Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 27 January 12:30 pm

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

# We begin with cricket: Lhuan-dré Pretorius and Eathan Bosch have been added to the Proteas squad to face the West Indies in the first of three T20 internationals in Paarl this evening. They replace SA20 final players Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, and Tristan Stubbs from Sunrisers Eastern Cape. David Miller is out as he recovers from a groin injury. Despite playing the final, Anrich Nortjé, Dewald Brevis, Keshav Maharaj, and Lungi Ngidi are available. This series is a tune-up for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, the captain of Pretoria Capitals, Keshav Maharaj, believes the SA20’s highest-paid player, Dewald Brevis, will be someone to reckon with in the World Cup, starting in India and Sri Lanka next Saturday. He displayed terrific form in the latter stages of the competition, including hitting a century in the final against Sunrisers. That took his total number of runs to 370. Maharaj, who was his captain, says 22-year-old Brevis has shown maturity in the last few games, and could only improve from there.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says meticulous planning and out-of-the-box thinking will be required, as they face a tough 18-months leading up to the World Cup next year. South Africa gets the season underway in the inaugural Nations Championship in July. In addition, the Boks face the All Blacks in a historic four-match series starting in August. Erasmus says it will be important to manage players spread across different competitions:

# Tennis: World number one Aryna Sabalenka is through to her fourth consecutive Australian Open semifinal. The Belarusian beat American Iva Jovic to continue her bid for a third title. Sabelenka will face either third-seeded American Coco Gauff or Elina Svitolina of Ukraine for a place in the final. In the men’s draw, Alexander Zverev defeated American Learner Tien in four sets to reach the semifinals the fourth time. The German will take on either top-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz or local player Alex de Minaur.

# And finally, soccer: Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter is in favour of of fans boycotting World Cup matches in America this year due to security concerns. He supports comments from anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA on potential reforms earlier. Pieth cites the killing of protester Renee Good by an American immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier this month as one reason for supporters not to travel to the US. Blatter says on social media he thought Pieth was right in his summation of the situation.

Stay tuned for more news………….