ECR Sport
09H30 ECR Sport
(upbeat music) Far worse than a buzzing of a mosquito, I would say, Michael. Don't you think? (laughing) Let's end off today's sports, and start off this one with some cricket back to back so African cricket is on the cards this coming week. Monday will be a first step for the protease women to fine-tune for the World Cup in the UAE when they take on Pakistan in the opening match of their T20 series, now batting coach Baccio Abrams, thinks it's a good chance for them to assess the squad and see where they headed as a team. - Yeah, look, I mean, ambition's always to win again. I think the real focus is really gonna be focused on us as a team, the various units, and really just putting through our game plans and evaluating us against ourselves. - The ladies side will then play again on Wednesday for match two with the protease men also in action against Afghanistan in their first of three ODI clashes. On the same day, and their next excitement is running high for the new Premier League season, which kicks off at today Royal A.M. host Cape Town City at Harry Guala Stadium in Peter Marisburg this afternoon. (speaking in foreign language) But the focus will be on Kaiser Chiefs to open their campaign at the free state stadium in Blumfente against newly promoted Maromo Gallons. Now the last time we saw the Gallons in the top flight was in the 2022, 2023 season. So they've been out of the top flight for about a season long. So it would be great to see them back in action. A tough fixture against Amakosie later on today. And then over to some rugby, Hollywood Bit Sharks, Coach John Plumtree has made some total changes, a total of six changes rather to the squad ahead of their Curry Cup semi-final against the Blue Bulls at Loftus later today. One of them is Ethan Hooko shifts from center to wing in place of Makas Olamampi, while Andre Esterason and Francois Fent for the new center partnership. Coach Plum says, or is playing around with some combinations to test, versatility of players in different roles ahead of the United rugby champs coming up. - Looking to experiment a little bit around how can those midfielders help us in other positions as well because it's a long season. Now we do have to rotate the squad and the players that can play in a couple of, whether they can play it wing, fall back, or for midfield, they're pretty valuable. So we might see a little bit of experimenting in that space. - Kick off to that one is at five o'clock. And then the first semi-final of the Curry Cup is between the Lions and the Cheatsers, which gets underway at 2.30. And then there's a big clash in Twickenham this afternoon as England take on New Zealand in a women's rugby test. And now the hosts are on a 16-game winning run and top the world rankings while their opponents are World Cup holders and Belfast Island begin their preparations for the 2025 tournament by going up against Australia.