OTD: The world wakes to a new Don

Australia’s greatest batter arrived on 27 August 1908, beginning the story behind cricket’s most famous average.

Donald George Bradman was born in Cootamundra, New South Wales, before going on to set a standard few sporting careers could approach. sweetbonanza.qpon

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In 52 Tests, he scored 6,996 runs and 29 centuries, finishing with an average of 99.94. He needed only four runs in his final Test innings to reach an average of 100, but was dismissed for a duck.

BlogCricket Féminin Les Joueuses qui Changent la Donne sur la Scène InternationaleLe Cricket Féminin sous les Projecteurs Le cricket féminin connaît une ascension fulgurante qui dépasse les frontières des nations traditionnelles du sport. Les stades se rempli...Ouvrir →

His first-class figures were equally extraordinary: 28,067 runs and 117 centuries in 234 matches. Those numbers secured his place as the benchmark against which generations of batters would be measured.

Even decades after retirement, Bradman could still leave an impression on an Australian fast-bowling great. Jeff Thomson later recalled an informal batting session in Adelaide in 1978, during a rest day in a Test against India.

Watch: Dropped, dropped and dropped again

According to Thomson, Bradman batted without pads or other protective equipment. Thomson said he opted for legspin and bowled only two deliveries before stepping aside to watch two younger bowlers being dispatched for the next 20 minutes.

“But Bradman just backed himself to hit everything and I was gobsmacked,” Thomson said.

This story about Sir Don Bradman 😍

In 1978, the 70-odd-year-old Bradman faced probably the fastest Australian pacer, Jeff Thomson, and two other young bowlers, batting for 20 minutes without any protective gear.#BirthOfTheGreatest pic.twitter.com/R5Q49BDNTJ

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) August 27, 2026

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The post OTD: The world wakes to a new Don appeared first on SA Cricket Mag.

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has hit back at critics who questioned the team following their 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final.

The Brazilians face a difficult task in the second leg at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Sunday, knowing they must overturn the deficit to book their place in the final of the season-opening top eight competition.

Sundowns were eliminated at the semi-final stage of the MTN8 last season by eventual champions Orlando Pirates, and Cardoso is determined to ensure history does not repeat itself.

The Portuguese coach expressed his frustration with the criticism surrounding his team after they returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion, beating AmaZulu 5-2 at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday night.

“People around always try to create instability. They come from outside to try and create instability, but we know this business already and we manage it with peace,” he said while reflecting on their triumphant CAF Champions League campaign last season.

“It’s important that people respect the work that is being done in this club. This club has just won the Champions League that was not won in South Africa for 10 years but there’s no respect for it because we lost one match.”

‘It will happen’

Cardoso knows Sundowns will have to be at their best against an Arrows side that has made an impressive start to the campaign. The KwaZulu-Natal outfit are unbeaten in six matches across all competitions and have yet to concede a single goal this season.

“Let’s see if we’re strong enough to go to Arrows and get the result we need. It will happen, but let’s see if we’re capable enough because it is a good test at the moment,” Cardoso said.

“How many goals have they suffered until now? It’s almost zero, they are doing well and they will test us. Let’s see how far we are at the moment but there’s a lot to do up front whatever happens at the weekend.”

Cardoso welcomes Mokoena’s return

Sundowns have also received a boost with the return of Teboho Mokoena, who marked his comeback from injury with a goal against AmaZulu. The midfielder had missed four matches before returning to action and Cardoso believes his availability will strengthen the team.

“Regarding Teboho, when you have the best players available you become stronger, the coaches become stronger and the team also become stronger,” he concluded.

“I don’t need to speak about the quality of Teboho, he is a very stable player in the squad and very important. When he’s available, we’re stronger especially in the middle where we unfortunately lost Jayden Adams.

“When the pairing is broken and you don’t have both players that gave stability last season, obviously any team will suffer. The best teams in the world struggle when these things happen.”

Having beefed up his All Blacks pack to match the physicality of the Springboks, coach Dave Rennie is bracing for a much-improved effort from South Africa on Saturday, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.

Rennie was speaking on Thursday at New Zealand’s team announcement conference for the second Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Cape Town, where the Kiwis can clinch a 2-0 lead.

“We’re aware of what the potential bounce-back [could be]. They’ll be disappointed with last weekend [33-17 at Ellis Park], and there’s been talk around how they bounced back last year,” he said, referencing the Boks’ record 43-10 win in Wellington last year in the Rugby Championship after a loss in Auckland.

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“We’re aware that the Springboks, at their best, are tough to beat anyway, but we’ve talked a lot about us being better.

“We’ve got to be able to lift our level. We know they’re going to be better, but we don’t want to focus totally on what South Africa is going to bring. We want to focus on what we can bring.”

Rennie identified the scrum and contact area as the two zones needing the biggest lift: “Scrum-wise, we’ve spoken with World Rugby around a couple of issues from our point of view, and so we think scrum-wise we’ll be a lot better. That was a massive in for them last week.

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“[The contact area] has been a big focus for us – they’re big men and when they’re full of energy, if they can get into a tackle it’s hard to get go-forward metres.

“Sometimes you just need to bar up, carry hard and win races in support to generate quick ball. We still want to play at a high tempo to give us opportunities and they did a good job last week denying us that.”

The biggest trap, Rennie warned, would be complacency, adding: “Not saying this is going to happen, but it’s us thinking what we did last week is going to be enough to win this week. It’s us having that mindset that we’re going to have to go deeper this week.

SMITH: All Blacks won’t just run over Boks

“They’ll just try and do what they did last week, but try and do it better. They might attack us at set-piece, put more balls in the air, try and get a big wall in front of us, and try and spend as much time in our 22 as they can.”

On his selection calls, Rennie said Simon Parker’s grunt at No 6 suited facing the Boks, while George Bower’s promotion to loosehead reflected his impact off the bench. The left wing swap, with Leroy Carter starting ahead of Josh Moorby, came down to fine margins.

“[Parker] suits playing the South Africans. He’s physical. He gives us a bit of size at six. We know the scrum will be a big part of the game again and [Bower] did a good job there.

“If you look at Leroy, probably a better defender, and we think that’ll be important.”

Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images

The post All Blacks ‘bar up’ for Bok backlash appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.

Depuis dimanche, la sélection nationale de Futsal est en stage au Centre technique régional de Lalla Setti, à Tlemcen, en prévision de sa double confrontation en amical contre l’Arabie Saoudite dans le cadre de sa préparation pour la CAN-2026 au Maroc.

Le sélectionneur national Noureddine Benamrouche a convoqué 20 joueurs pour ce premier stage de la rentrée en prévision de la phase finale de la Coupe d’Afrique des nations (CAN) Futsal – Maroc 2026 qui aura lieu du 12 au 26 octobre à Rabat.

Sur les 20 joueurs qui ont répondu à l’appel, quatre seulement évoluent dans le championnat local. Il s’agit de l’actuel gardien du MC Alger Zohir Benadel, d’Abdelhak Djebrani d’Al Hilal Bordj Bou-Arréridj Futsal et du duo du CF El Kseur, Bejaia, Walid Riach et Rayane Aït Hammadouche.

Pour le reste, Benamrouche a ratissé large, tout en conservant son ossature habituelle issue des championnats de France et de Belgique, et avec la présence par ailleurs de Ghiles Sedik qui évolue au Futsal Gorinchem, aux Pays-Bas et Mohamed Cherif Brahimi qui vient d’Albi SVE, du Canada.

Versé dans le très relevé groupe A en compagnie du Maroc, champion d’Afrique en titre et 8^e au classement FIFA, ainsi que la Libye et la Zambie, l’Algérie ambitionne de faire très bonne figure et prouver les progrès réalisés par la sélection nationale qui s’est qualifiée pour la première fois de son histoire à une phase finale de Coupe d’Afrique.

Au programme de ce stage qui durera jusqu’au 1^e septembre, un travail biquotidien intense alliant le volet physique, technicotactique et surtout tactique, avec comme matchs-tests deux confrontations face à l’Arabie Saoudite qui s’est inclinée il y a quatre jours face au Maroc (1 – 3).

Cette double confrontation contre l’Arabie Saoudite, une équipe classée 41^e au rang FIFA de Futsal (l’Algérie étant classée 89^e) constituera un bon test pour les hommes de Benamrouche, le dimanche 30 août à la salle omnisports du CTR Lalla Setti et le lendemain, 31 à la salle du complexe sportif Miloud Hadefi d’Oran.

Voici la liste des 20 joueurs retenus pour ce stage du mois d’août :

Gardiens de but :

• Samyr Teffaf (Sporting Paris, France).
• Wassim Si Chaïb (Paris ACASA, France).
• Zohir Benadel (MC Alger).

Joueurs de champ :

• Amar Bessa (Paris ACASA, France).
• Amine Ghoual (Bouraza FT Brussels, Belgique).
• Walid Riach (CF El Kseur).
• Ghiles Sedik (Futsal Gorinchem, Pays-Bas).
• Moussa Haddad (Paris ACASA, France).
• Mathieu Hammad (Les Artistes Futsal, France).
• Yassine Clément (Kremlin-Bicêtre United, France).
• Skander Si Chaïb (Paris ACASA, France).
• Abdelhak Djebrani (Al Hilal BBA Futsal).
• Azzedine Takdjerad (Toulouse, France).
• Bilal Bentout (LAS Avion Futsal, France).
• Younes Bakkioui (Bouraza FT Brussels, Belgique).
• Soufian Bakkioui (Bouraza FT Brussels, Belgique).
• Mohamed Cherif Brahimi (Albi SVE, Canada).
• Rayane Aït Hammadouche (CF El Kseur).
• Walid Betterki (Vaulx-en-Velin Futsal, France)

L’article EN – Futsal : 20 joueurs répondent à l’appel de Benamrouche est apparu en premier sur Foot Afrique.