Lauren Hemp hailed England as “a special team” and Ella Toone toasted the best shot of her life after the Lionesses reached their first World Cup final with a 3-1 victory over co-hosts Australia.

Hemp restored England’s lead in the second half, after Matildas captain Sam Kerr cancelled out Toone’s stunning opener, and provided the assist that allowed Alessia Russo to put the game away after 86 minutes.

England, who will face Spain in Sunday’s showdown in Sydney, are just one win away from securing the second major trophy in their history just under 13 months after becoming European champions at Wembley.

Player-of-the-match Hemp, who started every game of that triumph, said: “Oh my god, what a feeling. I feel like there are no words to describe what we all feel right now.

“It’s an unbelievable achievement, getting to a World Cup final. It’s every kid’s dream. I mean, I’ve got no words, I’m absolutely knackered right now. We’ve got a few days to recover but then we go again.

“We want to win this, obviously we’ve come so far now, so why not?

“I feel like as a team we have got such an inner-belief and also so much confidence as the group. No matter what happens on the outside, no matter who we come up against, every challenge we’ve managed to solve.

“I feel like this team is so special. You saw last year how successful we were. We want to do the same again and we want to go one step further.

“We have all got a dream. We’re pushing each other to be the best that we can and we know that whenever a player gets beaten by their opponent, we know there will be someone there, having each others’ backs, no matter what.”

World number four England have grown into this tournament since eking out a 1-0 win against Haiti, 49 places below them in FIFA’s global rankings, to open their campaign – sparking concerns about the Lionesses’ prowess in attack.

Russo and Hemp have netted three goals each in this tournament, equalling the contribution made by Chelsea forward Lauren James before she was sent off late in the second half of England’s victory over Nigeria in the last 16.

England have never had two different players score three or more goals at a single edition of the tournament before, with James also set to be available for Sunday’s final after serving the second match of her two-game suspension on Wednesday night.

That might put Toone’s chances of starting the final at risk, but the Manchester United midfielder could not have done any more to impress head coach Sarina Wiegman, lashing in a thunderous strike to set England on their way in Sydney.

“It fell straight to me in the box and I just thought ‘why not just smack it?’ Honestly, that’s the best shot I’ve hit in my life,” said Toone, who scored the opener in last summer’s Euro 2022 final triumph.

“Sometimes when you hit a ball, you just know I’ve caught that perfectly and I was like ‘wow, that was alright’. I think I knew as soon as it left my boot that it was going to end up in the back of the net.

“It seems to be I like the big stage in tournaments, but in tournament football it is often about taking those moments and it was my turn to do so tonight.

“I had my moment, it fell to me and I put it in the back of the net. Even if I hadn’t scored, I would still have done my job for this team, worked hard and did what I needed to do.

“When big moments fall to me in tournaments, I’ve taken them.”

Arsenal’s season has been rocked by a serious knee injury to summer signing Jurrien Timber which will require surgery.

The Netherlands international moved to the Emirates Stadium from Ajax this summer but was forced off on his Premier League debut – Saturday’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.

Timber, 22, limped off at half-time against Forest following a heavy challenge on Brennan Johnson that earned the full-back a booking.

He emerged for the second half but lasted just five minutes before going down off the ball and being replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu.

An Arsenal statement on Wednesday read: “Further to detailed assessments with consultant specialists since Saturday, we can confirm that Jurrien has sustained an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

“Jurrien will undergo surgery in the coming days and will be out of action for a period of time.

“The support and expertise from our medical team and everyone at the club will now be focussed on Jurrien’s rehabilitation programme, to ensure he recovers well and is back playing as soon as possible.”

Timber was a £38.5million signing for the Gunners and played in the Community Shield penalty shoot-out win over Manchester City before suffering the setback against Forest.

Despite losing Timber, Arsenal are still expected to allow Nuno Tavares to leave the club in the coming days, with Forest a potential destination for the former Portugal Under-21s full-back.

While signed primarily to play at right-back, Timber had started life at Arsenal on the left side of defence, filling in as Oleksandr Zinchenko recovered from a calf problem.

The British Horseracing Authority expects to unveil the 2024 fixture list in mid-September, with approximately 160 new premier cards planned.

A shake-up of the racing calendar was announced in May, with the BHA outlining its aim to grow the sport’s reach, appeal to new fans and better engage existing customers in the hope it will generate extra revenues which will in turn boost prize money levels.

Part of the changes unveiled was the introduction of premier fixtures, which will offer higher prize money and feature better horses, with a two-hour slot on a majority of Saturday afternoons limited to two of the premier cards and one other meeting for a two-year trial period. Other fixtures scheduled on those days will have to start either earlier or later.

The 2024 fixture list is nearing publication, when details of what constitutes a premier fixture will be confirmed, and Richard Wayman, the BHA’s chief operating officer, thinks the number of premier fixtures planned indicates the desire of tracks to be involved.

He said: “If every racecourse continued their 2023 behaviour into 2024, we would have had about 115 or 117 premier fixtures that would effectively meet the criteria we’ve set.

“We are looking at the moment at around 160 premier fixtures in 2024, which I think gives an indication there is significant change in those fixtures, that racecourses are changing their behaviour and wanting to be part of staging premier fixtures.”

Wayman said around 20 premier fixtures are scheduled on Sundays, which represents “a reasonable step up in quality”, while details of a pilot for six Sunday evening meetings in the early part of the year on the Flat are being finalised.

Concerns have been raised that premier fixtures would result in less funding for lower-grade racing and Wayman added: “Part of creating premier fixtures involves investing more money.

“There is a combination of measures we are looking at as to how that extra money would be generated from requests to Levy, some redistribution of money into premier, but also asking the Levy Board for additional prize money support to support the strategy. The Levy Board doesn’t meet until September so they will consider that then.

“Racecourses are looking to invest some of their own revenues into these premier fixtures and in terms of wanting to stage some of these fixtures, they will be thinking about how they distribute their own budget across the year and one would imagine there will be some redistribution from within racecourse budgets too.”

During a media conference, the BHA’s director of communications and corporate affairs Greg Swift offered an update on ongoing work concerning Levy reform, with various pieces of work having been submitted in recent months and subsequent meetings held with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as “a sustainable Levy process” is sought going forward.

Swift also outlined the BHA’s response to proposed affordability checks for gamblers, saying “sweeping blanket checks” would be “unacceptable” whilst outlining a collective approach from across the industry to respond to the Gambling Commission’s consultation process on the matter.

Harry Kane insists he will relish the “new pressure” of challenging to win titles every year at Bayern Munich and knows success in Germany can put his name in the Ballon d’Or conversation.

It has been a whirlwind week for the England captain after he departed boyhood club Tottenham on Saturday for an initial £100million fee, which could rise to £120m with add-ons.

Kane made his Bayern debut later that same night in the DFL-Supercup but his wait for a first trophy goes on after RB Leipzig inflicted a 3-0 defeat on the Bundesliga champions.

The 30-year-old is eager to add team success to a host of individual honours on his CV during his time in Munich.

“A lot of people talk about the trophies and why I came here, but ultimately it was to improve,” Kane told Sky Sports.

“To feel a new pressure of having to win titles every year, having to go far in the Champions League and pushing myself to that limit.

“I think if you’re winning games, winning titles, winning Champions Leagues and I’m the one playing up front, it more than likely means I am scoring goals so that allows you to win other individual awards.

“But that all comes from what you achieve as a team. That’s my focus first and foremost and that all starts on Friday.

“We have a long season ahead. A lot of pressure for Bayern Munich to win the league and go far in the Champions League. That is what I am excited to try and challenge myself with.”

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An outstanding 2017 resulted in Kane finishing 10th in the Ballon d’Or list but Spurs have endured a difficult few seasons since they made the Champions League final in 2019.

With Kane aware his chances of winning silverware were reducing at Tottenham, the forward made the decision to leave the north London club after a 19-year association.

He hinted part of the decision to leave Spurs was to play in the Champions League and have no regrets at the end of his career.

Kane added: “If you’re winning your league, winning the Champions League and we obviously have the European Championship next summer as well, I think as we’ve seen with the Ballon d’Or, you have to be winning team trophies to achieve that.

“Yeah, if I am scoring goals and we’re winning trophies then of course that will come into question, but it is not really what my focus is on right now.

“I’ve always said throughout my whole career I never want to retire and feel like I could have done more or pushed myself more. That was a big part of the decision-making coming here.

“I felt like to improve and to get better I had to be playing at the highest level.

“Of course I want to win every competition that I play in, that’s the goal every season but when you finish your career, you want to make sure you pushed yourself to the limits and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

Last year’s Derby winner Desert Crown remains on course for a sizzling clash with Paddington and Mostahdaf in next week’s Juddmonte International having come through his latest gallop in good style.

The four-year-old was put through his paces by Ryan Moore, who will be on Aidan O’Brien’s Paddington on the Knavesmire, in a spin on Wednesday morning.

Desert Crown has only been seen once since his Epsom victory, when he lost his unbeaten record in finishing second to Hukum in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes in May.

He was then a late absentee from the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with familiar adversary Hukum taking home the Ascot showpiece.

“Desert Crown worked this morning, he worked nicely and everybody was happy with him,” said Bruce Raymond, racing manager to owner Saeed Suhail.

“He’s not a great worker, as has been stated before, but everyone was very happy with him this morning and everything went as well as expected.”

William Buick had been announced as his jockey in the King George before he was ruled out, but he is expected to be aboard next week.

“William didn’t ride him. Ryan Moore rode him this morning. He’s ridden him a lot of times at home and Sir Michael just sometimes likes a different opinion,” Raymond went on.

“It’s really shaping up into a great race. One thing I can definitely tell you is this horse needed it badly at Sandown, it wasn’t said at the time but Michael was quite surprised how much he was blowing afterwards.

“He had worked on the grass but nowhere near as much as we would have liked as it kept on pouring down.

“Having spoken to Richard Hills (assistant racing manager for Shadwell, owners of Hukum), their horse had been working really, really well for a long time, so we met a very fit horse that day and he’s gone on to prove again he is a very good horse as he’s one of the favourites for the Arc.

“We’re looking forward to next week. Where else could you take a horse like that? He’s got to go somewhere and when you are in his class, there are only certain races you can run in.”

World Rugby has come under pressure to act after Owen Farrell’s red card against Wales was overturned in a decision that has caused uproar across the game.

Farrell was sent off in the second half of Saturday’s 19-17 victory at Twickenham after his yellow card for a shoulder-led tackle to the head of Taine Basham was upgraded to a red by the bunker review system.

While the England captain was expected to face a ban that would rule him out of the start of the World Cup, a disciplinary hearing instead concluded that the offence was worthy of a sin-binning only, clearing him to play.

Six Nations, who oversee the warm-up fixtures, have a policy of not publishing written judgements, but are facing calls to make the detailed reasoning behind the independent panel’s decision public.

They have the power to appeal the verdict and so do World Rugby, who will examine the report before making a decision.

Progressive Rugby, a player welfare lobby group, believe the sport’s global governing body must intervene.

“World Rugby must emerge from its corporate bubble of stakeholder management and delegated responsibility to bare its teeth,” Progressive Rugby said on Twitter.

“For it to demonstrate it WON’T stand still on player welfare, that it IS the game’s number one priority and that they won’t tolerate being undermined.”

Last year’s Prix du Jockey Club and Coral-Eclipse winner Vadeni has been retired to stand at stud.

Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget and owned by the Aga Khan, the son of Churchill finished second to Alpinista in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triopmphe.

He was also third to Luxembourg in the Irish Champion Stakes but finished a long way behind that same rival when last seen in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and connections have decided now is the best time for him to head to the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval stud to stand as a stallion.

“We are delighted to have Vadeni join the team at Haras de Bonneval, and he will come to stud with a very exciting profile,” said Georges Rimaud, the owner’s racing manager on www.agakhanstuds.com.

“A Stakes winner at two, he showed a fantastic turn of foot to win the Prix du Jockey Club by a record five-length margin at three, proved the best of a stellar field in the Eclipse Stakes, and placed in both the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Irish Champion Stakes.

“He showed a great constitution and temperament that enabled him to perform with distinction at the highest level not just in France but also in Ireland and the UK.

“He is everything you would want in a racehorse – precocious, fast, sound and consistent, and a dual Group One winner. After two busy seasons, he ran a great race to come second in the Arc in testing conditions on his first try at 12 furlongs, and it possibly took more out of him than we thought. We have therefore taken the decision to retire him now and focus on the next chapter ahead of him.

“Like Siyouni, he hails from a prolific Lagardère family that consistently produces good horses, and he is bred on the successful cross of Galileo and Monsun – so he boasts an excellent pedigree to go with his race record.”

Chelsea are set to take their spending under Todd Boehly to a whopping £1billion if they can get deals for Romeo Lavia and Michael Olise over the line.

The American has splashed the cash since taking over at Stamford Bridge, backing Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino heavily in the transfer market.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the biggest deals.

Moses Caicedo (£115million)

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The Blues beat off competition from Liverpool for the signature of the highly-rated Brighton midfielder, who is the third most expensive under-21 player in the world behind Kylian Mbappe and Joao Felix. They paid £100m up front, but that could rise to £115m depending on certain criteria.

Enzo Fernandez (£106.8m)

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Chelsea smashed the British transfer record when they signed the World Cup winner from Benfica in the January transfer window for an outright £106m, surpassing Jack Grealish’s fee for his move from Aston Villa to Manchester City.

Mykhailo Mudryk (£88.5m)

The Ukraine star cost £62million up front when he joined from Shakhtar Donetsk in January, but that fee could rise to £88.5m with possible add-ons.

Wesley Fofana (£75m)

Chelsea were after defensive reinforcements when they signed Wesley Fofana from Leicester. The France international cost £70million, with a possible further £5m to be paid to the Foxes in add-ons.

Marc Cucurella (£63m)

Chelsea have looked to Brighton on a number of occasions and, a few months before Graham Potter made the move from the Amex, the Blues signed left-back Cucurella for £56m, with a further £7m due in extras.

Dominic Ffrench Davis is favouring a tilt at the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes at the end of next month with his star filly Persian Dreamer.

The daughter of Calyx provided the Lambourn handler with the biggest win of his career to date in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes on the July course.

She is unbeaten in two outings at Newmarket having won on debut at the Craven meeting on the Rowley Mile, before suffering defeats at York and Royal Ascot.

Her Newmarket record, though, means French Davis favours the Cheveley Park over a trip to Ireland for the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

“It was an absolutely fabulous day winning the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes with her and it is what dreams are made of.

“She is a smashing filly and she showed us on that ground what she can do. Hopefully, we will get similar ground back at Newmarket for the Cheveley Park.

“It is down to the team what they do. She has an entry in the Moyglare, but I think she will probably only have one go at a Group One this year. It is up to them whether that is the Moyglare, Cheveley Park or Fillies’ Mile.

“My inclination is to go for the Cheveley Park. She has been to Newmarket twice and she has come away with a win both times.

“Keeping her to six furlongs as well this season would probably be the way to go forward.”

Wing Alex Cuthbert and centre Johnny Williams will make their first appearances of Wales’ World Cup warm-up schedule against South Africa on Saturday.

Williams partners Mason Grady in midfield, while there are also starts for the likes of scrum-half Kieran Hardy and hooker Elliot Dee.

Flanker Jac Morgan will captain Wales for the second time in three games, suggesting he is a firm favourite to skipper Wales at the World Cup.

Taine Basham, meanwhile, is among the replacements for the Springboks’ Principality Stadium visit.

Basham failed a head injury assessment following a shoulder-led tackle to his head by England captain Owen Farrell at Twickenham last weekend.

Farrell was sent off, but in a decision that sent shockwaves throughout the rugby world his red card was overturned by a disciplinary panel.

The Welsh Rugby Union said that Basham “was not a confirmed concussion following completion of all three stages of the head injury assessment (HIA) protocol”.

Ben Stokes has been lured out of his ODI retirement ahead of the World Cup while uncapped paceman Gus Atkinson has emerged as a bolter for England’s defence of their crown in India.

Stokes called time on his 50-over career 13 months ago due to a demanding workload and concerns abound about a chronic left knee problem that meant he did not bowl whatsoever in the last three Ashes Tests.

However, the Test captain could have a specialist batting role after answering a plea from white-ball counterpart Jos Buttler to make himself available for England’s bid to retain their World Cup title.

England take on New Zealand in four tune-up ODIs next month and Stokes has been included in a 15-strong squad that is likely to strongly resemble the touring party for the World Cup in October and November.

England men’s national selector Luke Wright said: “Any series against New Zealand is closely fought and will provide us with an ideal opportunity to test ourselves against one of the best teams in the world.

“The return of Ben Stokes only adds to that quality with his match-winning ability and leadership. I am certain that every fan will enjoy seeing him back in an England ODI shirt again.”

Dawid Malan – who made ODI tons in Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh over the winter – keeps his spot ahead of Harry Brook, with the Yorkshireman seemingly the batter to make way for Stokes’ return.

While the return of a player who made crucial knocks in both the 2019 World Cup final and last year’s T20 equivalent was widely-anticipated, England have thrown a curve ball in selecting Surrey’s Atkinson.

The 25-year-old started the domestic season outside Surrey’s XI but he has impressed in all formats in recent months, especially in The Hundred where he was clocked bowling at 95mph for Oval Invincibles.

With Jofra Archer unlikely to be fit for the start of the World Cup as he recovers from his latest elbow injury, England have a chance to put their new express quick through his pace against the Kiwis.

White-ball head coach Matthew Mott intimated in the Mail on Sunday England may risk taking their 2019 super over hero to India if there is a chance he could feature in the latter stages of the World Cup.

But Archer is unavailable to face the Black Caps in a series that starts on September 8 in Cardiff, where Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are poised for their first ODI appearances in more than a year.

Root, who has featured in just 15 ODIs since the 2019 World Cup final, missed England’s winter programme in the format due to his Test duties while Bairstow was absent because of a badly broken leg.

Big-hitting all-rounder Liam Livingstone and left-arm seamer David Willey also return to the set-up after missing England’s most recent ODI series against Bangladesh in March.

A separate squad to take on Ireland at the back end of September will be named at a later date, with England due to announce a provisional World Cup group by September 5, which they must finalise by September 28. England’s final squad will contain 15 players plus three travelling reserves.

England’s white-ball programme this summer starts with a four-match T20 series against New Zealand from August 30 to September 5, with Brook having the consolation of being named in that 15-man group.

Hampshire seamer John Turner has earned his first senior call-up while Atkinson could make his England debut in the series, with Josh Tongue, who has caught the eye in the Test side, set for his maiden experience of England’s limited-overs set-up.

Stokes is not a part of this squad where fringe contenders Rehan Ahmed and fellow all-rounder Will Jacks, plus left-arm seamer Luke Wood have been selected.

England ODI squad to face New Zealand from September 8-15: J Buttler (captain), M Ali, G Atkinson, J Bairstow, S Curran, L Livingstone, D Malan, A Rashid, J Root, J Roy, B Stokes, R Topley, D Willey, M Wood, C Woakes.

England T20 squad to face New Zealand from August 30-September 5: J Buttler (captain), R Ahmed, M Ali, G Atkinson, J Bairstow, H Brook, S Curran, B Duckett, W Jacks, L Livingstone, D Malan, A Rashid, J Tongue, J Turner, L Wood.