The T37 sprinter calls time on her career, which also featured four world title wins

Britain’s double Paralympic sprint champion Georgie Hermitage has announced her retirement from athletics.

The 30-year-old, who also won four world titles during her career, says the decision to retire is “heartbreaking” but she has been unable to overcome recurring injuries.

The T37 sprinter, who has cerebral palsy, was inspired to return to athletics after watching the London 2012 Games and made her international debut at the World Para Athletics Championships in Doha in 2015.

There she claimed the T37 400m title as well as T35-38 4x100m relay gold and 100m silver. Two years later, in front of a home crowd, she retained her world 400m title in London in a world record time and also gained gold in the 100m.

READ MORE: Sophie Hahn and Georgie Hermitage run records to win world gold

In Rio in 2016 she was crowned Paralympic champion in the T37 100m and 400m and that year also saw her become a four-time European gold medallist with wins in the 100m, 200m, 400m and relay in Grosseto.

After calling time on her career, Hermitage said: “It is a heartbreaking decision to retire but despite our best efforts, my body isn’t recovering from injuries which means I’m not able to train or compete to the level that’s required.

“Working with the British Athletics medical team, we have thrown the kitchen sink at trying to deal with the injuries, but they keep recurring. You can never say never, but I know this is the right decision at this point in my life.

“Sport is a lovely thing, but it is not everything,” she added. “I want to be able to go out for a jog with (her daughter) Tilly. I don’t want to miss those lovely moments with her. I’m at a point in my life when that is the most important thing. Tilly is so excited to get her mum back.

“I would have loved to have gone to Tokyo, but I would have been half the athlete I know I can be. The pain and stress it was causing me meant I wasn’t enjoying it as much.”

Reflecting on her highlights on the track, she said: “The 2015 world championships in Doha was a bubble. I remember being in holding camp wearing kit and I was so excited. It was a quick intro into that environment. I think it helped that I met my best friend in the sport on that trip – ‘Butters’ (Jo Butterfield). She was my room-mate and we just got on straight away. I was nervous but not under real pressure, so I really enjoyed those championships. It is one of my happiest memories.

“I’d say the highlight of my career was definitely winning the 100m in Rio. It was not my favourite event so to win it meant even more. The whole race was an out of body experience – I still can’t actually watch it! The relief was so huge, and my euphoria went through the roof. I felt invincible.

“London 2017 was special in a different type of way. I remember there was a really good crowd in for my heats on Saturday morning. The roar was just amazing. Richard Whitehead told me to use it and I pumped up the crowd, it was unbelievable. To win both races in front of Tilly and my family was also very special. I won’t forget that moment.”

The European 200m silver medallist shares insight into his winter training which features CrossFit inspired cardio and weekends off

Too often athletes avoid the rival head-to-heads that supporters crave outside of major championships, but not Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake. He doesn’t just race against them. He trains with them.

“I feel like I’m in a professional environment now,” says the Florida-based Brit whose training group, which is guided by coach Lance Brauman, includes world 200m champion Noah Lyles among a host of other global talents.

“When you’re training with the best people in the world I feel like naturally your levels just rise. You know you have to go out and give it your best effort every time, because everyone’s here to compete. If you’re going to race them eventually, why not see what they’re doing in training?”

AW: What are the essential components of training at this time of year?
“The most important thing about this training block is staying healthy and looking after your body so you can stack each block on top of each other,” says Mitchell-Blake.

“Never take health for granted. It’s about doing the little things right, whether it’s nutrition, sleep, whatever works for you.”

AW: Favourite session at this time of year?
“Naturally the faster ones – every sprinter loves to sprint. We dread the days where we have to put in a bit more mileage.”

AW: And the least favourite?
“The 300s, the 200s … but I try to approach every workout with as positive an attitude as possible. Sometimes you know it’s going to hurt but you just have to suffer in silence and handle the business. It’s your job.”

Always room for improvement

No matter how things are going in training, there’s always room for improvement, says Mitchell-Blake.

“Nobody is the complete athlete, so you have to work on the little things. I’m not a natural starter – I believe I have a greater top end – but you have to work on your weaknesses and allow them to become your strengths,” adds the European 200m silver medallist and 2017 world 4x100m champion.

“I set myself a target each week, each block. Nothing will ever be perfect, but I have to find how I can maximise certain things to ensure they work to my advantage. It can be exhausting, but it’s Olympic year, so if you need any motivation, you’ve just got to think of that.”

A TYPICAL JANUARY TRAINING WEEK

This phase, which includes the transition between base training and speed, is hugely important for Mitchell-Blake.

“It’s the first speed block of the year so we’re going to be a bit sore from doing a lot of fast pattern movements,” he says.

MONDAY: Speedwork. “800m warm-up, drills, bounding, then sled pulls, blocks, wickets. We’re starting to get into blocks now which is the fun part for me. After that we might do a couple of 150ms, then we hit the gym (lower body workout). We’re lifting pretty heavy right now.”

TUESDAY: “We do something like 2 x 350m (off 3 or 4 minutes), 2 x 200m (off 2 minutes), 150m-100m- 100m (off 4 minutes) – so a bit more mileage. We’re hitting 12/13s per 100m, so it definitely gets the heart going and it’s a fast-enough pace to hurt. Then we hit the gym (upper body).”

WEDNESDAY: “This is a day to work on what you want to do. I do a lot of abdominal work and stretching on a Wednesday.”

THURSDAY: As Tuesday

FRIDAY: “Hills, e.g. 200m, 100m, 150m, 150m, then we’ll finish off with 4 x 100m sprints. The hills are timed so it’s pretty intense. Friday in the gym is a bit of Olympic lifting, hex bar, power clean, snatch.”

WEEKEND OFF

In addition to athletics-specific training, Mitchell-Blake does a lot of CrossFit inspired cardio which is added on to the end of each session.

Britain's Jamie Murray reached another Grand Slam final alongside American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the Australian Open mixed doubles. In his regular BBC Sport column, the Scot talks about their three-set defeat, playing until his 40s and how eating meat in Colombia left him concerned about failing a drugs test.

Losing the mixed doubles final and missing out on my eighth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open was very disappointing.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and I lost to Nikola Mektic and Barbora Krejcikova, but I know if we keep putting our games out there, then we will have more chances to win Grand Slam titles in the future.

That's the same with Neal Skupski in the men's doubles, even though we had a disappointing tournament in Melbourne.

My goals now, which will be my goals until I finish playing, are trying to win the French Open and Wimbledon. I would love to make a career Grand Slam.

I turn 34 next week and I don't see why I can't play for a long while yet. Maybe I will play until my 40s.

I'll play for as long as I can. As long as I'm fit and healthy, as long as my ranking is at a point where I'm still able to compete at the biggest tournaments in the world, and as long as I enjoy doing it.

Once you stop, you can never go back.

I'd find it difficult to replicate those feelings and emotions in other walks of life knowing the experiences I've had on a tennis court.

A lot of guys are playing into their 40s now, such as the Bryan brothers.

People are looking after themselves much better, we've got all the sports scientists and with the scoring system we play on the ATP Tour, the endurance aspect has gone out of the game.

If I'm fit and healthy, and feeling like I'd still get out there, compete and do myself justice, then why not keep playing into my 40s?

'Beth and I will play together at Roland Garros'

In the mixed doubles final, Beth and I made a bad start in the match tie-break and it got away from us pretty quickly.

We did well to turn around the first set. Beth played some amazing shots at the end of the first set to get that in the bag for us. Then I was unlucky to lose my serve in the middle of the second set.

I thought Nikola played a great match start to finish and Barbora started to really play well in the last quarter of the match.

They got a lot of momentum and we weren't able to stop it, especially after a bad start in the tie-break. Overall it was a great final and they deserved victory.

The match was played after the women's final but it still felt as if there was a lot of energy on Rod Laver Arena.

Obviously people are going to leave after the women's final; that's normal.

It was late because we didn't go on court until 10:30pm but there was still a decent crowd and atmosphere.

Overall we are disappointed to lose in a final but we played a lot of great tennis over the two weeks and had a lot of fun.

Beth is an amazing player, an amazing mixed doubles player and I've been lucky to get the chance to compete with her.

We will play together at Roland Garros and in all the tournaments we can this year.

I hope we can add to the US Open titles we won in 2018 and last year.

'Neal and I must learn from disappointing early exit'

Even though Beth and I just came up a bit short in the final, it was still a positive tournament.

The men's doubles was more disappointing for me and Neal.

After reaching the US Open semi-finals at the previous Grand Slam, we had high hopes of going far in Melbourne.

But we lost in the second round when we were beaten by American pair Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson.

Having saved six match points, we eventually went out after losing a final-set tie-break 14-12.

We were on top in the third set and let it get away. To go out in that way - to lose such a close match, after having loads of chances ourselves - was disappointing.

The hope is that we will learn from that - and if that situation arises again, we will do a better job of seeing it out.

We have to learn from those experiences and learn what we can do better in those moments.

But overall it has been a decent start to the year. I've played a lot of matches and feel better with a lot things I've been working on.

I feel that Neal and I can go ahead and have a good season.

Drugs test concerns after eating Colombian meat

I got a bit concerned when I saw Robert Farah, who is the world number one doubles player from Colombia, allege that he failed a drugs test because of the meat he had eaten when he was back home.

My wife Alejandra is from Colombia, and we had been over to Bogota to see her family for a few days in December.

I ate all sorts of food there and ate meat at family barbecues. It was only when I saw the story that I realised. That's when I got a bit worried.

Eating meat is a big part of the culture in Colombia and I was there for five days.

I probably ate it a couple of times - it wasn't like I'd eaten a whole cow! But perhaps that all it takes.

I got tested a couple of days after leaving but when the results came back, they were fine, thankfully - and I had no further issues.

Bogota is a fun city. The people there know how to enjoy themselves; they are warm people and are very friendly.

There is a lot of good food there. The fruit and veg are amazing, and a different league to what we have in the UK.

We didn't get chance to do much sightseeing on this trip, I've done plenty there before; we were just spending time with Ale's family and relaxing in the off-season.

It was a great break and set me up nicely for a busy start to the new season.

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Melbourne Park

Worcester forward Michael Fatialofa has left hospital a month after suffering a serious spinal cord injury.

The 27-year-old was hurt in his side's Premiership loss to Saracens on 4 January and spent more than a fortnight in intensive care at St Mary's Hospital in central London.

He will move to a spinal rehabilitation unit to continue his recovery.

"Doctors, nurses and physios have been amazing," Fatialofa wrote on his Instagram page.

"Overwhelmed by the love and support from family and friends. Thanks for riding with me. The marathon continues," he added.

The Rugby Players' Association has launched a crowdfunding page to raise money to help Fatialofa and his family.

Harlequins' head of rugby Paul Gustard and Saracens players Jamie George, Will Skelton and Duncan Taylor are among those from Premiership clubs who have already donated to the page, which has raised more than £10,000 in less than 18 hours.

"As a family, we appreciate any help people are willing to give at this difficult time," Fatialofa's wife Tatiana said.

"It is very humbling and well outside of our comfort zone to reach out and ask for support in this way.

"We would love to thank everyone in advance, and feel so overwhelmed already by the generosity, prayers and kindness Michael and I have been shown.

"Together, we can all ensure he has the best chance of regaining independence and living a fulfilling life again."

Manchester City are confident Raheem Sterling will be available for their Champions League clash with Real Madrid despite suffering a hamstring injury during the defeat to Tottenham, sources have told ESPN.

Sterling limped off with a hamstring strain during the 2-0 defeat on Sunday and is set to miss City's next fixture, West Ham's visit to the Etihad Stadium.

The England winger is also a doubt for the game against Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Feb. 22 at the end of City's winter break, but the injury should not keep him out of the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Feb. 26.

Manager Pep Guardiola has admitted Sterling, who has already played 40 games this season, is suffering from fatigue but club medical staff consider the 25-year-old to be a quick healer and, at this stage, there are no fears he will miss the game against Zinedine Zidane's side in three weeks' time.

Meanwhile, City are interested in Villarreal defender Pau Torres as they prepare to rejuvenate Guardiola's squad over the summer.

- Premier League winter break: All you need to know

The hierarchy, led by director of football Txiki Begiristain, have identified the centre of defence as a key area to strengthen ahead of next season and Torres, 23, could be one of two centre-backs to arrive.

Vincent Kompany's departure in the summer has led to midfielder Fernandinho spending most of the campaign in defence, while there are also doubts over the futures of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones.

Stones, 25, has endured a difficult season and despite being on the verge of entering the final two years of his contract, there are no plans yet to discuss an extension.

Two South Korean fans who sued the match organiser after Cristiano Ronaldo failed to play in a friendly during Juventus's preseason tour in Seoul last year are entitled to compensation due to "mental anguish" a court ruled on Tuesday.

A district court in Incheon, west of Seoul, ordered the local agency that organised the match, The Fasta Inc, to pay $312 to both fans listed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit complained that The Fasta Inc had publicised that Ronaldo would play for at least 45 minutes, but the Portugal star ultimately sat out the entire game in July 2019.

The court ordered The Fasta Inc to pay $58.95 per ticket, $252.63 each for "mental anguish" for the two plaintiffs, lawyer Kim Min-ki who filed the lawsuit, told Reuters.

Kim said he was also representing 87 other plaintiffs in several other cases that were filed in connection with the match.

Ronaldo converted two penalties as he scored for the ninth Serie A game in a row during Juventus' 3-0 win over Florentina on Sunday.

Real Madrid and Barcelona were united by their teenage prodigies last weekend.

Los Blancos via their brilliant 19-year-old Brazilian, Vinicius Junior, who drew three spellbound Atletico Madrid opponents toward him before releasing a magical pass so that Ferland Mendy could feed Karim Benzema for the winning goal. Barca, Spain's reigning (but soon to be deposed) champions, offered prayers of thanks to 17-year-old Ansu Fati, whose rampant precocity continues to set new Camp Nou, La Liga and Champions League records. His brace of goals won three precious points against a Levante side that should have drawn, and could have won, at Camp Nou for the first time in their history.

Nevertheless, Spain's dominant clubs are utterly divided on this subject. They are on two sides of an argument about what it is to have young talent, whether such precious resources are for sale, how to bring promising prodigies to maturity and whether the helter-skelter drive towards trophies and increased turnover allows time to develop.

Put it like this: In a week when Barcelona, not long ago the kings of youth development, elbowed five fledgling players out the door, without much intention of recuperating them, Real Madrid stayed three points clear at the top of La Liga using a clutch of players they've successfully nurtured in a manner to which those in charge at Barcelona seem to be blind.

Starting for Madrid against their bitter red-and-white rivals were Casemiro, Dani Carvajal and Federico Valverde -- each of whom were made to serve apprenticeships far from either the majestic Bernabeu or the sprawling Valdebebas training ground you see off to your right as you drive in from Barajas airport. Casemiro was sent to Porto (where, at age 21, he played 40 times and reached the Champions League quarterfinal under Julen Lopetegui), Carvajal to Bayer Leverkusen (36 matches and Champions League qualification), while Valverde spent 2017-18 at Deportivo La Coruna (latterly coached by four-time Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf, where he, and the Galicians, were relegated).

Pretty disparate overall experiences, you'd agree.

Throw in the fact that Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio spent 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively at Espanyol (nearly 80 appearances between them), with the former reaching the Copa del Rey semifinal, and Madrid's policy becomes crystal clear.

Between them, Casemiro, Carvajal, Lucas and Asensio have 13 Champions League winners' medals, two Champions League final goals, one final assist and a converted penalty in the 2016 final shootout. Whether or not you draw a direct line linking the experiences those guys gained in Westphalia, Catalunya, Oporto or Galicia and this deluge of success in the tournament that Madrid covet the most, Casemiro, Carvajal, Lucas, Asensio and Valverde represent resources that were spotted young, nourished and have gone on to extremely high yields. Valverde, still only 21, is only establishing himself in Los Blancos' first team, but he'd probably be the fourth or fifth name Zidane chooses for his team sheet in important matches -- plus he's the absolute darling of the Santiago Bernabeu.

Obviously, unless you've been on Jupiter or Mars, you'll be starkly aware that this is a dramatic pendulum swing from not many seasons ago when Barcelona (who take on Athletic Bilbao on Thursday in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals; 2:55 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+) not only swaggered to the bravado of a bevvy of home-bred talents, they even fielded a team of 11 academy players against Levante in 2012. Of that lineup, once Dani Alves was replaced by Martin Montoya, eight were World Cup winners, European champions (or both) or Olympic Gold medalists. To list all their combined club and international trophies would take the rest of the column, so let's just accept that those virtuoso prodigies -- Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, et al -- were one of the greatest crops ever produced by any club ever.

Which is why that turgid, sloppy and eventually narrow win over Levante, little more than seven years later, brings this subject into stark focus.

During those interim years Madrid (who host Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Thursday; 12:55 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+), as detailed, have found ways to sign, mature and integrate players from their youth system. But the days leading up to Ansu's record-breaking Sunday (now he's not only the youngest ever Champions League scorer, he's the most youthful in La Liga history to score two goals in one game) saw that mass expulsion of junior talent from the Camp Nou to all corners of European football. Carles Perez (Roma), Carles Alena (Real Betis), Moussa Wague (Nice), Jean-Clair Todibo (Schalke) and Abel Ruiz (Braga) all were loaned out.

One key difference from Casemiro, Valverde, Vazquez, Asensio and Carvajal is that Barcelona punted these budding talents with options for their new clubs to buy them but with no real intention to bring them back to the Catalan capital. That's in contrast to Madrid's philosophy of using loan spells to toughen up and grant invaluable experience to footballers who weren't quite ready but were evidently bankable futures.

Much was made of the fact that Barcelona, a club for which the founding father of their modern philosophy, Johan Cruyff, used to say that age was irrelevant, "only talent mattered," were down to 14 fully fit first-team players by last weekend. Yes, the much-hyped and evidently promising Riqui Puig added a handful of first-team moments on Sunday and Alex Collado (potentially a better prospect than Puig) made the bench, but if you're of the opinion that Barcelona still have a strategy for what to do with talents who've reached the ages of 18-21 but who aren't automatic starters in the first team, or if you believe that Todibo, Perez and Alena couldn't be in Quique Setien's starting XI a dozen times each between now and May, then you are in a tiny minority.

And have you been paying attention? Even a spot check of the crop that Madrid have planted elsewhere, which they'll harvest in the coming two summers, compared to the Blaugrana talent factory comes up firmly on the side of Los Blancos -- very firmly.

Right now, the talent assessors who report back to Zinedine Zidane (and his employer, president Florentino Perez, with whom relations are gently strained over their disagreement about how to restock midfield) have glowing reports from Germany, Mallorca and the Basque Country. Perez's passion project to recruit the world's very best 16- and 17-year-olds looks like being immensely successful (I give you Vinicius, Rodrygo and, potentially, Reinier) but they already have some explosive tyros banging at the door screaming: "Let me come home!"

Martin Odegaard, only just 21, has been one of the stars of La Liga's season at Real Sociedad. Takefusa Kubo (like Vinicius) chose Madrid over Barcelona and looks a startling talent at Mallorca. Achraf Hakimi has amassed nearly 60 matches for Borussia Dortmund, changed positions, found a notable scoring ability and stands to win the German title this season -- he's also just 21. There are others -- too many to list -- but while Madrid might eventually choose to cash in, each of the latter three already look like they have a magnetic draw for Real Madrid to bring back in seasons to come. They possess quality and, now, experience and maturity.

Barcelona? Right now it's hard to say what their ideas are. Who makes such decisions? The coach who's barely in the front door? The president who's got a year and a half of mandate left before he's obliged to depart? Eric Abidal, the director of football who needed a clear-the-air meeting with president Josep Bartomeu at the weekend to clarify whether he or Ramon Planes is truly in charge of football resource planning?

Meanwhile, there are "Why the heck isn't he still playing at the Camp Nou?" players like Marc Cucurella and Adama Traore successfully strutting their stuff at clubs who know how to polish uncut diamonds. Each kid is a product of Barcelona's once-famous La Masia academy, but no place last summer -- or the previous summer -- could be found for Cucurella, who's exploits at Eibar and now Getafe make those look like joke decisions.

Not developing talent is one thing. Developing it but then failing to recognise it right under your nose is another kind of, much more heinous, myopia.

Traore is pulling up trees (perhaps literally) at Wolves and only left Barcelona, having been sure he was staying, because of what he calls "a misunderstanding." Wolves are howling in delight at that Barcelona blunder, I'm sure.

The long and short of it is this: Madrid look destined to take Barcelona's La Liga title from them this season for only the second time in 12 years. As for the hypothetical crown for "Kings of Nurturing and Developing Youth Talent," well, Los Blancos knocked Barca off that throne some considerable time ago.

After all the fun in England on Jan. 31 and the variety of winners and losers around the Premier League this winter, it's time to rate the teams that met their needs around Europe and those who fell far short of expectations.

WINNERS

Borussia Dortmund

Seven goals, 133 minutes... and just £17 million (€22.5m).

Dortmund pulled off the winter's most spectacular move in capturing Erling Haaland, whose form across his first three appearances has defied belief, from Red Bull Salzburg. The 19-year-old has helped his new club fly out of the traps since the winter break, earning nine points from nine and moving to within three points of the Bundesliga summit. Their attacking prowess looks fearsome but the deadline-day addition of Emre Can, the former Liverpool midfielder, from Juventus looks smart, too.

Can is just 26, extremely versatile and has an excellent record at the top level. He should add nous, balance and stability to a side that will be fascinating to watch domestically and in the Champions League over the coming months.

Inter Milan

Call them a Premier League retirement home all you like. Antonio Conte may have made the English top-flight his primary pool for recruitment, but when you are enlisting the talents of Christian Eriksen for a mere £16.9m, the jokes suddenly wear rather thin.

Inter are already making a genuine title push under Conte and, if used correctly, Eriksen remains more than good enough to be among Europe's top bracket of playmakers. Ashley Young's arrival from Manchester United and the loan of Victor Moses from Chelsea also raised a few chuckles but with little reason: both know how to win a title and, with Inter looking to secure Lo Scudetto for the first time in a decade, that kind of experience on and off the pitch could just help them over the line.

Hertha Berlin

It feels, to an extent, as if the perennially underachieving club from Berlin's capital are playing fast and loose with their newfound funds, but it's at least intriguing to see them having a go. The Bundesliga side, 13th in the table this season, have spent big, lavishing a total of £64.2m on striker Krzyszstof Piatek, winger Matheus Cunha and defensive midfielders Lucas Tousart and Santiago Ascacibar.

The signing of Piatek, who was high on Tottenham's radar, from AC Milan for a club record fee is the one that intrigues the most. The Poland international never quite got going at San Siro, even if 13 Serie A goals in his year there hardly proved a disastrous haul, but he has the platform now to lead the line at a club that, with Jurgen Klinsmann at the helm, has big ambitions. Can he help Hertha finally pose some sort of challenge to Germany's leading lights?

LOSERS

Atletico Madrid

While welcomed back, the loan return of Yannick Carrasco is probably not quite what Atletico fans had in mind in order to salvage an unsatisfactory La Liga campaign. Atletico remain light at centre-forward and midfield, with an unsuccessful pursuit of Edinson Cavani compounding Diego Simeone's winter frustration. Simeone will now have to go with what he has, and it bodes ill given their sixth-placed position and the scale of their Champions League task against Liverpool.

Following last summer's exodus -- Antoine Griezmann, Lucas Hernandez and Rodri were all sold, while Diego Godin, Juanfran and Filipe Luis all left at the end of their contracts -- that weakened Simeone's options, Atletico show little sign of returning to their formidable old selves and this window feels like a costly missed opportunity.

- Transfer Grades: All the big moves rated
- All major completed transfer deals

Barcelona

Make no mistake: Barcelona have snapped up two promising players for next season and beyond in Francisco Trincao and Matheus Fernandes, but they failed to address more pressing needs during the January window.

Attacking cover for the injured Luis Suarez was badly needed for the second half of the campaign, but a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never really seemed realistic. Then there was the strange tale of Cedric Bakambu, the Beijing Guoan striker, who was mid-flight with a view to joining the club when they decided to pull the plug. Bakambu is, in truth, probably not of the quality Barcelona need but Quique Setien, in his first transfer window, could surely have done with somebody extra to call upon.

AC Milan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has enjoyed a fair enough return to Milan, scoring in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia, and there's little doubt that his work ethic and professionalism will prove helpful to those beneath him. But his addition still smacks of patch-and-mend, particularly as the league's eighth-placed club failed to bring in a longer-term striking option to fire them back toward the Champions League places.

Loans for defender Simon Kjaer, goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers do not exactly set the pulse racing, and, even if a number of fringe players were successfully culled from a bloated squad at long last, Stefano Pioli's side are still some way short of where a club of this stature ought to be.

2012: semi-final

Perth Scorchers 3 for 174 (Gibbs 71, M Marsh 41*) beat Melbourne Stars 8 for 163 by 11 runs

Herschelle Gibbs' run-a-ball 71 underpinned a healthy Scorchers total, which was finished off by Mitchell Marsh's 26-ball 41, featuring four sixes. In reply, the Stars were promisingly placed on 1 for 75 in the eighth over with Luke Wright and James Faulkner well set, but when they fell, and David Hussey went first ball as part of a double-wicket maiden by Ben Edmondson, the Scorchers took control.

2013: semi-final

Perth Scorchers 2 for 142 (S Marsh 68) beat Melbourne Stars 2 for 183 (White 88, Hodge 70*) by eight wickets (DL method)

There was an extraordinary conclusion to this match, which came down to the Scorchers needing three off the last ball of a rain-reduced chase. James Faulkner, controversially named captain with Shane Warne on the verge of an over-rate suspension - Warne later copped a code of conduct charge for it - over-stepped (there were also just three fielders inside the ring, so it was a no-ball in two ways), while a bye was also scrambled. It meant the Scorchers needed one to win and Mike Hussey pumped the ball over mid-on. Shaun Marsh had kept the Scorchers in touch in a tough chase as he hit 68 off 40 balls including 27 off the only over from Alex Keath, who went on to become an AFL player.

2014: semi-final

Hobart Hurricanes 3 for 142 (Paine 65) beat Melbourne Stars 8 for 141 (Hodge 51, Boyce 3-11) by seven wickets

Tim Paine led the Hurricanes into the final as they knocked off a mediocre total with ease. The Stars had been in trouble on 4 for 45 before Brad Hodge's half-century hauled them to something more respectable. Legspinner Cameron Boyce claimed the key wickets, removing Wright, Glenn Maxwell and David Hussey even though he wasn't asked to bowl his four overs.

2015: semi-final

Perth Scorchers 7 for 144 (Carberry 50, Hastings 3-27) beat Melbourne Stars 126 (Tye 4-18) by 18 runs

By now, the Stars were sick of coming to the WACA. This game was theirs for the taking when they were 1 for 67 in the 11th over, despite Cameron White's laborious 24-ball 13, but things unravelled against Andrew Tye, who removed Wright and Peter Handscomb in the space of three balls. When Kevin Pietersen fell to Nathan Coulter-Nile, they were 5 for 88 and there was too much for the lower order to do.

2016: final

Sydney Thunder 7 for 181 (Khawaja 70, Stoinis 3-30) beat Melbourne Stars 9 for 176 (Pietersen 74) by three wickets

The Stars made it to the final this time, but Usman Khawaja's 40-ball 70 took the Thunder most of the way towards their target. It became a nervy finish as the middle-order stumbled close to the line before Ben Rohrer ended all doubt with a six in the final over in what was Mike Hussey's final match on Australian soil. Pietersen had dominated the Stars innings with a thrilling 39-ball 74 but the next-best score was Wright's 23.

2017: semi-final

Perth Scorchers 3 for 139 (S Marsh 56*) beat Melbourne Stars 8 for 136 (Gotch 48, Johnson 3-3) by seven wickets

The WACA. Again. There was no way back for the Stars after Mitchell Johnson claimed two wickets in the first over and a third shortly after - that of Pietersen - as they stumbled to 4 for 26 at the end of the Powerplay. Seb Gotch did his best but the total was never likely to challenge the Scorchers. So it proved as Shaun Marsh eased to an unbeaten half-century. After the match, Pietersen was fined A$ 5000 for having called an umpiring decision when the Stars were fielding "a shocker" as he was on the mic with the broadcasters.

2019: final

Melbourne Renegades 5 for 145 (Cooper 43*) beat Melbourne Stars 7 for 132 (Dunk 57) by 13 runs

The biggest missed chance of them all. The Stars were 0 for 93 in their chase - requiring 53 off 43 balls - and just in need of finishing the job when the wheels came off after Marcus Stoinis was bowled by Boyce. They lost 7 for 19 and in the end were well short of the target when the chase limped to a close amid celebratory Renegades players. They had earlier reduced the Renegades to 5 for 65 in the 11th before Tom Cooper and Dan Christian resurrected the innings.

2020: qualifier-final

Sydney Sixers 7 for 142 (Zampa 3-21) beat Melbourne Stars 99 (Abbott 3-23) by 43 runs

Similar to the previous year, but the Stars' batting slide started early on this occasion. Having done so much right in the field they were three down inside the Powerplay and soon subsided further. Their chase was done in the 11th over when Maxwell picked out long-off. This time they get a second chance to put it right. Can they take it?

South Africa win toss, bowl first v England

South Africa have won the toss and sent England in to bat in the first of three ODIs between the sides at Newlands.

Playing their first one-day match since becoming world champions in July, England have a somewhat new look having opted to rest Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler ahead of the three T20Is against South Africa starting next week.

Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson have been handed their ODI caps and, on the opposite side of the spectrum, Chris Woakes will play his 100th one-day international.

South Africa are also sporting a different vibe with Quinton de Kock as captain, while Lungi Ngidi is making his return from a hamstring tear that kept him out of the Test series, won by England 3-1. The hosts have handed debuts to Jon-Jon Smuts and Lutho Sipamla.

Play is set to get under way in hot, sunny conditions on a pitch that is expected to be flat.

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk, capt), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Temba Bavuma, 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Jon-Jon Smuts, 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Beuran Hendricks, 9 Lungi Ngidi, 10 Lutho Sipamla, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Joe Denly, 6 Tom Banton, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Matt Parkinson