Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The Boston Celtics have won game three of the NBA basketball finals with a 116-100 win over the Golden State Warriors.

It gives the Celtics a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series with Game five in Boston on Saturday.

Jaylen Brown top scored with 27 points for the Celtic while Jayson Tatum added 26.

Stephen Curry led the way for Golden State with 31 points including six 3-pointers.

Golden State will be anxious over the plight of Curry ahead of game four after heappeared to injury his left leg while vying for a loose ball late in the fourth quarter.

Another milestone for Babar Azam

Babar Azam became the first batsman to twice score three consecutive centuries in one-day internationals after his 103 helped Pakistan beat West Indies by five wickets in Multan.

Captain Babar shared a 103-run partnership with Imam-ul-Haq (65) and a 108-run stand with Mohammad Rizwan (59) as Pakistan chased down a target of 306 to go 1-0 up in the three-match ODI series.

The 27-year-old Babar made two centuries against Australia before today's match and also racked up three tons in a row in 2016, all against West Indies.

Babar hit nine fours in his 17th ODI century and the world's top-ranked ODI batter also surpassed former India skipper Virat Kohli to become the fastest player to reach 1,000 runs as captain.

Meanwhile Australia made heavy weather of a modest chase before beating Sri Lanka by three wickets in the second Twenty20 International in Colombo to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Chasing 125, world champions Australia struggled against Wanindu Hasaranga's (4-33) spin before Matthew Wade's run-a-ball 26 not out secured a tense victory with 13 balls to spare.

The teams move to Pallekele for the final Twenty20, which will be followed by five one-dayers and two test matches.

-Reuters

Maroons topple Blues

Queensland star Cameron Munster stole the show as the Maroons beat New South Wales 16-10 in Sydney in the State of Origin opener.

In front of 80,512 fans at Sydney's Olympic Park, the Maroons, led by Munster, Daly Cherry-Evans and debutant Patrick Carrigan, dominated on their own terms with big moment plays helping Queensland to a special win.

The Blues enjoyed the field possession early to take a 4-0 lead but the injection of Carrigan in the 15th minute swung momentum Queensland's way and from there the visitors came up with points and the defensive efforts late as NSW struggled to take any control in the match.

Queensland scored three tries to two and led 6-4 at half time.

New South Wales have won three of the last four series, with Queensland last victory in 2020.

Game two is in Perth.

Williamson slides in rankings

Kane Williamson has slipped to fifth in the latest Test batting rankings while first test hero Joe Root has risen to number two.

Williamson, who managed 2 and 15 in the loss at Lord's, has dropped two places.

Root, who scored a match winning 155 not out is now just behind Australian Marnus Labuschagne.

Meanwhile Kyle Jamieson, who picked up six wickets in the first test has risen two spots to now be at a career-best third in the test bowling rankings.

Australian Pat Cummins remains number one.

The second England-New Zealand test starts at Trent Bridge on Friday night.

More world championship qualifiers

Brad Mathas and Georgia Hulls have both booked their places at the World Athletics Champs after winning their respective events at the Oceania Championships in Queensland.

Mathas secured his spot by leading home a Kiwi one-two in the senior men's 800m final, winning in a time of 1:53:60... just ahead of Michael Dawson.

Hulls was similarly dominant as she sprinted to an emphatic victory in the 200 - clocking 23.45 to resist the best of the Australian challenge and add her name to the World Championships team.

Mathas will next travel to Europe and base himself in Germany to finetune his preparations for the World Championships.

Hulls will head back to New Zealand for a few days before flying out to France to train with New Zealand 400m hurdles record-holder Portia Bing.

Risoe Elliott won the 400, Connor Bell the discus, Max Atwell the decathlon and Para-athlete Danielle Aitchison the 200.

More US golfers move to LIV

Bryson DeChambeau and fellow major winner Patrick Reed are the latest big names jumping from the PGA Tour to the rival LIV Golf International Series.

Both are expected to compete in the upstart circuit's first event in the United States, scheduled for June 30-July 2 at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Ore.

DeChambeau's agent, Brett Falkoff of GSE Worldwide, confirmed the reports to ESPN.

DeChambeau, 28, and Reed, 31, would give the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour at least nine former major winners on its growing roster, along with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell.

DeChambeau has eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the 2020 U.S. Open. He has been sidelined since having surgery on his left hand in April.

Reed has nine PGA Tour victories, highlighted by his triumph at The Masters in 2018.

Meanwhile Mickelson says he will not follow Dustin Johnson in quitting the PGA Tour as he prepares to feature in the opening event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series near London tonight.

-Reuters

Brumbies lose centre

The ACT Brumbies have welcomed back loose forward Rob Valetini but lost centre Len Ikitau to suspension for the Super Rugby semi-final against the high-flying Blues on Saturday.

Valetini will start at number eight in the clash at Eden Park, with Pete Samu switching to openside flanker and Tom Hooper retaining his spot on the blindside.

Ikitau was suspended for three weeks after being red-carded for a high tackle on Hurricanes first-five Aidan Morgan in the quarter-final in Canberra over the weekend.

The Blues name their team today.

All Blacks captain Sam cane makes his return from injury from the bench for the Chiefs who meet the Crusaders in Christchurch Friday night.

Josh Ioane will start at fullback in place of an ill Emoni Narawa.

The Crusaders have made only one change to the starting side that beat the Queensland Reds in the quarter-finals, bringing Tom Christie in at seven in place of Ethan Blackadder, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a dislocated shoulder.

-Reuters

Modric extends deal

Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has signed a one-year contract extension with Real Madrid and will stay at the European champions at least until June 2023.

The announcement was made not long after the 36-year-old won his fifth Champions League title in a decade with the LaLiga champions. He also won the Ballon d'Or in 2018.

It is the second year in a row that Modric has signed a one-year extension with Real as his current contract was set to expire at the end of June.

Modric has played 436 games in all competitions for Real, scoring 31 goals and providing 73 assists. He is the 20th player with the most appearances in the club's history, two behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Along with five Champions League titles, Modric has also won three LaLiga titles, one Copa del Rey, four Spanish Super Cups, three European Super Cups and four Club World Cups at Madrid.

-Reuters

Indian cricket star retires

India women team captain Mithali Raj has quit international cricket after a 23-year career during which she established herself as the country's greatest female batter.

"Like all journey, this one too must come to and end," the 39-year-old said in a statement on social media.

"Today is the day I retire from all forms of international cricket."

Raj made her India debut as a 16-year-old in a 1996 one-dayer against Ireland and scored 68 against South Africa in a Women's World Cup match in Christchurch in March in what proved to be her last international outing.

Her tally of 7805 runs, which include seven hundreds, from 232 matches makes her the leading scorer in women's ODIs.

She also played 12 test matches scoring 699 runs which include a career-best 214 against England at Taunton in 2002.

-Reuters