1 The England cricket team, who beat Australia at Lord's for the first time since 1934.
2 Louis Saha's goal for Everton was the fastest in the history of the FA Cup final.
3 The England cricket team's first Test against the West Indies.
4 Wimbledon, where the new Centre Court roof enabled Andy Murray to finish his match against Stanislas Wawrinka.
5 Leicester, who beat Cardiff Blues in the Heineken Cup semi-finals.
6 Higgins became the fourth player to win three world snooker championships at The Crucible in Sheffield.
7 Venetia Williams became only the second woman, after Jenny Pitman, to train a Grand National winner when Mon Mome won at Aintree.
8 Kim Clijsters, who at the US Open became the first mother to win a tennis Grand Slam title for 29 years.
9 Josep "Pep" Guardiola became the youngest coach of a Champions League-winning team when Barcelona beat Manchester United in the final.
10 Justin Langer.
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Money matters
1 Chennai Super Kings, one of the Indian Premier League franchises, won a fiercely contested auction to sign Flintoff.
2 Michael Owen, who left Newcastle for Manchester United.
3 Serena Williams, who took her earnings from tennis past Sorenstam's $22.6m.
4 Ricky Hatton, who was knocked out by Manny Pacquiao in a fight for the International Boxing Organisation's world light-welterweight title.
5 Cristiano Ronaldo, signed from Manchester United by Real Madrid.
6 The racehorse Sea The Stars.
7 Premier League clubs.
8 Roger Federer.
9 Lee Westwood, who in winning golf's Dubai World Championship also won the Race to Dubai, previously known as the Order of Merit.
10 Manchester United.
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The numbers game
1 The world swimming championships, where high-tech swimsuits accounted for a succession of records.
2 Manchester United's Ryan Giggs.
3 Andy Roddick, beaten in the Wimbledon final by Roger Federer.
4 Raymond van Barneveld, who became the first player ever to throw a nine-dart finish in the history of the PDC World Championships.
5 The National Hunt jockey Tony McCoy.
6 Portsmouth's Tony Adams.
7 Kevin Pietersen, who resigned as captain of the England cricket team in January.
8 The Dakar Rally.
9 Ivo Karlovic, beaten by Lleyton Hewitt.
10 Ruby Walsh, who rode seven winners at the National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham.
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Retiring types
1 The cricketer Michael Vaughan.
2 Amélie Mauresmo, who beat Justine Henin in the 2006 finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
3 Mick Kinane, who rode Sea The Stars and a succession of other Group One winners
4 Andrew Caddick.
5 The boxer Joe Calzaghe, undefeated as world super-middleweight champion.
6 Ron Dennis, the head of the McLaren Formula One racing team
7 Martin Corry.
8 The West Ham United striker, Dean Ashton.
9 Matthew Hayden, the Australian batsman.
10 Oscar de la Hoya.
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Around the world
1 Tom Watson, who lost a play-off for the Open at Turnberry.
2 The Ashes. The first Test was played in Cardiff.
3 Sven Goran Eriksson, who was sacked as coach of Mexico and then joined Notts County.
4 Muhammad Ali.
5 Rafael Nadal, beaten by Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open.
6 The England women's cricket team.
7 Mark Cavendish, who overtook Hoban as the most successful British rider in the race. Cavendish's six stage wins this year took him to 10 in total, two more than Hoban.
8 Phil Taylor, who beat Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the world darts championship at Alexandra Palace.
9 The cricketer Jonathan Trott.
10 The bidding to stage the 2016 Olympics.
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So farewell
1 Sir Bobby Robson.
2 Vincent O'Brien.
3 David Shepherd.
4 Chris Finnegan.
5 Germany's Robert Enke.
6 Douglas Bunn.
7 Mike Keen.
8 Henry Surtees.
9 Reg Gutteridge.
10 Bill Frindall, the scorer on the BBC's Test Match Special.
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Walk on the wild side
1 Kevin Pietersen wanted to take a break from England's cricket tour of the West Indies.
2 Ben Foster, Manchester United's hero during their penalty shoot-out victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup final.
3 Andy Murray.
4 The second Test in Antigua at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in St John's was abandoned after only 10 balls because the bowlers' run-ups, which had been heavily sanded, were deemed to be too dangerous.
5 Newcastle United's Charles N'Zogbia. Joe Kinnear, his manager, twice called him "Insomnia" during a television interview.
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Quote unquote
1 Andrew Flintoff after England beat Australia at Lord's.
2 Frank Lampard, who called a radio show's phone-in to reject claims that he had left his two daughters in "inferior circumstances" after splitting with his fiancée.
3 Nigel Clough, who followed in his father Brian's footsteps by becoming manager of Derby County.
4 Amir Khan, Britain's world light-welterweight champion
5 Serena Williams after her foul-mouthed tirade against a line judge who foot-faulted her at the US Open.
6 Arsène Wenger after his Arsenal team lost their FA Cup semi-final to Chelsea at Wembley.
7 Peter de Villiers, the South Africa rugby union coach, defends his flanker, Schalk Burger, who was banned for eight weeks for gouging the eye of a British and Irish Lions opponent.
8 Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, motor sport's ruling body, on the threat of a breakaway in Formula One.
9 Alan Shearer on being appointed caretaker manager of Newcastle United following Joe Kinnear's health problems.
10 Sandy Lyle on an incident in 2005 when Colin Montgomerie replaced his ball in the wrong spot.
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Family affairs
1 The American swimmer Michael Phelps.
2 Nelson Piquet Jnr, whose confession led to Flavio Briatore, the former team principal at Renault, being given a lifetime ban from Formula One.
3 The tennis player Jelena Dokic.
4 Richard Gasquet. The French tennis player tested positive the following day for cocaine. A tribunal accepted his defence that he had ingested the cocaine through kissing.
5 Chelsea's Ashley Cole.
6 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum was banned from riding in endurance races after one of his horses tested positive for banned substances.
7 Baseball's Alex Rodriguez.
8 Portsmouth's Sol Campbell.
9 Marat Safin, who arrived at the Hopman Cup in Perth fresh from New Year celebrations back home in Russia.
10 Wigan Athletic's Marlon King.
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Fifteen minutes of fame
1 The footballer Gaël Kakuta was allegedly offered inducements to leave Lens for Chelsea, leading to Fifa banning Chelsea from signing new players until 2011. The ban was later lifted pending an appeal to be heard next year.
2 Lucas Glover, who had only one previous victory on the PGA Tour to his name, won golf's US Open.
3 The Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer was refused a visa to play in Dubai, throwing the future of the tournament into doubt.
4 Rory Fallon, of Plymouth Argyle, scored the goal that gave New Zealand victory over Bahrain and earned them a place in the World Cup finals in South Africa.
5 Caster Semenya won the 800m gold medal at the world athletics championships, after which her gender was called into question.
6 Tom Henning Ovrebo, a Norwegian referee, denied Chelsea four penalty claims in their Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Barcelona.
7 Morne Steyn, a South African substitute, clinched the series victory over the British and Irish Lions when he landed a penalty from inside his own half with the last kick of the second rugby union Test in Pretoria.
8 Heather Watson, from Guernsey, won the US Open junior girls' tennis title.
9 Mark Allen beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in one of the biggest shocks in the history of the world snooker championship.
10 Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Ric Egington and Alex Partridge, the men's four, were Britain's only gold medal winners at the world rowing championships.
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Who, what and where?
1 An intruder interferes with Roger Federer after giving security the slip during the French Open final against Robin Soderling in May.
2 Groundsmen at work on the pitch after the abandonment of day one of the 2nd Test between The West Indies and England at St. John's, Antigua.
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