Something From The Weekend: Mark Cavendish; Nathan Cleverly; Sam Allardyce; Somerset; Ijaz Butt

Mark Cavendish

A season that started with the Manx sprinter off the road and in agony following a mouth infection is shaping up to end all in smiles. Cav secured the points jersey at the Vuelta a Espana in Madrid yesterday and will seek to use it as a springboard to finishing in green in next year's Tour de France.

Nathan Cleverly

The next big name in British boxing? That was the indication as he seamlessly stepped up in class to make a mess of the previously unbeaten German Karo Murat in Birmingham on Saturday. But any promoters looking to rip off the Welsh light-heavyweight had better watch out – he's got a degree in maths.

The Bad

Sam Allardyce

Real Madrid and winning the Champions League must have seemed a million miles away on Saturday as Blackburn scratched out a 1-1 draw with Fulham, largely memorable for El-Hadji Diouf's latest sporting antics. Still a middle-aged man can but dream... Next up, Big Sam buys a Ferrari 458 and an inadvisably tight black leather jacket.

Somerset

This time last week they were dreaming of a double unprecedented in their 135-year history. Now, following defeat at Lord's on Saturday a few days after being agonisingly pipped in the County Championship title race, all they have to look forward to is a winter consumed with bitter disappointment. That's an awful lot of cider to be drunk...

The Odd

Ijaz Butt

Allegations of corruption pile on claims of match-fixing as Pakistan's tour from hell finally reaches its last round of games this week. Undoubtedly the Pakistani cricket authorities are feeling under pressure but that does not fully explain Butt's bizarre reaction to the latest story surrounding the third one-day international at The Oval on Friday: "We won the match and we are under suspicion. England lost, their players should be investigated." Hmm... not quite.