in progressing to the quarterfinals. hellom and welcome to the programme where we start with cricket. falling attendances, the inclusion of a leg spinner who only plays in twenty20 and one day matches and the best player in the world aiming to score runs in the one country he hasn't — thats the backdrop to the series between england and india which starts on wednesday in birmingham. patrick gearey has been looking ahead to a series that marks a milestone for the home side. it's one of english sport ‘s longest running drama is now ready for its 1000th episode. full of glorious, stories and controversies, meet the latest. adil rashid, a legspinner who given up county cricket, now pick the marathon of concentration thatis pick the marathon of concentration that is a test match, a slap in the face of the traditional county game.

there is the counterpunch from the england captain. this has been a one—off thing and it will get a lot of noise and attention but i see cou nty of noise and attention but i see county cricket is a big factor in developing english players. you look at some of the other young lads in this team, that had to work extremely hard to prove themselves in the county game. as england walk out for test on the 1000, several thousand of these seats will be unoccupied. warwickshire says sales are good but people won't come to see the show if they don't know when it starts. the key with test cricket is having a regular supply. you need a regular supply every year starting on thursday. we keep messing about with wednesday starts on friday starts, it just makes with wednesday starts on friday starts, itjust makes the consumer a bit confused and that is what has happened. in cricketing terms india are big business, the top—ranked test tea m are big business, the top—ranked test team in the world with the biggest potential tv audiences and many think they have points to prove

here in england. india have lost both their past test series over here. scrutiny is intense. the captain is marked so often back home, he recently tweeted hisjoy at walking around unrecognised industry. -- in england. when i go back, i have back in it —— i have about in hand, not what people were predicting sullenly to be the most convinced in the most clear mental state i can be and that happens when iam state i can be and that happens when i am focused on what i need to do. so test nation number one faces test ranking number one at a crucial stage in the game's history. there may be more on the line than just the trophy. patrick geary, bbc news at edgbaston. in just over half an hour tottenham hotspur take on milan in minneapolis in their last international champions cup fixture. it's spurs' final match before the start of the english premier league season — and they have just over a week to potentially sign any new players. that's because england's transfer deadline is the 9th august, the day before the season starts —

even though clubs in the other major leagues can sign players right up to 31st. the tottenham manager mauricio pochettino says it puts english clubs at a huge disadvantage. in this situation, i think it didn't help its not going to help the premier league clubs or the clubs in england to have the same facility. after you're going to compete in europe, you are going to compete in champions league and have 20 days less arctic is not, i think it's going to hurt you. ca n basketball overta ke football as africa's favourite sport? there is little doubt that the popularity of basketball is increasing in africa. part of the reason is that two—thirds of players in the nba are african—americans —

and the league have also staged many exhibition games there. janine anthony reports. across the continent, the sport feels close to the culture of young urban africa. there is also a growth in the number of those following the united states of america's nba, a lea k united states of america's nba, a leak which is three quarters black and includes some of the best talent from africa. in fact, the nba is doing its share to increase its footprint on the continent, supporting clinics the young kids in africa and is about to hold the third nba africa game in south africa involving african nba stars. it's also established an academy and cynical. but not everyone is sure basketball is enjoying african growth. the former captain of the nigerian men's team who was in the nba for three years disagrees. basketball has been around for the past 60 years. nigeria joined 5a

yea rs past 60 years. nigeria joined 5a years back. it's been doing very well. several players have played in the nba. in the world championship. nigeria won many basketball championships in the 90s in the 80s. 2001, 2002, five times in the finals. i don't know where they are coming from. right now, the concessions of social media, the internet, new—age media so maybe you can see that right now. while it isn't putting a damper on things, people are saying don't get carried away just yet but people are saying don't get carried awayjust yet but basketball experts say there is a lot to be optimistic about. there are many signs of development of basketball in africa. many african born players playing in top leagues around the world. but think about the nba, the champions

league, for example. many, many african players who are competing in those leagues. this past season, for example, the nba had 12 african born players. that is about to sign, a good sign of how good the game has become an africa. to reach the heights of football, africa's basketball leagues will no doubt have to borrow a leaf from the nba at what can we learn from the americans? now we are providing the opportunity. last time that the younger generation so we don't have to worry about in five or ten years that they missed a chance to play the game of basketball. we are pouring back into our community in respect of countries and the continent of africa. facilities, coaching, infrastructure are just ways of teaching the game. those are things we are really trying to encourage in the game. so can we

possibly dream of the day when basketball overta kes possibly dream of the day when basketball overtakes the hearts of african sports fans? as an ambassador of basketball and the game, i would say yes, it will take off because our game doesn't ask so much space, it is only metres. you can play it in the garage or the backyard. i'm not sure if it's ever going to overtake soccerjust because soccer has been around forever and we love soccer, we love the super eagles, i love the super eagles but i think we can get to where we are neck and neck. at the women's hockey world cup in london, india and england have claimed the last two places in the quarter—finals after winning their respective play—offs. india beat italy 3—nil to claim their first win of the competition — and they'll face ireland in the last eight. while, england beat south korea 2—nil with goals from sophie bray and lily 0wsley. jo currie reports. england's world cup campaign

continues after a comfortable victory here in front of another sellout crowd. after an underwhelming group stage they found themselves having to win this crossover match to reach the last eight and they did so with relative ease. do you know what, we got 10,000 people cheering for us, more back home and we are home, but on tv, and we wanted to put in a good performance for ourselves and these quys performance for ourselves and these guys here and you can feel the crowd getting behind us and everyone stepped into the breach and thought we have nothing to lose, home world cup, want to do well and we did well in the tournament. it's job done but next up on thursday's quarterfinals england will come up against a familiarfoe, the england will come up against a familiar foe, the defending champions the netherlands and a team who have already scored 26 goals in the world cup so far. england will have to find some ruthlessness if they are to match them.

so here's the confirmed line—up for the last eight, with the first two matches on wednesday — germany against spain, and australia versus argentina. the remaining quarter—finals take place on thursday. the kenyan team heading to the african senior athletics championship in asaba has threatened to withdraw from the competition as they remain stranded at lagos international airport. only 22 athletes managed to make it to asaba with a day until the competition starts with asaba airport thought to be unlit at night making it impossible for flights to land safely. approximately 200 athletes from 12 different countries remain stranded in lagos and the kenyan team have even threatened to withdraw from the competition. manchester united are 2— nil up against rearm and rude. and totte n ha m against rearm and rude. and tottenham are currently goalless against milan with 18 minutes play. —— real madrid. hello there.

just when you thought we were done with the heatwave, the temperatures are beginning to climb again over the next few days. particularly across southern parts of the uk. further north and west of there will be a little bit of rain at times, but certainly not all the time. 0n the satellite picture from a little earlier on, you can see clumps of cloud circulating around an area of low pressure and as we go through the next couple of days, we will continue to seek areas of cloud feeding in from the south—west. we start tomorrow with temperatures across the country, 11—14 degrees, the best of the morning sunshine will be found across england and wales and for the far north—east of scotland. as we go on through the day to the parts of the midlands, we will develop more cloud. best of the sunshine towards the south—east and for northern ireland and western scotland, the cloud thickens up all the while and we will see this is outbreaks of mostly light and patchy rain. quite easy across these western areas, north—east scotland holding

onto a little bit of brightness. some of this rain pushing out of northern ireland towards the north—west of england and north—west of wales, further south and east of what we are into good spells of sunshine and temperatures in london getting up to around 26 degrees. as we go through wednesday evening, there will be some sunshine to end the day in the south as we go through the night we are to be piling a lot of cloud in from the south—west. it will turn misty and murky for coastal areas, a few splashes of rain and those temperatures begin to come up, and increasingly humid feel into thursday morning because we will have brought this warm front across the country. not much rain on it, but that is the reason for extra cloud and with high pressure to the south, southern areas particularly are going to start to tap into increasingly warm air from the near continent. further north and west, a somewhat fresher feel of air from the atlantic. temperatures not as high. during thursday, a lot of cloud in through western and parts of the uk, particularly the odd spot of rain and showers.

further south is the best chance of seeing sunshine, those temperatures creeping upwards, 29 in london on thursday. we keep that split in temperature fortunes as we head to the end of the week and western areas have seen more in the way of cloud, mostly dry temperatures, generally in the low 20s. further south, it will be the low 30s, 32, maybe 33 degrees, with plenty of sunshine to take us into the weekend. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: as facebook fights to fix its reputation, the company reveals foreign attempts to influence the us mid—term elections. donald trump's former campaign manager finally goes on trial, but the president insists the case has nothing to do with him. a passenger plane crashes in northern mexico, but all on board are reported to have survived.

and — knocking out taboos. we meet a group of young women and girls who are breaking down barriers over women in sports in pakistan. hello.