Mark Ramprakash to be England senior batting coach
England are expected to confirm within the next week that Mark Ramprakash has leapfrogged his former Test and county team-mate Graham Thorpe as the permanent successor to Graham Gooch as the senior batting coach. Barring any late contractual hitches Ramprakash will join Peter Moores and other members of the England coaching staff for the forthcoming one-day series in Sri Lanka followed by the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year. The 45-year-old, who joined the England coaching structure two years after Thorpe in the autumn of 2012, worked regularly with the senior batsmen last summer after Moores and Alastair Cook had taken the decision to move on from Gooch. Andy Wilson
Andy Murray avoids Novak Djokovic at ATP Tour finals
Andy Murray has avoided the world No1, Novak Djokovic, in the group stages of the ATP World Tour Finals in London next week. Murray, the British No1, looks to have been given a kind draw, matched as he is with Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic in Group B, with the latter two competitors playing in the season-ending tournament for the first time. Djokovic, who has beaten Murray on the four occasions they have played each other this year, will face Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic in Group A. PA
Sean Yates joins Tinkoff-Saxo
The former Team Sky rider Sean Yates is among four new faces appointed by Tinkoff-Saxo for the 2015 season. Yates, who was a key figure in Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Tour de France triumph, left his role as Team Sky’s lead sports director in October of that year. Both he and the British team denied reports suggesting Yates had departed due to Sky’s zero-tolerance policy over doping. Tinkoff-Saxo announced on Monday that Yates and Patxi Vila are joining their team as sports directors. Bobby Julich arrives as head coach and Daniel Healey takes the position of head of sports science. PA
