Despite England's poor form in the ICC Cricket World Cup, there were some cricketing highlights this year. The side sharpened up finally and beat Sri Lanka 1-0 and India 4-0 to go on to be the world's best Test nation.Reuters
Despite England's poor form in the ICC Cricket World Cup, there were some cricketing highlights this year. The side sharpened up finally and beat Sri Lanka 1-0 and India 4-0 to go on to be the world's best Test nation.ReutersRory McIlyroy won the US Open at Maryland on June 19 by eight shots over Jason Day. His 72-hold aggregate score of 268 was a US Open record. He was also the only player ever to get 13 under par at any point in the competition.ReutersSerbian Novak Djokovic showed the greatest form of his career this year and set a record for the most prize money won in a single season - a cool $12 million.ReutersManchester City won their first trophy for 35 years, with a goal from Yaya Toure settling the game against Stoke. The play was end-to-end but City left Wembley the deserved winners.ReutersBarcelona celebrated victory over Manchester United at Wembley on May 28. Pedro scored first for the Spaniards and despite Wayne Rooney equalising, Lionel Messi and David Villa finished off to make it 3-1.ReutersRed Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany took the trophy for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh international circuit outside New Delhi on October 30.ReutersCavendish won numerous events including five stages on the Tour de France. He was awarded an MBE for his contribution to cycling.markcavendish.comTwenty-two-year-old Judd put in a fantastic performance in the World Snooker Championship 2011 before eventually losing to John Higgins in the final. The little-known player knocked out snooker greats Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Graeme Dott. He later beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 in the 2011 UK ChampionshipJuddTrump.comWales captured the imagination of rugby fans all over the world after making it to the final of the Rugby World Cup for the first time. Captain Sam Warburton was sent off in the early minutes and the Welsh eventually slumped to defeat against France, who won 9-8.WRUIn at 14-1, Ballabriggs won the 2011 Grand National at Aintree. Trained by Donald McCain, the son of Ginger McCain, who helped Red Rum win the National three times, their training legacy goes on.EPA
2011 has been full of sporting gold from FA Cup and Champions League football to snooker's Judd Trump to the Welsh rugby team who inspired fans with their run in the Rugby World Cup.
It's been a great year for sport and we've collected our 10 favourite highlights into one slideshow.
Click 'start' to begin the slideshow to see our top 10 sporting highlights.
