Sports roundup — Monday, Sept 8

Cricket:

 South Africa easily defeat Australia in triangular series final

One-day tri-series final, Harare:

South Africa 221-4 (40.5 overs) beat Australia 217-9 (50 overs) by six wickets

Dale Steyn took 4-35 and Faf du Plessis scored 96 as South Africa defeated Australia by six wickets in the final of the Triangular series in Zimbabwe.

Aaron Finch top-scored with 54 runs and James Faulkner scored 40 runs as Australia struggled to 217-9 from their 50 overs.

In reply, Du Plessis put on 98 with Hashim Amla (51) and 91 with AB de Villiers (57 not out) as South Africa won with nine overs to spare.

In-form Du Plessis had struck three centuries in his previous four innings.

Unsurprisingly, the 30-year-old, who almost became the first player to score four hundreds in a single series, was named man of the tournament.

Faf du Plessis’s form in the Triangular series
106: South Africa v Australia, 27 August
15: Zimbabwe v South Africa, 29 August
126: Australia v South Africa, 2 September
121: Zimbabwe v South Africa, 4 September
96: Australia v South Africa, 6 September

“I’ve been hitting the ball well and definitely number three is a position where I get the time to set up my innings,” said Du Plessis.

“I’m getting used to the role now and beginning to enjoy it.”

The World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand next year – and Proteas skipper De Villiers is confident his team can improve on their performances in Zimbabwe.

“The fact we are starting to win games under pressure shows we are on the right track,” said De Villiers. “But there is definitely room for improvement.

“We will try to get things 100% for the World Cup.”

Steyn was in superb form for South Africa, damaging the Australian card with some superb reverse-swing bowling.

Australia found themselves 144-8 before mounting a recovery of sorts to reach 217.

“We were 70 to 80 runs short, but we were outplayed,” said Australia captain George Bailey.

“It was challenging to bat at the start, but once again, credit to South Africa, their spinners were tight and their top four almost all got starts.”

England v India: Eoin Morgan helps hosts win T20 thriller

Twenty20 international, Edgbaston:

England 180-7 beat India 177-5 by three runs

England rounded off their international summer with a thrilling three-run victory over India in their one-off Twenty20 international at Edgbaston.

The match went to the final ball but India captain Mahendra Dhoni failed to hit the six that would have won it.

A blistering 71 off 31 balls from captain Eoin Morgan had lifted the hosts to an imposing total of 180-7.

Virat Kohli put India on course with 66 but fine death bowling by Harry Gurney and Chris Woakes sealed England’s win.

 

Rugby:

Rugby Championship: Australia beat South Africa 24-23

Australia (11) 24

Tries: Folau, Horne

Con: Foley

Pens: Foley (4)

South Africa (14) 23

Try: Hendricks

Pens: Steyn (6)

Rob Horne scored a late try, converted by Bernard Foley, to give Australia a 24-23 victory over South Africa in their Rugby Championship game in Perth.

The match turned when South Africa’s Bryan Habana, winning his 100th cap, was sin-binned with 15 minutes remaining and his side leading 23-14.

The Wallabies capitalised on their numerical advantage, with Foley cutting the lead to six points with a penalty.

And in the final two minutes, Horne went over as Australia edged it.

It is Australia’s first win in this year’s tournament and a first success over South Africa in four attempts in the competition.

2014 Rugby Championship
16 August: Australia 12-12 New Zealand, South Africa 13-6 Argentina	13 September: New Zealand v South Africa, Australia v Argentina
23 August: New Zealand 51-20 Australia, Argentina 31-33 South Africa	27 September: South Africa v Australia, Argentina v New Zealand
6 September: New Zealand 28-9 Argentina, Australia 24-23 South Africa	4 October: South Africa v New Zealand, Argentina v Australia

Israel Folau gave them the perfect start with a try inside 90 seconds but South Africa hit back with the first of Morne Steyn’s six penalties and a Cornal Hendricks try to put them 8-5 ahead. Another Foley penalty levelled the match but two successful kicks from Steyn left South Africa 14-8 up by the 25th minute, before Foley narrowed the gap to three points with his second penalty of the night shortly before the half-hour mark.

That proved to be the final score of the half as South Africa went into the interval with a 14-11 advantage. Foley hit back with a penalty two minutes after the restart to square the match at 14-14 before a scrambling Wallabies defence was forced to concede another penalty which Steyn kicked to return the Springboks into the lead.

The Stade Francais lynchpin then stretched his side’s lead to 20-14 in the 49th minute after a collapsed scrum before he squeezed over his final penalty just after the hour-mark to stretch the visitors’ lead to nine points.

The momentum then swung back in the hosts’ favour when Habana was penalised for a high tackle and the pressure from the Wallabies paid off.

Australia: Folau, Ashley-Cooper, Kuridrani, Toomua, Horne, Foley, Phipps, Palu, Hooper (capt), Fardy, Simmons, Carter, Kepu, Hanson, Slipper. Replacements: Fainga’a, Cowan, Alexander, Horwill, Higginbotham, Hodgson, White, Beale.

South Africa: Le Roux, Hendricks, Serfontein, De Villiers (capt), Habana, Steyn, Pienaar; Vermeulen, Coetzee, Louw, Matfield, Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis, Strauss, Mtawarira.

Replacements: Bismarck du Plessis, Nyakane, Van der Merwe, De Jager, Whiteley, Hougaard, Lambie, De Allende.

Rugby Championship: New Zealand sweep past Argentina

New Zealand (13) 28

Tries: Savea (2), Messam, Smith

Cons: Slade

Pens: Slade, Barrett

Argentina (6) 9

Pens: Sanchez (3)

Julian Savea scored two tries as New Zealand beat Argentina 28-9 in their Rugby Championship clash at Napier’s McLean Park.

The winger crossed in each half to make it 26 tries in 25 Test appearances.

In between, flanker Liam Messam’s effort just before half-time gave the All Blacks a 13-6 advantage at the break.

Aaron Smith also went over to put the winners top of the table, although they struggled with their kicking game.

Argentina had come into the game full of confidence after troubling the South African forwards twice in recent weeks, although just failing to win. But the All Blacks pack was equal to the challenge and not even the early loss of senior lock Sam Whitelock to injury could upset their momentum.

The defending champions took their chances to run when they could and then turn Argentina with short kicks in behind their backline.

Savea’s first came after a move involving two grubber kicks and he capitalised to score out wide before an Argentina error at the scrum allowed Beauden Barrett, playing his first game at fly-half, to go through a gap and send Messam away for the score. Barrett was back in the action at the start of the second half when he drew Sanchez to put Savea in for his second try but he struggled with his kicking, missing three conversions and a penalty and was replaced by Colin Slade midway through the second half.

Slade was immediately on the board as he and Sanchez traded penalties, and he then converted Smith’s try as the scrum-half scored off the back of a solid scrum.

The All Blacks face South Africa next weekend in a top-of-the-table clash that could decide the outcome of the series.

New Zealand: Dagg; B Smith, C Smith, Nonu, Savea; Barrett, A Smith; Crockett, Coles, Franks; Retallick, Whitelock, Messam; McCaw (capt), Read. Replacements: Mealamu, Franks, Moody, Thrush, Cane, Perenara, Slade, Fekitoa.

Argentina: Tuculet; Agulla, Bosch, Martin Hernandez, Amorosino; Sanchez, Landajo; Ayerza, Creevy, Herrera; Galarza, Lavanini; Fernandez Lobbe, Leguizamon, Senatore. Replacements: Cortese, Noguera Paz, Chaparro, Alemanno, Baez, Cubelli, Gonzalez Iglesias, Imhoff.

Rugby Championship | LOGS

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BPts	Pts
1	New Zealand	3	2	1	0	91	41	50	2	12
2	South Africa	3	2	0	1	69	61	8	1	9
3	Australia	3	1	1	1	56	86	-30	0	6
4	Argentina	3	0	0	3	46	74	-28	2	2

ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division | RESULTS

6	Blue Bulls	36 – 26	Golden Lions	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
6	Sharks	18 – 21	Griquas	Kings Park, Durban
6	Free State Cheetahs	17 – 31	Pumas	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
5	Western Province	49 – 14	Eastern Province Kings	Newlands, Cape Town

ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division | LOGS

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BPts	Pts
1	Western Province	5	5	0	0	175	79	96	3	23
2	Pumas	5	4	0	1	141	109	32	2	18
3	Golden Lions	5	3	0	2	182	117	65	3	15
4	Sharks	5	3	0	2	124	110	14	2	14
5	Free State Cheetahs	5	2	0	3	124	130	-6	4	12
6	Blue Bulls	5	2	0	3	114	156	-42	2	10
7	Griquas	5	1	0	4	112	152	-40	3	7
8	Eastern Province Kings	5	0	0	5	96	215	-119	1	1

Soccer:  

Euro 2016 qualifying results:

Georgia 1 – 2 Republic of Ireland Germany 2 – 1 Scotland Gibraltar 0 – 7 Poland Hungary 1 – 2 Northern Ireland Faroe Islands 1 – 3 Finland Greece 0 – 1 Romania Denmark 2 – 1 Armenia Portugal 0 – 1 Albania

 

Absa Premiership | LOGS

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kaizer Chiefs	5	5	0	0	8	1	7	15
2	Ajax Cape Town	5	3	2	0	7	3	4	11
3	Bidvest Wits	5	3	1	1	7	4	3	10
4	Moroka Swallows	5	3	0	2	7	9	-2	9
5	Orlando Pirates	5	2	2	1	10	5	5	8
6	Maritzburg Utd	5	2	2	1	7	4	3	8
7	Free State Stars	5	2	1	2	6	6	0	7
8	Mamelodi Sundowns	5	2	1	2	5	5	0	7
9	Platinum Stars	5	2	1	2	4	5	-1	7
10	Bloem Celtic	5	1	3	1	5	4	1	6
11	University of Pretoria	5	1	2	2	3	4	-1	5
12	Black Aces	5	1	2	2	4	6	-2	5
13	Chippa United	5	1	1	3	4	7	-3	4
14	SuperSport United	5	1	0	4	4	8	-4	3
15	Polokwane City	5	1	0	4	5	10	-5	3
16	AmaZulu	5	0	2	3	2	7	-5	2

English Barclays Premier League | LOGS

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea	3	3	0	0	11	4	7	9
2	Swansea City	3	3	0	0	6	1	5	9
3	Aston Villa	3	2	1	0	3	1	2	7
4	Manchester City	3	2	0	1	5	2	3	6
5	Liverpool	3	2	0	1	6	4	2	6
6	Tottenham Hotspur	3	2	0	1	5	3	2	6
7	Arsenal	3	1	2	0	5	4	1	5
8	Southampton	3	1	1	1	4	3	1	4
9	Hull City	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
10	Stoke City	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
11	West Ham United	3	1	0	2	4	5	-1	3
12	Queens Park Rangers	3	1	0	2	1	5	-4	3
13	Sunderland	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
14	Manchester United	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2
15	Leicester City	3	0	2	1	3	5	-2	2
16	Newcastle United	3	0	2	1	3	5	-2	2
17	Everton	3	0	2	1	7	10	-3	2
18	West Bromwich Albion	3	0	2	1	2	5	-3	2
19	Crystal Palace	3	0	1	2	5	8	-3	1
20	Burnley	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1

 

Golf:

Omega European Masters | LEADERBOARD 

Pos	Player	Score	Thru	Today	Rnd1	Rnd2	Rnd3	Rnd4	Tot
1	David Lipsky	-18	F	-5	67	64	66	65	262
2	Graeme Storm	-18	F	-2	64	66	64	68	262
3	Tyrrell Hatton	-17	F	-5	67	66	65	65	263
3	Brooks Koepka	-17	F	-3	65	65	66	67	263
5	Tommy Fleetwood	-16	F	-1	64	68	63	69	264
5	Danny Willett	-16	F	-7	67	70	64	63	264
7	Jamie Donaldson	-15	F	-3	65	64	69	67	265
8	Richie Ramsay	-14	F	-2	62	66	70	68	266
9	Lee Slattery	-13	F	-4	68	68	65	66	267
9	Gareth Maybin	-13	F	-3	64	67	69	67	267
9	Romain Wattel	-13	F	-5	68	69	65	65	267
12	Richard Green	-12	F	-4	71	64	67	66	268
13	Nicolas Colsaerts	-11	F	-5	68	67	69	65	269
13	Edoardo Molinari	-11	F	-1	62	70	68	69	269
13	Brett Rumford	-11	F	-6	69	65	71	64	269
13	Marc Warren	-11	F	-4	69	63	71	66	269
13	Bernd Wiesberger	-11	F	-4	66	70	67	66	269
13	Seve Benson	-11	F	-3	65	67	70	67	269
13	Shane Lowry	-11	F	E	66	65	68	70	269
13	Anirban Lahiri	-11	F	-6	70	67	68	64	269

BMW Championship | LEADERBOARD 

Pos	Player	Score	Thru	Today	Rnd1	Rnd2	Rnd3	Rnd4	Tot
1	Billy Horschel	-14	F	-1	68	66	63	69	266
2	Bubba Watson	-12	F	-4	70	66	66	66	268
3	Morgan Hoffmann	-11	F	-7	72	72	62	63	269
4	Jim Furyk	-9	F	-4	70	68	67	66	271
4	Rickie Fowler	-9	F	-2	71	66	66	68	271
4	Sergio Garcia	-9	F	-3	68	64	72	67	271
4	Ryan Palmer	-9	F	+1	69	64	67	71	271
8	Adam Scott	-8	F	-4	71	66	69	66	272
8	Rory McIlroy	-8	F	-4	67	67	72	66	272
8	Jordan Spieth	-8	F	-3	67	70	68	67	272
11	Graham DeLaet	-7	F	-2	68	68	69	68	273
12	Angel Cabrera	-6	F	-5	71	72	66	65	274
12	Charl Schwartzel	-6	F	-4	72	66	70	66	274
12	J.B. Holmes	-6	F	-2	71	68	67	68	274
12	Chesson Hadley	-6	F	-2	68	70 Click to join movement	68	68	274
16	Kevin Chappell	-5	F	-5	68	72	70	65	275
16	Ernie Els	-5	F	-3	70	69	69	67	275
16	Bill Haas	-5	F	-2	72	68	67	68	275
16	Martin Kaymer	-5	F	+3	68	70	64	73	275

Motorsport:

Italian GP: Lewis Hamilton wins after Nico Rosberg error.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton took a crucial victory in the Italian Grand Prix after Nico Rosberg made a mistake under pressure from his Mercedes team-mate.

Hamilton, 29, fought back after a poor start from pole position, caused by a glitch in his start procedure, dropped him to fourth early on.

He had just closed to within a second of his sister Mercedes when the German ran wide at the first chicane. The victory in Monza reduces Hamilton’s deficit in the title race to 22 points.

Behind the two Mercedes drivers, Felipe Massa drove steadily to third place as his team-mate Valtteri Bottas recovered in impressive style from a poor start to take fourth on the day that Williams confirmed both will stay on next season.

The win will be a significant psychological boost to Hamilton and a corresponding blow to Rosberg, 29. The German was already under the spotlight after being criticised by his team for causing a collision between the two at the previous race in Belgium .

And he received boos from the gathering crowd below the podium as he gave his post-race interview, as he had two weeks’ previously at Spa.

Despite the crowd reaction, and two weeks’ of heated conversations between Hamilton and Rosberg, the German said: “Lewis drove a great race and he deserves it today.” The race seemed to be falling into Rosberg’s lap as Hamilton’s car was slow away from pole position and he was swamped by the field, falling behind his team-mate, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Massa.

Mercedes reset Hamilton’s engine systems remotely and he was soon pushing hard to make up lost ground.

He took advantage of Massa, passing Magnussen at the second chicane on lap five to grab third from the Dane at the first Lesmo corner on lap five.

And five laps later Hamilton pulled a superb move on Massa, holding the outside line at the first chicane and grabbing the place into the second, left-handed part.

At that point, Hamilton was 2.2 seconds behind Rosberg and he inched closer as they traded lap times to be 1.3 seconds behind when Rosberg made his only pit stop on lap 24, his position as the lead car giving him priority on pit-stop timing.

Hamilton was 1.8 seconds behind when he re-joined after his own stop a lap later.  He was warned by his engineer that the “race will be at the end – look after your tyres” but chose to ignore the advice, instead making his move when his tyres were in their best condition.

He cut into Rosberg’s lead, reducing it from 1.8 seconds on lap 26, to 1.3 a lap later and then 0.7 with a new fastest lap as they crossed the line at the end of lap 28.

A few hundred metres later, Rosberg braked too late into the first chicane and was forced to take to the escape road, Hamilton taking the lead as his team-mate negotiated the bollards before rejoining the track.

It was the second time in the race Rosberg had made the same mistake, the first coming on lap nine.

Hamilton said: “The car felt good and it was the closest I’d been and during the previous stint. I knew when I was behind others on the older tyres; it was very hard to stay with him so I knew the only chance would be at the start so I took it.” Hamilton extended his lead in measured but inexorable fashion over the next few laps to four seconds, where it stabilised until the Englishman locked up a front tyre going into the first chicane with three laps to go.

That cost him half a second but Hamilton had everything under control to take his sixth and arguably most important win of the year. “It was just that Lewis was quick,” added Rosberg. “Coming from behind, I needed to up my pace and as a result went into the mistake. That was very bad, and that lost me the lead.

“But second place is a good result and there are still a lot of races to go.” “Nico Rosberg is putting a brave face on it,” BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard said, “but that has to hurt.”

Behind the top three, Bottas had to thread his way through an epic multi-car fight between the Red Bulls, McLarens and Sergio Perez’s Force India that see-sawed throughout the race.

It was eventually won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who passed team-mate Sebastien Vettel with a brilliant dummy into the second chicane with six laps to go. Vettel held on to take sixth ahead of Magnussen, Perez and the second McLaren of Jenson Button.

But Magnussen was demoted to 10th behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen following a five-second penalty for forcing Bottas off the track in a battle at the first chicane.

Raikkonen’s two points signified a dismal day for the team at their home race, which saw team-mate Fernando Alonso retire with a hybrid system failure, his first mechanical retirement since 2009.

Alonso had been in the battle with the Red Bulls, McLarens and Perez before he pulled off shortly after half distance at the first chicane. He acknowledged the cheers of the crowd as he walked back to the pits but the Italian team will be hurting from such a poor performance.

“We have to recover from this,” Alonso said. 

Tennis:

US OPEN

Serena Williams wins US Open and 18th Grand Slam title

Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to win her sixth US Open and 18th Grand Slam title.

The American, ranked one in the world, won 6-3 6-3 at Flushing Meadows in New York.

After a poor start from both players, Williams steadied herself to take the first set and found something approaching her best form to dominate the second.

The victory moves her to joint-fourth in the all-time list of major winners, alongside Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.

Serena Williams’s 18 Grand Slam titles
Australian Open (5): 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010
French Open (2): 2002 and 2013
Wimbledon (5): 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2012
US Open (6): 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014

Williams, 32, has now won three successive titles at the US Open, the scene of her first Grand Slam triumph 15 years ago.

“It was a really wonderful feeling,” said Williams, who was joined by Navratilova and Evert for the trophy presentation, when she also collected US$4m in prize money.

“I couldn’t have finished things in a better way. It is a pleasure for me to win here, I am really emotional. I couldn’t ask to do it at a better place.”

Wozniacki, a close friend of Williams, said: “Congratulations to Serena. She really deserved it today and played better than me. “She is an inspiration to me on and off the court and an unbelievable friend – and you definitely owe drinks later!”

Williams arrived in New York having failed to make it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam in 2014, but the American looked a class apart throughout the two weeks at Flushing Meadows.

Her dominance was such that she won the title without dropping a set, or more than three games in a single set.

The case for Wozniacki heading into the final centred around the Dane’s improved form this summer, which saw her push Williams to three sets twice before reaching her first Grand Slam final for five years.

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
“It was a final that won’t live live long in the memory, but an achievement that will. Serena Williams has finally drawn level with Evert and Navratilova in the record books, and has a Grand Slam winning span which now stretches over fifteen years.
“Wozniacki has had a great summer, but the aggressive front foot tennis which served her so well, was absent here, as Williams completed her seventh straight sets victory of the fortnight. It’s been a troubled year by her standards, but one which will end with her dominant position at the top of the world in tact.”

Wozniacki needed a strong start, however, and two double faults in her opening service game did not bode well.

The 10th seed was fortunate that Williams was also struggling in the early stages, the American thumping a second serve well long to drop serve for the second time in game five.

But it was Williams who came out on top of five consecutive breaks before finally holding for a 5-2 lead, and converting her second set point after 40 minutes.

Wozniacki’s athletic defensive skills had not been enough to win a set in which Williams was making just 41% of first serves and, sure enough, the American stepped up her game in the second.

Top women’s Grand Slam singles titles winners
24- Margaret Court (Aus)
22- Steffi Graf (Ger)
19- Helen Wills Moody (US)
18- Martina Navratilova (US), Chris Evert (US), Serena Williams (US)
12- Billie Jean King (US)

Williams broke straight away, albeit thanks in part to a cruel net cord, and went close to moving 3-0 in front after a fabulous forehand winner.

It took 61 minutes for Wozniacki to hit her second winner of the match, a second ace, and she simply did not have the firepower to trouble the world number one.

A breathless 26-shot rally finally gave the 22,000 spectators a contest to engage with, but it took Williams to within two points of victory and there was no way back for Wozniacki.

Williams thumped her 29th winner of the afternoon to earn match point, and fell back onto the court in celebration when Wozniacki sent the ball long over the baseline.

Cycling:

SA’s Impey wins Tour of Alberta

South Africa’s Daryl Impey won the Tour of Alberta by a second on Sunday, sprinting to take the sixth and final stage and earn the deciding 10-second time bonus.

Impey, riding for Australian team Orica-Greenedge, edged Dutchman Tom Dumoulin for the title.

“We had nothing to lose today,” Impey said.

“We took the initiative and tried to get every second we could. Today was a bit gamble for us. When you gamble like we did, sometimes things pay off.”

Dumoulin, riding for Giant-Shimano, had held the lead since winning the opening prologue.

“To lose by one second on the last day is incredible,” Dumoulin said.

Impey finished the 77-mile final stage in 2 hours, 46 minutes, 22 seconds.