Gary Lemke looks back at a jam-packed sporting weekend as the Women's Proteas lost another final in dramatic fashion, while Ferrari clinched a 1-2 finish at the US Grand Prix in Texas.
PROTEAS MISSED CHANCE TO APPLY PRESSURE
South Africa lost another cricket World Cup final, this time the Women’s T20 version. There was no choking – the Proteas were simply outthought and outplayed by a New Zealand side that was more intelligent on the day.
The die was cast at the toss. South Africa won the call and bowled. In a final, especially on a slow pitch, you win the toss, bat and get runs on the board. Scoreboard pressure in finals on slow pitches wins trophies. Anything around 130 would be tough and the KiwIs escaped to 158. They attacked the quick bowlers early when the ball was hard and new and accelerated again at the end. South Africa across the men and women, seem more comfortable chasing totals. It’s a mental thing.
LIVERPOOL JUGGERNAUT STILL PAVES THE WAY
Manchester City are the only unbeaten team in the English Premiership after edging Wolves, but still having to chase Liverpool’s shadow at the top of the table. Liverpool continued their golden start to the season by beating Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield to move to 21 points with City on 20.
Both Liverpool and City were fortunate to get all three points, but that’s football. There’s now a three-point gap to Arsenal who lost for the first time, in a no-arguments 2-0 setback at Bournemouth. For me, Southampton are already doomed. They squandered a 2-0 home lead over Leicester and contrived to lose 3-2. Elsewhere, Erik ten Hag earned a stay of execution with Man United coming from behind to beat Brentford 2-1. Fans of sides other than United might also be celebrating the result …
FERRARIS DOMINATE, BUT MAX WINS BEST OF THE REST
The race to the first corner in Formula One’s US Grand Prix in Austin is one of the best on the calendar. And it proved thrilling again as Charle Leclerc overtook both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to take the lead and never looked back as Ferrari claimed a popular 1-2 finish.
While Lewis Hamilton’s race was done on lap three when he crashed, the F1 world’s eyes were on Norris, who’d taken pole, and Verstappen, the championship leader whose lead was being cut with every race. Verstappen finished third and Norris fourth, to give himself some breathing space (51 points) late in the season. Norris by his own admission “drove like a muppet”, but Verstappen showed why he is a multiple world champion. He kept his visibly slower Red Bull in front of McLaren long enough to take third, with Norris fourth.
XABA HAS THE WORLD AT HER FEET
Glenrose Xaba’s win in the Cape Town Marathon was a remarkable achievement. I don’t like referring to marathon times as records, but rather “bests” given courses are so different. But, the official terminology is “records. Still, Xaba’s 2hr 22min 22sec smashed Gerda Steyn’s South African national mark set in Valencia by nearly two minutes and was faster than the time that won gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Xaba is still 29, and was making her marathon debut. Marathoners mature later and if Xaba continues improving, and is also to avoid injury and burnout by running too often, she can become a real force in the big city marathons going forward and also the 2028 LA Olympics.
🎉 Congratulations to Glenrose Xaba on making history at the Cape Town Marathon!
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) October 20, 2024
With an incredible time of 2:22:22, she’s now the fastest South African woman to complete the 42.2km distance. 🇿🇦🏃♀️💨
A truly remarkable achievement—well done, Glenrose! 👏🏅
#TeamSA #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/w2BAiydQ5f
BULLS SEE RED AFTER COSTLY DEFEAT
There were just the three (out of eight) away wins in the United Rugby Championship this weekend, with the Stormers taking advantage of being back at home in Cape Town to beat Munster for the first time, 34-19. The Bulls will still be fuming at the red card shown to Johan Grobbelaar which contributed to their 23-22 defeat to the Scarlets in Llanelli, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks won a nervy 28-24 contest against the Glasgow Warriors and the Lions edged Zebre 10-9 away.
The upshot of the weekend’s results is that the Lions have moved up to second on the 16-team table behind Leinster, the Bulls are fourth, the Stormers 12th and the Sharks 13th.
MARE SEES OFF THE BOYS TO WIN RICHEST RACE
The draw was supposed to play a huge role in deciding the outcome of the world’s richest race, the (Aus) $20-million The Everest over 1200m at Royal Randwick. It didn’t. The seven-year-old mare Bella Nipotina came from the “worst” draw of 12 to win for a 10th time in 55 career starts. Bought at a yearling for (Aus) $80,000, she has now won (Aus)$18.3m in prize money and paid $9 for a Tote win.
The South African connection in the race was jockey Zac Lloyd, son of Jeff, who placed ninth but beaten only 2.34 lengths in an understandably frenzied finish.
It's the #TABEverest tradition!
— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) October 19, 2024
A sellout crowd at Royal Randwick warming up for the $20 million sprint with some Sweet Caroline! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/qYP4t8f9ST
ALSO GETTING SPORTS FANS FANS TALKING …
Orlando Pirates were the big casualties of the Carling Knockout Cup first round as Magesi grabbed an upset 3-2 away win. Elsewhere, Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns and champions Stellenbosch progressed to the quarter-finals, along with Gallants, Cape Town City, TS Galaxy and Richards Bay …
Pieter Coetze was the South African standout at the three-day Swimming World Cup short-course leg in Shanghai, winning two golds, a silver and a bronze. Chad Le Clos and Rebecca Meder also won medals ahead of the leg in Incheon this weekend …
Brad Binder finished seventh in the Australian MotoGP, won by Marc Marquez over Spanish countryman Jorge Martin. What it means for the title race is that Martin leads Francesco Bagnaia at the top, with Binder fifth overall … New Zealand won sailing’s America’s Cup for a third time when beating Great Britain 7-2 in Barcelona.
