AB de Villiers has revealed that he urged current South Africa captain Faf du Plessis not to take up a second stint in county cricket after du Plessis' Kolpak contract with Lancashire expired in 2010.

In an interview with Indian YouTube channel Breakfast with Champions, de Villiers explained how he told du Plessis that he was "pretty close" to national selection at the time he was considering taking up a second deal in England.

"There was a moment when he was thinking of signing for one of the English counties," de Villiers said. "He did call me up, and said what do I think about it? I said listen, not a long time from now there will be a few retirements, a few guys will step down, and you're pretty close. And the coaches and the team are talking about you, so just hang in a little bit longer. And finally the breakthrough came. I'm not taking credit for that, but we did have that conversation. And I'm very happy I was straight up with him."

De Villiers and du Plessis had been childhood rivals, playing for different primary schools, but when they both attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool - also known as 'Affies' - in Pretoria as teenagers they became team-mates and friends. A prodigious talent, de Villiers made his Test debut against England in December 2004, before his 21st birthday. Du Plessis' call-up would only come almost seven years later, against India in 2011, after he had topped the domestic one-day run-charts.

ALSO READ: We just want to focus on enjoyment - du Plessis

"He waited a bit longer," de Villiers said of du Plessis. "It happened quite quickly for me. A couple of doors opened up, and I put my hand up at the right time. The path he walked was a different one, but it set him up perfectly for international cricket. I think he was mentally in a great space when he finally made his debut."

De Villiers also opened up on his 2018 retirement, which came as a shock to many South African fans - especially as the World Cup was only a year away. De Villiers said that he wanted to play in the World Cup, but he cited a desire to spend more time with his family and a general weariness with international competition as reasons for his decision. He also said that he "felt cornered" by expectation and criticism, and hinted at other, "deeper reasons" for his departure.

"I was keen to play in the World Cup, but I left, I retired," he said. "So it was a very sensitive situation. For the last three years of my career, I was labelled as a guy who is picking and choosing when I was playing and when not. So I got quite a lot of criticism from back home, which also played a role in me retiring. And it was difficult for me to then go 'hey, but I'll still play the World Cup'. It's that picking and choosing thing again, and it's quite arrogant to do something like that. But as they say, you can't have your bread buttered on both sides.

"I felt cornered. It's always been about the team, it's never been about myself. But I found myself in a position where I had to make a decision where it's going to look like I'm just thinking about myself.

"There's a lot of reasons I had to move on. Family's definitely a big part of it. And the longevity of my career, I played for 15 years and I was just tired of the whole international scene. It's quite busy. Very stressful. And the mental game, the doubts you have as a person and as a player, it wears you down. And being captain of the Proteas for a long time also took its toll. And then there are a few deeper issues that might have to be discussed when I'm 50, one day.

"There's a part of me that will always miss it. Everything that goes with it. I wish I could have pushed on longer, but it was time. I had a great run. I had so much fun, I really did, and more dreams came true than I could ever imagine. And there was lots of heartbreaks as well along the way, and that's the great ride that we all go through."

San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski has broken Landon Donovan's all-time Major League Soccer goals record with the first two of four strikes against the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Wondolowski, 36, is now on 148 goals in 338 MLS appearances, while Donovan took 340 games to reach the previous record of 145.

His first goal goal came in the 21st minute when Cristian Espinoza delivered a long, cross-field pass to Shea Salinas on the left wing, and Salinas' low, driven cross was stabbed home by Wondolowski at the far post.

And Wondolowski set a new mark on 48 minutes when a seemingly innocuous cross from Nick Lima was floated into the box, but when Fire goalkeeper David Ousted fumbled the delivery, Wondolowski was there to pounce and side-foot it in.

He then added additional strikes in the 74th and 76th minutes to round out his historic afternoon.

Wondolowski started his career with the Earthquakes in 2005, but scored his first four goals for the Houston Dynamo, where he played from 2006-2009 after the franchise relocated.

MLS returned to San Jose in the 2009 season -- and so did Wondolowski, who had his breakout year in 2010, scoring 18 times in 28 appearances.

He had a record-tying year in 2012 when he scored 27 times to match Roy Lassiter's 1996 mark for most goals in a season. That mark was equaled by the New York Red Bulls' Bradley-Wright Phillips in 2014 before Atlanta's Josef Martinez surpassed the trio's mark in 2018.

Wondolowski also has 11 goals and 35 caps for the United States and was part of the squad that went to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.

Rounding out the top five leading scorers in MLS history after Wondolowski and Donovan are Jeff Cunningham with 134 goals, Jaime Moreno (133) and Ante Razov (114).

LONDON, England -- Pep Guardiola believes that Manchester City's domestic Treble was harder to achieve than winning the Champions League.

City wrapped up the final part of the Treble on Saturday with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Watford, just six days after pipping Liverpool to the Premier League title by a single point.

"It's one of the best seasons I've experienced as a manager, not the best but one of the best for sure," Guardiola said at a news conference. "To be for 10 months playing in all competitions. No team, including incredible teams in this country, have done this and we were the first.

"I love the Champions League, but to do [the Treble] is more difficult than to win the Champions League and we did it.

"It's not easy for 10 months, every three days being there because when you have one bad night you are out of competitions. And especially the way we played today we were a little bit short of energy but that's normal."

City were ruthless against Watford as they equalled the record FA Cup final winning margin set by Bury more than a century ago in 1903.

- Ogden and Smith: How Pep & Co. won a remarkable Treble
- Man City ratings: Sterling 10/10, Jesus 9/10 in FA Cup rout

Raheem Sterling scored twice and looked to have become the first player to score a hat trick in a final since 1953. But City's second from Gabriel Jesus crossed the line just millimetres before Sterling could claim the goal, although it wasn't officially given to the Brazilian until more than 30 minutes after full-time.

"I've disputed it!" Sterling said. "What can we do?

"The boys were brilliant today and my goals just added to the win. Everyone was fantastic.

"Credit to all the boys today. It's been a fantastic year."

Sterling, whose boyhood home was in view of the Wembley Arch, added: "Growing up here, growing up seeing this get built, it's a dream to be on this football field and winning trophies. It's a massive dream come true."

Teammate Bernardo Silva said that there will be no let-up next season and warned City's rivals that they can get even better.

"There's always space for improvement, and that's what we will try to do," he said.

"Next season we'll try to get better and we'll try to win even more titles, to be even better, to control more of the games, to have more possession, to create more chances to score more goals. We'll work on that.

"To win all the massive competitions, first time any team has done it, it's amazing, what a team this is. The fans were amazing this season as well, they pushed us this far.

"Now it's time to rest and time to celebrate. Next season we will try again."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An attorney preparing a lawsuit against Ohio State University on behalf of more than 50 former athletes who allege they were sexually abused by a team physician told The Associated Press on Saturday that most of his clients were football players from the Buckeyes' storied program, including some who went on to play in the NFL.

Dayton attorney Michael Wright said the abuse happened during required physical examinations at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and during treatment for injuries and ailments at Dr. Richard Strauss' off-campus clinic and at his home, where he insisted they be seen.

Strauss killed himself in 2005, nearly a decade after he was allowed to retire with honors.

A 232-page investigative report released Friday found that Strauss had sexually abused at least 177 male students, but the report made only one specific reference to football players while listing how many athletes from each team were abused. That list says three football players were interviewed.

Wright said he was not aware that any of his clients were interviewed by investigators from the Seattle-based Perkins Coie law firm.

An Ohio State spokesman declined to comment.

Investigators found that Strauss' abuse went on from 1979-1997 and took place at various locations across campus, including examining rooms, locker rooms, showers and saunas. Strauss contrived, among other things, to get young men to strip naked, and he groped them sexually.

The report concluded that scores of Ohio State personnel knew of complaints and concerns about Strauss' conduct as early as 1979 but failed for years to investigate or take meaningful action.

"It was known he was seeing these athletes and there were issues," Wright said.

Wright said he plans to file the lawsuit late next week and, for now, that his clients prefer to remain anonymous.

"Clearly they had good relationships with the university, and they believe the university will either retaliate or significantly distance themselves from these athletes," Wright said.

Some of Strauss' victims remain angry in the aftermath of the report's release about how Ohio State has treated them in the decades after he ogled and groped them during physical examinations and medical treatment.

Former nursing student Brian Garrett said he worked for a short time at an off-campus clinic Strauss opened after he was ousted at Ohio State in the late 1990s. But Garrett quit after witnessing abuse by Strauss and then experiencing it himself.

The investigation, he said, left him angrier than before.

"We knew that it was systemic and it had been reported," Garrett said Friday. "It's even more widespread than we knew."

Garrett thinks the abuse carried out by Strauss across more than a dozen sports and at numerous locations even surpasses that of Larry Nassar, of Michigan State University, who was accused of molesting at least 250 women and girls and is serving what amounts to a life sentence.

"We did not get to put him on trial. The police did not get to investigate. That's why it's worse than the MSU case," Garrett said. "He took the easy way out."

No one has publicly defended Strauss, although family members have said they were shocked by the allegations.

The whistleblower credited with prompting the investigation said in a statement he feels "vindicated" but has mixed feelings about the law firm's findings.

Mike DiSabato, a former Ohio State wrestler, met with school officials in March 2018 to discuss the abuse that he and other athletes had suffered at the hands of Strauss, prompting the school to hire Perkins Coie to conduct an investigation.

"Although a weight has been lifted off my back, I am deeply saddened to hear and relive the stories of so many others who suffered similar abuse by Dr. Strauss while Ohio State turned a blind eye," DiSabato's statement said.

He says the Perkins Coie report gives him "courage and strength to keep fighting to ensure Ohio State is held accountable for the damage and trauma they caused me and my family."

Ohio State president Michael Drake said there was a "consistent institutional failure" at the school, the nation's third-largest university. He apologized and commended victims for their courage.

The lawsuits against Ohio State are headed for mediation. They seek unspecified damages. Drake said the investigation alone has cost the school $6.2 million.

Separately, the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is examining whether Ohio State responded promptly and fairly to students' complaints. The department could cut the university's federal funding if it is found to have violated civil rights protections.

MILWAUKEE -- Raptors center Marc Gasol claimed responsibility for his team's poor performance in its 125-103 loss Friday to the Bucks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

"The beginning [of the game] set us in a really bad spot," Gasol said. "We couldn't get a grip of the game early on, and I take full responsibility for that."

With the loss, the Raptors now trail the Bucks 2-0 as the series moves to Toronto for Game 3 on Sunday.

After being nipped by Milwaukee in the closing minutes of Game 1 on Wednesday night, the Raptors sputtered out of the gate in Game 2. They trailed 9-0 after three minutes of action, during which Gasol missed three shots, including a layup attempt swatted away at point-blank range by Bucks center Brook Lopez.

"I played really bad, and that set the tone," Gasol said.

Gasol finished with two points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field and is 3-for-20 over the first two games of the series. On Friday, he logged 19 minutes -- only five in the second half -- as Raptors coach Nick Nurse opted to play Serge Ibaka for much of the second half.

"I feel bad for him," Nurse said of Gasol. "Most of those went in and out. It's like, he's a really good player, a really good scorer. He was taking good shots and just couldn't buy one."

Gasol, who was crucial to containing Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid in the previous series, was hardly the sole or decisive factor in the Raptors' blowout loss Friday. Toronto, which ranks second among playoff teams in defensive efficiency in the postseason, allowed Milwaukee to score 50 points in the paint and 28 in transition in Game 2.

"We've got to play better defense," Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said. "We gave up 125 points. That's too many points in the playoffs."

The Raptors continued to struggle finding high-percentage shots against the Bucks' long, athletic defense. For the second consecutive game, the Raptors attempted far fewer field goals at the rim than from midrange and struggled from the 3-point line.

Toronto is underperforming on its selection of uncontested shots. After draining only 10 of 23 open field goal attempts in Game 1, Toronto converted only 7 of 18 uncontested looks at the basket in Game 2, continuing a trend that has persisted since the Raptors' conference semifinals series against Philadelphia.

"I sound like a broken record up here, but we had our share of wide-open shots that could have at least stymied a little bit of the breakout in the score," Nurse said.

The Raptors now will have the opportunity to even the series with the next two contests on their home floor, where they are 5-2 during the postseason.

"If we want to do anything or be a championship team, we gotta play through adversity," Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard said. "And it's a challenge now, to come home, Game 3, and try to get a win."

TORONTO -- After dropping the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals, the Toronto Raptors returned home knowing the odds -- at least historically -- are against them in their matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks.

But when told that 94 percent of the teams with 2-0 leads have gone on to win a best-of-seven series, Raptors coach Nick Nurse was defiant in his belief that Toronto still has what it takes to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

"That can't be right," Nurse said, drawing laughs. "That can't be right. Check the figures.

"I don't know. How do I find the solace [in that]? I find the solace when OKC got beat by 34 and 24 and went down 2-0 and then won four straight against a great, great, great, great San Antonio team. I don't know.

"I don't really give a crap about that. I just want our team to come play their ass off [Sunday night] and get one game and it changes the series."

The numbers are as bad as they were presented to Nurse: Teams are 51-5 (91.1 percent) when taking a 2-0 lead in the conference finals, and 287-20 (93.5 percent) overall when taking such a lead in a playoff series.

In order to overcome those odds and do what the Thunder did in 2012 -- when OKC won Games 3-6 and advanced to the NBA Finals -- the Raptors will have to be better than they were in Game 2, when the Bucks led wire-to-wire and stormed to a comprehensive victory.

After Marc Gasol struggled in Game 2, scoring two points on 1-for-9 shooting in 19 minutes, Nurse was asked about the possibility of making a lineup change. He said that, in fact, he could make multiple -- perhaps a sign that, in addition to replacing Gasol with Serge Ibaka, he's considering benching Danny Green, who struggled for a third straight game, in favor of Norman Powell, who scored 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting in Game 2.

Nurse admitted, however, that deciding to make such a move is hard for a variety of reasons beyond fit against a specific opponent.

"I think your question here is this: 'Are you gonna dance with the one you brung to the ball?'" Nurse asked. "It's not easy. You think certain series aren't for certain guys, et cetera, but I also think that we've gotten, we've had bad biorhythms a couple times, maybe three or four times in the playoffs, and then the next game our biorhythms were back intact.

"So I kinda trust these guys, know who they are, believe in 'em, and know they're better than they played last night and have shown that on bounce-back situations usually."

The margin for error, though, is now all but gone. Toronto had its chance to steal homecourt in Game 1, when it led for most of the first three quarters before being outscored 32-17 in the fourth to let a game both sides would admit the Raptors should've won slip away.

Part of the calculation for Nurse will come with deciding whether Gasol or Ibaka will give him the best chance to chase Brook Lopez, Milwaukee's mountain of a starting center, out of the lane. Nurse made a point of noting that, in his mind, Lopez is committing three-second violations repeatedly throughout the game.

"Yeah, I mean, they're loading a lot, and Lopez never leaves the lane," Nurse said. "I think I counted 15 illegal defenses on the film, but I ain't gonna count that.

"Your big has to be able to make 'em pay from the perimeter. You need a spacing big that can hit, or get to the next action because he's in the paint."

Down 2-0 in the NBA Western Conference finals, the Portland Trail Blazers find themselves in a must-win predicament on their home floor Saturday night (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).

One big reason the Golden State Warriors are in the driver's seat: their ability to shut down Damian Lillard, who must get going if Portland has a chance to turn this series around.

Here's how Golden State has contained Dame, and some things the Blazers can do to try to counter.

Lillard not getting his shots

Lillard is a terrific scorer who averaged nearly 26 points per game this season by blending 3-point scoring, midrange shooting and rim attacks.

But in the first two games of this series, the Warriors have reduced Lillard to a medium-usage, low-efficiency perimeter scorer. They've prevented him from doing any damage inside the 3-point line.

Lillard's shot distribution in the first two games should worry the Blazers. He has only one made shot in the paint and three total buckets in the 2-point area. He has taken nine shots from beyond 30 feet, and has taken a total of four inside 10 feet.

During the regular season, Lillard's average shot quality on 3-point attempts -- factoring in shot type, location and defender distance -- rated as a not-great 47.5 expected effective field goal percentage (eFG), according to Second Spectrum tracking. Because Lillard is money from long range, even when contested, he cashed in with an actual eFG of 55.6.

But the Warriors might be forcing Dame to a breaking point. His shot quality is down to a 42.5 expected eFG on 17 3s in this series, per Second Spectrum. The average shot distance on his 3s is 29.1 feet away from the rim. Somehow he's still shooting 41.2 percent overall on those looks, but that's not sustainable and it's affecting the rest of his game.

Lillard's inability to produce anything near the basket is particularly disappointing. Consider these two stats:

• In the regular season, Lillard averaged over 11 points per game on 2-pointers. In the first two games of this series, he has scored just six total points on 2s.

• Lillard averaged 6.5 shots per game within 8 feet of the basket in the regular season. In this series, he has tried just three total in that zone.

So how are the Warriors pulling this off?

The Warriors' plan to take out Dame

Give credit here to Golden State's defense, which remains the most unheralded part of this dynastic run. The Warriors have always combined smart tactics with fantastic individual defenders to generate great defensive results. This series is no exception. The Dubs have built a game plan designed to suppress Lillard's scoring activity and dare other Blazers to beat them.

Klay Thompson has done the lion's share of defensive work on Lillard, and Thompson has been superb. In the regular season, Lillard shot 27.9 times and scored 34.5 points per 100 possessions. But in the 66 matchups against Thompson this series, Lillard is shooting at a rate of 18.2 times per 100 and yielding just 12.1 points. In Game 1, Dame had the fewest shot attempts of his 49-game playoff career (12). His 16 attempts in Game 2 were still well below his career average of 19.9.

The Warriors are leaving Lillard with few good options, squashing the Blazers star at the point of attack. After blitzing pick-and-rolls just four times per game in the first two rounds of these playoffs, they're doing so 18 times per game in this series, per Second Spectrum. Rarely does Lillard call for a pick without two Golden State defenders absolutely swarming him.

In Game 2, Golden State blitzed Lillard 19 times. That isn't just the most blitzes Lillard has faced in a postseason game in his entire career -- it's the most any player has faced this postseason.

Sometimes Lillard has been able to split that blitz and get to the rim, but moves like this become challenging to execute on every possession when you've played 326 total minutes this month and nine playoff games in 18 days:

The Warriors' defense is famous for being able to switch anything, but Golden State can also adjust to the matchup.

What else can Lillard try?

Lillard is mostly making the right play on these blitzes. He's finding the big -- typically Enes Kanter -- on short rolls, but Kanter is no Magic Johnson. He's kind of a dead end on these plays.

With that in mind, Portland should try something else. Some potential alternatives:

• Set screens with playmakers. In the second half of Game 2, Portland started using Evan Turner as a screener, making him the receiver of the passes out of the blitzes. Turner is much more adept at making plays than, say, Meyers Leonard, Zach Collins or Kanter. Portland used the Lillard-Turner pick-and-roll eight times in the second half of Game 2, while using it just five times total in all previous playoff games. Expect more of that in Game 3.

• Get rid of the ball faster. The best way to punish teams for blitzing is to move the ball as soon as the defenders try to converge. Both Lillard and CJ McCollum need to initiate the punishment as fast as possible when Golden State blitzes.

Dethroning the champs is no easy task, and this Warriors team is tough to beat on both ends of the court.

Though the Warriors will rightly go down in history as an offensive juggernaut, more folks should celebrate this defense. Thompson still has yet to make an all-defense team, which is nothing short of a travesty. He is a world-class wing defender who has consistently shown up for big games. If the Blazers are going to win Game 3, they'll need to find someone to pick on other than Klay.

SAN DIEGO -- Ian Kinsler said he regrets using profanity during an emotional outburst after hitting a pivotal three-run home run for the San Diego Padres on Thursday night and maintained he was firing up his teammates and not taking a shot at fans.

Kinsler hollered and gestured as he touched the plate after hitting the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning of the 4-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and again in the dugout.

Kinsler has been criticized by fans as he has struggled since joining the Padres on an $8 million, two-year deal. Many fans, particularly on social media, felt the outburst was directed at them.

"The only thing that I do regret is doing it on the field in front of everybody, so everyone can interpret it their own way," Kinsler said before Friday night's game.

Asked if he wanted to say anything to fans who thought he was directing it at them, to clear things up, he said, "No."

The 36-year-old Kinsler, in his 14th big league season, said he has been criticized by fans "my whole life."

Asked about this year, he said: "Yeah, that's part of being an athlete. They pay a ticket to yell at their own team, I guess. They pay a ticket to yell at the other team, whatever. If they want to pay a ticket to yell at people, that's fine. I can't control what the fans do. I just want good energy at the ballpark. I just want people to be supportive of the Padres. ... I can't control the fans."

Kinsler went 1-for-4 on Friday night in a 5-3 loss to the Pirates. He is batting .177 with five homers and nine RBIs in 38 games.

San Diego manager Andy Green reiterated what he said about Kinsler on Thursday night, that it wasn't the right response.

"He's come out and said directly who he intended it for. I take him at his word on that," Green said. "For us, we understand how that appears to people in that moment, and we don't want to give off that impression. We take ownership over that. As an organization, we've apologized for that. We intend to move on from that."

"The appearance is not the appearance that we want in this Padres organization," Green added. "That look is not what we want on the field. He had the opportunity to apologize today and to recognize how that could be perceived and was perceived by a lot of people."

Green declined to say if Kinsler had been disciplined.

"We'll continue to talk to all our players in different moments in time, and that stuff we'll keep to ourselves," Green said.

Kinsler said he plays with passion and emotion. He did have a bat flip after driving his fifth homer off the Western Metal Supply Co. Building in the left-field corner.

Two years ago, Kinsler walked back comments he made that seemed to be criticizing players from Latin American countries for playing with too much emotion in the World Baseball Classic. He was on the U.S. team that beat Puerto Rico in the final.

BOSTON -- Houston Astros reliever Ryan Pressly broke the major league record for consecutive appearances without giving up a run on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox in a 3-1 victory, tallying his 39th straight scoreless outing.

Pressly broke the previous mark set in 2011 by Craig Kimbrel.

Houston acquired Pressly from the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline last year, coveting the reliever in part for the high spin rate on his fastball. Pressly has not allowed a run to score since August 10, 2018, totaling 38 scoreless innings. Since the last time he allowed a run, Pressly has struck out 47 batters, walked just three and allowed 17 hits.

"I just tried to put it in the back of my mind as far as I possibly could," Pressly said. "My job is to go out there and get people out and throw up zeros as many times as I possibly can and put this team in a situation to win. That's really all I was thinking about."

The Houston hurler rolled through a perfect eighth inning, requiring just 11 pitches while fanning Boston first baseman Mitch Moreland and generating outs against shortstop Xander Bogaerts and third baseman Rafael Devers. Pressly topped his history-making performance with a dramatic third out, collecting a Devers bloop while making a Matrix-like throw to first, falling away from first base.

"I just ran over there, threw it and hopefully didn't throw it into right field," Pressly said. "Everything kinda clicked right there, so I was happy Yuli [Gurriel] got the ball and stepped on the bag."

And while his name is now etched in the baseball record books, Pressly will have no memento to keep from the evening.

"I don't even know where the ball went," Pressly said. "I don't care for that kind of stuff."

Pressly's teammates celebrated the achievement after the game in the locker room by awarding him a wrestling-inspired robe, given to the Astros player of the game.

"We were all aware of what he was going for, and wow, what a special moment for him," starter Gerrit Cole said. "Kind of inconspicuous trade last year, and he's just absolutely blossomed here and made a lot of huge pitches for us along the way. Any time you are part of history or you're around it for a game that's been around so long, it's pretty special. We celebrated him after the win, gave him the robe for the game, and he put a cherry on top with the Mark Buehrle-esque play that he made. That was pretty special as well."

Things have changed dramatically since Pressly arrived in Houston. While with the Twins in 2018, the 30-year-old reliever posted a 3.40 ERA with a 1.36 WHIP. In 43 outings since arriving in Houston, Pressly sports a 0.43 ERA in 42 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs and striking out 52 batters. The Astros hope for more of the same.

"It was Ryan's night," Cole said.