In the run-up to the Winter Olympics, certainly there areWinter sports being contested somewhere. Premiership and Bundesliga Soccer also is at the top of any fans listfor viewing this weekend. The bigcontests today are in American Football and International Cricket.
In international Cricket, India continues their tour of SouthAfrica, with today's start of their second test at the Super Sport Park,Centurion. After India fell short in thefirst Test in Cape Town, their next challenge, at SuperSport Park, where South Africa havetheir best win percentage, would be tosave the series. In a week's time, themost anticipated series of the season could be all over unless India can dowhat so many believe is the impossible. The awesomeness of India's task is notjust based on what we saw last week at Newlands - that South Africa's attack intheir own conditions is match-winning - but on the history of the Centurionvenue. Every subcontinent team India included, that has played there has beenbeaten by an innings. Traditionally,SuperSport Park is as South African as it gets. SuperSport Park offers South Africa everythingtheir sporting archetype wants: plenty for bowlers who can make even the mosttechnically sound batsmen look like amateurs. India have the attack to challenge SouthAfrica. They should be better rested now, having had time to recoup theirenergies, after they quick transfer after Sri Lanka's Tour of India, and afterthe Kohli Wedding Festivities. They arealso known for pulling together in the face of adversity, which is certainly agoal of their team captain. Though SuperSport Park has a reputation for being one of themost difficult places to bat, there have been 39 centuries in the 22 Testsplayed there. The surface offers pace and bounce and thereis often swing. Faf du Plessis and South Africa have theirbest win percentage at SuperSport, they have only lost twice there in Test matches,once to each of England (2000) and Australia (2014). India have only played one Test inCenturion, on their 2010-11 tour. They were bowled out for 136 in the firstinnings and lost by an innings and 25 runs. There are two One Day Internationals today of internationalnote: Pakistan continues their Tour ofNew Zealand, which began January 3rd and continues through the rest of themonth. So far, New Zealand has beendominant in the series. Today theycontest their third ODI, at Dunedin. Meanwhile, the 2017–18 United Arab Emirates Tri-NationTournament has kicked off in Dubai. Thisseries, which began on the 11th, runs through the 23rd, and involves teams fromthe UAE, Ireland, and Scotland. The2017–18 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series has all the matches played asOne Day Internationals (ODIs). Each teamis playing the other two, in two games, resulting in six games to be played,and points to be won in the table. The matches are in preparation for the 2018Cricket World Cup Qualifier, to be held in Zimbabwe in March 2018. All games are being played at the ICC Academyin Dubai. In the inaugural match Ireland won against the UAE by 4wickets, and garnered two points. Inthat match, Ed Joyce (Ireland) scored his 10,000th run in List A cricket.Congratulations to him. Ashfaq Ahmed andMohammad Boota, playing for the UAE, both made their ODI debuts. Today's match is a repeat challenge for thesetwo squads. American Football is building to a great conclusion in a fewweeks, and the Weekend's NFL Divisional playoffs will determine who will playfor the Conference Championship next weekend, and ultimately for the Finals ina few weeks. Saturday will see twogames, the Atlanta Falcons at the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Tennessee Titansat the New England Patriots. The New England Patriots seem undeterred by setbacks orfeuds with staff and players of his own team, as he and the Patriots arefavored in today's game. The Titans' hopes for pulling off the upsetlikely depend on generating pressure on the Brady who as quarterback was sacked35 times this season. The offense hasnot been the Patriot's strong point. TheTitans may not be able to take advantage, as their defense as a whole rankedtied for fifth. The wild card contests having been concluded last weekend, thePhiladelphia Eagles play for the first time in the post season, as they weregiven a bye last weekend. The Eagles tiedfor the best record in the N.F.L. this season, but critics are not necessarily convincedthat they are the team to beat. Theyearned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and have played well athome. Their defense has performedadmirably this season, and they have good offensive and defensive players. Despite all of this, commentators remainunconvinced and they are considered the underdog by many in their game against theFalcons. They head into Saturday’sdivisional round matchup against the Atlanta Falcons as 3-point underdogs. The game should provide some good action,and is too close to call... -- Posted By Rex to SR at 1/13/2018 12:01:00 AM -- 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.
