NETBALL: Eleanor Caldwell top scored with 34 goals as England held off a spirited South African recovery to win the first of their three matches 54-51 in front of a capacity 8,000 crowd in Manchester on Tuesday night. England coach Jess Thirlby named five debutants in an inexperienced line-up that built up an eight-point lead by half-time before the South Africans fightback led to an exciting finale.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: LeBron James hit 31 points as the LA Lakers edged the Phoenix Suns 106-103 while Milwaukee romped to a 146-122 win over the New York Knicks. Today, the Minnesota Timberwolves defend the best record across the NBA against a struggling San Antonio team that is propping up the Western Conference’s south-west division and last year’s champions Denver take their shaky away form to the LA Clippers.

WOMEN’S RUGBY UNION: Edinburgh and Glasgow have both officially launched their first ever women’s teams to take part in an expanded Celtic Challenge. Joining the new Scottish outfits in a competition that now includes six teams are the Clovers (Munster/Leinster) and Wolfhounds (Connacht/Ulster) from Ireland along with Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning from Wales. Edinburgh will face Glasgow in their first game on December 30.

MEN’S CRICKET: Sikandar Raza captains Zimbabwe as they start a three-match Twenty20 series against Ireland in Harare today. The hosts, ranked as the world’s 11th best short format team, recently missed out on qualification for the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup after finishing third in the African qualification group behind Namibia and Uganda. Ireland currently sit 13th in the world rankings and have already qualified for the 2024 World Cup.