WEEK AHEAD: February’s sport continues to heat up, as this week has everything from England’s cricketers taking on India, to midweek FA Cup action, to boxing at the weekend.
What better way to start a wintery week than in the subcontinent, where Joe Root and his men are facing Virat Kohli’s India in day 4 of the first Test. In what’s set to be a thrilling four-match series, every ball of the action can be seen on terrestrial TV for the first time since 2005 as Channel 4 host the series from 4am. More cricket action shortly follows as Pakistan face South Africa in the final day of their two-test series, live on Sky Sports at 5am. Leeds face Crystal Palace at home on Monday evening, with both sides registering two wins from their last five and both sitting on 29 points in the Premier League, this clash really could go either way.
Tuesday brings the start of the FA Cup fifth round action as Burnley play hosts to Bournemouth, and West Ham take a trip to Old Trafford, which again can be seen on terrestrial TV as BBC One plays the feature game. The fixtures continue into Wednesday and Thursday, covered by BT Sport, as Leicester welcome an in-form Brighton side hot on the back of 1-0 victories against Tottenham and Liverpool. Later that evening at 20:15 Tottenham travel to Everton where both teams had comprehensive victories in the fourth round.
Pakistan begin their three-match T20 series against South Africa on Thursday and if the Test series is anything to go by, it should be action packed, live on Sky Sports at 10:30am. After that comes more FA Cup fixtures, where Southampton will want to put last week’s 9-0 Premier League loss behind them as they play Wolves on BT Sport. In the evening, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am will be shown daily on Sky Sports with the action starting at 20:00.
Saturday is a full schedule of first-class fixtures not to be missed. England begin their second Test against India in the early hours before the Premier League resumes its action with the lunchtime kick-off between Leicester and Liverpool. In the afternoon, league leaders Man City host Tottenham and Brighton round off the day at the Amex with Aston Villa on Sky Sports. The sporting action continues on the same channel as the ‘Leeds Warrior’ Josh Warrington takes on Mauricio Lara from 20:30.
A knockout week is rounded off on Sunday with another T20 from Pakistan, Day 2 from India, and some enticing football fixtures including Southampton v Wolves on Amazon Prime, and Arsenal v Leeds later on Sky Sports.
Another great sporting week for the diary.
