March 30, 2006 (Thursday) Cricket: Pakistani cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2005–06 First Test at Colombo SSC: Sri Lanka 185 (Dilshan 69) and 448/5 dec. (Sangakkara 185, Jayawardene 85, Tharanga 72) drew with Pakistan 176 (Imran Farhat 69) and 337/4 (Shoaib Malik 148). Two-Test series tied 0–0; the Second Test begins Monday in Kandy. First Test scorecard Football: 2005–06 UEFA Cup – Quarter finals, first leg. Sevilla 4–1 Zenit St. Petersburg Levski Sofia 1–3 Schalke 04 Schalke score 3 in the second half to recover against 10-man Levski. Rapid Bucharest 1–1 Steaua Bucharest The first half of the Romanian capital's Derby ends in a draw. FC Basel 2–0 Middlesbrough (UEFA.com)
March 29, 2006 (Wednesday) Cricket – West Indian cricket team in New Zealand in 2005–06: Third Test: The Third and final Test between New Zealand and West Indies at Napier ends in a draw. Only 79 overs were possible on the first two days before rain washed out the match. New Zealand won the three-Test series 2–0. 3rd Test scorecard Football: 2005–06 UEFA Champions League – Quarter finals, first leg. Internazionale 2–1 Villarreal Lyon 0–0 A.C. Milan (UEFA.com)
March 28, 2006 (Tuesday) Cricket: Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2005–06 Second Test: Australia defeats South Africa in Durban to win the three-Test series after its victory the week before in Cape Town. The Third Test commences in Johannesburg on Friday. Score: Australia 369 (Ponting 103, Hussey 75) and 307/4 dec. (Ponting 116, Hayden 102) defeated South Africa 267 (Kallis 114, Lee 5/69) and 297 (Warne 6/86) by 112 runs. Australia leads three-Test series 2–0. Scorecard 2005–06 Australian cricket season Queensland defeats Victoria by an innings and 354 runs to secure the Pura Cup. Queensland scored 6/900 declared – the eleventh highest score in first-class cricket – to win Australia's domestic four-day cricket competition. Queensland's innings included two double centuries (Maher 223, Watson 201 retired) and two centuries (Perren 173, Love 169). Complete scorecard. Football: 2005–06 UEFA Champions League – Quarter finals, first leg. Benfica 0–0 Barcelona Arsenal 2–0 Juventus (UEFA.com) 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Regional Finals Cleveland Region: (1) North Carolina 75, (2) Tennessee 63 Bridgeport Region: (1) Duke 63, (2) UConn 61 (OT)
March 27, 2006 (Monday) 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Regional Finals Albuquerque Region: (2) Maryland 75, (5) Utah 65 (OT) San Antonio Region: (1) LSU 62, (3) Stanford 59
March 26, 2006 (Sunday) Auto racing Paul Dana, 30, is killed in an accident with fellow driver Ed Carpenter during the practice session for the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Team owner Bobby Rahal pulled the other two cars he had entered – driven by Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice — after learning of Dana's death. The race went off as scheduled, with defending series champion Dan Wheldon narrowly defeating Hélio Castroneves to win the race. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup: Kurt Busch drives the Miller Lite No. 2 Dodge Charger to his first win with Penske Motorsports in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Regional semi-finals Cleveland Region (2) Tennessee 76, (3) Rutgers 69 (1) North Carolina 70, (4) Purdue 68 Bridgeport Region (1) Duke 86, (4) Michigan State61 (2) UConn 77, (3) Georgia 75 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Regional finals Washington, D.C. Region: (11) George Mason 86, (1) UConn 84 (OT). The Patriots become the first mid-major school to make the Final Four since 1979, when both Penn and a Larry Bird-led Indiana State made it. Minneapolis Region: (3) Florida 75, (1) Villanova 62. For the first time since the 1980 Final Four, and the second time since the tournament was seeded beginning in 1979, no No. 1 seeded teams made the Final Four. Cricket: Brett Lee becomes the 12th Australian to take 200 wickets in Test cricket. ABC Sport (Australia) Golf: Canadian Stephen Ames takes the 2006 Players Championship with a score of 14 under par, six strokes ahead of second-place Retief Goosen of South Africa. Ames will receive $1.44 million, 10 years' exemption for PGA Tour events and an invitation to the four major championships as a reward. In 2007, the event will move to May (May 10 – 13) in the month between The Masters and the U.S. Open. (ESPN) Ice hockey The Alberta Golden Bears win their record 12th University Cup 3–2 over the Lakehead Thunderwolves. (TSN) Wisconsin defeats Minnesota 3–0 to win the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship on the Gophers' home ice.