Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Stephen Curry scored 50 points and set an NBA All-Star Game record with 16 3-point baskets to give Team LeBron a 163-160 victory over Team Durant in Cleveland.

Curry, playing for Team LeBron, shattered the former All-Star record of nine 3-pointers, set by Paul George in 2016. The Golden State Warriors' star fell two points shy of the scoring record set by Anthony Davis in 2017 but still took home MVP honors with his dazzling performance.

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers had 36 points and 10 rebounds to lead Team Durant.

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers hit the game-ending shot to reach the target score and give Team LeBron the victory.

Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks had 30 points and 12 rebounds for Team LeBron. James scored 24 points while playing in his 18th All-Star Game, one shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record.

Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns added 20 points for Team Durant.

Curry had 24 first-half points on a record eight 3-pointers for a half, but Team LeBron trailed 94-93 at the break. Embiid had 17 first-half points to pace Team Durant.

--Field Level Media

Black Caps stick with status quo

The Black Caps will take the same squad into the second test against South Africa at Hagley Oval starting on Friday.

Coach Gary Stead says they did consider a spinner, but felt they didn't need one after the way the pitch played in the first Test.

Stead says they've also decided not to bring pace bowler Trent Boult back following the birth of his third child.

"Just with his loads and where he's at at the moment and being in baby mode he's missed out on a lot of opportunities to play cricket and bowl and we just felt the risk of him playing was far too great at the moment," said Stead.

It does mean first test hero Matt Henry is likely to play again.

New Zealand won the first Test by an innings and 276 runs.

Squad

Tom Latham (c)

Tom Blundell (wk)

Devon Conway

Colin de Grandhomme

Cam Fletcher

Matt Henry

Kyle Jamieson

Daryl Mitchell

Henry Nicholls

Rachin Ravindra

Hamish Rutherford

Tim Southee

Blair Tickner

Neil Wagner

Will Young

United impress

Second-half goals from substitutes Fred and Anthony Elanga earned Manchester United a 4-2 victory over Leeds United in a thriller at Elland Road in the Premier League.

In a red-hot atmosphere, the visitors took the lead in the 34th minute, with captain Harry Maguire heading home to score his side's first league goal from a corner all season.

As the rain became more torrential, United compounded the home side's woes when Bruno Fernandes, who scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture earlier this season, squeezed another header into the net in the first-half stoppage time.

Seemingly dead and buried, Leeds turned the match on its head with two goals in less than a minute early in the second to lift the roof off Elland Road.

The visitors were the ones to get over the line, however, as Fred put his side in front 20 minutes from time before Elanga settled the contest with a late fourth.

The result moved fourth-placed United onto 46 points, four behind Chelsea in third, while Leeds stay 15th, five points above the relegation zone.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' boosted their chances of European football next season as they held off a resurgent Leicester City to secure a 2-1 win at the Molineux.

The win lifted Wolves to seventh in the standings on 40 points after 24 games. Leicester remain in 11th place on 27 points.

-Reuters

Djokovic returns to action

Novak Djokovic is looking forward to kick-starting his 2022 season in Dubai following his deportation from Australia, and said he would be the first to congratulate U.S. Open champion Danil Medvedev if the Russian ends his two-year reign at the top of the world rankings this week.

The 34-year-old Serbian will play competitively today for the first time this year in his opening Dubai Championships match against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, ranked 57th in the world.

"I am as well prepared as I possibly can be and excited to again be able to tour," he told a press conference on Sunday.

Djokovic, who is chasing his 6th tournament win in Dubai, said he resumed training about 10 days after he was deported from Australia and had been playing tennis for the past three weeks.

The world number one, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19, was flown out of Australia after an 11-day ordeal, at the discretion of the country's immigration minister over concerns the tennis star could fuel anti-vax sentiment.

World number two Medvedev, who is playing in the Mexican Open this month, could dethrone Djokovic depending on how well each player performs in their respective tournaments.

"Eventually it's going to happen and if it happens this week, I'll be the first one to congratulate him," Djokovic said.

Medvedev was runner-up in last month's Australian Open.

-Reuters

Otago Sparks and Central Stags qualify for one day finals

A dramatic day of men's and women's one-day cricket has resulted in three of this summer's four national one-day finalists for 2021/22 confirmed - while one last qualifying spot remains up for grabs in the men's Ford Trophy, with the last finalist to be found this week.

The Otago Sparks have been confirmed as the team to join top qualifier Wellington Blaze in this Sunday's Hallyburton Johnstone Shield national final in Queenstown - but the points race between the Sparks and Northern Districts for that privilege could not have been much closer.

The ND-Auckland game finished in a tie, meaning Otago finished ahead of ND on the points table on net run rate.

In the men's Ford Trophy, the unbeaten Central Stags qualified after their win over Wellington.

Auckland have gone ahead of the Firebirds in the standings after beating canterbury, however if the Aces lose both of their remaining games they will slip below Wellington on the standings.

Both national one-day Finals are in Queenstown this year, The Ford Trophy Final on Saturday, 26 February followed by the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield Final on Sunday, 27 February, at John Davies Oval.

There is no Ford Trophy Elimination Final this season due to the congested schedule.

Bing breaks her own record

Portia Bing has broken the national 400m hurdles record at the Sir Graeme Douglas athletics meeting in Auckland

Bing took 0.36 from her three-year-old national mark to run a stunning 55.50 on her way to an emphatic victory.

Competing in near perfect conditions on her home track, the Waitakere AC athlete looked smooth from the outset and also plundered the New Zealand resident record and meet record as well as a Commonwealth B performance standard mark.

The 28-year-old is in the form of her life this season, and set a massive new 400m personal best earlier this season in Hastings.

"It means a lot to me because it on my home ground and I think it is a reflection of all the things I've been working on and it shows that everything is coming together. I'm really excited. It is a good box to tick in my aim to run low 55s high 54s (times for the 400m hurdles).

"I'm super stoked with today. It puts me back on the world rankings list and in a nice position leading into what I hope will be competing at the World Champs, Commonwealth Games.

Tokyo Olympic finalist Hamish Kerr won the men's high jump with 2.30m - just 1cm shy of his national record.

Zoe Hobbs and Tiaan Whelpton won their respective 100m races.

Shot putter Tom Walsh unleashed the three longest throws of his season to continue his gradual improvement during his 2022 campaign.

India sweep Windies

India beat West Indies by 18 runs in the third and final Twenty20 international thanks to a brilliant innings by Suryakumar Yadav at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Sunday to win the series 3-0.

West Indies will fly home without a single victory on the tour having also lost the one-day international series 3-0.

Yadav (65) walked in with India in dire straits at 66-3 at the halfway mark and he went after the bowling, smashing seven sixes -- including three in the final over -- to guide India to a competitive total of 184-5.

West Indies lost wickets cheaply at regular intervals before wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran nearly silenced the sparse crowd with his knock of 61.

Pooran and Romario Shepherd (29) scored in boundaries to give India captain Rohit Sharma cause for concern before Pooran skied a swirling catch to Ishan Kishan and Harshal Patel (3-22) cleaned up the middle order as the tourists fell short.

-Reuters