Jacob Ramsey will miss the remainder of England Under-21s’ European Championship campaign with an ankle injury.

The Aston Villa midfielder, who featured in England’s first four games, was replaced after 67 minutes during their 1-0 victory over Portugal and will sit out Wednesday’s semi-final.

Lee Carsley’s side will look to maintain their flawless defensive record when they play Israel for the second time in as many weeks in the last four.

Anthony Gordon insisted England’s 2-0 victory over Israel in the group stage is in the past and called for a fresh approach going into the tie.

“The group stage games now don’t really matter,” Gordon said. “It doesn’t matter how we played against them or how we beat them.

“They played really well against Georgia and won the game ultimately so it’s win or go home and hopefully we can put on another good performance and win the game.”

Morgan Gibbs-White reiterated that message by highlighting Israel’s hunger to seek revenge after goals from Gordon and Emile Smith Rowe firmed England’s bid to qualify from Group C.

And the Nottingham Forest midfielder, who leads the competition’s assist chart with three, admitted rest and recovery should be at the forefront of England’s thinking.

“It’s a completely new game. [Israel] are even more hungry now they are in the semi-final. They are going to want revenge,” Gibbs-White said.

“We beat them in the group stage and now they are going to want to beat us, so we have got to make sure we are fully prepared, well rested, fully recovered and hopefully we can go again and get to the final.”

Spinner Sophie Ecclestone says England remain confident they can regain the Ashes despite falling six points behind in the series following defeat in Saturday’s first T20 international at Edgbaston.

The four-wicket loss in Birmingham means England must win all five remaining games if they are to wrest the title back from Australia, beginning with Wednesday’s meeting at the Oval.

Ecclestone took 10 wickets as the hosts lost June’s Test at Trent Bridge and followed up with 2-24 in the T20 opener, but neither were enough to prevent the tourists opening up a six-point series lead.

Lose at the Oval and that gap will become unassailable with four games still to play for Heather Knight’s side, but Ecclestone insisted that, despite the odds, there remains the belief inside the camp of winning a first Ashes series since 2019.

“We’ve seen weirder things happen than that in cricket,” she said. “We’re up for the challenge, we know exactly what we need to do. We’re really not far away from them and that makes us confident going into the rest of the series.

“It’s obviously going to be a really hard task to beat the Aussies, five out of five as we go along, but we’re really confident going into tomorrow. We had the crowd behind us I think on Saturday.

“We’ve had conversations and a few meetings about how we want to go about our cricket tomorrow. We’re really confident going into it and hopefully we can pull it off.”

Around 20,000 were in attendance to see Australia pip England at Edgbaston on Saturday, following a women’s Test record crowd of 23,117 for day five at Trent Bridge.

The ECB has promised a Women’s Test will be held at Lord’s for the first time in 2026, while on Tuesday it was announced that England will face New Zealand at the home of cricket in a T20 international next July.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Ecclestone. “It’s so exciting to play in front of all these crowds. Playing at the grounds we are at the minute on Saturday nights,  I think it’s amazing to look ahead to what we’ve got going on.

“It makes me really excited to play cricket. Having these crowds at these grounds, I think we’re just really excited to get there and entertain them and hopefully inspire the next generation to play cricket.”

Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner echoed the same spirit that hosting women’s fixtures at major Test venues marks a welcome step forward.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “I’ve never played an Ashes game at either of those grounds (the Oval and Lord’s), so we haven’t played at top-tier venues.

“It’s something we all love to do. It’s something I’m looking forward to, hopefully we can come away with a win.”

Burnley forward Michael Obafemi will miss the start of the Premier League season with a hamstring injury suffered while on international duty.

The 22-year-old tore his hamstring in the Republic of Ireland’s 3-0 win over Gibraltar and will undergo an operation later this week before beginning a rehabilitation process.

Obafemi joined the Clarets on loan from Swansea in January, and scored two goals in 14 appearances before making his move permanent earlier this month.

The injury will be a blow to Vincent Kompany’s attacking options as Burnley make their return to the Premier League.

The Clarets reportedly remain in talks to re-sign Nathan Tella from Southampton after he topped Burnley’s scoring charts with 19 goals last term.

Scotland bolstered their chances of reaching the Cricket World Cup with a 31-run victory over Zimbabwe.

Scotland looked in control of proceedings with Christopher McBride and Matthew Cross at the crease but a flurry of wickets slowed Scotland down and they looked well short of a par score before a late Michael Leask burst got them to 234.

Home side Zimbabwe got their chase off to a terrible start, losing four wickets in their opening powerplay, but a stabilising partnership between Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl ensured a total collapse was not about to happen.

But Scotland began to take regular wickets and Zimbabwe fell short, ending their qualification hopes.

Scotland lost the toss and were thrown in to bat first – and a solid 50 partnership between McBride and Cross was put on the board before the former had his stumps rearranged by Tendai Chatara.

But Scotland went again with another partnership when Brandon McMullen came to the crease as they passed 100 with the loss of just one wicket but Sean Williams produced a stunning three wickets in six overs to remove Cross and McMullen before Richie Berrington spooned one to Innocent Kaia at long off as they slumped to 118 for four.

The visitors’ run rate seemingly came to a standstill as the Zimbabwean attack ate further into the wickets column. Firstly Tomas Mackintosh was caught out of his crease when Blessing Muzarabani deflected George Munsey’s effort onto the stumps before he was bowled by Richard Ngarava and a mix-up in the middle led to Chris Greaves being run out.

Scotland looked like they would fall short but Leask’s burst of 48 from 34 balls ushered them to a respectable total of 234.

After the changeover, Joylord Gumbie edged Chris Sole with the very first ball of the innings to instantly put them on the backfoot and the Scottish seamer had his tail up when he castled both Craig Ervine and the in-form Williams with just 29 on the board.

Kaia was next to fall when he was caught leg before wicket and after Raza was dropped by Greaves, he made amends when he got his wicket with the hosts 140 runs away from the total.

Wesley Madhevere was next to fall and Zimbabwe’s only hope rested on the shoulders of Burl but he hit one big shot too many off Leask and their dreams of reaching the World Cup in India came crashing down.

Theo Bair has agreed to terminate his contract at St Johnstone by mutual consent.

The 23-year-old Canada international forward joined the Perth club from Vancouver Whitecaps in January 2022 for an undisclosed fee.

Bair scored one goal in 31 appearances for the McDiarmid Park club last season.

A statement on Saints’ official website confirmed Bair’s departure and added: “We would like to thank Theo for all his efforts while at McDiarmid Park and wish him all the best in his future.”

Elena Rybakina overcame a slow start to the defence of her Wimbledon title to beat Shelby Rogers in three sets.

Rybakina was playing on Centre Court for the first time since winning her maiden grand slam title 12 months ago and American Rogers threatened to produce some Independence Day fireworks as she took the opening set in style.

But, despite a recent illness which saw her pull out of the Eastbourne tournament last week, she found her feet and reminded everyone why she triumphed here last year by overrunning her opponent in the final two sets to claim a 4-6 6-1 6-2 victory.

She entered the court after eight-time men’s champion Roger Federer had been welcomed by the crowd and did not start well as Shelby broke her serve in the opening game of the match.

Rogers was able to save a break-back point at 2-1 and then produced some fine hitting that enabled her to take the advantage.

But that was as good as it got as Rybakina kicked into gear and raced away with the second set, breaking serve twice to take it in 29 minutes.

An early break in the decider proved key and Rybakina was able to move safely into the second round.

She said in her on-court interview: “It was really tough for me today, I was pretty nervous, I cannot even hide it. The double fault said it all in the first game of the match. I am really pleased to get to another round.

“I am feeling much better. Hopefully this win gives me more confidence for the next round.”

Her victory was the only women’s match able to be completed in the first four-and-a-half hours of play on Tuesday as heavy rain just after midday stopped all action on the outside courts.

Oisin Murphy will partner Chaldean as he heads to France this weekend for the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville.

The Andrew Balding-trained Frankel colt was last seen finishing second to Paddington in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, prior to which he was an impressive winner of the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in early May.

Paddington is now the Coral-Eclipse favourite and could step up to a mile and a quarter Sandown on Saturday, whereas Chaldean will return to a seven-furlong trip in the Deauville Group One on Sunday.

Frankie Dettori, who has been aboard for Chaldean’s last five starts, is unable to take to take the ride as he is serving a suspension for careless riding at the Royal meeting.

Murphy, who is Balding’s principal rider, will therefore take the reins at the weekend having ridden the Juddmonte-owned three-year-old several times before at home.

Barry Mahon, racing manager to Juddmonte, said: “Obviously Frankie is not around this weekend, which is unfortunate, but what can we do?

“It’s disappointing, but we’re in good shape and Andrew is happy with him.

“We’ll kick on and if he’s happy with him tomorrow morning after he does a little bit of work, he’ll be on track for Sunday.

“Oisin has ridden him at home plenty. He’ll sit on him again tomorrow. I know he’s never ridden him on the track, but he knows the horse well and he’s an integral part of Andrew’s team, so it is nice that he can get aboard on Sunday.

“He is a Dewhurst winner and not short of speed and Frankie’s first words when he got off him at Ascot were, ‘jeez, he has got lots of speed’, and we threw the July Cup out there for a while and we didn’t think that was the right thing to do.

“Seven furlongs looks a good spot for him and he is in good shape and hopefully it will work out.

“He’s versatile. His pedigree is all speed, his two-year-old form is all seven furlongs, so I think trip-wise he is fine, seven to a mile. I thought after the Guineas he’d stretch out a little bit, but I’m not so sure now. We’ll have to see how the year progresses.”

Also heading for Deauville for the same race is Kevin Ryan’s Hi Royal, second behind Chaldean in the Guineas and third behind Paddington and his stablemate Cairo in the Irish equivalent of the race at the Curragh.

His Newmarket run came at a huge price of 125-1, but he was an 11-2 chance in Ireland once his ability had been proven in a Classic.

Adam Ryan, the trainer’s son and his assistant, said: “Hi Royal will go to the Prix Jean Prat on Sunday. He is in great order. He was never in at Ascot, so he is nice and freshened up since his run in the Irish Guineas.

“Obviously that form has worked out extremely well, because Paddington has probably announced himself as the leading three-year-old. I think we would have been second to him, had he not received a bump.

“His form is rock solid and it will be nice to hope that he can have his day in the sun.

“I think he is pretty versatile ground-wise. He seems to act on anything and is a fine-moving horse. You probably don’t want extremes with him, but I don’t think he’d shy away from very much either.

“I believe James Doyle will be riding him. He has ridden Group One winners for us and Mr (Jaber) Abdullah (owner).”

Beyond Deauville, there will be some consideration as to which path Hi Royal takes throughout the rest of the season, with the horse a year younger than stablemate and fellow miler Triple Time.

“It is quite difficult to say what plans will be for Hi Royal, as he is in the same mile division as Triple Time and you get to that point where the three-year-olds have to take on the older horses,” Ryan said.

“Again, it is something you have to sit down and discuss with connections and make the best plan possible.

“It is hard enough to win these races, you don’t want to be taking each other on for the same yard as well. We’ll look forward to Sunday first and take things from there.”

World number one Carlos Alcaraz laid down a serious Wimbledon marker with a three-set defeat of Jeremy Chardy in the first round.

The 20-year-old Spaniard is seen as the most realistic challenger to Novak Djokovic’s bid for an eighth title this fortnight.

He proved his blossoming grass-court credentials by winning at Queen’s last weekend, and then produced an impressive all-round display, dismantling Chardy for two sets before digging in to take the third for a 6-0 6-2 7-5 win under the roof on Court One.

Chardy had announced he would retire after the Championships, with the London-based Frenchman calling time on his career 18 years after winning the Wimbledon boys’ title.

The 36-year-old, who reached a career high of 25 in the world, had said beforehand the match would “be a great end, no matter what”.

He may have revised that opinion after a first set which lasted just 22 minutes and in which he could not buy a first serve, throwing in seven double-faults to hand Alcaraz a bagel for lunch.

The match began at just after 1pm, but it was nearly quarter-to-two by the time Chardy finally got a game on the board.

Alcaraz had only ever played six matches on grass before Queen’s. But, all venomous serves, thunderous forehands, sliced backhands and the occasional beautifully disguised drop shot, he now looks ominously at home on the surface.

Chardy was two sets behind after less than an hour, yet, out of the blue and willed on by a crowd wanting to see at least something of a contest, he converted a break point at the fourth attempt to lead 4-2 in the third.

It was a fleeting show of defiance, however, with Alcaraz breaking straight back and going on to complete the victory in an hour and 53 minutes.

“I think I played really well at the beginning of the match but in the third set he showed his level,” said Alcaraz.

“I like to play rallies and battles, let’s say, and I’m really happy to have played at a great level and get through this first round.

“Without the roof and sun it’s better for me and everyone, but I have to be really focused. The sound of the ball with the roof is beautiful.”

Jack Kennedy registered his first victory since returning from a lengthy injury lay-off aboard I A Connect in the equuip – A Leg Up For Thoroughbred People Beginners Chase at Tipperary.

Kennedy broke his leg for a fifth time in a fall at Naas back in January, with the 24-year-old only returning to action at Cartmel on Sunday.

With Davy Russell’s retirement, Kennedy had not long assumed the role as clear number one for Gordon Elliott before sustaining the injury, which forced him to miss the Dublin Racing Festival in February as well as Cheltenham, Aintree, Fairyhouse and Punchestown in the spring.

Teaming up with the Elliott-trained I A Connect (4-1), Kennedy and his mount survived a bit of a sticky jump at the penultimate obstacle before eventually fending off Walnut Beach by a head in a thrilling finish.

Kennedy said: “That was brilliant and I’m delighted. He pecked a bit at the back of second-last, but he stays and probably wants further than that.

“I sent him on early as all he does is stay and to be fair to him he stuck his head out and battled.”

Kennedy admitted he had been unsure how he would feel on his second day back, but is now eagerly awaiting the Galway Festival at the end of the month.

He added: “I’m better today than I thought and had a good blowout at Cartmel on Sunday.

“I started back riding out six weeks ago, had three rides at Cartmel and have three today. Touch wood, the leg feels good.

“I didn’t put myself under any pressure to be back for the spring festivals, gave it more time then and I’m looking forward to Galway now.”

A Manchester City fans group has accused the Football Association of “doing the bare minimum” in amending the Community Shield kick-off time and called for a further change.

The 1894 group urged supporters to boycott the treble winners’ season-opener against Arsenal at Wembley on August 6 after it was originally scheduled for 5.30pm on Sunday, August 6.

After this and other complaints, the FA, in conjunction with broadcaster ITV, moved the game to 4pm.

This has not gone far enough for some fans and, while they are no longer expecting a “full boycott”, 1894 still feels the kick-off should be brought forward again by another hour.

A statement from the group, issued via the Football Supporters’ Association, read: “We repeat our request to the FA and to ITV to help more fans attend the game by bringing the kick-off time to 3pm.

“In the eyes of many fans, the very quick decision to move the game from 5.30pm to 4pm and hastily-arranged PR releases from the FA came across as them doing the bare minimum and expecting a round of applause for the decision.

“The subsequent statement from the FA said 4pm was agreed after consultation with the police, the local council and the broadcaster (ITV). However, the most important stakeholder was not consulted… the fans!”

Travel arrangements for Wembley fixtures have been a recurring source of frustration for north west teams in recent seasons.

Late kick-offs leave supporters travelling by rail limited time to get back to stations before the final trains north and there are general concerns about arriving home late at night and the high costs involved. These issues have been exacerbated for some high-profile fixtures by rail strikes and engineering works.

The 1894 statement added: “We feel 3pm is a fair request to the authorities to allow more people to travel back at a sensible time.

“To expect 30,000 fans to travel back north late on a Sunday evening is unfair. Wembley is a great, iconic venue but there are challenges getting to and from there, so we call on ITV and the FA to help our fans in particular by offering an earlier kick-off which allows families to attend.”

The group is still encouraging fans not to attend the game and support local foodbanks instead. It has organised a screening of the match at the Band on the Wall venue in Manchester city centre and proceeds will be donated to such causes.

“Fans can make a difference – even if a full boycott is not expected at this stage,” the statement added.

“It’s hard to sacrifice watching your own team play. However, some fans are seeing it is an opportunity to make a statement.

“It’s not the FA Cup final, it’s not the Champions League final. It is a game in the scheme of things where fans, if they are not valued, can choose to walk away from attending.”

The FA has been approached for comment.

Jack Butland aims to follow in the footsteps of two Rangers goalkeeping greats as he settles into life with the Ibrox club.

The 30-year-old joined the Light Blues last month on a four-year contract after his release by Crystal Palace and is in line to take over from 41-year-old Allan McGregor, whose time at the Govan outfit came to an end last season.

Appearing at the Rangers Training Centre on Tuesday, two days after the one-year anniversary of the death of former Rangers keeper Andy ‘The Goalie’ Goram, Butland spoke about emulating two Ibrox heroes.

“That’s the plan,” the England international said. “You are talking about two goalies – ‘The Goalie’ and Greegsy (McGregor) – two guys who have an incredible history with the club.

“They knew what Rangers was about. Watching the memorial video to Andy Goram the other day, painted a picture of what he was like, what he meant to the club and what the club meant to him.

“I think that’s what this club is all about. It has a rich history of top goalkeepers and that is something that I will be looking to continue both on and off the pitch, trying to learn about the club, enjoy it, take it all in and hopefully follow in their footsteps which, of course, is a big ask because of what they have done.”

Butland, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Manchester United without playing, won the last of his nine England caps in a friendly win over Switzerland in 2018 and has not given up hope of a return to the international fold but insists it is not his priority.

“I am a patriotic guy,” he said. “My country has always been important to me. To have represented them in the past is an honour.

“Of course I would love to get back to that.

“It is not my sole focus. My focus is to be successful at club level and that is to do my job here and whatever happens with that (England), I have always said, that will take care of itself. That is for others to decide.

“That will only happen if we are doing what we need to do here and I am playing well enough, which at the moment is my sole focus and if that comes, that is a bonus.”

Butland is one of five new signings boss Michael Beale has made this summer and the Ibrox club are on the brink of completing a deal with Cremonese for 28-year-old Nigeria forward Cyriel Dessers.

Rangers on Tuesday announced a friendly against Olympiacos at Ibrox on Wednesday, July 26, to complete their pre-season diary alongside fixtures against Newcastle, Hamburg and Hoffenheim.

England batter Joe Root suggested the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in last week’s Lord’s Test could harm Australia’s “legacy” in the game.

The fallout from Alex Carey’s dismissal of his fellow wicketkeeper at Lord’s is showing no signs of slowing down and the issue has even reached Prime Ministerial level with both Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese wading into the debate.

England captain Ben Stokes made it clear at the end of the game that he would not have pursued the appeal, with Bairstow clearly treating the ball as dead after he ducked the final ball of a Cameron Green over, and his predecessor has backed up those words.

Root, who captained his country for five and a half years and knows plenty about the heat of the Ashes moment, expressed surprise at how much oxygen the issue was getting but made his own position clear ahead of Thursday’s third Test.

“There has been a lot said… I can’t believe how much has been covered on it. But if I try to put myself in that situation, I think I would have dealt with it very differently,” he said.

“I think Ben spoke very well on it. As a team we want to play our cricket in a certain way and leave a certain legacy. Clearly, it has been very different how we have gone about Test cricket in the past 18 months in terms of how we play our cricket physically, if you like. I also think we play our cricket in a slightly different way in that respect as well.”

Asked if Australia’s conduct had tarnished their attempts to rebuild reputations following the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal five years ago, Root added: “I don’t think it’s really for me to say to be honest. I care about England cricket and this team and what we’re about as a team. We all know how we want to play our cricket and we’ll continue to do it that way.

“There’s always going to be respect there. You’re allowed to disagree on certain things and see the game differently and clearly that is the case on this topic.”

Yorkshire have said they will be paying particular attention to security arrangements for the match following angry scenes at Lord’s, both in the stands and in the MCC Long Room. Three members were suspended pending an investigation and Root called for his hometown ground to keep their support on the right side of the line.

“Support England, that’s the most important thing. You come to support your nations and it doesn’t need to go beyond that,” he said.

“It should never go beyond that. Everyone should be here to enjoy the cricket on the field. It shouldn’t be about anything other than that. Come here and support your team to the best of your ability, we’ll play to the best of ours.”