this is the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: ready to make a splash down under. england cool their feet before the ashes first test. brighton and stoke share the points in a tight monday night premier league contest. tributes from around the world for former wimbledon champion jana novotna who has died aged 49. hi there. wherever you are around the world, welcome to sport today. it's about time we got a bit more fuel for the fire, some stoking of the ashes. england batsmanjames vince says australia need to back up their chat two days out from the ashes first test. earlier aussie paceman josh hazlewood spoke of opening the "scars" from the 2013—14 whitewash of england. our sports correspondent andy swiss watched the teams train at the hostile ground often knicknamed the ‘gabbatoir‘. welcome to the gabba, behind you we

can see as australia gets ready to the test starting here on thursday. england's players have been taking things relatively easy. earlier on, some of them were here at the gabba, looking resplendent. including jake ball. he is looking to england's final bowling spot in the team. he says he is now fully recovered that match in adelaide. i did have my eyes closed first thing. i managed to get a bit of movement while is out there. this soon as had the scan and got the result back, it was really good. from then on, the stats have been amazing. back in fully fit

now. j call in with an real chance. as for australia, they have had their own selection issues. it's raised a few eyebrows, a few left—field selections. shaun marsh. australia have an incredible record here at the gabba. they have not lost a test match here the nearly 30 yea rs. lost a test match here the nearly 30 years. not surprisingly, they are full of confidence. we know how to play there. the crowd always gets behind australia. it'll be great. i'm hoping. it's one of my favourite places. i'm looking forward to getting out there and hopefully making the english uncomfortable. this is something of a fortress for australian cricket. we will see how

it goes on thursday. most of the money is going on an aussie series win, but one englishman who has won the ashes twice twice has other ideas. i'm not quite as bullish. the big thing about australia, and i'm contradicting myself, all that pressure can quickly turn on them. the taxi drivers will start slapping the aussies. i think we will lose at the aussies. i think we will lose at the gabba. and then will get beaten in perth. and then melbourne and syd ney in perth. and then melbourne and sydney be. in just under 11 hours, the final match of the women's ashes will get underway in canberra. australia have already retained their title but england are determined to win the final t20 and ensure the actual series finishes level.

i think ithink in i think in the context of the series, it will be good. the girls fought really hard. if in getaway, we will draw well. brighton and stoke drew 2 all in an entertaining contest in monday night's english premier league. stoke went ahead in the first half through eric choupo—moting before pascal gross equalised. butjust a minute later stoke were 2—1 up thanks to kurt zouma. after the breakjose izquierdo made it all square. brighton remain 9th, stoke 15th. i don't think there are too many occasions to brighton have been able to open the door and get the shots off and play from our point of view, we have to be happy with that. that is to away games. reasonably happy,

i suppose. now some goals are great, some are just a bit of a disaster, some combine the two into the most majestic of failures. take this from vitesse arnham defender fankaty dabo. he's on loan from chelsea and found himself under pressure from groningen. and made a bit of a mess at his attempted passback. a strike to be proud of — if it were at the other end anyway! groningen went on to win the game 4—2 to help steer them clear of the bottom three. having quit football, former england striker michael owen turned his attention horse racing. and ownership in particular. and now for the first time he will see the other side of the sport, as a jockey, when he competes in his first race, at ascot on friday. richard askam went to cheshire to find out what made 0wen pull on the silks. the cold morning on the gallops at manor house stables. 0ne

the cold morning on the gallops at manor house stables. one of the best strikers in a generation is having to learn fast. it badly has trained to learn fast. it badly has trained to just exploded into life. it so difficult. even though he has involved with horses for many years, asa involved with horses for many years, as a writer, he is a rookie. full—time, you know, getting into gear is on the indicators and all those sorts of things. he has to think, train and crucially it as a jockey. another thing he mentioned was the water. i'm about 14 stone six, six weeks ago. i really had to get my head around starting to lose weight. i will do it. up get my head around starting to lose weight. iwill do it. up at get my head around starting to lose weight. i will do it. up at six o'clock every morning, michael is into the saddle in the spring, thinking once he wouldn't have to worry about strength. how wrong would he be. there is a strap for

the fires. i thought the size of my thighs, they are so muscular compared to jockeys but then you try to ride a horse and i was two thirds of the way in and it was so tight, my thighs were gone. of the way in and it was so tight, my thighs were gonelj of the way in and it was so tight, my thighs were gone. i think anybody knows anything about riding a horse, 37 years old, it takes some real guts tojust get 37 years old, it takes some real guts to just get on a horse. do you think, i'm going to try and win it? i definitely want to win. i've got a really good horse. he says it will be right up there with one of his greatest achievements. australian rugby union head coach michael cheika is being investigated for his comments and conduct for the wallabies loss on sundays. he reacted to a series of decisions which went against his side. he was also involved in an exchange with a

supported just beforehand. jana novotna has passed away after a long battle with cancer. the czech finally secured her only grand slam singles title at wimbledon beating nathalie tauziat. david 0rnstein looks back on the life of jana novotna. it has remained one of wimbledon‘s enduring images. jana novotna, with a shoulder to cry on the duchess of kent. she just told a shoulder to cry on the duchess of kent. shejust told me, jana novotna, you won beautifully. ijust became very emotional. jana novotna finished runner—up in 1997 and a year later, finally secured her trophy. she has done it! i would describe her as someone who is a

ruthless competitor on court but very sweet and charming off court. such a warm person, always very friendly off the court, always the first person to come up and smile and give you a kiss and really, really not by everyone. the czech right—hander was to promise among some of the most exciting and successful plays a third generation. she collected 16 trophies in doubles and more than 100 tournament wins over her glittering career. she made it into the international tennis hall of fame but she will always remove the —— be remembered for her tea rs remove the —— be remembered for her tears and triumphs, refusing to let her setbacks get her down. she has made it into history with a smile. jana novotna has died at the age of 49. that's all we've got time for right now. i'm nick marshall—mccormack.

thanks for watching, see you soon. for many it was a very mild start to the new week. 16.6 was the high, well above average for this time of year. we stay in the mild air for tuesday and for much of the week. i'm sure you've noticed an area of low pressure and a frontal system, which means rain. at eight o'clock in the morning, that rain is draped across scotland and likely to keep falling here through much of the day, just clear of northern ireland. rain returning here later in the morning. it could be a tricky rush hour, particularly through the central belt, heavy and persistent rain. not as cold as it has been, milder air nudging north. that rain will be just about clear of northern england, but certainly down underfoot, with mist and murk and low cloud. in much of england and wales, lots of cloud, but aside from the odd patch of drizzle it

will be mainly dry and mild. temperatures around 11 or 12. through england and wales, through the day, that cloud will try to thin and break, especially to the lee of high ground. so there could be a bit of brightness. the rain keeps falling over scotland and later in the day we see another spell of rain in northern england, and northern wales. to the south and east of that, mainly dry. the best of any brightness will be here. mild, with high temperatures of around 14 or 13 celsius. still quite cool in scotland. in the evening, more rain to come through scotland, slowly pulling away, then a different spell of rain pushing east across england and wales and becoming more persistent across north—west england and north wales as we head through the early hours of wednesday morning. the winds will be strengthening as well, likely to touch gale force along the western and southern coasts. a mild night as we go into wednesday. a much windier day.

chance of gales in some places. persistent rain across northern parts of wales, northern ireland, perhaps stretching up to southern parts of scotland. south and east of this, mainly dry, with the best of any brightness. we could see 15 celsius, butjust 8 in the far north of scotland. lots of isobars through wednesday night and into thursday. strong winds. this front will sweep these, but that'll bring heavy rain for a time. how quickly it clears from the south—east of england is a bit open to doubt at the moment. behind it, we start to lose some of the milder air and something colder starting to dig back in. a sign of things to come by the weekend. on thursday we could see some snow once again over the mountains of scotland. some rain across northern england. further south, should be mainly dry, with some sunshine. but eventually some rain pushing back in later. still mild here, 12—14 celsius the high. much colder further north. welcome to bbc news — i'm tom donkin, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories...

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