firmly in control of the second test against the west indies on day two. stokes scored 176 at old trafford. andy swiss watched the action. he makes the extraordinary scene almost commonplace. for ben stokes, just another day of batting brilliance. he began it in watchful mode. his customary attack mingled with caution. but gradually, he and partner dom sibley wore the west indies down and, soon, sibley had his reward. dom sibley‘s got there. cricket‘s first biosecure centurion, after nearly eight hours of painstaking patience. and then it was his partner's turn — a more audacious way to reach 100. but this is ben stokes. and after some brief celebrations, it was time for some fun. lovely shot. the sight of stokes cutting loose is perhaps the most thrilling in cricket.

indeed, there was one particular flourish which wouldn't have looked out of place on a golf course. sibley‘s attempts to follow suit were not quite as successful. gone for 120, but what character and concentration he'd showed. stokes, it seemed, was heading for a double century but, finally, the west indies got their man. his 176 deserved a thunderous ovation, but with no fans, of course, this would have to do. the entertainment, though, certainly wasn't over. as england twhacked their way to a total of 469, still three days to go, but the west indies' hopes may have already vanished out of sight. andy swiss, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. they were so lucky in manchester, look at the satellite and radar from earlier. a weather front is slicing the country in two, you can see how close it got to old trafford, but we will see some cloud and rain. a

breezy and showery story in the far north and west, different story south and east, absolutely glorious blue sky, sunshine and heat, perhaps a little bit too hot with 28 degrees, 82 fahrenheit in central london. we keep that warm evening through the night. the weather front not moving very far, very fast at all. and with the cloud around, a relatively mild night as well. 0vernight lows of ten or 15 degrees. we start tomorrow with a similar story, closest to the low pressure with more isobars driving in more showers into the far north—west. this weather front is tiptoeing painfully slowly south and east. that means the best of the weather once again is going to be across east anglia, central and southern england. more sunshine coming through, more one expected. not quite as warm as today, top temperatures of 2a degrees, the mid—70s. but a cold front and a bit cooler and fresher, 14 to 90

degrees. and unfortunately, that weather front may well just degrees. and unfortunately, that weather front may welljust produced a few interruptions as we go through the day. light and patchy, very hit and miss, so fingers crossed not too much of an issue. it gradually moves its way towards the south east as we move out of saturday into sunday. so i suspect sunday morning is all change across the south east corner. cloudy, dull and damp to start with potentially, but slowly improving, brighter skies. again, scattered showers into the far north—west. the most noticeable thing for all of us on sunday is the pressure, 14 to 19 degrees generally, we may see 21 degrees generally, we may see 21 degrees if we are lucky. thank you. a reminder of our top story: borisjohnson has announced further easing of coronavirus measures in england saying he hopes the country will return to normality by the end of the year. that's it, so goodbye from me. now on bbc one, let'sjoin our news teams where you are. have a very good evening.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. the green light for spectators back at sports events — with sheffield's crucible planned for a pilot event. stokes sets england on their way against west indies, after another heroic performance to build a big lead in the 2nd test. and wet weather poses some problems for f1 drivers including lewis hamilton in hungary but it's sebastian vettel who goes fastest in second practice.

hello and welcome to sportsday it's the news sports fans have been eagerly awaiting. spectators will be allowed in to watch some test events in england over the coming weeks and stadiums could reopen in october, under new government plans announced today. two county cricket matches — including surrey against middlesex are among the early events earmarked. along with snooker‘s world championship, being held at the crucible, at the end of the month. and 5000 fans will be allowed in to see the glorious goodwood horse racing festival next month too, with more pilots planned in the future. we will also pilot larger gatherings in venues like sports stadiums, with a view to a wider reopening in the autumn. from october, we intend to bring back audiences in stadio, these changes must be done on a covid—secure way, subject to the successful outcome of pilots. well let's get some on this now, with austin halewood, who joins me in the studio. austin what further

details do we have? we've got plenty. to be honest. this is the picture that the government wa nts to is the picture that the government wants to have in the next few months. by october they want fans to be allowed back inside stadiums. but the trials as we mentioned, just before they are going to be coming much earlier than that as well. just a reminder of those three test events that are going to take place. there is going to be too county championship cricket matches, friendly as those ones followed by snickers world championships at the crucible. and then horse things glorious good word festival. all of these events won't be allowed crowds in as big as you would normally expect. fans will also be asked to follow a behaviour code, that's what they'll have to agree to before they even arrive at the venues as well. there will be lots of hygiene stations in place. these arejust a few of the covid—i9 measures that it can be put in place amongst lots of others as well. the first event will

be taking place at the ovaljust next weekend on sunday. the 26th of july as sorry take on middlesex was that it july as sorry take on middlesex was thatitis july as sorry take on middlesex was that it is a two day game. not long to wait for that one and then shortly after that when fans will once again be allowed inside the famous crucible theatre for snickers world championship. they get on two weeks from today on the 31st of july. not long to wait for smoker fa ns july. not long to wait for smoker fans who are lucky enough to have a ticket. —— smoker. not everyone is too keen on that idea. five—time champion threatened to even pull out of the tournament today when he heard the news about fans possibly being allowed back in for the event. he told reporters earlier on this morning... third, and final test event at the moment is horse racing set good word

festival. it's the last of the three to begin. that starts on the ist of august. david armstrong from the british horse racing association has worked for the government to organise this. he says they are confident the event will be safe for everyone. it will be a normal race day experience but with all the protocols be involved regarding social distancing, access to fort and beverage, hospitality accenture. in the operating particles themselves are complex. we have still more work to do to finish off creating those with him once we finish doing that and were getting helped in that by the sports grant safety authority, then we will be able to create an entirely safe environment for spectators to return. so what might a socially—distanced crowd look like? well rangers got the chance to find out last night when they played away at lyon in a pre—season friendly, up to 5 thousand fans have been allowed inside stadiums in france since last week.

well back on british soil it's important to stress that the plans for fans to return to stadiums in october is, at the moment, only for england. there's no word yet on the rest of the british isles. and we can expect more test events, like the three already planned, before october in other sports. he's used to performing heroics for england — and today ben stokes didn't disappoint. a phenomenal performance with the bat allowed england to build a strong lead, in the second test against west indies. england on the hunt to level the series at old trafford. let's join henry moeran, who's there for us. how big a performance was this from ben stokes? — there were other stand out performers for england too? his ability to adapt to the situation. he combats low when the

situation. he combats low when the situation requires, he can accelerate. that's what we saw a network of final last year and the heroics and also in this inning here at old trafford. another century for ben stokes second highest test score hundred and 76. it was the patients that he showed. he knew england need a partnership in those quick wicket file either said on the first day. he and dominic managed to hang around, stick together and get them to sort of total and the sort of platforms that they need to set upa set up a performance and potentially level this series. absolutely. simply doing it incredible as well. notjust a spokes master class, others players and stepped out to the plate. where does this leave england for the rest of the test? siblings performance at the top of the order exactly what it would have been crying out for for what seems like years. so many different openers tried along side while alastair cook, andrew strauss in his time is going on, nobody has made that position. he bet slowly, it's

not particular the elegant it's not perfectly fun to watch but he stays around. he bills that platform that we speak about to allow the likes of butler lower down the order to go on and accelerate. butler himself made 40 and don's best buddy one hundred and 69 for nine declared. thank you very much indeed. highlights of the second a spy on bbc two if you want to catch the action there. leeds united fans will be a hoping their neighbours huddersfield can do them a favour against west brom. anything except a win for the baggies would mean leeds returning to the premier league for the first time in sixteen years. and. huddersfield took the lead after just four minutes. 0'shea has found an equaliser for west it's one —— one at the break. currently 11 into the second half at the moment. if it stays like this leads is returned to the premier league will be confirmed this evening. league will be confirmed this evening.

there's a huge game at the bottom of the premier league tonight, 16th place west ham take on 17th place watford. they're both only three points clear of the relegation zone. watford have won their last two matches, while west ham go into the game having picked up seven points from their last 12. we have our noses are slightly in front. we have to stay in front and do everything to be in that position. we hoped it would get there. i would rather be in our position than a couple of other teams' position, that's for sure, but we have not done the job. far from it. the players are aware of that and we have to at least win another game. they're doing what we're doing, fighting for their lives, that's what i would expect. they've got good players, they've found some decent form of late and i'm sure david will be expecting a tough game in the same way that we're expecting a tough game. they were crowned spanish champions

for the fourth time this week. a remarkable return to action with the tenth consecutive win after billy villareal last night. an impressive turnaround for the french men's in the second charge at the club. riel madrid are synonymous with winning the champions league. leading to three in a row. delivering their first la liga title for three years has made