Steve Smith will take over from the retired David Warner as Australia’s new Test opener after convincing selectors he was “willing and hungry” to embrace a new challenge.

Smith batted as low as number nine on Test debut and has taken every spot up to number three in the course of a prolific career. Now he will head the innings for the first time having publicly pitched to replace Warner.

The 34-year-old’s move will accommodate the return of all-rounder Cameron Green in the top six for the forthcoming series against the West Indies, with Matt Renshaw picked as reserve batter and Cameron Bancroft’s hopes of returning to the Baggy Green fold dashed.

Head selector Andrew McDonald indicated all parties view the switch as a long-term move and praised the former captain for embracing change after 105 Tests and almost 10,000 runs lower down the order.

“It’s selfless that someone who’s had such success in one position or a couple of positions in the middle order, that he’s willing and hungry to have a crack at something different,” McDonald told reporters.

“For someone who has achieved as much as he has over such a long period of time across all formats, it’s a challenge or an itch he’d like to scratch and ultimately for us, as a team, it’s something that fits.

“It provides an opportunity to slot Greeny into number four where he’s had success for Western Australia. Ultimately we are trying to pick our six best batters.

“The regard in which we hold Cameron and the way the rest of that batting order is functioning left us feeling we have someone we think is pretty talented who was potentially going to find it pretty hard to get any Test cricket in the next 12 months or so.”

When Jonathan Trott first took the Afghanistan job he had to pay for his own flights.

The 42-year-old then took a game against Ireland in a San Francisco 49ers jacket – his favourite NFL team – as there was no kit available for him.

Fast forward 18 months and Trott has just agreed a fresh one-year deal following Afghanistan’s historic World Cup.

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The former England batsman – a three-time Ashes winner – has excelled in his first head coach role but admits it has been an eye-opener.

“Some things have improved, some have stayed the same. When I arrived in Ireland I’d had to buy my own ticket to fly to there,” Trott told the PA news agency ahead of Thursday’s first T20 game with India in Mohali.

“I remember coaching the first game, I had to wear an NFL jacket because I didn’t have a jacket in Ireland in August, it was freezing and we didn’t have any tracksuits.

“These sorts of things hit you, when you play for England you realise how lucky you are, how you are afforded the best facilities, the best kit, the best organisation.

“With us you have a manager, physio and coach. It’s going back to the start of my cricketing days and that’s what makes it so enjoyable, seeing 18 months down the line what the guys are doing.”

World Cup wins over England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Netherlands in India during October and November underlined Afghanistan’s progress. Only an astonishing 201 from Glenn Maxwell stopped the Blue Tigers taking the scalp of Australia.

Wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz was a cattle farmer while Fazalhaq Farooqi was a labourer, including building mud walls, while honing their cricketing skills.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake which struck the country in October, killing over 2,400 people, also impacted the squad, with star man Rashid Khan donating his match fees to the relief effort.

Now, Afghanistan had 10 players in the IPL auction last month, with their journeys not lost on Trott.

“I’ve seen a picture of Fazal five years ago ploughing a field in traditional Afghan attire,” he said. “It’s one of the most stark contrasts, it brings you to the realisation of what the players have achieved.

“He was ploughing lines to plant potatoes and now is in the IPL.”

The country’s cricketing success has come with the squad playing under a flag no longer recognised by their country and singing a national anthem which does not exist following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

While the inner workings of the government is something Trott does not discuss, he cares about his players.

“I consciously stay away from politics, I don’t talk politics with the guys on purpose because it might make them uncomfortable, like they can’t be honest with me,” he says.

“I coach cricket, I listen, I ask questions and I’m courteous with regards to the players, their upbringings and what makes them.

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“There are some very religious views and some aren’t as religious as others. I find that interesting, the dynamics of that and the balance the players have.

“As coaches sometimes we blur the lines because every time we speak we think we have to come up with some golden nugget or something we want the players to look at and go: ‘Oh, that’s revolutionary.'”

The former Warwickshire batter has proved he can alter his approach, changing his batting order in training to accommodate prayers being a prime example.

Despite committing his future to Afghanistan, his ambition is not limited to the country, with Trott previously underlining his desire to coach England having had a previous spell as batting coach.

It is one which remains but, with the T20 World Cup in June, his eyes remain on the present.

“I’m focused on making sure we’re in the best place possible for the World Cup. I’d be lying if I didn’t want to coach England or in the IPL,” he said, having overseen a 2-1 T20 series win against the UAE this month.

“If somebody asked me when I was a youngster would you want to play for England? I would have said: ‘Yes, absolutely.’ I don’t see that as a problem. It’s good to be ambitious and it’s good to want to be at the top, wanting to be the best.”

A community rugby league team established just a year ago primarily as a means to raise funds and awareness for mental health charities are preparing to make their debut in the Betfred Challenge Cup on Saturday.

South Wales Jets qualified by virtue of having soared unbeaten through their first season in the Welsh Premiership, and will take on seasoned Challenge Cup campaigners Stanningley in Ebbw Vale.

And while they harbour ambitions of bringing higher-level rugby league back to the region, the club’s founder Liam Price is determined that the mental health message will stay at the front and centre at the Jets.

Price, a former local rugby union player, told the PA news agency: “The idea to form a club came during furlough when I discovered how much I missed the social aspect of being involved in a rugby team.

“Before Covid I was something of a workaholic, and going from 80-hour weeks to nothing really affected me. I was one of those people who never really saw mental health as an issue, and all of sudden I found that I physically couldn’t get out of bed.

“After speaking to some of my friends who were going through a similar experience, the idea came up to start what would essentially be a charity sports team that would play a few union sevens tournaments raise some money and awareness.

“It got to the point where we decided to step up it and switch to league in order to enter the Welsh Premiership. But the mental health message will always remain central.”

Since their inauguration, the Jets have raised over £12,000 for a number of charities, chiefly the community-based Signposted Cymru, which has pride of place on the club shirts, and helped refer 17 young men for mental health counselling.

After a stellar first season, on-pitch ambitions involve a potential move to the Southern Conference League, but Price is wary of the fate that has befallen previous attempts to kick-start the sport in the region, most recently West Wales Raiders, who resigned from League One at the end of the 2022 campaign.

Four ex-Raiders are currently part of the Jets set-up, while former Super League players and Welsh internationals Ben Flower and Lloyd White have been working with the club to help prepare them for the daunting challenge of facing Stanningley.

Ebbw Vale itself is no stranger to league, having boasted a professional side that competed regularly in the Northern Union, and were the last Welsh club to be dissolved in 1912. But for Price there is still some way for the undoubted talent in the region to be realised.

“There’s a lot of talent in South Wales but the code is just severely under-funded,” said Price. “We looked at moving into the SCL but because of the distance between the teams it’s not financially viable at the current time.

“We’ve got a longer-term plan but we don’t want to make the same kind of mistakes that teams like the Raiders have done. We know we’re probably too strong for the Welsh league but it is important for the club that we do things properly.”

This afternoon’s meeting at Doncaster will go ahead as planned but the card at Leicester must pass a third inspection at 12 noon.

Shortly after 7am Doncaster’s clerk of the course Paul Barker was confident temperatures had not dropped sufficiently to cause a problem but it was a different story for Jimmy Stevenson at Leicester.

By 8am the temperature on course had dropped to a chilly -4C but it is forecast to rise to 4C or 5C later on.

The track failed a second inspection at 10.30am but with temperatures slowly rising and a 1.05pm first race, officials are keen to give it every chance.

There are also issues at Wincanton on Friday where clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team have called an 8.30am check for raceday.

The course is currently frozen in places with temperatures potentially going as low as -3C before racing.

An 8am precautionary inspection has also been called at Fontwell ahead of the meeting there on Thursday, also due to frost.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is this weekend set to attend his first Manchester United match since agreeing a partial takeover of the club, the PA news agency understands.

The billionaire has agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in the Premier League outfit and, barring any late change in schedule, is due to attend Sunday’s match against Tottenham at Old Trafford.

The deal is still awaiting ratification, but Ratcliffe and his team have wasted no time getting to know the club as his INEOS group prepare to take responsibility for footballing operations at United.

The 71-year-old and Sir Dave Brailsford, INEOS’ director of sport, visited Old Trafford and United’s Carrington training ground last week.

The pair met with men’s team manager Erik ten Hag and women’s team boss Marc Skinner, along with members of different teams and backroom staff.

The INEOS delegation also met with wider club staff at Old Trafford and attended an all-staff meeting as they get to better know United and the challenge at hand.

Brailsford has been at all three matches since the deal was announced on Christmas Eve, with INEOS Sport chief executive Jean Claude Blanc joining him at Monday’s FA Cup third round 2-0 win against Wigan.

Former US Open champion Gary Woodland is determined to “jump start” his career as he returns to action following surgery to remove a brain lesion.

Woodland, who won his maiden major title at Pebble Beach in 2019, was diagnosed with the lesion in May last year but kept competing on the PGA Tour before undergoing surgery on September 18.

The 39-year-old will make his first start since August in this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, where world number eight Matt Fitzpatrick and Open champion Brian Harman head the 144-man field.

“They track it every three months now with an MRI and I had a little tough spell leading up to the MRI a couple weeks ago because I was a little nervous, but everything came back well,” Woodland said in his pre-tournament press conference.

“At the end of the day, I just want to prove you can do hard things. I want to prove to my kids nobody is going to tell you you can’t do anything.

“You can overcome tough, scary decisions in your life. Not everything is easy. This came out of nowhere for me, but I’m not going to let it stop me.

“I don’t want this to be a bump in the road for me. I want it to be a jump start in my career.

“At the end of the day, I’m here because I believe this is what I’ve been born to do, play great golf. I want to do that again. It’s been a while. Been a couple of years.

“Nothing is going to stop me. I believe that. I believe a lot of great things are ahead.”

Woodland revealed he first experienced symptoms shortly after last year’s Masters which included partial seizures in the night and “a lot of fear”.

“The lesion sat on the part of my brain that controls fear and anxiety,” Woodland said.

“The specialist in Kansas City explained everything to a T. He’s like, you’re not going crazy. Everything you’re experiencing is common and normal for where this thing is sitting in your brain.”

Remarkably, Woodland kept competing on the PGA Tour as he tried to treat the symptoms with medication, but struggled with a lack of energy and focus and would even forget which club he was about to hit while standing over the ball.

Another specialist in Miami eventually urged Woodland to undergo surgery to remove the lesion as its location was too risky to attempt a biopsy.

“He didn’t want to go in any more than he had to. So surgery and removal was the next step,” Woodland said.

“They couldn’t get it all out from where it was located (but) it was benign.

“If it was cancerous they would’ve removed it all. It’s up against my optic tract. They removed as much as they could and believe they cut off the blood circulation to what’s left.”

Dan Evans was beaten in the last 16 of the Adelaide International as Alexander Bublik came from behind to defeat the British number two.

After starting well to claim the first set, Evans was then broken to go 4-2 down in the second and he would secure only one of the games that followed as Kazakhstan’s Bublik surged to a 4-6 6-2 6-1 win.

Evans, returning to action at this tournament after his 2023 campaign was ended prematurely by a calf injury, had beaten Australian Rinky Hijikata in straight sets in the previous round.

The 33-year-old will be unseeded at a grand slam for the first time since 2019 at the Australian Open, with the draw taking place in Melbourne on Thursday.

British number four Jack Draper is through to the quarter-finals of the Adelaide International after saving two match points in a comeback win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.

Draper will face American Tommy Paul in the last eight after bouncing back from going a set down to earn a marathon 5-7 7-6 (9) 7-6 (7) victory in three hours and 39 minutes.

Clement Lenglet is set to stay at Aston Villa despite a host of top European clubs chasing the defender.

The 28-year-old, on loan from Barcelona, had options to leave this window but is expected to remain at Villa Park until the end of the season.

AC Milan, Napoli, Lyon, Monaco and several sides in Spain were all keen on taking the France international, the PA news agency understands.

But Villa have ruled out cutting short the ex-Sevilla man’s loan as they mount a surprise title challenge.

Lenglet endured a frustrating first half of the season and only made his Premier League debut for Unai Emery’s side in the 1-1 draw against Sheffield United just before Christmas.

An ankle injury to Pau Torres in December gave Lenglet, who joined after Tyrone Mings was ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a serious knee injury in August, his chance and made a January exit almost impossible.

He had been previously exclusively used in the Europa Conference League, playing five of Villa’s six games as they qualified from Group E.

Since the draw against the Blades, Lenglet, who made 35 appearances on loan at Tottenham last season, has started every game, including Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup win at Middlesbrough.

Emery recently praised the centre-back’s professionalism, despite his lack of action, and insisted he wanted to keep him.

He said last month: “He is a very good professional and we have been working with him every day, trying to understand our style. He was even coming in when the players had a day off to do extra work.

“I am speaking with Lenglet and sending him a message that I am very happy with him. I need him, the team needs him now.

“We agreed a contract between the club and him to help us out. There is nothing in my mind which has changed in that relationship.”

Villa go to Everton on Sunday aiming to maintain their championship challenge, with Emery’s side second in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Liverpool.

The Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate could be doubly represented in next month’s Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, with both Hansard and Kamsinas in line for the lucrative handicap.

Gary Moore’s Hansard showed his liking for the Berkshire track when landing the Gerry Feilden in November, since when he has finished a creditable fifth under a big weight in the Betfair Exchange Trophy at Ascot.

Kamsinas looked a potential star novice for Fergal O’Brien after landing a Grade Two prize at Haydock on his penultimate start, but having since come up short in the inaugural running of the Grade One Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day, he is set for a switch to handicap company.

“The plan at the moment remains for them both to run at Newbury, as long as everything stays okay between now and then,” Fehily confirmed.

“Hansard won the Gerry Feilden on his second to last start and I think the track suits him, so the Betfair Hurdle is very much the aim for him.

“Kamsinas won a Grade Two at Haydock, he was beaten in a Grade One last time out, but I think this race could just suit the likes of him as well. He is a novice and is hopefully still improving.”

Neil King is also considering another crack at handicap riches with his stable star Lookaway.

The seven-year-old completed a hat-trick of novice wins when beating Kamsinas in Grade Two company at Cheltenham towards the end of October.

He then performed with credit against seasoned campaigners when second in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle back at Prestbury Park, only being headed on the run-in by Iberico Lord.

Lookaway filled the same position behind Captain Teague in the Grade One Challow at Newbury over the festive period and Britain’s most valuable handicap hurdle is now one of his upcoming options.

“We have the three options for him now following his huge run in the Challow Hurdle; we either go to Cheltenham Trials Day, back to Newbury for the Betfair Hurdle or the Sidney Banks Hurdle at Huntingdon,” said King.

“I thought Trials Day would come too soon after the Challow but he has come out of the race so well, I don’t think he had as hard a race as we anticipated, he is in great form.

“We will review entries and ground conditions and make a decision as to where we go next, but the Betfair Hurdle is very much an option.”

With a total prize fund of £155,000 up for grabs on February 10, the Betfair Hurdle has predictably attracted a strong book of entries.

Nicky Henderson has six of the 40 possible contenders, with the aforementioned Iberico Lord joined by Betfair Exchange Trophy one-two Luccia and Impose Toi, plus Under Control, First Street and Doddiethegreat.

Paul Nicholls has Elite Hurdle hero Rubaud and Long Walk Hurdle fifth Blueking d’Oroux, while Willie Mullins has three of the four potential Irish raiders in Alvaniy, French recruit Ocastle Des Mottes and Onlyamatteroftime.

Olly Murphy’s Go Dante is one of four early co-favourites with the sponsors and Betfair spokesman Barry Orr commented: “It’s a cracking list of entries and that’s reflected in the market at 8-1 the field.

“Last month’s Betfair Exchange Trophy, which was won by Luccia, could hold the key to this race, with eight of the nine runners entered here.

“The winner looked a different proposition at Ascot and she would be considerably shorter if taking up this engagement, while Onlyamatteroftime, Impose Toi and Altobelli will all be in the mix.

“Rubaud would also be an interesting contender having disappointed in this race last season as a novice but rated 19lb more in this renewal.”

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick has told his players to embrace the challenge of walking into the lion’s den at Chelsea with a place in the Carabao Cup final at stake.

Boro head coach Carrick saw his team secure a 1-0 first-leg lead at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday evening, which will send them to Stamford Bridge on January 23 with something to defend.

The Sky Bet Championship promotion hopefuls had to endure a tide of pressure on their own pitch to emerge with a clean sheet, and they can expect an onslaught on a night when a repeat would send them to Wembley.

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However Carrick, whose side lost 1-0 to Chelsea’s Premier League counterparts Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round at the weekend, said: “It’s embracing it.

“The last two games the boys have coped very, very well with Villa at the weekend and tonight, this being different because it’s obviously a lot further on in the competition and there was much more of an opportunity in this one with the expectations, the hope, the challenge that they faced.

“I couldn’t have hoped or asked for anything more. I keep saying the next one is a totally different one, it’s a new challenge totally.

“The boys will be ready for it and we’ll be ready to perform. We’ll look forward to it and embrace the challenge because it’s an unbelievable challenge and position that we find ourselves in.”

Hackney’s 37th-minute strike, which came after Isaiah Jones had made the most of Dan Barlaser’s fine through ball, ultimately settled a game in which Mauricio Pochettino’s expensively-assembled side dominated possession, but failed to make the most of the chances they created with Cole Palmer passing up no fewer than three himself.

Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo alone cost in excess of £220million, but along with Conor Gallagher, got little change out of a Boro midfield of Hackney, Barlaser and Jonny Howson to leave Carrick purring.

Asked if it was his best night yet as a manager, the 42-year-old former Manchester United and England midfielder said: !It’s as proud as I’ve been, I have to say again, of the players.

“Knowing what they’ve put in and how close a group they are and seeing the stadium supporting the lads right to the end when they needed that bit of help for the last 10 minutes or so, standing there and seeing that made me hugely proud, so it was a good night for that, a really good night for that and hopefully we can create some more of them in the future.”

Pochettino was measured after a disappointing night on Teesside, during which he admitted the Blues had been punished both for their mistakes and their profligacy in front of goal.

The Argentinian said: “I am disappointed because I think we deserved a different result, but sometimes you don’t play well and you win.

“For us, it’s like we need to play well, we need to score goals. We play well, but sometimes we are not clinical enough and sometimes we are punished. That is the process in this moment we are in.

“Always when you are building a team, this kind of scenario is tough because you not only need to play well, but you need to deserve and have some luck.”

Cameron Norrie continued his Australian Open preparations with victory over Frenchman Luca Van Assche in the second round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

The British number one saw off his 19-year-old opponent 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-1 in just under two and a half hours to set up a quarter-final against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.

Having claimed the opening set, Norrie had match point in the tie-break before Van Assche came through to bring the match level.

He was then broken by Van Assche in the opening game of set three before hitting back emphatically, rattling off six games in succession to secure the win.

Norrie is seeded 19th for the Australian Open ahead of the draw taking place in Melbourne on Thursday.

This afternoon’s meeting at Doncaster will go ahead as planned but the card at Leicester must pass a second inspection at 10.30am.

Shortly after 7am Doncaster’s clerk of the course Paul Barker was confident temperatures had not dropped sufficiently to cause a problem but it was a different story for Jimmy Stevenson at Leicester.

By 8am the temperature on course had dropped to a chilly -4C but it is forecast to rise to 4C or 5C later on. Whether it rises in time remains to be seen.

There are also issues at Wincanton on Friday where clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team have called an 8.30am check for raceday.

The course is currently frozen in places with temperatures potentially going as low as -3C before racing.