GRANITE CITY, Ill. — Tyler Erb outbattled Jimmy Owens and Mike Marlar to win his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season on Thursday night at Tri-City Speedway.

The Hoker Trucking Best in the Business 50 presented by Schoenfeld Headers was also Erb’s second consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.

Tim McCreadie came on strong to finish third just ahead of Owens and Earl Pearson Jr.

Erb started the day by setting fast time, then went on to earn the PFC Brakes Pole Award for the main event. Owens grabbed the early lead and held the point for the first 22 laps of the race.

The next six laps saw a back-and-forth race for the lead between Owens and Erb. Erb took the lead for the first time on lap 23, but Owens fought back to regain the top spot. The two raced side by side with Erb regaining the lead on the 30th circuit.

Marlar took over the second spot on lap 39 after he and Owens had battled side-by-side for several circuits. A caution came out with five laps to go, which gave Marlar one more opportunity to sneak by Erb.

On the restart, Erb used the clean air in front of him to open up a slight lead and finished three-quarters of a second ahead of Marlar at the finish line for his sixth career LOLMDS victory.

“I really didn’t want to see that last caution because I had gotten into a rhythm,” said Erb. “I was kind of kicking myself when Jimmy got back by me for the lead. I knew when Mikey was behind me that things were going to be tough. I could hear Jimmy under me and then the same thing with Mikey. I just kind of let it go for broke in the last four laps. About a month ago I was in the same position and I wasn’t going to let what happened last time, happen again.”

With the win, the 22-year-old Texan not only keeps his points lead in the rookie-of-the-year chase but also cut into point leader Jonathan Davenport’s championship point lead. Davenport finished 18th after pulling off the track due to heavy damage to his race car.

For Marlar, the runner-up finish continued his strong run of podium finishes since the first of June in the LOLMDS.

“This was an awesome race track tonight, we could run anywhere on it,” Marlar said. “I ran the top, but I felt the car working better on the bottom. I have always enjoyed coming here, but I have never had much success here. Glad to come here tonight and get the monkey off of our back.”

McCreadie stayed in the top five and grabbed the third spot at the finish.

“This was a good run. It’s Phillip’s [Crew Chief Phillip Snellen] birthday today. We are still working on a lot of things and we are getting closer. We started with a new shock company for the team and they had been out of racing for a long time, but we keep making strides and hopefully we can get a win soon.”

The finish:

Tyler Erb, Mike Marlar, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Earl Pearson Jr., Devin Moran, Chris Simpson, Hudson O’Neal, Scott Bloomquist, Stormy Scott, Gordy Gundaker, Shannon Babb, Rick Eckert, Josh Richards, Billy Moyer Jr., Austin Rettig, Kyle Bronson, Jonathan Davenport, Jesse Stovall, Tim Manville, Shanon Buckingham, Michael Norris, Billy Moyer, Michael Kloos, Daryn Klein.

India coach Ravi Shastri has acknowledged that the team missed a "solid" middle-order batsman, particularly in the semi-final, where their leading run-scorers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were dismissed cheaply. His statements come in the context of the talk - from before the World Cup - focused on the No. 4 spot and the middle order in general, which cropped up again following the 18-run defeat to New Zealand on Tuesday.

The uncertainty in India's batting order was further compounded by injuries. KL Rahul and Vijay Shankar had been seen as No. 4 options when the World Cup squad was picked, and India began the tournament with Rahul at that slot. However, Rahul moved up to open the innings after Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out due to a hand injury. Vijay batted at No. 4 for a couple of games before being ruled out of the tournament due to a toe injury. Vijay's injury meant that Rishabh Pant played at No. 4 in the last four matches. Neither Vijay nor Pant managed a 50-plus score from No. 4 position.

"In hindsight, yes, we did need a solid batsman out there in the middle order. But now, that's something for the future," Shastri told Indian Express. "That's a position that was always giving us problems, but we just couldn't nail it. Rahul was there but then Shikhar Dhawan got injured. Then Vijay Shankar was there, and he got injured. We just couldn't control it."

Another much-debated decision by India's selectors was Mayank Agarwal's selection over Ambati Rayudu as Vijay's replacement. Agarwal, who is yet to make his ODI debut, was not part of the standby list which had only Rayudu and Pant as batsmen. Shastri stated that the team had not thought of picking Agarwal for the semi-final to allow Rahul to drop back to the middle order.

"Not really, because it got too tight. By the time Mayank came to join us, there wasn't much time," Shastri said. "If there was one more game, that is, if this semi-final was a game later, we would have definitely done it. He flew in, and Rahul had just hit a 60, and then a hundred. But I know what you mean; if we had one more game, that could well have been done."

Agarwal's selection and Rayudu's omission - first from the original squad, and then as a replacement option - drew criticism from former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and VVS Laxman.

Another incident that Gavaskar came down heavily on was MS Dhoni's batting position in the semi-final, saying Dhoni should have batted higher up the order. Dhoni came out to bat at No. 7, after India's chase had lurched from 5 for 3 to 21 for 4. Shastri said Dhoni's batting position was a team decision.

"Everyone was in with it -- and it was a simple decision, too. The last thing you wanted was Dhoni coming out to bat early and getting out -- that would have killed the chase. We needed his experience later. He is the greatest finisher of all times -- and it would have been criminal to not make use of him in that way. The whole team was clear on it.

"And Rishabh Pant did look pretty secure when he got out to bat, even against Trent Boult, didn't he? You could then say that if Pant had continued and not got out… but that's sport. You grow up in quick time. He will learn, he already knows it. But I am happy that the team showed spunk. They didn't give up even after losing Pant and Pandya. What a fightback that was.

"He [Dhoni] was magnificent. The composure in the situation. And let me tell you, if not for that unfortunate run-out, I think he had his calculations going inside his head. Which ball to hit, how much to keep for [Jimmy] Neesham's last over. You could see his brain was ticking. He wanted to do it so desperately and it was clear on his face when he came back to the dressing room."

Martin Guptill was at deep backward square leg. And at first he didn't quite catch where the ball was. Then he realised it was dribbling over to him. And that MS Dhoni was looking for a very difficult second run.

Guptill went full sprint at the ball, picked it up with his right hand, took aim while somehow retaining perfect balance and shot down the stumps at the keeper's end to effectively seal New Zealand's spot in the 2019 World Cup final. (It was also only the 16th time in 297 innings that Dhoni has been run out in a one-day international)

"Lucky enough to get a direct hit from out there" - New Zealand's @Martyguptill on his ️throw to dismiss MS Dhoni in the #CWC19 semi-final against India. #BackTheBlackCaps pic.twitter.com/GnerDahQgQ

— ICC (@ICC) July 11, 2019

Until that moment though the New Zealand opener was having a horrible tournament. After an unbeaten 73 against Sri Lanka in New Zealand's opening game, he racked up five single-digit scores in the next eight innings, with a highest score of 35.

"It's bloody tough," Guptill told 1 News. "You try not to read what people are writing and hear what people are saying, but it's hard to tear away from it all.

"I've felt a little bit late on the ball in quite a few games, which is hard to deal with. You don't want to move too early because then you get stuck."

Guptill has one more chance to turn his form around, when New Zealand meet England in the final at Lord's on Sunday.

"The last couple of nets I've probably felt the best I have since I've been here," he said. "I've put a lot of time in and for it not to be working out in the middle, it's frustrating. People can say they're frustrated with me, but no one is more frustrated than what I am.

"I'm just trying to carry on with what I've been doing, work hard in the nets and hopefully in the next game it all comes together."

Ross Taylor, who spoke to the media at the end of the match against India, also backed Guptill to come good.

"Hopefully that's a bit of luck that he takes from his fielding to his batting and maybe he can have a bit of luck and make the most of it.

"Cricket's about small margins. When we came in to the huddle, the boys were joking that Gup always misses the stumps. When there's a run out on, he always missed the stumps. All those misses over the years, he only hits when there's nothing to worry about, but he did it now, and we celebrated accordingly and we're very happy for him."

Kumar Dharmasena will umpire Sunday's World Cup final between England and New Zealand, despite his incorrect decision to give Jason Roy out in yesterday's semi-final.

Dharmasena gave Roy out caught behind on 85 off Pat Cummins, despite replays showing that he had made no contact with the ball.

The umpire appeared to suggest Roy should refer the decision if he didn't think he was out, apparently failing to realise that Jonny Bairstow had already used up England's review after he was trapped in front by Mitchell Starc.

Roy's remonstrations on the field - he was picked up calling the decision "f**king embarrassing" by stump microphones - earned him two demerit points and a fine worth 30 per cent of his match fee, which he accepted at a post-match hearing.

Roy escaped a ban for the final, falling one short of the four-point threshold, but will face a one-Test or two-ODI suspension if he receives another demerit point within the next two years.

Dharmasena has won the ICC's Umpire of the Year award twice - in 2012 and 2018 - but also holds an unwanted record involving England. In 2016, during a Test in Chittagong, eight of his on-field calls were overturned, notably including a streak in which he gave Moeen Ali out three times in six balls, only for the batsman to successfully review each decision.

He will be standing in his second consecutive World Cup final, and also umpired the 2016 World T20 final.

Dharmasena will be joined in the middle by Marais Erasmus, who stood alongside him in Thursday's semi-final.

Rod Tucker will be the sole Australian representative at Lord's in his capacity as third umpire, while Aleem Dar, of Pakistan, will be fourth official. Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee.

Rashid Khan has been named Afghanistan's captain across all formats, while former captain Asghar Afghan has been appointed his deputy.

In April, Rashid was made T20I captain with Rahmat Shah and Gulbadin Naib taking the charge of Test and ODI sides respectively. ESPNcricinfo understands Rashid was offered the ODI captaincy as well before the World Cup, but had declined the offer then.

Afghanistan lost all their matches at the World Cup under Naib's leadership, with his decisions on the field during a thriller against Pakistan in particular, coming under the scanner.

More to follow

What's next for the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder after agreeing to swap All-Star point guards Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul?

The Rockets are reuniting Westbrook with James Harden in a talented backcourt that has some question marks, while the Thunder continue to stockpile draft assets for the future following the Paul George deal.

How will Harden and Westbrook work? Should OKC hold on to CP3? And what is the best star duo in the league now?

Our NBA Insiders answer the big questions following Thursday's blockbuster trade and look ahead for each franchise.

More: Latest NBA free-agency buzz

1. What's your initial reaction to this trade?

Bobby Marks: Any contract can be traded in the NBA -- even if that player is Chris Paul and he's owed $120 million over the next three seasons.

Andrew Han: It's Wee-Bey's reaction.gif. Paul and Westbrook are household names in the superstar division, but both are on the wrong side of 30. And while Paul is three and a half years older, Westbrook's contract runs one season longer (ending on a $47 million player option in 2022-23). So the age disparity merits two picks and two pick swaps for OKC despite the extra year in salary? The ledger doesn't feel like it completely balances for Daryl Morey.

André Snellings: First: "I love this game!"

Second: The pairing of two record-setting, ball-dominant players initially seemed like a questionable plan for the Rockets. But the more I think about it, the more I can see the upside in this deal for both teams.

Nick Friedell: Two teams are moving around two awful deals. I still can't believe the Rockets gave Paul that max extension. Woof. The lesson here is: Never say any deal is completely untradable. There's always a way.

Tim Bontemps: My initial reaction to the trade was the one that accompanied the pop that went through the crowd at Cox Pavilion during Las Vegas Summer League play: "Wow!"

It's incredible that Westbrook and Paul were flipped for each other, particularly at this cost. Houston needing to include four draft assets here shows how fast things change in the NBA. Meanwhile, seven years after Oklahoma City essentially chose Westbrook over Harden, the two of them are reunited again in Houston in what should be a truly fascinating partnership.

2. How did the Rockets do in this deal?

Marks: Status quo. The Rockets entered the day in the second tier of the Western Conference behind Denver, both teams from Los Angeles, Utah and possibly Portland. Houston will be in the same position even after acquiring Westbrook. One thing you learn from working in a front office is that you often value players because they are not on your team. In this case, Houston clearly had a strong desire to shake up the roster, even if that leads to the same results as last season.

Han: The fulcrum lies in the belief that Westbrook is a more complementary star to Harden than Paul. If so, then the Rockets might have overpaid but successfully secured the younger star. A question of fit remains nebulous at best, especially when the drumbeat of Houston throughout the past season was that it was a hamstring away from defeating a dynastic team in Golden State. In a season where the Hamptons Five reign has ended, dismantling the Harden-Paul duo doesn't merely rest on the hope that a banner will be raised in Clutch City -- it's a mandate.

Bontemps: It was clear that the Harden-Paul combination had run its course, but there are questions about this Westbrook-Harden fit. As one scout in Vegas said, they are arguably the two most ball-dominant players in the league -- and now they are playing in the same backcourt. Westbrook also wouldn't quite seem to fit the way Houston plays, given he is a career 30.8 percent 3-point shooter and has shot under 30 percent in four of the past five seasons. But Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has always believed in getting stars and figuring the rest out later.

Friedell: With Paul flopping all over the floor as his skills continue to diminish, the Rockets would have had little chance to win next season. They're better with Westbrook -- but I'm not sure how much. He really struggled with his shot at times in the postseason. They'd better win next season because -- just like Paul -- Westbrook's skills are only going to diminish from here.

Also, that's a lot of picks and pick swaps to move a guy you never should have extended for max money in the first place.

Snellings: I think the Rockets have potentially hit the jackpot with this trade. The best ability in basketball is availability. Paul has missed 48 regular-season games and a crucial Game 7 during his two seasons with the Rockets. They were a championship-caliber team when he was healthy, but it was difficult to depend on Paul to be available when needed.

Still, this move only works if Harden has fully bought into the idea of playing more off the ball. Westbrook isn't an off-ball threat, but he could be excellent at running the show and creating offense in Houston. Harden should be nigh unguardable as an off-guard who can operate against unbalanced defenses.

3. How did the Thunder do in this deal?

Bontemps: The Thunder continue to have a great week. In a series of trades, they have accumulated eight first-round picks over the next seven seasons to go along with four other pick swaps. Toss in the fact that the Thunder will now all but certainly keep their own protected picks in 2020 and 2022, and one could argue OKC has netted 10 first-round picks in three transactions -- a truly stunning haul.

In surveying people here in Vegas, no one expects Paul to remain in a Thunder uniform for long. The initial thought among league executives was that the Miami Heat -- who also were interested in Westbrook -- are a logical landing spot.

Han: Don't trade with Sam Presti -- at least not in the immediate future. The overseer of OKC has had a run of adroit arbitrage like few others in the past few weeks. With George and now Westbrook, the Thunder front office managed to take distressed stars, send them to preferred destinations and return a trove of assets for their trouble. And while Oklahoma City just accepted a series of picks for Chris Paul, would anyone be surprised if it somehow onboarded even more picks when Paul is sent to an eventual self-styled contender?

Friedell: I like what they got back. That's a lot of assets in return for Westbrook, who was never going to live up to his deal. The Thunder took advantage of Houston's desperation to make some kind of trade happen. There's no reason to keep Paul in OKC -- just move him and get more assets and picks. Hope a star becomes available on the trade market down the line and package a bunch of those assets together and then you can get a real reset going.

Snellings: The Thunder did well, and they should be able to flip Paul to another team for additional value. Paul's contract, while huge, is a year shorter than Westbrook's, and he is still able to compete at a high level when healthy. He would make sense on a team that has All-NBA talent and sees itself as being an impact player away. The Heat, Timberwolves, Pistons and Magic have the assets to put together an attractive offer for him.

Marks: The Thunder get an A-plus for two factors: They turned the $170 million Westbrook contract into four draft assets (two first-rounders and two swap rights) and now have Paul to move in a future trade. Yes, there is not a great appetite for the $120 million left on Paul's contract, but if the Thunder can parlay Paul into expiring contracts (think Miami) and maybe a future draft asset, Oklahoma City could wipe its finances clean and start to rebuild through the draft.

4. Fact or fiction: The Durant/Westbrook/Harden era in OKC was a success

Han: Fact. The OKC trio injected a level of basketball fanaticism where many were unsure of the level of sustainment in the region. And while the foregone conclusion that a Durant-Westbrook-Harden-led Thunder team would be Finals regulars proved naive, to judge success and failure simply by the number of rings one can display seems equally reductive.

Friedell: Fiction. The Thunder didn't win a title. The league has always been a bottom-line business in that regard: Did you win a 'ship or not? They had Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Serge Ibaka all in their primes and still couldn't do it. Now they have a boatload of picks while the draft remains unpredictable. They had the stars that teams dream about and still couldn't get it done. Wins are nice but they fade. Championships last forever. The Thunder swung big -- they just missed.

Bontemps: Fact. This one is easy. Would the Thunder have loved to win a title? Sure. But there have been plenty of teams over the years that came close to winning and didn't. You can't look at this run as anything but a massive success. Oklahoma City has been a relevant NBA franchise for more than a decade. The Thunder made it to one Finals and three conference finals, and very easily could've won multiple championships had a few breaks gone their way. In that same period, teams such as the Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings haven't won a single playoff series. Think fans of those teams would switch places with Thunder fans? In a heartbeat.

Marks: Fiction. Someday there will be a 30 for 30 on what could have been in Oklahoma City if it had kept the 2012 NBA Finals team together. Instead, we are left wondering if the tenure of OKC's Big Three was cut prematurely.

Snellings: Fact. The Thunder building a team through the draft that could consistently compete was an accomplishment given where they started. While a championship is the ultimate goal, they made a Finals appearance, famously came within a game of knocking off the only 73-win team in history and had two different players win the MVP and another finish top-3 in the vote while wearing their uniform. They had the potential to do more, but what they did accomplish was a success.

5. What is the best star duo in the NBA now?

Snellings: LeBron James and Anthony Davis. They have the most talent, the most size and their games should mesh best together. But this is not a game of 2-on-2, and at this point there are quite a few teams that absolutely have the potential to beat them out for this season's championship. I love this game!

Marks: Flip a coin between the team two teams in Los Angeles: LeBron James/Anthony Davis vs. Kawhi Leonard/Paul George.

Han: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. If the league continues to shift toward a wing-oriented game, it would stand to reason that the best two-way wing players for the upcoming season would amount to the best duo. Leonard just proved he's capable of leading a title contender with on-the-fly chemistry and George is coming off of a third-place MVP season despite shoulder woes. An argument can be made for the other duo in Los Angeles, but the perimeter emphasis of the league swings in the favor of the Clippers.

Friedell: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. If they stay healthy, they complement the rest of that Clippers roster so well. The defensive ability on that team will be fun to watch every night, on top of the fact that Leonard, George and Lou Williams all have the ability to get a bucket when needed. That team is going to be awesome.

Bontemps: LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If Paul George wasn't coming off surgery on both shoulders, he and Kawhi Leonard would be in the conversation, but that's about it. I caught a lot of flack last week for saying James wasn't among the top five players in the league -- but I had Davis fifth and James sixth. Nobody else in the NBA can match having two of the six best players in the sport -- particularly when James and Davis, assuming both are healthy, should be a perfect fit together offensively.

The three-time NCAA champion talks to Euan Crumley about breaking records and learning lessons as he aims to realise his global dream in Doha

It will all be different this time. Should Josh Kerr find himself on the Great Britain team for what would be his second world championships, there will be little trace of the youngster who made “rookie mistakes” and finished 11th in his 1500m heat in London two years ago. He will have instead been replaced by a more rounded individual – a more experienced athlete who is fully focused on what he wants to achieve and aware of what he needs to do to achieve it.

Judging by his performances so far this year, the 21-year-old from Edinburgh looks a sure bet for achieving the first goal of making that team for Doha – albeit that will in itself be a worthy accomplishment given the standard of opposition he will face at the British championships at the end of August.

Should all go to plan then the second, more substantial, target will come into view. Winning his first global medal.

Speak to those behind the scenes in the sport, particularly north of the border, and Kerr’s is a name which causes a ripple of excitement due to the clear potential he possesses.

The former European under-20 1500m champion has hardly gone unnoticed – three NCAA titles and a clutch of records underline his abilities – but, given that he does train and race on the other side of the Atlantic for much of the year his profile is perhaps not quite as high on these shores as some of his fellow British middle-distance colleagues.

That situation will surely change, however, should he continue in the vein of form with which he has begun the 2019 outdoor season.

Four races thus far have produced four personal bests. A first ever outing over 5000m last month brought a time of 13:28.66, “I do feel like I could have gone a lot faster but I’m not complaining”, while 1:46:06 last month represented a two-second improvement for 800m and he went faster still in California just a few days ago, clocking 1:45.35.

Then there’s the 1500m. On June 15, at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, Kerr clocked 3:33.60 and promptly took over from Steve Cram as British under-23 record-holder.

“Yes, it was a really tough race and I had to work extremely hard to get to 3:33 but, give me perfect conditions, a better build-up and a time in the season when I know when I want to peak and I know I can run faster”

The really exciting thing, though? “There’s more there,” says Kerr, reflecting on his 1500m. “We’re not peaking right now. We worked hard for it but we’ve been doing tough races and a week previously I had run 1:46 for 800m. I was back in the UK for two to three weeks to sort out my (US) visa which was reasonably stressful and it wasn’t anywhere near perfect conditions.

“Yes, it was a really tough race and I had to work extremely hard to get to 3:33 but, give me perfect conditions, a better build-up and a time in the season when I know when I want to peak and I know I can run faster.”

Kerr is also aware that, to achieve his ultimate goal, he will indeed have to get quicker but he emits a quiet, calm confidence that suggests there’s no hurry just yet.

This is a man very much at ease and extremely happy with his lot in life right now. He admits it was a risk to turn professional last year and sign up with the Brooks Beasts team headed by Seattle-based coach Danny Mackey but it is one that is clearly paying off.

“It’s definitely a support system that’s easy to thrive in, put it that way,” he says.

Such is the quality of his set-up that Kerr has felt more than happy not to spend much of the summer travelling on the high-profile European circuit and instead do much of his early-season work on American shores.

A Diamond League debut will be made at some stage this summer, but Kerr crucially now knows what works for him and the importance of getting his preparations right was one of the key lessons he learned during that last world championships summer of 2017.

“For me and my old coach Joe Franklin it was such a learning experience,” he says. “The overall consensus was ‘we’re going to go there, we’re going to get super fit, make sure we’re injury-free and we’re going to be fine’.

“I ran really well at the trials (finishing second) and went to the (preparation) camp at Font Romeu. I was like a newcomer just not really knowing what he was doing.

“If you tell Mo Farah to go to some new camp he’s never been to before a world championships he’ll never do it because he knows what he’s doing, he knows what works for him and he tailors what works for him and makes sure British Athletics knows that.

“Font Romeu didn’t really work for me. I was living by myself a bit as a lot of my room-mates had moved out to go to the second camp but I decided to stay put as I work better at altitude.

“But I was on my own a lot and training on my own and it just didn’t work for me.

“It wasn’t British Athletics’ fault. I was a young at the time, I didn’t know what I wanted and the Font Romeu camp was the one that made most sense on paper for me, so I only had myself to blame. I didn’t speak up, I was kind of riding it out.”

He adds: “I was probably fit enough to run 3:33 in London but I got knocked out in the first round because I ran 3:47 (Elijah Manangoi won the heat in 3:45.93) but I couldn’t close in 51/52 seconds.

“That’s the kind of well-roundedness I’m going to need for the World Championships and the Olympics. I’m going to need more of an arsenal.

“These all sound like rookie mistakes but you need to iron out these creases in the first big one and I took a load of experiences from it. I know what works for me now.”

“The times can come and you need to run them to be competitive in the big championships but if you go out and run 3:30 but someone else has won a world medal, who’s more important?”

It is not just the support he receives from his team in America which is crucial to Kerr, however. His family, and their own sporting achievements, play a particularly inspirational part.

Dad John was a useful rugby player, winning international honours with Scotland A and the Scotland sevens side, however it is the career of brother Jake which Josh is quick to credit when asked about his sporting influences.

The Kerr siblings were both spotted by an Edinburgh AC coach as youngsters but Jake opted to pursue rugby. He now plays with Leicester Tigers and won his first cap for Scotland in this year’s Six Nations but his path to success has not been without its agonies.

“He has gone through some pretty terrible injuries over the last three or four years,” says Kerr, a clear sense of pride in his voice. “He had three big surgeries and the most depressing thing is that he worked out he was playing 13 minutes of rugby per injury or something ridiculous like that.

“So watching him get those surgeries, be positive about it, working hard at his rehab and ending up at an amazing place like Leicester Tigers just makes me appreciate being injury-free and being able to run on the track.

“There have been a number of times when he wanted to give up his rugby career, and he went to Loughborough University and thought ‘this is it for me’ but then Leicester Tigers approached him and he has signed a good contract with them.

“You never know what’s around the corner but if you work hard and continue to stay positive about things, even if life’s throwing stuff at you and giving you a bad hand, you just need to trust the process a bit and trust in your team. That’s what he did and now he’s in an amazing position and playing for an amazing club.

“He got his first cap for Scotland almost exactly a year after thinking he was going to have to give up, so what a turn of events it was.

“He works extremely hard and is a great inspiration for me. He still thinks he could beat me over 800m, even though he now weighs 250lbs or something like that!”

Kerr chuckles at the thought of that scenario but this sibling rivalry is clearly a healthy one. Just like his brother, he is driven by the thought of reaching the top. Dethroning Cram in the record books has been nice, of course, but it’s not top of the wish list.

“It was definitely a goal this year to take that under-23 record,” says Kerr. “I think it was well within my grasp and hopefully I can take some more off it but it’s much more important for me to have a good go at getting to my first world final and getting my first world medal is the big goal.

“The times can come and you need to run them to be competitive in the big championships but if you go out and run 3:30 but someone else has won a world medal, who’s more important?

“For me, being a big name and taking a medal away from the world championships is way more important than running faster than I have.”

Do that, and life will indeed become very different.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet at Wimbledon for the first time since the 2008 men's final when they face each other in the semi-finals on Friday. This feature was written last year to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of that incredible match.

John McEnroe describes it as "the greatest match ever played" and, 10 years on, the 2008 Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer remains the high point of a rivalry that continues to dominate tennis.

The final - played out over nearly seven hours because of rain delays - ended with a 22-year-old Nadal finally dethroning Federer, holding off a thrilling fightback from the five-time champion to win 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7 as darkness descended on an enraptured Centre Court.

It was the last of three successive Wimbledon finals between two players who have won a combined 37 Grand Slam titles. They have not met at Wimbledon since but, incredibly, will go into this year's tournament ranked one and two in the world, having split the past six Slams between them.

Here, BBC Sport speaks to four people who witnessed an extraordinary occasion - seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe, who commentated on the match for NBC, umpire Pascal Maria, long-time Wimbledon locker-room attendant Doug Dickson, and Jonathan Overend - the BBC's tennis correspondent from 2003 to 2013.

This is how they saw "the greatest match".

'Nadal was edging closer but still Federer was the king'

On 6 July 2008 - the day of the match - Federer was a month short of his 27th birthday and had spent 231 consecutive weeks as world number one.

But Nadal was close to toppling him. Four weeks earlier, he destroyed Federer at Roland Garros - winning 6-1 6-3 6-0 for his fourth consecutive French Open title. Could the Swiss recover to take revenge on his favoured surface?

Federer had beaten Nadal in four sets in the 2006 Wimbledon final, and five sets 12 months later. Both men were playing for a slice of history - Nadal trying to become the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back since Bjorn Borg in 1980, Federer attempting to go ahead of Borg by winning a sixth consecutive Wimbledon.

It was also the last match played on Centre Court before a roof was installed, so the circumstances - with repeated rain interruptions, and a final finishing at twilight - are unlikely to be repeated.

Jonathan Overend: "Everybody was wondering whether this was going to be the day Federer's great Wimbledon reign came to an end. Nadal was edging closer but still Federer was the king. It was beautifully set up."

Doug Dickson: "Roger was his usual calm, collected self. If he was nervous, he did not show it. Rafa was also his usual self, a tiny bit on edge, which was due, I think, to the weather."

Rain delayed the scheduled 14:00 start by 35 minutes, and the first point set the tone - a superb 14-stroke rally with both players moving each other round the court until Nadal whipped a forehand down the line. The Spaniard broke serve first - in the third game. As he served for the set at 5-4, Federer created two break-back opportunities but they were fought off, the younger man getting the job done on his third set point.

'There was always that sense Federer would come back'

Federer came back firing in the second set, breaking Nadal's serve at the first opportunity by whipping a vicious cross-court forehand winner and establishing a 4-1 lead. But he could not capitalise and Nadal won five games in a row to go two sets to love up.

JO: "I remember how well Nadal was moving, how cleanly he was striking the ball, how well he was serving. In those first two sets Federer knew this was going to be his toughest Wimbledon final yet. But there was always that sense that Federer would come back. Even at two sets to love, I don't think anybody saw it as being over, simply because of Federer's experience on that court."

Federer had never faced a challenge on this scale in his previous Wimbledon finals. Dark clouds were gathering overhead as he failed to convert four further break points in the sixth game of the third set. At 3-3, Federer was down 0-40 but won five straight points. At 16:51, with Federer leading 5-4, the rain started falling and the players left the court.

DD: "During the first rain break, Roger went into the physio room and lay down on one of the beds. Rafa re-taped his fingers and had a mobile CD player plugged in."

Pascal Maria: "I went in an office and sat down and did not turn my phone on at all. I talked to different guys in there very quietly, not talking about the tennis, not talking about what could happen next or what did happen."

It was more than an hour before the rain relented and the covers came off. At 18:11, play resumed with the third set, and potentially the match, about to be decided. Three service holds took it into a tie-break. Federer seized the initiative with a couple of trademark fizzing forehands to go 5-2 up and closed out the set with an ace that was greeted with a huge roar from the crowd.

'The rain delay probably woke me up'

Federer, speaking in the Strokes of Genius documentary, said: "My problem was I had lost in the French Open final a month earlier against Rafa in a terrible way. He crushed me. So when I went into the Wimbledon final, I felt like, 'Oh my God, this is going to be really difficult.' I think it took me two sets to shake it off and I believe that rain delay probably woke me up. I said: 'If you're going to go out of this match, at least you're going to go down swinging.'"

The fourth set went with serve, with excitement levels rising the longer it went. Federer served to stay in the match at 4-5. At 0-30, he was again on the precipice but four straight points allowed him to escape and prompted chants of "Roger, Roger". It had been gripping enough but, with the time approaching 19:30, the match was about to go to another level in a tie-break of astonishing drama.

JO: That was just an unbelievable tie-break. The nature of the way we do the radio commentary is one of us does sets one, three and five. My colleague Alastair Eykyn did sets two and four. We have a little bench at the back of our commentary box which I was sitting on. I was absolutely transfixed. Of course, part of you is hoping you get a fifth set because you'll be the commentator for it but on the other hand you know you're watching a great final and potentially a new champion. Nadal was so close to finishing it there and all those emotions were going on. As well as being there working, you're there as a fan as well, thinking, 'this is too good'.

Nadal went 5-2 ahead with two serves to come. A first Wimbledon title was on his racquet but suddenly the Spaniard's left arm was gripped with tension, a double fault and netted backhand bringing the tie-break back on serve at 5-4. Federer had a set point at 6-5 but missed a forehand. Nadal had a championship point at 7-6 but couldn't do anything with a powerful Federer serve.

At 7-7, somehow, from way behind the baseline, Nadal whipped a forehand down the line that left the champion grasping at thin air. It was a staggering shot. He had a second championship point, this time on his serve, but it was Federer's turn to come up with breathtaking inspiration, a nerveless backhand down the line. In his BBC commentary, Andrew Castle said: "The two best passing shots of the tournament, without doubt, have just taken place on the last two points."

The next two points saw a Federer forehand winner and missed Nadal return The roars grew louder. It was two sets all.

John McEnroe: "What made the final so great was a combination of things. It was obviously the players, the magnitude of the situation, playing the Wimbledon final, and certainly the way it panned out. The battle that Roger was having with Rafa but also with himself, squandering the lead in the second set and getting way down and then having to pull out two sets in the tie-break."

JO: "If ever there was a tie-break to prove Federer's champion quality, it was that one. The greatest pull out their greatest shots when it really matters and that's what Federer did. That felt absolutely massive, him winning that tie-break."

PM: "Two incredible players playing an incredible match. You cannot be screaming or clapping but you can deeply enjoy it. I can remember a few points in that match and inside I was saying, 'wow, what a great shot' or 'what a great point'."

The match went into a final set but, as is Wimbledon tradition, this one would not be decided by a tie-break. Federer would have the advantage of serving first. Nadal had to clear his mind after failing to convert two championship points.

Nadal, speaking in Strokes of Genius said: "I could lose the final. But I wasn't going to fail. I'd be ready to compete till the end. Federer could win, but I wasn't going to lose."

'Nadal wasn't going anywhere'

JO: "All bets were off by that point. The momentum was with Federer because he'd won the fourth set. History was with Federer because he was the five-time champion, but there was still this unknown of what Nadal was going to offer in the decider. He had played so well to that point. Only a fool would have written him off. It was clear in the early games, even though Federer was serving first, that Nadal wasn't going anywhere."

At 19:53, with the decider poised at 2-2, deuce, the rain came again. The players went off and the covers came across. It looked like they would be coming back on Monday to finish it but it would prove a short interruption. Half an hour later, they resumed with, realistically, a maximum of an hour's playable light left. The quality and intensity would never drop, the two men throwing all they had at each other. It was heart-stopping stuff.

JM: "I was fortunate enough that people talked about my match with Bjorn in 1980 as one of the great matches. But I was watching the 2008 final and sitting back and saying to myself: 'This is the best match I've ever seen at Wimbledon.'

"Towards the end, I was virtually not saying anything in the commentary box. I thought what I was witnessing was so great and the players were rising to the occasion - anyone watching could tell it was going to be a match that people would talk about for generations to come. To me that's an easy gig when you're watching a match like that. When it is that good you sort of kick back and put your arms back."

The match moved into its fifth hour. At 4-4, Federer earned a break point but Nadal saved it with a big forehand and follow-up smash. "Roger, Roger" and "Rafa, Rafa" were ringing out simultaneously. At 5-5, Nadal got to 15-40 on the Federer serve but the Swiss repelled him. The light was fading fast. With the clock having ticked past 21:00, Nadal won a thrilling point to hold for 7-7 - Federer somehow flicked a ferocious Nadal smash onto the baseline but the Spaniard put away a forehand and, with adrenaline coursing through his body, celebrated with a huge fist-pump. Would they have to stop there?

DD: I was sent out about 21:10 for the Charlie Pasarell-Pancho Gonzales match in 1969 (the second-longest singles match in Wimbledon history) and you could hardly see the white balls. The supervisor could not believe they were still playing. It was the same that day. I went down about 21:00 and thought 'they have to call this soon'.

JO: "I always think television gives a false impression because of the filters. You had to be there to appreciate how dark it was in those final games. When it got to 7-7 it was absolutely obvious there were two more games left. They wanted to bring them off at a level score. It would have been unfair to call them back with one person serving for the match or serving to stay in the match."

PM: "Obviously it was getting dark and the Hawk-Eye went off because of the darkness. Neither of the players mentioned it before the match ended. I think the players were so much into it that they did not even realise. We agreed with the referee, Andrew Jarrett, that we would have to stop the match at 8-8."

Federer finally faltered when serving at 7-7. Although he saved three break points in that game, he couldn't stave off a fourth as a forehand floated long and Nadal had the decisive break. After the change of ends, Nadal came out to serve for the championship in what was going to be the final game of the day whatever happened. He brought up a third championship point but Federer raged against the dying of the light, firing a backhand return that Nadal could barely get a racquet on. It was to prove his last salvo - two points later he sent a forehand into the net and Nadal collapsed onto the grass in celebration. Finally, after four hours and 48 minutes of compelling theatre, Wimbledon had a new champion.

JM: "To me, it was the greatest match I'd ever watched, the greatest match ever played anywhere."

JO: "It was like nothing we've seen before. There have been some great Wimbledon finals, but it was the intensity I remember from that final that really stays with me. The ability of these two men to bring out the big shots when it really mattered."

DD: "Most winners have beer and Champagne. Rafa, his uncle Toni and physio Rafael Maymo had ice cream - that's how they celebrated."

JO: "It was 10pm by the time we went behind the scenes for the press conferences and the interviews. I remember getting changed into my dinner jacket in a toilet at Wimbledon so by the time I interviewed Nadal, I could be hot-footing it to central London to get to the champions' dinner. In true old-school, pre-war BBC tradition I interviewed the champion, Nadal, in a bow tie."

PM: "I was super concentrated over hours so I couldn't get some sleep before 4-5am. Then I had to wake up really early to catch a plane. It was a tough Monday. But how lucky I am to be the official of that match? It's great that nobody remembers me in a way, but being part of this match, and having the best seat in the stadium, is just something unforgettable."

Additional reporting from Russell Fuller and Jonathan Jurejko

Manchester United have confirmed a member of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's backroom has been taken to hospital during the preseason tour of Australia.

A member of the travelling party was taken to Royal Perth Hospital on Thursday night on the advice of United's club doctor, Steve McNally.

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A statement issued by the club on Friday read: "A member of our backroom staff was taken ill overnight and has been sent to hospital by our club doctor for further treatment.

"We request that medical confidentiality is respected."

Royal Perth Hospital declined to comment when contacted by ESPN FC.

United held an open training session at the WACA cricket ground on Thursday evening and are due to play Perth Glory on their first preseason game on Saturday.