4 Jan 2022

Today's sports news: What you need to know

8:35 am on 4 January 2022

Latest - Manchester United suffered their first defeat under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, falling to a 1-0 loss at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.

Wolves players celebrate.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

An 82nd minute strike from Joao Moutinho earned Wolves their first win at Old Trafford since 1980 and moved Bruno Lage's side up to eighth place.

United, who could have few complaints about the result after a poor performance, remain seventh place on 31 points -- four behind Arsenal who currently hold the fourth Champions League spot.

Wolves created a series of chances in the first half but it was not until eight minutes from the end that they got their reward when Moutinho pounced on a headed clearance from Phil Jones and fired past David De Gea.

Manchester City top the standings with 53 points, Chelsea have 43, Liverpool 42 and Arsenal 35.

-Reuters

Guptill to have scan in injury

Black Cap Martin Guptill may be in doubt for the one-day series in Australia later this month after being injured in Auckland's Ford Trophy game against Wellington at the Basin Reserve yesterday.

Aces Martin Guptill.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Guptill limped off the field after appearing to be hit on the lower leg by a yorker while batting.

Auckland Cricket has since said that Guptill suffered a suspected left calf strain and will have an MRI scan today.

The Black Caps play three ODI's and the T20 international in Australia starting on January 30th.

Wellington won the game by five wickets.

Otago beat Canterbury by 53 runs in Rangiora.

Kerr impresses again for Blaze

An all-round performance from White Fern Amelia Kerr has guided Wellington to an eight wicket win over Canterbury in their Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one day game at Eden Park.

Amelia Kerr playing for Wellington.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Kerr took 3-47 as Auckland were dismissed for 219 with Lauren Down scoring a career best 124.

21 year old Kerr then hit an unbeaten 93 to guide the unbeaten Blaze home in the 42nd over.

She put on an unbroken stand of 115 with Maddy Green for the third wicket.

Jess Kerr also had an outstanding day for Wellington, returning 2-9 off her 5.5 overs.

The teams meet again at the same venue today.

Good start for Proteas

Rookie bowler Marco Jansen took four wickets as South Africa bowled India out for 202 in their first innings on the opening day of the second test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Marco Jansen of South Africa

Marco Jansen Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The 21-year-old Jansen, playing in only his second test, returned impressive figures of 4-31 in 17 overs after India had won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that they expected to offer rewards for the batsmen.

South Africa were 35-1 in reply at the close of play, with captain Dean Elgar (11 not out) and Keegan Petersen (14 not out).

Opener Aiden Markram was removed early for seven as the home team began their reply, caught leg before wicket by Mohammed Sami as he missed a straight delivery.

India suffered a blow before the start when captain Virat Kohli pulled out of the test with an upper back strain, but stand-in skipper KL Rahul made 50 as he attempted to lead from the front on a spongy wicket.

India won the first Test by 113 runs.

-Reuters

Kyre Irving to return this week

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving plans to make his season debut on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.

Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets

Photo: AFP

Unvaccinated, Irving is rejoining the team on a part-time basis in a complicated scheduling web that involves state protocol.

Unable to take part in home games due to New York's COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the 29-year-old is expected to compete in most road contests -- except against the New York Knicks and also the Toronto Raptors, due to Ontario regulations.

Led by NBA scoring leader and MVP favourite Kevin Durant, the Nets have held their own without Irving. They take the second-best record (23-11) in the Eastern Conference into today's game against the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.

Irving, a seven-time All-Star, played in 54 regular-season games for the Nets last season and averaged 26.9 points, 6.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds.

-Reuters

Loeb wins stage two

Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb won the second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia to trim Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah's overall lead to just over nine minutes.

Sebastien Loeb on the Dakar Rally.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The 47-year-old Frenchman finished three minutes and 28 seconds ahead of the Toyota driver, who won the prologue and the first stage but had to go first and clear the way on Monday's 338km timed stage from Ha'il to Al Qaisumah.

The overnight bivouac was moved from Al Artawiya due to heavy rain, with a planned marathon stage cancelled.

Britain's Sam Sunderland took over the lead in the motorcycle category from Australian GasGas team mate Daniel Sanders, who lost his way and finished 23rd in the stage to drop to third overall.

Spaniard Joan Barreda was the stage winner on a Honda.

Loeb's stage win was his 15th in the annual endurance event and first since 2019 as well as a first for Prodrive, the British motorsport company that runs the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team.

The electric Audis of triple champion Carlos Sainz and 14-times Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel finished the stage third and fourth respectively after a nightmare Sunday wrecked their overall chances.

Defending champion Peterhansel, nicknamed 'Mr Dakar' for his success in the event on two wheels and four, resumed 23 hours behind triple champion Al Attiyah after his car was sidelined with a smashed rear axle.

-Reuters

Hafeez retires

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing the curtain down on a career spanning nearly two decades in the national team with whom he won the Champions Trophy in 2017.

Mohammad Hafeez

Mohammad Hafeez Photo: Photosport

The 41-year-old all-rounder made his debut in 2003 and went on to play 55 tests, 218 one-day internationals and 119 Twenty20 internationals, scoring 12,780 runs across the three formats and claiming 253 wickets overall.

He last donned Pakistan colours in their T20 World Cup semi-final defeat by Australia in Dubai in November. His last ODI was against Bangladesh in 2019 while his final test appearance came a year earlier against New Zealand.

Hafeez made his name as an opening batsman but also proved to be a handy off-spinner in white-ball cricket, topping the International Cricket Council rankings for bowlers and all-rounders in August 2012 and January 2013.

-Reuters

Ferguson sacked

Former Australian rugby league international Blake Ferguson has been sacked by Japanese rugby union side NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu after he was arrested on suspicion of drug offences.

Ferguson, who recently switched codes after playing for more than a decade in Australia's National Rugby League, had joined the club after failing to secure a new deal with the Parramatta Eels at the end of the 2021 season.

However, Green Rockets, where former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is director of rugby, said the 31-year-old had had his contract cancelled.

The club updated an earlier statement posted on their website to confirm their deal with the winger had been terminated.

-Reuters

Argentina beat Greece at ATP Cup

Stefanos Tsitsipas showed little sign of the elbow problem that forced him out of his ATP Cup singles opener but he failed to find a way past Diego Schwartzman as the Argentine won an epic three set battle to lead his team to a 3-0 win over Greece.

In Group A, former winners Serbia failed to make their advantage count after clinching the opening singles rubber, going down 2-1 to Chile.

Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut beat world number eight Casper Ruud in straight sets in Group A to eliminate Norway, while Georgia were also knocked out after losing to Poland.

-Reuters