23/01/2016 Saturday Sportsday

Welcome to the BBC Sport Centre, I'm Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes,

and coming up on Saturday Sportsday: we'll hear from Welshman George

North, and find out about the challenges Eoin Morgan

faced with England's blind cricket team.

England's bowlers couldn't stop South Africa reaching 475 all out

on Day 2 of the final Test in Pretoria.

Quinton De Kock was dropped twice before reaching his maiden century.

Norwich-Liverpool is the first of eight matches

in the Barclays Premier League today.

It's goaless after five minutes and the big team news is that

new signing Steven Naismith has started for Norwich.

And Andy Murray and Johanna Konta have been in action

Find out how they got on with BBC highlights straight

Northampton are playing in their final group game

of the European Champions Cup this afternoon against Scarlets.

And it gives this man, George North, a chance to return

to his former club for the first time.

Saints must beat Scarlets to stand any chance of reaching

The pressure is on North, who has already played a lot

of rugby this season, and with the Six Nations only two

weeks away, Patrick Gearey has been see how he's getting on.

And strong yet quick, graceful, George North is the epitome of

modern rugby player. Two tries on his Wales debut aged 18, 50 caps by

the time he was 23. The Premiership when I'm with Northampton Saints but

all that expectation can weigh heavily. Everybody expects so much

and wants me to deliver. I always want to be that guy, step up to the

plate. It has been difficult trying to change my game, still learning. I

am only 23, still trying to discover more things about how I can make

myself better and more effective. His season began in the summer, a

Rugby World Cup seeing Wales beat England but lose to South Africa in

the final minutes saps the mind as well as the body. When the whistle

goes regardless of the school you are left not only battered and

bruised and shattered but also to recover mentally and emotionally.

When you get that close doesn't annoy you to get the criticism? Yes,

yes it does. Why is that? I think the bit that hurts me the most is a

lot of them have never played rugby to that standard, they do not know

what it takes to get in that position. You do not go out there to

play badly and mess up but it is easy for them to just drop a

one-liner. In the heat of the game sometimes you do not have enough

time to breathe let alone make a decision. People do not really know

what they are talking about. That makes you grind your gears. Just as

he resettled into club live the cycle restarts with the Six Nations.

For me in particular I am still hungry to play as much as I can,

still learning and absorbing every game. Andy yet obviously if I am

selected I will be more than ready to step up for the Six Nations.

The British Paralympic skiers enjoyed record-breaking medal

success in Sochi two years ago, claiming five of GB's six honours.

But come the next Games, adaptive snowboarding aims

Ben Moore and Owen Pick are leading the way and this week they're

competing in the sport's highest profile competition,

There is something special about snowboarding.

At the Sochi Olympics freestylers dazzled with their tricks

but it was all about speed when the sport

Although Britain had no adaptive snowboarders at the 2014 Games,

they now have two of the world's best in Ben Moore and Owen Pick.

Their journey to the summit, though, has been far from smooth.

I used to be in the Army, I joined the age of 16.

I was deployed to Afghan when I was 18.

We was out on patrol, stood on an IED, it basically

They spent about 18 months doing operations, trying to fix it,

I was knocked off my motorcycle ten years ago.

The guy trying to cross my lane, I T-boned him.

In the end of the kind of said, "Look, you can keep it,

deal with it, or you can get rid of it".

At that point I was just tired of operations so I made the decision

And the day I woke up I have never looked back.

He and Moore are reaping the benefits of record-breaking

skiing medal success in Sochi which has seen UK Sport invest

heavily in para snow sports, whilst the inclusion of adaptive

events into the X Games for the first time in 2015 has been

We have both gone from just being two guys going around just

doing some World Cups, to now we have got coaches

and physios and more people coming into the team.

There were lots of people who were made aware of adaptive

snowboarding purely from the X Games.

To kind of go there and prove, "Look, we are not just disabled

riders who need a little course, we can hide the same course

riders who need a little course, we can ride the same course

Snowboarding made a spectacular Winter Paralympic debut in Sochi,

but only for athletes with lower limb impairments.

Those like Ben Moore were not able to compete.

and Moore aims to make a massive impact there.

it would sum up my snowboarding career, definitely.

If we can get some medals there it is going to the massive

for the sport, it is going to open up so many more ways of getting

The bigger it gets, the better it gets, the more fun it becomes.

Now, England's blind cricketers are 10,000 miles away

from their training base at Lord's, taking on Australia in the Ashes.

England are one up in the 8-match series in Adelaide.

And before they flew out, Ankur Desai gave England's one-day

captain Eoin Morgan a chance to see what it's like to bat blind.

If you are going to play this game successfully you are really going to

have to play fearless cricket. You cannot think about what you're going

to have for dinner or what your boyfriend or girlfriend is up to,

you have got to be on it 100%. Those are the words of wisdom for England

one-day captain Eoin Morgan, who is usually

one-day captain Eoin Morgan, who is hand. But not today. So, first

ball... . Oh dear. There are three categories to take part in blind

cricket and more more than what different types of glass is

experienced with varying levels of impairment. It is fair to say and

found them all difficult. They are better than me by a long way, you

are listening for the bringing him the ball so it is almost a sense of

panic and feeling as the ball makes its way down. That is the challenge

these guys go through but certainly from the first ball I knocked my

stumps over. Fear not, Hassan was on hand to rescue the England one-day

skipper. As soon as you hear it... How did I get one? You got on quite

well considering it was your first time. Interestingly you tried on all

three classes and surprisingly enough you batted better when you

are totally blind. The visually impaired cricketers are preparing

for the ultimate battle, against Australia down under for the Ashes.

They took the blind ashes of us in 2012 and I am so eager to win them

back. I believe this is where they belong. The series consists of three

T20 matches and five one-day matches, forms of the game organise

well and now he has some new skills. Gray that is Eoin Morgan, BBC

sport... Good night. Good night? You will not make a reporter! The latest

from the final Test match is that England are

chasing 475. Also some sad news from the world of cricket, it has been

announced former Warwickshire bowler and BBC commentator Tim threw has

died. Tributes to him are on the website. -- BBC commentator Jack

Bannister has died. That's it for Saturday Sportsday,

until next time, goodbye. On your marks, get set...

Bake for Sport Relief.