northern ireland are playing austria away on friday, kyle lafferty has ruled himself out of that game are in israel in the nations league on thursday. much of the build up has centred around leigh griffiths — who withdrew from the squad — citing a lack of fitness. but alex mcleish says he respects the strikers decision. everybody has issues and the personal life and to respect the decision. you know, and i do not wa nt to decision. you know, and i do not want to throw him under a bus. and there was no one a —— no animosity whatsoever. i see his body language, ican whatsoever. i see his body language, i can see him not wanting to. pakistan have a massive lead in the first test after an almighty collapse from australia in dubai. australia were going along nicely at 142 without loss, but were all out for 202 on the third day. that was in reply to pakistans first innings of 482. 0peners usman khawaja and aaron finch reached half centuriees but only two other batsmen made double figures. bilal hasif took 6—36 on his test debut. pakistan chose not to enforce the follow — and they lost wicke

like kyle lafferty with northern ireland, leigh griffiths has pulled out of the scotland squad on fitnessow against israel and a friendly against portugal on sunday. everybody has issues. in their personal lives. and you have to respect his decision. i'm not going to throw him under the bus. he came to throw him under the bus. he came to the game last time around. there was no animosity whatsoever. yeah, i can see a player's body language when they don't like not playing. i could see that not only with leigh griffiths, i could see it with a number of players. so it is natural. and i think it is big of him to say that he needs to get fitter to play at these levels. also coming up in the programme. it's been a long time since a woman raced in formula 1, but could a new women—only motor—racing series help change that? multiple world and olympic champion simone biles returns to international competition at the world gymnastics championships in qatar later this month. the 21—year—old took 18 months away from the sport after winning four golds at the rio olympics during that time she's travelle

build—up to northern ireland's game against austria has been dominated by the absence of star striker kyle laffertyt phone call to the manager michael o'neill who has expressed his dissatisfaction. with lafferty out, it is mcguinness who will start up tonight for northern ireland. in goals, it is the young keeper bailey peacock—farrell who gets the nod. he started the last nations league game against bosnia which northern ireland lost. the away side knows tonight and they must avoid dropping points if they are to stay in contention in the grip. stephen watson. you can keep up to date with the england game on radio 5live — build up starts from seven — and there's coverage from northern ireland's match on radio ulster and the bbc sport website. michael carrick — the former manchester united midfielder, now coach — has been speaking about the depression he battled during his career. he says he struggled so much that he wanted to come home from the 2010 world cup in south africa as self—doubt wore away at him. but as he told me earlier, there have been lows — but also enormous highs over the remarkable