Sport 16
Ashburton Guardian
Thursday, January 25, 2018
www.guardianonline.co.nz
In brief Lynn confident Chris Lynn admits the calf injury that kept him out of Australia’s current one-day series with England may have actually been a good thing. The Brisbane Heat big-hitter played his first innings since his latest injury in a practice match yesterday, blasting 37 from just 22 balls. Already on the comeback from shoulder surgery, Lynn said the minor setback had given him the extra few weeks he needed to be ready for a return to the green and gold in a Twenty20 international on February 3. - AAP
Kennewell’s cruel blow Highly-rated Australian forward Simon Kennewell has suffered a cruel injury blow on the eve of the Sydney 7s that will also keep him out of this year’s Commonwealth Games and World Cup. The 21-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at training on Tuesday and will undergo surgery, ruling him out of the rest of the season’s World Series. Kennewell was earmarked by USA coach Mike Friday as one to watch ahead of the teams’ Australia Day battle on Friday. - AAP Budding cricketers enjoyed good weather at a Mid Canterbury Cricket holiday programme yesterday.
PHOTO MATT MARKHAM 240118-MM-010
■ CRICKET
Fine tuning cricketing skills By Matt MarkhaM
Matt.M@theguardian.co.nz
It’s cricket coaching, but the emphasis is on fun. More than a dozen children have taken up the opportunity to fine tune their cricketing skills this week as a part of a holiday programme run by Mid Canterbury Cricket. The three-day course, which has run from 9am to 3pm on
Tuesday and also yesterday, finishes up today after what coach Garfield Charles describes as a “good, fun few days”. “It’s been really enjoyable,” Charles said. “We’ve had a great bunch of kids along who are all keen to learn more and we’ve hopefully taught them a thing or two as well. “But the main focus of this
was to just have fun and I think we’ve achieved the goal as well.” Charles said the 15 children who had taken part in the programme was a good base of kids, but he was expecting a few more. “It could always be better, especially with the weather that we have had. “The problem is that if we have too many and it rains, we
can’t go inside because we are only allowed a set number inside the building. “But it has been a good number of kids – they’re not rep players or anything like that so we’ve been able to work on the basics.” Today’s final day will be wrapped up with a prizegiving with a few awards to be dished out for performances during the week.
■ SAILING
Luna Rossa hire Vasco Vascotto as tactician America’s Cup challenger Luna Rossa have signed 25-time world champion Vasco Vascotto as their tactician. The 48-year-old has 15 European and 25 Italian titles to his name, while his world title haul is believed to be a record. Vascotto has been involved in previous America’s Cups, sailing with Italian challenger Mascalzone Latino, winning 10 of their 20 round robin races to finish sixth among the 11 challengers in 2007. Vascotto’s signing came after Luna Rossa confirmed a $109m sponsorship from Prada in their bid to finally win the Aulg Mug in 2021. The 36th America’s Cup, which will be sailed in Auckland, will switch to monohulls playing into the hands of the afterguard specialist. However, Vascotto has had little regard for foiling who said
Vasco Vascotto “foiling did not belong to his culture”. “I don’t even like to fly in an airplane. I love to sail with my
ass near the sea,” he told DRSails last year. Though that may all change, as Team New Zealand’s decision
to return to monohulls comes with their bold design to lift the 75-foot boats out of the water. An admirer of the sailing skills of Team New Zealand’s Ray Davies and Terry Hutchinson, Vascotto said he now preferred to work as a tactician, rather than behind the wheel. “Being tactician allows you to be aware and try to keep more key-factors under control: the wind, the fleet, the manoeuvres and everything ... a helmsman should only think about boat speed,” he said. Vascotto comes on board as Luna Rossa set to contest the 2018 TP52 Super Series, were they will also trial 40 young Italian sailors. Britain’s Ben Ainslie Racing and the New York Yacht Club will also use the TP52 Super Series to hone their skills for the America’s Cup. - NZME
Williams weighs in All-time great Serena Williams has given the thumbs down to compatriot Tennys Sandgren as the unheralded American attempts to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open. “Turns channel,” the 23-time major winner tweeted as Sandgren took the court in his quarter-final with fellow outsider Hyeon Chung. The missive is being widely read as a reference to Sandgren’s support for the politics of US President Donald Trump. Sandgren’s run to the last eight at the Open has brought to light his support for Trump and interest in nationalist and alt-right politics. - AAP
Set to bounce back A-League ladder leaders Sydney FC expect to bounce back from their recent lacklustre performances after overcoming a bout of gastro. The all-conquering Sky Blues on Friday face archrivals Melbourne Victory during their most vulnerable time of the season, having dropped six points in their past four matches. “Everyone is healthy, everyone is fit this week so it will be a different performance,” captain Alex Brosque told reporters. - AAP
No surprises There’s just one objective for the overseer of New Zealand’s 2018 Winter Olympic Games tilt before next month’s Pyeongchang action. Absolutely no surprises. Kiwi Chef de Mission Pete Wardell, at the helm of his third Winter Olympics, will jet off to Korea today to settle his team’s pre-Games arrangements. The athletes – at least 20 of them – will arrive in early February, and Wardell insists all the comforts of home will await them. It’s the best way for them to secure success on the ice. “There’s a lot of behindthe-scenes (stuff) going on in terms of all the uniforms, entries and preparation of the village, so that when the athletes arrive, they’ll get there and go, wow, fantastic,” Wardell said. - NZME