ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Tuesday's Gold Cup opener against Guyana was always going to be one of those no-win situations for the United States men's national team.

Win big, and the response was always going to be: "Well, it's Guyana." Win by a less-than-flattering scoreline -- or, God forbid, fail to secure maximum points -- and the worst assumptions about Gregg Berhalter's team that have accumulated over the past 20 months would be confirmed.

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As it turned out, the U.S. cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Golden Jaguars, with two goals from Tyler Boyd, and the performance was about what was expected. The home side dominated possession, created the vast majority of chances and might have won by a bigger margin had it been sharper in terms of crossing and shooting. Defensively, the U.S. looked solid, with goalkeeper Zack Steffen forced to make just one sharp save over the 90 minutes.

The effect the win had on the team's collective psyche is open to debate. Outwardly, the win did more than just land three points in the Group D standings; it allowed the U.S. to exhale a bit after two difficult results leading into the tournament. The Americans aren't exactly walking with a swagger at the moment, but they have more momentum than they did two weeks ago.

Yet to hear winger Paul Arriola tell it, even after the U.S. stumbled to friendly defeats against Jamaica and Venezuela, the team's overall demeanor remained unchanged.

"One thing I'll say about the team, on the inside, it's been nothing like it's been on the outside," he said. "[We're] extremely confident. When we looked back at the games, we saw where we could improve, and we saw what worked and what didn't work. I give a lot of credit to the coaching staff and what they do. The positivity around the team helps us when it's a low time, like after Venezuela."

There were certainly some shortcomings in the Americans' game against Guyana, though some of that had to do with the determined opposition. While the U.S. dominated possession, there was a lack of cohesiveness that showed their attack remains in its early stages of development. Christian Pulisic, while looking dynamic with the ball at his feet, went long stretches without seeing much of it; Gyasi Zardes continues to squander decent chances and then score on absolute flukes, including Tuesday's tally when Arriola's shot deflected off the head of Guyana defender Terence Vancooten, then ricocheted off Zardes' head and in.

Yet other aspects of the U.S. attack seemed to perk up. Weston McKennie was impactful in the final third during the opening 45 minutes, and it was his deft pass that set up Arriola's 28th-minute opener. (McKennie was later subbed out with an apparent hamstring injury, though he told reporters that while the hamstring is still being evaluated, "It's looking good" in terms of him getting back on the field soon.)

Most impressive of all was the effect that the Americans' flank play had on the match. While Arriola put in an impressive shift with a goal and an assist, it was Tyler Boyd's night as he scored twice to give the U.S. some breathing room in the game and pad the team's goal differential.

Boyd is the latest U.S. player to wear the mantle of "The Best American You've Never Seen." His numbers while on loan with Turkish side Ankaragucu -- six goals in 14 appearances -- caught the eye, but how he would fit in with the U.S. side, and how impactful he could be, remained an unknown.

Tuesday's match gave U.S. fans more to hold on to. Boyd showed off some sharp finishing, firing home in the 51st minute from Michael Bradley's diagonal ball -- the 1,000th goal in U.S. men's national team history -- and then converting with a heavy shot from just outside the box in the 81st minute. He also created three chances and generally linked up well with his teammates.

"It's what we've been talking about," said Berhalter about Boyd's performance. "The verticality, the finishing, the work rate, all those things are what we've been discussing, and I think it was a good start for him."

For Boyd, it was a night to remember beyond the goals. His parents had flown in from New Zealand to watch him play and were treated to his first two goals in a U.S. uniform.

"It was an unbelievable moment for me, and to share that with my parents and give my mum my jersey after the game," he said. "But I bring it back to the team. Without my teammates giving me the ball, I can't score goals. It's a team effort, and that's what I put it down to."

The task for Boyd and his teammates is to do it again. Their next opponent, Trinidad & Tobago, will make for a psychological challenge as well as a footballing one give that the Soca Warriors eliminated the U.S. from World Cup qualifying some 20 months ago. Given all that has transpired since then, overconfidence shouldn't be an issue -- even as T&T delivered a tepid performance in a 2-0 defeat to Panama.

"We're not going to go overboard because [this was] a game that we should win [vs. Guyana], and we did win," said Bradley. "I thought we handled things in a pretty solid way. We scored some good goals; we didn't give away a ton defensively. Three important points, and we'll continue to build and continue to get better as the tournament goes on."

In an age of metrics and audience engagement, some see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the lowest of low-hanging fruit. They are box office talents because they generally turn the incredible into routine. Most of us understand and appreciate them. Perhaps not equally, but with a massive underlying respect for what they do in the football-sphere, and they rightly generate more conversation than just about anybody in sport.

But there's a part of that conversation that is dark, vicious and puerile. One that is based on one-upmanship, loathing and vitriol, that weaponizes statistics and trophy hauls, private lives and photo shoots as if keeping score in an imaginary game of "mine's bigger than yours" where the two -- or, better yet, their feats -- become surrogates for their fans.

This isn't a knock on those who care a little too much. It's simply the price you pay for the things that make it great. Passion, tribalism, release from the quotidian ennui by allowing a bunch of people you've likely never met play a game to determine your mood: team sports is all of the above. We all know (or should know) the etymology of the word "fan" from fanatic, a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal.

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We've all been there. Nothing new. Fans talk smack. For many, it's part of the ritual. But we've moved into a slightly different territory with the perpetual Cristiano Ronaldo/Lionel Messi debate. Among the most passionate (often vicious and/or paranoid too) commenters are folks who don't appear to be supporters of the teams for which they play or, in Ronaldo's case, have played, whether at club or international level, at least according to basic timeline snooping. And this is where we enter, at least in football, a situation that's unprecedented and uncharted.

The likes of Pele, Diego Maradona or Johan Cruyff were idolized and were global superstars too, but it was usually through the lens of the teams for which they played. As popular as Maradona was, it's not as if a gaggle of Barcelona supporters became Napoli fans when he moved to Serie A. Pele is identified with arguably the greatest World Cup team ever (Brazil 1970), a hugely iconic Brazilian club (Santos) and the New York Cosmos, with all the 1970s hype that represented. Cruyff was the centrepiece of Rinus Michels' "Total Football" at Ajax and the Dutch national side, before moving to the Camp Nou and becoming intrinsically linked with the Barca brand (a relationship that would only grow once he became manager).

I'm not sure the same applies to Messi and Ronaldo, at least as far as this particular sub-section of supporters, who seem thoroughly obsessed with them, is concerned. Messi has spent 18 years at Barcelona, winning everything there is to win at club level and yet he hasn't taken over the club brand the way Maradona did in Naples or Pele with Brazil and Santos, or even Cruyff with Ajax and Barca. You can make a similar point about Ronaldo in his nine seasons at Real Madrid.

Part of this may be that the game has globalized and changed. Superstars are now brands of their own to a degree that they weren't in the past and sponsors market the individual as much as (if not more) than the team. In that sense, we're going down the NBA route: wherever LeBron goes, eyeballs and dollars follow.

Part of it may be that while it's still a team game (arguably now more than ever before), the way many experience it has changed. There were no highlights appearing in real time on social media in previous era; if you wanted to watch Maradona or Cruyff, you had to sit through entire games. There were no Facebook-friendly memes outlining their goal-scoring exploits and ready to be shared. And there was no Instagram. All of this lends itself to the celebration of the individual more than ever before, particularly among a certain global cohort.

Part of it may also be that communication has changed. As has been pointed out before, social media allows anybody with a smartphone to be his own publisher or media entity. Equally, there is more mistrust and questioning of legacy media in a multichannel landscape than ever before. Pele and Cruyff were before my time and I was a kid during the Maradona era, but looking at past coverage I get the distinct impression that whatever the "expert" on TV or in the paper said was gospel to most.

As mass audiences have learned to think more critically, and as the game has expanded to parts of the world where there are fewer legacy media institutions, that deference has waned. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the most frequent themes in the Messi/Cristiano "Trollosphere" (after putting down the other in the most vicious way) is pointing out how the media is responsible for under-appreciating one side and relentlessly hyping the other.

Of course, it's a vast conspiracy.

The other element setting this apart is that there is a natural rivalry. One is the yin to the other's yang. While we've had great sporting rivalries in the past -- think Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in basketball, or Roger Federer vs. Rafa Nadal in men's tennis -- it's exceedingly rare to have two legitimate G.O.A.T. candidates in the same era. And none have reached the heights of acrimony among fans of the individuals. (Let's face it: Roger is such a nice guy that you'd feel pretty bad about yourself if you were a Federer SuperFan and not emulating your hero's unbreakable niceness.)

For many, there is a natural tendency to take sides and this may be augmented by the fact that these are very visual, non-verbal superstars. Pele, Maradona and Cruyff were fun to watch, but they were also often interesting and entertaining to hear. Messi and Ronaldo interviews are as much fun as a trip to the dentist. It's not necessarily because they're less intelligent or interesting than their predecessors, it's just that we live in a world where athlete messaging is all about visuals and image first. (That and the fact that many athletes figured out long ago that saying nothing is generally in their interest in a commercial and sporting sense.)

In fact, both are helped in their visual messaging by the fact that they look more like cartoon characters than normal people. Messi is small. Ronaldo looks like a Greek statue come to life. Put them in their Sunday best suits and they still look like Messi and Ronaldo. Stick Pele or Cruyff in business attire and they look like guys you might see on Wall Street. (Maradona, of course, is different because he's Maradona...)

This branding helps explain their marketing success. It's easy to "get them" in the same way it's easy to get a Hollywood blockbuster with lots of explosions rather than some brilliant but dialogue-driven indie film. It's why one sells easily around the world and the other often gets lost in translation.

So put all the ingredients together. You have two superstars who hardly ever speak, who look like X-Men and who achieve supernaturally great things on the football pitch. It gives you licence to project not just your love and admiration upon them, but whatever qualities you want to attribute to them. Doting father? Hard-working, self-made superstar? Righter of the world's wrongs? Almost anything flies, and the only reason I say almost is that even Ronaldo's biggest acolytes would struggle to describe him as humble and understated. (They'd point out, correctly, that to paraphrase Kid Rock, it ain't bragging if you back it up...)

Maybe all of this is at the heart of why a minority -- and it is very much a minority -- of Ronaldo and Messi superfans behave like this. Or maybe it's just the simple fact that turning every man, woman and child on Earth with a smartphone into a media outlet has simply given a platform to a dark side of human nature that was always there.

In the meantime, at the risk of sounding naive, let's take heart in the fact that most of us genuinely appreciate existing in an era with two of the greatest sportsmen in history who, if anything, drive each other to new heights year after year.

Big Picture

The tournament has so far run more or less to expectation of organisers wishing to see as much of the game's biggest financial drawcards as possible. Bangladesh's presence as the most likely usurper of an otherwise entrenched top four teams has been underlined by their beatings of South Africa and the West Indies. To now face Australia is a tantalising prospect, for it is likely that the Tigers will need to beat one of either Aaron Finch's team or India, alongside Afghanistan and Pakistan, to be able to progress to the semi-finals.

It was 14 years ago in Cardiff that Bangladesh pulled off one of their most celebrated early victories over Australia in an ODI infamously remembered for Andrew Symonds' ouster after too big a night out beforehand.

More recently, each of the past two ODI encounters between the teams have been abandoned due to poor weather, at the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2015 World Cup. This means that both teams will circle each other a little uncertainly, although Bangladesh will have an element of something to prove against opponents who cancelled a scheduled Test series against them at home last year for reasons known best to Cricket Australia and its broadcasters.

At the same time, Australia are still seeking their best balance and form, having rather struggled through so far without playing in a complete manner. They came close against Sri Lanka, save for an underwhelming final 10 overs with the bat, and with Marcus Stoinis close to returning to full fitness may also be able to find the sort of team line-up that caters more evenly in terms of batting, pace and also spin bowling. Victory for Australia would more or less seal a semi-finals berth.

Form guide

Bangladesh WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WWLWW

In the spotlight

As the tournament's leading run-maker Shakib Al Hasan is a clear threat to the Australians, and his left-arm spin bowling will also be a source of concern, as evidenced by the call-up of Ashton Agar to bowl to Finch's team in the nets at Nottingham ahead of the match. Though his qualities are well known and appreciated by the Australians both at international and BBL levels, it is Shakib's ability to bring others into the game, whether tightening up his end to bring wickets at the other or forming partnerships such as that with Liton Das against West Indies that makes him a still greater danger to any opponent.

So far Glenn Maxwell has arguably played a more critical role for Australia with the ball than with the bat, taking up a great deal of responsibility as the fifth bowler and only spinner after Adam Zampa was dropped following an expensive outing against India. Bangladesh may look to attack his spin as they did Chris Gayle for the West Indies, while Maxwell can also expect to face pace early in his innings, something that Pakistan waited too ling to do at Taunton and Sri Lanks did not get right at the Oval.

Team news

Liton Das should hold onto his spot after a match-clinching turn against the West Indies.

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Liton Das, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mosaddek Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mohammad Saifuddin, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Australia have a few variables in their selection, including Marcus Stoinis' imminent return to fitness and also the question of whether a spin bowler is included - Nathan Lyon has enjoyed Test match success against Bangladesh in the past. Nathan Coulter-Nile is also in line for a recall after being rested against Sri Lanka.

Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Shaun Marsh/Marcus Stoinis, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Kane Richardson/Nathan Lyon

Pitch and conditions

The Trent Bridge surface was on the dry side for England versus Pakistan and West Indies versus Australia, but rain in the interim caused India versus New Zealand to be abandoned and may also have freshened up the square somewhat. Forecast weather is cool and cloudy with scattered showers.

Strategy punt

• Australia will have noted how Bangladesh attacked the West Indies' short-pitched assault with relish but also plenty of good fortune on a small ground at Taunton. Given Trent Bridge's somewhat bigger dimensions there may be the temptation to try it once more in the expectation that Mashrafe's men will not be quite so fortunate again. Equally, a liberal diet of bouncers would help push the Bangladesh batsmen back on the crease, where they will be still more vulnerable to Mitchell Starc's yorkers.

• Bat or bowl first is another conundrum, given Bangladesh's recent penchant for chasing with increasing confidence and brio, while the Australians have shown themselves very adept at defending even a mediocre target with their pace bowling power and alert fielding. Bat-first teams have won the majority of matches at the tournament to date, despite the impression that early orning conditions will suit fast bowlers.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh are yet to win an ODI at Trent Bridge, having twice lost to England in 2005 and 2010.

• Tamim Iqbal (281 runs in eight matches) needs nine runs to surpass Habibul Bashar (289 in 11) as the highest run maker for Bangladesh in ODIs against Australia. Adam Gilchrist is the leading Austrlaian run-maker with 444 from 12 games.

Quotes

"We said at the start of the tour that we've got lots of options, very adaptable and that's our strength not our weakness. I get the sense some people think that's our weakness. I actually think it's our strength that we can play according to our opposition, we can play accordingly to grounds, we can play accordingly to managing players. That's a strength, not a weakness."
Justin Langer

Shikhar Dhawan's World Cup has come to end midway through India's campaign. The opening batsman suffered a hairline fracture to his left thumb during his century against Australia on June 9 and hasn't recovered well enough to play the tournament.

Rishabh Pant, who was rushed in as a cover by the BCCI on June 11, two days after Dhawan suffered the blow, and trained with the Indian squad in Manchester ahead of the Pakistan match, will be Dhawan's replacement.

Dhawan was present in Southampton today during the Indian training session, with his left hand wrapped in bandage. According to the BCCI, Dhawan's hand is expected to be in cast beyond the World Cup, which ends on July 14.

Speaking at a media briefing, India team manager Sunil Subramaniam read from a note: "Shikhar has a fracture at the base of his first metacarpal on his left hand [thumb]. Following several specialist opinions, he will remain in a cast until July, mid-July, which rules him out of the ICC World Cup 2019.

"We've requested for a replacement, we've written to ICC and requested for Rishabh Pant as replacement."

"I feel emotional to announce that I will no longer be a part of #CWC19. Unfortunately, the thumb won't recover on time. But the show must go on," Dhawan tweeted a while after the announcement.

It was an unfortunate blow for Dhawan, and the team, considering it was only their second group match after winning the opening fixture against South Africa. The injury took place while Dhawan was hit in his gloves by a short Pat Cummins delivery. Dhawan carried on batting and scored a century, which earned him the Man of the Match award as India won by 36 runs. However, he did not field during the Australia innings.

I feel emotional to announce that I will no longer be a part of #CWC19. Unfortunately, the thumb won't recover on time. But the show must go on.. I'm grateful for all the love & support from my team mates, cricket lovers & our entire nation. Jai Hind!pic.twitter.com/zx8Ihm3051

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) June 19, 2019

He travelled to Leeds to meet a surgeon after that, where the fracture was diagnosed. The Indian selectors opted to take time on the matter and not name a replacement immediately following a positive appraisal from the team's medical staff led by physio Patrick Farhart.

Another significant factor behind the reluctance of the selectors and the team management to name a replacement in a hurry was Dhawan's record at various global tournaments. Dhawan was the highest scorer in each of the last five multi-team (five-plus teams) ODI tournaments for India: Champions Trophy 2013, Asia Cup 2014, World Cup 2015, Champions Trophy 2017 and Asia Cup 2018.

Against Australia, where he batted deep into the innings, the left-handed Dhawan had blunted the Australian slow bowlers, including legspinner Adam Zampa. After the washout against New Zealand in Nottingham in the third match, Indian captain Virat Kohli underlined Dhawan's importance to the team. "We want to hold him back, keep him here, because he wants to play. I think that kind of mindset will help in healing the injury as well as he really wants to play," Kohli had told the host broadcaster on June 14 while discussing the team's plans vis-à-vis Dhawan.

Pant's inclusion, meanwhile, didn't come as a surprise. A debate had erupted when Pant did not figure in the original 15-man World Cup squad. Eminent cricketing minds like Ricky Ponting, Pant's coach at Delhi Capitals in the IPL, felt the Indian selectors might have missed out on an X-factor player by ignoring the 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman. Instead, Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik had been picked ahead of Pant and Ambati Rayudu, who was part of the squad in the last series India had played before the World Cup.

Pant, who has only played five ODIs (93 runs in four innings, at an average of 23.25 and strike rate of 130.08), was, however, named as one of the five stand-by players by the selectors. Being a left-hander, a very explosive one at that, the selectors felt Pant was a good replacement for Dhawan and could be fitted into the middle-order with KL Rahul now being pushed up as Rohit Sharma's opening partner.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Lancashire 236 (Croft 53, Reece 6-58) and 4 for 0 beat Derbyshire 153 (Anderson 5-18) and 84 (Onions 5-38, Anderson 4-29) by 10 wickets

With the start of the Ashes six weeks away, the health of Jimmy Anderson is one of England's prime concerns. MI5 probably have surveillance officers monitoring his every movement, poised to warn of anything disturbing like a bit of a limp or, even worse, the merest sign of a smile.

Intelligence reports from Derby will be filed away with satisfaction. Another four wickets on the third morning for Anderson, and nine in the match at a cost of only 47 runs. Fitness and rhythm exceeding expectations at this stage. Grumpiness at a promising level when the ball kept passing the outside edge. Too many of those to count.

Recommendation: With Lancashire top of Division Two, and 10 days' inactivity until their next game, against Durham at Sedbergh School, surveillance can be called back. MI5 resources perhaps better employed taking a closer look at Stuart Broad.

The only concern surrounds the fact that the opening day of the Ashes is on Yorkshire Day. As a Lancastrian, Anderson's mood cannot be reliably predicted.

Twenty-eight Championship wickets at 8.64 runs apiece have massaged Anderson's mood and, if they have come disturbingly easily, his method looks as ingrained as ever. At 36, his fitness and suppleness remains exemplary. He bowls when he wants and comes off when he chooses.

Derbyshire resumed at 19 for 4, 64 runs away from making Lancashire bat again. It was a modest aim, but as helpful bowling conditions persisted into the third day it was an entirely realistic one. They managed to set Lancashire two runs to win, Keaton Jennings avoided a pair by thick edging the first ball for four and everything was wrapped up five minutes before lunch. As Derbyshire's director of cricket, Dave Houghton remarked: "It was our first drubbing of the season and we've been given a good hiding."

Derbyshire's fifth-wicket pair survived for 50 minutes more by luck than judgment against Anderson and Graham Onions. Frustration was welling up; the surveillance team by the sightscreen began to fret about possible overload.

Anderson, in solemn mood, applauded Alex Hughes with good humour for managing to leave a wide one after endless playing and missing. Four byes when a bouncer sailed over Harvey Hosein's head did not disturb him, nor did a hook shot from the same batsmen which fell close to Onions at long leg. At least it was Onions who suffered a bad drop at first slip by Jennings when Hughes managed to make contact.

Then three wickets in seven balls restored equilibrium and the pessimism of Derbyshire supporters was proved to be based on decades of evidence. Anderson claimed the first two. Hughes got bat on an outswinger and then Matt Critchley, seeking out the leg-side as is his habit, was lbw and left gesturing that he touched it.

The third fell to Onions, a simple catch at first slip to remove Luis Reece who had been demoted to No. 8 because of injury and didn't really look up for it. Logan van Beek drove Anderson to gully and Onions mopped up the last two, including Hosein, who resisted diligently until he was caught behind for 29.

Five to Anderson, four to Onions and the promise of a dry afternoon to return to Manchester. When it comes to fast bowlers, especially vintage ones, the fear is that something could go wrong at any moment. Nothing did. Quite the opposite.

Middlesex 410 (Stirling 138, Robson 107) and 125 for 4 (Gubbins 38) drew with Glamorgan 288 (Lloyd 59, Labuschagne 51, Cullen 50, Finn 5-75)

Rain washed away hopes of a final-day run chase at Radlett as Middlesex and Glamorgan were forced to settle for a draw.

Middlesex, who held a 247-run advantage when play was halted with 58 overs scheduled to be bowled, appeared to be toying with the idea of setting their visitors a target.

But the bad weather that had already disrupted days one and three returned to dispel any possibility of a positive outcome to the inaugural County Championship fixture at Cobden Hill.

The draw leaves Middlesex with just one victory from their first seven Championship games, while Glamorgan remain undefeated this season and will go into the second half of the campaign occupying a promotion spot.

The initial target for the Welshmen, resuming at 274 for 9 in the morning, was to try and snatch an additional batting bonus point by hitting the 300 mark.

They fell 12 runs short despite the efforts of Graham Wagg, who eventually perished for 48 as he heaved a Tom Helm bouncer into the hands of Nick Gubbins, running in from the boundary.

However, Middlesex appeared reluctant to force the pace and build on their 122-run lead at the start of their second innings, with tight bowling by Marchant de Lange and Lukas Carey restricting them to only two boundaries in the first 15 overs.

Timm Van der Gugten made the breakthrough for the visitors, with Marnus Labuschagne snapping up Stevie Eskinazi at point, while opening partner Sam Robson hit 36 before he fell to Charlie Hemphrey's superbly-judged catch in the deep.

Gubbins did appear keen to accelerate proceedings, blazing four fours and a six in his breezy knock of 38 before he departed lbw, attempting to reverse-sweep Labuschagne, who took 2 for 25.

Dawid Malan followed that up with 18 from as many deliveries, but he was caught behind off de Lange for the second time in the match as the home side struggled to gain traction.

Paul Stirling and George Scott advanced the Middlesex total to 125 for 4 from 33 overs before light drizzle developed into heavier rain and the players left the field at 2.15pm.

Umpires Graham Lloyd and Neil Bainton eventually abandoned the contest at 4pm, with Middlesex taking 12 points to Glamorgan's nine.

Confidence, Mashrafe Mortaza stressed, was high in the Bangladesh camp after the win over West Indies, and key ahead of the upcoming game against Australia, on Thursday at Trent Bridge.

West Indies attacked Bangladesh with a short-ball plan, which didn't work at all. Bangladesh scored 78 in the 36 bouncers they faced without losing a wicket. Overall, in their four matches so far, they have a strike rate of 112.92 against anything short, which is higher than their scoring rate against all other bowling.

ALSO READ: Shakib's simplicity keeps Bangladesh's complex challenge alive

Admittedly, the West Indians overdid it, especially after it didn't have an effect on the Bangladesh batsmen. With Australia, there will likely be a lot of short balls, but there will also be the threat of yorkers from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, not to mention the short-format guiles of the others like Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff and Kane Richardson. Then come the spinners - Glenn Maxwell has been their frontman there, but Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon are lurking too.

"I think the Australian bowling attack has a lot of variation," Mashrafe said. "They have Pat Cummins, who can bowl quick and use the change of pace. I think they have a good wrist spinner. Nathan Lyon is there, [Adam] Zampa. So it won't be easy like the other match [against West Indies].

"[But] the confidence is the main thing, which the batsmen have at the moment. I think if we take that confidence into the ground and deliver to our best, and we can assess the wicket very well, you never know."

Of the Bangladeshis, Shakib Al Hasan has been the standout performer so far, but Mashrafe was impressed by the way Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar have batted at the top, and pointed out that others - specifically Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin - have also contributed to the team's cause.

"I won't say Bangladesh is a one-man army," Mashrafe said. "Shakib is scoring runs; that's a great thing for the team. But if you look at it, the other boys have stepped up too. Mustafiz, as I said, took two wickets in the last match. If Saifuddin didn't take that early wicket, everyone knows what Chris Gayle can do. We have had Tamim and Soumya starting well. Mushfiqur is batting well. Mehidy is bowling well.

"But Shakib is an exceptional cricketer. He's playing at his best at the moment. We really appreciate what Shakib is doing but it will be great to see the others continuing what they are also doing."

Australia, though, are a notch above West Indies and South Africa, the two teams Bangladesh have beaten so far, and have a 4-1 win-loss record in the tournament at the moment. But Mashrafe talked up "the confidence from the West Indies win", and the team's improved performance in the last few years, to say that Bangladesh don't always regard opponents, whoever they might be, as unbeatable. The trick might be to take the game as deep as possible.

The 2019 NBA draft is Thursday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN), and there's little consensus after the top three picks. Last weekend's Anthony Davis trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers has also shaken up the proceedings, with New Orleans now holding two of the top four picks and open to trade discussions on No. 4.

Which prospects are the lottery teams likely to select? Who are the potential sleepers? What are the team needs heading into draft night?

Here's everything you need to know about the top players available and all 30 teams before NBA commissioner Adam Silver announces the No. 1 pick.

Full draft order | Trade tracker

Mock draft

How will the draft go down? This top three is looking likely, but anything could happen after that:

• No. 1: New Orleans Pelicans | Zion Williamson

• No. 2: Memphis Grizzlies | Ja Morant

• No. 3: New York Knicks | RJ Barrett

You can get the latest mock draft intel from ESPN's Jonathan Givony right here, updated with the latest movement until the draft officially starts.

Rankings and scouting reports

Here are the likely lottery picks from our top 100 draft rankings:

Get a deeper dive into all the top prospects here:

• Four questions about Ja Morant's star potential

• What is RJ Barrett's real ceiling?

• Who are the best prospects after the top three?

• Full scouting reports on the likely first-round picks

Team needs and assets

Teams don't always address offseason needs at the draft -- and there's a good case that they shouldn't -- but here's how Bobby Marks breaks down each team heading into the offseason.

What future picks can be combined in draft trades? We go team-by-team on all the assets.

Sleepers and steals

Plenty of longtime NBA players slip out of the first round. Our experts give names to watch:

Second-round standouts

• Chuma Okeke | SF/PF | Auburn

• Shamorie Ponds | G | St. John's

• DaQuan Jeffries | F | Tulsa

• Full list

Outliers by draft analytics

These players rank notably higher in Kevin Pelton's stats-only wins above replacement player (WARP) projections than our top-100 rankings.

Film room

Full strengths and weaknesses, scouting reports, highlights -- get it all here.

The education of Zion Williamson

Now that he's officially headed to the NBA, Zion Williamson will enter the draft as the most-talked-about prospect in recent history, but we really don't know very much about him. Mina Kimes explores his South Carolina roots.

NBA free agency: Latest buzz, news and reports

Draft night will set up a wild free agency period that could shake up the league. Get the latest updates here.

Vince Carter's guide for young ballers

Carter has lived through seismic shifts in pro athlete culture and league trends. The smartphone wouldn't land until halfway through his career, and much of the power claimed by players in today's NBA is relatively new. Carter has seen can't-miss talents bust and obscure prospects rise to fame. He has a pretty good sense of why many NBA players succeed or fail and agreed to discuss some of these beliefs with ESPN.

A virtual sports betting game featuring NBA highlights and footage will debut next season in U.S. and European gaming and lottery markets, the league and NBPA announced Wednesday.

"NBA Last 90" will drop contestants into the final 90 seconds of a simulated matchup between two NBA teams and offer wagering propositions on what transpires during the ending of a fictitious game.

NBA partner Highlight Games Limited, a specialist games supplier, stiches together highlights from recent seasons to tell a story of what plays out during the 90 seconds. Contestants will be able to wager on several outcomes, including which team will win, who will score on the first possession and the total points scored by both teams. A random number generator, similar to what's used in slot machines, will determine the outcomes.

Betting on virtual sports is new to the growing U.S. sports betting landscape, but it's already established in European markets. In the United Kingdom, £771.4 million was bet on virtual sports from April 2017 to May 2018, according to the U.K. Gambling Commission. That's three times as much as was wagered on golf during that time period in the U.K.

The interest in virtual betting in Europe caught the NBA's eye, said Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming.

"We've been looking at this the past couple years and were really surprised to see how popular this was," Kaufman-Ross told ESPN. "In Europe, we're especially excited about using virtual as another way to engage with our fans with alternative content, especially given the time-zone challenges we have in the region."

The NBA will become the first major U.S. sports league to enter the virtual sports betting market, as it continues to look for ways to embrace and profit from the gaming industry.

"We are extremely excited about this partnership and the potential future opportunities for our players in the virtual gaming space," Josh Goodstadt, executive vice president of licensing for THINK450, the commercial arm of the NBPA, said in a release announcing the virtual betting game. "We look forward to working with the NBA and Highlight Games to create a unique gaming experience that will help to grow the popularity of the players and the league worldwide."

In July 2016, bookmaker William Hill U.S. launched virtual horse racing in Nevada. New Jersey and Pennsylvania also allow betting on virtual events, but it has yet to catch on in the U.S. Virtual horse racing is available at 19 William Hill sportsbooks in Nevada.

Horse racing is believed to be the most popular sport for virtual betting in the U.K., although there are also multiple virtual games for soccer, including Highlight Games' SOCCERBET.

Now, the U.K. company hopes to find success with the NBA.

"Highlight Games has an ambitious strategy to enter the nascent US sports betting and virtual sports market, and this collaboration is the first important step on that journey," Highlight Games CEO Tim Green said in the release. "NBA Last 90 features real NBA stars and real NBA highlights, differentiating it from any other virtual sports product on the market. We're confident that players around the world will be instantly engaged with NBA Last 90."

Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Khris Middleton is declining his $13 million player option and will become an unrestricted free agent, his agent told ESPN on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Middleton is represented by Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports.

Middleton and the Bucks are planning to work together toward a new long-term deal, league sources said. Middleton is expected to command a max contract with Milwaukee or elsewhere. He is eligible to sign a five-year, $190 million deal to stay with the Bucks, or a four-year, $141 million contract with another team.

Middleton is the Bucks' top priority in a free-agent class that includes Malcolm Brogdon, Brook Lopez and Nikola Mirotic.

Middleton emerged as the co-star to MVP front-runner Giannis Antetokounmpo on a Bucks team that had the best record in the NBA and reached the Eastern Conference finals. Middleton averaged 18.3 points, six rebounds and four assists last season and made his first All-Star team.

He's a career 39% 3-point shooter, a self-made player who emerged from being a second-round pick to the Detroit Pistons out of Texas A&M into one of the NBA's elite wing players.