FRIDAY, 1.00PM:
SOUTH AFRICA put up a brilliant performance on Thursday to win their opening match against Ireland 2-1 in the Alfred Dunhill Cup in St Andrews in Scotland.
All three South Africans — Ernie Els, Rietief Goosen and David Frost — were under par, with Els beating Darren Clarke 66-71, Goosen beating Paul McGinley 70-71 and Frost going down to Padraig Harrington.
South Africa are joint leaders of group 4 with hosts Scotland.
”Just the kind of start we needed, because not only did we win but also everyone played very well,” said SA skipper Els.
”Frost played well but just found himself in a tough match, which can happen in this format,” said Els about Frost, who battled against Harrington. Harrington carved out six birdies in his 67.
Zimbabwe also won their group match against Korea 2-1. Nick Price, who took a triple bogey, beat Kim Jong Duck 72-74. Tim McNulty won his match against Mo Joong-Kyang 69-76 and Tony Johnstone lost his.
SPORT BRIEFS
PREMIER LEAGUE LOG LATEST Castle Premier League standings under headings (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, against, points) are:
Bush Bucks 10 8 1 1 18 8 25
Manning Rangers 8 6 1 1 16 7 19
Kaizer Chiefs 9 6 1 2 14 9 19
Sundowns 9 5 2 2 14 8 18
Wits University 10 5 2 3 10 5 17
Orlando Pirates 8 5 1 2 15 11 16
Hellenic 10 3 3 4 14 11 12
S/Sport United 10 3 2 5 9 9 12
Cape Town Spurs 9 3 3 3 9 10 12
African Wanderers 10 3 2 5 16 19 12
Moroka Swallows 10 3 3 4 6 10 12
Vaal Pros 8 2 5 1 5 4 11
AmaZulu 10 3 1 5 10 9 10
Qwa Qwa Stars 10 3 1 6 6 10 10
Bloem Celtic 10 3 2 5 8 13 10
Jomo Cosmos 10 2 3 5 6 11 9
Real Rovers 10 1 2 7 1 13 6
Santos 10 1 3 6 5 20 5 *
STANDARD BANK LEAGUE NATAL are set to open their Standard Bank League cricket campaign against Boland at Kings Park Stadium on Friday. Natal have spent 10 days training indoors because of unrelenting rain in Durban.
NATAL: Dale Bekenstein (captain), Doug Watson, Mark Bruyns, Kurt Donaldson, Neil Johnson, Keith Forde, Ant Botha, Keith Storey, Wade Wingfield, Robbie Macqueen, Craig Sugden, Gary Gilder, John Bastow.
BOLAND: Evert Ferreira, Bryan Baguley, Kenny Jackson, Adrian Kuiper (captain), Kevin Curran, Steve Palframan, Andrew Wylie, Roger Telemachus, Claude Henderson, Henry Williams, Charl Willougby, Phillip Hurle (12th man).
EASTERN PROVINCE: Kepler Wesels (captain), Gavin Victor, Louis Koen, Dave Callaghan, Mark Rushmere, Asthwell Prins, Lulama Mazikazana, Eldine Baptiste, Meyrick Pringle, Shafiek Abrahams, Mornantau Hayward, James Bryant (12th man).
NORTH WEST: Martin Venter (captain), Glen Hewitt, Shawn Nicolson, Neil Esterhuysen, Louis Vorster, Mark Lavine, Arno Jacobs, David Pryke, Thinus Enslin, Morne van Schalkwyk, Jan Dreyer, Vaughan Wandrag, Corrie Jordaan.
GRAINGER, NITCH SQUASHED SOUTH AFRICA’S Claire Nitch and Natalie Grainger were ousted in the second round of the women’s world squash championships on Thursday. Nitch went down 9-2 9-5 10-8 to third seed Cassie Jackman of England and Grainger lost 9-6 9-4 2-9 9-6 to sixth seed Autralian Liz Irvin.
ZIM LEADS TOURNEY ZIMBABWE has won all the preliminary matches in the President’s Cup tri-nations tournament which ended on Thursday. Zimbabwe beat Kenya by seven wickets in their last match at the Aga Khan grounds. Zimbabwe are now on 16 points, while Kenya are on eight and Bangladesh on zero.
AMANDA OUSTED SOUTH AFRICA’S Amanda Coetzer was ousted in the second round of the European Indoor tennis championships in Zurich on Thursday. Coetzer went down 7-5 6-3 to American Lisa Raymond.
NEWLANDS FUTURE SHAKY NEWLANDS Cricket Ground owners Western Province Cricket Club are still at odds with Newlands’ prospective buyers WP Cricket Association (WPCA) after six months of negotiations. WPCA CEO Arthur Turner said on Thursday various options are being investigated to ensure agreement is reached before the April 1998 deadline.