Scotland v Sri Lanka Match abandoned

For the second time in eight days, a rare Scotland home ODI against a Full Member was affected by rain as the series opener against Sri Lanka was abandoned without a ball bowled. After waiting through close to five hours of on and off drizzle, umpire Gregory Brathwaite called both captains together to deliver the news, turning Tuesday's second ODI into a series decider.

It was a major blow to Cricket Scotland, who had hired temporary bleachers to accommodate a sellout crowd of 1500 and will now have to issue refunds as a result of no play taking place. It was also a dent in Sri Lanka's World Cup preparation, leaving the second ODI as their only official action before their World Cup opener against New Zealand on June 1.

While clear skies are forecast for the next two days, rain is scheduled to return on Tuesday, putting the entire series at risk of being washed out.

Rahul Dravid has said the presence of wicket-taking bowlers in India's line-up will greatly benefit them in the middle overs of what is expected to be a high-scoring World Cup.

"I believe, having experienced some of the conditions in England last year with the A-team tour, it would be a high-scoring World Cup," Dravid, the former India captain who now coaches the A team and Under-19s, said. "And in a high-scoring World Cup, having bowlers who can take wickets in the middle will be very important. I think India is lucky in that regard."

He added: "People like (Jasprit) Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal... (India have) got bowlers who can take wickets. Teams that are taking wickets through those middle overs in those high-scoring games have a better better chance of restricting the opposition."

India played their last international on March 13, after which the IPL kicked off. While the loss in that five-match series to Australia at home was unexpected, India have done well in ODIs over the last year, scripting a series win in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Dravid took into considerations these victories while talking about India's prospects at the World Cup. "I think we have had a couple of really good years leading to the World Cup. For right reasons, we are No. 2 in the world (in ODIs) and that actually means that we have consistently produced some successful results in the last two and half years. We can be hopeful.

"I think it's going to be a tough World Cup. Every team comes well prepared and wants to compete. Everyone at the World Cup will be putting their best foot forward.

"So having said that I would say India is definitely one of the favourites in the tournament and all of us can be hopeful. Hopefully we make the semi-final and from there on there are four very good teams.

"Bowling is going to play a very big role in this World Cup and the team that bowls best, probably, will be closer to winning it."

Dravid showered praise on captain Virat Kohli. "Virat, you know he just keeps improving, keeps getting better. He is setting bars and standards that possibly we thought would never be achieved. Sachin (Tendulkar) scored 49-50 [49] hundreds in one-day cricket. People thought that this would take a lot of time to achieve, will it be ever achieved... And now Virat is 10 [eight] away from it or close to it.

"One of the things about Virat is that even if he has a bad tour - it is not that he hasn't had bad tours, he had a disappointing tour of England in 2014, he wasn't as successful in Australia first time around, but every time he goes back, he goes back as a better player. He sort of reinvents his game to a point where he is constantly improving."

Dravid also had words of praise for World-Cup winning captain MS Dhoni. "The beauty about MS is that he plays these big tournaments and these big matches... he plays them and they mean a lot (but) - I tell the Under-19 boys - he is able to find a way to play it like it doesn't mean a lot.

"Obviously it means a lot (but) he is able to see a bigger picture in it and say I'm not defined by this particular game. It is a hard thing to do."

There is a World Cup at stake, but if South Africa are under any extra pressure, it won't be coming from inside their camp. As his team departs for a tournament where - for once - they won't start as one of the favourites, captain Faf du Plessis is not demanding anything extraordinary from them.

Rather, he believes that a focus on enjoyment and on sticking to what has worked for them after a home summer during which they won 11 out of 13 one-day internationals and beat Australia 2-1 away, will provide a formula for success.

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"In previous World Cups, we wanted to do Superman things," du Plessis said on the eve of South Africa's departure for England and Wales. "We thought we had to be more special, we had to do something more than we usually do, and we did not do what was good enough. We haven't always got that right in the past, to play our best cricket at the World Cup, because we put so much pressure on ourselves. We want to just focus on enjoying our cricket."

Seven members of South Africa's squad, including du Plessis, were part of the 2015 World Cup campaign, when the side crashed out with a four-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the semi-finals. Du Plessis, Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy and Dale Steyn were also part of South Africa's team at the 2011 tournament, when they came off second best in another high-pressure encounter with New Zealand.

"We believed you had to be really special to win the World Cup, that you had to do something more than you usually do, which is not true," du Plessis said of previous campaigns. "Whatever we've been doing consistently, the way we've played while beating teams that will work. We have to do the basics as well as possible, teams don't win the World Cup by someone scoring a century off 50 balls or taking 7 for 20."

Du Plessis is a thinking captain, but he is also a feeling one. Rather than shying away from the pressures that come with international competition, he has urged his team to grapple with them in positive ways - and he hasn't been afraid to talk openly about the mental aspect of South Africa's game in the media either.

"We started a year or two ago with a real focus on mental preparation and, as a captain, I probably speak more about that than previous captains, but I really believe it's an area we can get better in," du Plessis said. "I've been there and I know the pressures, I understand how to deal with them. There's a reason why we want the guys to play freely - because we don't want them to have a fear of failure, which is what the World Cup is for some of them. Our success in England over the next couple of months depends on how well we release that aspect of our play - we need that for the team to be at our best. Each player needs to find out his own strengths.

"The players relate better to fellow players and I'm on the same level as the coach when it comes to the importance of the mental side. I'm a big believer in positive visualisation, how to remain calm, and I feel it has had value for my own game. So I can relate that to the players, how important it is to be present in the moment; for instance when there's been a dropped catch, there's nothing you can do about it and it's about how you change your mindset to make sure you are still strong mentally."

Du Plessis' pragmatic approach will also be seen in South Africa's selections during the tournament. He suggested that playing XIs would be picked on primarily on form, though he was also quick to point out that a player such as Amla, whose form - or lack thereof - has a been a major talking point in the lead-up to the World Cup, brings invaluable experience to the squad whether or not he is making runs.

"In terms of team selection, that's a call we will make when we get to that first game," du Plessis said. "We have two warm-up games. Generally, we want to pick on form. If we believe Hash is the guy with the best form for the first game then he will be picked. But if we feel there are other guys that are more in form [we will pick them]. Form does play a huge role in a long competition like this - so hopefully Hash can go into those warm-ups, and bang, bang two centuries in a row and then we can smile from there."

At 36, and with 174 ODIs under his belt, Amla is one of the most experienced members of South Africa's squad. He has played 18 of those ODIs in England, averaging 56.73, and has been part of two previous World Cup campaigns.

"As an experienced player, he is important in our squad and that was one of the key reasons he was picked," du Plessis said. "You cannot substitute experience. When I speak about the experience, I speak about experience having played in tournaments like the World Cup before. He understands what it means to play in a big tournament.

"Whether that means runs or not, no one can give us that guarantee. But it's just the calm composure Hashim has. Even if he doesn't play a game, just the knowledge and experience that he can share with someone like an Aiden Markram is something you can only get from a guy like Hashim. He can talk him through those first 10 overs, he has a lot of experience playing county cricket, so his experience is vital to the group."

As Australia commenced their Men's World Cup preparations on English soil, coach Justin Langer admitted the personal welfare of Steven Smith and David Warner would require sensitive monitoring and handling over the coming months.

The two players joined in the centre wicket practice at Whitgift School, in the suburbs of south London, with a small media contingent and a few dozen fans, mainly children in whites, sat on the grassy banks. It was a quiet and even genteel start to a gruelling four-month tour that will incorporate World Cup and Ashes campaigns and Langer knows more hostile crowds and greater scrutiny will greet Smith and Warner now they have served the bans handed to them in the wake of last year's Cape Town ball tampering affair.

"Well we can't control the crowd," Langer said. "What I do know? It may ramp up, it may heat up, but it won't be any hotter than it was 12 months ago. I've never seen anything like it so the boys are very well prepared. They've paid a heavy price and we're expecting always to come here and to face the fire and we're ready for that.

"What we've got to understand is that they're human beings as well. There's not too many I've met in my life who like being booed or heckled or disliked so… they're human beings. We're going to have to care for them, we're going to have to put an arm around them and make sure they're going okay. But what people say, whether it's in the crowd or social media or wherever, there's nothing they can do about that, they can't control it but what we can do is keep an eye on them and make sure they're going okay as people as much as cricketers."

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Aside from the expected questions from the media there was little evidence of any lasting effects of a turbulent 12-month period, punctuated by severe recriminations and introspection throughout Australian professional cricket. But Langer suggested both players have shown an understandable eagerness to finally put their exile behind them, from their return to the squad for warm-ups against New Zealand to the squad's visit to the World War One battlefields of Gallipoli, where they broke their journey to England.

"Dave's got that look on his eye, he's really hungry, he's a great player as we all know, he's so dynamic, he brings so much energy, and that's what we ask from our players, Langer said. "You watch Glenn Maxwell field or bowl or bat - he brings the energy. Dave Warner always brings energy to the contest. It's really nice to have him back."

"I watched Steve Smith batting against new Zealand in those three practice games, he's literally a master of the game, so it's nice to have him back. It's been hilarious for me because whether on the ANZAC cove or in the lunch room or we're in the bus playing cards, he's just shadow batting the whole time. He's literally - he loves batting, he's shadow batting on the sand, he's shadow batting in the shower - I'm not joking. You should see him, he just loves batting. From that point it's great to have him back.

"From a broader perspective, it's nice to have them back as well, they've had 12 months to have a good think about a mistake they and the team made. I'm sure they'll be better people for that."

Aside from his surprising knowledge of Smith's daily ablutions, Langer believes both players are physically ready as they continue to progress from elbow surgeries earlier this year, although he admitted they are still at partially restricted in the field.

"They both fielded in the three [World Cup warm-up] games against New Zealand. Steve's in literally career best shape. I mean you just saw a 2K time trial, he's in great shape and Dave Warner is always elite fit. So in terms of their throwing, they're building it up. Where they've come from, from surgery, I'm really proud of them and they're up and running. Are they going to throw like Andrew Symonds or Ricky Ponting? Probably not at the moment but they're certainly working towards that.

"Last week in Brisbane, [Smith] batted beautifully, he played an unbelievable shot off Nathan Coulter-Nile there - it was like watching Sachin [Tendulkar] bat. He's in pretty good shape I think."

Of greater concern to Langer is the task of getting his side prepared for their first World Cup match against Afghanistan in Bristol, the reason for their match scenario practice, which saw bowlers asked to simulate specific stages of an innings. After a difficult home summer, Australia embarked on an eight-match winning streak in India and Pakistan and they now have two warm-up games in England to settle on a starting side. The main selection questions centre on how to fit Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja and Warner into the top three while Coulter-Nile appears to be favoured as the third seamer in an attack also featuring Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.

The coaching staff will be bolstered by World Cup winners Ponting and Brad Haddin and, while England's batting has dominated the local cricket headlines, Langer is adamant that Australia won't be drawn in to changing their tactics.

"We've been hearing it for 12 months. We've shown if we stick to the formula then we'll have some success. It's as simple as that. And when it comes to playing India and England it's just like match play, we're just going to have to compete harder and be ready for them. In terms of scores, a lot will have to do with the grounds we play on, the conditions, whether we're chasing or setting, all those sorts of things but we're really clear on the game plan. We showed in India and Dubai that, if we stick to it, we'll score big enough scores to win games of cricket.

"We love our cricket and we've been good at it. When everyone says we've got to start playing like England or start playing like New Zealand or start playing like India, no - we'll keep playing like Australia because we've won four of the past five World Cups and that's something to be proud of.

"The boys are aware of it and we know if we stick to the Australian way of playing great cricket… history has shown we'll be pretty good."

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.

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"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.

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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."