30 SPORT THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 2016 The Star

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2016

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Ferrari in fear of the fast lane FERRARI are suffering from a “climate of fear” with staff reluctant to take risks in case they are fired, according to the Italian team’s former chief en-gineer, Luca Baldisserri.

“Unfortunately, neither (chairman Sergio) Marchionne nor (team principal Maurizio) Arrivabene have racing experi-ence, a culture that has been lost at the top of the team,” he told Italy’s Corriere dello Sport newspaper.

“They are no longer a team but a group of scared people,” he added. “Inside there is a climate of fear, the boys do not take risks, they don’t make de-cisions for fear of being kicked out in disgrace.”

A Ferrari spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Baldisserri worked closely with seven times world champion Michael Schu-macher and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello during a golden era for the team at the start of the century.

He left Ferrari last year to manage the career of Can-adian former academy driver Lance Stroll, who is tipped to race for Williams next year.

Ferrari have failed to win a race so far this year with Ger-many’s Sebastian Vettel and Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen and have slipped behind Red Bull in third place overall.

The most successful and oldest team in Formula One, the Maranello team last won a drivers’ world title with Raik-konen in 2007. Their most re-cent constructors’ champion-ship was in 2008. “Raikkonen is going better than in 2015, Vettel much worse,” said Baldisserri. “It’s important for Ferrari to get (Vettel) back and keep him close, at least in the short term ... but the problem is not them. – Reuters

KO Kid’s skills to trump Nielsen power

KEVIN Lerena, pictured, be-lieves he is ready to take on the world’s best cruiserweight fighters and champions.

First though, he needs to get past Micki Nielsen in Golden Gloves’ Super Four final at Em-peror’s Palace next Saturday.

Speaking after his open workout at Smith Gym in Jo-hannesburg this week, Lerena oozed confidence.

“I’m excited about the fight and I’m in good condition. I feel strong, and I am focused,” he chimed. “Winning this fight will present many opportun-ities, like a ranking in the top ten and being known globally. Thereafter I want to fight any world champion in my div-ision.”

The KO Kid, as Lerena is af-fectionately known, has a tough task ahead of him though. For in Nielsen, the South African will be up against a quality fighter.

While Lerena already has a blemish to his record, a defeat

to Johnny Muller against his 16 wins, Nielsen brings an im-peccable record of 22 wins into the ring.

And one of the Dane’s vic-tims was none other than Ler-ena’s conqueror, Muller.

Nielsen pummelled the Roodepoort boxer with vicious punches to win a 12 round u n a n i m o u s points decision in the semifinal of the Super Four back in June. Lerena got to the final by out-pointing Roberto Bolonti.

The “KO Kid” is more of a skilled boxer who uses his ring smart to win and Nielsen is a power puncher.

Lerena acknowledges his ad-versary’s power but he believes that he will be capable to work through that.

“(Yes) he is a power puncher but that doesn’t matter to me because I know I have the ne-cessary skills to beat him.”

Even Lerena’s trainer, Peter Smith, believes that skills will trump power come fight night on October 22.

“I know that his opponent is a very strong puncher but in a fight, a smart boxer wins and

I believe Lerena is more skilled than Nielsen,”

said Smith.“I’m very con-

fident that Ler-ena will emerge v i c t o r i o u s because the training camp has improved

him. He is now matured and we

worked on develop-ing his skills.”

Although Lerena and his team believe they will use boxing skills to come up trumps, Nielsen’s trainer, Joey Gamache, is of the opinion his boxer’s power punches will carry them to victory.

“Nielsen is bigger, stronger, faster and more experienced than Lerena. He is a power puncher and we will use that

to win.” Not that they will go all out

to stop Lerena cold.“ But we are not looking for

a knockout, a win is more im-portant,” Gamache was quick to point out.

Nielsen is delighted that the long wait for the tournament is almost over. He is ready to rumble.

“I’m counting the days for the fight to happen. Every now and then I’m thinking about the fight and I can’t wait as I’m ready.

“We came into South Africa a month earlier and we have had good preparation. Winning this fight will help me climb the rankings and I’m confident I will defeat him.”

Both boxers are southpaws and Nielsen says he’s been sparring with boxers who fight in that stance to help him when he faces Lerena.

“I have been sparring only with southpaws to get used to fighting people in that stance because most boxers I fought with are orthodox .”

LESEDI HOBBS

Proteas overpower the AussiesBefore the ODIs with Australia, The Star highlighted five key areas which could determine the outcome of the series. With South Africa

having won the series at a canter, our senior cricket writer looks back and assesses how those aspects impacted on the matches.

TOP ORDER BATSMEN:Quinton de Kock and

Faf du Plessis dominated for South Africa throughout, winning a vital battle in the area in which this Australian team was strongest. While Dave Warner has delivered con-sistent performances, the same can’t be said of his mates, with Aaron Finch’s bludgeoning only good enough for one half century in the series, while Steve Smith, aside from his century in Durban has been unable to occupy the crease for any length of time.

SA’S MIDDLE ORDER:There was no AB de Villiers,

meaning someone had to fill in...step forward, finally, Dave Miller, whose prodigious cen-tury in Durban must rank as one of the best One-Day knocks by a South African. The King-smead innings were a vital performance from Miller and should provide him with con-fidence in the ‘finisher’ role. JP Duminy has been steady but thrilled when required at the Wanderers. Rilee Rossouw showed outstanding form re-gardless of where he batted and made it difficult for the se-lectors to drop him even when De Villiers returns.

SA’S NEW ALL-ROUNDER:

Andile Phehlukwayo has shown he belongs at inter-national level. He’s got a pres-ence about him that is remin-iscent of Andrew Flintoff or Ian Botham in that it always feels as if something’s going to

happen when he has the ball in hand or with the bat. Of course his game needs refining – but he’s only 20. The fearlessness with which he goes about his game is a vital asset. Wayne Parnell, Chris Morris and Dwaine Pretorius are the other options, but for the first time in a long while, SAfs all-rounder stocks look strong again.

SA’S NEW BALL BOWL-ING:

Australia’s weakness with the new ball proved catas-trophic, and the pace with which Rabada and Steyn bowled, particularly at the Wanderers was a key part of that win. The pair have not been at the best in this series and Kyle Abbott’s contribution in PE, showed again the value he provides. Steyn is desperate to prove he still belongs in the one-day side and it will be in-teresting to see how he’s used over the summer. If you were picking your best SA 50-over team at the moment, it’s worth considering if Steyn is still a part of that 11.

THE IMPACT OF SPIN:Tahir has continued to

underline his value to the Proteas, but where once there might have been concern over who might replace him – he is 37 – that is no longer the case. Tabraiz Shamsi ‘s emergence is important for S A’s One-Day hopes and his performance in PE indicates that a replace-ment for Tahir is at hand. How the selectors utilise the pair in the short term will be inter-esting, but looking into the fu-ture, Shamsi will provide a key weapon in the Proteas attack.

STUART HESS

MILLER’S HISTORIC THRILLER : David Miller celebrates his 100th run during the Proteas’ One Day International against Australia at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban. That prodigious knock should give Miller confidence for the “’finisher’ role. PICTURE: BACKPAGEPIX

Liverpool’s Reds letter day awaits LIVERPOOL will be looking to end a dismal Premier League run against Manchester United and build on a promising start to the campaign with victory over their bitter north west rivals on Monday.

Resurgent Liverpool are three points ahead of United in the table as Jose Mourinho’s rebuilding programme stutters, but their current run of four successive league defeats to the Old Trafford club is their worst against them for eight years.

Liverpool, who knocked United out of the Europa League last season, have not beaten them in domestic competition since March 2014, but they meet for the first time in this campaign with Juergen Klopp’s men in supreme form.

They have won their last four Premier League matches and suffered only one defeat in all competitions so far.

In contrast, Mourinho’s men have won just one and lost two of their last four in the league, crashing 3-1 at Watford and being held at home by Stoke City.

Despite the heavy investment in new players that followed Mourinho’s much-heralded arrival at Old Trafford, his team currently have three points fewer than they managed from their first seven games of last season, when Louis van Gaal was in charge.

Reigning champions Leicester City meet their league-winning predecessors Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but neither club has looked like title material.

Chelsea currently lie seventh, five

points behind leaders Manchester City, while Leicester, who shocked the football world with their title success last May, are marooned in 12th place, with just two wins from their first seven games.

Leicester’s record against the Londoners hardly instils confidence that they can get their title defence back on track.

They have beaten Chelsea only four times in 20 Premier League games – although their most recent success was less than a year ago as they stormed to the title.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri will be hoping that N’Golo Kante, one of the key figures in his brilliant title-winning season, does not make him

pay for his decision to let the influential midfielder move to Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City still lead the Premier League, despite their first defeat of the season, at Tottenham Hotspur, in their last outing.

After crushing all before them in the first two months of the campaign, City will be bidding for their first win in three games in all competitions on Saturday when they host fifth-placed Everton, who are four points behind them.

Second place Spurs are waiting to pounce should City slip up and Mauricio Pochettino’s side visit West Brom on Saturday, when Arsenal host Swansea City – who will be led for the first time by new manager Bob Bradley. – Reuters

THE KOP LOVES KLOPP: Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp’s side have been in hot form recently and could end their League voodoo against bitter rivals Manchester United on Monday.

PICTURE: EPA