MARTIN SAMUEL IN JOHANNESBURG: At 3.49pm local time, Ben Stokes clobbered an off-side ball from Dwaine Pretorius through midwicket for four

PAUL NEWMANN IN JOHANNESBURG: It was highly apt that Mark Wood, such a potent and popular force in the last two Tests, should take the wicket that sealed a significant series victory for England.

While the trio will remain contracted by their respective counties, the majority of their wages will be paid by the ECB in exchange for influencing their match availability and fitness programmes.

Worcestershire off-spinner Moeen Ali revealed on Sunday that he misses playing for England ahead of talks with coach Chris Silverwood and captain Joe Root this week.

Joe Root concedes he is losing the fight to make England's squad for the Twenty20 World Cup this autumn. He admits that he is not in the current best XI.

MIKE KEEGAN - SPORTS AGENDA: Sports Agenda can reveal that Liverpool decided to hand their share of the gate receipts from the drawn FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury to the League One club.

RICHARD GIBSON IN EAST LONDON: England's quest to become the first country to be crowned double world champions was launched with a whimper on the Eastern Cape on Wednesday night.

BBC Test Match Special are on the verge of signing a deal which will see them broadcast live ball-by-ball coverage of England's tour to Sri Lanka, according to The Telegraph .

England's hopes of becoming double women's world champions suffered a serious blow yesterday when they lost a Twenty20 World Cup match to South Africa for the first time.

CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: Andrea Agnelli has lucked out by birth into control of Juventus. And from this position of enormous good fortune, he wants to destroy the greatest club competition in the world.

In 1998, the Marylebone Cricket Club finally opened their doors to women. This is what it's like to be a female member of the club that has long been dominated by men.

Sport in all corners of the world has ground to a halt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. But some teams and players are returning to training and plans are being drawn up to get going again.

ANDREW PIERCE: Sir John Major is not often considered the most influential prime minister of the 20th century. But we shouldn't forget one achievement: the creation of the National Lottery.

Wealthy businessman James Froomberg, 63, who lives in a five-bedroom detached house in Edgware, North London, admitted three charges of making the indecent images.

Dean Weymes from Peterborough didn't realise he'd won his first ever game of Set for Life until he checked his phone at work the next day and immediately told his bosses that he was sick.

Neil Casson, 52, of Galgate, Lancashire, cheated lovers, financiers and businesses out of more than £300,000 claiming he had won £1.25million on the National Lottery.

The National Lottery website has crashed as punters try to make last-minute bids to grab a record £169m EuroMilions jackpot that must go tonight.

The former model, 47, urned heads ahead of her dance stint as she attended the National Lottery Awards 2019 at London 's BBC Television Centre on Tuesday evening.

National Lottery is giving ticket holders free entry to more than 500 UK venues, which have received funding, for its 25th birthday and to say thanks to players who contribute £40billion to good causes.

Despite winning the £1 million jackpot on Saturday, Didzis Pirags who works as a chef in Broughton, Preston, still worked all the way through Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The controversial writer and broadcaster announced her decision to leave Australia for the UK during September 2017 after receiving an onslaught of criticism for a controversial post.

Trump tweeted Friday about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'Like it or not, Tlaib and Omar are fast becoming the face of the Democrat Party. Cortez (AOC) is fuming, not happy about this!'

Incoming Harvard University freshman Ismail B. Ajjawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon, had his visa revoked hours after landing in the U.S. on Friday evening.

Jnaid Salama, 30, also John D. Calvin, was arrested after his check for $10,995 surgery to change the shape and size of his nose was rejected. He gave it to a clinic in Seattle, Washington.

Ms Abdel-Magied left Australia in 2017 after being heavily criticised over an April 25 tweet where she used the phrase 'lest we forget' to make a political point.

The frail former First Lady, 90, was being escorted to her seat in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Simi Valley, California, by Senator Marco Rubio when she lost her balance.

Michael Brennan, a regional director for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, resigned following the battery arrest after allegedly beating his wife on Friday night.

Viewed by many as a likely- and popular- vice presidential candidate in the upcoming elections, the admission that Florida Senator Marco Rubio was a Mormon may hinder his chances at the seat.

As Marco Rubio's autobiography hit shelves it was revealed he is not being considered as Mitt Romney’s vice president in November’s US elections, according to reports.

Grassroots Republicans were livid that Rubio, 40, one of his party’s rising stars and its most prominent Latino voice, was being passed over without a serious look.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio had to make an emergency landing in New Mexico after a sensor went off on his private jet that indicated electrical problems.

Stewart interviewed Rubio and said that, while he may have been passed over for the much-speculated vice presidential nomination, the comedian still has high hopes for the Republican Senator.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) spoke on Saturday at Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's (left) birthday party in Altoona, Iowa, an annual Republican fundraiser in the early nominating state.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has been criticised for describing the age of the earth as a 'great mystery' even though almost all scientists agree that it is 4.54 billion years old.

Marco Rubio couldn't have planned to cause a viral sensation around his water bottle when he gave last week's response to the State of the Union, but now that it's happening he's capitalizing on the moment.

The Florida congressman, who has been tirelessly promoting a bipartisan deal on immigration, said that his 'Gang of Eight' bill doesn't give any handouts to those who are living in the country without a green card.

'Either, number 1, they were aware of a security situation in Libya and failed to act accordingly, or, number 2, they had such a bad operation that they were not aware of it'

IRS demanded lists of all donors, in Q&As that would have been made 'open to public inspection'; Florida senator wants heads to roll; Obama calls it 'outrageous'

Democratic state senator Tick Segerblom says overseas odds makers are horning in on Sin City's action, so he's ready to open the door to congressional crap shoots and presidential parlays.

The Republican senator for Florida (pictured) took to Twitter to issue a condemnation of Mr Obama's climbdown, saying 'we do need more degrees that lead to #jobs'.

In an interview with ABC's This Week, 43-year-old Rubio added fuel to the speculation that he's planning a run for president by telling host Jonathan Karl that he has plenty of experience to hold the country's highest office.

The 2016 hopeful won't say whether or not he's smoked the substance because he feels no good will come from answering the question.

Obama didn't notify members of Congress about the trade until it was happening, but the deal, involving the U.S., Qatar and the Taliban, likely took weeks to engineer.

Paul has placed himself at odds with several possible Republican presidential challengers, including Rubio, whose parents immigrated from Cuba, by aligning himself with the president on this issue.

The jab came after Florida lawmaker Rubio called Paul the 'chief cheerleader of Obama's foreign policy.'

'If that’s what we have to do to get this thing passed, I would be open to it,' he said. 'But I don’t think that’s a wise thing to do.'

Rubio suggested on Wednesday that he was still mulling over his 2016 options. But an adviser says, 'he has told us to proceed as if he is running for president.'

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is considering a possible presidential run. The incident took place at a 'Team Marco 2016' summit where he was speaking to 300 donors at the Delano Hotel in South Beach.

The Florida senator used a word-association game to turn his fire on the Democrat, who is expected to run for the White House, as he spoke at the CPAC convention in Maryland.

'We need to send very clear leadership from the White House on down through the federal law enforcement,' Christie said. 'And the states should not be permitted to sell it and profit from it.'