hello, i'm gavin ramjaun, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: a second—half goal from juan mata sends manchester united into the fa cup fourth round as they beat wolves. baseball's newest scandal has now reached the boston red sox. what next after their manager, alex cora, is fired. and she's won four grand slams, retired twice, but age is just a numberfor kim clijsters. she tells us about her latest comeback to tennis at 36. it's a challenge. the trick of it is that step two see, let's do this. hello and thank you forjoining us on sport today here on bbc world news. let's begin with football.

juan mata's second—half goal sent manchester united into the english fa cup fourth round as they beat wolves. the spanish midfielder with a superb goal, that proved the difference, but could star striker marcus rashford be set for a spell on the sidelines? patrick gearey has more. a glance at old trafford's stanz indicated that this wasn't the hottest ticket in town, but four wolves fa ns hottest ticket in town, but four wolves fans it was the most expensive. some paid £55 to get in, too much in the words of their manager. at lese—majesty united were holding a giveaway at the back. this somehow ended up with pedro netto at checkout. the teenager's guilty look was telling. in the va rm they spotted enough to take the colback. the next is a civil split was there keeper. out to deny diane james. a clearing united chance than they created in the first half of the game. like the glorious goal at molineux, this was meandering until the will stevens made it interesting. what juan the will stevens made it interesting. whatjuan mata lacks in

he makes up in share quality. it was a concern for england as well as united. marcus rashford was soon off again, an injury that will be watched closely. wolves couldn't give them much else to talk about. the road to wembley takes an early exit. united march on, despite the detail. the boston red sox are the latest major league baseball team on the hunt for a new manager, following another high—profile sacking. alex cora was fired for his role, in the illegal "sign stealing" scandal, that continues to rock the sport. not for what he did at the red sox — that's still under investigation — but for the part he played in the houston astros tainted world series winning season. the investigation into the astros 2017 season, was launched in november after theirformer pitcher mike fiers told journalists at the athletic about the scheme. following that, a further investigation into the red sox's world series win in 2018 surfaced in december. the mlb published their report on monday, finding the astros guilty of stealing signs. general managerjeff luhnow and manager aj hinch were suspended for a year by the league and subsequently fired by the astros. alex cora, according to the report, was the architect of the scheme —

and just over 2a hours later he was then fired by the red sox. well, in a statement the red sox said it was a sad day for the team. but given the findings and the commissioner's ruling, we collectively decided that it would not be possible for alex to effectively lead the club going forward, and we mutually agreed to part ways. well, in a statement the red sox said it was a sad day for the team. but given the findings and the commissioner's ruling, we collectively decided that it would not be possible for alex to effectively lead the club going forward, and we mutually agreed to part ways. gabe lacques is usa today's baseball writer. he told us earlier, cora could end up with an even bigger ban than his former astros colleagues. it's kind of remarkable that they

decided there was so much, a preponderance of evidence, that they didn't even need to wait for major—league baseball to conclude there was an investigation into the red sox. there were past offences with houston and they played such an integral role in shaping the system that they clearly decided that this was not going to be something we wa nt was not going to be something we want following us around and, maybe, it was inevitable that he was suspended at least a year, eye would have to think as a two—time offender he would get a larger suspension than the astros manager, aj cann ‘s, maybe it was just his reading than the astros manager, aj cann ‘s, maybe it wasjust his reading of than the astros manager, aj cann ‘s, maybe it was just his reading of the tea leaves and the inevitability that would be gone for a long time, maybe we'll get any better of major league baseball by firing him before they can essentially do it for us. so the report is just so damning. gabe lacques of usa today. now to cricket, and ireland edged out world champions west indies by four runs, in a dramatic first t20 between the sides in grenada. ireland batted first and scored a huge 208—7 — that's their third highest score of all time. paul sterling top scoring with 95 off 47 balls.

and the west indies felljust short finshing on 204 for seven. ireland had suffered a 3—0 whitewash to west indies in their recent odi series, missing a glorious chance to take victory in the second match either side of heavy defeats. the final two t20 games will take place in st kitts and nevis on saturday and sunday. ben stokes is a little more decorated today too, after being named the men's cricketer of the year. it follows that 2019 with his heroics at headingley in the ashes and his match winning performance in the world cup final. he's with the rest of the england squad in port elizabeth — ahead of the third test against south africa. having some fun in training too by all accounts. jofra archer isn't expected to be fit to replace james anderson so mark wood or chris woakes are most likely to come in. captain joe root wants the team to stay grounded after victory last time out in cape town. for a young team, it's really

important that we don't live off that win for the rest of this tour. we sort of try and exceed it and we make sure we take this opportunity to, as we said, get in front of the game and drive it home. after the first—innings when we got opportunities to do that, we were excellent at it. now, we all love a sporting comeback, but not many saw this one coming. four—time grand slam champion kim clijsters announced last year, that she was coming out of retirement — again! she last left the sport back in 2012. and although she won't be in melbourne next week, the former world number one, who's now 36 — believes she's still got more to offer. she's been speaking to jane dougall. isa is a challenge, that trigger, that step two arrive, let's see, let's do

this, and take it all, let it all just happen, and the good, the, and it's the challenge that i'm really enjoying. i know that sports is a pa rt enjoying. i know that sports is a part of injuries that can happen, but what has amazed me, and also some people around me, is that when i've had a couple of injuries and the knee injury a few weeks ago was pushed kinder back the goal of starting in australia and i was surprised that it didn't really get me down —— kind of. also the fact that they have my family, you know, my normal life just went on, and it's not like i didn't know what to do now with my time. so the motivation only just do now with my time. so the motivation onlyjust grew stronger ina way, motivation onlyjust grew stronger in a way, which is something that i was also surprised by. so what is the motivation then, is itjust to get back into... people say they can ta ke get back into... people say they can take the athlete out of the competition but you can't take the competition but you can't take the competition out of the athlete.

yeah. kind of in the back of my mind at times i thought i could still be at times i thought i could still be a player. i'm not saying i could when grand slams, but still be a player, and not be amongst the legends or not doing commentary, i did not phil quite comfortable yet. 0bviously did not phil quite comfortable yet. obviously i have no ranking so i'm going to need the wildcards, but there is a wildcard that each tournament has. they want to give it tournament has. they want to give it to you they can give it to you and there is no restriction for me. i can play the whole year on 12 wildcards, if they want to. so that rule really from the wta is what made me decide, 0k, rule really from the wta is what made me decide, ok, this is an important one. we have just seen serena williams when her first tournament after having had a child stop has that motivated or inspired you mozela it's great to have that first win, but what impressed me more was the grand slam finals that she got to. and i think they expected to just win everything. but how hard it must have been for her

to be at wimbledon in the final come out us open in the final, a year, year and out us open in the final, a year, yearand a out us open in the final, a year, year and a half after she had her daughter. so it's not a win, 0k, year and a half after she had her daughter. so it's not a win, ok, but it's still finals that she was getting to so quickly and to me that was really, really impressive. and they think it's only a matter of time that she gets to come if you can stay healthy and keep working ha rd can stay healthy and keep working hard on it, it's only a matter of time. there we go. kim clijsters there. and finally, if you thought that playing snooker was a relatively safe past—time, think again! especially for the referee in the match at the masters, between kyran wilson and jack lisowski. watch the wasp on wilson's collar. he goes to take the pot it falls onto the table, wilson is rescued by ben williams who scoops it up — and then it stings him through those pristine white gloves. 0uch. might want to get a thicker lining on that, reckon. not good.

a recap on our top story. juan mata's second—half goal sent manchester united into the english fa cup fourth round as they beat wolves.you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. we saw a brief window of fine weather for wednesday. many of us stay dry with some sunshine. but it's all change. the next area of low pressure moving in for thursday, bringing another spell of wet and windy weather to our shores. you can see here showing up on the pressure chart, moving up from the south—west, the isobars closer together across the board, but particularly across western areas. so it'll be a wet start from the word go across northern ireland, scotland, some snow on the hills, and then the rain will pile into many southern and western

areas through the day, largely working their way eastward so we should stay dry in the east until after dark. gale force winds for many, 40—50 mph gusts, in excess of 60 mph across the south—west, so very blustery. fairly mild in the south, still single figure values across the north. that low pressure moves northwards, taking the wet and windy weather with it during thursday night. into friday we've got fewer isobars on the charts, and a couple of weather fronts which will tend to enhance shower activity in band form. so we'll see a few showers clustered together across parts of scotland, northern ireland, some wintriness over the hills, a couple of showers as well into england and wales, which will tend to move from west to east. but some good spells of sunshine in between. you will notice the temperatures, though, with all the air mass changing, single figure values for most, just about ten degrees across the south—east. so into the weekend it will be colder but with high pressure establishing itself it should turn a bit drier, with good spells of sunshine, but at night it will be cold, we return to some overnight frost.

you can see this area of high pressure clearly establishing itself across the uk during saturday and it's with us as well into sunday and into the start of next week too. mind you, we still have low pressure close to the north of the uk, so still windy across scotland. further heavy showers across here, maybe hail, some snow in the hills, maybe just one or two showers, moving through the cheshire gap, for example, but they should tend to ease down into the afternoon, with increasing amounts of sunshine for many. but it will be a colder day, with temperatures in single figure values for most of us. and it's going to a cold night, saturday night, you can see the blue hue developing right across the board, a widespread frost with a risk of some fog or even freezing fog patches, perhaps a little bit of ice where we've had the showers through the day. so sunday starts off cold and frosty, but it looks like we should tend to lose those strong winds from the north of the country. for many of us here winds will be light. where fog holds on it will be cold, but for many of us we should see the sunshine, a very pleasant day in store. something a little bit milderjust getting into the north—west corner

of the country, but for most of us we're in around the mid single digits.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: president trump's impeachment trial moves a step closer as nancy pelosi signs key documents. the senate will now conduct his trial. ican be i can be very clear that this president will be held accountable, that no—one is above the law. a thaw in relations as the us and china sign an initial deal aimed at easing their 18—month trade war. russia's government resigns en masse after president putin unveils plans that could prolong his stay in power. and wildfires, flooding and drought: the last decade is confirmed as the hottest on record. the un warns there's more to come.