England defeated Norway 3-0 at the Women's World Cup on Thursday to secure their second straight semifinal spot.

The Lionesses pounced on the Norwegians from the onset of the match at Le Havre, and now await the winners between Friday's clash between France and the United States.

- FIFA Women's World Cup: All you need to know
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Jill Scott scored England's first goal just three minutes in when her close-range shot took a favourable bounce off the post and into the net.

England added another before half-time when Ellen White slotted the ball home off of Nikita Parris' run down the right, giving her six career goals in the tournament to become the top scorer in her country's Women's World Cup history.

Lucy Bronze made it three in the 57th minute when she drilled the ball from 20 yards out with Norway goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth having little chance to stop it.

England got away with some sloppiness in defence but the Lionesses will now hope to improve on their third place from 2015.

"What you've seen tonight is that Lucy Bronze is the best player in the world, without a shadow of a doubt. There's no player like her in the world," said Neville.

"I've played fullback, but never ever to that level she's playing at."

The semifinals will be hosted in Lyon, where Bronze plays her club football for European champions Lyon.

"I've been dreaming of playing in Lyon and getting to that semifinal again, I think all that pressure and passion came out in that strike," Bronze said.

"I'm excited to be going to Lyon now. USA or France, they're going to be a top team we're going to have to raise our game another level. We're excited to head to Lyon, get some rest and watch the rest of the quarterfinals."

Parris had a chance to score from the penalty spot in the 80th minute, but Hjelmseth made an easy diving stop to her right.

Despite Norway creating some shots in the second half, the English defence were able to extend their shutout streak to 371-minutes. The last goal they conceded game in their group stage against Scotland's Claire Emslie

Norway's manager Martin Sjogren said he expected to see future improvement as his mostly domestic-based squad get their chances to play for Europe's bigger clubs.

"We're going to build this team. Three-quarters of our team will play in the big teams in Europe. If we manage to get the best players out there in Europe, we will actually be able to compete at this level," he said.

Liverpool have sealed a £5 million deal rising to £7m for the sale of Rafael Camacho to Sporting Lisbon.

The 19-year-old turned down the opportunity to sign a new contract with the European champions after agreeing to one in January on the provison of being loaned out, which never transpired.

He nows returns to the Portuguese club where he kickstarted his career having rebuffed approaches from Wolves, Schalke and AC Milan due to concerns over game time.

Sporting were unsuccessful with their loan offer during the winter window, but Liverpool now left with only two options: negotiate a permanent transfer with the club or lose Camacho for a £270,000 compensation fee in 12 months' time when his current terms expire.

The add-ons in the transaction will be activated on account of the Primeira Liga's side domestic and continental successes.

Liverpool have also inserted a 20 percent sell-on clause and a buy-back option into the agreement. The former stipulation is of particular interest given Sporting's track record in holding out for maximum fees.

Their price tag of around £60m on Bruno Fernandes, a player Liverpool insist they have no interest in, is a case in point.

Sporting represents the best option for Camacho to play regularly and to accrue value.

The Portugal youth international joined Liverpool on a free transfer from Manchester City at the end of the 2015-16 season and made two appearances for the Anfield side.

Copa America hosts Brazil survived a nervy penalty shootout to beat Paraguay and advance to the semifinals on Thursday night in Porto Alegre.

A pair of Paraguay misses in the shootout saw them exit the tournament, with Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus hitting the decisive spot kick for Brazil after the match finished 0-0 in regulation.

Brazil, who have won every Copa America they've hosted, had the majority of possession as the physical Paraguayans picked up three yellow cards in the first half, with both teams rarely threatening the opposition goal save for a handful of decent chances.

- Copa America: All you need to know
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Tite brought Alex Sandro on for Filipe Luis at half-time and Brazil looked much more lively from the outset.

Fabian Balbuena was whistled for a foul on Roberto Firmino in the penalty area and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. However, he changed his decision after consulting the pitch-side monitor and awarded Brazil a free kick outside the box while handing Balbuena a straight red for the tackle.

Dani Alves' subsequent free kick was well struck but fizzed just wide of the far post, with Brazil now playing up a man for the final 30 minutes after the Balbuena red.

With the man advantage, Brazil were firmly on the front foot but continued to lack the necessary cutting edge with their finishing despite a host of late chances. After seven minutes of stoppage time the match went to penalties.

Willian, Marquinhos and Philippe Coutinho converted their penalties for Brazil, while Miguel Almiron, Bruno Valdez and Rodrigo Rojas netted for Paraguay, before Jesus hit the decisive spot kick.

Brazil now have four straight shutouts at the Copa América, their longest such streak at the tournament since keeping eight clean sheets from from 1989 to 1991.

Durham 384 (Bancroft 158, Eckersley 118) and 284 for 3 dec (Lees 143) beat Sussex 232 (Carse 5-43) and 240 (Robinson 59, Raine 6-27, Rushworth 4-44) by 196 runs

Cameron Bancroft made a shocking admission on the third evening of this game. He confessed he did not yet know the lyrics of "Blaydon Races", Durham's famous victory song. "When we sing it, one of the lads has to get the words up on his phone," said the Durham skipper. Someone at the Riverside should perhaps advise Bancroft to remedy this deficiency forthwith. Folk in the North East might look askance at a bloke bunging an abrasive down his strides in a Test match but not knowing what could be observed down the Scotswood Road on June 9, 1862 is even less easy to excuse.

One Durham cricketer almost certainly well acquainted with events at Balmbra's and the Robin Adair is Ben Raine and he may have belted out the Geordie anthem with particular gusto this glorious afternoon in Hove after his team had completed their 196-run victory over Sussex. Despite spending six seasons at Leicestershire, Sunderland-born Raine was very much returning home when he signed a three-year contract at the Riverside last September and he will have taken particular pleasure in taking four wickets in 16 balls either side of lunch, a spell which all but decided the game.

Things got even better for Raine later in the piece. His dismissals of both Chris Jordan and Aaron Thomason sealed Durham's victory seven overs after tea and they left him with career-best figures of 6 for 27. Moreover, his full analysis - 22.3-13-27-6 - was a fair reflection of his accuracy and it led one or two greybeards to recall the great days of Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton. Comparisons do not come any more honourable.

Durham's victory also has a wider significance. For one thing it takes Bancroft's side off the bottom of a Division Two table which is making the experts' forecasts look like March madness. At the halfway point of the Championship season Glamorgan, Derbyshire and Gloucestershire are in three of the top five places - just as everyone predicted. It can be argued with perfect justice that Durham are not out of the hunt for promotion, especially if they were to beat Lancashire at Sedbergh in a game beginning on Sunday. In the aftermath of victory, of course, one or two of their players may not be quite sure where Sedbergh is, but on one matter they can be reassured. It is, so far as we know, not on the road to Blaydon.

As for Sussex, their straightforward skipper, Ben Brown, identified their dropped catches on the first day and their inadequate batting on the second as contributory factors to their deserved defeat. Yet the odd thing about Brown's team at the moment is that all of them can bat and supporters feel just as confident about their prospects when they see Delray Rawlins coming in at No. 9 as they do when Harry Finch goes in first wicket down. Injuries to players like Phil Salt and Mir Hamza are not helping either but Durham's cricket this week may have been enough to defeat a full-strength side and it was far too good for Brown's batsmen on Thursday.

However, until Raine came on from the Sea End before lunch, Durham had not taken a wicket nor had they looked like doing so. The overnight pair, Stiaan van Zyl and Ollie Robinson, had batted with such assurance that it was tough to tell which of them was the nightwatchman. The pair had added 82 runs in 31 overs with van Zyl eventually joining his partner in taking the attack to the bowlers, a tactic which nearly decapitated James Weighell early in the session when he failed to see the ball after it had been savagely cut through point by Robinson off Chris Rushworth. It was hard to think Robinson could carry on like this for long but he did so and deep in the morning Sussex were entitled to ponder the possibility of an extraordinary recovery.

Then Raine began to bowl and the runs dried up. Each delivery maintained the tightest of lines between the middle stump and just outside the off. Van Zyl was dropped at first slip by Lees. Four overs later and on the point of lunch, the Sussex batsman nibbled fatally at another good ball and Ned Eckersley took the catch. The Durham players strode off and probably enjoyed their food a good deal more than had seemed likely an over previously.

Just after lunch they probably felt like nipping back in for an extra helping of crème brûlée. Raine's first ball after the resumption - the fourth of his uncompleted over - moved away a shade and took the edge of Laurie Evans' bat on the way to Eckersley. Brown avoided the hat-trick but four overs later was pinned leg before by an inswinger. The same fate befell David Wiese five balls later and Raine had removed all the specialist Sussex batsmen capable of piloting long-term resistance.

Robinson reached his fifty off 119 balls but his 54-run stand with Jordan merely delayed the end of the match. Rushworth had the nightwatchman caught at slip by Jack Burnham and the stage was prepared for Raine to complete a victory which will no doubt be properly celebrated by Durham's cricketers on their coach trip home. Indeed, come the morning one or two of them may have cause to visit Dr. Gibbs.

Northamptonshire 299 (Wakely 65) and 206 for 6 dec (Bavuma 68) drew with Leicestershire 293 (Azad 92, Cosgrove 63)

Temba Bavuma's first half-century in the Specsavers County Championship earned Northamptonshire a draw with Leicestershire at Wantage Road.

Bavuma's 68 helped see out the final day with Northants reaching 206 for 6, leading by 212 before a draw was agreed at 4.50pm.

Bavuma steered Northants through a fairly quiet afternoon with Alex Wakely, who made 46, and although wickets fell either side of tea, the lead was large enough for Leicestershire to shake hands before the final hour and take 10 points from the game. Northants also took 10 points but are left winless after seven matches and bottom of Division Two after Durham's win at Sussex.

With the second day lost entirely to rain, time was against either side trying to force a result and the final day began with only Leicestershire holding an outside chance of victory but any ambitions were snuffed out by Bavuma.

The South Africa international had failed to make a significant score in eight innings before this and will be relieved to have finally passed fifty in this his fifth match of an eight-game stint. A number of previous starts - five times he had passed 20 - were not converted to larger scores but he would have breathed a sigh of relief to go to a half-century in 108 balls with eight fours.

He took his time to settle, playing and missing against the new ball having arrived in the 10th over. He drove loosely at Neil Dexter, getting an outside edge that flew just out of the reach of point, and top-edged a hook at Mohammad Abbas that flew down to the fine leg fence, but later drove Will Davis sweetly through the covers and flicked the same bowler past midwicket before sweeping Colin Ackermann's off-spin for four after tea.

It looked like the final period of the game could bring Bavuma a maiden century for his new county but he hooked at Dieter Klein and was caught at deep-square. It was just after Adam Rossington had run past a delivery Ackermann fired down the leg side and was stumped for 19 and it kept Leicestershire's hopes alive for a short while.

After resuming 273 for 7 to reduce the first-innings deficit to just 6, Leicestershire knew the new ball needed to do damage and Abbas struck with his first ball to have Rob Newton well held at second slip for a golden duck. Ricardo Vasconcelos then fended a delivery to short leg but Bavuma and Wakely steadied Northants into the afternoon.

Wakely played pleasantly for the second time in the game but Abbas slanted a delivery into him to win an lbw decision and then Rob Keogh edged Chris Wright to Paul Horton at first slip. Bavuma couldn't quite see Northants to the close but the home side had enough batting in reserve to kill Leicestershire's dreams of a late heist.

Mahela Jayawardene looks set to be named as head coach of Southern Brave, The Hundred side based in Southampton.

Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka batsman, has forged an excellent career in coaching, including twice leading Mumbai Indians to victory in the IPL. He also had a brief stint as a consultant coach with the England team and recently turned down an approach to work with the Sri Lanka side at the World Cup.

New Zealander Shane Bond looks set to be named as his assistant coach.

While neither deal is yet finalised, it is understood talks are at an advanced stage and could be concluded imminently.

Several of The Hundred sides are finalising their arrangements over their prospective coaching staffs. ESPNcricinfo revealed earlier in the week that Andrew McDonald was set to be named as head coach of Birmingham Phoenix, with Dan Vettori as his deputy, while the London Standard reported that Shane Warne was set to be named as coach of London Spirit, the team based at Lord's.

Trent Rockets, meanwhile, are understood to be keen to secure Stephen Fleming as their head coach. The salary of each coach is believed to be £65,000.

Imagine you are about to fulfil a life-long dream, playing in an Ashes series for Australia in England.

Imagine you are a legspinner, in the mould of your hero Shane Warne, on the cusp of playing your first Test match. But, imagine going into the series having never played a long-form game of cricket in your life.

That is the task facing Australia's 20-year-old legspinner Georgia Wareham ahead of the women's Ashes series.

"I've never played a game longer than a 50-over match," Wareham told ESPNcricinfo. "Wrapping my head around the longer format has been a little bit harder. But with our recent camp up in Brisbane I had the chance to bowl with the red ball in red ball scenarios, which was really good to kind of get a feel for it."

Amanda-Jade Wellington bowled 57 overs of legspin for Australia in the last Ashes Test in 2017-18. The extra bowling load has been a shock to the system for Wareham.

"I reckon in the last couple of weeks I've probably bowled 50 or 60 overs in a week, which is a lot compared to what I'm used to bowling," Wareham said. "But just getting the volume up, especially this early in the season helps build a bit of confidence with the ball coming out as well."

Not only has Wareham never played a multi-day game in her life, she has never even travelled to England.

"I'm pretty nervous actually," Wareham said. "The Ashes is the biggest series apart from the World Cups. Obviously playing all those games against England, they're typically our biggest rival, it's pretty exciting but at the same time really nerve-racking as well. It will be pretty cool to get over to England to play some cricket which I haven't done before."

It is a dream come true for Wareham. She grew up in the small country town of Mortlake, about two-and-a-half hours west of Melbourne. She played cricket endlessly in the backyard with her older brother Jordan and a set of cousins, on a bowler-friendly surface in highly competitive scenarios.

"I've watched so many interviews of Warney, him talking about his game, and there's little things that I pick up out of that. He was just an incredible player and I watched him a lot when I was younger" Georgia Wareham on learning from the best

"We had a really rough backyard," Wareham said. "Some [deliveries] would go two metres. It was good fun. It was hard batting but good fun bowling."

When she wasn't playing she was watching cricket.

"I always used to watch the cricket with my nan," Wareham said. "Especially in the summer, I'd go up there and we'd black out the lounge room and watch the cricket all day. I'd spend hours in front of the TV with her."

Wareham has no recollection of how or why she started bowling legspin. "I don't really remember a point where I bowled anything else, which is really funny," she said.

Warne is naturally her hero, and yet she is barely old enough to have memories of his Test career. Wareham cannot recall Warne's remarkable 2005 Ashes series, and nor would she. Play started at 7.30pm at night on the east coast of Australia, well past most six-year-old's bed time.

She has memories of Warne's last two years in Test cricket in Australia. But in a YouTube generation, there's nothing she hasn't seen.

"Watching him with my nan on the TV and just anytime I got to see him bowl was incredible," Wareham said. "Just the way he'd set up batters and just be all over them was really cool to watch. I've watched so many interviews of Warney, him talking about his game, and there's little things that I pick up out of that. He was just an incredible player and I watched him a lot when I was younger.

"Just the poise he has at the top of his mark. He's very calm and he's always got a plan. I think he's also very patient, the way that he bowls. That's the part I've tried to work on a bit. Obviously, the planning is a massive part of it, and it's something I'm definitely still working on."

Patience is something Wareham has learnt through playing in open men's club cricket in Mortlake.

"Playing in the men's stuff, I think it fast-tracked my cricket," Wareham said. "I think at the time there was no women's cricket at home. Playing against the boys, who hit it harder and bowled faster and threw it harder in the field and everything like that, I think that kind of helped.

"It was quite challenging actually. A lot of the guys at home, as soon as they see a spinner they just want to smack it as far they can. I think that worked into my favour a little bit. But it was just making sure I hit all my spots as much as I can because if I missed then it's probably going to go over my head or over the fence. Just being really patient as well and not trying to force the issue.

"When I was playing men's cricket I was bowling a lot slower than I am now. I don't know if I meant that back then but I think that helped a lot, getting the ball above the eyeline of the guys."

Her rise through the elite women's pathway has been meteoric. She credits National Performance coach Shelley Nitschke and Australia and Victoria legspinner Kristen Beams as key mentors that have helped guide her through domestic cricket to international level.

She was a surprise packet in last year's World T20 final, just her 11th T20I, taking 2 for 11 against an England team that had not faced her in international cricket before. Now she enters an Ashes series as more of a known quantity which, like Test cricket, will be an entirely new challenge.

"I think it's just making sure that I've always got a back-up plan and I'm always being adaptable when I'm bowling, not just sticking to the same thing if it's not working," she said

"And just using my resources as well. Meg [Lanning] as captain, she knows a lot, so do all of the coaches as well, so I've got a lot of people behind me that I can use to help me in that regard. But I think it's just in the moment being able to adjust and read the play and see what's happening."

It's a whole new world for Wareham. But it's a childhood dream that's become a reality. Perhaps only her wildest imagination had thought it possible.