 73 and 28-yard grabs for the 49ers’ only two touchdowns.

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, StatManJon, Infostrada and nfl.com.)