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BPL crisis: Rajshahi dues to be cleared by February 10, sports ministry says
She promised a five-star holiday - and Danielle Collins has delivered.
The American, 31, became a pantomime villain at last month's Australian Open after being jeered by fans throughout her second-round victory over home favourite Destanee Aiava.
She responded by thanking the fans for "paying my bills" and said the A$290,000 (147,500) she received for the win would be used on a "five-star trip".
She was as good as her word, posting a video on social media, external on Sunday showing her enjoying a luxury holiday with friends at a resort in the Bahamas.
The video ended with Collins slapping her backside - as she did to rile the crowd against Aiava.
Collins' run at Melbourne ended with a third-round defeat by compatriot Madison Keys, when she was again heckled by the crowd.
She said after that match: "You can't please everybody.
"I've gotten to the point where I really don't care any more about what people who aren't important to me think.
"I don't care what some guy sitting in his basement is writing about me. I'm just trying to enjoy my life and have fun."
Chile lose as Garin refuses to play after collision
Chile lost their Davis Cup qualifier against Belgium when Cristian Garin refused to continue playing after being knocked over by opponent Zizou Bergs.
At a changeover during their singles match in Hasselt, a celebrating and leaping Bergs struck him in the face with his right shoulder.
Bergs apologised immediately and Garin was cleared to play after receiving medical attention.
Bergs was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct but Chile called for him to be disqualified.
Garin was given three successive time violations for refusing to play, resulting in a game penalty to hand Berg a 6-3 4-6 7-5 victory and ensure Chile won the tie 3-1.
'People think we hate each other' - Prendergast on Crowley battle
After the retirement of Johnny Sexton following the 2023 Rugby World Cup, there has been debate over whether Leinster fly-half Prendergast or Munster's Crowley would become the long-term successor to one of Ireland's most influential players.
Prendergast says he only feels "internal pressure" as he looks to cement his place as Ireland's starting fly-half, and added it would be "awkward" if he didn't get on with Crawley and Ciaran Frawley, who is another option at 10.
"The only pressure I feel is what is inside the group and what is inside me.
"Obviously you want to be the starting 10 for Ireland and Leinster, but I wouldn't be listening to too much outside noise.
"It's internal pressure, you want to be starting but there's not too much of a rivalry with us. We work quite well together."
Prendergast added that the trio do kicking sessions together on the team's off days, and that will only help them progress together.
"It would be a bit awkward if we didn't get along. We all kick in the same car to kicking and travel together.
"We all get on very well and give ideas in training or in meetings or stuff like that.
"It's good to learn off each other. You would love to get infinite reps in training but you can't. They are then getting reps and you can learn off their experience on a certain play or situation, so it's very good."
BPL gets a boost from arrival of eliminated ILT20 players
ITTF-Oceania Cup 2025: World Cup Qualification Battles Set to Ignite Melbourne
The ITTF-Oceania Cup 2025 is set to transform Melbournes LOOPS Table Tennis venue into a critical battleground for table tennis players on 15-16 February. This two-day tournament represents a pivotal qualification event that will determine Oceanias representatives for the prestigious ITTF Singles World Cup, to be held from 14-21 April 2025.
The tournament will feature the Mens Singles and Womens Singles events. For the Main Singles Events, the qualification system is designed to test the players skill and consistency. The tournament begins with two round-robin groups of four players. This initial stage will be crucial, as only three players from each group will advance to the knockout stage.
Group winners will earn a significant advantage, receiving a direct bye to the semifinals. Meanwhile, the second and third-place finishers will battle it out in quarterfinal matches, adding an extra layer of excitement and unpredictability. The semifinals and subsequent medal matches will not only crown continental champions but also determine ITTF Singles World Cup qualification. To add to the drama, all matches will be played in a best-of-seven format.
Players from Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and Vanuatu will compete, representing the diverse table tennis talent of the Oceania region. Defending champions Finn Luu (Mens Singles) and Yangzi Liu (Womens Singles) will be among the top contenders fighting for ITTF Singles World Cup qualification.
Admission is free, and fans can catch all the action live on the ITTF-Oceania YouTube channel. With ITTF Singles World Cup spots on the line, every match promises intense competition and high-stakes drama.
Event Details:
- Date: 15-16 February 2025
- Venue: LOOPS Table Tennis, Melbourne, Australia
- Admission: Free for all spectators
Five talking points from opening Six Nations games
Ireland are aiming to become the first team to win three successive men's titles since Italy joined the expanded Six Nations tournament in 2000.
Under interim head coach Simon Easterby, with Andy Farrell preparing to lead the British and Irish Lions in Australia this summer, they produced a fine second-half display to ensure that quest began with a victory.
"If I'm Ireland, I'm probably quite enjoying everyone saying we're maybe past our peak," said Barclay. "It was 27-10 realistically, England came away and scored a couple of [late] tries.
"Ireland weren't at their best either and they won convincingly, that's the reality.
"They've got serious quality coming back in so if you write Ireland off at this stage, do it at your peril."
Ireland face Scotland away next, and Bowe said: "Murrayfield is a difficult place to go, it's always really confrontational. If Scotland can get parity up front to unleash the backs they have, they are really dangerous.
"But I'm really excited about this Irish team, particularly their performance in the second half - to weather the storm from England, to be put under the cosh, maybe question themselves at times, and to be able to find a way out."
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Racing on a tight, quarter-mile oval almost guarantees every race car in the NASCAR Cup Series field is bound to have its fair share of battle scars.
However, that wasnt the case for Ryan Blaney for much of the 200-lap Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Despite starting shotgun on the field, the Team Penske driver methodically climbed his way to 10th by the races halftime break with little to no damage to his race car.
While hed endure contact in the second half of the race, much like every driver in the 23-car feature field did, the driver of the No. 12 Ford again climbed to the runner-up spot as he hounded the rear bumper of leader Chase Elliott.
Despite constant pressure, Blaney was forced to settle for second.
I got to 10th before the break and I kind of got to the top five relatively quick a couple of restarts went my way and by the time I got to second I saved a pretty good bit even to get to second because I knew it might go the whole way, and then it was just kind of like a game between the 9 (Elliott) and myself like who can save more right-rear tire, Blaney said.
I just didnt quite have enough to lean on there at the end. I started pushing like with 25 to go and I just didnt have enough. I was like, Uh oh. I needed some help by lappers and I just never really could get there.
I kind of just didnt have enough to lean on, but it was fun coming from the back and just not quite having enough, but its always fun when you can move forward like that.
While the Clash certainly had its chaotic moments, Blaney enjoyed the combination of tight racing and stadium-like atmosphere.
From the crowd yesterday that hung out for three hours from the modifieds to when we first got out on the track is a lot of commitment, and there was a lot of energy on the frontstretch before we got going there and thats what its all about, Blaney said.
It was really, really cool to be here and Im happy that it was a good show for everybody. Im looking forward to hopefully coming back next year.
I dont see why you wouldnt come back, so I hope everyone had a good time.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Pole winner Chase Elliott held off a dramatic charge from Ryan Blaney to win Sunday nights Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in front of a teeming, vociferous sellout crowd at the historic quarter-mile.
Adroitly working lapped traffic in the closing stages of the 200-lap season-opening exhibition race, Elliott crossed the finish line 1.333 seconds ahead of Blaney, who started last among the 23 competitors on a driver points provisional.
Elliott claimed his first victory in the Clash, which came to Bowman Gray after a three-year stint in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet reveled in the NASCAR Cup Series return to the iconic short track after an absence of 54 years.
This environment is special, said Elliott, who led 171 laps, including the first 96 before surrendering the lead to eventual third-place finisher Denny Hamlin. This is a place that has a deep history in NASCAR. I think they deserve this event, truthfully.
I hope we didnt disappoint. It was fun for me at least, and well hopefully come back here one day.
Hamlin led twice for 28 laps, but faded after Elliott retook the top spot from him on Lap 126. And when Blaney slipped past Hamlins Toyota on Lap 147, it became a two-driver race.
But Blaneys car tightened up in the late going, preventing the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford from challenging for the win. Blaney thought better of making an overly aggressive move on the series seven-time most popular driver.
Im not going to bulldog into him and get chased out of here with pitchforks, Blaney quipped I just didnt quite have enough right rear at the end to make a move on him.
Joey Logano finished fourth, followed by Bubba Wallace, who advanced from his 14th-place starting position. Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.
Hamlin rued the final restart on Lap 121, after the seventh caution for Brad Keselowskis spin off Wallaces bumper.
I just didnt do very well on that restart there, and kind of lost the bottom, and Chase took advantage of it, Hamlin said. Once you get the lead, its a lot easier to hang on to it.
I thought that they were just a little better that second half than we were, along with the 12 (Blaney) was as well. We just have to get a little bit better, but overall, a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota.
In the last chance qualifier that determined positions 21 and 22 in the main event, Kyle Larson charged from the 10th starting position and survived nine cautions to win the 75-lap event and advance to the Clash.
On Lap 72, Larson grabbed the lead from Josh Berry, who was making his first competitive start for Wood Brothers Racing at the track where team patriarch and NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood secured all four of his Cup Series victories.
Larson took the top spot for the first time on Lap 30 and led a race-high 36 circuits en route to the win. However, Larsons No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained damage after he surrendered the lead to Erik Jones for a restart on Lap 65.
In a melee moments after racing resumed, Jones spun in a three-wide mishap with Berry and Larson and dropped out of contention.
My car was way better than it was yesterday, said Larson, whose eighth-place finish in his Saturday heat relegated him to the last chance qualifier. That was fun. I was able to get to the front without really getting into too many people.
But then after that long break (for local champion Burt Myers hard wreck on Lap 61), I cycled really tight for that restart and allowed Erik to get in front of me and just kind of lost control of the race at that point. Then, the next restart, it got crazy, and I got a bunch of damage.
Berry, who started 13th, held second to secure the 22nd spot in the Clash. Berry and Larson finished 13th and 17th, respectively, in the main event.
It got pretty rough, Berry said. You hate that it comes to that, but it is what it isits the Madhouse, its Bowman Gray Stadium, its a tight race track, and youre going to run into each other.
Batters find life tougher in the SA20, but is it all the pitches?
One metric that can be used to answer that question is to judge the number of close games, which we'll define as matches that were won by 10 or fewer runs of with six or fewer balls to spare. In the 30 group stage matches in 2025, there have been six tight matches, including one which was DLS affected. In 2024, there were 10 and 2023, nine. Similarly, this season, the number of matches won by a margin of more than 30 runs or six wickets is 20, the same as last year but seven more matches than the 13 in 2023.
Word from those who have had bat in hand is that pitches are more challenging because they are slower, lower and have turned more than usual. Considering that the competition takes place at the same time - early January to early February - every year, it's puzzled many that the surfaces are behaving like it's much later in the summer and explanations have been hard to come by.
Evan Flint, the former head groundsman at both Newlands and the Wanderers, believes the age and continual use of the surfaces across the country is starting to show. "Ideally a pitch should be relaid every 10 to 15 years, however with increasing content it's impossible to do," he told ESPNcricinfo "A new pitch takes 12 to 18 months before it can be used again, so this puts too much strain on the other three or four central pitches."
That could mean that this season proves be an outlier, with the tired surfaces on their last legs, following what has also been a heavy international load. Before the SA20, there were Tests at four of the six venues (last season there were only Tests at two) and white-ball internationals at all six. "A lot of the central pitches were used before the tournament started and used surfaces often get slower over the course of the season," Flint said.
In addition, heavy rain everywhere except the Western Cape added to the challenges at the start of the competition, especially for inexperienced groundsmen. There is a new curator at Kingsmead, and, since Flint left, fairly new curators at the Wanderers and Newlands, which means that there's a lot of learning that takes place on the job and occasionally even those who have been around for a long time, don't get it right. "It's also a difficult job, so even with all the experience it can sometimes go wrong," Flint said.
And that just has not worked as well. The 2025 league phase has seen the lowest percentage of runs scored in boundaries: 53.8%. In 2024, almost 60% of runs came in boundaries and in 2023 it was 56.8%. Fleming also mooted the idea that they may be due to when the games are played.
"One of the things I'm learning from being here a few years is that the starting time is a little bit of a challenge," he said. "A lot of domestic cricket is played through the evening hours where the wickets have played quite well. We've found there's quite a distinct difference between the last part of the day and then moving into the evening, even if the wicket's dry."
Most SA20 games start at 5.30pm local time, which is daylight in the Western Cape, where the sun sets at 8pm in peak summer, twilight in Gqeberha and on the Highveld and just about sunset in Durban. That means some matches are played as mostly day games, others as day-night and the rest as night games.
On double header days, the early match is entirely a day game, starting at 1pm, and on Sundays, the matches start at 3.30pm and end just after sunset. Under lights, the ball tends to come on quicker and there perhaps isn't as much of that as there could be, but match times are set at what's best for broadcasters, not batters and that may sum up how we should actually measure the SA20.
On screens, it is seen as the tournament with some of the best vibes: the crowds are diverse and engaged and have gotten behind their teams, some of the world's biggest names have smiles on their faces when they're playing, and even when they're losing.
In the aftermath of Capitals' 95-run defeat in their final game, the players gathered on the outfield with the families and their former captain Wayne Parnell, had a hit about with Parnell's two young children and looked on as MICT set up a net on the field so they could train for their week in the playoffs.
Capitals felt no need to send either their new coach, Jonathan Trott, or their new captain Kyle Verreynne, to explain their dismal season and instead put up their rookie Keagan Lion-Cachet to the press afterwards. He was all smiles in defeat and "couldn't have asked for anything else," other than to be part of the tournament that has brought cricket in South Africa back to life.
"I've learned so much more than what I knew in the beginning, and cricket is a game where the more you learn the better you get," he said. "The more people share their own experiences and skills with you, the more you learn."
And one thing about the SA20 in its early years, is that it's a tournament that will keep learning.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's correspondent for South Africa and women's cricket
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