Heather Knight has been sacked as England captain following her side’s 16-0 loss in Australia.

Knight has been in the position since 2016, but has overseen a difficult winter, with a series win in South Africa sandwiched between a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign and a tumultuous Ashes tour of Australia.

On Friday, head coach Jon Lewis was also removed from his position after a review of the tour led by England director of women’s cricket Clare Connor.

Knight, 34, led the side in eight Tests, 94 one-day internationals and 96 T20s, with 134 wins from her 199 matches in charge.

“I have loved being England captain, it’s been the most rewarding period of my career,” said Knight.

“But for now I’m excited to focus on my batting and supporting the team and the new captain in the best way I can.

“Winning the ICC Women’s World Cup on home turf at Lord’s in 2017 will always be a huge highlight, but being a part of the huge steps forward made in the women’s game off the pitch brings me just as much pride.”

Connor said Knight was an “outstanding leader and role model”.

She will remain available for England selection as a player only, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are yet to confirm who will be her successor.

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones have both deputised for Knight when she has been absent because of injury, while off-spinner Charlie Dean has been touted as a potential permanent candidate.

England’s home summer starts with a white-ball series against West Indies starting in May, before they take on India in June and July.

Israel says it has hit dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command centre in southern Lebanon after rockets were fired from there into Israel for the first time since November’s ceasefire deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “to act forcefully against dozens of terror targets”.

Lebanon’s state media said one person was killed in the Israeli strikes.

The IDF said three rockets were intercepted in the northern Israeli town of Metula on Saturday morning. There were no injuries. No group has so far admitted firing the rockets, and Lebanon’s prime minister warned against his country being dragged “into a new war”.

The ceasefire deal ended 14 months of fighting with Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group backed by Iran.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence”, urging both Israel and Lebanon to “uphold their commitments”.

Local reports in Lebanon said artillery had fired into some southern locations of the country.

The Lebanese army said it had conducted a search operation, discovering “three primitive rocket launchers” which it dismantled.

The truce has been fragile: Israel has carried out nearly daily air strikes on what it describes as Hezbollah targets, and has indicated that attacks will continue to prevent the group from rearming.

In addition to that, the Israeli military is still occupying five locations in southern Lebanon, in what the Lebanese government says is a violation of the country’s sovereignty and a breach of the ceasefire deal, which required the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Israel says the Lebanese military has not yet fully deployed to those areas, and that it needs to remain at those points to guarantee the security of its border communities.

Saturday’s rocket attack into Israel will put even more pressure on the Lebanese government, and probably be used as proof by Israel that the Lebanese army does not have full control of border areas.

Despite Israel’s constant attacks, Hezbollah has not responded. The group faces the huge challenge of providing financial help to its communities affected by the war, and pressure from its opponents to disarm.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who came to power in January, has said only the state should have arms in the country, in what is seen as a reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal. Lebanon’s international partners say they will only help the country if the government acts to curb Hezbollah’s power.

Hezbollah launched its campaign the day after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The longstanding conflict escalated and led to an intense Israeli air campaign across Lebanon, the assassination of Hezbollah’s senior leaders and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

The offensive killed about 4,000 people in Lebanon – including many civilians – and led to the displacement of more than 1.2 million residents.

Israel’s stated goal in its war against Hezbollah was to allow the return of about 60,000 residents who had been displaced from communities in the country’s north because of the group’s attacks, and to remove it from areas along the border.

Lewis Hamilton hit out at “yapping” critics after taking his first win for Ferrari in the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion followed up his win in only his second event for his new team with fifth place on the grid for Sunday’s main event but said he was “optimistic” of a good result.

Hamilton did not identify the people he was referring to but said they “lacked understanding” of how difficult it was to achieve success straight away with a new team.

The 40-year-old said: “People just love to be negative at any opportunity. Even with the smallest things, they’ll just be negative about it.

“That’s just the difficult time that we’re living in.

“I see certain individuals – and again, I don’t read the news, but I see bits here and there – see people that I’ve admired for years just talking out of turn.

“Clearly some of them really just making uneducated guesses of what’s going on, just a real lack of appreciation.

“The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way just clearly not understanding. Maybe because they never had the experience or just unaware.”

Hamilton had a difficult first race for Ferrari in Australia last weekend, qualifying eighth and finishing 10th.

But he took pole for the sprint event in Shanghai on Friday and followed it up with a dominant win in the sprint, leading home McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“I felt unusually calm in myself,” Hamilton said. “I would say definitely more so than usual. I’m generally a relatively calm person, but I think today there was a stillness in me that I haven’t felt for a long time

“I got in the car extra early because I just wanted to be present and enjoy it because I haven’t been there for a while. Good start. Challenging race.

“It’s hard to put into words what it feels like. Obviously it’s a sprint race. It’s not the main race. But even just to get that is just a good stepping stone to where I’m working towards.”

Ferrari made some changes to their car after the sprint, and other teams maximised their own result to leave Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc together on the third row.

Piastri took pole from Mercedes’ George Russell and Lando Norris, who won in Australia for McLaren.

Verstappen is fourth on the grid for the grand prix, ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.

Hamilton said: “We made some changes to improve race performance., It was definitely harder over a single lap.

“The car became quite snappy. The lap wasn’t as clean at the end. I probably should have been 0.2secs further up or maybe 0.1secs. We’re not too far away but not ideal.

“I feel optimistic for tomorrow, would like to get a good start and jump at least one car. And then slowly work my way up. Tonight I will make a masterplan and then I have to try and execute it.”

Leclerc said: “As a team we maximised the potential of the car but the most important thing is we understand where has gone the potential of the car.”

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen overtakes Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi in the final stretch to win the 3000m gold medal – the first world indoor title of his career at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China.

FOLLOW LIVE: World Indoor Athletics Championships – day two

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A British bomb disposal expert has been injured in an attack on a UN facility in the Gaza Strip, the charity he works for has said.

The 51-year-old, who was not named, was one of five people injured in an explosion that also killed a UN worker at the facility in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday morning, the Mines Advisory Group said.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general, told BBC Newshour a full investigation into the incident would be needed.

The Israeli military has denied reports it targeted the UN compound and has said the explosion was not caused by Israeli fire.

Israel said earlier it was resuming fighting in Gaza following a two-month ceasefire – launching a wave of strikes that killed more than 400 people, according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The injured Briton is an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert who works for the Manchester-based mine clearance charity.

The charity’s chief executive, Darren Cormack, said the man had been conducting an explosive hazards assessment at a UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) building at the time of the incident.

He was initially taken to hospital in Gaza for treatment and has since been moved to a hospital in Israel, Mr Cormack said.

“The UN has confirmed that today’s incident did not occur in the course of normal EOD operations and resulted from ordnance being fired at or dropped on the building in which the team was working,” he added.

“It is shocking that a humanitarian facility should be subject to attacks of this nature and that humanitarian workers are being killed and injured in the line of duty,” he said. “Attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law.”

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein wrote on X: “The circumstances of the incident are being investigated.

“We emphasize that the initial examination found no connection to IDF activity whatsoever.”

Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli strike for the attack.

The UN’s Farhan Haq told the BBC: “We are making it clear that all military operations have to be conducted in a way that ensures that all civilians are respected and protected.”

The head of the UNOPS, Jorge Moreira da Silva, said he believed the explosion was “not an accident”, adding that the situation in Gaza was “unconscionable”.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as captives.

Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says, and caused huge destruction to homes and infrastructure.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, called for “restraint” during a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday night.

“The Prime Minister underscored that he is deeply concerned by the return to fighting and urged for Israeli restraint,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Match of the Day Top 10 returns as Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards discuss their Top 10 Champions League captains and why Paolo Maldini is labelled as one of the best.

Listen to Match of the Day Top 10 on BBC Sounds or watch of BBC iPlayer

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has visited the crew of HMS Vanguard after the submarine returned to UK waters after months of undersea service.

The nuclear-armed submarine had been patrolling for more than 200 days, marking one of the longest deployments in British Royal Navy history.

Sir Keir, who was accompanied by Defence Secretary John Healey, was the first prime minister to visit the boat’s “Day Zero” at Barrow-in-Furness in more than a decade.

The prime minister told reporters the Kremlin respected the UK’s nuclear arsenal because “we’ve got our own independent deterrent and we’re committed to Nato”.

“What is obviously important is they appreciate that it is what it is which is a credible capability,” he said. “And that it most certainly is.”

Britain is hosting a closed meeting on Thursday of senior military officers from the “Coalition of the Willing” as they draw up plans for a proposed peacekeeping force for Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump has held what he described as a “very good” hour-long phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after speaking to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky said afterwards that he believed that “lasting peace can be achieved this year” under Trump’s leadership.

Possible US ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants was also discussed, the White House said, although Zelensky later stated this was only about the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia facility.

The tone of the call seems to be in contrast to Zelensky’s visit to the White House last month, in which the two leaders – along with US Vice-President JD Vance – were involved in a tense exchange.

Wednesday marked the first time the two men have spoken since the meeting in the Oval Office – although since then, their teams have met in Saudi Arabia and negotiated a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

While it is backed by Ukraine and the US, Putin rejected the proposal for a widespread pause in the conflict during his phone call with the US president on Tuesday.

During his conversation with Trump, Zelensky said he was open to a partial ceasefire involving a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, rail and port facilities that could be established quickly – but the Ukrainian president warned his country would retaliate if Moscow violated the terms of the ceasefire.

“I understand that until we agree [with Russia], until there is a corresponding document on even a partial ceasefire, I think that everything will fly,” he said, referring to drones and missiles.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the call was aimed at aligning Ukraine and Russia “in terms of their requests and needs”, adding that ceasefire efforts were on track.

Later, in a more detailed statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump had agreed to help Ukraine source additional air defence systems, particularly in Europe.

The two leaders “agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”, he said.

Rubio’s statement also said Trump and Zelensky had discussed “Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” with Trump saying “the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise”.

“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Rubio’s statement added.

Zelensky said the topic of power plants had been raised, but that they had only mentioned the Zaporizhzhia facility.

The developments will come as a relief for Zelensky, who described his conversation with Trump as “positive”, “frank”, and “very substantive”, during an online briefing to journalists on Wednesday.

“We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year,” he wrote on X.

During the video call with reporters, Zelensky said he believed Putin would not agree to a full ceasefire while Ukrainian troops remained in Russia’s western Kursk region, after Kyiv launched a surprise attack on the region in August last year.

While both Zelensky and Putin have said they would agree to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. However, both have since accused each other of continued attacks.

Trump said Wednesday’s call with Zelensky lasted about an hour.

“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Technical teams from Ukraine and the US are expected to now meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.

In the White House last month, Trump told Zelensky he was not thankful enough for US military and political support, and that he was “gambling with World War Three”.

The US temporarily then suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, but diplomats were able to improve relations and on 11 March the two sides agreed on a ceasefire.

During his call with Trump on Tuesday, Putin agreed to halt Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

But he said a full ceasefire would only work if Ukraine’s supporters stopped giving military assistance – a condition Kyiv’s European allies have previously rejected.

Hours later both Ukraine and Russia launched attacks, with Kyiv saying hospitals had been targeted.

Officials in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said that a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a small fire at an oil depot.

Despite the strikes, Kyiv and Moscow carried out an exchange of prisoners on Wednesday. Each side released 175 POWs.

Zelensky described the swap as “one of the largest”, adding that Russia included an extra 22 “severely wounded” soldiers.

The UK is hosting a closed meeting on Thursday of senior military officers from the “coalition of the willing” as they draw up plans for a proposed peacekeeping force for Ukraine.

More than 20 countries are thought to be involved.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to attend on Thursday afternoon after first visiting Barrow, where he is due to lay the keel of one of Britain’s next generation of nuclear-armed submarines.

Plans for a Western-led peacekeeping force for Ukraine are said to be moving to an operational phase.

Senior military officers from nations that make up the “coalition of the willing”, led by Britain and France, are due to discuss how this would work in practice when they gather at the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood.

But there remain some major obstacles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will not tolerate the presence of any Nato member troops in Ukraine, regardless of their role.

The US is also proving reluctant to provide the necessary air cover that prospective members say they need.

Sir Keir is expected to attend part of the meeting after first visiting Barrow where he will lay the keel of HMS Dreadnought, one of the next generation of ballistic nuclear submarines.

On his visit to the town, Sir Keir will say Barrow is a “blueprint” for how defence spending can benefit a community.

He is due to announce that the King has agreed to grant Barrow the title of “Royal” in recognition of its contribution to national security.

Earlier he visited the crew of one of Britain’s nuclear submarines, HMS Vanguard, as it returned to Scotland after patrolling the waters of the north Atlantic.

The prime minister told reporters the Kremlin respected the UK’s nuclear arsenal because “we’ve got our own independent deterrent and we’re committed to Nato”.

“What is obviously important is they appreciate that it is what it is which is a credible capability,” he said. “And that it most certainly is.”

Defence Secretary John Healey, who joined the prime minister on the visit, stressed the government’s “unshakeable” commitment to the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which he called “the ultimate guarantor of our national security and the security of our Nato allies”.

Six days before Christmas, Jenson Brooksby took to social media to share something he had “kept quiet for his entire life”.

The 24-year-old American revealed he had been diagnosed on the severe end of the autism spectrum as a young child, and was non-verbal until the age of four.

The decision to go public had not been taken lightly, but was driven by a desire to help families living the same experience and any future professionals with autism., external

“My whole life with my parents, it wasn’t something you are very comfortable sharing because there could be consequences – especially when I was younger,” Brooksby told BBC Sport.

“But I’ve learned as I’ve grown up that even with people close to me, the response is very casual and not much is thought about it.

“I think my desire to be able to help other people with it in certain scenarios – say, if they are trying to become a professional player – was bigger than any negative outcome I could have thought of.

“I really hope that future players, whether they are vocal about it or not, they at least know it’s OK for them to struggle with it and hopefully be able to explain why.”

Brooksby can remember some of the intensive therapy he received, starting aged two and at times up to 40 hours a week.

An immense gratitude to his parents is clear as he explains how they devoted their time and resources to help him speak.

For Brooksby, sport was a release. Tennis – along with basketball, swimming and athletics – came into his life aged four, with lessons following a few years later.

“Sport was a big release for me. If I sit for a long time I can have a lot of energy bottled up, and so being a very active kid really let it out,” he said.

“I always wanted to train to try to be good at something. Even at that age, I think I had that mindset of competing and to be good at something.”

Two Nasa astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since last June have begun their journey back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon flight.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were sent on an eight-day mission that turned into a nine-month stint following technical issues with their Boeing Starliner capsule.

The trip back home is expected to last almost 17 hours.

NASA

Reflecting on planet Earth

Voting for a president from space

Keeping fit in zero gravity

NASA

Letting your hair… up, at Christmas

Will McLaren allow Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to race? They always say the drivers are free to race, however whenever they get near on track, drivers are told to hold positions. Will this rob us of the only championship battle if the McLaren is so dominant? – Martin

There’s a simple answer to this question – yes. McLaren’s philosophy is that the drivers are free to race, with the caveat that the team’s interests always come first.

What that means is that the drivers have rules – Norris and Piastri can compete but they cannot risk each other’s cars.

That’s what explains the order, midway through the Australian Grand Prix, for the cars to hold station until they had cleared some lapped traffic and the team had a better understanding of the incoming wet weather.

Team principal Andrea Stella said: “During the race at some stage we had to go relatively soon through some backmarkers while the cars were close together and the conditions on track were still a little tricky with intermediate tyres that were running down a bit in terms of their rubber, and at the same time receiving some updates on the weather forecast.

“That led us to close, for a short period, the internal racing until we had clarity as to the weather prediction, what this meant for how we should use the tyres, and until we had closed the matter of overtaking the backmarkers. Once this was completed, we re-opened the racing.”

It was clear from the tone of Piastri’s reply that he was not that happy about being told to hold station – at that stage he had closed to within a second of Norris and was challenging for the lead, claiming he was quicker.

Once the drivers were allowed to race again, though, Norris extended the gap, and then Piastri made a mistake at Turn Six trying to keep up.

That suggests Norris had previously been managing his pace to contain the wear on his intermediates. And Piastri admitted his tyres were too far gone by then to challenge.

The overall philosophy was explained by Norris after qualifying.

“There are clearly rules we cannot cross,” he said. “Both cars must always stay in the race, but we’re both competitors. That’s clear.

“We both want to fight for a win and victories. But there are boundaries around the car – just a little more space here and there. We’re free to race, free to try and win races.

“But what won us the constructors’ last year was how we helped one another and how we kept things clean.”

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A group of scientists due to work together for months at a remote Antarctic research station has been rocked after a member of the team was accused of assault.

About 10 researchers typically stay at the South African-run base, which sits about 170km (about 105 miles) from the edge of the ice shelf and is difficult to reach.

But a spokesperson for the South African government told the BBC “there was an assault” at the station, following earlier allegations of inappropriate behaviour from inside the camp.

In a further message seen by the BBC, the South African environment ministry said it was responding to the concerns with “utmost urgency”.

South Africa’s Sunday Times, which was first to report the story, said members of the team had pleaded to be rescued.

The ministry also said that those in the team had been subject to “a number of evaluations that include background checks, reference checks, medical assessment as well as a psychometric evaluation by qualified professionals”, which all members had cleared.

In a statement, the ministry said: “Only candidates who do not have any negative outcomes from all the background evaluations will be considered for appointment.”

The department added that it was “not uncommon” for individuals to have an initial adjustment when they arrive at extremely remote areas even if assessments showed no areas of concern.

It said when the vessel departed for Antarctica on 1 February “all was in order”, and the incident was first reported to the ministry on 27 February.

The statement said the department “immediately activated the response plan in order to mediate and restore relations at the base”.

“This process has been ongoing on an almost daily basis in order to ensure that those on the base know that the Department is supportive and willing to do whatever is needed to restore the interpersonal relationships, but also firm in dealing with issues of discipline,” it added.

The department said a government minister was personally handling the incident, and the alleged perpetrator had “willingly participated in further psychological evaluation, has shown remorse and is willingly cooperative to follow any interventions that are recommended”.

The alleged perpetrator has also written a formal apology to the victim, it said.

The Sanae IV research base is located more than 4,000km from mainland South Africa and harsh weather conditions mean scientists can be cut off there for much of the year.

The current team were expected to be at the Sanae IV base until December.

South African research expeditions have been taking place since 1959. The team to the Sanae IV base typically comprises a doctor, two mechanics, three engineers, a meteorological technician and a couple of physicists.

These expeditions, with harsh weather conditions mandating a lot of time spent in a confined indoor space, normally run without incident, and team members have to undergo a range of psychological assessments before travelling.

But on Sunday, South Africa’s Sunday Times reported that one member of the team had sent an email warning of “deeply disturbing behaviour” by a colleague and an “environment of fear”.

A South African government spokesperson told the BBC that the alleged assault was triggered by “a dispute over a task the team leader wanted the team to do – a weather dependant task that required a schedule change”.

Incidents in Antarctica are rare, but not unprecedented. In 2018 there were reports of a stabbing at the Russian-operated Bellingshausen research station.

Psychologists point to the effect that isolation can have on human behaviour.

“One thing we know from these rare occurrences, when something bad happens in enforced isolation or capsule working, is that it’s often the small things, tiny things that can blow up into conflict,” said Craig Jackson, professor of workplace health psychology at Birmingham City University, and a chartered member of the British Psychological Society.

“So issues about hierarchy, about workload allocation, even small things about leisure time or rations or food portions can rapidly flare up to become something much larger than they typically are,” he told the BBC.

Gabrielle Walker, a scientist and author who has been on expeditions to Antarctica, said working in such close proximity to a small group of colleagues had risks.

“You know exactly how they put their coffee cup down and what direction the handle points in; you know that they scratch their nose three times before they sit down; you know everything about them.

“And in the bad circumstances, it can start to irritate you… because there’s nothing else – there’s no other stimulus and you’re with people 24/7,” she said.

Sources within the Antarctic research community have told the BBC that South Africa has access to an ice-capable ship and aircraft if needed.

But any rescue operation would have to contend with the harsh climate, with temperatures well below freezing and the possibility of strong winds.