Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The New Zealand Breakers' request to have their season opening game in basketball's NBL postponed has been denied.

The NBL have confirmed Saturday's game against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne will go ahead as planned.

The Breakers had requested for the game to be rescheduled due to the nine positve Covid-19 cases in their wider touring party, including two starting players and head coach Dan Shamir.

"The NBL has a policy regarding the rescheduling, postponement or cancelation of games specific to Covid-19 related scenarios," the league said in a statement on Monday.

"Under the policy the New Zealand versus South East Melbourne Phoenix game will continue as planned."

Breakers owner Matt Walsh, who was also one of the positive cases, said on Sunday if Saturday's game went ahead, it was "unlikely" Shamir would be involved and added they would "probably" be without the two starting players impacted.

Walsh had wanted their season-opener pushed back until the scheduled date of their second game, which was December 10.

Silver Ferns defender announces pregnancy

Silver Ferns defender Jane Watson is set to miss next year's Commonwealth Games after announcing she is expecting her first child.

The 31-year-old, who had 52 caps for the national netball side, shared the news on social media on Monday.

"New adventures ahead! Very excited about our 2022 pēpē," Watson posted on Instagram.

"Not quite as we had planned but apparently it never is! Hoping this time pēpē grows healthy and strong. Fur babies already looking protective or unsure."

The announcement meant Watson wouldn't be available for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, starting late July, and would also miss next year's ANZ Premiership.

While her unavailability would be a blow for the Silver Ferns, it had come at a time when two well-known defenders were returning to the mix.

After becoming mothers for the first-time last year, both Kayla Johnson, née Cullen, and Phoenix Karaka would be in attendance at the national training camp in Wellington next month.

Watson had been set to return to the court early next year after undergoing ankle surgery following last year's ANZ Premiership final.

Chelsea held by United

Manchester United put their worries to one side to hold Premier League leaders Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea, seeking to maintain their lead at the top of the table over Manchester City and Liverpool, dominated the first half against a United side playing their first Premier League match under caretaker manager Michael Carrick after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's sacking last weekend.

The Blues were punished for failing to turn possession into goals five minutes after the restart when United cleared and Jorginho, alone near the half-way line, miscontrolled and Jadon Sancho raced past him to beat the helpless Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea were rocked by the goal against the run of play but Jorginho repaid his debt to the Stamford Bridge faithful in the 69th minute when he coolly converted a penalty after Aaron Wan-Bissaka fouled Thiago Silva.

The result leaves Chelsea top of the table, a point ahead of Manchester City and two clear of Liverpool. United sit in eighth place, 12 points behind Chelsea.

City captain Ilkay Gundogan struck in the midst of a first-half snowstorm before a late goal from substitute Fernandinho proved enough to secure a 2-1 win over West Ham United

West Ham stay fourth on 23 points.

Jamie Vardy scored twice as Leicester beat Watford 4-2 in a hugely entertaining match to ruin Claudio Ranieri's return to the King Power Stadium.

Brentford beate Everton 1-0 and the game between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor was called off less than an hour before kickoff due to heavy snowfall.

-Reuters

Big bat from Cleaver

Central Stags wicketkeeper-batsman Dane Cleaver smashed one of New Zealand's fastest T20 centuries as the Stags beat Otago by five wickets in their Super Smash game in Dunedin.

Hamish Rutherford scored 82 as Otago made 184-4.

Cleaver's maiden T20 century flew off just 48 balls and formed part of a new Stags second-wicket partnership record of 156 with Greg Hay - the 37-year-old first-class veteran playing his first T20 match since November 2014.

Central reached their traget with an over to spare.

Earlier Suzy Bates scored 64 as the Otago Sparks beat the Central Hinds by eight runs.

Frank Williams passes

Frank Williams, the founder and former team principal of the once-dominant Williams Racing Formula One team, has died aged 79.

"After being admitted into hospital on Friday, Sir Frank, passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his family," Williams Racing said in a statement.

Williams and his daughter Claire, a former deputy team principal, no longer have any involvement with the British-based F1 team after it was sold to U.S.-based Dorilton Capital last year.

Williams had been in a wheelchair since he was paralysed in a car crash in France in 1986. He was admitted to hospital in 2016 with pneumonia and again in December last year.

Under Williams' leadership, the team won nine constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, most recently with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in 1997.

-Reuters

Rugby teams stuck in South Africa

Irish rugby team Munster and Welsh side Cardiff were unable to leave South Africa as planned on Sunday after both returned positive COVID-19 cases.

Cardiff said they have two positive cases, one suspected to be the new variant Omicron, while Munster have one case so far, but did not say whether the positive test was the new variant.

Both teams will isolate in their Cape Town hotels while they work out a way forward, having hoped to leave South Africa on a charter flight on Sunday along with fellow Welsh side Scarlets.

Munster, Scarlets, Cardiff and Italian side Zebre were in South Africa for matches in the United Rugby Championship when authorities raised the alarm about the Omicron variant.

The teams will have to isolate for 10 days on their eventual return home, which will have a potentially massive impact on their future fixtures.

Direct flights from South Africa to Britain were halted on Friday and travellers from southern Africa arriving in Britain and European Countries face onerous quarantine restrictions as part of steps to avoid the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus detected this week.

-Reuters

Kanter changes name

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is changing his last name to Freedom.

He is set to become a U.S. citizen today and will legally become Enes Kanter Freedom.

Kanter, a native of Turkey, has been a social- and human-rights activist over the past several years. He has protested against the regime of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and previously called him the "Hitler of our century."

The Turkish government put a warrant out for his arrest in 2019, accusing him of being a member of a terrorist group. Kanter shared on social media in July 2020 a sampling of the "thousands" of death threats he said he received daily.

More recently, he has been critical of the human-rights record of the Chinese government as Beijing prepares to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, calling for the International Olympic Committee to move the Games. He also has criticized Nike for doing business in China and LeBron James, a prominent Nike endorser, for not standing up for human rights.

Kanter, 29, has played sparingly for the Celtics this season. In nine games, he's averaging 4.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 11.2 minutes.

He is in his 11th season in the NBA and has played for five teams.

-Reuters

Perth Ashes test in doubt

Perth has a 50-50 chance of hosting the fifth Ashes test between Australia and England, Western Australia Cricket Association chief executive Christina Matthews said.

The Ashes finale is scheduled for Jan. 14 at Perth Stadium but the fixture remains in doubt due to Western Australia state's strict COVID-19 policies.

Matthews said earlier this month she was "very positive about the match going ahead in Perth despite concerns that players and staff might have to quarantine upon arrival. She had also said Tasmania's attempt to move the test to Hobart was doomed to fail.

Matthews was far from certain over the weekend.

"I'd probably say at the moment I'm 50-50," she told ABC Radio. "I'd gone as high as 97% but I've gone back to 50-50. We'll wait and see."

The Western Australia state government would need to relax some restrictions for the test to go ahead in Perth.

The five-test Ashes is due to begin on Dec. 8 in Brisbane. Australia retained the Ashes when the teams last met in 2019 in England after a 2-2 series draw.

-Reuters