captain

Born in Leicestershire and educated at Stamford School, Smith represented his home county and Oxford University before joining Warwickshire.

He captained the Bears from 1957 to 1967 and scored 39,832 first-class runs in 637 matches during his county career, the 18th-highest total of all time.

Smith still holds the Warwickshire record for most runs in a single season after scoring 2,417 runs in 1959 and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.

He remained involved with cricket after his retirement as a player, as chairman of Warwickshire and also as an ICC match referee, officiating in four Tests and 17 ODIs.

A dual international, Smith played rugby union for Oxford University and Leicester and won a cap for England against Wales in January 1956.

Caoimhin Kelleher, Brentford, keeper, £4.8m – Crystal Palace (h)

Since week 29, Kelleher has returned a clean sheet every other week.

Arsenal aside, there aren’t many strong clean sheet picks this week but this Crystal Palace side is unlikely to be at full strength for the trip to the Gtech Community Stadium.

They will have their minds firmly on their Europa Conference League final and manager Oliver Glasner is likely to continue his rotation and protection of star players.

Gabriel, Arsenal, £7.3m – Burnley (h)

If you’re not picking the best defender in the game at home to a relegated team then something has gone wrong!

Gabriel got 11 points last week including defensive contribution points (defcon) making it just once in the past eight weeks that he has failed to return – and that was away at Manchester City.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal, £5m – Burnley (h)

Double Arsenal defence again only this time I’m going with Lewis-Skelly, who might end up playing in midfield for the Gunners.

Burnley at home feels like a stonewall cleansheet for Arsenal and Lewis-Skelly could earn more defcon and pose a bigger attacking threat from a central midfield slot.

James Tarkowski, Everton, £5.7m – Sunderland (h)

Another 15-point return would be nice from Tarkowski, after his haul at Crystal Palace last time.

The fourth-highest scoring defender, he has returned defcon in 20 of 35 games to go with the attacking threat he demonstrated last week.

And Sunderland have scored just once in three games.

Malick Thiaw, Newcastle United, £4.9m – West Ham (h)

Another defcon monster who has been on the verge of a haul several times recently with no luck.

Thiaw’s xG over his past four games is 1.06 with nothing to show for it.

West Ham have only scored in one of their past four games so there are chances for points at both ends for Thiaw.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has not come close to winning the Premier League or Champions League since joining the club in 2020.

He did lift a couple of domestic cups under Erik ten Hag – and if United finish third this season, it will be a position they have only bettered once during Fernandes’ time at Old Trafford.

But it represents a meagre return for a player many argue is United’s best signing since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, and someone, they argue, who deserves a place among the club’s best in the Premier League era.

On Friday, he was named the Football Writers’ Association’s footballer of the year. But Fernandes is not one for coveting individual awards.

When he spoke to the media in October, he said: “I don’t see it that one player is better than another because he wins more trophies. Not every time the best player in the world is the one that wins the Ballon d’Or.

“I want to win trophies. I want to be recognised by the many good things I did for the club, for bringing something back to the club, not just my individual numbers.”

United will not win a trophy this season, but there are still a couple of significant milestones ahead of Fernandes.

He needs just one more assist to equal the individual Premier League record of 20 in a single campaign – jointly held by Arsenal great Thierry Henry and former Manchester City star Kevin de Bruyne.

Fernandes is eight clear of Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki in the Premier League’s assists chart this season, with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen third with 10 assists.

Beating the record clearly means a lot to Fernandes, who will be a key part of Portugal’s World Cup squad this summer. So much so, one of his United team-mates told him he felt Fernandes would previously have taken a shot against Brentford recently, rather than set up striker Benjamin Sesko. Fernandes rejected that notion.

Fernandes is also favourite to win the prestigious PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, which Henry and De Bruyne both took twice.

Despite the lack of major trophies, would the assist record and another player of the year award confirm his status as one of the most creative forces of the Premier League era?

Spain international Dani ⁠Carvajal injured his right foot during a training session for Real Madrid last week.

Spain manager ‌Luis de la Fuente says ⁠Dani ⁠Carvajal could still make his World Cup squad but the right back must prove his ⁠fitness and form after suffering a foot injury in training ⁠with his club Real Madrid last week.

“Carvajal is a very important figure in our dressing room,” de la Fuente said on Wednesday.

“I actually spoke with him yesterday, so I’m aware ‌of what’s going on. He doesn’t have a specific injury, nothing serious, but he needs time to get back to his usual level.

“We’ll see in the remaining matches whether he truly gets the opportunity and delivers the performances.”

De ⁠la Fuente added that Carvajal, ⁠who made just one appearance for Spain in 2025, would understand if he is left out of the squad for the ⁠World Cup, which is being held in the United States, Canada ⁠and Mexico from June 11 to ⁠July 19.

He joins a list of players who have sustained injuries in the weeks before the World Cup with Spanish teammate Lamine Yamal among them.

Carvajal, 34, is approaching the final weeks of his contract with Real and has struggled for game time this season ‌amid competition from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Spain begin their World Cup campaign against Cape Verde on June 15 ‌and ‌also face Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H.

Raman Kapoor, an Indian oil tanker captain stranded in the Gulf, says no vessel will attempt to exit the Strait of Hormuz without assurance of safety, despite the announcement of a US evacuation plan for ships stranded by the war.

Chelsea captain Millie Bright has retired from football with immediate effect.

The 32-year-old made 294 appearances for the Blues after joining from Doncaster Belles in 2015 and also won 88 caps for England.

The defender won eight Women’s Super League titles with the Blues – including six in a row between 2020 and 2025 – as well as six FA Cups and four League Cups.

But the former England defender has not featured for the Blues since February because of an ankle injury and has decided now is the time to end her career.

‘Representing Chelsea over the last 12 years has been everything to me, but I’m now ready to say goodbye to playing football,” said Bright.

“I’ve given all I can, and I never wanted to fight for any other badge.

‘It is now time, and I’m ready to go into a new era. I’m always going to be Chelsea, but just in a different way.”

Now his playing days are done, Ramsey is aiming to make it as a coach.

He has most of his qualifications and has already had a taste of senior management, having taken charge of his boyhood club Cardiff City for three games at the end of last season as they were relegated from the Championship.

Having since been a part of Wales head coach Craig Bellamy’s staff in an unofficial capacity, Ramsey is being touted for a bright future.

“[I]100% want to go into coaching. That’s something that really excites me,” he says.

“I had that experience with Cardiff and loved it, even though the circumstances were difficult. I felt like I got a really good reaction from the team.

“I’ve been in the Welsh camps now with Bellers and his incredible staff as well, and I’ve worked with Cardiff’s Under-18s.

“We’ll just have to see which opportunities may arise soon and we’ll go from there.”

First, Ramsey has a marathon to run.

Ceri Menai-Davis, who has run the London Marathon before, reckons Ramsey has raised more than £25,000 for his charity – and that is before you count donations for Sunday’s race.

They have been friends for more than a decade and Ramsey’s shows of support for the charity – as well as his fundraising – include the butterfly symbol he used as a goal celebration during his career.

On Sunday, the most powerful reminder of Hugh’s life will be his father’s huge physical effort – and his son’s shoes draped around his shoulders.

“He was the most amazing, brave, courageous young boy,” Ceri says. “The reason I do marathons is, just before Hugh died, I stupidly put myself in for a marathon in 2021.

“I never thought I’d get in but I got in, started training for it and Hugh never got to see me run that marathon because I did it two weeks after he died, and we buried him the next day with my medal.

“Last year I carried a 22-kilo rucksack, which was the weight Hugh was when he passed away. That was to display what grief weighs on you as a parent.

“This year, with Hugh’s shoes, he walked into hospital in these shoes and sadly never came out. I wanted him to cheer me on when I did it in 2021 but sadly he never did.

“I did Paris with his shoes. He never got to see Paris so I showed him the Eiffel Tower and we had a chat all the way round. In London, he’ll be there with me on my shoulders and we’ll cross the finish line together.”

The domestic season will end with the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, 3 October, with England’s first match of the World Cup against Tonga in Perth, Australia scheduled for 17 October.

Williams has been captain of England since 2023.

Brian McDermott, speaking on Thursday after his appointment as England head coach, had said he “did not have any intentions” to change captains prior to the World Cup.

Speaking before kick-off, Warrington head coach Sam Burgess said: “George will probably go for surgery at some point in the next week or two.

“It’s unfortunate for George and the club. There are a number of ways to look at it so we’ve decided to take the positive route. Given the nature of where the injury is, we’re happy that we’ve got hold of it.

“Hopefully he can make a great recovery and we’ll see him back [in action] – if it’s not this year, then hopefully next year.”

Bethan Lewis will lead Wales against England in the Women’s Six Nations on Saturday (14:15 BST) with fellow back rower Kate Williams ruled out through injury.

Williams came off in the second half of the 38-7 defeat by France last weekend with a leg problem and will miss Wales’ meeting with the world champions at Ashton Gate.

Alex Callender, Williams’ co-captain last year, is still recovering from an ankle injury.

Lewis led Wales against Canada at last summer’s World Cup and said: “It’s always a massive honour to put on the jersey and to be able to lead the girls out against England.”

The England game will come too soon for Wales centre Carys Cox, who was a late withdrawal from the France defeat after taking a knock in training, but head coach Sean Lynn says wing Seren Singleton is fit despite leaving the field with her arm in a sling.

He will name his side on Thursday morning.

England captain Ben Stokes was struck on the face by a cricket ball, which required surgery for a broken cheekbone.

England Test captain Ben Stokes has said he feels “quite lucky” to be alive as he recovers from surgery after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

All-rounder Stokes required the procedure after suffering a broken cheekbone sustained by being hit by the ball during a net session while he was coaching academy players at his domestic county side Durham in February.

Stokes is set to play in two first-class County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been so much worse.

“I copped one straight in the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I didn’t turn my head round.

“All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out – it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.”

He added: “Obviously it set everything back about a month, five weeks, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham, but just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.

“At the back end of all that now, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”

Stokes is expected to be fit to lead England in the first Test of their home season against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on June 4, as they look to recover from their woeful 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.

Stokes downplays rift with England coach McCullum

Stokes, meanwhile, has played down reports of disagreements with head ⁠coach Brendon McCullum but added that they do have different viewpoints at times.

British media reported that former New Zealand captain McCullum’s relationship with Test ⁠captain Stokes frayed during the Ashes series defeat in Australia, though the duo have publicly backed each other.

“I am very confident in mine and Brendon’s ability to be able to work together, because we’ve done it for ‌such a long period of time now,” Stokes said in an interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“But we work together in a slightly different way. The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be.”

Since taking charge in 2022, McCullum and Stokes implemented ⁠an ultra-aggressive style of play known as “Bazball”, which has ⁠come under much scrutiny since England’s Ashes defeat, prompting the ECB to launch a thorough review into the team’s preparations.

McCullum was retained as coach.

“Agreeing on every single thing, that’s ⁠just impossible,” Stokes said.

“We agree 95% of the time on things, but those 5% things that we might ⁠have different views on, we talk about it ⁠between each other and then we end up getting to the place where we want to get to.

“We put a lot of our heart and soul into this job. Brendon certainly ‌has for the four years he’s done it so far, and hopefully we’ll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want ‌to ‌win.”

England host New Zealand for a three-Test series in June before eight limited-overs matches at home to India.