Ininternational Cricket, Scotland will meet Zimbabwe today in their 2nd One Day International contest at Edinburgh. The other day saw the first ever ODI among the two teams, and Zimbabwe,the powerhouse, was stupefied at their loss to Scotland, normally a mediocreassociate team at best. Scotland hadnever before beat a Full Member in 23 attempts, prior to Thursday'svictory. Lessthan two days after that wake-up call, Zimbabwe have a chance to save face andlevel the series. Scotland are currently third in the WCL Championship, threepoints behind Netherlands. Today,Scotand will try to repeat their win, assisting them to their first Series winagainst a major competitor. Zimbabwe,always a fierce and professional competitor, will certainly be pushing hard toavoid a second embarrassing loss. Zimbabwebatsman Malcolm Waller said "They doplay good shots and we knew we were going to be up against it, especially intheir home conditions, our first game. But we've got to jump around. We've gotto be ready for the next game and make sure that we finish on top." Theday will tell. Inthe USA, in International Golf: The 2017United States Open Championship, the117th U.S. Open, continues today at ErinHills in Erin, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee. It has been filled with plenty of off the course action. On Thursday, day of the first round, a blimpcrashed near a place called Holy Hill. It fell to the ground and blew up, just off the course. The pilot is inserious condition. The second roundwitnessed the death of a spectator at the sixth hole. He was a 94 year old man, and the death wasfrom natural causes. Actionhas been "bloody" enough on the course. Champ Phil Mikkelson dropped out, just as thetourney began. His tee time would nothave allowed him to play, and to reach his daughter's graduation. Defending champion and world No. 1 DustinJohnson missed the cut at the U.S. Open after second round play, and he willjoin several of golf's headliners with a weekend off. He missed the 36-hole cut by three strokes. He missed the cut last weekend too. Also washing out of continuing on to today'sround three were Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, numbers 2 and 3 respectively. For the first time since the Official WorldGolf Ranking system began in 1986, the top three players in the world have beeneliminated after 36 holes of a major championship. Johnson is a proud new papa, so he is takingsome time at home until next month's British Open. Inall, eight of the top 12 players in the world missed the cut, and other majorchampions also are out. This column, then, lacks words or predictionsbut will watch today's action with some sense of suspense. Two Yanks and two Brits head the leader boardheading into today's third round. Inthe United States: Unified lightheavyweight world titleholder Andre Ward and former titlist Sergey Kovalev (Сергей Александрович Ковалёв) willmeet tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wardhas been irritated and avoiding Kovalev, but they had to meet up face to faceat Friday's weigh in. The crowd was definitely pro Ward, and booedKovalev, who is Russian but lives and trains in Los Angeles. Therehas been no love lost between these two. At the weigh in they would notparticipate at first in the promotional photographs, preferring instead to holda massively long stare. Kovalev finallyturned toward the crowd, and Ward smirked as if he had won something. Their fight series has been somewhat of ablood feud, so Saturday's action will be just as heated. As always, win or lose, Saturday's fightrepresents a massive payout for both athletes. The USA vs. Russia angle hasexcited some fans, but the Norcal vs. Socal battle, Ward is from Oakland,Kovalev lives in L.A. should excite some Californians. Ward,33, of Oakland, California, believes he won the controversial first fight between the two inthis current series. The first was a one point decision. Naturally, he wants toprove it conclusively and win convincingly. "I am looking forward tomaking a statement in this fight and answering any questions that may be outthere and removing any doubt that may be out there, so I'm excited," saidWard, the last American man to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, doing so in2004 in Athens. Kovalev, 34, who fightsout of Los Angeles, was champ for a few years, until that controversialdecision in the first Ward fight. Kovalev said "For this fight, I definitely had to get in shape,have different emotions and different motivations." He added "I wantto thank my haters," referring to ardent Ward fans, "They motivate meto keep going. I want to get my belts, and I'm here for this." -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
