Leicestershire 273 for 7 (Azad 92, Cosgrove 63) trail Northamptonshire 299 by 26 runs

Hassan Azad's carefully compiled 92 saw Leicestershire build a steady reply to Northamptonshire's 299 on the third day at Wantage Road. Azad batted for over two sessions to help Leicestershire reach 273 for 7 before bad light curtailed the day 15 overs early.

Following a century in each innings against Gloucestershire in his last match, Azad again demonstrated a thirsty appetite for occupying the crease and blunted a game Northants attack who operated with good control throughout the day and found some movement.

The 25-year-old left-hander showed excellent judgement to leave well and was proactive in his defence, often advancing at the bowling to negate the moving ball. There were only three boundaries - one of them a top-edged pull over the wicketkeeper's head - in his 132-ball half-century.

His strike rate was pedestrian but it was a classic case of grinding out a score when timing wasn't particularly easy and the bowling was probing.

After tea, Azad very carefully swept Rob Keogh's offspin for four before an all-run four, via an overthrow, took him to 90. His latest advance down the wicket saw him shimmy out at Luke Procter to drive him through mid-off and take him past 600 runs for the season.

But within sight of a third consecutive century, Azad clipped Procter straight to Matt Coles at backward-square leg. The trap had been set for much of the day and he finally succumbed after a 212-ball vigil.

Procter struck again immediately, trapping Colin Ackermann lbw for a third-ball duck and as the new-ball was taken, Northants sensed a first-innings lead.

The new ball paid prompt dividends as Harry Dearden edged Ben Sanderson to wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, who was wrong-footed and dived to his left to take a sharp chance. Sanderson then swung one into Mark Cosgrove to win an lbw appeal.

Cosgrove had batted with Azad for much of the afternoon in a stand of 115 for the third wicket. The evergreen Australian played the shot of the day by driving Coles with a flourish past mid-off on a day where timing the ball proved difficult and played another flowing cover drive for four off Procter. But after reaching a fifth fifty of the season in 87 balls with six fours, fell for 63.

Dieter Klein was then pinned lbw by Coles after striking three boundaries in his 15 and the wicket was the fifth to fall for 48 runs in 12.2 overs.

The late burst saw Northants finally find reward for a day where they remained consistent with the ball. Initially they were frustrated with only one wicket with the first new ball - Paul Horton edging Nathan Buck to second slip for 29 after an opening stand of 60 - and had to wait until after lunch for a second breakthrough when Neil Dexter was caught in the crease by Brett Hutton and fell for 27.

New Zealand are arguably the best side when it comes to reading pitches in tournament play but on a slow Edgbaston track that turned considerably there were admissions after their loss to Pakistan that they had missed a trick by picking just one frontline spinner and omitting Ish Sodhi from the team.

In the absence of Sodhi's legspin, New Zealand turned to the part time offspin of Kane Williamson to partner Mitchell Santner, as they tried to defend 237 and break up the key partnership between Babar Azam and Haris Sohail. After the match, Santner admitted they were deceived by pitch and thought it would offer more for the pace bowlers.

"Obviously there was a bit of turn out there, probably more than we thought there would be," Santner said. "Obviously at the toss, only going with one spinner, we thought it might be a bit better than that.

"It's the spinner's role to take wickets on a surface like that but I think credit has to go to the way Pakistan batted throughout the middle. That partnership through the middle there was pretty special. There were a couple of chances there but it's about trying to build up pressure from both ends and stuff like that, but the way they were able to manipulate the field, and get their ones, when you're only chasing 230, is the way to go about it.

"I think we fought pretty well to the end and I guess they only got it in the last over. It was obviously a tough surface and we just had to stick at it. If we could put a couple on it, a couple of wickets on throughout that chase it might have been a little bit different."

After New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat, James Neesham made an unbeaten 97, his highest ODI score. He was one of eight bowlers used by Williamson, highlighting the desperation with which New Zealand were seeking a breakthrough.

Watch on Hotstar (India only) - Neesham's 97 not out

Before their previous match at Edgbaston, a final-over win against South Africa, New Zealand had spoken to Warwickshire captain and former Black Cap Jeetan Patel for advice on the pitch. Colin de Grandhomme has also played for the Birmingham Bears in the past two seasons.

But Neesham suggested the information they gleaned before playing Pakistan was not especially accurate.

"I think we can only obviously work on what we're told leading into the game," Neesham said. "We probably selected the team based on the information we had. In hindsight, it's easy to say an extra spinner would have been useful, but I think with the balls we had, the quality we had at the bowling crease was enough to defend that total, and unfortunately, it just didn't fall our way today."

First off, if you're reading this then you've lost. It's already the second-best thing you're doing with a Babar Azam innings. If you're ever reading about a Babar Azam innings, just know that it's really the second-best thing you're doing at that moment with a Babar Azam innings. The best thing to do with any Babar Azam innings is to be watching it, whether that is Babar Azam making 27 or Babar Azam making 127. And if you've already seen the Babar Azam innings of Edgbaston, do yourself a favour and don't read about it: watch it again (and maybe then read about it).

And as you watch it, allow the incredulity to overwhelm you, allow it to soak deep into you, so deep that it's not the game that is holding you but Babar's batting. Incredulity? Yes, because we're now in the age of Babar and that you can say that about any Pakistani batsman is an incredulous thing to be able to say.

The rest of the world will recognise that he is a fine batsman, a very fine young batsman. They will acknowledge him. They will fete him like they do all modern batsmen and that this is normal. They will compare him to Virat Kohli because why not? Don't fall in with them. See, the rest of the world is long used to batting gold.

WATCH on Hotstar (India only) - Babar's classy hundred

India has Kohli and Rohit Sharma and not so long ago they had… actually, they've never not had batsmen the rest of the world envied. Australia have Steven Smith and David Warner and they can even afford to be all casual about Glenn Maxwell. England has batsmen falling out of everywhere, even out of their bowlers. New Zealand have Kane Williamson and most days you'd throw Ross Taylor into that. West Indies have batsmen who hit sixes better, longer and more often than any set of batsmen in history. South Africa had/have (maybe, we hope?) AB de Villiers, the godfather of modern batting.

These are men who constitute a golden age of batting, men who have piled up such numbers that new ways of understanding and analysing their genius have had to be found; men who have not brought about an evolution but are the evolution.

In all this time, Pakistan have memories. Of innovators like Javed Miandad. Of classicists like Mohammad Yousuf. Of incongruous giants such as Inzamam. Even of the cussedness of Younis Khan. Mostly they have regrets. Regrets about Umar Akmal. About Sohaib Maqsood. About Ahmed Shahzad. About all the batting spaghetti they were throwing at a wall and none of it was sticking because none of it was cooked. About a domestic system that seems designed to preclude the emergence of genuine batsmen. About a way of thinking, a culture even, that precludes the emergence of a genuine batsman.

And so the incredulity that having lived and envied through all this, now, finally, suddenly, they have Babar Azam and you know what - no, can you believe what - that he does not look out of place in this company?

When you're watching today's innings and not reading this, you'll understand. There is value to all his runs. All 3000-plus ODI runs that he has scored hold value and each innings of his that has helped Pakistan win games have value. All the records he has broken have value. And then there is his innings today, at Edgbaston, in a chase - and Pakistan can win 17 ODIs in a row chasing but come that 18th game whether they're chasing 350 or 150, you'll still be watching from between the fingers covering your eyes - which will hold a value forever greater than all that. At this of all moments, in this increasingly heady campaign, let's not be shy - let's call this innings for what it is, a coming of age for sure, and perhaps an all-timer.

For one, he'd been suffering from flu, Grant Flower later said. In fact, because of the flu he had not netted the day before the game and Flower couldn't remember that Babar had ever not batted the day before a game (he did make up by netting plenty on the morning of the game).

For another, this was not an easy surface, a surface on the stranger, more dangerous side of slow. Fast bowlers got seam movement from it, and grip for their cutters. Spinners got plenty of turn - anytime Williamson can only edge a legspinner, you know this is serious. Mitchell Santner is Daniel Vettori on most days (and that is a great thing) but here he was turning it like your uncle swears Bishen Bedi used to. It was a proper spell. Plus there was Lockie Ferguson, one of the five quickest bowlers this tournament and Trent Boult, whose name alone is sufficient. Deal with all of that, as well as the knowledge that it is, from here on, pretty much do or be done.

WATCH on Hotstar (US only) - Full highlights of Pakistan's victory

So when you're watching this one again, you might form a conclusion. Not that this was a grind, because Babar doesn't grind. There was plenty of the pretty stuff you've watched over and over but just that it was feeling like this would amount to way more than the sum of all that prettiness - and if you think about what those shots he plays does to people, then we're talking a big sum. But that this wasn't his most in-control innings. Numbers will tell you that he played more false shots than he usually would, that he was beaten more often than he usually is. But ask yourself whether he was ever not really in control?

Watch the ninth over. Boult was sniffing. He had an early wicket and that target had grown considerably in spirit. First ball, Babar committed an error in trying to play to leg and ball somehow missed edge, off-stump, everything. Next ball, Babar leant into a drive through point. Four. Next ball, beaten again, even after correcting the earlier error and playing straight. Where to now? Next ball, a little wider, a little more tempting, no sir, not biting: leave.

Now Boult went round the wicket, messing around with angles. Got it a bit straight though, and Babar immediately leant into one of those cover-driven fours that no fielder moves for. Boult went back over, Babar blocked out, end of over. To be in control when you're not in control, to be in the Headingley of the 80s one ball and Trent Bridge of the aughties the next, is the real trick the best modern batsmen pull.

And so it went. He almost edged Jimmy Neesham attempting a cute dab, but immediately leant back and punched him through point for four. He inside-edged Santner, then miscued a pull off Ferguson during a really tricky phase but as soon as Colin Munro came on, through covers he was driven for four. In those early parts, a large percentage of his runs came from boundaries but it wasn't that these were loose balls - it was that Babar had this very modern clarity, this conviction, to identify balls off which his strengths could fetch boundaries from, that he has hit boundaries from thousands of times before. They could be good balls, or a little less good, but they were his balls to do with what he needed.

He kept doing it long enough so that the bluff that he was in control eventually became the reality and suddenly, you'll watch and see that he was playing the Babar innings you've watched over and over. The steady accumulation to let you drift - control see? - the occasional moment of beauty to wake you up, repeat, until end.

And if you've made it this far, reward yourself. Go watch it again.

TORONTO -- Toronto Raptors center Marc Gasol accepted a one-year player option Wednesday for next season.

The value is approximately $25.6 million, marking the final season of a five-year contract Gasol signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2015. Had the 34-year-old Spaniard not accepted prior to the Thursday, he would have become a free agent on Sunday.

Raptors star Kawhi Leonard also has a one-year player option on his deal with a deadline for a decision Saturday, but he is expected to turn it down and become a free agent Sunday after leading Toronto to its first NBA title. Guard Danny Green is the other Raptors regular slated to become a free agent.

The Raptors acquired Gasol from the Grizzlies in February.

Gasol averaged 13.6 points and 7.9 rebounds in 79 regular-season games with the Raptors and Memphis this season. He averaged 9.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 24 playoff games.

NBA guard Allen Crabbe was arrested early Wednesday in Los Angeles and cited for misdemeanor DUI.

According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department online records, Crabbe was arrested at 12:15 a.m. PT in West Hollywood and booked at 1 a.m. PT with a bond set at $5,000.

TMZ reported that Crabbe was pulled over after he was seen "straddling lanes" and blew a .08 on a Breathalyzer test.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this month that the Brooklyn Nets agreed to trade Crabbe to the Atlanta Hawks. The deal can't be finalized until July 6.

The Hawks declined comment to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when contacted about Crabbe's arrest because he isn't yet a member of the team.

Crabbe, 27, is scheduled to make $18.5 million in the 2019-20 season, which is the final year of his contract.

The Houston Rockets are canvassing NBA teams with significant salary-cap space to individually offer center Clint Capela, guard Eric Gordon and forward P.J. Tucker as a prelude to their pursuit of a sign-and-trade deal for Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Jimmy Butler, league sources told ESPN.

The Rockets want to secure the best available first-round pick acquired for any one of three players as part of a larger deal with Philadelphia for Butler, league sources said. Redirecting salaries elsewhere for Butler could deliver the 76ers a large trade exception that it could use in acquiring a player over the course of the next year.

If Butler and the 76ers were open to the trade scenario -- and there has yet to be a formal indication the team or Butler are interested -- the Rockets would need to include two or three of those players in a deal to the Sixers or a third team to make the salaries match on a four-year, $140 million maximum contract for Butler.

Capela has four years, $66 million left on his contract, and Gordon has $14 million and Tucker $16 million over two years left on their contracts. Only $2.6 million of Tucker's second year is guaranteed.

Nevertheless, the Sixers have been expressing confidence throughout the NBA that they'll be able to sign Butler and free agent Tobias Harris to new deals, league sources said. Butler's level of interest in pursuing the Rockets' idea is unclear. League rules prohibit Butler and his agent, Bernie Lee, from discussing the deal prior to the start of free agency on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

Once free agency starts, however, the Rockets are determined to push the 76ers for a sign-and-trade deal that would allow the All-Star forward to join All-NBA guard James Harden and Chris Paul on the Rockets, league sources tell ESPN.

The Rockets don't have the salary-cap space to sign Butler, so they'd need the threat of the Sixers losing him for nothing to a team with the available room to motivate the Sixers into a trade.

The Sixers plan to be aggressive in signing Butler to a new deal, sources said, and could blunt a Rockets push with a full five-year, $190 million offer at the start of free agency on Sunday night. The Sixers could offer Butler a four-year, $146.5 million deal, too.

Butler would be eligible to sign a four-year, $140 million contract on the way to the Rockets. The 76ers acquired Butler in a trade with Minnesota for Dario Saric and Robert Covington in November.

The Sixers could redirect those Houston assets to third teams and create a large trade exception that it could use to absorb a player via trade.

MONTREAL -- The son of former Montreal Expos owner Charles Bronfman believes the predominantly French-speaking city is ready and willing to support -- and share -- the Tampa Bay Rays.

Private equity investor Stephen Bronfman leads a group working on bringing baseball back to Montreal and said Wednesday the city can embrace the sport again. He called the idea of one team in two cities groundbreaking.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week the Rays have "broad permission to explore what's available." Tampa Bay is averaging 14,546 fans a game, lowest in the American League and well below the MLB average of 27,360. Only the Miami Marlins draw smaller crowds, averaging 9,378.

On Tuesday, Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg said it's unrealistic for his team to play full time in the Tampa Bay area, and said a shared season with Montreal is the best option.

Montreal has been without a big league team since the Expos left after the 2004 season for Washington and became the Nationals.

"We have always said we have a two-track approach," Bronfman said. "There has always been the possibility of a team being relocated, and then there is expansion. We don't know if expansion is in the cards in the decade to come, if at all. We have this possibility now to begin the work of having Major League Baseball here with an existing team that is really professional. It's not like starting from scratch. This is a team that is playing nearly .600 baseball."

An agreement between the Rays and St. Petersburg for Tropicana Field runs through 2027. St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman has said the city will not fund a new stadium for a part-time team.

"We're in a different world," Bronfman said. "Hats off to Major League Baseball for being so innovative in their thinking and their progressive nature of even considering a concept like this. It's very groundbreaking when you talk about sport."

Sternberg envisions open-air stadiums in both cities but noted there are no plans to pay for them. He said an ideal target date would have everything in place for the 2024 season.

Bronfman said he has no say in the timetable but hopes a deal can be reached soon, pointing out that his father, the original Expos owner, is 88 years old.

"We have an incredible city," Bronfman said. "We have a strong economy, we can support baseball and now we have a chance to support it in partnership with Tampa Bay. I think it's a very, very good opportunity for us and I think Major League Baseball believes this opportunity exists in Montreal and they are giving their support to our city. So for me that's a strong start and we will see how things develop."

The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inception in 1998 and drew their smallest-ever home crowd of 5,786 against Toronto last month.

Sternberg said this week it's possible the Bronfman group could join the current Rays' ownership if the sister-city plans succeed, but he will keep controlling interest.

"I think even in a split scenario, it's a return of baseball permanently to Montreal," Bronfman said.

The 2-year-old girl who was struck by a foul ball at Minute Maid Park on May 29 suffered a skull fracture and had a seizure, a spokesperson for the family said in a release issued Wednesday. The girl also had subdural bleeding, brain contusions, brain edema and an abnormal electroencephalogram, and is on medication to prevent further seizures.

The family has retained attorney Richard Mithoff to advise about the incident, according to the release. No lawsuit has been filed, but Mithoff detailed the injuries in a letter to the Houston Astros organization advising it that he and family attorney Steve Polotko had been retained.

"The Astros' risk management representative reached out to the family, and now that the family is represented by counsel, I wanted to let the other side know that I am involved so that they can get in touch with me," Mithoff told the Houston Chronicle. According to the release, the child was hospitalized for several days, and her progress will be reassessed in July. The family has requested privacy beyond that information, Mithoff said. The release Wednesday was the first time the extent of her injuries had been revealed.

The incident brought further attention to the issue of expanding safety netting at ballparks. In the past week, the Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers have announced plans to extend safety netting from foul pole to foul pole, with the Nationals saying the work will be done at their ballpark over the All-Star break next month.

According to a survey commissioned by ESPN last week, Major League Baseball fans support installation of more safety netting at ballparks by an overwhelming majority, 78 percent to 22 percent.

The survey was commissioned after the incident in Houston. The girl was injured when she was struck by a foul ball off the bat of Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. during a game between Chicago and the Astros. On Sunday, a woman at Dodger Stadium was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests after being struck in the head by a foul ball.

Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle was one of many players who called for baseball to address the issue after the incident in Houston, saying fans' safety should be a top priority.

"I am glad the Washington Nationals have decided to lead the charge on this issue," Doolittle said. "Players want fans to be able to safely enjoy the game without fearing for their safety."

Since 1913, every ticket to a major league game has included a disclaimer saying the holder of the ticket assumes all the risks inherent to the game. Called the "Baseball Rule," it has made it nearly impossible for fans injured at games to successfully sue teams or MLB.

Following recommendations from MLB, by the start of the 2018 season all 30 teams had expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts after several fans were injured by foul balls in 2017.

Earlier this month, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, reacting to the incident in Houston, said he did not expect teams to make changes to the netting around ballparks during the season, but said he expected conversations to continue about whether the netting should be extended.

NEW YORK -- Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton went back on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a sprained right knee, barely a week after returning from a series of setbacks that kept him out of action for almost three months.

New York manager Aaron Boone said it's likely Stanton will be sidelined for longer than 10 days.

"It'll be more than that," Boone said. "That's when the reevaluation kind of happens."

The oft-injured outfielder was hurt this time on a headfirst slide against Toronto on Tuesday night. The 2017 NL MVP was not in the lineup Wednesday.

Stanton has played only nine games this season, having missed significant time with a torn biceps and strains in his shoulder and calf. He is hitting .290 with 1 home run and 7 RBIs.

"Frustrated for him knowing how much he's worked to get back and kind of the couple of setbacks that he's had along the way in getting back," Boone said. "Felt like he was starting to get in the groove a little bit with us. You got to deal with it and hopefully get him right here to get back."

Two hours before Wednesday's game, Boone said there was "no new injury at all." He said he found out about the sprained posterior cruciate ligament after his pregame availability.

Outfielder Mike Tauchman was called up from Triple-A to replace Stanton on the 25-man roster and traveled with the Yankees to London for their two-game series against the Boston Red Sox that begins Saturday. Tauchman hit .212 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs in 37 games for New York this season.

With the clubhouse filled with travel bags, stuffed with each player's belongings for the trip to England, Stanton's was left eerily empty on the floor in front of his locker.

Stanton is in the fifth season of a $325 million, 13-year contract he signed with Miami after the 2014 season. The Marlins traded him to the Yankees after he won the MVP award.

Teammate Aaron Judge just hopes that Stanton is healthy for the home stretch with the AL East leaders.

"The knee, that's a tough one," Judge said. "They're freak injuries that happen."

Martina Navratilova says the struggles faced by trans people are too often underestimated and wants sport to change its rules so trans athletes are not excluded.

The 18-time Grand Slam tennis champion was criticised earlier this year after using the word "cheating" when discussing whether trans women should be allowed to compete in women's sport.

She later apologised but was dropped as an ambassador by LGBT sport body Athlete Ally.

Now the 62-year-old has made a BBC documentary exploring the issue.

For the film, The Trans Women Athlete Dispute with Martina Navratilova, she meets and discusses trans women in sport with a range of athletes, trans women and scientists.

"What I have come to realise, the biggest thing for me, is just the level of difficulty trans people go through cannot be underestimated," she says.

"The fight for equality and recognition is just huge."

She tells Trans Media Watch founder Helen Belcher: "I hurt people with my comments - that bothers me. I campaigned all my life for LGBT rights."

Later she adds: "That being said, still for me the most important thing in sports - and we have to remember trans rights and elite sport are two different things, although of course they are connected - what's the right way to set the rules so that everybody feels like they have a fighting chance?"

As well as hearing the experiences of trans athletes, she explores the science to find out whether trans athletes have a competitive advantage in women's sport.

"It feels to me that it's impossible to come to any real conclusions or write any meaningful rules until more research is done," she says.

"But for now I think we need to include as many transgender athletes as possible within elite sports while keeping as level a playing field as possible."

Sociologist Ellis Cashmore tells Navratilova sport will have to change in the same way other parts of society are adapting to gender fluidity - but admits he has been struggling "to figure an alternative".

"I don't think women's sport will look the same in 10 years' time," he explains.

"I think a great many sports are going to have to come to terms with the fact they are going to have to mix sports - in other words, dissolve the binary completely and just say they're open."

"Society has changed so much. The rules certainly need to evolve," Navratilova agrees.

"If you don't adapt, you've got problems. So we'll keep adapting and try to find a happy way forward."

The Trans Women Athlete Dispute with Martina Navratilova will be shown on BBC One at 21:00 BST on Wednesday, 26 June and will then be available on BBC iPlayer.