Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Injury has once again interrupted uncapped All Blacks lock Quinten Strange's season.

Strange strained his ankle during All Blacks training in Hamilton on Wednesday and New Zealand Rugby confirmed he is expected to be out of rugby for up to six to eight weeks.

The Crusaders player was due to be released to play in the Mitre 10 Cup for Tasman against North Harbour on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, who was one of seven new All Blacks named in the 35-man squad last month, has been sidelined since injuring his shoulder in August during Super Rugby Aotearoa.

Daniell out of French Open doubles

The New Zealand tennis player Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald have been beaten in the first round of doubles at the French Open.

Daniell and Oswald lost 6-2 6-3 to the seventh seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares.

Kiwi Michael Venus and his Australian partner John Peers take on Casper Ruud and Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round doubles at the clay court this evening.

Venus is the last New Zealand player still remaining in the French Open after Artem Sitak and his doubles partner also lost in the first round.

Hat-trick and penalty shootout in League Cup

Manchester United earned their second win over Brighton & Hove Albion in five days as they booked a place in the League Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made 10 changes to the team that started at the weekend, with Victor Lindelof the only player to keep his place, and although United struggled for fluency they were too strong for a second-string Brighton side.

Holders Manchester City beat Chris Wood's Burnley 3-0 thanks to a double from Raheem Sterling and new signing Ferran Torres' first goal in English football.

Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin continued his superb form with his second hat-trick of the season as the Toffees outclassed West Ham United 4-1 at Goodison Park.

Newcastle United narrowly avoided an upset as Jonjo Shelvey's late equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw against League Two (fourth tier) Newport County and set up a penalty shootout which the Premier League team won 5-4.

The quarter-final draw will take place after the final fourth-round ties between Brentford v Fulham, Aston Villa v Stoke City and Liverpool v Arsenal.

- Reuters

White Ferns break drought against Australia

The White Ferns have ended a 13-game losing streak to Australia with victory in the third T20 international in Brisbane.

After losing the first two games and the series, the New Zealanders scored a five wicket win after a superb bowling and batting effort from leg spinner Amelia Kerr.

Kerr took 2 for 18 from her four overs as Australia finished on 123 for 7 after being asked to bowl first.

Lea Tahuhu also took two wickets.

New Zealand were cruising in their run chase at 96 for three in the 16th over but looked wobbly after losing Amy Satterthwaite (30 off 25) and Katey Martin (23 off 24) - who shared a 52-run stand - before Kerr stood tall again with a quickfire 18 from 10 balls to get the visitors home with three balls to spare.

The two sides now meet in a three match ODI series starting on Saturday.

Australia have won 18-straight ODIs and can equal the all-time record of 21 consecutive victories held by Ricky Ponting's side in 2003 with a whitewash.

Another top finish for cyclist

The New Zealand cyclist Mikayla Harvey finished the best under-23 rider in the first of a series of races in Belgium.

Harvey was 7th overall in La Flèche Wallone, the oldest of the three one-day races that form the Ardennes Classic triple crown.

She finished 11 seconds behind World champion Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands who won the race for the sixth consecutive time.

"I was very excited to be racing the first of the Ardennes Classics today, because these types of races really suit me. We were all prepared for a very hard race and we gave it our all, said Harvey.

Even though we were only here with four riders, the team worked very hard for me and Niamh and brought us into a great position ahead of the finale.

Harvey's Equipe Paule Ka team-mate Niamh Fisher-Black was another 20 seconds back in 12th.

The next race is this weekend.

Cacace picks up award

Former Wellington Phoenix player, Liberato Cacace, has won the Harry Kewell Medal as part of the 2020 Professional Footballers Australia Players' Awards.

Cacace was nominated alongside Wellington's Cameron Devlin and Adelaide United's Riley McGree for this award, which recognises the outstanding achievement of an under-23 footballer in the A-League.

Cacace was acknowledged by his peers following an impressive campaign with the Wellington Phoenix; in 25 appearances for the Phoenix he scored three goals and an assist, which helped earn him a position in the PFA's A-League Team of the Season.

Cacace is now playing in Belgium.

NFL game postponed

The NFL has postponed this weekend's game between the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among Titans players and team personnel.

The league is expected to play the game 24 or 48 hours later.

Three Titans players -- defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, long snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson -- were placed on the Reserve/Covid-19 list as the NFL shut down the team facility. A fourth player returned a positive test today.

The Titans also reported five positive tests among team personnel.

-Reuters

Wimbledon will go ahead even without crowds

Next year's Wimbledon Championships will take place as scheduled even if spectators cannot attend the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wimbledon was cancelled this year for the first time since World War Two due to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 42,000 people in the United Kingdom.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club, organisers of the tournament, was reluctant to stage Wimbledon without fans this year but the success of the U.S. Open and other sporting events have changed their opinion, according to the Times newspaper.

Wimbledon had an insurance policy in place for the pandemic this year but will not have similar cover next year which means another cancellation would have a major financial impact on British tennis.

Next year's Wimbledon is scheduled to begin on June 28.

-Reuters