Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep's future in this World Cup is in doubt after he suffered a hard blow to his bowling hand at training on Sunday.

Pradeep was bowling to Kusal Perera in the nets, when the batsman hit a ball at Pradeep's head. The bowler put his right hand up to his face in self-defence, and suffered a blow to a finger. Team-mates who gathered around appeared to be concerned about the seriousness of the injury. Pradeep himself was in visible pain and was subsequently taken to hospital.

An injury to Pradeep will be a serious blow to Sri Lanka's World Cup hopes, with the fast bowler having bowled the decisive spell in Sri Lanka's only victory of the tournament so far, against Afghanistan. He took 4 for 31 and took home the Player of the Match award.

Pradeep has been injury-prone in general, and has often been ruled out for months on account of hamstring complaints, but this being an external blow will particularly frustrate him, especially as it has come at a time when he was in good bowling rhythm.

Sri Lanka have a replacement ready if Pradeep is forced out of the World Cup. Kasun Rajitha, the 26-year-old right-arm quick, has been traveling with the squad as a standby player.

Follow the action from the latest round of County Championship matches here with our live blog. Send your messages in to the team via Twitter using the hashtag #countycricketlive to join the conversation. If the blog doesn't appear, please refresh the page.

Dominic Thiem is returning to the French Open men's singles final. After fighting off two major match comebacks from Novak Djokovic, including one where the Austrian gave up a commanding 4-1 lead in the final set, Thiem won 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. It was Thiem's first five-setter at Roland Garros. He faces the King of Clay, Rafa Nadal, in Sunday's final.

FRAN FRASCHILLA ARRIVED arrived at the 2008 Paul Pierce skill development camp at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, waiting to be impressed.

"We had about 25 kids there," said Fraschilla, the ESPN analyst and former college basketball coach, "and I don't want to look at the list of kids and see where they are ranked. I'm going to coach the guys in the drills -- we had a two-hour workout -- and try to make up my mind after the first workout who can play, and who is better than who, or whatever."

With that in mind, Fraschilla put 25 of the best high school wing players in the country through their paces. And, before long, one of them stood out among the rest.

"After the first morning, this kid was always at the front of the line," Fraschilla said. "He never said anything in the drills, but he was a ferocious competitor. When I asked about him, they said he was a local kid from the Inland Empire [a region that begins about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles], and we wanted to give him a chance.

"He competed the entire three days and didn't say a word. I don't remember a conversation with him. ... I don't even remember what his voice was at the time."

More than a decade later, the question remains: Who is Kawhi Leonard?

KAWHI LEONARD IS is a man of few words.

His coaches at San Diego State learned that quickly as they were trying to recruit him -- and struggling to get him to return their phone calls.

"He was fun to talk to," said Justin Hutson, one of the assistant coaches on Steve Fisher's staff who was tasked with recruiting Leonard. "But he just wasn't easy to get ahold of.

"Once you got him on the phone, he was engaging, would talk to you. But you just had to be persistent."

Hutson, now the head coach at Fresno State, would regularly get in his car and drive the roughly 100 miles north from San Diego to Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, to see Leonard practice and play.

Eventually, as Leonard's star began to rise -- he was named California's Mr. Basketball after his senior season -- major conference schools began calling.

"I think he thought we were sincere in what we were saying and how we were behaving," Hutson said.

"It's very simple. He wants to win basketball games, and work hard. He's a loyal guy, and I think that was important to him that we were sincere."

Leonard boiled it down even more.

"I always thought, even just growing up, go with the people that love you the most," he said. "Don't go to somebody that doesn't want you.

"San Diego State was recruiting me, and one of my friends was going there, too, so that was a big part of me going there. And, them sticking around, that was that much better. ... I wanted to go to a school that loved me."

Leonard also wanted to go to a school that provided him a path to the next level. During Leonard's senior year of high school, the Aztecs had a senior wing named Lorrenzo Wade, who was being discussed as a possible NBA second-round pick.

Though Wade ultimately wasn't drafted, it was proof enough to Leonard that the school would give him a true opportunity to chase his ambitious dreams.

"I knew you could go to the NBA from the school, and that's all I wanted," Leonard said. "To go to a school where I could play right away, show my talent and be able to be looked at by scouts."

KAWHI LEONARD IS a man with a single goal.

It's the one underlying principle that has driven him since high school: He never will be accused of not working hard enough.

"I always used to be outside playing, watching the games, trying to work on my moves," Leonard told ESPN. "I was in ninth grade or 10th grade, and [the other players] were seniors, and they were trying to get into Division I. But they started working out too late, so they were looking at D-2. I just never wanted to be in that predicament, where I was scrambling last minute."

That wouldn't be a problem for Leonard, who eventually began to think about bigger goals than Division I basketball. By the time he was a junior in high school, Leonard was confident he could eventually play in the NBA.

"I was 6-6, I could shoot the ball, and I wasn't playing the post just because I was big," Leonard said, surgically ticking off his skills at the time.

And, all the while, he was scanning the competition around him to see how he measured up. As he was preparing for his senior year, another hot prospect from a rival high school, Malcolm Lee, was preparing to begin his college career at UCLA.

"He was better than me at the time," Leonard said. "But I just knew that, if I worked, I could get there."

And among those who knew Leonard best, there was never any doubt that he would put in the work.

"It's very simple. He wants to win basketball games, and work hard." Justin Hutson on Kawhi Leonard

"[He was] self-disciplined," said Clint Parks, Leonard's longtime trainer. "You never had to be like, 'Hey, you needed to be at the gym. Is this important [to you]?' I never had to say that. I don't know if someone else did, but I can't imagine it. Nothing came before getting better."

Leonard was always sizing up the next rung of competition. The Paul Pierce camp where he crossed paths with Fraschilla offered him a singular opportunity to separate himself from the pack. The smaller roster of attendees meant everyone watching would be forced to see how each participant performed.

"It was good, just being able to be in front of NBA scouts who could see what your game was about," Leonard told ESPN. "There wasn't 100 players there, so they could really see you play, and see how you play against the best players."

For Leonard, those best players were the other local stars who served as a measuring stick. There was Lee, the nearby rival whom Leonard saw as a marker to chase down. Ditto for James Harden, another Southern California product who would go on to be the No. 3 pick in the 2009 NBA draft. At first, though, Leonard's goals were far more modest than trying to replicate Harden's rise.

"I just always looked at the last guy on the end of the bench, and thought I could be better than him," Leonard said. "I thought I always had a chance."

Others, though, knew Leonard could be more.

"He was an NBA player when he was a freshman in college," Trevor Ariza told ESPN.

KAWHI LEONARD IS not afraid to test himself against the best.

When he was working out at San Diego State in 2010, between his freshman and sophomore seasons, he got word that Ariza -- then firmly entrenched as an NBA player, and already having won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers -- would be working out on campus.

So Leonard sought out Ariza, who had come to work out with his trainer, former Aztecs guard Tony Bland, and asked to take part. Ariza agreed, and found himself immediately impressed with how Leonard handled himself.

"Man, my first impression of him was, 'This kid is here to work, period,'" Ariza told ESPN with a laugh. "No matter what."

That summer in San Diego, Ariza was putting in plenty of work. Every day, he would get in the gym twice -- once early in the morning, and then again in the evening. It was a grueling schedule, one Ariza thought would put him above and beyond anyone else.

There was only one problem: Leonard.

"I prided myself on being there first person in all the time," Ariza said. "And, when I got there, he was already there. He'd done everything he needed to do, and he was ready to work out again. ... When I saw the work ethic he had, I knew he was going to be special."

Leonard was motivated to show up early to test himself against an NBA player. And Ariza wasn't just any NBA player. He was someone Leonard respected -- but also someone who didn't overwhelm the young forward on the court.

"Trevor was big for me in college," Leonard said. "Playing against him, I just felt like I held my own at the time.

"I probably won a game. I don't remember. ... [but] I was fortunate he would let me work out with him."

Leonard might not remember, but Ariza certainly did.

"He was winning one-on-one drills that we were playing. He didn't win them all, but he wanted to," Ariza said with a laugh. "He went as hard as he could every single time. ... He has that edge to him that you need to be the caliber of player that he is."

KAWHI LEONARD IS still improving.

When Leonard was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2011 draft and immediately traded to the San Antonio Spurs, he was seen as a player with a nice future as a defensive stopper on the wing.

"Just how long his arms were and how big his hands were, like everybody else," Danny Green told ESPN with a smile, when asked what stood out about Leonard when he first met him. "He's like a science experiment.

"At first, nobody could gauge or guess [what he'd become]. Nobody could predict that. Nobody looked at him as something special."

The first signs of something different about Leonard, though, came right after the Spurs got their hands on him. With an NBA work stoppage rapidly approaching, there were only seven days when the Spurs could work with him before he wouldn't be allowed to have contact with the team.

So Leonard spent as much of the week between the draft and the lockout as possible working with Chip Engelland, the Spurs' famed shooting coach; the knock on Leonard coming into the draft had been that he struggled to make shots consistently. By the time Leonard returned to San Antonio after the 161-day lockout ended, he had completely remade his shot. After making just 29% of his 3-point attempts from the shorter college line as a sophomore, he shot 37.6% from beyond the arc as a rookie, fifth best among rookies who attempted at least 100 3-pointers that season.

Things quickly escalated from there, to the point where Leonard has grown into arguably the best player in the world -- one capable of impacting games at both ends from anywhere on the court, as he did to start the third quarter of Game 4 of the 2019 NBA Finals by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers over Draymond Green, sandwiched around stealing the ball from him.

"I think maybe a couple years ago, early in his career when he first started coming into his own, there was a lot of, 'Where the f--- did this come from?'" Danny Green said. "Coming into the league he was a defensive guy and he became a one-on-one offensive guy who could shoot the ball from 3.

"When he started emerging, I think teams were like, 'Wow.'"

Leonard's 36-point performance Friday night was his 14th 30-point game this postseason. Only Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have had more. It's impressive company for someone who wasn't seen as a scorer when he came into the league.

"You got to give him his credit," Draymond Green said. "He imposed his will on the game, and all the other guys followed him. So I'm not sure if it will ever look like those other guys, but he gets the job done."

As for how he gets it done, Parks has a simple explanation.

"I always tell people, 'Kawhi Leonard has been the truth,'" Parks said. "His story is about his work ethic, if you ask me. That's what will always stand out about him."

KAWHI LEONARD IS a fun guy.

That was his description of himself -- one he immediately followed up with "I love the game of basketball" -- when introduced to the Toronto media in September. New Balance launched a "Fun Guy" campaign after signing Leonard earlier this season, and the unusual laugh that ended his answer at that media session has since become the stuff of viral legend.

But those who know Leonard away from the court will unanimously say he's far funnier than given credit for.

"There's no question he has a dry sense of humor," Hutson said. "That describes him very well."

Raptors teammate Kyle Lowry backed up that sentiment.

"He's funny as s---," Lowry said. "He's got a dry sense of humor. He's got a Vince Vaughn-like [sense of humor]."

This statement was later relayed to Leonard.

"Vince Vaughn? Who's that?" Leonard asked.

One of the stars of "Old School" is described to Leonard, who shows a glimpse of recognition.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I know who you're talking about," Leonard said, breaking out in a smile.

Then, he pauses.

"I don't know. I guess people describe you better than yourself, right?"

It's one of the oddest, most memorable moments in the colorful 57-year history of the New York Mets.

On the night of June 9, 1999, beleaguered manager Bobby Valentine was ejected in the 12th inning of an eventual 14-inning win. He went to the clubhouse but came back down the runway to the dugout in a disguise of sunglasses and a fake mustache made of eye black.

Valentine, now the executive director of athletics at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, recently shared his recollections with William Weinbaum for an E:60 "Tell Me a Story" segment on the 20th anniversary of that singular Shea Stadium episode.

Those were stressful times. Three of my coaches had just been fired a few days before, and at the press conference, I predicted that we'd go 40-15 in the next 55 games. I said if we didn't do that, I would quit as the New York Mets' manager.

This was in that string of games that meant so much to my life and my career.

It was extra innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, a 3-3 game. Shannon Stewart, a real fast runner, is on first base, and I decided to call a pitchout.

Pat Mahomes, one of my best athletes, was on the mound -- he was 8-0 for me in 1999. I called the pitchout because of his big leg kick.

Mike Piazza is my catcher. He stepped out for the pitchout, caught the ball and threw it to second. Randy Marsh, the umpire behind home plate, was calling the play off. The reason? A "catcher's balk." [Catcher's interference, officially, giving the batter first base and Stewart second base.]

Now, I have read the rulebook for all my life, but I had never seen nor heard that play being enforced in a game, so I came out to talk with Randy. I asked him if I could get thrown out for what I was thinking and he said no. Then I told him what I was thinking and he threw me out. Well, I went up into the clubhouse and two of my favorites, Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura, asked me what the heck I was doing up in the clubhouse when I was needed down in the dugout. I said, "I can't go down there."

Robin threw me a hat, Orel threw me some sunglasses and said, "Just put these things on, take off your uniform and go down to the dugout." And I said, "Guys, it's a night game. I can't wear sunglasses down in the dugout."

They said, "Do it!" So I walk in the training room to look in the mirror, pulled the hat down a little and then looked down and saw the stickers that you put under your eyes on a day game. And I took one sticker and put it here [to form the right half of a "mustache"], took another sticker and put it there [for the left side of the 'stache]. I looked at them and they said no one will ever know. I went down to the dugout, and Orel was supposed to be standing on the top step, shielding me from the umpires and the other team.

What we didn't realize was that the third-base camera up in the second deck had the view of me in the dugout. The announcers saw me.

Luckily, we won the game almost immediately, so there wasn't a long time that I was there, when I came out on the field and slapped everyone five.

The umpires laughed, but I was fined $5,000 and [received] a two-game suspension -- we won both of those games.

I really didn't think there would be repercussions. I thought that it was a normal thing, guys would relax a little more. I didn't expect to be out there long, and I don't think I was.

I think people think that I'm kind of kinder and gentler, the guy who doesn't mind levity and doesn't mind going into the clubhouse and coming out with this disguise so that the guys can smile and feel a little better about themselves. At least, I hope that's what they think.

It was made a big thing because things were kind of big at that time. I was supposed to be fired.

I think I did a lot of things in my life that were kind of important, but probably the one line that I get asked the most is, "Hey, where's your mustache and glasses?" And that's every other day.

It's the only thing that has transcended me from generation to generation. I've seen it a hundred times and I always say, "Orel, why didn't you block out that camera? You owe me five grand." The backstory is we went 40 and 15 -- and you can look that up.

Valentine's Mets had lost eight games in a row and were 27-28 when three of his coaches were fired in June. But they finished in second place in the National League East and won the wild card in a tiebreaker playoff for a 97-66 season record.

Valentine says the nearly 4-year-old son of pitcher Pat Mahomes was also in the clubhouse the night Valentine donned his disguise. But when ESPN recently asked the son -- better known as NFL MVP/Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes -- he said he was very young then and doesn't remember.

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. – Chris Windom finally put six weeks’ worth of bad luck behind him on Saturday night by storming to his first NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series victory at Lawrenceburg Speedway.

Windom started fifth but marched to the front in a hurry, using a lap-seven slide job to wrest the lead away from his Clauson-Marshall Racing teammate Tyler Courtney and then masterfully holding off a hard-charging Chad Boat in the final laps.

The Canton, Ill., veteran led the last 24 circuits around the three-eighths-mile oval uncontested for a win that he said has been “right at the top of my priority list.”

“It’s pretty amazing to stand here and know that we’ve finally got a USAC midget win under our belts,” said Windom. “I’m kind of at a loss for words. The emotions are pretty high. I haven’t run a lot of midget stuff in the last few years, but I’ve been at it for a long time and Clauson-Marshall Racing has been working their butts off trying to get me to victory lane. I know it’s just as sweet for them as it is for me.”

Though Windom started fifth after a top-two qualifying effort earlier in the night, it was another NOS Energy Drink-sponsored driver in Shane Golobic who led the field to the green flag at the start.

Golobic edged out Courtney on the opening lap by .005 seconds, but Courtney was quick to take over with a deep slider in turn one on the second round, moving out into the lead with the No. 7bc.

Though he pushed his advantage out to two seconds in two laps after grabbing the top spot, Courtney’s reign was interrupted by a spinning Andrew Layser in turn three with five laps complete.

That led to a restart in which Windom rocketed from fourth to second in one lap, making a major move stick as he passed both Cannon McIntosh and Shane Golobic before going to work on Courtney.

Turn one was the place where Windom made his move, dropping a bomb to the inside of the race track as he swept inside of Courtney, got a run down the backstretch and cleared the series point leader through the third and fourth turns.

Windom never looked back after that.

“When I got past Courtney, it was really about being in the right place at the right time,” said Windom. “He messed up on the cushion, and I’d just hit the bottom perfectly on that lap to be able to throw a slider on him in (turn) one and get the lead.

“That worked out, kind of out of luck, but I knew we had a car that could win all race long.”

The first challenge to Windom’s dominance came with 14 to go, moments after Seavey cleared Courtney for second by railing the top side of the race track. Seavey chopped Windom’s lead down under a half a second, but jumped the turn-four cushion coming to 10 to go and fell back as a result.

Seavey was gifted a second chance, however, when Courtney slowed from third with a flat right-rear tire at the eight to go mark. That stacked the field up behind Windom, but he rocketed away on the ensuing restart as 16-year-old McIntosh went to work on the low side trying to take second from Seavey.

Seavey held that challenge off and closed back in, getting to Windom’s tail tank with three laps left and dropping a massive slider into turn three in an attempt to take the race lead away.

The move worked – with Seavey ahead by a nose at the line on lap 28 – but a caution was called at the same moment for a slowing Michael Pickens, negating Seavey’s pass and putting Windom back in front.

Windom didn’t let Seavey have another chance at him after that, diving deep into turn one on the final restart as a defensive move and holding off all comers to win by .607 seconds.

“Just before the last restart, Rizzy (crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) came out and told me to get up on the wheel, so I knew Seavey was probably ripping the top,” noted Windom. “I had to slide myself there to kill his momentum, because you could throw big sliders into turn one and I didn’t want to risk him getting that kind of a run on me.

“After that, I hadn’t been to the top in (turns) three and four all race, but I went up there with a prayer to try and take Seavey’s line away and it worked,” he added. “It’s just awesome to be here.”

Though he restarted in sixth with three to go, Boat came forward to steal second from Seavey on the last lap, with Seavey crossing third and extending his Indiana Midget Week points lead to 36 ahead of the finale at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday.

Tanner Thorson came from 17th on the grid to finish fourth and garner KSE/Prosource Hard Charger honors, with McIntosh completing the top five after missing the last two Indiana Midget Week features.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

FORT WORTH, Texas – Team Penske prides itself on perfection, strategy and execution.

The winningest team in NTT IndyCar Series history used all three as Josef Newgarden won Saturday night’s DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Team Penske President Tim Cindric called Newgarden into the pits during a caution period on lap 137 after Zach Veach turned the backstretch into a Slalom Course with his spin. Newgarden was ninth at the time and Cindric called his driver into the pit for fresh tires and full fuel.

Although he lost a few spots of track position, he ran faster laps than any other driver on the track by 8-10 mph.

That allowed Newgarden to be in position to leap-frog the field when he made his final pit stop on lap 198. The team executed with a very quick pit stop so that by the time the field cycled through its stops, Newgarden was the leader on lap 203.

He remained in front for the remainder of the 248-lap race to score his first win at Texas Motor Speedway, his first win on a superspeedway and the 13th victory of his career.

It also allowed Newgarden to increase his lead in the NTT IndyCar Series standings to 25 points over second-place finisher Alexander Rossi, who tried several times late in the race to make the pass for the lead, only to not have enough room in turn one.

“It’s these guys (on the crew), man, they keep putting me out front (and) I’m just trying to get it done at the end,” Newgarden said in victory lane. “I knew we had a rocket ship and it was all about getting in the front. We were better in the front than we were in the back. We knew if we could get some position, we would be OK. Team Chevy doing a great job for us. A good day to capitalize on some points. These guys put me in position so it’s all up to them.”

Newgarden credited Rossi for driving a competitive and fair race. Rossi started 11th and finished second by .8164-of-a-second.

“He was fast,” Newgarden said of Rossi. “Honestly, he ran a great race. Both him and Scott Dixon ran me really fair at the end. It was hard to get away on the restart; that was my biggest concern was getting a jump getting going again.

“(Rossi) was good, man, he was just hard to hold off. He was so good in dirty air. I saw him earlier in the race and how good he was behind people. I knew it was going to be tough, really tough, but you saw the speed I had on the front stretch to hold him off, so thanks to Team Chevy. It was a good day in Texas, man. I’m glad we finally figured this place out. It’s been a while.

“We’ve been close here before, not necessarily at the end of the race. I know we’ve had good cars here before and have not been able to make it happen and one thing happens or another. To just finally figure it out has been great.”

The first 135 laps of the race were run without incident, except for pole sitter Takuma Sato, who took out one of his pit crew members, Chris Welch, when he slid into his pits. Welch was taken to the infield care center where he was checked and released.

The incident ruined Sato’s chances at contending for a victory. In addition to falling two laps down because of the extra time in the pits, he was issued a stop and go penalty by IndyCar Race Control. Sato finished 15th, three laps down.

James Hinchcliffe was having a fantastic race, contending for a top-five finished when he crashed in turn two while running fifth on lap 219.

The biggest crash of the race came when leading race contenders Dixon and rookie Colton Herta crashed after making contact in turn three on Lap 229. Herta went low into the turn and Dixon forced him below the yellow line. Herta’s car broke loose from the track and spun into Dixon, taking both out of the race.

Newgarden was able to fend off Rossi’s charge at the end. Newgarden was the only Chevrolet driver in the top five. The rest were Hondas led by second-place Rossi, who was followed by Graham Rahal, rookie Santino Ferrucci and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

OXFORD, Maine – Ray Christian III raced to his first Oxford Plains Speedway super late model triumph Saturday night, topping the Budweiser Championship Series stock car racing card.

Christian was runner-up to current points leader Curtis Gerry last Saturday night and followed that up with a third-place finish in Sunday’s Pro All Stars Series 150-lapper. His first victory made it three straight podium finishes for the Nutmeg State invader at the historic Route 26 oval track.

Ryan Deane led the race briefly before Christian took command.  Deane raced to an impressive runner-up finish, his sixth top-five run in seven starts thus far in 2019.  Shawn Martin spent most of the race in the outside groove and also posted the fastest lap of the race en route to a third-place finish.

Calvin Rose Jr. battled Christian for the early lead and set the pace for several laps before eventually crossing the finish line in fourth place.  Strong veteran Tracy Gordon filled out the top-five rundown.  The 50-lap super late model race went caution-free.

Jordan Russell drove to his first Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Street Stock feature victory, leading all 30 laps to claim the big trophy.  Russell’s score was not without challenge, as 2017 division champ Billy Childs Jr. spent most of the race right on the rear bumper of Russell’s winning mount.

Zach Bowie provided the stiffest test to Russell’s supremacy in this race, claiming runner-up honors ahead of Childs.  Skip Stanley outdueled defending champion Matt Dufault for fourth.

Brian Hiscock wired the Bandits field, leading all 20 laps to win by a comfortable margin over his teammate and step-brother, Tyler Green. Chad Wills ended up in third place, followed by Dean Jordan and Dustin Salley, the defending division champion and current points leader.

Kyle Glover prevailed in another wild 20-lap main event for the Figure 8 racers.  It was the first win for Glover in the class.  Glover took the lead away from points leader Larry Lizotte and outran all rivals to the checkered flag.  Lizotte was the runner-up, with third-place spoils earned by Greg Durgin, bouncing back from early-race misfortune.  Eric Hodgkins and Dale Lawrence rounded out the top five.

Owen Stuart won his second Rookie division main event of the season. Stuart prevailed in a race-long battle versus point leader Brady Childs, who claimed runner-up honors.  Sophie Green earned third-place hardware, ahead of Maddy Herrick and Cole Binette.