Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# We start with cricket: Captain Laura Wolvaardt and Suné Luus starred with the bat as South Africa defeated Ireland by 74 runs in the second women’s one-day match in Gqeberha, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. Wolvaardt scored 124 and Luus 114 as the hostesses posted 375 for six, their highest ODI total. Orla Prendergast kept the visitors in the hunt with her 97, but Leah Jones took three wickets as Ireland was bowled out for 301 in their 48th over. The third and final ODI will be played in Johannesburg on Friday.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s men are under pressure in today’s fourth T20 against India in Lucknow. They are trailing 2-1 in the five-match series and need a victory today to avoid a series defeat. The hosts won the first and the third encounters in Cuttack and Dharamsala, respectively, while the Proteas were victorious in the second one in New Chandigarh. This followed after India clinched the one-day series 2-1. The final T20 will be played in Ahmedabad on Friday.

# Golf: South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter has become the third South African to claim the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award, joining Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman. The 21-year-old Mossel Bay player earned the Arnold Palmer Award after winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic, becoming the youngest South African to secure a PGA Tour title. Potgieter was the only rookie to reach this season’s FedEx Cup Playoffs and led the Tour in driving distance, averaging 297 metres. The honour requires eligibility participation in at least 15 official FedEx Cup events.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana claimed a 1-0 victory in a friendly match against Ghana at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto. The encounter was South Africa’s last game before the team departs for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. The only goal of the match came in the 57th minute through Sipho Mbule. Coach Hugo Broos was not impressed by his team’s performance:

And more soccer news: FIFA has announced a new cut-price ticket category for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. This follows backlash from fan groups, who accused FIFA of betraying supporters for what they describe as astronomical ticket prices. The world governing body had departed from its initial pricing structure which represented an increase of almost 500-percent compared to the 2022 tournament in Qatar. FIFA has now made available a number of supporter entry tier fixed tickets at around one-thousand-rand for all 104 matches, including the final.

Stay tuned for more news………….