Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 20 January 12:30 pm

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

# We begin with cricket: The stage is set for the SA20 playoffs. Top-of-the-table Sunrisers Eastern Cape will take on second-placed Pretoria Capitals in the first qualifier in Durban tomorrow. Third-placed Paarl Royals and fourth-placed Joburg Super Kings will collide in the eliminator in Centurion on Thursday. The loser of qualifier one and the winner of the eliminator will meet in the second qualifier at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday. Sunday’s final will be between the winner of Friday’s game and the winner of qualifier one at Newlands in Cape Town.

More cricket news: South Africa got their Under-19 World Cup campaign back on track, beating Tanzania by 329 runs in Windhoek, Namibia. Centuries from in-form Jason Rowles and captain Mohammad Bulbulia helped South Africa to 397 for five, their highest total in a youth international. In reply, Rowles and Bayanda Majola took two wickets each as Tanzania was bowled out for 68 within 33 overs. The victory is the perfect way for South Africa to bounce back after their 28-run defeat to Group D leaders Afghanistan last week. 

# Rugby: The Stormers expect to welcome back several big names for back-to-back United Rugby Championship derbies with the Sharks. They include Damian Willemse, Warrick Gelant, Cobus Reinach, Salmaan Moerat, Adré Smith, Jurie Mathee and Ruhan Nel. Moerat will probably take back the captaincy from Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who led the team in his absence during the weekend’s home Champions Cup match against Leicester Tigers. The two coastal teams meet in Cape Town on Saturday and in Durban a week later.

# Netball: Proteas head coach Jenny van Dyk has finalised her 15-player squad to face England in a three-match Test series in Johannesburg next week. This will be the team’s last international matches before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. South Africa heads into the series on the back of a successful Africa Cup campaign in Lilongwe, Malawi, where they were crowned champions. Van Dyk says competing against the best in the world helps them gauge where they are and allows the team to improve and grow.

# And soccer: African governing body CAF promised appropriate action following the chaos during Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco. Members of Senegal’s team left the field after the referee awarded a penalty to the hosts. They only returned after 20-minutes and eventually won 1-0 in extra time to lift the trophy. The president of world governing body FIFA, Giovanni Infantino, also condemned the incident, saying teams must compete on the pitch and within the laws, because anything else puts the game’s essence at risk.

Stay tuned for more news………….