The former Ross County and Sunderland striker earned the latest of his two Scotland caps in 2022, but free from injury problems he has now scored 11 goals in 33 appearances for the side who finished fourth in the Championship, five in his latest 10.

Fellow 29-year-old McBurnie did not add to his 18 goals in 41 appearances but also played his part for sixth-top Hull as he started both legs of their 2-0 aggregate win over third-placed Millwall.

The former Sheffield United and Las Palmas striker recently telephoned Clarke to make a direct plea for a first recall since earning his 16th cap in 2021.

All 48 national associations were asked to submit a provisional squad of up to 55 players to world governing body Fifa before finalising their 26-man squad for the finals.

They are not required to make those public, so it is not known whether either Stewart or McBurnie made Scotland’s extended list.

It is likely to include current members of the under-21 squad and uncapped players like Stephen Welsh, the 26-year-old centre-half who has impressed on loan to Motherwell from Celtic.

However, Clarke said last month that he was “more or less set in my mind” about the 26 players he intends to take to the finals, although he revealed that two spots might still be up for grabs.

Clarke is known for his loyalty to players he believes have served him well, but Conway’s injury could open up another space.

Scotland host Curacao, who have just reappointed former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat as head coach, in a 30 May friendly at Hampden before their final warm-up game against Bolivia on 6 June in Harrison, New Jersey.

England have ended Ollie Robinson’s two-year international exile and called up uncapped trio Emilio Gay, James Rew and Sonny Baker for the first Test since the dismal Ashes campaign.

Sussex seamer Robinson, 32, returns after being dropped in 2024 as England look for an attack leader to take on New Zealand at Lord’s from 4 June.

As expected, opener Zak Crawley pays the price for his disappointing tour of Australia and is left out for the first time since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took charge of the England Test team in 2022.

Crawley’s place in the XI is likely to go to Durham 26-year-old Gay, who has the advantage over fellow left-hander Rew, 22, by virtue of being a specialist opener.

Shoaib Bashir is named in the squad despite being ignored for the entire Ashes series and will vie for the spinner’s spot with Rehan Ahmed. Leg-spinner Ahmed could play in a home Test for the first time.

England have also confirmed the appointment of Australian Marcus North as the new national selector. The Durham director of cricket replaces Luke Wright, who stepped down for personal reasons after the Ashes, and becomes the first foreigner to chair England’s selection panel.

The greatest intrigue from North’s first squad is provided by the recall of Robinson in a pace-bowling department in need of rebuilding after the retirements of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Chris Woakes in successive years.

Robinson has a hugely impressive Test record, with 76 wickets at an average below 23 from his 20 matches. He was long seen as the new-ball heir to Anderson and Broad.

But he fell out of favour and was dropped following the tour of India more than two years ago. England grew frustrated with, among other issues, problems around fitness – Robinson suffered back injuries in each of his past two Tests: against Australia at Headingley in 2023 and against India in Ranchi in 2024.

SAN ANTONIO — Most NBA teams usually can’t wait to get home, especially after a loss. They have chartered planes that fly when they want, so landing at 4 a.m. is just the norm. Fans will line the road leading out of the airport, honking and waving to their heroes, even as the sunrise waits around the corner.

But following Victor Wembanyama’s ejection in a narrow Game 4 loss to tie up their series against the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday, the Spurs went back to their hotel to get a good night’s sleep. They landed in San Antonio Monday afternoon, sun blazing, late enough in the day for El Jefe to greet them. No fanfare, just Pop.

Victor Wembanyama could see a blue Tesla Model X waiting for him on the tarmac, gull-wing door in the air, somehow high enough to reach his eye level. Gregg Popovich stepped out, waiting for his young pupil a day ahead of what would become a 126-97 Game 5 win that gave the Spurs a 3-2 series lead.

He knew his first NBA coach would have an earful to say, as he always does. Just by showing up, Popovich made a statement before Wembanyama even got a chance to say hi. Wembanyama stood there and listened, an arm behind his back, vulnerable, attentive, present.

“As always, when he speaks, everybody listens,” Wembanyama said.

Wembanyama would not reveal the content of their discussion, though video showed that it included Popovich turning his shoulders back and forth like, perhaps, a 7-foot-4 center trying to get out of a trap without elbowing anyone in the throat?

Maybe Popovich told Wembanyama that the burden of being the star is never losing control, especially when that’s the opponent’s clear goal. That was obvious, yet again, in the first quarter on Tuesday night.

After a basket, Jaden McDaniels tried to knock the ball out of Wembanyama’s hands and grabbed him by the wrist, yet again. Within seconds, a smiling Ayo Dosunmu got in Wembanyama’s face, saying something that didn’t appear to be an autograph request. Wembanyama smiled back, appearing to respond, “I’ll be here,” repeatedly. Anthony Edwards came over to get Dosunmu, but Wembanyama pushed Edwards’ hand away as well and kept repeating the same thing.

In a stark contrast to Game 4, Wembanyama looked completely unbothered.

He wasn’t ducking the challenge. He was inviting it with a smile. He knew it was coming, and he had to stand his ground. He learned in Game 4 that the only other place to go is the locker room for the night, so that’s why he’ll be here.

“I feel like the rage baiting would have been maybe one of their strategies,” Wembanyama said. “I just feel like we need to stay composed as a team.”

The Timberwolves could see they weren’t getting to Wembanyama anymore. After all of the tension was released with one elbow, everything suddenly snapped into perspective.

Like Naz Reid said, pain is just weakness leaving the body.

Every time they would grab, smack or shove Wembanyama, it hurt a little bit, it frustrated a lot and it prevented him from playing freely, which is how he becomes most dangerous. The Wolves wanted to take away his freedom, to make the alien play on a planet they controlled. Once he stopped resisting their gravity and learned to embrace it, he was free.

After a series of drives through Rudy Gobert, dimes to shooters and a 3 to cap it off, Wembanyama broke the game open almost as soon as it started. By the end of the first quarter, he had 18 points and six rebounds, joining LeBron James and Nikola Jokić as the only players to pull that off in the first quarter of a playoff game in 30 years, per Stathead.

“Tonight, some of the stuff that Wemby was doing, you don’t really have too much of an answer for it,” Edwards said. “Just kinda hope he misses.”

Wembanyama finished with 27 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. The only other players to do that are Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan (three times), Shaquille O’Neal (three times), Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain (seven times, unofficially). If you add in Wembanyama’s pair of 3s, his stat line is unprecedented.

Earlier in the day, Devin Vassell said they were looking for “Angry Vic” to show up that night. After the game, Mitch Johnson praised “Mature Vic” for showing up.

“I feel like they ain’t mutually exclusive,” Wembanyama said. “So I’m looking for both.”

For most of the season, he was right. Wembanyama’s furor was carefully curated. The fire in his eyes would rage suddenly, with only a few embers of Mature Vic foreshadowing Angry Vic’s arrival. An occasional rough-and-tumble matchup would bring him out and remind the world just how dangerous he is becoming.

But playoff-level physicality isn’t something that just happens every few nights. It’s the norm, and it features fiercer collisions, sharper elbows and straight-up shoves. Some teams try to toe the boundary, while some try to suplex their opponent over it, knowing that the officials will have to wipe away some blood to find the line again. The Wolves make no mistake about where they live on that spectrum.

The Spurs drew a playoff path that has perhaps the three most physical defenses in the NBA. Wembanyama’s first test was carefully designed to make him miserable and then see how he handles it. Now, he’s officially passed, even if it took a failure to get there.

“I feel like we got the Vic that you’ve seen all year. I think his maturity level was off the charts,” teammate Stephon Castle said. “When he’s playing like that, playing aggressive with everything he brings for us defensively, I feel like we’re pretty hard to beat.”

Wembanyama made a point that can not be mistaken. The all-time greats, the players who define their eras, do it through statement games.

His 16-point run in the first seven minutes was a love poem to his potential and a diss track to his haters: Reid, McDaniels, and, until they can be brothers again at the end of this week, Gobert.

Did he ever make his point.

“I thought we had a couple times tonight where we just kind of drew the line and said enough was enough, whatever that meant,” coach Mitch Johnson said.

When McDaniels hit the bench in the fourth quarter, he threw his towel in frustration. The rage baiting won’t work anymore. Wembanyama is past all that.

Angry Vic, Mature Vic, it doesn’t matter who is in the driver’s seat in that moment. They overlap enough to coexist spectacularly. He’s not throwing elbows anymore, at least the Spurs hope. He’ll be there. He’s not going anywhere. Revenge is sweeter with a smile.

“Once we got back up, we never looked back,” De’Aaron Fox said. “And that’s the team that we want to be.”