TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017 SPORTS Mapimpi hat-trick helps Cheetahs back to top JOHANNESBURG: Winger Makazole The visitors kicked for touch to trig- Bulls winger Jamba Ulengo, who dominated, but it was the Lions who Province a 31-point advantage. Mapimpi scored the first hat-trick of the ger a thrilling climax to the match as made his Test debut last season, scored won the possession and territory battles After shock victories over Province 2017 South African Currie Cup season as several attempts to cross the line were twice for the home team, who led 21-17 only to be thwarted by brilliant defend- and Cheetahs, Griquas surprisingly lost title-holders Free State Cheetahs repulsed before Mapimpi dived over in at half-time. ing. Lions had sole rights to the ball for 27-21 at home to the Pumas, who rose regained top place this weekend. the corner. A bonus-point victory for the most of the first half yet trailed 22-3 by from the bottom of the table with the His third try five minutes after the It was his fifth try of the season and Cheetahs lifted them to 21 points, one half-time at Newlands stadium as Lions slipping to last. Pumas laid their full-time hooter sounded gave the enhanced a fast growing reputation that more than the Durban-based Sharks, Province took full advantage of their few victory foundations in northern Cape Bloemfontein outfit a dramatic 41-40 tri- led to him playing for South Africa A who had a sixth-round bye. chances. The yellow-carding of winger city Kimberley by scoring three first half umph over 22-time champions Blue against the touring French Barbarians Western Province, whose 33 Currie Anthony Volmink for a high tackle on tries to lead 24-10 at the break. Bulls in Pretoria. two months ago. Cup titles is a record, lie third, five ponts Springbok utility back Dillyn Leyds did The only consolation for Griquas was Cheetahs were awarded a penalty The former Southern Kings back is behind Cheetahs after a remarkable 39- not help the Johannesburg outfit. a successful George Whitehead penalty after Bulls scrum-half Piet van Zyl was lightning quick, has the physique to 3 home victory in Cape Town over World Rugby Sevens flier Seabelo with the last kick of the game, which yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on brush off opponents, and looks set to Golden Lions. Senatla and Jano Vermaak scored tries secured a bonus point and fourth place, at Loftus Versfeld stadium. become a Springbok. The scoreline suggests that the hosts while the Lions were a man short to give just ahead of the Bulls. — AFP S Lanka coach slams selection policy DAMBULLA: Sri Lanka’s cricket coach Nick embarrassing 3-2 ODI loss to minnows Pothas has blamed outside interference for Zimbabwe at home. a string of poor performances, saying fre- The Sanath Jayasuriya-led selection quent changes to the selection line-up had committee has fielded 40 players in ODIs made his job “very difficult”. since taking over in May last year. Pothas, Pothas hit out after Sri Lanka, who suf- who took up coaching duties after Graham fered a 3-0 Test whitewash at home last Ford quit mid-contract end of June, said week, went down to India by nine wickets there had been too many changes. in the first of five one-day internationals in “When you get consistency within a Dambulla on Sunday. team of players, you will see improvements “You do get angry - to say ‘too many in performance,” said the 43-year-old. cooks’ is probably accurate,” the former “When we’re getting new players every wicketkeeper-batsman told reporters in game, it gets very difficult from a confi- Dambulla. “You get frustrated. Am I angry dence point of view. From the player’s with the players? Absolutely not. The play- point of view it’s very difficult. It’s difficult ers work as hard as anyone can ask of them. for us - the coaching staff - to create a strat- “They’ve been superb. Support staff have egy.” There have been reports of a power been out of this world. Brilliant. They work struggle emerging after 1996 World Cup endless hours with planning and helping hero Asanka Gurusinha was appointed the boys. You can’t fault anyone within that manager. changing room.” The result of the current series apart, Sri Sri Lanka’s woeful run has continued Lanka need to win at least two of the five since their first-round exit in the eight-team games to gain a direct entry into the 2019 Champions Trophy in June followed by an World Cup in England. — AFP Australia cancels warm-up match DHAKA: Australia has cancelled the only KUALA LUMPUR: Wiphada Chitphuan of Thailand kicks a ball against Malaysia during their women’s group preliminary round robin sepak warm-up match of their two-Test tour of takraw match of the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — AFP Bangladesh due to poor conditions at the ground, officials said yesterday. The two- SEA GAMES day match at Fatullah, slated to start today, had been in doubt since heavy rain partially flooded part of the field. It was the only warm-up fixture of the tour, Australia’s first to Bangladesh in Schooling banishes ‘rough more than a decade. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) offered alternative venues but the Australians were reluctant summer’ with easy win to change at the last minute due to secu- rity concerns. “The BCB has been fantastic trying to KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore’s Olympic champi- get us the game. The amount of rain on swimmer Joseph Schooling put a “rough hasn’t helped,” coach Darren Lehman told summer” behind him as he stormed to 50m but- Pakistan to host World XI, reporters in Dhaka. “We looked at various terfly gold in tournament-record time at the facilities around Dhaka. We feel for the Southeast Asian Games yesterday. people of Bangladesh with the amount of Schooling flopped at the July world champi- Sri Lanka and West Indies rain they have had. There are a lot of peo- onships, just a year after his shock Olympic ple in this country struggling because of 100m butterfly victory, and he also had to apolo- LAHORE: Pakistan yesterday announced the Pakistan has also been forced to play their the rain. So the thoughts are with them.” gise after upsetting Malaysian fans before the return of international cricket to its soil, with cricket in the UAE for the past eight years Bangladesh’s disaster agency says 115 SEA Games. But Schooling, after a warm recep- three separate sides scheduled to visit after including two editions of the Pakistan Super people have died since heavy monsoon tion from the Kuala Lumpur crowd, outclassed years of isolation over security concerns. A League Twenty20 (PSL). But security has dra- downpours hit the region last week, the field with a time of 23.06sec, beating his SEA World XI tour kicks off in September followed matically improved across Pakistan in the last flooding one-third of the country. Games record set in 2015 but outside his Asian by a short visit by Sri Lanka for a Twenty20 two years, signalling hopes for the slow revival match in October, then a Twenty20 series of international sport in the country. In Australia have not toured Bangladesh mark. “Everyone’s gotten faster really, so being against the West Indies a month later. “We are March, Pakistan successfully hosted the PSL since 2006, and the Test starting next able to come back and to win after a rough sum- getting positive signals and the doors of inter- final in Lahore with English players Dawid Sunday at Dhaka’s Sher-e Bangla National mer definitely means a lot to me,” said the 22- national cricket are opening on Pakistan,” Malan and Chris Jordan, West Indies’ Darren Stadium has been long in the making. year-old, who won by nearly a second ahead of Indonesia’s Fauzi Sidiq. Najam Sethi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Sammy and Marlon Samuels and South They were due to play two Tests in “I was a little nervous going in, you never chairman, told a press conference in Lahore. Africa’s Morne van Wyk and Zimbabwe’s Sean Bangladesh in October 2015 but the tour know how it’s going to be. I felt pretty solid, I The tours are seen as a big step towards Ervine competing. was cancelled over security fears after was happy with the way I felt. Usually I feel bet- Pakistan once again hosting major interna- The match’s success pushed the PCB to DHAKA: Bangladeshi cricketer Mominul attacks by Islamist extremists in the Haque catches a ball during a training ter throughout the meet so hopefully I can keep tional outfits after militants targeted the Sri expedite efforts to convince more teams to play Muslim-majority nation. the ball rolling,” he added. Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, killing in Pakistan. “We will play a full series with Sri session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Australia agreed to resched- Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. Schooling, who could only take 100m butter- eight people and wounding at least seven Lanka in the UAE after which Sri Lanka will ule the series this year only after fly bronze at the Budapest worlds, found himself players. Since the attacks Pakistan has only come to Lahore for a Twenty20, so things are Australia has cancelled the only warm- Bangladesh promised stepped-up secu- up match of their two-Test tour of in the firing line when he cheekily said he want- hosted a limited-over series against shaping up,” said the PCB boss.