h “a fi it t “a fi u: “it me to be happy about. i think apart from the first poster, you know, we only lost those quarters by two or three so quite small marker genes against the covent world champions in their backyard and as you know it is well documented we haven't played a competitive match since march so i think we gave good account of ourselves but we appreciate we don't have to go up another level for friday's match. how difficult has it been with both the long lead up to this with players just able to train and not have competitive matches but also when they arrived in new zealand, having to isolate and not train properly together as a full squad yeah, i mean, it's completely uncharted territory i think for any team, let alone an international side to pave the way which we packed in. we entered the court for the first time kind of late injuly but for most of that period until now we have only had limited time training asa have only had limited time training as a whole group we have only been able to play against ourselves so it's a huge undertaking and a

massive achievement, i think, that with an out of court today in our first test match and i think done a pretty good job and competed well against new zealand and you think about the fact they have played a whole competitive season and they have just come off the back of the cadbury cvs where they have had some fantastic performances and, as i say, i think we've done a pretty good job. it's a nice starting point but i imagine that the players have got the bit between their teeth now and want to put out an even better performance and testing. and of course you are coaching from him in the uk what they play new zealand. how did you find that this morning? i think there is a lot of curiosity around us at the moment. i think first and foremost i want to reinforce the fact that we have a coaching team and i wouldn't be able to do anything without them and i feel like we struck a really good balance and i'm working off and threw the coaches, you know, i haven't missed a training session so i have watched all of those life now that i'm seeing those folds and i'm across everything and should collect across everything and should collect a bounce off me and i am connected

to them on the bench but that's really just to find a balance to them on the bench but that's reallyjust to find a balance of to them on the bench but that's really just to find a balance of any ideas or almost confirm some of the that anticipated going into the game, game but it's really not me co nsta ntly game, game but it's really not me constantly kind of talking to them but i do feel like it's working well andi but i do feel like it's working well and i feel we have but i do feel like it's working well and ifeel we have got but i do feel like it's working well and i feel we have got a but i do feel like it's working well and ifeel we have got a really but i do feel like it's working well and i feel we have got a really nice balance of the moment. to the usa now, where the los angeles dodgers baseball team won their first world series in 32 years, after beating the tampa bay rays in the best—of—seven game championship. and while there was joy after the long wait there's also questions surrounding player justin turner, who was removed from the field, mid game, after receiving a positive coronavirus test result — he then came back onto the pitch for the celebrations and team photos. let's bring in kyle glazer from baseball america. we will get the dodgers than their performance on the pitch in a moment

but i would ought america has been waking up to this morning from what happened to justin waking up to this morning from what happened tojustin turner waking up to this morning from what happened to justin turner coming back onto the pitch post match up despite having a positive coronavirus test? a lot of people are asking the hard questions about how did this happen, how was he allowed to come back onto the field, and ultimately, who was responsible for allowing it to happen? we are still gathering information on there is still a lot of new news coming out about exactly how this transpired but there is a low or no question there were a lot of people very concerned about how this decision was made in the processes that allow that to happen. certainly a big talking point, isn't it? in terms of thejudges a big talking point, isn't it? in terms of the judges themselves, this big long wait for it. we know that this has been a very strange championship, like most sports events a re, championship, like most sports events are, but in terms of the dodgers, how deserving where they are at this will series win? very deserving. there were a lot of people who felt that they were the best tea m people who felt that they were the best team in major league baseball even before the season was shortened

to 60 games. once it was short and they went out and had the best one. they were the favourites to win the series and they went out and... great stuff and thank you so much for joining great stuff and thank you so much forjoining us. kyle blazerfrom baseball america joins us live on sports day. thank you. there might not be as many england players in the squad as expected other they want to get onto the tour in south africa. as it stands, england players are not allowed to play in the warm up test injapan nextjune play in the warm up test injapan next june because play in the warm up test injapan nextjune because it is outside the english premiership's official international window and gatlin says in some places that could count against them.

that doesn't hamper your preparation. i can promise you that we will be taking the best possible players, best possible squad, but you end up with a situation we do have english players available to you for a couple of weeks and joined with a 50—50 call and you're making the decision about and you're not quite sure about one player of another player in one player's available to you for two weeks of preparation and another one isn't you know, that may be the difference between someone getting selected and some were not being selected. i dearly hope it doesn't happen. i hope that, you know, we can come to some agreement and, you know, we can get those players being made available to us and give them the best possible chance of preparing for, you know, what's going to be an incredibly tough tour and then, you know, when not saying that that's a

final decision, which is hoping that we can come together and find some compromise where potentially those players are available to us around the final. now to tennis, whether this concern over the future of indoor facilities with the lawn tennis association saying a third of them could close if they do not receive further financial support from the government. we know that the government had announced 100 million in funding for public leisure facility so why do you think thatis leisure facility so why do you think that is not enough to help these indoor facilities that is not enough to help these indoorfacilities in that is not enough to help these indoor facilities in tennis that is not enough to help these indoorfacilities in tennis in particular? while we obviously welcome the recent government announcement of a £100 million investment into public leisure, however, it just does investment into public leisure, however, itjust does not go far enough. it will be spread way too thinly across a huge range of publicly owned tennis and leisure facilities and we know ourselves how

important our community indoor tennis centres are and the role they play in supporting the physical and mental well—being of people in those local communities and without them, that's a real risk and as we stand here today, actually, there's a risk that up to a third of them could close and that's why we're calling upon the government to put in place a sport wide recovery fund such that those community indoor tennis centres and other publicly accessible sports facilities up and down the country are protected in the short term and sustainable for the short term and sustainable for the term. and i suppose a difficulty at the moment is different parts of the country and in different tiers of restrictions whether they are open or closing and i suppose that is causing a loss of worry. just make a lot of worry? absolutely people's safety and well—being at the moment is of the most important

at the moment those particularly areas in tier 2 and three restrictions are facing real challenges. the real example is that at the moment, in those areas that are into year at the moment, in those areas that a re into year two at the moment, in those areas that are into year two and three, up to 30 people can take part in an indoor gym session or a group exercise class but two people from different households can't pay tennis on a tennis court which is obviously a naturally social distance but most of the time they will be 23 metres apartand of the time they will be 23 metres apart and that's making it, you know, a real challenge for those communities and those tennis centres to actually be sustainable and viable for the future. and then you look at, you know, the grassroots level as you're talking about them, look at the likes of the talent coming through and i suppose the longer this goes on or potentially talented youngsters don't have facilities that they could potentially train out, how damaging this could be the long—term success of the elite sport? absolutely. we

saw, actually, a big spike in tennis participation through the summer months. you know, a circa 7% increase in participation numbers and at almost 500% increase in court bookings but as we move into the winter months our community indoor tennis presenters play a vital role as pope supporting our vision of opening this. to anyone who wants to play all year round and that goes for talented juniors as well as it goes for people who just want to have fun playing recreational tennis and therefore across the spectrum of the spot whether it is from the grassroots and often juniors who have got aspirations to kinda guess on performance pathway, it was not a huge challenge. thank you so much for joining huge challenge. thank you so much forjoining us. early there from the lawn tennis association. for many young black footballers growing up in england in the late 80s and early 90s, finding a player they could relate to wasn't too difficult. john barnes and ian wright were some of the biggest stars of the day.

but in scotland, such figures were few and far between. chris iwelumo and kevin harper are both black players who came up through the scottish system. our reporterjonathan mckeith met with them to talk about what it was like to come up as a minority. i remember walking out against dundee and there was a father and he had a son and daughter in his hands and the names that he was calling me, it was calling me the big black b, and this and i was in shock. how old are you? i was 17 years old. racism was all too familiar even just at the start of his career and it wasn't just on just at the start of his career and it wasn'tjust on the terraces. just at the start of his career and it wasn't just on the terraces. the manager, a person of authority, somebody that you had complete

respectful speaking to like that. i never played against another black footballer from under 12 to under 18 is. paul elliott, mark walters, ian barnes, that's who i was out in the playground. i grew up in cal man and i was the only black family at my school. when i came into english football it was a more natural thing. you realise where you've been, how you were very much on your own north of the border. this has been effected at international level in the small number of black players who have been capped at the national side but when you delve into the history books are something that isn't widely known. it was in scotla nd isn't widely known. it was in scotland which in 1881 gave scotland its first black international player. andrew watson, depicted here in recent weeks to preserve his legacy and all just a in recent weeks to preserve his legacy and alljust a short distance from scotland's national stadium. watson captained the country in a landmark 61 victory over england but it would be more than 120 years

before another black player represented the men's team. —— 6—1 victory. this munch, they lost a number of initiatives to combat racism and promote equality. former hibernian player believes it should bea hibernian player believes it should be a priority. these days when i look back it was really, really violent. it was racial abuse in games and with fans and players throughout the whole duration of my career. in elite football? yeah. at that time there wasn't many black scottish kids that came through the ranks. for the not to be as many coming through in football there must be an issue there. to have that steady stream of good good quality players it has to be a grassroots thing. you can't let the kind that deter you. you have to be that beacon and work that path so other black players will say you know what, i can do that. along the jersey and sing the national anthem, the goose bumps and you felt like we

just cry. it is the honour for any footballer. pioneers come from difficult beginnings as shows what can be achieved but they are also a reminder of how far the scottish game has to go. i'm black, i'm scottish, and plough or proud of who iam. ina all in a all stories and features as pa rt in a all stories and features as part of black history month on the bbc sport website. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. that evening. today has been a day of sunny spells and sharp squally sketch i was across the country. they shall will tend to ease away at the next few hours but we are going to see more wet weather arriving into northern ireland and western

fringes of england and wales by the end of the night. clear the skies to be slow for a chilly start but it will quickly cloud over as we go through thursday with that main spreading its way steadily north and east. the heaviest of the vane across south—west scotland, north—west england and north wales accompanied by gusts of wind potentially close to 50 mph at times. further south, but brighter and try into the afternoon in the rain not reaching the northern isles until the the end of the day. you move out of their stay, that wet weather clears away. we will see further spells of rain pushing into wales potentially on friday but it will be a slightly quite a story. make the most of it. there's more wet and windy weather on its way for the staff of the weekend with heavy rain and gales for all.

hello, this is outside source. germany has announced a new lockdown and we're expanding france to do the same as covid—19 cases in europe continue to rise. more than 70 million americans have already cast their ballots in the us election but with six days to go, there's a final push in key states. we can do this, i promise you. i'm going to go do what i think all of —— hope all of you do. i'm going to walk out of this building and go vote. i'm calling it a great red wave. you're going to see something that's going to be amazing. these are live pictures from donald trump's rally

in arizona where he's