EXCLUSIVE: England's cricketers have become the first to undergo specially tailored concussion tests measuring their brain function over an extended period.

OLIVER HOLT: There are many who still seem reluctant to grant Lewis Hamilton his place in history. Well, here's a newsflash: F1 drivers have always had a jet-set lifestyle.

PETER REID: I am devastated. I have lost a great friend and a mentor. Howard Kendall was a terrific footballer and an extremely talented manager.

MATT LAWTON AT THE MILLENNIUM STADIUM: To the irrepressible, irresistible All Blacks the French offered little resistance, succumbing meekly in the end to a rugby masterclass.

MIKE KEEGAN AT GOODISON PARK: With an hour gone the wait continued and the clock kept ticking. Then, after a cool dink over Tim Howard, Wayne Rooney's drought was over.

MATT BARLOW AT STAMFORD BRIDGE: Chelsea returned to winning ways with a convincing performance and pair of slightly fortunate goals in their 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa.

SAM CUNNINGHAM AT ST MARY'S: Jamie Vardy continued to take the Premier League by storm with two goals to drag Leicester level. The England striker is in the form of his life.

LAURIE WHITWELL AT THE HAWTHORNS: A Costel Pantilimon mistake resigned Sunderland to defeat in Sam Allardyce's first game as Saido Berahino hit the winner.

DOMINIC KING AT WHITE HART LANE: New Liverpool manager Jurgen Kopp's Premier League bow ended in a goalless draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Here, we rate both sets of players...

Jurgen Klopp insists he was satisfied with his introduction to English football as his Liverpool side left Tottenham with a point in a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane in his first game at the helm.

DOMINIC KING: Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Tottenham, full of effort and endeavour, was a reasonable start to life in the Barclays Premier League for new manager Jurgen Klopp.

JOE BERNSTEIN: Raheem Sterling scored his first professional hat-trick for Manchester City on the day his former club Liverpool drew a blank on Jurgen Klopp's first game in charge.

In the absence of injured trio Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany Manchester City now have enough strength in depth to cope without the star players after summer of investment.

Jose Mourinho has warned Eden Hazard he must improve his work-rate or get used to life on the bench. Last season's Player of the Year was dropped as Chelsea beat Aston Villa 2-0.

Louis van Gaal hailed Manchester United's 3-0 win at Everton as 'one of our best matches' after they bounced back from the 3-0 drubbing at Arsenal.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN ABU DHABI: Alastair Cook was left bemoaning the light regulations after England fell an agonising 25 runs short of a famous victory.

Johnny Sexton has been ruled out of Ireland's World Cup quarter-final clash with Argentina, after aggravating his groin problem in training on Friday.

As Liverpool embark on a new dawn under Jurgen Klopp, Danny Ings reveals how he learned that a cruciate ligament injury would deny him the chance to play under his new manager this season..

Celtic leapfrogged Aberdeen to go top of the Scottish Premiership thanks to Nadir Ciftci's first-half strike away against Motherwell. The Turkish striker opened the scoring with 15 minutes played.

Everton's greatest-ever manager Howard Kendall has died at the age of 69. Kendall won the title with the club as a player in 1969 and twice as manager in the Eighties.

Former QPR manager Neil Warnock has returned to the club in an advisory role to offer advice and assistance to manager Chris Ramsey and will work under director of football Les Ferdinand.

Sarah Taylor made history by becoming the first woman to appear in Australian first-grade cricket - and immediately earned a well-intended compliment from a member of the crowd.

Rafael Nadal has shown signs he is getting back to his best, but defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals put paid to any hopes of a trophy to show for his efforts.

Gareth Bale swapped the Great British weather for sunnier climes two years ago when he joined Real Madrid in his world record transfer - but the £86m man is still wrapping up warm.

MATT LAWTON: Saturday will be another restless night for Joe Schmidt, his mind burdened with the responsibility of trying to guide Ireland past an impressive Argentina side in Cardiff.

Jurgen Klopp had to do without star striker Daniel Sturridge for his first Premier League clash as the manager of Liverpool with rookie Divock Origi starting in his place.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure is facing a driving ban after pleading guilty to speeding at 101mph along a motorway in his luxury £120,000 Porsche 911.

Ireland's Dermot Weld cemented his place as the most successful trainer in the brief history of Qipco British Champions day as his Fascinating Rock landed the feature £1.3m Champion Stakes.

Vern Cotter has vowed Scotland's World Cup warriors will not take a single backwards step as they pursue a first semi-final appearance in 24 years.

The AC/DC soundtrack remained the same at Australia's captain's run, but the cast changed as David Pocock and Israel Folau were ruled out of Sunday's quarter-final against Scotland.

Reading made it six wins out of their past seven Championship games with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over a stubborn Charlton Athletic side.

Abel Hernandez scored his fourth goal in five games for club and country as the Uruguayan cancelled out Fernando Forestieri's opener for Sheffield Wednesday in the draw at Hillsborough.

Manchester United did make an ambitious bid to sign Barcelona forward Neymar in the summer, according to the Brazil international's father.

CHARLES SALE: Germany were sensationally accused of buying the 2006 World Cup on Friday with Franz Beckenbauer among those implicated in 'very serious' claims.

Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that striker Sergio Aguero will be out for at least a month with a injury sustained on international duty with Argentina.

Aberdeen's calamitous crash to earth from heady early season heights gathered pace as Brian Graham's double elevated Ross County to third in the Premiership.

Kevin Pietersen has said he should not have been made England captain in 2008 and only took the job because there was nobody else who could do it.

NEWCASTLE 27-39 GLOUCESTER: Newcastle's hopes of opening their campaign with a win for the first time since 2007 disappeared in a penalty-strewn defeat at Kingston Park.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has said that Sepp Blatter should remain president of FIFA no matter how mired in scandal he is. He also said that he was the 'best supporter' of Vladimir Putin.

We have recently signed Chris Eubank Jnr, giving me a reason to remember the weird and wonderful days as a kid following Chris's dad and my own dad around the world.