Excitement is hotting up ahead of tonight's big game in Swindon.

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The Robins take on Sheffield United in the second leg of their League One play-off semi-final.

It's advantage Swindon after the first game - they lead 2-1 and are 90 minutes away from a trip to Wembley.

Sheffield United will hope to make sure that doesn't haoppen, though history is not on their side - the Blades have lost out in seven previous play-off campaigns.

BBC Radio Newcastle's Martin Emmerson at Chester-le-Street:

Nottinghamshire 245 & 114-4, Durham 163

"Notts are in a strong position as Durham's batting frailties were exposed for the second week in a row as they were bowled out for just 163 earlier.

"By tea Notts had reached 114-4 in their second innings, which is a healthy lead in a so far of 196 in a low-scoring game. Who knows?

"That may already be enough if Durham are unable to regain their confidence with bat in hand. James Taylor has 45 and Rikki Wessels 12."

A fan of football shirts? In that case you'll like this.

Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique has revealed his shirt collection by posting this on Twitter.

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Impressive to say the least and good to see a few English players have made the cut, with Beckham, Ferdinand (Rio, not Les) and even Danny Welbeck making it into Pique's collection.

Must take some ironing though...

It's all to play for for Sheffield United and Swindon tonight as they battle it out for a place at Wembley against Preston. Swindon won the first leg in Sheffield 2-1.

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The Blades have lost out in seven previous play-off campaigns, but boss Nigel Clough does not believe that puts any additional pressure on his players.

"We need one goal, it doesn't matter when it comes," Clough said. "We have gone from being pretty even to them being very, very strong favourites so the pressure is all on them.

"We have to play as we can, if we get half a chance hopefully we can put them away this time."

Caroline Chapman will bring you live text commentary on that game this evening.

Fernando Alonso's Spanish Grand Prix retirement was caused by a tear-off strip from his own helmet visor blocking one of his rear brake ducts.

The odds of this happening are minuscule but the incident caused overheating and then total failure of the McLaren driver's rear brake system.

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The Spaniard overshot his pit, forcing a mechanic to take avoiding action.

The team saw the tear-off as soon he retired and realised it had come from his helmet after further investigation.

Full story here.

The serious injuries to Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo have dominated proceedings at the Giro D'Italia.

The good news is that Pozzovivo, who has been taken to hospital, is, according to his team, "conscious and lucid".

Meanwhile, Australia's Michael Matthews, of the Orica Green-Edge team, took the stage win in a bunch sprint in Sestri Levante to retain the Maglia Rosa.

Former England fast bowler Kabir Ali has announced his retirement from first-class cricket following a serious shoulder injury, at the age of 34.

The ex-Worcestershire, Hampshire and Lancashire seamer has failed to recover from the injury he suffered last August on T20 Blast Finals day at Edgbaston.

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Having been released by Lancashire at the end of last season, Birmingham-born Kabir had hoped surgery might work.

But he said: "I underwent major surgery and did all the rehab but, when I tried to bowl, I struggled to get any pace."

Wisden editor Lawrence Booth on Twitter, external:

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Relegated QPR have insisted they will fight any attempt by the Football League to impose a fine on the club for Financial Fair Play breaches.

Legal proceedings between QPR and the Football League are still going on and an independent arbitration panel will decide on whether QPR are liable.

The club could face a fine of up to £58m for FFP breaches but are challenging the legality of the rules.

Encouraging news coming in from the Giro D'Italia.

There was real concern for Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo of the AG2R Mondiale team after he fell heavily on a descent.

But BBC Sport's Matt Slater is at the scene and has just tweeted, external:

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The wickets continue to fall around Kevin Pietersen but he seems intent on going nowhere and is continuing to rack up the runs.

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The batsman, looking to get back in the England side, is on 174 not out in Surrey's total of 343 for 8 in their County Championship match against Leicestershire.

Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Colin Graves et al will be watching with interest.

Scorecard here.

Tweet from BBC Sport's Matt Slater, after Domenico Pozzovivo fell heavily on a descent at the Giro D'Italia and is receiving medical attention.

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Team Sky: "Inside 30km to go on stage 3. The descent almost complete. Our thoughts are with Domenico Pozzovivo after his crash"

There has been a crash at the Giro D'Italia - Domenico Pozzovivo fell hard on a descent and is currently receiving medical attention.

A Spanish court is likely to decide on Wednesday the legality of a strike protesting against a new TV rights law called by the players' union (AFE), which is threatening the final two La Liga match days and King's Cup final.

The AFE announced last week that players would go on strike indefinitely from 16 May, prompting the professional league (LFP), which represents the 42 clubs in the top two divisions, filed a petition to have the action declared illegal.

Bradley Wright-Phillips scored twice as 10-man New York Red Bulls beat New York City FC in Major League Soccer's first derby meeting between the sides.

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Former Manchester City and Southampton striker Wright-Phillips, 30, put away Lloyd Sam's cut-back in early on.

And although Red Bulls' Matt Miazga was sent off after a second booking with 54 minutes to go, Wright-Phillips scored a second after the break.

Kevin Pietersen is doing his chances of an England recall no harm at all.

The batsman is 151 not out in Surrey's total of 307 for 7. Given that no other Surrey batsman has scored more than 36, it gives you an idea of how well KP is playing.

Andrew Strauss, England's new director of cricket, over to you.

Scorecard here.

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BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson: "Swansea continue to surprise me and they are almost certain of finishing at least eighth this season, which is a fantastic achievement in Garry Monk's first full season as a manager.

"But Arsenal are arguably finishing the season as strong as any other team in the Premier League, the champions included."

Think you can do better than Lawro? Prove it with our new predictor game.

Grand National-winning jockey Timmy Murphy has bagged his first winner since switching from the jumps to the Flat.

Murphy, who won the National at Aintree on Comply Or Die in 2008, had been out for nearly 18 months with a shoulder injury.

The 41-year-old scored at Wolverhampton on the 7-1 shot Houdini, for trainer Jamie Osborne.

You can check out all the latest racing results on the BBC Sport website.

Lancashire director of cricket Ashley Giles has accused the England and Wales Cricket Board of 'short-termism' after the sacking of coach Peter Moores.

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The 52-year-old was dismissed following the drawn Test with West Indies after little more than a year in charge.

Giles was removed as England limited-overs coach in April 2014 after less than 17 months in the role.

"One of the biggest problems is that we can't see past tomorrow at the moment," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.