Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 8 May 12:30 pm

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

# We start off with cricket: South African batter Lhuan-dré Pretorius has joined Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for injured Nitish Rana for the remainder of the Indian Premier League campaign. The 19-year-old, who is yet to make his international debut, finished as the leading run-scorer at this year’s SA20, with 397 runs in 12 matches. Rajasthan is out of contention for the playoffs, but still has two matches to go, against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai and Punjab Kings at home in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, the Proteas Women’s stand-in captain, Chloé Tryon, says they must start doing the basics well. South Africa suffered a 23-run defeat to India’s Women in their ODI Tri-Series match in Colombo, ruling them out of contention for Sunday’s final. India posted 337 for nine with Jemimah Rodrigues top-scoring with 123. The Proteas were then restricted to 314 for seven with Annerie Dercksen scoring 81. Tryon says despite the defeat, the team showed a lot of character. South Africa will face hostesses Sri Lanka tomorrow.

# Soccer: Tickets for Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium have officially sold out. However, over ten-thousand tickets were oversold due to system failures. Stadium Management South Africa CEO Bertie Grobbelaar says affected fans will receive refunds. He says in addition, public viewing areas will be set up on the beachfront and at Albert Park for those without tickets:

# Motorsport: South Africa’s Bradley Cox has signed his first factory rider contract to join French team Sherco Rally in the World Rally-Raid Championship. He is the son of Alfie Cox, an official KTM rider from 1998 to 2005, three times on the Dakar podium, and winner of eight stages. Twenty-three-year-old Bradley was the winner of the Rally2 World Cup last year. He will make his RallyGP racing debut at the Safari Rally from the 18th to the 24th of this month in preparation for Dakar 2026.

# And finally, rugby: The touring squad of the British and Irish Lions will be named during a special ceremony in London this afternoon. Head coach Andy Farrell is expected to announce a group of 37 players for the tour of Australia that will consist of three Tests against the Wallabies as well as six other matches. The Lions lost to the Springboks during the previous tour in 2021 after playing to a draw against the All Blacks in 2017. Their last series victory was against the Wallabies in 2013.

Stay tuned for more news………….