Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Blues forwards coach Tom Coventry has extended his contract with the Super Rugby franchise for a further two years.

Part of the team's coaching staff since joining from North Harbour in 2019, Coventry won two titles with the Chiefs before helping the Blues to win last year's Trans Tasman Trophy.

"Together with our head coach Leon MacDonald, Dan Halangahu, Ben Afeaki and our Strength and Conditions coach Phil Healey, we have seen this group develop into an outstanding coaching unit," said Blues CEO, Andrew Hore.

"The individuals have such different skillsets, but they have gelled together so well. They have great respect for each other, but can also ask the tough questions.

"Tom knows what it takes to be successful and together with Ben, they have developed a formidable forward pack."

Former Waikato loose-forward Coventry coached at Hawke's Bay, English club London Irish and North Harbour before joining the Blues.

Neesham to return to England

Black Caps' allrounder James Neesham has signed with English cricket club Northamptonshire for their domestic T20 competition this year.

He has previously featured for Derbyshire, Essex and Kent in county cricket, and last season turned out for Welsh Fire in the inaugural season of the Hundred.

"I'm excited to get going with Northamptonshire in 2022," Neesham said. "The club has a fantastic history in the Blast and I hope that we can recreate those successes from 2013 and 2016."

Neesham has made 38 T20 appearances for New Zealand since his international debut in 2012, as well as playing in 66 one-day internationals and 12 Tests.

He has scored 2,360 runs and taken 158 wickets in a career tally of 180 appearances in T20 cricket.

Neesham's signing follows the capture of fellow New Zealander Will Young for Northamptonshire's County Championship and One-Day Cup games.

The T20 Blast starts in May.

-BBC

Hornets sack Ranieri

Watford have sacked manager Claudio Ranieri after 14 games and less than four months in charge.

The Italian, 70, was appointed on October 4th but managed only seven points from 13 Premier League games.

The weekend's 3-0 home defeat to Norwich saw Watford drop into the bottom three and prompted the club's owners to take action.

It means Watford are looking for their 15th manager since the Pozzo family took over in 2012.

Ranieri, who famously won the Premier League title with Leicester in 2015-16, was given a two-year contract after replacing Xisco Munoz.

However, Watford managed just two wins under the former Sampdoria boss and he departs with the club 19th in the table, two points from safety.

It is the eight managerial change in the league this season following the departures of Xisco, Steve Bruce (Newcastle), Nuno Espirito Santo (Spurs), Daniel Farke (Norwich), Aston Villa (Dean Smith), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United) and Rafael Benitez (Everton).

-BBC

Kiwi pair into quarter-finals

The New Zealand combination of Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe have won through to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open.

The pair beat Tim Puetz of Germany and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-3, 7-5 in their second round match.

They'll take on the fifth seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Kristina Mladenovic of France in the quarter-finals tonight.

Venus and Puetz play doubles together and are through to the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

They play the Australian wildcard pairing of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis this afternoon.

Afridi named cricketer of the year

Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has been named men's Cricketer of the Year, while Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has won the women's award.

Afridi combined with team mates Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to help his country dominate the annual awards announced by the ICC.

England captain Joe Root won the Test Player of the Year honours to prevent a sweep of the men's awards by Pakistan.

Pakistan captain Babar was adjudged One-Day Cricketer of the Year while his deputy Rizwan grabbed the T20 award.

A fourth Pakistan cricketer, Fatima Sana, won the Emerging Women's Cricketer of the year award.

In the other women's categories, South Africa's Lizelle Lee took the one-day honours, while England's Tammy Beaumont bagged the T20 award.

South African Marais Erasmus was Umpire of the Year.

-Reuters

Bernal hits bus

Colombian rider Egan Bernal suffered a crash in training and was taken to hospital on Monday, his Ineos Grenadiers team said.

The 25-year-old, winner of the 2019 Tour de France and last year's Giro d'Italia, was at a team training camp in Colombia.

He reportedly collided with a parked bus.

"He was accompanied to hospital by team medical staff and was conscious upon arrival," a statement from the British team said. "He is stable and undergoing further assessment."

No other details of the crash were available.

Bernal recently extended his contract with Ineos Grenadiers to 2026.

-Reuters

Anthony Joshua may step aside to allow unification bout

British boxer Anthony Joshua is in talks to step aside from his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk so the Ukrainian can fight Tyson Fury in an undisputed heavyweight bout.

Fury's promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren have been pushing for Dillian Whyte to agree terms while simultaneously speaking to Joshua's team about stepping aside so Fury can fight Usyk next.

An agreement for either fight is expected to be reached this week when the Fury v Whyte purse bids will take place.

Whyte, the mandatory challenger to Fury's WBC belt, is adamant he deserves more than a 20% cut of the fight revenue, the split ordered by the WBC, and purse bids for the fight have been postponed three times while talks continue.

Team Fury have become frustrated with the delays having already pencilled in Fury to fight on 26 March in Cardiff, and the offer to Joshua to step aside could pressure Whyte into agreeing terms.

Should purse bids take place, rival promoters will be able to bid to stage Fury v Whyte.

The WBC has a history of delaying mandatory challenger fights if a major bout is agreed - and a fight between Fury and Usyk for the undisputed title would certainly meet that criterion.

-BBC

Brendan Taylor received money for spot-fixing

Zimbabwe batsman Brendan Taylor is facing a ban from the International Cricket Council after admitting he received a $15,000 "deposit" for spot-fixing, though he said he was blackmailed and never went through with the arrangement.

Taylor said he was coerced into accepting the money from an Indian businessman in October 2019 and that it took him four months to report the incident to the ICC anti-corruption unit because he feared for his safety.

Taylor travelled to India to discuss the launch of a new T20 competition in Zimbabwe with the promise of $15,000 as payment.

"We had drinks and during the course of the evening, they openly offered me cocaine, which they themselves engaged in. I foolishly took the bait," Taylor said in a statement released via Twitter.

"The following morning, the same men stormed into my hotel room and showed me a video taken of me the night before doing cocaine and told me that if I did not spot-fix at international matches for them, the video would be released to the public."

Taylor said he was handed $15,000 as a deposit, and promised he would receive another $20,000 when the job was complete.

The 35-year-old Taylor, who played for Zimbabwe in 34 tests, 205 one-dayers and 45 T20s, retired from international cricket in September.

-Reuters