Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 7 March 12:30 pm

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

# We begin with cricket: The second and final Test between New Zealand and Australia starting in Christchurch tomorrow will be the swansong of respected South African umpire Marais Erasmus. He recently announced he is calling it quits after a distinguished career in which he officiated in 80 Tests, 124 one-day internationals and 61 international T20s. Erasmus made his debut in a T20 between the Proteas and Australia at the Wanderers in February 2006. He says he will miss the privileges and travelling, but is looking forward to a more boring life.

# Rugby: The Hurricanes will be without their All Blacks utility back Jordie Barrett for their next Super Rugby matches against the Blues, defending champions Crusaders and the Melbourne Rebels. He was banned until the 22nd of this month after being sent off with a yellow card for a high tackle on Queensland Reds’ fullback Jordan Petaia last weekend. This was then upgraded to red. This was Barrett’s 100th match for the Hurricanes, which they won 38-33. He has played 57 Tests for New Zealand.

# Tennis: Three-time champion, Rafael Nadal, has withdrawn from Indian Wells, saying he is not ready to play at the highest level. The 37-year-old Spaniard, who returned to competition in Brisbane in January after almost a year sidelined with a hip injury, says making this decision was not easy. Nadal, who was set to play Canadian Milos Raonic in the first round has been replaced by lucky loser Sumit Nagal, becoming the first Indian in the main draw of an ATP Masters one-thousand event since Prajnesh Gunneswaran in Miami in 2019.

# Golf: Former world number one Jon Rahm of Spain says the official world ranking system is no longer fit for purpose. This comes after the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League formally withdrew its application to have players receive world ranking points from its tournaments. LIV was denied world ranking accreditation in October last year, mainly because its format had only 54 holes with no cuts. The two-time major winner says it’s clear the ranking system is not good:

# And finally, basketball: South Africa is set to co-host the fourth season of the Basketball League Africa, with matches starting at Pretoria’s SunBet Arena this Saturday. League president Amadou Gallo Fall announced an expanded season spanning four months, with matches in South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, and Rwanda. He says this marks the league’s first season played in four different countries, featuring 12 club teams from across Africa in 48 matches:

Stay tuned for more news………….