Today
is the day of the Bahrain Grand Prix (جائزة البحرين الكبرى )at the Bahrain
International Circuit at Sakhir, as the Formula 1 season continues. Lewis Hamilton faces tough task to derail teammate
Valtteri Bottas' momentum in Bahrain. The
Mercedes cars dominated at the season opener in Australia, last month, but who comes out on top between the pair in
Sakhir could be telling to how the rivalry among brothers could unfold this
year.
Sebastian Vettel, who last won the Belgian
Grand Prix in August, 215 days ago, has said that "In Formula One, if you
win, everything is fine, but if you come second you must have had a horrible
ride. That's the echo you hear, but I don't see it that way. Last year, we had
highlights and it takes a lot of effort to finish second even though I hate it." Sebastian
Vettel has a fond association with the racecourse, though, having won four
times in Sakhir, more than any other driver.
In
contrast, Hamilton has not triumphed here for three years. That is hardly a
crime, but given the Briton's impeccable high standards, it is a losing run he
will be keen to end. There are still 20
races to go, so there is a lot of laps still to be covered between now and the
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 1, as he defends his title. Hamilton will not want to make losing to
Bottas a regular occurrence and will want to hit back at Sunday's Bahrain Grand
Prix. Finnish driver Bottas' confidence
will have grown immensely from his dominant display in Melbourne, and Hamilton
will be aware that allowing him to build momentum could potentially be
dangerous to his hopes of a sixth drivers' title and a fifth in six years.
The
Bahrain Grand Prix has often been accoladed as the best organized Grand Prix in the
world. This early season test, in
Bahrain, should provide plenty of interest.
Meanwhile,
Godolphin’s Thunder Snow made history on Saturday night by becoming the first
horse to win the Dubai World Cup twice. The
five-year-old, who won the 2018 event, came out on top of a thrilling duel in
the final stages with Gronkowski to put his name in the record books.
The
phrase "USA Cricket wins" is not at all common in world sport. In
fact, who knew there was a national team. In 2015, the US Cricket national governing body had been expelled by international cricket, with a new governing body welcoming into the fold this past January. Apparently thing are looking up.
The USA showed their strength against
the United Arab Emirates with their nine-wicket win in Dubai. This completed a successful tour for the American
squad of the United Arab Emirates. They
set the seal on a successful tour with a nine-wicket thrashing of the UAE team
at The Sevens, Dubai. That gave the USA a 2-1 series win over the national team
in the 50-over series between the two sides.
In addition to that, they whitewashed the UAE’s second string side in
three matches, as well as coasting to a win over Lancashire, the English county
team, in a limited-overs match. All of
which means they are purring along nicely in preparation for their World
Cricket League Division 2 campaign in Namibia next month, for which this tour
was preparation.
Pubudu
Dassanayake, is the USA coach. in the
past he has helped teams come up out of the basement, notably Paskitan, and his
technique seems to be working quite successfully with the Americans. He has balanced the players coming from an
Indian background, and those from a Carribean background, and the team is
pulling together. He said “there is a
lot of cricket being played in the US. It is just about that being channeled
into the team. But we need to perform for that to happen.”
Sunday
will be a defining moment in the NCAA Men's basketball tourney in the USA, as
the number of teams is finally reduced from 8 to 4. Today Cinderella Texas Tech beat the last
remaining Catholic team in the tournament, Gonzaga, by a score of 75 to 69. Meanwhile, Virginia beat Purdue 80 to 75. Today's games should be lively ones, as
Michigan State takes on Duke and surprise victor Auburn takes on Kentucky. Each
of these has a solid Basketball program, so much is expected as the last two
Final Four teams are determined.
In
the United States, in Major League Baseball, Opening Day 2019 featured 15
games, sunny weather (except in Kansas City), good pitching and plenty of home
runs and strikeouts. More southern teams and those with indoor stadiums tend to
have Opening Day earlier, but the other teams, although playing, will not have
their home openers for a few weeks.
The
play on opening day shows us that baseball in 2019 is going to look a lot like
baseball in 2018. There were five shutouts, but despite one-third of the games
including a zero, players homered once every 19.9 at-bats -- higher than last
year's rate of once every 29.6 at-bats. 2019
looks like a good year for Major League Baseball.
The
Pittsburgh Pirates visited the Cincinnati Reds for their opening day. The
top five hitters in the Cincinnati lineup went 1-for-18 with two walks, but the
bottom of the order picked them up, as Jose Peraza homered, Tucker Barnhart
reached twice, Jose Iglesias had two hits, and Derek Dietrich delivered the
game's big blow: a pinch-hit, three-run homer off Pirates reliever Richard
Rodriguez in the bottom of the seventh. The
Reds managed to hold things together to win the game 5 to 3. Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs ruined the Texas
Rangers home opening by beating them 12-4.
