i have had a few, but since retiring in 2009, it has been my realjoy, being able to turn up and talk cricket on the radio and hopefully i will be able to do that in the future. do you think you can rebuild your reputation? yes, i do. is it a long road? it will take time, but i'm sure people will see the true me. michael, you said you wanted to sit down with azeem rafiq and hear his story. what would be your message to him if he was watching this now? i am sorry for the hurt he has gone through. yorkshire county cricket club, i believe, is me, it has been my life, whether i am a player or not i am a senior former player, the captain. once you have played for yorkshire, you are always a yorkshire player and i'm sorry for the hurt he has gone through.

hopefully, time can't ever be a healer in the situation he has through, but hopefully time can be a way of us making sure that yorkshire county cricket club never goes through this situation again, and never puts themselves in a situation of denial that they treated a player so badly. do you think you can repair that relationship with him? anything in life is can be repaired, i would like to get the stage where we can shake hands, talk about how to get cricket back on track, how to get yorkshire county cricket club back on track, can we both help, can we both help the club to get to a position that in five or ten years time we can look at this moment has been that moment that changed the game. i would love to be a part of that, and i'm sure azeem rafiq would also like to be a part of that.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes. on the programme tonight... liverpool put on a show at anfield. while arsenal are too good for eddie howe's newcastle — who are still without a win. covid cancels the men's game — but katy daley maclean bows out of rugby as the barbarians women win at twickenham. and great britain beat france at the davis cup finals — to keep their quarter final chances alive.

lots to get through on quite a busy day of sport. we start with football. liverpool are up to second place in the premier league, after another big—scoring win, this time at home to southampton. jurgen klopp's side are nowjust a point behind leaders chelsea, who play manchester united tomorrow. diogojota scored twice in the first half, then thiago alcantara got his second in as many games and virgil van dijk made it 4—0 from a corner. i think the stats say that the goals were scored in the first 20 minutes, and it is a little bit of a challenge that very often it looks difficult in the beginning so you have to extend the warming up. itjust happens in the game. but you're not really there, and today we were up for being there for the first second, and the boys were, and that was helpful. eddie howe's first match in the dugout as newcastle united manager ended in disappointment. despite a clear improvement,

his side lost 2—0 to arsenal in the early kick off at the emirates. it means newcastle are still bottom of the table — without a win. austin halewood reports. the latest instalment of newcastle's new starts. after overcoming coronavirus, eddie howe was ready for his belated debut on the touchline, but few stadiums strike fear in the hearts of newcastle fans like a trip to the emirates. they have lost all of their last ten matches at arsenal, and right from the start the home side were on the front foot. martin odegaard forcing an impressive save from an early free kick. but for all of their attacking prowess, arsenal are pretty solid at the back too these days. aaron ramsdale with another outstanding save to keep it level. i mentioned that attacking prowess. it wasn't on display here. pierre—emerick aubameyang missing from all of a yard. hard to believe, with others thinking they could probably have done better. after the break, arsenal finally took the lead.

bukaro saka with the corner. callum wilson went down in the box, but calls for a penalty were waved away, and moments later, to make matters worse, arsenal were in again. gabriel martinelli with a perfectly weighted volley to seal the three points for the gunners. so not quite the perfect start for eddie howe as the wait for that first league win of the season goes on for newcastle. i think the players have been very responsive. in the two games that we've had, they have given everything to the team. i can't ask any more than their best. we know we are in a difficult position, and we know we've got some important games to come. it's two wins out of two for steven gerrard as aston villa manager — his side won 2—1 at crystal palace. that moves them up to eleventh place in the table, just behind palace on goal difference. matt targett gave villa the lead at selhurst park after a quarter of an hour, and john mcginn added a second

late in the second half. marc guehi scored a consolation for palace five minutes into injury time. players like information, they like clarity, and that's what we've tried to do for two weeks, give them a clear way of playing, in and out of possession, and then hopefully they go out and deliver that. so that is all we've done, we've given them a platform and game plans, and they've gone out and executed them extremely well so far. norwich city are now unbeaten in three games. dean smith's second match in charge ended with a goalless draw at home to wolves — but the canaries remain 19th in the premier league, one place above bottom club newcastle. in the late kick—off, brighton and leeds battled out a goalless draw at the amex stadium. brighton went mighty close with this effort from solly march just before full time, but the match finished 0—0. the championship now.

bournemouth missed the chance to go top after an incredible comeback from coventry who scored two goals in the last five minutes in the 2—2 draw.the door was open for bournemouth after leaders fulham were held to a 1—1 draw away at preston. tim ream's first goal in almost four years put fulham ahead. but preston got a deserved equaliser in the second half, with ched evans bundling the ball into the net to share the points at deepdale. in the scottish premiership hearts are up to second after a 2—0 win over st mirren, although celtic will reclaim second spot with a draw or win against aberdeen tomorrow. elsewhere struggling dundee beat motherwell 3—nil. ross country are still bottom despite salvaging a one—all draw with dundee united, and stjohnstone won 2—1 at hibs. england's women are still on course to comfortably qualify for the 2023 world cup after they beat nearest rivals austria today. ellen white scored the only goal on her 100th

appearance for her country. joe lynsky reports. the next women's world cup is in australia and new zealand. to get there, england go through sunderland in a storm. so torrential was the weather, the local trains said not to travel, but england look on their way to something good. they dominated austria for the first half, and on 39 minutes found a way through the wall. ellen white is now close to a record. this was her 100th cap and 45th england goal. one more would be the joint most by any player. that was england's 33rd goal in five qualifying games, but they knew this was their biggest test. they kept their 100% record next to this stunning save. and england should have had more. england on top of course for the finals, where down under they will hope to even brighter days, on the pitch and with the weather. rugby union now.

history was going to be made at twickenham this afternoon. for the first time the barbarians men's and women's rugby teams were playing a double bill on the same day — at the same ground. the men's side were due to take on samoa but that match was cancelled — due to six confirmed covid cases in the barbarians team. but the women's game against south africa did go ahead. sarah levy ran in one of her three tries and barbars led 38—0 at the break. 22 further points were added in the second half including this score for simi pam and it finished in a 60 points to 5 victory for the barbarians. the game was also the last for england's world cup winning captain katy daley maclean, who's retiring. if i'm honest, i didn't expect it to be half as good as this. they got me involved in this, and to play with these guys, it has been one of the greatest honours, i have done some amazing things, but i can't estimate how special this is. family and friends at this kind of scene, and what happen with the guide wasn't great,

but for me it couldn't get any more special. congratulations to katy, what a career. london irish are up to seventh place in rugby union's premiership after beating harlequins by 22 points to 19. ben white scored the third of their three tries. quins�* losing bonus point was enough to move them up a place to second in the table. there was a thrilling finish to glagow's match against benetton in the unied rugby championship. in the 82nd minute leonardo marin kicked a penalty to give the italian side a narrow 19—18 victory. edinburgh enjoyed a bonus point winning 30 points to 14 win at dragons. there were two tries for ramiro moyano. in tennis, great britain have beaten france 2—1 in their first tie at this year's davis cup finals. dan evans was up against adrian mannarino in the first rubber, and he enjoyed a relatively straightfoward victory. winning in straight sets 7—5, 6—4.

so that left british number one cameron norrie knowing that the tie would effectively be over if he managed to beat arthur rinderknech. it was another straight sets victory for great britain. they then lost the doubles rubber, but won 2—1 overall. britain will be guaranteed qualification as group winners if they beat the czech republic tomorrow. a quick update on some of the day's other sports stories before we go. there was an emotional and unexpected winner of today's big jumps race — the ladbrokes trophy at newbury, as cloudy glen won at 33—1 in the colours of owner trevor hemmings who died last month. and there was a dead heat in the fighting fifth hurdle at newcastle — between last year's winner and former champion hurdler — epatante — who was the favourite, and not no sleepy who just caught her on the line. india fought back on the third

day of their first test against new zealand in kanpur. spinner axar patel took 5 wickets for 62 runs, as the tourists collapsed from 151 without loss to 296 all out. india closed with a lead of 63 on 14 for i. ronnie 0'sullivan is safely through to the third round of snooker�*s uk championship. the rocket has already won this tournament more than anybody else — he's going for an eighth title in york. 0'sullivan was on solid, rather than spectacular, form as he beat the world number 68 robbie williams 6—2. and the world number five kyren wilson is also through. he whitewashed jakjones of wales 6—0 in his second round match. and there's more live second round uk championship snooker right now on the bbc sport website. john higgins is up against sunny akani while mark allen is taking onjoe 0'connor, but that's all from sportsday.

hello. through this evening and overnight, the strongest winds will still bring strong gusts. rain, sleet and snow increasing and being confined to the south—eastern parts. pushing back into north—west scotland and northern ireland but in between, clear skies and a widespread frost, and a risk of ice as well. the ice risk remains tomorrow morning, sleet and snow pushing into northern ireland and the midlands. still some

gusty winds, but crucially the winds tomorrow will be much lighter than they have been today, but certainly feeling cold were exposed to the wind, and temperature of three or 4 c. goodbye.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8. the government announces new restrictions to be introduced next week in england — as 2 cases of 0micron— a new variant of covid—i9 — are discovered in the uk. this is the responsible course of action, to slow down the seeding and the spread of this new variant and to maximise our defences. people in england will now once again have to wear face masks on public transport and in shops. all contacts of suspected 0micron cases must self—isolate for 10 days — regardless of their vaccination status. all travellers entering the uk from abroad will have to take a pcr test and self—isolate until they get a negative result.

and the government also said it's considering how it can expand