the hosts notches a century as the hosts extend their advantage on day two of the opening test against england. lewis hamilton predicts a tough defence of his formula 1 world title with the new season getting this weekend. and gareth bale scores hat—trick against china in a 6—0 victory, as he becomes the record welsh goalscorer. hello there, and welcome to the programme, where we start with the cricketing news that the new zealand captain has become the new zealand captain has become the highest ever century maker for his country, notching up an 18th test century against england in auckland. having started the day with a lead of 117 runs, the black caps have moved to 197—3, a lead of 139. rain has. play in the last five minutes, coming less than an hour after resumption —— rain has stopped play. they lead on the opening day

of the third test against south africa in cape town, the hosts cruising on 220—2, thanks to an unbeaten century from dean elgar. in one spell, four wickets were taken to adjust 12 runs, including the prized scalp of ab de villiers. geldart will resume unbeaten on friday as south africa tried to regroup and set a large first—innings total —— elgar. ireland and afghanistan have both been thrown a world cup lifeline following a surprise defeat for host zimbabwe in the latest qualifier. zimbabwe in the latest qualifier. zimbabwe would have made it had they beaten the uae. our correspondent reports. zimba bwe‘s dreams beaten the uae. our correspondent reports. zimbabwe's dreams of joining cricket's top table again will have to wait another year. the victory was needed for them to reach next yea r‘s world victory was needed for them to reach next year's world cup, but the united arab emirates had other ideas. without a win in this stage of qualification, they were playing

just for pride. the captain was full of it after his fourth international 50, and he wasn't the only one finding the boundary with ease. a quickfire 22 had the locals scrambling, and not just quickfire 22 had the locals scrambling, and notjust for the ball. the rain that has disrupted so much of this tournament came once again. uae‘s total of 235 revised down to 234 zimbabwe to chase, and they didn't get off to a great start. the first three wickets fell forjust 45 start. the first three wickets fell for just 45 runs. start. the first three wickets fell forjust 45 runs. the hosts did rally to put themselves into winning positions, but he always seemed to find a way through when it mattered. three runs the difference between the sides in the end. the first win over a test nation for the uae. and heartache for zimbabwe. the world of formula 1 is gathering in australia ahead of the opening race of the season on ahead of the opening race of the season on sunday. the defending

champion, lewis hamilton, has been meeting his fans at the albert park circuit in melbourne as he bids to become only the third driver in formula 1 history to win the title more than four ties. he is expected to start with the best car on the grid but that won't stop his opponents doing their best to stop the mercedes team this season. when you come to the end of your career you come to the end of your career you want to know you competed against the best. there are those that our before, you know, bow out early. there are those that have won championships, maybe, but have not been as competitive. and the ultimate goal is to be the best, i think you have to go up against the best. so it has been a great experience for me to be able to raise sebastian. he has more than any other driver at the time, and this is an exciting year for formula 1fans. this is an exciting year for formula 1 fans. i think this is an exciting year for formula 1fans. i think our this is an exciting year for formula 1 fans. i think our car is great,

there is stuff to come, so plenty to look forward to, but at this point you don't know where any of the others are. so that is why it is a bit pointless to say you will come here and blow everyone away. based oi'i here and blow everyone away. based on testing i think we are in good shape. we could be in better shape, but it is always like that. gareth bale scored a hat—trick for wales to become his country's leading goalscorer on the opening match of the china cup. it was ryan giggs' first match in charge of wales and gareth bale made a dream start when he scored the opening goal of the game after only two minutes. the real madrid star doubled the lead midway through the first half, bringing him level with ian rush on 28 goals for the national side. he then broke the record 15 minutes into the second half, claiming his first international hat—trick on his first international hat—trick on his first goals for wales in 16 months. they will now face uruguay or the czech republic in the final.m they will now face uruguay or the czech republic in the final. it is a massive achievement for me. obviously when i was a little boy i never dream of being a recordbreaker

for wales, but now it has come so it is an incredible honour, and definitely one of the best things i have achieved in my career. here in china they see you as a god. they will build a statue after that performance. the fans are amazing. whenever we come over to china they are always very supportive, and it is great to come back and be able to show what we can do on the pitch, and a great performance by all the boys today. a brilliant performance from the lads. fantastic goals. like isaid from the lads. fantastic goals. like i said before, it is not easy. two training sessions, travelling halfway across the world, and the lads have taken all the information on board. in training they have been excellent. therefore, i knew there was a good team spirit, but until you are actually within the environment you don't realise how good it is. so that obviously helps. so all these things, yes, just made for a good night for us. manchester united have confirmed that

ibrahimovich is leaving the club with immediate effect. mourinho has agreed to release ibrahimovic a head of the end of his formal deal. he will bejoining la of the end of his formal deal. he will be joining la galaxy. of the end of his formal deal. he will bejoining la galaxy. the reigning bbc women's footballer of the year scored the winner in the 79th minute with a return leg in spain next week, and in the night's other tie, the former champions defeated prior 5—0. —— other tie, the former champions defeated prior5—0. —— prague. and the wgc world match play in texas, a second successive defeat. he was playing the canadian contender who won the opening hole of their match, and was never behind after that. johnson did recently draw level at one stage. the canadian ranked 38 in the world went on a charge after the turn and was four up with four to

play when they got to the 15th, that speu play when they got to the 15th, that spell the end forjohnson, in the second defeat forjohnson means the champion is out and will be going home after friday's match against kisner. rory mcilroy bounced back to defeat his opponent, he needs to defeat his opponent, he needs to defeat brian harman to have any chance of going through to the last 16. our contenderfor shot chance of going through to the last 16. our contender for shot of the day was this effort you are about to see from molinari, as he made it two wins out of two for the italian. wonderful. a former dallas cowboys quarterback made his pga tour debut in the dominican republic. he u nsuccessfully attem pted to in the dominican republic. he unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the us open on three occasions and began his round with back—to—back bogeys. in a field which has ten major champions, he showed his own skills. halak at this

for a putt. after a further bogey on seven, romo came right back to level par with a birdie on eight, but struggled to keep it together and finished 14 strokes behind the leader. now the tennis, and the world number one, halep, is through to the third round of the miami open. she was made to work hard for her victory, and had to come from a set down to beat a woman ranked 98 in the world. she qualified as a lucky losers and won the first set 6-3. lucky losers and won the first set 6—3. halep recovered from her sluggish start and levelled the match, taking the second set 6—3. she sealed the victory with an ace, and she will face radwanska in the third round. earlier, kerber defeated her opponent. she maintained her unbeaten record and came through 6—2, 6—2. the german,

who is the 10th seed, will now progress. pliskova is also through to the third round, the former world number one defeat in makarova in two very close sets, 7—5, 7—5. the defending champion one stage four of the tour of catalonia on thursday, regaining the green and white leader's jersey. the regaining the green and white leader'sjersey. the peloton attacked with seven kilometres to go in the last 500m the spaniard picked the perfect moment to make a break, claiming the stage win, meaning he now has a 19 second advantage. just enough time to let you know in the nba, six games taking place. the houston rockets are 76— 70 up at home in the final quarter of their match against the detroit pistons. everything else, including the rain delayed cricket, go to the website.

until next time, goodbye. hello there. thursday was another pretty mild day. we saw a top temperature of 15.1 celsius in the north—east of scotland, making this the warmest day of the year so far for scotland. now, during the overnight period, you'll be seeing a series of weather fronts moving in from the west, bringing outbreaks of rain. quite a lot of cloud around, also strengthening wind, too. but by the end of the night into the early hours of friday, i think most of the rain will be confined to scotland, northern ireland, northern england. the weather front further south will have barely any rain on it, as it reaches eastern england. just the odd spit and spot, it'lljust be mainly cloud. but where we have the cloud cover, it's going to be another fairly mild start to friday.

so friday starts off on a grey note for many. outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain in the northern half of the country for friday. however, it's an improving picture into the afternoon. looks like the clouds will move away, sunshine will appear, and we should see one or two showers across the north and west of scotland, though staying wet across the far north—west of scotland. rain coming in towards cornwall and devon. temperatures single figures in the north. cooler generally, 10—12 for england and wales. friday night, this feature in the south of the country will bring further rain from the west country into central and southern england. so here, where we have more cloud cover, not so cold to start saturday. but further north, under clear skies, a touch of frost — temperatures hovering around freezing. so, for this weekend, it's actually not looking that bad. there will be some good spells of sunshine around. a few showers, most in the north of the country. it will be fairly mild, with temperatures fairly typical for this time of year. saturday may start off quite cloudy, damp across southern britain. outbreaks of rain maybe, confined to the south—east of england in the afternoon. the best of the brightness

further north and west. we'll have a few showers for scotland and northern ireland. these will be wintry on the higher ground. temperatures again ranging between nine to 10 or 11 further south. now, during saturday night, that rain should eventually clear away from the south of the country. we'll see largely clear skies. those showers will continue across scotland, these will be wintry. a cooler night to come under clear skies, with light winds. hovering around 1—4 degrees near towns and cities. so a chilly start for saturday, but probably the better day of the weekend. a few showers in the north, and they will be wintry in nature it could be a touch more mild. 10—13 degrees in the south. but as we head through the new working week, temperatures begin to fall away as we get closer to easter, so we'll start to import a cold wind, and the risk of snow and a light frost. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: john bolton's set to become the next us

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