04/01/2014 Saturday Sportsday

Welcome to the BBC sports centre, I'm Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes and we

have plenty to packing, including the latest sports news, previews and

features. This is Saturday Sportsday.

It is FA Cup third Round weekend, and one match is getting underway,

where Blackburn Rovers are playing Manchester City. We will keep you up

at the latest. Today is the start of the BDO world championship, and

Martin Adams is confident he can take the title again. Biathlon has

been part of the Winter Olympics for decades, but funding issues means it

could be the last one for British biathletes. And today marks 200 days

until the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. We will see how

their preparations are going. All that to come, but a look at some of

the sport stories making the headlines. And another torrid time

for England in the fifth and final Ashes Test. Alistair Cook made just

seven as England were all out in their first innings for 155.

Australia closed the second day on 140-4. Chris Rogers making an

unbeaten 73. Australia leading by more than 300 runs. More from Sydney

in a moment. The battle is on to protect many of the weekend's

sporting fixtures from the severe weather. Already a handful of FA Cup

and league matches have been postponed. Motherwell's game against

Inverness is off, and today's racing at Wincanton has been abandoned. The

18-year-old skier Roland Cheshire has become the first woman to claim

gold in half pipe World Cup event -- Rowan. She hopes that might lead to

a place in next month's Winter Olympics. If you can bear it, let's

go back to the cricket, another dismally disappointing day for

England, all out for 155 million Australia lead by 100 -- 311. We

have been winching as we watch in Sydney -- wincing. England started

with real ambitions of a first-innings lead having bowled out

Australia for 326, but by the end of play it seemed almost certain that

they would suffer the humiliation of a 5-0 series whitewash. Let's show

you the scorecard of the England innings. They resumed on 8-1 and in

an incredible first hour they were reduced to 23-5. It was cricketing

carnage. England's dismal tour reaching rock bottom. In the end of

some resistance from Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes and England avoided

the follow-on but their total still left them 171 runs behind

Australia. The hosts were reduced to 140-4 by the end of play, but thanks

to Chris Rogers, who was 73 not out, they have an intimidating leader of

311 runs -- lead of. They will be confident of wrapping up the

whitewash by as early as the third day. One of the main threats with

the ball was Ryan Harris, and we'll hear from him in a moment, but

first, the England under fire batting coach, Graham Gooch. Unless

you get the runs in in the match, you are not in the game, and we have

not been in the game is so we have to look at ourselves and our

methods. Personally, I have total belief in the messages I give to the

players. We will have to look at it and see if there is a better way,

all the powers that be will definitely be reviewing everyone

after this series, as they do, and quite rightly. We will all be under

scrutiny. A lead of more than 300 is a pretty good position to be in on

the second day. It is not a done deal. We have to get some more on in

the morning and bowl like we did today. We figured they have two fire

at some stage. I hope they don't. You never know in this game. It's a

funny game. I don't think the wicket is getting easier, so if we bowl out

today, we should be all right. Australia piling on the agony. I

caught up with former England captain Michael Vaughan at the end

of play and here is what he made of the team's lamentable batting

display. Through the whole series they have not been the batting unit

I know. They've been well below standard. At times it's been

embarrassing, and again today. The captain leaving the second ball of

the day. That almost gave me the indication that his mind is

completely elsewhere. It's very difficult as a captain, in that

situation, when your team arrives as favourites and you put in a

performance like that, you can understand why his mind is thinking

about his own form and position, selection, the team moving forward.

I could understand that from Alistair Cook. For England, the

whitewash is looming. When you consider they came into the series

as favourites it really is remarkable how quickly their

fortunes have been reversed. Their only consolation, perhaps, that it

will all soon be over. And there's ball-by-ball coverage of Day Three

from Sydney on Radio five Live Sports Extra from 11:00pm tonight.

Now, after Michael Van Gerwen secured his first world title this

week to become the PDC Darts Champion, attention now turns to the

BDO World Championship which starts today. Scott Waites is the current

champion and begins the defence of his title this afternoon. Among

those trying to stop him is the longest serving player in the BDO,

Martin "Wolfie" Adams. He was knocked out in the opening round

last year. But he's back, going for his fourth world title. Tim Hague

has been to meet him. Game, shot, and the new champion, Martin Adams.

Chances are, if you have ever watched the BDO world darts

championship you will recognise the face and the name of Martin "Wolfie"

Adams. Adams has won at the Lakeside country club three times in the

past. And as he told me at his local pub near Peterborough, times have

been tough more recently. I had a lot of issues last year, personal

issues. I went through a divorce and it does your head in. My form was

gone. You have to fight back and work at it. How much did your

personal life impact on it? Massively. I was devastated with at

all. It has been a hard-fought road to get back in there and actually

come up with the goods to win tournaments again. He had been

trying to win at the Lakeside for 13 years before eventually strutting to

his first title. Despite some big disappointments, unlike many of the

other organisation's top players, he has refused to move across the

divide and joined the rival professional darts Corporation. I am

happy to be the statement -- statement for the BDO. There are two

organisations and great players on both sides. I've got nothing against

any of the players. It is just the political side of things is a bit

tiring at times. Would you like a single body of darts? Not really. We

have two different outlooks. I can't see them coming together. It would

be like trying to merge British home stores and Marks Spencer 's.

Excuse the pun. Playing darts is not as easy as it looks. Just 140 for

me. Those are mine, I threw them. Martin has been playing

professionally for 32 years, and this will be his 21st consecutive

appearance at the Lakeside this year. And the Wolf is hungry for

more titles. I want the title. There are lots of players vying for their

first title. Scott Waites, he is someone to stop. Will he get it, we

have to wait and see. Can you stop him? Yes, of course I can. Yeah!

And there's coverage of this year's BDO darts across the BBC, starting

this afternoon on BBC One from 2.30pm. Next to the sport of

biathlon, which combines skiing and shooting. It's been part of the

Winter Olympics for more than half a century. But next month's Games in

Sochi could be the last time British biathletes take part. Almost

entirely made up of soldiers, the squad has never come close to

winning medals and now there's no money left to keep going. But, as

Ollie Williams reports from their training camp in Sweden, leaving

their sport behind is a daunting prospect. You kind of fall in love

with it. You have to keep your cool and mentality. The adrenaline

through your body is fantastic. They love this sport and work hard for

it, but time is running out. Just weeks before the Winter Olympics in

Sochi, Britain's by athletes have been told the governing body which

runs the sport in the UK has run out of cash -- by athletes. There were

crucial cuts in the military and we were one of those sports that would

not be funded by the military any more. Before Sochi we are starting

to think about what we would can do and if there is still a future in

the sport, and the future for me. Winter sports in Britain get a tiny

fraction of the summer sports cash, so they are used to funding crises.

But biathlon is different because it is dominated by the military. All

but one of the squad are soldiers. After a decade or more of competing

in biathlon, they face life back in the regiment if they can't find the

money. I think it will be difficult to adapt to being a full-time

soldier. It will be hard not to get up and train every day, just going

back to military new -- duties. I am a clerk, so the thought of sitting

at a desk and doing peoples payslips is terrifying, actually. In the end

I've still got employment when I finish with the sport. They've been

very supportive over the last 17 years that I've done the biathlon,

and if I need to go back and show that gratitude and do my day job, I

guess I have to do. One British man and one woman will compete at the

Olympics and the team is decided soon. As the return to Army life

looms, they are determined to prove that their sport deserves to carry

on. It means more to go out with a bang this season, having achieved my

goal, to get to the Olympics. We have got a future. Not just on the

scene doing biathlon. There are competitive nature and we want to

get better and win medals in the future. Well, Sochi is little more

than a month away, and 2014 will be a busy year for Glasgow, hosting the

Commonwealth Games in July. Organisers say they're on track to

deliver the biggest sporting party Scotland has ever seen. Today marks

200 days to go. Our Commonwealth Games reporter Chris McLaughlin

reports. At the turn of the year as the world

watches, Scotland's biggest party takes place in Edinburgh, but in 200

days time, the focus will shift 50 miles west. Where will you be when

the world comes to Scotland? When a city becomes an arena? When legs

turned to pistons, and feet turned to spikes? Organisers say it will be

the biggest cultural event in Scotland's history. You don't have

to look hard evidence that the games is coming, but with 200 days to go,

will Glasgow be ready? The organisers say 94% of tickets are

already sold and that they are on budget, and they say the venues are

almost ready. We are doing some refinement on transport planning,

that is critical. We are doing work to make sure the athletes village is

the right environment. That is the kind of detailed work we need to do

to make sure everything is special for all of us, for the spectators,

the athletes, the teams and all the members of the media that we need to

entertain in Glasgow in 200 short days. But who will compete? Mo Farah

says he has other priorities. The fastest man in the world has yet to

secure Commonwealth gold, and so far Usain Bolt is yet to commit. An

event the size and stature of the Commonwealth Games, you want to have

the best athletes in the Commonwealth attending. It would be

great to have the top names here, and I'm sure they will be. It might

be a bit of a media ploy to tease everyone a little bit. 2014 is upon

us, and the countdown to Scotland's biggest ever party continues. It is

goalless in the early FA Cup third Round game between Blackburn and

Manchester City. I will be here at 6:30pm on the BBC News Channel.

Until then, goodbye.