Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - England chalked up their biggest ever competitive victory with a 20-0 humiliation of Latvia in a Women's World Cup qualifier in Doncaster.

Ellen White broke the Lionesses's scoring record, bagging a hat-trick to take her tally to 48 from 101 caps for England, beating Kelly Smith's mark by two goals.

Ten different players found the back of the net in a one-way encounter with 21-year-old Lauren Hemp striking four times for her first goals with England.

England top Group D with a maximum 18 points from six games and have now scored 53 goals in the qualifying campaign for the 2023 finals in Australia and New Zealand without conceding, leaving goalkeeper Mary Earps virtually unemployed.

Meanwhile in the men's club Premiership, ten man Newcastle remain winless and at the bottom of the table after drawing 1-1 with Norwich.

Leeds scored a stoppage time penalty to beat Crystal Palace 1-0.

-Reuters

Williamson retains captaincy of Hyderabad

Black Caps captain Kane Williamson is the only New Zealander guaranteed a place in next year's Indian Premier League.

Williamson was one of just three players confirmed by Sunrsiers Hyderabad following the deadline for retention for the 2022 T20 tournament.

Williamson, who has been with Hyderabad since 2015, took over the captaincy this year with the team finishing last.

He will captained them next year.

Trent Boult, who has played in the IPL since 2015, was not retained by the Mumbai Indians.

The 2022 competition involves ten teams with the existing teams allowed to retain a total of four players, including two oversees players.

The two new unnamed teams, to be based in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, can then buy up to three players each from the pool.

The rest of the players will then go into the auction, which has noe had its purse increased to almost $18 million.

Squash tournament off

The men's World Team Squash Championship in Malaysia has been called off due to concerns about the new coronavirus variant Omicron and visa issues for Israeli athletes.

The tournament was set to take place in Kuala Lumpur from Dec. 7-12, after having been moved from Tauranga, New Zealand in May due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The identification of the Omicron variant has prompted several countries to impose travel bans which, the World Squash Federation said had raised concerns that some athletes would be unable to travel to Malaysia.

The global governing body added that the possibility that not all teams would be allowed to enter Malaysia due to visa issues contributed to the decision to call off the tournament.

Malaysia and Israel do not maintain formal diplomatic relations and travel to Malaysia with an Israeli passport is not permitted without written permission from the Malaysian Home Ministry.

The New Zealand team finished fifth at the previous world champs in Washington D.C two years ago and the team consisted of world No 3 Paul Coll, Evan Williams and the Chileshe brothers, Lwamba and Temwa.

-Reuters

Canterbury impress in Ford Trophy

Defending Ford Trophy champions Canterbury got their defence off to a flier with a seven-wicket win over host Northern Districts in Hamilton.

Both sides produced a trio of half centuries but Canterbury chased down their 240 target in a rain-reduced match with almost five overs to spare.

The highlight was a racy unbroken 101-run stand for the fourth wicket between captain Cole McConchie (57 not out off 46 balls) and Leo Carter who was up to his old six-slamming tricks as he blasted six maximums in an incredible knock of 54 not out off just 23 balls to bring it home.

Plundering runs on the leg-side, his half century had flown off just 20 balls (2x4, 6x6) - making it one of the quickest List A one-day fifties in New Zealand history.

In Domestic one-day cricket, his knock sits behind only Central Stag Tom Bruce's 16-ball national record at Pukekura Park in 2015/16 and the 19-ball fifties struck by both ND's Pete McGlashan in Hamilton, 2007/08 and Canterbury's Shanan Stewart in Timaru in 2009/10.

The match was reduced to 32 overs.

Wellington play Otago today.

Ray Kennedy passes

English football is mourning the death of two prominent men.

Former Liverpool and Arsenal midfielder Ray Kennedy has died at the age of 70.

Kennedy, who scored three times in 17 appearances for England, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984.

He scored 71 goals in 212 games for Arsenal, winning the First Division and FA Cup Double in 1971, before joining Liverpool in 1974.

During an eight-year spell at Anfield, where he scored 72 goals in 393 appearances, Kennedy won five league titles and three European Cups.

And former Coventry City manager John Sillett, who led them to FA Cup glory in 1987, has died at the age of 85.

Sillett managed Coventry between 1986-1990 and helped them lift the FA Cup after they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in the final at Wembley, securing the club's first and only major trophy.

Sillett also played as a defender for Chelsea -- where he won a first division title -- Coventry and Plymouth Argyle between 1954 and 1968 before moving into management at Hereford United in 1974.

-BBC

Pakistan win first Test

Pakistan has beaten Bangladesh by eight wickets in the first cricket test in Chittagong.

Pakistan's Abid Ali fell nine runs short of a second consecutive century as the visitors chased down a target of 202 on the final day.

Abid, who scored 133 in Pakistan's first innings, and Abdullah Shafique stitched together a 151-run opening partnership in the second innings to put Pakistan within touching distance of victory.

Pakistan looked like they would cruise to a 10-wicket win, but Mehidy Hasan trapped debutant Abdullah leg-before on 73 to ease the margin of defeat.

Abid lost his wicket six overs later, when Taijul Islam rattled his pads to get him out leg-before.

Azhar Ali (24 not out) and Babar Azam (13 not out) then combined to guide Pakistan over the finish line.

The second test in Dhaka starts on Saturday.

-Reuters

Woods would love to play St Andrews again

Tiger Woods does not know when he will return to the PGA Tour following a February car accident that left him in a wheelchair for two months, but said he would love to compete in the British Open next July at St. Andrews.

Woods, who was close to having his leg amputated after he lost control of his car in Los Angeles, won two of his 15 career major titles at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland and has not ruled out being in the field.

"I would love to play at St. Andrews, there's no doubt it. It's my favorite golf course in the world," Woods said at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas where he is host of this week's Hero World Challenge.

"Physically, hopefully I can. I've got to get there first. Tournament's not going to go anywhere, but I need to get there."

Woods collected his most recent major at the 2019 Masters, a remarkable win that followed several surgeries to his back and knee and personal problems that convinced many the best golfer of his generation was done.

Now Woods, who accepted that the "clock's ticking" on his storied career, said he has "no desire" to resume a full playing schedule but that he would prefer to ramp up his preparations for a few events.

-Reuters

Klusener leaving Afghanistan

Afghanistan head coach Lance Klusener will leave at the end of his contract next month by mutual agreement.

The former South Africa all-rounder was appointed in September 2019 and led Afghanistan at this year's Twenty20 World Cup, where they won two of five matches in the group stages.

The ACB said that it had mutually decided with Klusener not to extend his contract, which is due to expire on Dec. 31.

Under Klusener, Afghanistan won one of their three test matches, three out of six one-day internationals and nine out of 14 T20 internationals.

Cricket's governing body, the ICC, has set up a working group to determine the future of the game in Afghanistan under the Taliban government.

Afghanistan's remarkable rise in cricket in recent years has been the sport's biggest fairytale story but the strife-torn nation risks international isolation following the country's Taliban takeover in August.

-Reuters

Perth Ashes test looking unlikely

Cricket Australia's hopes of staging the fifth Ashes test in Perth appear in jeopardy, with the Western Australia state government reiterating its "very strict rules" on quarantine and restrictions on players' family members.

Perth Stadium is scheduled to host the final match of the Australia-England series from Jan. 14 but WA authorities have insisted players and staff quarantine after entering the state from New South Wales, which holds the fourth test in Sydney.

WA authorities demanded players quarantine before Perth hosted the Australian Football League's title-deciding Grand Final in September.

WA's hardline stance leaves the Perth test in major doubt given the short break after the Jan. 6-9 Sydney test.

England's players, who are preparing in southern Queensland for next week's series-opener in Brisbane, negotiated successfully to have their families join them on tour to Australia, where borders remain effectively closed to non-residents.

Other Australian states have put their hands up to host the Ashes finale, including NSW and Tasmania.

-Reuters

More Covid cases in Munster

Munster have announced that nine more of their personnel in South Africa have tested positive for Covid-19.

The Irish province's two scheduled rugby games in South Africa were postponed following the detection of the Omicron variant in the region.

But as Munster attempted to make arrangements to travel home, one of their squad tested positive for Covid.

The rest of the squad was given clearance to travel home but the latest development is likely to delay that.

Welsh side Cardiff remain in Cape Town after two positive cases in their squad were discovered on Sunday, while Scarlets are isolating in a Belfast hotel having flown into Dublin in the early hours of Monday morning.

-BBC

China confident about Winter Olympics

China expects to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics "smoothly" and on schedule, despite challenges posed by the emergence of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

"I believe it will definitely pose some challenge to our efforts to prevent and control the virus, but as China has experience in preventing and controlling the coronavirus, I fully believe that China will be able to host the Winter Olympics as scheduled, smoothly and successfully," Zhao said.

Beijing is set to stage the Games from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20, without foreign spectators and with all athletes and related personnel contained in a "closed-loop" and subject to daily testing for COVID-19.

Under its "zero-COVID" policy, China has had what are among the world's strictest COVID-19 prevention measures.

-Reuters