Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest- The former New Zealand Cricket president and selector, and cricket historian, Don Neely has died, aged 86.

Neely played first-class cricket for Wellington and Auckland between 1964 and 1971.

He was a national men's team selector for 14 years, including seven as the convenor of the selection panel.

He was NZC president for three years and went on to become one of the country's foremost cricket historians, writing more than 30 books about the sport.

He was also a NZC life member and had the scoreboard at the Basin Reserve named in his honour.

US Open battles for Kiwi duo

New Zealand duo Ryan Fox and Danny Lee have been among the many players to battle with a typically challenging course on the opening day of this year's US Open.

Fox has carded a four-over par 74, while Lee was two further shots back at six-over after the first round at The Country Club outside Boston.

It put both well back of the lead, held by Canadian Adam Hadwin at four-under par.

In-form world No 3 Rory McIlroy was part of a five-strong group who were one shot back at three-under.

Coming in with a win and four other top 10s in his last five European Tour events, Fox had three birdies but five bogeys and a double bogey at the par four 15th ensured he ended the day in black numbers.

Lee also wrestled with the tough layout, managing just one birdie and piling up seven bogeys to leave himself needing a strong second round to make the cut.

Meanwhile Lydia Ko produced a mixed opening round to start the latest LPGA Tour event in Michigan.

The world No 4 had five birdies and three bogeys to card a two-under par 70 and be tied for 45th, seven shots behind American leader Jennifer Kupcho.

Conway latest to go down with Covid

Black Caps batter Devon Conway has tested positive for Covid-19 and has begun five days of isolation.

He joins all-rounder Michael Bracewell and support staff personnel Vijay Vallabh (physio) and Chris Donaldson (strength & conditioning) as members of the tour party to have tested positive on Wednesday.

The three will travel separately from the team to Leeds on Sunday and providing they recover as expected will be able to join the squad for training at Headingley on Tuesday ahead of Thursday's final Test.

The rest of the touring party have returned negative results and will continue following the tour health protocols of symptom reporting and subsequent testing if required.

No replacement players are being sort at this stage.

Meanwhile, England have given a maiden call-up to Surrey seamer Jamie Overton and omitted spinner Matthew Parkinson for the final Test in the only change to the squad that notched up a five-wicket win at Trent Bridge for a 2-0 series lead.

Overton, 28, has been one of the stand-out performers for Surrey this season, picking up 21 wickets at an average of 21.61 in the County Championship. He joins brother Craig in the England squad.

Premier League draw made

Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence with a trip to West Ham United, while the season will kick off with a London derby for the second year in a row as Crystal Palace host Arsenal.

Liverpool, who finished second last season, will travel to newly-promoted Fulham, and Nottingham Forest will play at Newcastle United to mark their return to the Premier League after 23 years.

Chelsea will kick off their season under the new ownership led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital by playing away to Everton, while Bournemouth will host Aston Villa in their first game in the top flight after earning promotion.

Manchester United, under new manager Erik ten Hag, will begin their campaign at home against Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur will host Southampton.

The season will begin on 5 August and conclude on 28 May.

There will be a mid-season break after 12 November to accommodate the World Cup, which runs from 21 November to 18 December in Qatar. The league will resume on Boxing Day.

-Reuters

Weightlifting officials banned for life

Tamas Ajan, the former head of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), and Nicu Vlad, the IWF's former vice-president have been banned from the sport for life for covering up doping offences, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said.

Hungarian Ajan, who has denied wrongdoing, and Romanian Vlad were charged with "complicity and tampering" in regard to doping offences by the ITA in June last year.

The duo were given lifetime bans by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for "covering up, delaying and obstructing results management for certain athletes that committed anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs)," the ITA said in a statement

The ITA, an independent organisation which implements anti-doping programmes for international federations, took over the IWF doping programme in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics.

Allegations of misconduct against top IWF officials were first uncovered by German broadcaster ARD in 2020 and substantiated after an investigation by Professor Richard McLaren the following year.

"The ITA investigated 146 unresolved cases over the 2009-2019 period that have been passed on to the ITA by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)," the ITA said.

"During the ITA investigation, it transpired that some IWF and national member federation officials had themselves also committed ADRVs of complicity and tampering in relation to certain cases."

Ajan and Vlad challenged the charges against them in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which sided with the ITA and issued lifetime bans to the duo.

Ajan, who resigned as IWF president in April 2020, had repeatedly denied allegations in the ARD documentary of corruption in the sport stretching back years.

Vlad stepped aside as IWF vice-president soon after the ITA charged him in June without commenting on the allegations.

-Reuters

England captain to reduce playing time

England's white-ball captain Eoin Morgan will rotate himself this summer, casting further doubt on his playing at the 2023 World Cup.

Morgan, who has skippered the limited-overs side since 2014 and led them to 50-over World Cup glory in 2019, has been trying to manage injuries.

"I genuinely have the best interests of the team at heart. It's always been that way," said Morgan, 35.

England play the first of three one-dayers against Netherlands on Friday.

A hectic July follows, with three Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs apiece against both India and South Africa.

Morgan is currently dealing with a thigh problem and has previously struggled with back and knee issues.

He said he hoped to play in all three of England's ODIs against the Dutch in Amstelveen, but was "reluctant to 100 per cent commit to that" as he will have to "manage" himself.

Morgan said: "Some of our international games are back-to-back, I did it in the West Indies where I played Saturday, Sunday and then injured myself before the game on the Wednesday.

"That was a result of playing two international games back-to-back. So it's unlikely I will be playing every England game this summer.

"But that's purely dependent on how I get from here to that match. If I'm flying and everything is going well absolutely (I'll play), but if not, there is no need to try to replicate that for a World Cup because it just doesn't happen. But yes, I'll just manage."

-BBC

Olympic swimming champion faces a race to be fit for Commonwealth Games

Triple Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty faces a race against time to be fit for the upcoming Commonwealth Games but the 27-year-old says he has the training and experience behind him to return in top shape for Birmingham.

England's Peaty, an eight-times world champion and holder of the 50m and 100m world breaststroke titles, pulled out of this month's world championships after breaking his right foot in the gym in May.

Peaty will have little time to prepare for the 28 July to 8 August Games after his time in a protective boot is over.

"When I come out of the boot, I will have four and a half weeks - it is not a long time to get properly ready for a championship at all, but if anyone can do it I can do it," Peaty told the Daily Mail on Thursday.

"That isn't being arrogant I am just confident. I know I have the fitness, I know I have the background, I know I have 17 years of hardcore training behind me. It is just about whether I can get those feet up in terms of technique.

"We are looking at probably 80% likely now, but at the moment we live between what each scan says."

-Reuters