The week in numbers: w/e 6/3/11

8 – Number of medals won by the Great Britain athletics team at the European Indoor Athletics Championships – their best tally on foreign soil in 22 years.

0 – Amount of Lottery funding for 37-year old athlete Helen Clitheroe, who claimed gold in the 3,000 metres. Previously, her biggest achievement had been a Commonwealth bronze in the 1,500 metres.

Contador - back and winning already

1 – Alberto Contador won the overall classification at the Vuelta de Murcia, in his second event since being cleared of doping charges.

3 – American skier Lindsey Vonn clinched this season’s World Cup downhill, super-G and super combined titles within the space of three days.

214 – World ranking of James Ward, Great Britain‘s highest-ranked representative in their Davis Cup match against Tunisia. Ward’s epic 3-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 8-6 win over Malek Jaziri clinched victory as Britain eventually ran out 4-1 winners.

4 – There were just four goals scored in Saturday’s seven French Ligue 1 matches.

The cricket World Cup in numbers

215 – The West Indies‘ margin of victory over the Netherlands, their largest in all one-day internationals.

6 – Kemar Roach‘s hat-trick against the Netherlands was the sixth at a World Cup, and the first by a West Indian. He finished with figures of 6/27.

2 – In Sri Lanka‘s comfortable win over Kenya, Lasith Malinga became the first bowler to pick up two hat-tricks in World Cup matches. His previous one came against South Africa in 2007.

O'Brien hit the fastest ever World Cup ton

50 – Balls required by Kevin O’Brien to bring up his century in Ireland‘s thrilling win over England, beating the previous World Cup record of 66 by Australia‘s Matthew Hayden. He finished with 113 off 63 balls.

327 – England’s total batting first against Ireland. It was the highest successful run chase ever in a World Cup match.

2 – New Zealand completed only their second ten-wicket World Cup win after skittling out Zimbabwe for 162. Their first came against Kenya in their opening game of this tournament.

58 – Bangladesh‘s total against the West Indies, the lowest ever by a Full Member nation at the World Cup, and the fourth-lowest by any team at the tournament.

171 – England became  the only team to have successfully defended a total of less than 175 twice at a World Cup. They scored just 171, but a South Africa batting collapse saw them dismissed for 165.

The Premier League week in numbers

Vela scored crucial goals from the bench twice

2 – On-loan Carlos Vela‘s late goal earned West Bromwich Albion a point at Stoke. It was the second time in as many games the Mexican striker had come off the bench to score an equaliser in the 87th minute or later.

27 – West Brom have now gone 27 matches without keeping a clean sheet in the Premier League. Leaky.

4 – Sunderland‘s 0-0 draw at Arsenal snapped a run of four consecutive defeats.

6 – Stoke’s 3-0 defeat at West Ham was their sixth consecutive away defeat.

3 – Ivan Klasnic has scored the winning goal in his last three appearances for Bolton. They beat Aston Villa 3-2.

Zamora scored the winner on his return after a six-month absence

89 – Fulham‘s Bobby Zamora scored a controversial 89th-minute penalty to seal a 3-2 win over Blackburn on his first appearance after recovering from a broken leg in September.

607 – In starting yesterday’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool, Ryan Giggs made his 607th league appearance, breaking Bobby Charlton‘s Manchester United club record.

3 – Dirk Kuyt became only the third player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Manchester United, after Egil Ostenstad and David Bentley.

10 – Javier Hernandez, who scored United’s late consolation goal, has now scored 10 Premier League goals from only 14 shots on target.

323 – Jermain Defoe scored twice in Tottenham‘s 3-3 draw at Wolves. It had been 323 days since his previous league goal.

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @InfostradaLive, Cricinfo and @StatManJon.)