Saturday Sport, Cricket, Soccer, Swimming and Gymnastics

From: Speed o Rex

 Saturday Sport

While you were sleeping... 

In India, Australia and India met in day one of the second test in International Cricket, being held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, March 4-8.  As of this writing, India had 21/1 after 10.2 overs. Australia had yet to score.  At their 5th ODI at Eden Park in Auckland, the current score was New Zealand 149 (41.1/50 ov) to South Africa 14/1 (6/50 ov) at dinner break, with 44.0 overs remaining.   South Africa requires another 136 runs with 9 wickets if they want to pull out the win.   Later today, Ireland continues their visit to the United Arab Emirates, with their 2nd ODI at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, Dubai.  

Antonio Cassano

 In Italy:  Roma's confidence has wobbled during this season, which has been good for them, with some notable and embarrassing results,  notably their 2-0 shellacking by Lazio in Wednesday's Coppa Italia Derby.  Rumors abound of players to be transferred, likely Strootman in 2018, as well as further controversy regarding their new stadium.  This afternoon they take on Naples.  Roma is currently second in the overall standings, Naples third, number one Iuventus, who have a comfortable lead atop the standings.  Roma Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny says Roma and Napoli will both be dealing with anger issues when second meets third in Serie A on Saturday. ``I think it will be a very interesting game because it's between two teams that are angry,'' he recently told Sky Sports Italia.  ``Napoli have lost their last two games and we lost the derby, so both teams will have a massive desire to go and get the result....Of course it's never a good thing to lose a derby. It's a disappointing result but the good thing is we have a big game straight away."  Napoli are the division's top scorers with 60 goals in 26 matches but their number of wins remains at 16.

Branislav Ivanović

 In England, in Premier League action, an inconsistent Arsenal travel to Liverpool this afternoon.  Their meeting on the opening day of the season at the Emirates Stadium was a thrilling encounter which Klopp's side edged 4-3, but the manager admits his mood has changed significantly since, with just two wins in 12 matches in all competitions since the turn of the year.  He recently said "It doesn't feel that free-flowing any more. We have this lack of consistency, we cannot ignore it... But I am 100 per cent optimistic again when I think about the Arsenal game - but I cannot say I am in exactly the same mood as the start of the season."  The Gunners have once again struggled against their main rivals this season and are now in a fight to maintain their record of always finishing in the Premier League's top four in all of Wenger's full seasons at the helm.  Arsenal were surprisingly beaten at home by Watford before slipping to a 3-1 loss at Chelsea and a 5-1 thrashing in their Champions League tie away to Bayern Munich.  Arsenal Coach said "We responded at Sutton (a 2-0 FA Cup win), that was quite a tricky game and we want to respond again tomorrow."

Tommaso Rinaldi

In the USA, in NCAA Basketball action, some conferences have begun their tournament action, while some will contest, today, their last day of regular season action.  Villanova travel to Georgetown today, Villanova's Josh Hart scored 25 points and the Wildcats fought off a furious second-half comeback by the Georgetown Hoyas in a 75-64 win on February 7th at their last meeting.  

In PGA Golf,   Third-round play takes place today in the WGC-Mexico Championship at Club De Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City. This event was formerly called the WGC-Cadillac Championship and was played at Trump National Doral's Blue Monster course in Miami, but has moved this year to Mexico....  Politics anyone? 

The USA Arena Pro Swim Series competition in Indianapolis.  The arena Pro Swim Series returns to the IU Natatorium, March 2 - 4 on the campus of IUPUI.

In Gymnastics, watch for  live coverage of the 2017 AT&T AMERICAN CUP GYMNASTICS COMPETITION from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Gymnasts from 10 countries are expected to compete in the event, which is part of the International Gymnastics Federation's all-around World Cup series.