Today's sports news: what you need to know

Latest - The controversial cricketer Scott Kuggeleijn has been named in the Black Caps Twenty20 side to play Sri Lanka in a three match series next month.

Kuggeleijn, who was found not guilty of rape in 2017 after facing two trials and has previously played two one day internationals for New Zealand and four T20 games.

His international selection last year was controversial and he received a hostile reception from some fans and commentators while New Zealand Cricket was criticised for selecting him.

His last game for the Black Caps was against India in a T20 match in Hamilton in February.

He played a couple of games in the Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super Kings and also appeared in the Canadian T20 competition for the Montreal Tigers.

Tim Southee will captain the New Zealand side in next month's three match series with regular skipper Kane Williamson and pace bowler Trent Boult returning home from the current test tour for a planned break ahead of busy domestic summer.

Lomu's former manager dismayed over mini-series

Former manager of All Blacks star Jonah Lomu is outraged at the miniseries "Jonah" depicting Lomu's life.

The series simply titled "Jonah" was aired on Three for the past two nights which featured Kingsley-Jones himself and the story of Lomu as a schoolboy playing rugby up until his untimely death.

The Welshman who is largley touted as the man who discovered Lomu took to Facebook stating: "Just watched TV movie Jonah it was all over the place and a lot of truths left out so much wrong and bullshit I know I was there. Cant trust some media."

Kingsley-Jones told the Herald last year he had not been consulted about the series.

Breakers confirm Christchurch games

Christchurch basketball fans won't need to go anywhere to get a close up look at new Breakers star RJ Hampton during the upcoming ANBL season.

The Auckland-based franchise have confirmed they will play two home games in Christchurch in their 2019-20 campaign.

The games are on December 20 and then their final regular season fixture on February 14 - with both against new team the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

One of the top rated teenage players from the US - 18 year old Hampton arrived in New Zealand on Saturday and is using his season with the Breakers to prepare him for entering the NBA next year.

He is expected to be a top six pick in the NBA's pre-season player draft.

Anstey tops TT practice

The New Zealand motorcyclist Bruce Anstey has made a dramatic return to the Isle of Man TT, posting the fastest time in the first Lightweight Classic practice.

The 50 year old took a year off from the sport while he battled cancer.

Anstey has 13 TT wins at the historic Island course.

After the lap Bruce Anstey said: "It was great to get out and on the second lap things clicked and it felt like normal and as though I'd never been away."

Anstey is riding a Padgetts Motorcycles Honda 250 and team boss Clive Padgett said: "I'm just over the moon. He's loving life - it's incredible. He was smiling from the off and all the fans are so pleased to see him back and we've had so many great comments."

The Classic TT race is Saturday night.

United drop points

Paul Pogba missed a penalty as Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw at Wolves in the English Premier League.

Anthony Martial put United in front on 27 minutes but Ruben Neves equalised 10 minutes into the second half.

Pogba won a penalty but then saw his spot-kick saved by Rui Patricio as United dropped their first points of the season.

The result gave Wolves their second draw out of two matches this season.

-AAP

It's official, Wales are now the top ranked men's team in World Rugby.

It is the first time since the rankings were introduced in 2003 that Wales have been number one.

It ends the All Blacks run of 509 consecutive weeks on top.

Even though the All Blacks retained the Bledisloe Cup with a 36-0 victory against Australia at Eden Park in Auckland, Wales knew any form of victory against England in Cardiff would result in them overtaking the world champions.

With Wales' rating now increasing to 89.43 rating points, three-hundredths of a point separates the Six Nations Grand Slam winners from New Zealand.

Wales are only the fourth team to occupy the number one ranking, after England, New Zealand - for 88.29 per cent of the time - and South Africa.

The rest of the top ten is Ireland, South Africa, England, Australia, France, Scotland, Japan and Fiji.

-World Rugby

Sailors in the hunt for medals

Four New Zealand crews remain in the hunt for medals after three days of the Tokyo Olympic Sailing Test regatta.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are back on top of the 49er fleet, Sam Meech is second in the Laser, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech are third in the 49er FX and Andy Maloney is fourth in the Finn.

Andy Maloney had the best day with two wins which improved him five places.

Maloney has enjoyed a great run of results in 2019, winning two regattas and finishing second in another, but found himself in ninth at the start of day three at the Olympic test event.

"I knew what I was doing wrong in the first couple of days," he said. "Little mistakes were letting me down and I just righted those wrongs and was sailing much better today. It was definitely a confidence booster to get back on the right track."

Kane drops in batting rankings

The Australian Steve Smith has replaced Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson at number two in the latest ICC Test batting rankings.

India's Virat Kohli remains number one, while the inform Australian is up to two and Williamson drops to three.

Williamson had a duck and four in his two bats in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Henry Nicholls is the next best New Zealander at number five.

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne's player of the match effort of 39 and 122 at Galle has not only helped his team take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series with a six-wicket win but has also helped the opener move up four places to 8th position.

Neil Wagner is the top ranked New Zealand bowler at six, just ahead of Trent Boult, while Australian Pat Cummins is number one.

England name unchanged squad

England have named an unchanged 12-man squad for the third Ashes test against Australia starting Headingly on Thursday, with recovering seamer James Anderson set to play for Lancashire's second XI to step up his rehabilitation.

Anderson, who is recuperating from a right calf injury, will feature against Leicestershire in a three-day friendly match starting tonight.

England's leading test wicket-taker Anderson aggravated his calf injury during the first test at Edgbaston, which Australia won by 251 runs.

Fast bowler Jofra Archer, who replaced Anderson in the second test, claimed five wickets on debut at Lord's and bowled consistently over 90 mph.

The second test ended in a draw, with Australia leading the five-test series 1-0.

-Reuters

Leguizamon makes another World Cup

Loose-forward Juan Manuel Leguizamon will follow a select group of Argentines to have played in four Rugby World Cup finals after he was named in the country's 31-man squad for next month's tournament in Japan.

The 36-year-old, who made his international debut in 2005, will join Felipe Contepomi, Agustin Pichot and Argentina coach Mario Ledesma as the only players from the South American nation to have achieved the feat.

Experienced flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez, the country's leading points-scorer, is one of three overseas-based players included in the selection. The Stade Francais flyhalf is joined by fellow pivot Benjamin Urdapilleta from Castres and Saracens prop Juan Figallo.

The majority of the squad, which has 17 forwards and 14 backs, is made up from Jaguares, who were beaten finalists in Super Rugby this season.

The side will be captained by flank Pablo Matera, who took over this season from hooker Agustin Creevy.

Argentina have been drawn in Pool C in Japan with England, France, United States and Tonga, and will open their campaign against the French at the Tokyo Stadium on Sept. 21.

-Reuters

Farah wants to play again

Retiring Wests Tigers great Robbie Farah has been told by doctors not to play again but says he's prepared to ignore their advice for an NRL swan song.

After suffering a broken leg against Manly a week-and-a-half ago, Farah is facing huge odds to get back on the field one final time before he hangs up his boots at season's end.

With three games left in the regular season and the Tigers hanging onto their finals hopes by their fingernails, Farah says he has faced up to the possibility he may have played his last game.

After his replacement Jacob Liddle suffered a season-ending ACL tear, the Tigers have been thrust into a dummy-half crisis with out-of-favour playmaker Josh Reynolds set to be recalled to wear the No.9 jersey against Newcastle.

But in a sign of Farah's determination to turn out for his beloved Tigers one last time, the notoriously stubborn No.9 has vowed: "I won't die wondering."

And of the lengths he'll go to get back on the field, he quipped: "If we've got to win to make the semis, I'll cut it off if I have to."

-AAP

Belgium interested in World Cup

The Belgian Football Association has expressed interest in hosting the 2023 edition of the women's World Cup to join nine other member associations in the bidding process.

Belgium's decision follows the FIFA Council agreeing to increase the number of participating teams for the 2023 event from 24 to 32 and the subsequent reopening of the bidding process.

By registering interest, Belgium joins the race alongside Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea which is interested in a joint bid with its North Korean counterpart.

The tournament's expansion was pledged by FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the close of this year's edition in France, which was won for a record-extending fourth time by the United States.

-Reuters

Springboks lose Coetzee

South Africa loose-forward Marcell Coetzee is out of the Rugby World Cup after it was confirmed he will undergo ankle surgery this week that will sideline him for 12 weeks.

Coetzee was replaced after 17 minutes of Saturday's 24-18 World Cup warm-up victory over Argentina in Pretoria but coach Rassie Erasmus said he was hopeful the Ulster back-rower would be available when he names his 31-man squad on Aug. 26.

The Boks are already without number eight Warren Whiteley through injury, and must now find a back-up to the influential Duane Vermeulen, with Francois Louw having played at the back of the scrum this season as well.

South Africa open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Yokohama on Sept. 21. They have also been pooled with Italy, Namibia and Canada.

-Reuters

Bayern sign former Liverpool star

German Bundesliga football champions Bayern Munich have signed Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho on loan for the season, with the player hoping for better times than at his previous team.

Bayern will pay a loan fee of $15 million and pay his wages. They have the option of making the deal permanent for a fee of $207 million.

Coutinho, who joined Barcelona in January last year for approximately $245 million, was the third most expensive transfer in history but he failed to hit the same heights at the Camp Nou as he did with Liverpool.

The move puts pressure on New Zealander Sapreet Singh retaining a place in the Bayern first team.

-Reuters

Slow golfers to be penalised

European Tour golf players will incur a one-shot penalty from November if they are deemed to have breached slow play regulations twice in a single round.

In addition, players who consistently need to be timed or are "on the clock" will face stiffer fines from next season.

For example, a player who is timed on 15 occasions during a season will be fined $50,000, as opposed to the current $17,000-pound fine in place.

Players will, however, have the option to request one time extension per round, giving an additional 40 seconds to hit a shot.

Slow play has been a hot topic recently after American Bryson DeChambeau took more than two minutes to line up a putt during at the Northern Trust tournament in New Jersey.

-Reuters