Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Copy That has won the New Zealand Trotting Cup at Christchurch's Addington Raceway.

Driver Blair Orange was near the front for most of the 3200 metre harness race to claim his second Cup win. Orange first won with Cruz Bromac in 2019.

Pre-race favourite Self Assured finished in second and South Coast Arden was third.

Auckland pacer, Copy That, avenged a poor start to the 2020 race to hold on for a clear victory at a near empty Addington.

Warriors schedule Auckland games

The Warriors have five home games scheduled for Mount Smart Stadium in today's release of the 2022 NRL draw.

The NRL has marked down 18 June in round 15 for the first Mount Smart game day in 1023 days.

The clash will be against the defending premiers the Penrith Panthers.

Also heading to Auckland in the later part of the season will be the NRL's benchmark club the Melbourne Storm in round 20 as well as the Wests Tigers (round 16), the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs (round 22) and the Gold Coast Titans (round 25).

St George Illawarra will be the Warriors' opening round opponent for the first time in the club's history when they kick off their season on 12 March.

The Warriors are scheduled to play five of their home games at Redcliffe's Moreton Daily Stadium - the club's base for 2022 - with one each at Sunshine Coast Stadium and Suncorp Stadium plus five at Mount Smart Stadium.

Danny Lee regains playing rights

New Zealand golfer Danny Lee will play a full part on the PGA tour following his impressive start to the new season.

Lee finished tied for second and tied for seventh over the last two weeks, while playing with a medical exemption.

He finished outside the top 125 on the money list last season losing his full playing rights.

Lee missed a number of tournaments earlier this year after fracturing a rib.

However he's most the most of his medical exemption earning $1.1 million in the last fortnight, twice as much as he earnt in 24 tournaments last season.

More importantly for his playing rights he's earnt enough ranking points to now command regular starts for the rest of the season.

Lee won't play this week's tournament in Texas.

Lee has jumped 27 spots in the world golf rankings to be at 192, just ahead of Ryan Fox.

Jason Roy to miss rest of World Cup

England opener Jason Roy has been ruled out of the remainder of the Twenty20 World Cup due to a torn calf muscle.

England play New Zealand in the first semi-final on Thursday morning.

The International Cricket Council has approved batsman James Vince as his replacement.

Roy retired hurt with the problem during England's 10-run loss to South Africa in their final Super 12 match even though Eoin Morgan's team still qualified for the last four as the Group I leaders.

"I'm gutted to be ruled out of the World Cup. It is a bitter pill to swallow," Roy said. "I will be staying on to support the boys, and hopefully, we can go all the way and lift that trophy.

"It has been an unbelievable journey so far, and we have to continue expressing ourselves and concentrating on us.

"The rehab has already started, and even though I've torn my calf I'm going to give myself the best chance of being ready for the T20 tour of the Caribbean at the start of next year."

Sam Billings, who is in the 15-man squad but has not played a game in the World Cup, could come into the side, with the option of promoting Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan or Moeen Ali to open.

-Reuters

Another game for All Whites

The All Whites have secured another international fixture with a game against Algeria on Friday.

The match will be played ahead of the All Whites international friendly against The Gambia next week.

Both games will be played in Dubai.

Algeria is preparing for the FIFA Arab Cup to be played in Qatar at the end of the month.

The squad arrived in Abu Dhabi today without defender Bill Tuiloma who has had to withdraw through injury.

Head Coach Danny Hay stressed the importance of building on the work from the October camp:

"As good as it is to get two wins in the October window, the performance level is what pleased me the most. This should now be seen as the minimum we expect going forward.

"Playing a warm up game like this is especially useful as it allows us to try out a few different options which is critical ahead of our World Cup qualification campaign.

"The more time we can have together the better, so the time in camp to continue to build the culture and bonds in the squad is really important."

The New Zealand squad does not contain any Australasian based players.

India end with a win

Virat Kohli ended his stint as India's 20-overs captain on a winning note after his eliminated side beat Namibia by nine wickets in a Twenty20 World Cup dead rubber.

Kohli's bid to lead the inaugural champions to their second Twenty20 World Cup title was effectively over after the comprehensive defeats by Pakistan and New Zealand, both of whom reached the last four from Group II.

The pre-tournament favourites won their last three matches but still crashed out of what was Kohli's final tournament as India's 20-overs captain.

Spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin split six wickets to restrict debutants Namibia to 132-8 after Kohli inserted Namibia at the Dubai International Stadium.

Rohit Sharma (56) and KL Rahul (54 not out) smashed brisk fifties as India prevailed in the 16th over.

-Reuters

Canterbury continue to impress

Canterbury are well placed for a second straight win over Wellington in the Plunket Shield.

After two days at the Basin Reserve, Canterbury are 247 for four in their second innings, a lead of 269 runs.

Ken McClure scored his sixth first-class century with 130, while Wellington are without bowler Ollie Newton, who fractured his hand while batting on day one.

Meanwhile in Nelson, Otago are 45 without loss in their second innings, a lead of 24 runs over Central.

Canterbury top the Plunket Shield standings with Northern Districts and Auckland not yet involved.

Howe heading to Newcastle

Newcastle United have named former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe as head coach until 2024 following the departure of Steve Bruce last month.

Howe's first task will be to drag Newcastle out of the Premier League relegation zone. The club, who have wealthy new owners but cannot buy any players until January, are second-bottom of the standings, five points adrift of the safety zone, having failed to win a league game so far this season.

Howe, 43, has been out of a job since he left Bournemouth in August 2020 after the south-coast club were relegated from the Premier League on the final day of the season.

Graeme Jones was interim manager for the last three games after Bruce left following a takeover of the club by a consortium 80%-led by Saudi Arabia's PIF sovereign wealth fund.

Howe was in the stands for the 1-1 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. His first game in charge will follow the international break when Brentford visit St James' Park on Nov. 20.

Newcastle have five points from 11 games but Howe is no stranger to relegation dogfights having been in charge of Bournemouth for over 450 games across two spells spanning more than a decade at the Vitality Stadium.

Following his appointment midway through the 2008-09 season, he kept a flailing Bournemouth side up in the fourth-tier League Two, avoiding relegation to non-league despite being docked 17 points amid crippling debts.

-Reuters

Australia to tour Pakistan

Australia will tour Pakistan next year for the first time since 1998 with the visitors playing three tests, three one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match from March to April.

The announcement is a huge boost for Pakistan cricket after New Zealand and England cancelled tours in September citing security concerns.

The tests would be part of the World Test Championship while the ODIs would be linked to the inaugural ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League.

Australia will play tests in Karachi (March 3-7), Rawalpindi (March 12-16) and Lahore (March 21-25) followed by the limited over matches in Lahore between March 29-April 5.

The teams are also set to face each other in the T20 World Cup semi-final on Friday.

Australia beat Pakistan 1-0 in a three-test series the last time they toured the country. Pakistan have since played their 'home' tests against Australia in the United Arab Emirates.

International teams have largely refused to tour Pakistan since an attack by Islamist militants on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians.

West Indies are also touring Pakistan in December, playing three T20s and three ODIs.

-Reuters

Spectator to be banned after running onto field

A spectator who ran onto the field and disrupted proceedings in South Africa's 23-18 win over Wales at the Principality Stadium at the weekend has been identified as a registered player who will now be banned from the venue by the Welsh Rugby Union.

With the game locked at 15-15 in the 64th minute, Wales had a one-man advantage out wide with substitute Liam Williams in a position to score when the individual disrupted the move.

He was eventually wrestled to the ground by stewards before being led away by a security team. Wales coach Wayne Pivac said he did not want to see such incidents during matches.

Principality Stadium manager Mark Williams said they worked with South Wales Police to identify the person, who is a member of a rugby club.

-Reuters

Celtics interested in Simmons

The Boston Celtics have expressed interest in trading for Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons.

The report described the talks as "fluid with no traction as of yet," and said any potential deal must include Boston forward Jaylen Brown.

Simmons, a three-time All-Star, has yet to play for the 76ers this season. The team reportedly began fining him his $500,000 game checks last Friday for each contest he misses.

Simmons, 25, has told the organization he is working on his mental health but has refused to accept any help from team physicians.

Simmons has four years and $200 million left on his five-year contract. He has averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists in 275 games since Philadelphia drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016 -- two spots ahead of Brown.

-Reuters

Standing approved for some EPL clubs

Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Chelsea and Cardiff City have received approval to have licensed safe standing in seated areas from Jan. 1.

The UK government had instructed the Sports Grounds Safety Authority in September to trial safe standing in selected Premier League and Championship grounds to take the first steps in creating licensed standing areas.

Grounds in England's top divisions were converted to all-seater stadiums nearly 30 years ago after Liverpool supporters were crushed in over-crowded and fenced-in areas at the Hillsborough Stadium in 1989, which led to 97 deaths.

Research is set to be carried out to evaluate the implementation of the licensed standing areas after which the government will decide on a potential wider roll-out next season.

-Reuters