🗞 An Historic Victory

G’day Sports Fans,

🗣️ "If it had been a cheese roll it would never have got past him." - Some friendly fire from England's Graham Gooch made a gentle mockery of teammate Mike Gatting for being bowled by Shane Warne's ball of the century.

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🏏 Australia completed a 3-0 one-day international series win over West Indies with a historic eight-wicket victory in Canberra.

The hosts won with 43.1 overs to spare, making it the shortest completed ODI played in Australia.

Jake Fraser-McGurk has well and truly arrived on the Australian cricketing scene.

After a disappointing start on debut in the second ODI at the SCG where he smashed a six and four before being caught behind, he made no mistakes in Canberra on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old (41 off 18 balls - 5 fours , 3 sixes) helped Australia to the fastest completed ODI victory on home soil, defeating the West Indies by a whopping eight wickets with 259 balls to spare.

🏉 At a towering 205cm, 19-year-old front-rower Ben Te Kura is poised to make his NRL debut with the Broncos this season, surpassing the likes of Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Dom Young to become the league's tallest player.

Te Kura's emergence offers a promising, long-term solution for Brisbane, who faced departures, including Tom Flegler, Kurt Capewell, and Keenan Palasia, following their grand final defeat against Penrith last year.

🇦🇺 The AFL is ramping up its ball chip experiment with a view to implementing the state of the art technology as early as the upcoming VFL season.

Sherrins with a chip planted in them will eventually be used by the league, broadcasters and clubs to measure an array of stats and data including when the ball goes out, through the goals and hits the post, etc.

🇦🇺 The AFL has changed the rules around attempted smothers, following the clearing of Collingwood's Brayden Maynard for his collision with Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw last season.  

The AFL has tweaked the rule so when a player elects to leave the ground in an attempt to smother, any high contact with an opponent that is graded as low impact will be deemed to be careless in the guidelines.

The change was one of several announced by the league ahead of the new season, including putting extra responsibility on players to protect opponents in run-down tackles. (ABC)

📺 Panthers and Nine’s Wide World of Sports are to launch the newest rugby league documentary, 'Undisputed'. Premiering on @9now on Friday 16th February.

🏎️ A hearing into a complaint of inappropriate behaviour made against Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner will take place on Friday.

Red Bull said it took the allegations "extremely seriously" when they emerged on Monday and started an investigation.

Horner, 50, has won six constructors' championships with Red Bull.

Asked about the allegations by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, external, Horner said: "I completely deny these claims."

🎾 Saudi Arabia will host a new elite tennis exhibition featuring Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and three other Grand Slam winners in October.

The Six Kings Slam event will form part of the Saudi cultural and entertainment festival Riyadh Season.

Major winners Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner will also line up, as well as Holger Rune.

🏈 Super Bowl conspiracy theories involving Taylor Swift are "nonsense", says NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Music superstar Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, whose team will compete in their fourth Super Bowl in five years on Sunday.

Critics say their relationship is part of a plot to rig the NFL's championship game and help get US President Joe Biden re-elected.

"I'm not that good a scripter," said Goodell.

🏈 NFL GOAT Tom Brady is one of us on the golf course. Here he is topping the ball off-the-tee at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am ⬇️

⚽️ Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr want to reunite Manchester United's French defender Raphael Varane, 30, with his former United and Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

🏉 Rassie Erasmus will return as South Africa head coach until 2027 after the departure of Jacques Nienaber to Leinster.

The 51-year-old helped lead the Springboks to back-to-back Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023.

Erasmus, who was head coach for the 2019 victory, had been in a director of rugby role for the recent tournament in France.

⚽️ Lionel Messi has defended himself after local fans booed Inter Miami because he missed a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong.

Inter beat a League XI 4-1 in front of almost 40,000 fans (who paid AU$200 each), with Argentina captain Messi left on the bench because of a hamstring problem.

The Hong Kong government said Messi was contracted to play at least 45 minutes.

"I always want to play, especially in these games where we travel so far and people want to see our games," he said.

🐴 Former Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson is part of a syndicate making Caldwell Potter to become the most expensive National Hunt horse ever sold at public auction after fetching AU$1.2m.

TODAY 

06:45 - DFB-Pokal Quarter-Final - Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart [Optus Sport 1]

06:45 - FA Cup Fourth - Southampton v Watford [Paramount+]

06:45 - FA Cup - Plymouth Argyle v Leeds United [Paramount+]

09:00 - Test Match - New Zealand v South Africa [Fox Cricket]

11:30 - NHL - New Jersey Devils v Colorado Avalanche [ESPN 2]

11:30 - NBA - Brooklyn Nets v Dallas Mavericks [ESPN]

14:00 - NHL - Vegas Golden Knights v Edmonton Oilers [ESPN 2]

14:00 - NBA - Phoenix Suns v Milwaukee Bucks [ESPN]

14:10 - Test Match - New Zealand v South Africa [Fox Sports]

14:40 - Women's ODI Series - Australia v South Africa [7mate, Fox Cricket]

THURSDAY

02:00 - Asian Cup Semi-Final - Qatar v Iran [Paramount+]

02:30 - SA20 Eliminator - Paarl Royals v Joburg Super Kings [Fox Cricket]

07:00 - FA Cup - Aston Villa v Chelsea [Paramount+]

09:00 - Test Match - New Zealand v South Africa [Fox Cricket]

10:00 - Marsh One-Day Cup - Victoria v South Australia Redbacks [Kayo Sports]

11:00 - NHL - New York Rangers v Tampa Bay Lightning [ESPN 2]

11:30 - NBA - Philadelphia 76ers v Golden State Warriors [ESPN]

13:30 - NHL - Chicago Blackhawks v Minnesota Wild [ESPN 2]

14:00 - NBA - Los Angeles Clippers v New Orleans Pelicans [ESPN]

14:05 - Marsh One-Day Cup - Queensland Bulls v Tasmania Tigers [Fox Sports]