hello and thanks for joining us, here's your latest sports news but we start with cricket, where there's not long to go now until the battle for the famous ashes urn is reignited — the tantilising test match series between england and australia gets under way at on friday — but the hosts have concerns over their captain.... let's hear more now from our sports correspondentjoe wilson who's been at edgbaston in birmingham for us... well, such is the significance of ben stokes to england, that when we see him practice, when we watch him bowl, we look at his strapped knee, cross our fingers and hope he comes through 0k. actually, he seemed to today now stokes, his availability now stokes�* availability as an all rounder is a big thing for england. but most significant of all to the whole series is the change in mentality that he's brought with his captaincy. as he explains here.

i think what we've done is we've taken a group of players who are obviously very good at what they do. but i think what we've been able to do is just to sort of let them go out and be free. and i think that they've even got to a point even now where they probably think they are better than what they thought they were. and that's just all through a mindset change and allowing people to go out and be who they are on the field and off the field. so, for example, when ben stokes sends moeen ali a text message, ashes question mark, he replies lol and then later agrees to come out of retirement for england. yeah. for ben stokes. i think just the fact that it's ashes and it's such a big, big series and the exciting cricket the guys have been playing, i think this is a kind of era i would have loved while i was playing.

ultimately made you think you would have done this for any other captain? probably not. well, australia trained here today with the confidence which expresses itself in all sorts of ways, notably certain types of dress code. but of course they are recently crowned world test champions after that victory against india at the oval. they will, of course, as they always do, try to exploit perceived weaknesses in england's team. and ali accepts. well, that could be him. and can you speak to that came in would have been attacked and yeah i'm not expecting them to defend me and and think that so yeah. i'm expecting them to come after me, which could be dangerous because stokes, he likes having the fielders up so it could go for runs. well, lots of factors will come into play for this test match for this series, notably the weather. if it's hot and it's dry, you need a spin bowler. so moeen ali is back but emboldened this time by the sense that in this

england team to try and to fail is no failure at all. at least it's easy to say that right now. to football now. after lionel messi's move to the mls — the future of another one of paris saint germain�*s star forwards is now unclear — on what's been a topsy turvy day of transfer turbulence surrounding kylian mbappe. initially — it looked as though he would be leaving psg after telling the club he wouldn't be extending his contract beyond 202a. however, it later emerged that mbappe did want to stay for now, but according to a letterfrom his camp, next season would be his last at the club. now to los angeles where golf is preparing for its next major of the season — the us open. but the tournament has been overshadowed by news off the course, of the planned merger between saudi arabia's public investment fund and the pga and dp world tours. the announcement hasn't been well received by many of the players who remained

loyal to the pga tour — instead of taking lucrative offers to join the liv series. it gets to a point where you want to have faith in management, and i want to have faith that this is the best thing for all of us. but it's clear that that's not the consensus. i think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from from management. for me right now, it'sjust like what's going to happen? i don't know. but like we always want to know that. why answer? like, what's the purpose behind it? but i think there's so many different parties involved that there's too many answers to really put it into one underlying umbrella. ijust don't know what's going on. i think that's, you know, . i don't think anyone knows what's going on. um, are we saying it with the pif- or we're not signing with the pif? - i have no idea. so even though i guess it is confusing, is pretty clear.

that nobody knows what's going j on apart from about four people in the world. well, 12 months ago, liv had just come on the scene and was shocking the golf world as it announced its breakaway tour. 12 months on, though, and everything has changed, as our golf correspondent iain carter explains. there are an awful lot of questions that still need to be answered and an awful lot of questions going into golfers in the build up to this us open, which are surrounding a future that is quite frankly very, very uncertain for both the pga tour as a dp world tour and the live tour, which is of course, funded by saudi arabia's public investment fund, who have gone into business with the dp world and pga tour's. one person who wasn't taking any questions on this today here at the la country club was rory mcilroy. he feels like it's just too big a distraction for him. and he actually cancelled his pre—tournament news conference, clearly all talked up and doesn't

really want to be asked about that and equally his indifferent form on the final day in canada last week, just as it did just as it did 12 months ago, it's hoped that the golf on the course takes the headlines over the next few days. so who should we be looking out for? well, it certainly worked last year, didn't it, with that thrilling victory for matt fitzpatrick at brookline? i think you've got to be looking at the real heavyweights here. it looks a fantastic test of golf, this over the coming four days. and you have the likes of brooks koepka in imperious form, having finished second at the masters and winning the uspga. i've just come from a news conference with him when he looked really, really confident. john rahm is another that can't be ignored. he's fantastic in california. he won the masters as well, but others that you might want to look at potentially patrick cantlay the world number four. this is localfor him. you can go down the list,

look for ball strikers who are hitting the ball. well, scottie scheffler is another zander schauffele. so i think this is going to be a heavyweight battle over the four days among some of the leading players in the world. aphiwe dyantyi says he is "excited to be back" after signing for durban based south africa side the sharks shortly before the end of a four—year doping ban. dyantyi was named the world rugby breakthrough player of the year in 2018, but tested positive for multiple anabolic steroids the following year. he's always denied any wrongdoing. the winger will be eligible to play for the sharks from august. and finally, if you're a denver nuggets fan, you may be forgiven if you're still celebrating — nearly 2a hours on from winning their first nba title. they beat the miami heat 94—89 to take an unassailable 4—1 lead in the series. yet again, nikola jokic starred for the nuggets — with 28 points and was named the finals most valuable player — adding to the two overall mvps he won in 2021 and 2022. dan ogunshakin reports. 47 years for

the denver nuggets. congratulations. you are the 2023 nba champions. history made in denver. the nuggets crowned nba champions for the first time. the city had waited and waited for this day, and the celebrations that followed reflected that longing. we did it go nuggets. we're outside the ball arena and oh, my god, this is incredible. for years, the franchise had been mocked and maligned, but this proved to be the motivating force that drove them to the very top. it's a good feeling when you know that you did something that nobody believes and just it was just us. it's just the organization of denver nuggets believe in us. every player believe in each other. and i think that's the most important thing. nba stars past and present hailed the nuggets as the best team in basketball, but there would be no title in the mile high city without their serbian

superstar, nikola jokic. this was a postseason performance for the ages. never in nba history had one player led the playoffs in points, rebounds and assists until now drafted a lowly 41st by denver in 2015, jokic has risen to become the nba's dominant force, a star who brightens all in his orbit and now an nba champion and finals mvp. you said after the lakers win, you said you were surprised that you didn't feel more. so i'm curious what you are feeling up in denver? when is parade? thursday. no. i need to go home. back in his native serbia, they watched until the early hours of the morning, ready for his crowning moment another masterclass. amazing. a hero's homecoming awaits for the man they call thejoker

bbc news. well, that aside, all the time we've got left for now from me, mark edwards, and the rest of the team here at the bbc sports centre. bye bye. hello there. a number of places saw the temperature reach 30 celsius on tuesday. we saw 31 celsius in porthmadog in northwest wales, making it the warmest day there so far for wales. next few days, high pressure will continue to bring a lot of dry, sunny, warm weather, but we are losing the humidity, so we'll be a little bit fresher, more comfortable and certainly cool and fresher during the overnight periods. now, high pressure sitting towards scandinavia will bring a fine day for wednesday. light onshore breezes affecting eastern england — that will bring temperatures down somewhat. could just see an isolated shower, western scotland, perhaps northern ireland. but most places will be

dry and we'll see those temperatures reaching the mid to upper 20 celsius. but always cooler along north sea coast — 20—22 or 23 degrees there. as we head through wednesday night, see a little bit of mist and fog develop once again. most places will be dry, any showers fading away and temperatures ranging from around 19—14 degrees. again, humidity will be lower, so a more comfortable night for sleeping. so, for thursday, then, we start off a little bit of mist and fog here and there. otherwise, it's another dry, sunny day with a little bit of fairweather cloud into the afternoon. again, just a chance of an isolated shower developing across some western areas. most places, though, will remain dry. and again, with that onshore breeze, it's much cooler along north sea coasts — 21 degrees there. it's the mid to high 20s. now, we start to see some changes as we push towards the end of the week, this area of low

pressure starts to move into western areas. that could bring a few showers, but high pressure continues to bring fine and dry weather for most of the country for friday. we've lost the onshore breeze, so will be warmer along north sea coasts. winds will be light across the board. lots of sunshine into the afternoon, but a chance of some showers or thunderstorms showers or thunderstorms pushing into the far pushing into the far west later in the day. west later in the day. but again, those temperatures but again, those temperatures mid to high 20s for most of us mid to high 20s for most of us — very pleasantly warm — very pleasantly warm and less humid. and less humid. as we head into the weekend, as we head into the weekend, though, it does look like this though, it does look like this area of low pressure becomes a bit more established across the western side of the country. a few showers could get towards the east as well, but it's always bumping up against that area of high pressure, so it could take its while to reach more southern and eastern areas. but you can see it's an unsettled theme for the weekend and indeed even into next week, but for the best part, it should stay on the warm side.

you're looking at live pictures from newjersey in the us where former president donald trump is expected to take the podium this hour after pleading not guilty to 37 counts of criminal charges earlier in the day. his team has set up about 200 chairs, as you can see outside the venue, with name cards for guests and overflow tables are nearby. it will be his first

major public remarks after an historic day. i'm sumi