Hanley out with knee injury

Football: Grant Hanley yesterday withdrew from the Scotland squad for the 2016 European Championship qualifier against Poland tonight.

The Blackburn Rovers defender picked up a knee injury in the 1-0 Group D win over Georgia at Ibrox on Saturday.

Hanley had struck up a partnership with Norwich City’s Russell Martin under manager Gordon Strachan, who has a number of replacements to use.

Bristol joint top in basketball league

Basketball: Bristol’s tenacious nine-point victory in Manchester on Sunday evening saw them move up to joint top spot in the British Basketball League.

They now sit level with the Leicester Riders, who managed to come from behind in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter to win 99-91 at Plymouth.

Newcastle beat the Sheffield Sharks 95-94 to claim fourth spot, just behind the London Lions.

Martin picks up win in Beijing

Cycling: Dan Martin won stage four of the Tour of Beijing yesterday as Philippe Gilbert retained the overall lead entering today’s final stage.

The Birmingham-born Irishman surged clear in the final kilometre of the 157km route from Yanqing to the summit finish at Mentougou Miaofeng to triumph by two seconds from a three-rider group which included Belgian Gilbert.

Martin (Garmin-Sharp) is second in the overall classification.

Eckersley commits for another year

Cricket: Leicestershire were given a boost yesterday by batsman Ned Eckersley signing a one-year contract extension.

The East Midlands side finished bottom of the County Championship after failing to win a match for the second year in succession and have lost a raft of key players.

Josh Cobb, Nathan Buck, Greg Smith and Shiv Thakor have all gone elsewhere but Eckersley will remain at Grace Road for the 2015 season.