27 Jan 2020

Today’s sports news: What you need to know

6:15 pm on 27 January 2020

Latest - South Africa have taken an unassailble two nil lead in the three match one day cricket series against the New Zealand women's side in Auckland.

Suzie Bates top scored for the White Ferns.

Suzie Bates top scored for the White Ferns. Photo: Photosport

South Africa have won game two at Eden Park by eight wickets.

Batting first the White Ferns could muster just 115 with Suzie Bates top scoring with 38.

South had little trouble chasing down the target in 24 overs.

Pace bowler Marizanne Kapp was the most successful of the South African bowlers, taking four wickets.

Game three is in Hamilton on Thursday.

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon and his Cadillac team has won the Daytona 24 race in Florida.

#10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPI VR.

Cadillac Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi was at the wheel as the Wayne Taylor Racing car defended its title.

They finished a minute ahead of pole-sitter Oliver Jarvis in a Mazda.

The winning entry completed 833 laps, smashing the previous lap record of 808 set in 2018.

It is the third time Dixon, a five-time Indycar champion, has won at Daytona.

Fellow New Zealand Earl Bamber in a Porsche was second in his class and 14th overall, while Shane van Gisbergen was 31st overall in a Lexus.

Reds draw in FA Cup

Premier League leaders Liverpool were given a huge scare by third-tier Shrewsbury Town as they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 away in a pulsating FA Cup fourth round tie.

A much-changed Liverpool appeared to be cruising into the fifth round for the first time since Juergen Klopp took over in 2015, but Shrewsbury substitute Jason Cummins had the compact New Meadow stadium rocking with a memorable brace.

The seven-time Cup winners will now host the replay at Anfield.

Manchester United thrashed third-tier Tranmere Rovers 6-0 to join Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round.

Holders City romped to victory 4-0 over second-tier Fulham.

-Reuters

Double-double for mountainbikers

Mountain Bike stars Anton Cooper and Sam Blenkinsop made it a double-double with both winning their respective Oceania and New Zealand championship titles in Dunedin.

New Zealand mountainbiker Anton Cooper.

Anton Cooper Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Cooper won the cross-country honours in the Oceania Championships on Friday, his fifth in a row, and added the New Zealand title for the sixth time as an elite.

It means Cooper will again wear the national jersey when he competes on the world circuit this year.

Earlier fellow Christchurch-based rider Blenkinsop bagged his first New Zealand elite downhill title after claiming the Oceania title for the second time at the outstanding Signal Hill course.

Meanwhile, Nelson's Josie Wilcox, second in the Oceania Championships, claimed her first elite cross-country title in the elite women's race.

Tauranga's Shania Rawson, back after injury last year, won her second New Zealand elite title in the downhill, after finishing runner-up in the Oceania Championships.

England dominate South Africa in Test

Captain Joe Root top scored as England took a huge 465-run lead over South Africa on the third day of the fourth cricket test and were bowled out for 248 just before stumps in their second innings at The Wanderers.

The score left them with two days to dismiss their hosts, who will have to chase an improbable fourth-innings target if they are to win the test and level the series at 2-2.

Fourteen wickets fell on a busy Sunday that saw South Africa dismissed for 183 at lunch, 217 runs behind England's first-innings score of 400.

Root did not enforce the follow on but instead rammed home his team's advantage as England batted briskly in their second innings before the captain was the last man out.

Root scored 58, Dom Sibley made 44, Sam Curran an entertaining 35 and Ben Stokes 28 with Hendricks finishing on 5-64 off 15.3 overs.

Openers Zak Crawley and Sibley put on a 56-run opening-wicket partnership in a positive second-innings start before Crawley was out for 24.

- Reuters

Fed Cup affected by coronavirus outbreak

Next month's Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I event has been moved out of China over concerns at the ongoing coronavirus outbreak which has so far killed 56 people in the country.

A statement from the International Tennis Federation said the group event from 4-8 February featuring China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan has been switched to Kazakhstan.

Two of the nations will progress to the Fed Cup play-offs in April.

Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee cancelled Olympic boxing qualifiers due to take place in Wuhan, China next month.

Olympic soccer qualifiers involving Australia, Taiwan, Thailand and China have also been moved from Nanjing, China, to Sydney.

Canterbury and Auckland top Ford Trophy

Canterbury has drawn level on points with Auckland at the top of the Ford Trophy one day cricket table after a four run win over their hosts in Auckland.

Needing a boundary off the final ball to tie or a six to win, Auckland batsman Ben Horne was instead bowled on 101.

Earlier Black Caps batsman Henry Nicholls posted a run-a-ball century for Canterbury.

Otago are up to third in the standings after a 125 run win over Central Districts in Dunedin.

Northern Districts beat Wellington by one wicket.

After six rounds Auckland and Canterbury have 20 points, Otago 13, Northern Districts 12, Wellington 8 and Central Districts 6.

Thierry Neuville wins season-opener

Thierry Neuville won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally for Hyundai and ended Sebastien Ogier's bid for a record eighth victory and seventh in a row in the principality.

The Belgian finished the final power stage 12.6 seconds clear of six times world champion Ogier, who ended up 1.7 ahead of third-placed Toyota team mate Elfyn Evans.

It was Neuville's first win in Monte Carlo, with the Belgian runner-up last year when Ogier won for Citroen.

Estonia's world champion Ott Tanak, who switched from Toyota to Hyundai at the end of last season, crashed out of the rally on Friday.

- Reuters

George Bennett eighth in Australia

The New Zealand cyclist George Bennett finished eighth overall in the Tour Down Under in South Australia.

The tour was won by Australian Richie Porte.

Porte finished second on the sixth and final stage to clinch the title from Italian Diego Ulissi.