Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring against Liverpool Photo: Photosport
Latest - Manchester City's all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero will leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, the Premier League club announced on Monday.
The 32-year-old joined the club in 2011 and went on to score a club record 257 goals in 384 appearances, winning four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and five League Cups.
The Argentine striker famously scored the last-minute goal against QPR that won Manchester City their first premier-league title on the final day of the 2011-2012 season.
Early last year, Aguero broke Alan Shearer's record for the most hat tricks scored by any player in Premier League history, scoring 3 against Aston Villa to take his total to twelve hat tricks.
- Reuters
New Zealand basketball player Alex Pledger has been diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer.
Alex Pledger Photo: © Photosport
The Tall Black and former Breakers centre received the diagnosis after nearly five months of feeling unwell with tests coming back inconclusive.
The 34 year old is a four-time NBL championship winner with the Breakers and has recently been playing with Melbourne United in Australia and the Southland Sharks in the New Zealand League.
Plegder was admitted to hospital last week after becoming ill, with further tests revealing the diagnosis with the belief this could have been something he was battling for a number of years.
In a statement released by his management One Sports and Entertainment, Pledger said he was optimistic about winning the battle that faced him.
"Obviously this has been a shock. Early tests are showing positive signs and I'm feeling really good about our plan to beat this. I feel extremely lucky that this has been discovered at the stage that it has. I'm really grateful for the medical team, my family and the wonderful support I'm already receiving from the basketball community. I'm looking forward to the future and hopefully getting back on court."
-NBL
Broncos move South
The Brisbane Broncos have relocated to Sydney for the foreseeable future after Brisbane went into a three-day Covid-19 lockdown.
50 Broncos players and staff flew out last night and will be away for at least the next two weeks.
The Broncos are scheduled to play the Storm in Melbourne on Friday and the NRL has said the game would go ahead as scheduled.
It is understood the NRL does have a contingency plan of shifting the match to Sydney, as part of a Good Friday double header at Stadium Australia after the traditional Bulldogs-Rabbitohs fixture.
The Broncos will based in Sydney after this weekend's game regardless of where the Storm game is played given they face South Sydney on Thursday, April 8.
-NRL
Smith would consider taking captaincy again
Three years after his ignominious exit as Australia's captain in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, Steve Smith has said he is keen and ready to lead the national cricket side again if an opportunity came his way.
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith hit 144 on day 1 of the Ashes Photo: All Rights Reserved
Smith, one of the world's best contemporary batsmen, was suspended from international cricket for 12 months and banned from leadership roles for two years for his role in the "sandpaper-gate" scandal in Cape Town in March, 2018.
After Smith's ban Tim Paine took over the reins of Australia's test side while Aaron Finch was handed the captaincy of the white-ball formats.
"I've certainly had a lot of time to think about it and I guess now I've got to a point where if the opportunity did come up again, I would be keen," Smith told News Corp.
"If it was what Cricket Australia wanted and it was what was best for the team at the time, it's certainly something I would be interested in now, that's for sure."
The scandal centred around Smith, his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on camera attempting to change the condition of the ball using sandpaper, and it plunged Australian cricket into crisis.
Paine has since led Australia's test side with distinction, but with the wicketkeeper-batsman turning 37 by the time he captains the hosts in the Ashes series against England at the end of 2021, a clear succession plan would be required.
-Reuters
Lewandowski to miss England game
Poland suffered a massive blow ahead of this week's crunch World Cup qualifier away to England when striker Robert Lewandowski was ruled out because of a knee injury.
Lewandowski injured his right knee just past the hour mark of yesterday's victory over Andorra and underwent scans today. The Bayern Munich player is expected to be out for 10 days.
The 32-year-old Lewandowski has been in scintillating form this season and already has struck 42 goals for Bayern in all competitions this season. He scored twice for Poland in the 3-0 win over Andorra in the Group I fixture.
Lewandowski is on track to break Gerd Mueller's 1971-72 Bundesliga season record of 40 league goals in one campaign, having already bagged 35 with 8 league games left.
-Reuters
Kohli says schedules need to be looked at in light of Covid
India captain Virat Kohli said confining players to 'bubbles' for months on end is not sustainable and the game has to consider scheduling changes to reduce the mental toll tours are taking during the Covid-19 pandemic.
India captain Virat Kohli during one of the few moments of celebration his side had during the first test. Photo: Photosport
Kohli's comments come as cricketers prepare to head into another restricted environment for two months for the Indian Premier League.
India's players have hopped from one bubble to the next since September for the 2020 IPL in the United Arab Emirates. That was followed by their three-month tour of Australia and then a home series against England that lasted two months.
They will next join up with their respective franchises for the IPL bubble, with the eight-team T20 tournament to be played from April 9-May 30.
"You can't expect everyone to be at the same level of mental strength," said Kohli, who also leads the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.
"Sometimes you do get cooked, and you do feel like a bit of change. I'm sure that things will be discussed and things will change in the future as well."
-Reuters
