little bit. the chances of me player quite slim we have not played much cricket leading into this either. it probably would be an injury risk, but that decision has not been made, i don't think, just yet. and it's been confirmed today that test match special will have exclusive radio commentary of england's test series in sri lanka. coverage starts from the 14th of january. meanwhile, the australian cricket captain, tim payne, has defended steve smith over claims that he deliberately scuffed up the crease during the third test match with india. smith was seen on the stump camera scraping the crease with his boot during the drinks break — something that the former england captain michael vaughan said was "very, very poor". smith, remember, was banned over his part in australia's sandpaper scandal, but his captain says he's done nothing wrong. it is something we always have a bit ofa it is something we always have a bit of a life about, because he loves betting so much, even when he is in the field, he is marking sand. there was no way in the world he was trying to change... that is just one of smith's things that he does. now that it of smith's things that he does. now thatitis of smith's things that he does. now that it is something that has come up that it is something that has come up again, it might be something he needs to look at because of the perception of it. now to the usa, where more sporting figures are severing their ties with us president donald trump. the coach of the new england patriots, bill belichick, says he will now not accept the offer of the presidential medal of freedom — citing the events of last week at the capitol, where five people died. it follows on from the pga of america removing one of trump's courses from hosting the 2022 pga championship. rhia chohan has this report. with a record six super bowl titles, he is one of the most successful coachesin he is one of the most successful coaches in nfl history, so it is no wonder bill belichick would eventually be offered the highest accolade given to us civilians. the presidential medal of freedom has been awarded to sporting greats, billiejean been awarded to sporting greats, billie jean king, been awarded to sporting greats, billiejean king, michael been awarded to sporting greats, billie jean king, michaeljordan, tiger woods, but after the violent assault on the us capitol, the new england patriots coach snubbed president donald trump's offer. up until now, belichick had established himself firmly in trump's corner, the relation goes back many years. ata the relation goes back many years. at a rally during the campaign trail, trump even read out a letter of praise from the coach. like many of praise from the coach. like many of trump's friends, it is a transactional relationship, because of celebrity, their neighbours and florida, belichick owns a home in jupiter, which is near mara largo and palm beach and they are golfing buddies, and i think that is what a lot of this what about, president trump, probably more than other presidents, uses this to report his political friends and his golfing buddies and his personalfriends, he grew up around the naval academy and their culture and the attack on the capital last week has to be in affro nts to capital last week has to be in affronts to everything that belichick stands for and that the us naval academy stands for and it would be a really bad look for bill belichick to be accepting this award ina public belichick to be accepting this award in a public ceremony so soon after basically an insurrection last week. he comes at a time when even golf has distanced itself from the president. the us pg announcing yesterday that it was roping up its contract with the trump owned bedminster course for next year's championship also after trump was elected from the customary white house visit for sports champions became especially fraught. he withdrew an invitation to celebrate the golden state warriors 2017 championship after players, including steph curry and kevin durant, critical of trump, said they would not go. the following year, it was clear most of the super bowl winning philadelphia eagles squad would not attend the white house either, several key players said they objected to his divisive politics. before long, he was also jousting on twitter with the us women's captin, a proudly gay athlete who also rejected any idea of meeting with the president after their world cup when in 2019. she said his message excluded people. being snubbed by sports stars when you can argue feeling was mutual is one thing, but the latest to come out feeling closer to home, sending out feeling closer to home, sending out a clear message delivering a bigger blow. rhia chohan, bbc news. let's get some reaction stateside to this and join kavitha davidson, host of the lead podcast on the athletic. thanks forjoining us. as we have seenin thanks forjoining us. as we have seen in that report there, the us president donald trump has been a controversial figure, president donald trump has been a controversialfigure, some president donald trump has been a controversial figure, some sports stars have rebelled against him, some have been in his pocket, and two particularly that have a close relationship with donald trump have come out in the last two days severing their ties. how big of a statement is it that bill belichick and the pga have done that? statement is it that bill belichick and the pga have done thanm statement is it that bill belichick and the pga have done that? it is a pretty big statement, we have reacted to it accordingly in the states. i honestly don't think bill belichick had any other choice, to be honest. there was really no path forward for him to accept this metal and not be criticised. every sports columnist in the boston area was calling for him to turn down this award and you know that he did not do it lately, but as you reportjust said, he also has extreme the strong ties to this president and those are going to be impossible to ignore going to be impossible to ignore going forward to. and i suppose when you look at sport now and the questions around it, with the relationships with some sports embracing him and not now, why are these decisions in particular being made now and can we read anything into either happening now?m made now and can we read anything into either happening now? it seems that, finally, president trump has become toxic, even to entities embracing him in the past. he would've think some of his behaviours in the past for five yea rs behaviours in the past for five years would behaviours in the past for five yea rs would have behaviours in the past for five years would have distal left —— to split him from some of these partnerships, they have not. when you sell happened at our capitol building on wednesday, there was no turning back from that, there was no defending what happened here, and every lea k defending what happened here, and every leak and every player, every coach that has denounced this has done so with an idea of what this means for their legacy and their reputations individually. it is interesting the nfl has not actually said anything about this, but bill belichick‘s statement was a statement enough. and in terms of the coming weeks, we know politically what is going on, but in terms of sport and these decisions, what sort of reaction do we think it will be having for donald trump and his supporters now?” will be having for donald trump and his supporters now? i do not really think there is very much that could turn his current supporters who are still in his camp off, frankly. that is just still in his camp off, frankly. that isjust a sad still in his camp off, frankly. that is just a sad commentary, still in his camp off, frankly. that isjust a sad commentary, but i do think we are starting to see rands in particular, we saw a wave of companies in the us in the last two days defund the politicians that have supported some of president trump's calls to delegitimize the election and a lot of those brands are sponsors of these leagues. marriott is the official hotel of the nfl, so i think that is where we can look for some this movement coming in the days coming forward, but we have to remember president trump has a pattern of trying to use sports who gave himself attention and to bring himself back into the spotlight, now he is not on twitter, and he is not doing many televised conferences or videos, so the idea that even the sports leagues that have embrace to before ignoring him has to be really troubling to him. kavitha davidson, thank you so much for your time, joining us live from new york. now, she's been to an 0lympics and three commonwealth games, but british shooter sarah wixey says she will not aim to qualify for the tokyo games until she has a vaccine against covid—19. wixey has chronic asthma and says she's scared about the impact catching covid would have. she's been speaking to tom brown. it's not nice. it isn't nice. it's frightening and it's too much of a risk for me not being able to get back to my children. sarah wixey was dreaming of another 0lympics, but now that looks unlikely to become reality. the welsh shooter's asthma is so severe that she's turned down the opportunity to represent great britain at this season's early world cups, leaving qualification for tokyo all the more difficult. i've been a chronic asthmatic all of my life. unfortunately, my respiratory system is not great, my lungs are damaged. and for me, the prospect of contracting covid—19 is likely to be very serious. for me, no, without that vaccine, there is no question of me going and competing anywhere, really, until i feel that i have enough of a level of immunity to not risk my life. wixey competed at the athens 0lympics back in 2004, before taking time away from shooting to have her two children. but a bronze medal at the 2018 commonwealth games left her believing she could make another 0lympics, if only she could qualify. i think i'm probably on the sixth level of roll—out for the vaccine. quite rightly. i don't believe that athletes should be prioritised ahead of other people. that's just not right. so we'rejust in a wait—and—see situation. would you have any chance of being able to get any competition in beforehand that would give you the ranking points or the quota place that you needed, if you were to get a vaccine in good time? believe me, it wouldn't be for the lack of trying! but to get back up to speed when we've had quite such a long lay—off, i don't know whether that's realistic. with less than 200 days to go to tokyo, there are still questions over what the games will look like and, indeed, how many athletes will be able to attend. tom brown, bbc news. now on sportsday, to the story of a teenager who has swapped rugby for a potential career in the nfl. freddie pelling has grown up playing rugby in bedford but is now part of the nfl academy and preparing to play college football in the united states. he's been speaking to nesta mcgregor. the attraction ofjust being able to hit people whenever you want, it's the main reason why i play the sport. it really does bring me a lot of happiness. i'm freddie pelling, offensive tackle for the nfl academy, and i'm preparing to go out and play college football in the united states of america. first time i saw american football was sat in one of the it rooms at school with one of my friends, watching the catch from 0bj. yeah, that one. i grew up playing rugby but made the switch to american football two years ago. first few months of last year, i spent unlearning a lot of the stuff i picked up in rugby to learn correct football technique. my favourite player? david bakhtiari, left tackle, green bay packers — an amazing pass blocker, lets up very few sacks, gets called for very few penalties and is an amazing offensive lineman by all accounts, really. i've received two offers at the division 1 level, one from brown university, rhode island, and one from the university of akron, ohio. 7% of all high school players go on to play at the college level, just over 200 guys get drafted, so that's a tiny percentage of the total crop. i'm well aware of how few people kind of hit that level. what's up, freddie? we want to congratulate you on your college scholarship offers. this is huge. go out there, make everyone proud. not an easy thing that you've done. we are so proud of you and your accomplishments. you're going to go out there and you're going to do your thing, and we can't wait to watch it all happen. we're all rooting for you. in the best of luck to him. now, finally, just six weeks after walking away from a horrifying crash at the bahrain grand prix, romain grosjean has revealed that his hands are no longer in bandages after suffering burns. grosjean has tweeted a picture of him stroking his pet cat petrus, something he's not been able to do in the early stages of his recovery, after his haas car burst into flames when it went through a steel barrier at 140mph on the opening lap of the race in november. good to see that from roman —— romain grosjean. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. hello there. the mild but cloudy air was still in place today across the south west of england. elsewhere, it was colder but sunnier for a while. this milder, cloudy air is pushing in from the atlantic, pushing in from the west. and it's bringing rain into northern ireland, over into wales, pushing across the south west of england, into the west country, parts of the midlands and over the irish sea. now, ahead of it, there may well be some more cloud coming in, but it's not preventing the temperatures falling. it's going to be cold tonight and frosty in scotland, northern and eastern areas of england. and into that colder air, there's the risk of some freezing rain and ice tomorrow morning in western scotland and north west england. our main band of rain moves very slowly into scotland and northern england and gets stuck across the midlands, towards the southeast of england. wales, the south west may well turn drier, but still cloudy. there's more rain to come in northern ireland, maybe turning to snow over the hills of scotland later on. certainly going to be cold enough. cold day in scotland, northern and eastern parts of england. milder further south and west, with temperatures here likely in double figures. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. president trump calls moves to impeach him — absolutely ridiculous. asked if he bears any responsibility for the storming of the us capitol — he says his words were "totally appropriate". it comes as democrats push for president trump to be removed from office immediately — or face a second impeachment. we want no violence, never violence, we want absolutely no violence. and on the impeachments, it's really a continuation of the greatest witchhunt in the history of politics. it's ridiculous. as congress debates whther he should be allowed to finish his term as president, donald trump travelled to texas to view the border wall that was a major feature of his 2016 campaign.

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