SEATTLE -- Ron Francis has all kinds of eye-popping statistics attached to his Hall of Fame career. He averaged more than point a game, is second in NHL history in assists behind Wayne Gretzky and is fifth in career points.

When CEO Tod Leiweke and the ownership group of the Seattle NHL expansion team looked at his playing résumé, though, they were most impressed by another statistic: Francis was voted captain by three teams for 14 of his 23 years, first earning the role at age 21.

That leadership ability spurred them to hire Francis on Thursday as general manager of the yet-to-be-named team -- well ahead of their schedule.

"Ownership made an incredible commitment ... in supporting this idea of let's do this a year early," Leiweke said. "If we're really here working for our fans, let's reward their belief. They said we're willing to make this commitment a year early. We're willing to bring on a general manager earlier than any other expansion team in the history of the NHL and that gift of an additional year will serve us well and give us a chance to scout and build and plan. But we had to find the right person."

They believe the 56-year-old Francis is that person, announcing his hiring at a news conference that was attended by the mayor and a state senator. He'll have complete control of building the organization under Leiweke. Francis said he already has drawn up an organizational chart that will guide hiring as the team prepares to open play in 2021 as the NHL's 32nd franchise.

And he already has started daydreaming about how his team will look.

"I think if you look at my past experience, it's a team that's fast," Francis said. "I think it's a team that needs to have skill and hockey sense. I like a team that's extremely competitive. And for me I think you need a team that has character. It's easy to be a good person when things are going well. When things get a little bit tough, that's when character rises to the top and pulls you through those tough times."

Character defined Francis' playing career. Jaromir Jagr, his teammate on the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins, called Francis perhaps the most underrated player in NHL history. After starting his career as the No. 4 overall pick in the 1981 draft for the Hartford Whalers, he played for the Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs before returning to the Whalers in 1998 after they moved to Carolina.

He guided that team to the Stanley Cup Final before retiring. He joined the Hurricanes' front office and worked through a number of jobs under Hall of Fame GM Jim Rutherford, including assistant GM and associate head coach. He was promoted to GM in 2014 when Rutherford left for Pittsburgh and held that position until an ownership change in 2018, a year before Carolina played in the finals.

Francis said he was depressed after leaving the Hurricanes, but found his drive again while working at the Spengler Cup and with Hockey Canada during last year's world championships.

"Getting around the NHL players again, the NHL coaches and stuff, the passion started burning again and I thought, 'OK this is really where I want to be,'" Francis said. "And when Tod called, I looked at the opportunity and said, 'What a great chance.' We get to build it from the ground up. We get to establish our culture and how we want to do it. I think it's a unique opportunity. It doesn't happen every day."

PERTH, Australia -- Manchester United legend Bryan Robson has told Paul Pogba he should not let super-agent Mino Raiola push him out of the door at Old Trafford -- and teammate Andreas Pereira said he is prepared to steal the Frenchman's phone to stop him talking to others clubs.

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Raiola has publicly declared Pogba wants to leave United this summer amid interest from Real Madrid and Juventus.

The midfielder is with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad for the preseason tour of Australia and the Far East and, speaking in Perth, Robson -- who spent 13 years as a player at the club -- has told Pogba to be his own man.

"He would be in my team all the time," Robson said. "One thing fans should realise is sometimes agents get involved and say things that don't come from the player.

"Players should concentrate on their own careers and make their own decisions rather than rely on agents. It's your career -- you do what you think is right. That's how I see players today. Get on and play how you want to play.

"He's a great player. He should concentrate on that. He's contracted to Manchester United and he should concentrate on playing for Manchester United."

Pereira is one of Pogba's closest friends in the squad having both come through the academy. The Brazilian is keen for him to stay and joked that he is prepared to take extreme measures to make sure they are teammates again next season.

"I might steal his phone so he don't speak to no one!" laughed Pereira. "Just in the group he is a great person. It will be very important if he stays with us, he is a very good player and top class as a person as well.

"I learn from him every day, he is one of my closest friends, have been here with him since 16, so he is like family to me."

Pereira has already seen midfielders Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera leave the club in the past six months. Another one, Fred, did not travel with the rest of the squad to Australia after being granted time off to get married. He is set to join up in Singapore or Shanghai.

It is Herrera's departure to Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer that has caused the most concern among fans. Sources have told ESPN FC United are interested in Sean Longstaff, Bruno Fernandes and Saul Niguez but Solskjaer has also suggested he has a ready-made replacement in Pereira.

"That is what I'm aiming to do," Pereira said. "With the confidence from the manager, the staff, the board with the new contract, that is what I'm aiming to do and get games.

"I feel strong. I feel that I can step up. I feel that I have to take my chance now and I will be ready to take it this season."

After the 4-0 win over Leeds United at Optus Stadium on Wednesday, the players had a recovery session at the WACA on Thursday morning before flying to Singapore in the afternoon ahead of the game with Inter Milan on Saturday.

The club have already taken steps to ensure the pitch on their next stop in Shanghai is up to scratch after the Manchester derby at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium was called off in 2016.

Staff have visited the Hongkou Stadium four times since November and have also received weekly reports from ICC organisers, Relevent.

United groundsman Dave Lindop is also set to fly to China ahead of the team to check on the pitch with rain forecast in Shanghai around the game.

Mauricio Pochettino said he might have ended his five-year spell at Tottenham if he had guided the team to Champions League glory in last season's final against Liverpool.

Spurs were beaten 2-0 by Jurgen Klopp's team in the Madrid, prompting intense speculation over Pochettino's future as manager.

And the Argentine, who has been linked with managerial roles at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus in recent months, admitted ahead of Tottenham's International Champions Cup clash against Juve (live at 7:30 a.m. ET on Sunday on ESPN2) in Singapore that winning the Champions League would have given Spurs "the possibility of a new chapter with a new coaching staff."

"Of course, it's always in your head, you never know," Pochettino said. "With the way I am, I am always going to prioritise the club over myself.

"But maybe if it was a different result after the final you can think, 'OK, maybe this is a moment to step out of the club, leave the club and give them the possibility of a really new chapter with a new coaching staff.'

"But after the final, I felt this was not great to finish like this. I'm not a person that avoids facing problems or a difficult situation.

"I am more on that side -- I love a massive challenge, a difficult challenge and of course now, to rebuild that mentality to make it possible to repeat a similar season, that is exciting and motivates me a lot."

When asked whether beating Liverpool would have prompted him and Spurs to be facing a different scenario ahead of the new season, Pochettino admitted that winning silverware would have influenced his decision.

"For sure, for sure," he said. "You know very much when you touch glory, you behave differently or you feel different or the players feel different and the challenge becomes different.

"It's like Kieran [Trippier] explained to me in private and to the media in Madrid he loved to be at Tottenham and work with us, but, at 28, 29, sometimes a player needs to discover need things and new challenges.

"That is inside yourself and it's only you who knows how you feel - it's not about agreeing or disagreeing, it's about accepting how you feel.

"You are an individual, you have individual challenges and you have to accept if all the parts are happy."

But despite admitting that he endured a tough summer after the Champions League final, Pochettino said that he is now fully focused and motivated for the season ahead.

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"The holidays were so tough for myself, it was difficult to move on from the final," he said. "We prepared for three weeks, fantastic. There was happiness and the mood was the best, so it was a shame to finish with a bad feeling.

"It's still hard and tough and difficult, but we need to move on.

"For the first time in the history of Tottenham, we reached the Champions League final. We came so close to win, we deserved to win and against a great team like Liverpool.

"But of course, last week we started to train, motivate ourselves again and look forward to another season.

"After five years in a difficult project at Tottenham, we talk a lot about perception and reality, how we fight and all the energy we expend trying to get Tottenham fighting with the best teams in Europe and England.

"We can't forget that we came from a period that was to build a stadium and the training ground. We played two seasons at Wembley, played in three grounds last season, so maybe that's a bit unfair [to compare Spurs to Liverpool and Manchester City.]

"Perhaps teams should use Tottenham as an inspiration."

Middlesex 166 for 3 (de Villiers 88*) beat Essex 164 for 6 (ten Doeschate 74*, Helm 3-27) by seven wickets

"Me, I'm from the Wild West / Guess you'd call it Middlesex" sing The Rhythm Method on their debut album How Would You Know I Was Lonely? Tonight, AB de Villiers played the role of the gunslinging sheriff at Lord's, with the middle of his bat the weapon of choice, as Middlesex cruised to a seven-wicket win in their Vitality Blast opener thanks to his 43-ball 88 not out.

On the same slow pitch that saw so few batsmen manage to time the ball in Sunday's World Cup final, de Villiers took 15 balls to score his first 17 runs before launching a memorable assault on Essex's misfiring attack in partnership with the more sedate Dawid Malan.

Essex had hatched a plan early to bowl spin at de Villiers, as so many sides successfully did in this year's IPL. With Adam Zampa and Simon Harmer at their disposal, it had briefly seemed like a canny move as he struggled to find his rhythm early on.

Then, he flicked the switch - and how. Ravi Bopara's cutter was whacked over extra cover for six; Harmer was launched ten rows back into the Mound Stand; Shane Snater's drag-down was nailed high and mighty into the night sky.

The pick of the bunch came off Dan Lawrence, the part-timer entrusted with the 14th over just as de Villiers had put his right foot all the way to the floor.

He speared in an offbreak, hoping to cramp de Villiers for room; moments later, Lord's fell into momentary silence, as the 28,000 sell-out collectively held its breath while the ball flew into the top tier of the Grandstand some 90 metres away.

Lawrence is a handy bowler on his day, who has had success at this ground in the past, but in such a situation was a lamb to the slaughter; if the unthinkable had happened and he had got the star man out, de Villiers would have been entitled to repeat that infamous W.G. Grace line: "They came to watch me bat, not you bowl."

A six and a four off Harmer to finish the job meant 61 had come from his final 28 deliveries. He finished the night with six sixes - no other Middlesex batsman hit even one.

Statistically, de Villiers sits alongside a bunch of superstars in the top handful of T20 players; aesthetically, he is in a class of one. There is no finer combination of brute force and beauty than a de Villiers assault, and this innings will live long in the memory of those who witnessed it.

It was an innings several years in the making, too.

It is five years since Middlesex first talked about a deal with de Villiers, and they had a gentleman's agreement in place by 2016. Several counties tried their utmost to sign him after his international retirement last year, with Northamptonshire reportedly pulling out all the stops in their bid to secure his signature, but Lord's and London proved too great a pull to resist.

The Blast's bizarre scheduling meant a single net at Merchant Taylor's School was the only practice de Villiers had with his new team-mates before this game; his most recent innings was as long ago as May 5, long before the debacle of his World Cup will-he-won't-he had come to light.

But this was not the innings of a man lacking match practice. Essex bowled too short, and played to his strengths, but that is the mark of the best players.

There is a reason that tennis players double-fault more when they face Roger Federer, and why golfers play worse when Tiger Woods is playing in the same tournament as them. It is the very spectre of de Villiers that throws his opponents off their game.

Things could have been so different. Essex's total of 164 looked like an imposing total at the interval, not least after Ryan ten Doeschate had helped them add 88 in the final eight overs. And after Paul Stirling - having been dropped twice, once comically by Cameron Delport - and Nick Gubbins fell cheaply, they were in some sort of trouble at 39 for 2.

They needn't have worried. De Villiers claimed afterwards that he didn't feel like he was quite at his best, despite his brilliance; if he can reach that level when Middlesex travel to The Oval on Tuesday, it will be another night to remember.

Somerset 181 for 2 (Banton 64) beat Glamorgan 180 for 5 (Lloyd 57, Ingram 50*, van der Merwe 2-17) by eight wickets

Somerset got off to a winning start at Sophia Gardens as they defeated an inexperienced Glamorgan team featuring three T20 debutants by wickets, with two overs to spare.

Despite an excellent start, Glamorgan should have scored in excess of 200, but instead of consolidating they lost three wickets in three overs and were grateful that Colin Ingram enabled them to reach a challenging total.

Needing 181 to win at nine runs an over, Somerset emulated Glamorgan with Tom Banton scoring 22 from Marchant De Lange's opening over and 50 coming from only four overs. On a perfect batting pitch, runs continued to be plundered with Somerset 75 for 0 after six overs, four runs more than Glamorgan.

Banton soon reached fifty with a high proportion of boundaries - five sixes and four fours - as Somerset raced to 100 in the 9th over and well in control. They did lose Pakistan batsman Babar Azam to Dan Douthwaite, and in the following over Banton's excellent innings of 64 ended when Billy Root held on to a fine catch at deep midwicket.

The experience of James Hildreth and Peter Trego saw Somerset reach their target with ease, while Glamorgan will reflect on their failure to capitalise on a good start, while their bowlers need to improve their accuracy.

Earlier, Glamorgan who were put in, made 180 for 5 after a rapid start, reaching 50 in the fourth over and 70 at the end of the six-over Powerplay. Jeremy Lawlor, making his debut in the competition, set the tone by striking early boundaries and lifting Jamie Overton over long-on for six.

Somerset used five bowlers in the first five overs, but apart from Roelof van der Merwe, no one was able to stem the stem of runs. The opening partnership of 82 was broken in the ninth over when Lawlor, who scored 43 from 30 balls, was caught on the long-off boundary off van der Merwe.

After reaching 95 for 1 at the halfway stage, Glamorgan fell away in mid-innings, and had Ingram not blasted a 28-ball half-century, their score would have been well below par.

David Lloyd, was the next to go after scoring 57 from 37 balls when he was deceived by Craig Overton's slower ball, giving short square leg a simple catch. Two wickets then fell for three runs as Chris Cooke became van der Merwe's second victim and Douthwaite fell for 2.

With one over remaining, Glamorgan were 153 for 5 but Ingram, relatively quiet until then, suddenly exploded by hitting Craig Overton for three sixes and two fours, with 27 coming from the over.

Worcestershire 161 for 6 (Barnard 42*) Nottinghamshire 133 for 9 (Hales 52, Moeen 4-18)

Ed Barnard wasted no time in pronouncing himself a Twenty20 cricketer of England potential with vital interventions with bat, ball and in the field as Worcestershire began their defence of their Vitality Blast crown with an emphatic 28-run victory over Notts Outlaws in front of a near-capacity crowd at Trent Bridge.

This was a poor Twenty20 pitch, used, slow and grippy and not remotely in keeping with the sort of batsman-friendly surfaces that have made T20 nights at Trent Bridge one of the heaviest-scoring venues of the Blast.

But Worcestershire assessed it with great intelligence, posting 161 for 6, far more than they had anticipated thanks to Barnard's late intervention with an unbeaten 42 from 19 balls, and then defending it with ease. Three overs from the end of their innings, they were 117 for 6 and vulnerable, but he changed the face of the game.

As Moeen Ali, Worcestershire's captain, back immediately after England's World Cup success, remarked: "It was the performance of a side that won the tournament last year, a side with a lot of confidence."

Notts are rooted to the foot of Division One of the Championship, 38 points adrift with only four matches remaining and seemingly bound for relegation. Any imagining that the arrival of T20 would be a miraculous cure were rudely dispelled. It is a long tournament - 14 group games - but limp dismissals from two high-profile signings, Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett, set the tone on the opening night for a disappointing batting display.

To his credit, at least Alex Hales has returned to county cricket ready for the fray. He was blackballed from England's World Cup squad in the most clinical fashion after his failing of a second drugs test, following other misdemeanours, led those in charge to conclude that he had become a liability.

He has kept a low profile, but the evidence of his 52 from 34 balls suggested he is one Notts batsman in good frame of mind. When he twice slog-swept Brett D'Oliveira for six, he had positioned himself for victory, only to be bowled by Barnard as he made room to cut him through the offside.

That opened the way for Moeen to settle the match with 4 for 6 in his last two overs, by doing little more than hitting consistent areas. His first wicket owed much to Barnard's electric fielding as he dashed 20 yards to his left from long-off to pluck a diving catch to dismiss Jake Libby.

Dan Christian's first-ball nought again emphasised Worcestershire's sharpness in the field as his inside-edge onto his thigh was brilliantly collected to his right by the wicketkeeper, Ben Cox. In Moeen's final over, withy 59 needed off five, Tom Moores and Samit Patel went for broke and both holed out.

As an aside, it was worth wondering whether the racists (because some were) who denounced Moeen on social media for quite cheerfully opting out of England's champagne-shaking celebrations to mark the winning of the World Cup would even know or care that four days later he was back in county cricket, skippering Worcestershire with an air of calm and playing as much as his international commitments allow.

The World Cup has made additional demands on pitches at international venues, and Notts have limited outground options to lighten the load. It is to be hoped this is not a sign of things to come at the bigger venues.

Barnard found an answer to it. At 23, this slender allrounder is of an age where he can convince England of his attributes as a T20 cricketer. His flourish with the bat was a gem, carrying them to 161 for 6 when they must have felt 150 was optimistic; an innings of dexterity and common sense.

Barnard was the dominant partner in a stand of 59 from 30 balls with Ben Cox, rescuing Worcestershire from 102 for 6 after 15.2 overs. They had run aground on a grippy pitch which played into the hands of Harry Gurney, but Barnard dealt with his mix of slower offcutters with intelligence, running him through slips to the boundary as only 15 came off his first three overs. In Gurney's last over he switched mood, 18 runs lost as he struck him over midwicket for six and then added a Buttler-esque scoop to the next ball for good measure.

Martin Guptill would value the taste of victory, too. He had a modest World Cup - 186 runs at 20.66 - but before the match became the latest New Zealand player to respond to their desperately unlucky World Cup final loss in philosophical fashion. The gist of his remarks was that, as the beers went down, New Zealand had found contentment in the recognition that we had shared in one of the greatest one-day games in history.

Guptill's share at Trent Bridge was 22 from 24 balls, in an innings in which he was starved of the strike before he hit a full toss from Luke Wood back to the bowler. It could have been worse; before he had scored, he survived a run-out appeal by about an inch, the first sign for weeks that his luck might be on the turn.

Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar, former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald and former Australia Women's fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick have become the newest additions to the ICC Hall of Fame. The trio were inducted in a ceremony in London on Thursday.

Tendulkar, cricket's most prolific run-getter, was inducted immediately after becoming eligible: the ICC rule requires that a player should have played his last international match at least five years before and Tendulkar had retired in November 2013. He is the sixth Indian to be part of the ICC's Hall of Fame, following Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.

The only player to feature in 200 Test matches, Tendulkar scored 15921 runs in the longest format and 18426 runs in ODIs, both run tallies standing as records. He is also the only player to have scored 100 centuries in international cricket (51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs) and was part of India's World Cup winning side in 2011.

"It is an honour to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, which cherishes the contribution of cricketers over generations," Tendulkar said. "They have all contributed to the growth and popularity of the game and I am happy to have done my bit."

Donald, who retired from all formats in 2004, was one of South Africa's greatest fast bowlers, and the first bowler from the side to take 300 Test wickets and 200 ODI wickets. Donald ended with a wickets tally of 602 wickets in an international career that spanned more than a decade.

"The biggest shock when you open an e-mail like that - it says congratulations Allan Donald, you have been inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame! It hits you, it hits you quite hard because it is a prestigious award and something that you can't take lightly. I thank the ICC for the huge honour."

Fitzpatrick, the eighth woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, was the fastest bowler in women's cricket over the course of her 16-year international career. Her tally of 180 ODI wickets was the highest in women's cricket, until it was surpassed by India seamer Jhulan Goswami in May 2017. Fitzpatrick helped Australia lift two Women's World Cups - in 1997 and 2005 - and was coach of the side between May 2012 and May 2015, in which time Australia Women won a World Cup and two World T20 titles.

"To gain recognition alongside many of the games' giants is a huge honour. I look at the list of past inductees and what stands out most is not only their outstanding talent, but that they were game changers. They took the game on and changed the way it was played."

ICC's chief executive Manu Sawhney said the three were among the finest players to have ever graced the game. "It is a great honour for us to announce the 2019 inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Sachin, Allan and Cathryn are three of the finest players to ever grace our game and are deserved additions to the Hall of Fame. On behalf of the ICC, I would like to congratulate all three players, who enrich the list of all-time greats already members of this select club."