Andy Murray is planning to make his return to competitive tennis in the doubles at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club later this month.

The Briton, 32, has not played since the Australian Open and had a hip resurfacing operation in January.

The former world number one, who has since said he is "pain-free", aims to play alongside Spain's Feliciano Lopez.

The tournament in London will start on Monday, 17 June - two weeks before Wimbledon begins.

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller said: "I don't see this as the start of a doubles career but as a stepping stone.

"He's not ready for singles at all but I think he intends to give it a go later. It is incredibly early days. He's only been back in full training for two weeks.

"It's an obvious way to ease yourself back in, but who knows what will happen from here."

Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray had a hit with Australian Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon last month and posted a video of him serving on grass on his Instagram account earlier this week.

Murray has said he could play doubles at Wimbledon but effectively ruled out competing in the singles this year.

Former British tennis player Naomi Cavaday says Murray will not want to feel any pressure on his return and that will be reflected in his choice of partner.

"In this particular situation Andy would have asked around the locker room to see who was set," said Cavaday.

"He wouldn't want to play with a serious doubles guy, then there is pressure on the match. He doesn't want pressure on the match, he just wants to play on court.

"So a singles guy who isn't solely focused on doubles means there isn't a huge pressure because that guy isn't trying to make a living."

The Scot had the hip resurfacing operation - which keeps more of the damaged bone than a hip replacement, smoothing the ball down and covering it with a metal cap - in London on 28 January.

Sixteen-time Grand Slam doubles champion Bob Bryan had the same surgery in 2018 and was back playing again, alongside twin brother Mike, five months later.

BBC Sport will have live coverage from the west London club across television, radio and online.

Nour meets Nour in repeat of women’s world final
By SEAN REUTHE

PSA World Championship finalists Nour El Sherbini and Nour El Tayeb have been drawn in the same group in the women’s event of the 2018-2019 CIB PSA World Tour Finals, with the six-day, season-ending event beginning at Cairo’s Mall of Arabia on Sunday June 9.

The top eight men and women on the PSA World Tour Finals Leaderboard will do battle for the prestigious title and the lucrative $320,000 prize fund. Players have earned qualification points at all PSA World Tour events throughout the 2018-19 season, while the reigning PSA World Champions and all PSA Platinum event winners qualified automatically.

Players will compete in group stages between June 9-12 which are held under a best-of-three games format, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout semi-finals and beyond. The finals revert to the traditional best of five scoring.

Defending champion El Sherbini, who came second on the women’s World Tour Finals Leaderboard, became a three-time World Champion at the age of 23 when she overcame El Tayeb in the final of March’s World Championships held in Chicago’s Union Station. The pair will lock horns once again in Cairo, and they will be joined in Group B by British Open champion Nouran Gohar and England No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry.

World No.1 Raneem El Welily topped the women’s World Tour Finals Leaderboard and she features in Group A alongside British Open runner-up Camille Serme, Hong Kong Open winner Joelle King and World No.9 Tesni Evans.

Group A of the men’s event is headed up by World No.1 and last year’s runner-up Ali Farag. A sensational season which saw him lift major titles at the World Championships, J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, Qatar Classic and El Gouna International resulted in him finishing first on the World Tour Finals Leaderboard.

He is joined in Group A by Black Ball Open winner Karim Abdel Gawad, New Zealand’s Paul Coll and World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar.

World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy, who beat Farag to lift a third British Open crown two weeks ago, will line up against World Championship runner-up Tarek Momen, Germany’s Simon Rösner and Peru’s Diego Elias in Group B.

The group stages begin on Sunday June 9 at 19:00 (GMT+2) with El Welily and Evans getting the action under way. Six matches will be played per night for the first four days of the event until the group stages have drawn to a close.

Group stage matches will take place at 19:00, 19:30, 20:00, 20:30, 21:00, 21:30 between June 9-12. The semi-finals will be held at 19:00 on Thursday June 13.

The finals will begin at 19:30 on Friday June 14.

Every match from the tournament will be shown live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only), ON Sport (Egypt) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour.

Squash fans can stay up-to-date tournament by visiting the official website and can purchase tickets for the semi-finals and finals here.

2018-2019 CIB PSA World Tour Finals, Cairo, Egypt, June 9-12. Group Draws.

Picture and graphics courtesy of PSA 

Ulster have awarded new contracts to nine academy players for next season.

Props Tom O'Toole and Eric O'Sullivan and backs Angus Curtis and Michael Lowry have all signed senior contracts.

New development deals have been offered to Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Angus Kernohan, Zack McCall and Marcus Rea.

The arrival in the off season of Jack McGrath, Bill Johnston, Matt Faddes, Sam Carter and Gareth Milasinovich will further strengthen the senior squad.

O'Toole and Curtis were both upgraded to development contracts midway through Dan McFarland's first season as head coach but the pair have now agreed senior deals along with Lowry and O'Sullivan, who made an impressive 26 appearances during a breakout season after making his senior Ulster debut against Scarlets on the opening day of the 2018-19 campaign.

Baloucoune, the scorer of crucial tries against Leicester and Racing 92 in his debut season, has earned a development contract after scoring six tries in 13 appearances while academy team-mates Hume, Kernohan, McCall and Rea have also been given improved terms.

If there was one moment that summed up England's performance in the field in Nottingham, it came in the 46th over.

Joe Root, at point, had just pulled off a fine save in the field to prevent a well-timed cut from Sarfaraz Ahmed. But then, with Sarfraz just out of his ground, Root threw fiercely at the stumps only to see the ball bissect the fielders backing up and concede four over-throws. It was reflective of a somewhat messy showing that was in marked contrast to their excellence at The Oval.

The nadir of England's performance in the field came with Jason Roy's dropping of Mohammad Hafeez. It was, by any standards, a straightforward chance: a mis-hit drive spooned up to long-off; a chance that, at this level, would be expected to be held every time. But the chance went down - Roy seemed to suggest the sun had caused him some difficulty; it didn't seem obviously apparent that it should have done - and Hafeez, who was on 14 at the time, went on to top-score for Pakistan with 84.

All sides drop the odd catch, of course. But the real issue for England here was that it wasn't so much an aberration as reflective of England's general performance in the field. ESPNcricinfo's figures suggest there were 13 mis-fields in all.

In the first over of the innings, Eoin Morgan failed to stop a routine effort at point to concede an unnecessary boundary. Maybe he was slightly worried about his recently fractured finger - he insists it is fine - but it was an out-of-character error that seemed to set the tone for his side's efforts. It was a fielding performance that would have had Nasir Jamshed or Monty Panesar tutting at their TV screens in disgust.

Some will blame complacency. But even the sub fielder, James Vince, fumbled a simple ball on the boundary that conceded an extra run. It is hard to believe Vince, who has played only 10 ODIs and is fighting to gain a place in the side, could be complacent.

It seems more likely that concentration was the issue. A combination of nerves, a full house - many of them vocally supporting Pakistan - and the sense of expectation growing upon this England side, might have resulted in these fumbles. Either way, it will be a worry for an England side that prided itself on its performance at The Oval.

It wasn't a uniform story, though. Jos Buttler, one of the few men who endured a modest game in the field at The Oval, took a sharp stumping, while Chris Woakes held onto a World Cup-record four outfield catches; one of them an outstanding effort on the long-on boundary. No non-keeper has ever taken more catches in an ODI for England. Jonny Bairstow, sweeping on the cover boundary, could also feel satisfied with his work, while Moeen Ali bowled especially well.

The rest? It was an oddly sloppy-looking performance that, according to ESPNcricinfo's figures, saw England concede 17 more runs than might be expected. Combined with the 11 wides their bowlers gave way, it left England chasing nearly 30 more than might have been the case.

England's problems were not limited to the fielding, either. With Adil Rashid proving expensive (he went for 43 from five overs), Eoin Morgan only felt able to allow him five overs. Partially as a result, their over-rate suffered to the extent that there were more than three overs remaining by the time England would have been expected to complete their overs. In all, Pakistan's innings over-ran by 19 minutes.

It's only a few games since Morgan served a one-match suspension for repeated over-rate violations. While there is an amnesty on such issues for global events like this, the possibility that Morgan could be censured again here is very real. While that may only amount to a fine, it will remain on his record and be taken into account should England over-run again. Coming at this stage of the tournament, it is also a real concern. England do not want to be without their captain for the latter stages of the competition.

For that to be relevant, though, they need to get there. And if they field like this, there is no guarantee at all of that.

Ottis Gibson, South Africa's coach, says that his team will need to channel the spirit of Anthony Joshua, and dust themselves down following a damaging defeat against Bangladesh at The Oval on Sunday, a result that has left their World Cup campaign in serious jeopardy.

After losing the tournament opener, against England at The Oval on Thursday, South Africa's 21-run defeat against Bangladesh has left them with a record of no wins in two matches going into Wednesday's crunch clash with India in Southampton.

And with Lungi Ngidi set to miss both that match and potentially the West Indies game in Southampton on June 10 after picking up a hamstring strain, Gibson admitted that the squad would need some geeing-up in the midst of a mounting crisis of confidence.

"We were expecting to win today, we were trying to win today, but we got beaten by a better team, and we have to try and refocus," Gibson said in the aftermath of the match. "But India is going to be another tough game and there's no place to hide at the World Cup.

"There's no point in sulking around, we've got to get up and think about where we are going wrong, and put better spells of bowling together, and better batting together."

That may, however, be easier said than done - certainly where the bowling is concerned. As South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis admitted after the Bangladesh loss, the glut of injuries to their fastest bowlers has scuppered the plans that Gibson has spent the past two years working towards. The upshot is that South Africa are caught between praying for their injured quicks to return to fitness quickly, and trumpeting the claims of the back-up squad members who may have to hold the fort in the interim.

"We've got to play with the ones that are fit, first of all," said Gibson. "Dale Steyn is getting closer every day, he was on the field today bowling again, he is 85 percent, so we have to decide if 85 percent is good enough to play against India."

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It's been a while, however, since Steyn has been a force in white-ball cricket. He has played just 21 ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, which ended with him being struck down the ground for six by Grant Elliott in a pulsating semi-final defeat, and just four matches since the start of 2019.

"His white-ball record overall is outstanding though," said Gibson. "Any team that sees a fit Dale Steyn on the scorecard still sees somebody that he can do some damage.

"The plan for the last two years was to build a bowling attack not just around Steyn but around KG [Rabada] as well, and Lungi. But we lost Lungi and there's a lot more weight on KG's shoulders to get wickets. He bowled well, but he didn't strike, and we need our strike bowlers to strike and our best batters to get runs. That's how the game is played."

If Steyn is not fit, then South Africa may have to improvise with their balance. The seam-bowling allrounder Dwaine Pretorius and the second spinner Tabraiz Shamsi among the men who may be called upon to play in the India match.

"I believe [they are good enough]" Gibson added. "Otherwise they wouldn't be at a World Cup.

"Obviously they are not the first choices in terms of names but we thought they were good enough to be a part of the 15, so they now have to believe that themselves and put their best cricket on the field.

"You keep telling them how good they are, you go back to our best experiences," he added. "We've won eight or nine of our last ten games with the guys in the dressing room, so you keep reminding them of that, and keep showing them what they've done in our recent history."

Gibson insisted though that, however he attempts to elicit a response from his players, he would not be resorting to ranting and raving in the dressing room, and pointed to the shock boxing upset in New York on Saturday night, where Joshua lost his world heavyweight crown to the unfancied Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr.

"There's no anger in me," Gibson said. "It's cricket we're playing, and in sport, there's nothing that says you are going to win because you might be the favourite.

"Look at Anthony Joshua last night, he was the favourite and he got put on the floor. I'm sure he's going to get up and go on to his next fight, and probably win. We must look at that, get ourselves up off the floor, dust ourselves off and put our best game out on the field.

"Losing early isn't always a bad thing when you are learning and improving," he added. "Because when you lose in the last week, you're going home. At the moment we've lost two games and were hurting, but we still have the opportunity to play better.

"If you are going to lose, it's better to lose now than in the first week of July."