South Africa bounced back from their insipid first Test performance with an impressive opening day to be 238-3 at stumps against New Zealand at Christchurch's Hagley Oval.

Opener Sarel Erwee scored his maiden Test century in his second appearance, combining with skipper Dean Elgar for a 111-run first-wicket stand which set the tone for the day in the second Test.

The Black Caps had dominated the first Test in Christchurch, winning by an innings and 276 runs but the Proteas showed vastly more fight and application.

New Zealand were left frustrated with as many as five edges falling short in the slips with the pitch not as quick as the first Test, nor offering as much seam movement.

Elgar surprised many when he opted to bat after winning the toss but it proved a good call, making 41 alongside Erwee, before being bowled by a Tim Southee inswinger after getting through the first session unscathed.

Erwee brought up his maiden hundred with a boundary in the final over before tea, leaping into the air to celebrate.

Aidan Markram, who needed runs after a lean spell, was determined but lost focus and fell short of a half-century when Neil Wagner lured him into a drive which was caught by Daryl Mitchell at first slip for 42.

Erwee followed him back to the changerooms two balls later for 108, caught behind by Tom Blundell off Matt Henry from a loose drive.

Temba Bavuma survived two close calls in the same Henry over, with edges eluding the slips and racing away for boundaries.

After his nervy start, Bavuma eased the tension before getting through to stumps on 22* alongside Rassie van der Dussen (13*).

Patient Erwee navigates Black Caps 

Erwee brought up his half-century in the final over before lunch and then triple figures with four balls to go prior to tea. The 32-year-old left-hander patiently reached his century from 188 deliveries, with Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme combining for five consecutive maidens shortly prior to him achieving the elusive milestone. Erwee's stand with Elgar with South Africa's best opening partnership since December 2020.

Bold Elgar call pays off

Elgar's bold decision to bat raised some eyebrows, becoming the first captain to win the toss and not bowl at Hagley Oval. He also became the fourth skipper in the past 45 Tests played in New Zealand to win the toss and bat, remarkably coming after the Proteas were embarrassingly skittled for 95 and 111 in the first Test.

The short-handed Brooklyn Nets slumped to their 13th defeat from their past 15 games as Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a 129-106 victory on Thursday.

Tatum scored 30 points including four three-pointers along with seven rebounds and four assists for the Celtics who have won 10 of their past 11 games.

The Celtics' hot form is in contrast to the Nets, who have slumped to a 31-29 record in the absence of the injured Kevin Durant, unavailable Kyrie Irving and unfit Ben Simmons.

Boston led from start to finish, opening up a 35-22 quarter-time lead, with good support from big men Robert Williams III (12 points and 11 rebounds) and Al Horford (11 points and 13 rebounds).

Seth Curry top scored for the Nets with 22 points but only made two-of-seven from beyond the arc, while Patty Mills struggled with one point from 28 minutes, shooting none-of-nine from the field.

Morant hurt in tight loss

Ja Morant airballed a game-tying three-point attempt in the dying seconds and had a third-quarter injury scare as the Memphis Grizzlies lost 119-114 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Morant finished with 20 points and eight rebounds but seemed to pick up a leg injury on a drive which impacted his final quarter. D'Angelo Russell scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter for the Timberwolves.

The ladder-leading Phoenix Suns had no issues without Chris Paul as they extended their winning streak to eight games with a 124-104 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Devin Booker scored 25 points with five rebounds, 12 assists and a career-high six steals.

Stephen Curry was benched late after 18 points and 14 assists as the Golden State Warriors won 132-95 over the Portland Trail Blazers, while Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in the Denver Nuggets' 128-110 triumph over the Sacramento Kings.

Trae wayward in Hawks loss

Trae Young struggled as the Atlanta Hawks went down 112-108 to the Chicago Bulls. The Hawks guard made three-of-17 from the field in his 14 points for the game. For the Bulls, who have won six in a row, in-form DeMar DeRozan scored 37 points while Zach LaVine returned from injury with 20 points.

Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens progressed into the quarter-finals at the WTA Abierto Zapopan in Guadalajara after a hard-fought win over Chloe Paquet on Thursday.

Stephens won in straight sets but it took almost two hours, triumphing 7-5 6-4 over the Frenchwoman ranked just outside the top 100.

The 28-year-old American was dominant on her first serve, while she broke her opponent five times throughout the match.

Stephens, who is the sixth seed, will play Daria Saville in the last eight after the Australian eased past qualifier Caroline Dolehide 6-1 6-3 in one hour and seven minutes.

Third seed and defending champion Sara Sorribes Tormo made light work of Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-0 6-2 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Marie Bouzkova.

Colombian fourth seed Camila Osorio needed just over two hours to get past Hailey Baptiste 1-6 6-3 6-3, fighting back after a lopsided first set.

Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash concedes his side must have urgency to arrest their slide after Thursday's 129-106 loss to the Boston Celtics left them with a 31-29 record.

The Nets were billed as title contenders earlier this season but have endured a tough midseason period, winning only two of their past 15 games with Kevin Durant out injured, Kyrie Irving unavailable for home games and James Harden traded out.

Harden swapped places with Ben Simmons from the Philadelphia 76ers, with the new acquisition still yet to debut as he re-conditions having not played this season.

Nash admitted having a healthy roster would go a long way to fixing his side's issues but conceded they needed urgency as their season slips away.

"We understand the situation we're in. We know there's urgency," Nash said at the post-game news conference.

"We're not going to have half a season to figure this thing out. We're up against the clock.

"Our guys have been great. There's a lot of pressure and circumstances that make it difficult as you're dropping in the standings but their spirit has been outstanding.

"That's the spirit of taking it day-by-day game-by-game trying to improve. At the same time, we recognise the situation we're in."

Jayson Tatum starred for the in-form Celtics with 30 points and seven rebounds, while the Nets' best were Seth Curry (22 points and seven rebounds), Bruce Brown Jr (15 points, seven rebounds and five assists) and Kessler Edwards (13 points and five rebounds) off the bench.

Nash was pressed on ways to fix their struggles without their key players, with no timeframes on Durant and Simmons' availability but he reverted to a healthy roster.

"That's number one, two, three and four really," Nash said. "We could've played better tonight, but we can play better on nights when we have everybody too.

"In this league, you flip it, take four of the Celtics starters out, it's a different look."

Kurt Kitayama managed four straight birdies on his back nine to claim the lead ahead of Daniel Berger in a group of three after the opening day of the Honda Classic in Florida on Thursday.

The little-known American carded a six-under-round of 64, starting the day with three straight birdies, before his hot run on his back nine at Palm Beach Gardens.

Kitayama has enjoyed a good recent period, making the cut at his past five starts before Thursday's impressive feat as solo leader.

"I think when you're struggling, I think just that self-motivation to find keep getting better and finding a way to figure it out, it's kind of how you've got to keep going," Kitayama told reporters.

The 29-year-old leads by one stroke from Rory Sabbatini, Chris Kirk and hometown hero Berger who are five-under.

World number 20 Berger started his round brilliantly, with three birdies on his first four holes, while he also sunk a 28-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole with no ill-effects from a back problem that has been plaguing him lately.

Slovakian veteran Sabbatini made birdie on the 18th to jump into a share of second, with Kirk having eight birdies and three bogeys in an entertaining round.

Danny Willett, Matthias Schwab, Andrew Kozan, Aaron Rai and Peter Uihlein are all next tied for fifth at three under.

Four-time major winner and current world number 15 Brooks Koepka managed three birdies in his round of two-under-68 to be four shots off the pace.

Last week's Genesis Invitational winner Joaquin Niemann had an even round of 70, despite leading early after four birdies on his front nine, with a double bogey holding him up on the fourth hole.

Pre-tournament favourite Louis Oosthuizen will battle to make the cut after five bogeys on the front nine before a double bogey on the 17th hole left him with a five-over-75.

Xavi believes Barcelona produced "the most complete performance of our season" during the second leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off victory over Napoli.

The Blaugrana stormed through to the last 16 of the competition after completing a commanding 5-3 aggregate victory thanks to a 4-2 triumph at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Thursday.

First-half goals from Jordi Alba, Frenkie De Jong and Gerard Pique put the visitors in control in Naples, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang settled the tie before the hour mark.

Barca registered 16 shots to their opponents' seven – with their four goals coming from six on target – while they enjoyed 56 per cent of possession and won 54.8 per cent of the duels throughout the contest.

And Xavi was delighted as his side booked their place in Friday's last-16 draw.

"Perhaps, this was the most complete performance of our season," the head coach said. "We wanted to dominate and we did. 

"I'm happy about the effort we put in and with the football we played. The result is fair. 

"I am very happy for the players and this is the way forward.  We are on the right road.

"We pressed well, high up, whenever we lost the ball – just like we did at home. 

"Napoli pressed high up and spaces were available in behind them. From defending a corner, we made a textbook counter-attack. We took advantage of our fast players. 

"We understood how to create and use a 'free man'. I'm very happy for the team."

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst saluted his players as they sent Borussia Dortmund crashing out of the Europa League, describing the 6-4 aggregate victory as "a big moment for the club."

Leading 4-2 after a stunning first-leg performance at Signal Iduna Park, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions endured a tense second leg at Ibrox.

Despite James Tavernier's first-half penalty, Jude Bellingham and Donyell Malen reduced the aggregate deficit to a single goal before the break.

Indeed, Malen might have dragged Dortmund level in the tie, but Tavernier drilled in his second just before the hour mark, ultimately booking the hosts' place in the last-16 draw despite Rangers having a third disallowed after a VAR check.

"It is a big moment for the club, we can make a lot of people proud as it was a difficult game again," Van Bronckhorst told BT Sport.

"We were very unfortunate in some moments where we could have cleared the ball. We had to change something to be more defensively solid.

"[Alfredo] Morelos was much stronger in the second half, and we had many more dangerous moments.

"We trained with three different plans for today. We needed to have scenarios in place to be executed, and I'm glad we did.

"We had a great performance; we played them twice and got four points – it’s a great performance. 

"The last 16 is only top teams; we wait for them, and we look forward to the draw."

Dortmund star Bellingham suggested he and his team-mates only had themselves to blame.

"It was brilliant to play in. A good team, a good test," the England international told BT Sport, having created a joint team-high three chances.

"We didn't have the bite we had in the first half. It's just one of those nights, we didn't take all our chances and they took theirs, fair play to them.

"We've let the fans, the staff and ourselves down. If we look at ourselves in the mirror, we'll realise we could've done more."

Bellingham is not wrong. Dortmund finished with a higher expected goals (xG) than Rangers (2.97 to 2.26).

Two-goal Tavernier, meanwhile, revealed that a tactical reshuffle at the break proved instrumental for Rangers.

"We really stepped up in the second half after we changed tactically, it allowed us to progress," Rangers' captain explained.

"The manager told us that we have to follow the runners and tighten it up a bit; that’s what we do in our back five system, and it works for us.

"We are really impressive, the result was pleasing. I always try to get to back post, and I got the goal today.

"This game shows the character that we have in the squad; we have a great squad that can push through."

Rangers have qualified for the round of 16 in the Europa League for a third consecutive season, which is their longest streak of reaching at least this stage in a major European competition since a run of three between 2005-06 and 2007-08 – they reached the final of the UEFA Cup in the last season of that previous run.

Dortmund, meanwhile, have been eliminated in three of their past four two-legged ties in the knockout stages of the Europa League, losing against Liverpool in the 2015-16 quarter-finals, Salzburg in the 2017-18 round of 16 and Rangers this season.

England will be without Manu Tuilagi for their Six Nations clash with Wales after the centre suffered a hamstring injury.

Tuilagi had been set to return from an injury lay off to feature at Twickenham on Saturday, having been named in the team that Eddie Jones confirmed on Thursday.

However, England have been dealt a blow as scans after training revealed a hamstring problem for the 30-year-old.

England have recalled Joe Marchant, who will train with the squad on Friday. However, an updated team will not be confirmed until the day of the game.

Tuilagi had been set to play alongside Henry Slade in midfield for Jones' team, who bounced back from their defeat to Scotland in the opening match by beating Italy last time out.

He has represented England in 46 Tests so far since making his debut in 2011.

Mikel Arteta had no issue with Arsenal leaving it late to beat Wolves on Thursday, suggesting that such a dramatic victory was good for the atmosphere around his team.

Arsenal celebrated a vital 2-1 win in their bid to qualify for the Champions League at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners climbed to fifth in the Premier League, a point behind fourth-placed Manchester United with two games in hand, although they had to do it the hard way.

Trailing to Hwang Hee-chan's early opener, Arteta's men finally equalised eight minutes from time through substitute Nicolas Pepe, who also then had a hand in the winning goal as he teed up Alexandre Lacazette for a shot Jose Sa deflected into his own net.

That decisive own goal clocked in at 94 minutes and 56 seconds, making it Arsenal's latest Premier League winner since Alexis Sanchez's January 2017 penalty against Burnley (97:14).

Asked if he would rather have seen Arsenal comfortable in a routine victory, Arteta told Prime Video: "Probably [I would prefer] the way we won it, because it creates such a belief, a togetherness, an atmosphere and cohesion with our fans as well.

"That's extremely necessary. We really want to create something special here, and without our fans we're not going to be able to do it."

Arsenal have now won seven of their past nine league games, losing only once in that run to Manchester City.

It is a far cry from a dismal start to the season, as Arteta acknowledged as he said: "After three defeats in the first three games, we had to avoid relegation.

"That was the first thing that we had to do, and then just go game by game."

Novak Djokovic has not lost any motivation for tennis, but believes he needs time to find some rhythm after a long break, as he conceded the world number one spot.

Djokovic's 86-week reign at the top of the ATP rankings will end on Monday, after the Serbian lost to qualifier Jiri Vesely 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the Dubai Tennis Championships.

That means that Daniil Medvedev will leapfrog Djokovic regardless of whether or not he wins in Acapulco.

Using his official Twitter account, Djokovic congratulated both Vesely – who won his only previous meeting with the 20-time grand slam champion back in 2016 – and Medvedev.

"Well played @jiri_vesely, that was a great game. Wish you the best of luck for the rest of the tournament," Djokovic wrote, accompanying his post with a thumbs up emoji.

"Congratulations also to a very deserving @DaniilMedwed, who will now become world number one."

His appearance in Dubai was Djokovic's first competitive action of 2022, after he was unable to feature at the Australian Open due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

While suggesting he is still working his way back to full sharpness after not playing since December, Djokovic insisted he is fully motivated to carry on playing.

"My goal is to keep on playing tennis," Djokovic said in his post-match news conference.

"That's the ultimate goal. For as long as I really feel like it and as long as I can play. As long as my body allows me, as long as the circumstances in my life as well, the people that surround me [and] support me.

"I'm still motivated and I'm still p***** off when I lose a match. I care about it. I care about winning every match, as anybody else on the Tour, regardless of the age. I'm actually glad that I'm feeling a lot of emotions every single day because it means that I really want to be part of this sport, part of the Tour.

"Unfortunately, [it] wasn't my day. I congratulate Jiri. He played better. 

"The more matches I play, the more comfortable I get on the court. I need the match play. I didn't have many matches at all last few months.

"I don't look at the age really as a restricting factor for my career. I still feel great in terms of my body and the way it's holding on, the way it's recovering. It's been serving me well, so to say. That's something that obviously encourages me to keep going."

Seth Curry does not want an apology from Ben Simmons as the pair start a new chapter with the Brooklyn Nets.

Curry and Simmons were team-mates on the Philadelphia 76ers, although the former first overall pick had not played this season.

Simmons has now cited a difficult period with his mental health as his reason for staying away from the 76ers until a trade was agreed with the Nets.

The Australian was the subject of intense criticism following the team's playoff defeat to the Atlanta Hawks last season, in which he was deemed to have shirked responsibility and passed up shooting opportunities.

With James Harden leaving the Nets for the 76ers, Curry and Andre Drummond joined Simmons in the deal going the other way.

It means Simmons must now play with team-mates he abandoned earlier in the season, but Curry does not see that as a problem.

"Business is business," Curry told ESPN on Thursday ahead of the NBA's resumption after the All-Star break.

"I said from day [one], even when he was out early in the season, people were asking me if I feel like, if Ben comes back, should he apologise to us or whatever?

"I understand the business; he doesn't need to apologise to anybody. When he's on the court, I know he's going to do his job and he's going to do what he does. So I understand the business.

"He was doing what he felt was best for himself business-wise and personal-wise. And the team's going to do the same thing as far as making trades or whatever, so I understand it, I've been around it; I don't take anything personal.

"When we're on the court, we're team-mates. Everything's fine, and we depend on each other to do good things. There's been nothing negative he's done to me personally, so I'm fine."

James Tavernier scored twice as Rangers booked their place in the Europa League last 16 with a 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund, which sealed a 6-4 aggregate win.

A week on from their brilliant 4-2 triumph at Signal Iduna Park, Rangers had their captain to thank as they secured progression on a frantic night in Glasgow.

Tavernier opened the scoring from the spot in the 22nd minute, but the excellent Jude Bellingham equalised for Dortmund before Donyell Malen put the visitors ahead.

Rangers' resolve returned in the second half, though, with Tavernier drilling in his second just before the hour to end BVB's Europa League hopes.

Bellingham had hit the post as Dortmund looked to deflate the raucous atmosphere at Ibrox, but having withstood the early pressure Rangers went ahead – Tavernier slamming a penalty down the middle after Julian Brandt fouled Ryan Kent.

Brandt wasted a chance to make immediate amends, but Bellingham restored parity when he slotted in after pouncing onto Connor Goldson's poor touch.

Scott Arfield and Alberto Morelos went close for Rangers before Allan McGregor brilliantly denied Malen at the other end in the space of a minute.

McGregor had no chance when Malen prodded past him in the 42nd minute to put Dortmund ahead, however.

Gregor Kobel got down to Morelos' goal-bound shot after the restart, but BVB were made to pay for more dismal defending when Tavernier lashed in at the back post from Joe Aribo's cross.

Dortmund seemed set to regain their lead when Marco Reus rounded McGregor but sliced into the side-netting.

Instead, Rangers were in delirium when Morelos raced through and squared for Kent to tuck in, only for referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz to harshly disallow the goal for a foul on Emre Can after a VAR check, although it ultimately mattered not.

Nicolas Pepe came off the bench to spark a dramatic late turnaround as Arsenal overcame Premier League top-four rivals Wolves 2-1 in a thrilling encounter. 

Hwang Hee-chan pounced on an error from Gabriel Magalhaes to end a 10-game barren run and put Wolves on top in a fiery encounter at Emirates Stadium on Thursday. 

The visitors quickly shifted their focus to defence but substitute Nicolas Pepe eventually found a way past goalkeeper Jose Sa in the 82nd minute. 

Pepe then teed up Alexandre Lacazette to force the winner, which went down as an own goal by Jose Sa, to spark jubilant scenes among the Gunners players and fans, with the gap to fourth-placed Manchester United – who they have played two games fewer than – now reduced to just one point.