LONG POND, Pa. – The ARCA Menards Series open test at Pocono Raceway is often a time where young drivers who have little to no prior experience on larger speedways can get up to speed.

That was very true on Wednesday, as several teenagers got their first chance to tackle the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle’ that is Pocono Raceway, learning the ins and outs of the unique three-turn facility.

Two of those who participated in Wednesday’s test – Chad Bryant Racing’s Corey Heim and Venturini Motorsports’ Chandler Smith – are 16-year-olds who aren’t even old enough to compete during Friday’s 80-lap, 200-mile ARCA race at Pocono.

However, both Heim and Smith will be old enough to race during ARCA’s second visit to the speedway in late July, meaning Wednesday’s track time was just as crucial to them as it was to the series regulars.

The aforementioned duo came to Pocono off the short tracks of the Southeastern United States, meaning that finally driving on a big track like Pocono was a constant learning experience.

Smith took the day in stride, however, posting the second-fastest lap of the test at 53.221 seconds (169.106 mph) and landing just behind his Venturini Motorsports teammate, Christian Eckes.

For Heim, the day ended on a positive note as well, as he was third-quick overall at 53.266 seconds (168.963 mph) and best among the three Chad Bryant Racing entries in attendance.

“Definitely the first thing I learned was that everything comes up really fast,” said Heim. “Pocono is a really, really fast race track. We’re averaging about 170 mph around this place and I’m used to much, much slower tracks than what this one is … short tracks and things like that. Today was definitely a learning experience all the way around, but I got a lot of advice from my teammates (Ty Majeski and Joe Graf Jr.) and a few other people who have been around this place before.

“Following people when I could helped me learn a lot as well, and I feel really good about where we ended the afternoon before the rain hit,” Heim added. “I know I don’t get to use what I’ve learned today for a couple months yet, but I think things will be good when we come back here at the end of summer.”

As he worked to figure out Pocono’s quirks, Heim leaned on the expertise and experience of a former NASCAR national series veteran for advice about unlocking the secrets to success at the track.

“Mike Bliss ran here a few times after the repave, so he’s honestly helped me out significantly,” noted Heim. “It’s a lot of little things, like the bumps and how I can get through corners better. It may seem like simple stuff, but it all adds up to help a lot for someone like me who’s never seen the place before.”

Lessard had the benefit of crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz, a former NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series signal-caller, up his sleeve as he turned laps in the No. 28 for KBR Development on Wednesday.

“Pocono is such a fun place,” Lessard noted. “I’d never even been here to watch a race or anything like that, so this is all new to me. I’mr eally happy, though. At first, we were struggling and needed a lot more speed, but Jeff Stankiewicz (crew chief) and the KBR guys got me dialed in by the end of the day.

“I’m getting better around the race track and the car is getting way better, and that’s what you want.”

Lessard, who started the test session nearly at the bottom of the leaderboard, ended up fifth overall (53.953/166.812) after a late surge just before the showers that moved in and cut the day short.

“It surprised me, because we were on old tires and ran our fastest lap of the day,” Lessard pointed out. “Every time we went back out, we got better. Even as the tires got older, we got better. I’m happy.”

As far as the nuances of speedway racing, different drivers discover different feels as they get acclimated to a facility, and that was true for both Heim and Lessard.

“It kind of reminded me of a short track, just with long straightaways,” said Lessard of Pocono. “The corners, you have to slow the car down a bit, and there’s a lot of rolling speed. It’s different than I’m used to, but it’s still a race track and I finally found a line I was happy with by the end.”

“This place is all momentum. If you get loose in any of the corners, it kills your straightaway speed and you’re going backwards in a hurry. It’s mainly about consistency and being smooth, which is normally something I’m really good at,” explained Heim. “(Crew chief) Paul Andrews actually calls this place a big short track, just because you’re always setting up your entry for the corner exit. If you can arc the corners more and more and get a better run off, you’re gonna be alright, and I’d say we did that well.”

Heim and Smith will return to Pocono on July 26 for the Pocono ARCA 150, while Lessard, defending race winner Harrison Burton and the rest of the ARCA field hit the track on Friday for the General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200.

Coverage of the race kicks off at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2, with a same-day re-airing on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET.

Journalist Kyle Magda contributed to this story.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Steakhouse Elite and driver J.J. Yeley has joined Rick Ware Racing for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400.

Steakhouse Elite will sponsor the No. 52 Chevrolet driven by Yeley in Sunday’s race.

Steakhouse Elite, a New York based company, offers a full line of both fresh and frozen burgers. In addition to being a partner with Rick Ware Racing, Steakhouse Elite is also a partner and burger provider of International Speedway Corp.

“We produce a top of the line full burger program for our retail partners that includes Angus, grass-fed and our flagship Kobe-crafted blends. The key to making a better burger starts with making the burger better,” Steakhouse EliteCOO Evan Wexler said.

Steakhouse Elite offers a wide variety of savory burgers that can be found at most major retailers on the East Coast.

“I am excited to be back in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car at Pocono Raceway,” Yeley said. “Steakhouse Elite has been a great partner over the years and I can’t thank them enough for coming on board this weekend.”

TULSA, Okla. – In an effort to ensure the future of indoor off-road motorcycle racing, Tod Hammock, the Kicker Arenacross event promoter, and Eric Peronnard, the creator of EnduroCross, are studying possibilities to keep the racing discipline alive.

Hammock has been promoting Arenacross races across the United States since 1995, totaling over 300 successful events. His most recent achievements include launching a national television partnership with FOX Sports for the 2019 National Arenacross Series.

His relationship with top indoor venues across the country, expansive knowledge of the sport of off-road racing (he is an avid rider as well) and proven success of the promotion of these events makes him the ideal candidate to continue building on previous successes that indoor extreme off-road racing requires.

In 2004, Eric Peronnard brought EnduroCross to life. His resume is full of experience working in the Motocross, Supercross and the X Games worldwide. His knowledge and passion for off-road racing/riding is unparalleled.

Hammock and Peronnard are the ideal team to successfully keep indoor extreme off-road racing alive in the short term and grow it in the long term. Their experience and proven track record will provide a seamless transition and prove to be an invaluable partner for the American Motorcyclist Ass’n (AMA). Key people such as Shane Schaeffer (renowned track builder), Mike Hathaway (longtime EnduroCross Race Director) and Sean Finley (media relations and marketing) will be part of the new team.

Preparations for a three-race series for 2019 are already in the works with plans for a full series in 2020 and expansion of the number of races in the future.

Proposed races and dates for 2019 are as follows: (these buildings are already optioned)

Aug. 24 | Prescott Valley, Arizona
Oct. 19 | Denver, Colorado
Oct. 26 | Boise, Idaho

Hammock and Peronnard are confident in this venture and look forward to speaking further with the AMA about the future of indoor extreme off-road racing and working together to ensure its continuation and growth. Further details will be released by the end of June 2019.

As Charlie McAvoy broke into the St. Louis Blues' zone and put a shot past Jordan Binnington to tie Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the cheers from Boston were probably echoed 2,000 miles away at USA Hockey's offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado. McAvoy was one of three American-born players to score big goals in Game 1 for the Bruins.

Those cheers will continue next month when Jack Hughes and a cavalcade of top American prospects will likely be selected early in the first round of the 2019 NHL draft. Like McAvoy and the other exceptional U.S.-born players born in 1997, the 2001 birth-year class may be just as good if not better. Collectively, the two groups very well could comprise the core of American hockey's future.

There are at least 10 American players widely projected to be selected in the first round this June, which would rival the record of 12 set in 2016, a class led by Auston Matthews. And the 2019 class could be extremely top heavy. With Hughes projected to go No. 1 to the New Jersey Devils, four of his USA Hockey's National Team Development Program teammates -- Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, Cole Caufield and Matthew Boldy -- could each also go in the top 10. That would represent the highest number of American-born players selected in the top 10 in draft history. Additionally, the No. 1-ranked goaltender in the draft class, Connecticut native Spencer Knight, comes from this U.S. group.

As the number of U.S.-born players across the NHL increases, the quality has as well. Suddenly, USA Hockey has a new core of players, largely homegrown and trained in their national team program, coming up while winning World U18 and World Junior Championships and then finding fast success in the NHL.

That 1997-born class has made a near-immediate impact in the league. It includes 10 first-rounders selected over the 2015 and 2016 drafts. All but Brock Boeser were alumni of the National Team Development Program (NTDP). At various points, that 1997-born team included Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, McAvoy, Jack Roslovic, Christian Fischer, Jordan Greenway, Troy Terry, Tage Thompson, Luke Kunin, Caleb Jones and Colin White, all of whom played NHL games this season.

Of the top Americans in the NHL since 2016, four of those players -- Matthews, Boeser, Alex DeBrincat and Tkachuk -- are among the top 15 in points per game played. Matthews is also the top goal scorer among Americans over the past three seasons with 111 and is inching his way toward becoming the new face of USA Hockey, albeit from Canada's biggest market.

Peter Ward was in charge of scouting and recruiting the '97 birth year for the NTDP as the organization's director of player of personnel at the time. Now an amateur scout with the Vegas Golden Knights, he was able to see the growth of this group up close and personal, but it was evident early on that there was something special there.

"The core, we knew it would be good," Ward said. "[Matthews] first popped on my scene at 13 and then I just kind of kept tabs on him. At 13, you don't know. We brought him out at Christmas time to skate with the 1995's and he was blowing by guys two years older than him. [Then head coach] Don Granato says offer him now right after that practice."

Matthews was the first player to commit, and the rest started to fall in line. One of the last players to even be invited to camp was actually McAvoy.

"Our area scout went and saw him, and he kept on telling me you gotta keep an eye on this kid," Ward recalled, admitting he nearly made an egregious error in not including him. "I thought he was good, [but] didn't have a lot of size at the time. We got him into camp. He was the last add. Once we got him there, Don said, 'We gotta take that kid.'"

In the years since, McAvoy has become a first-round pick and top-pairing defenseman in the NHL, won a World Junior gold medal for USA Hockey in 2017 and has represented the U.S. at multiple world championships.

In all, 21 players who spent either the first, second or both years at the NTDP from the 1997 birth year were drafted. More than half of them have already played in the NHL.

But there is some belief that this year's NTDP team could have as many, or more, players selected over the next two drafts.

"One of the most important factors at the NTDP is that we don't make mistakes and we have a class that's well-rounded that pushes from the bottom to the middle, and from the middle to the top," said John Wroblewski, who coached the 2001 birth-year players at the NTDP. "Jeremiah Crowe [then player personnel director and now a pro scout with the Buffalo Sabres] did a fantastic job putting this team together."

Wroblewski noted that the most skilled players would be challenged by the ones who were more defensively sound, and vice versa. And the team also includes two exceptional goalies.

"Steel forges steel," Wroblewski said. "I like to use Zegras and Hughes as a microcosm of the group. Trevor doesn't become who he is without chasing Jack. I don't think Jack gets there without Trevor pushing him. I think it encompasses this class and what we're trying to do."

The players noticed the benefits, too.

"When you see anyone on your team do something well, you want to show that yourself too," said Turcotte, who is projected to be a top-five pick. "It gets everyone to work harder. When you see your teammates succeed, you're happy for them, but you want to do the same thing."

"Every kid that comes down in practice, there's something special they can do," says Knight, the only goaltender currently projected to be a first-round pick this year. "There's no shot off. We're competitive and we just make each other better."

Even outside of the NTDP, this year's American-born prospects are something to behold. Arthur Kaliyev had 51 goals for the Hamilton Bulldogs in the OHL this year. Bobby Brink had the most productive season in the USHL by a non-NTDP player since Thomas Vanek in 2001-02 with an average of 1.58 points per game. Nicholas Robertson was a standout performer at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and a leading player for the Peterborough Petes. And Everett Silvertips goaltender Dustin Wolf is one of the more highly-regarded goaltenders in the draft class having posted a .930 save percentage after replacing budding young Philadelphia Flyers star Carter Hart this season.

While these two birth years have a higher concentration of elite players than some of the surrounding years, USA Hockey will continue to lean on 1994-born Seth Jones and Jacob Trouba, 1996-born Jack Eichel and Dylan Larkin, 1999-born Quinn Hughes and of course the 1988-born Patrick Kane as it builds national teams.

There is an undeniable truth in the progress of the American player, becoming more skilled, more creative and more entertaining than the years and years of north-south speedy, grindy players. The elites were fewer and farther in between.

Part of that trend may be thanks to the changing culture in American player development, and specifically USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM). It puts a greater emphasis on skill development at the grassroots level by providing guidance on practice and game structure for the younger levels. The adoption of long-term athlete development principles, heavy doses of research and borrowing from other sports and countries' development structure has been key.

It has been nine years since that model was put into place, so the 2001 birth-year players have essentially grown up with this system, even if they didn't necessarily realize it.

Ken Martel, the technical director of the ADM, says it would be hard for the program to take much credit for the development of this exceptional group, but notes that the winds of change are blowing throughout the country when it comes to philosophies on how to help players reach new heights.

"There's been a cultural shift in how we're operating at the youth level that the ADM has pushed," Martel said. "Nothing we've done is rocket science. It's not anything that people hadn't done before. We just didn't do enough of it."

A larger focus of the ADM is to encourage less formulaic and structured practices to help foster creativity and hockey sense. There has also been a push for more practices and fewer games at the younger levels, encouraging more puck touches on a weekly basis. At the youngest levels, there has been movement to shrink the playing area to cross-ice or half-ice competitions to make the surface more age-appropriate and allow players more opportunities to be close to the puck.

While there is a desire to create better players, one of the more important things the ADM has aimed to do with these changes is to foster retention. There is evidence it's actually working, as USA Hockey has posted positive retention in each of the past two years. As more kids stay in the game longer, the talent pools become deeper.

"We see draft classes like [the 2019 crop] and we wonder what can the future hold," Martel said. "This is special. This is not normal. Every country goes through some cycles."

It seems the past few years have been an acceleration of a larger trend over the past few decades. In 2018-19, 28.6 percent of the players who played in an NHL game were U.S. born, according to QuantHockey.com. Just five years ago, it was 24.3 percent, and 20 years prior, 16.2 percent of the league was American. That's a pretty rapid change.

Despite that growth, it has been 23 years since the U.S. won a best-on-best senior tournament in men's hockey and nearly 40 since the men last claimed an Olympic gold medal. With the status of the World Cup of Hockey and NHL participation in the Olympics in flux, there may not be many opportunities for the U.S. to break those lengthy streaks.

Should that change, the likelihood of the 1997 and 2001 birth years playing a significant role in turning the tide seems awfully high.

It was a win more than a half-century in the making. The St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in overtime to take Game 2, but most importantly, win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup Final game.

Here's everything you need to know about how Game 2 played out in this edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily.

Jump ahead: Last night's game | Three stars
Play of the night | Social post of the day

About last night ...

Game 2: St. Louis Blues 3, Boston Bruins 2 (OT) (Series tied 1-1)

The first period was a little nutty. Hometown favorite Charlie Coyle scored first -- on the power play -- before Robert Bortuzzo tied it. Fourth-liner Joakim Nordstrom gave Boston another lead before Vladimir Tarasenko evened things up again. Things calmed down offensively in the second and third (especially for the Bruins, who had a hard time sustaining any offensive zone pressure), but the tone was set. This was a heavy game. This was a physical game. This is likely how the series is going to be won.

The Bruins played most of the game with five defensemen after Matt Grzelcyk was sent to the hospital after hitting his head into the boards on a check by Oskar Sundqvist. That likely led to fatigue. In the end, Carl Gunnarsson won it in overtime for the Blues, becoming the 19th St. Louis player to score this postseason. But what will make Gunnarsson the stuff of legend is how he did it. After clanging one off of the post late in the third period, Gunnarsson took a bathroom break during intermission. That's when he stood next to his coach at the urinal and declared: "I just need one more chance."

Carl Gunnarsson told Chief he needed just "one more chance" while standing side-by-side at the urinal. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/l8ID419sNC

- St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 30, 2019

Three stars

1. Carl Gunnarsson, D, St. Louis Blues. Gunnarsson became only the third player in NHL history to score his first playoff goal in a Stanley Cup Final overtime game. It also was his first multipoint game since Oct. 18, 2015 -- a string of 253 games.

2. Joakim Nordstrom, C, Boston Bruins. The fourth-liner and defensive specialist was exceptional Wednesday night, but will need some significant time in the ice bath to recover. Besides his one goal, Nordstrom blocked five shots, including three in a 50-second span on the penalty kill, which roused the Bruins faithful at TD Garden.

3. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, St. Louis Blues. With another goal on Wednesday, the Russian winger became the fourth player in franchise history to record an eight-game point streak in the postseason. He sits one game shy of the all-time mark held by Tony Currie from 1981.

Play of the night

Gunnarsson off the post.#StanleyCup #Stlblues pic.twitter.com/Yuovr2OHC8

- STLSportsCentral (@stlsportscntrl) May 30, 2019

The shot off the post that laid the groundwork for overtime dramatics.

Dud of the night

It's not all positive for St. Louis in analyzing Game 2. The Blues vowed to be more disciplined after uncharacteristically taking five penalties in Game 1. Well, they ended up short-handed five times again, including becoming the first team with multiple goalie interference penalties in a Stanley Cup Final game since 2008.

Social post of the day

We have a lot of questions, unknown fans.

Full beers? Full beers?! pic.twitter.com/uulyhbDuTF

- Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) May 30, 2019

Quotable

"[Craig Berube] just came in and said, 'Good job,' and told the story ... you don't hear that story very often. That's not a place to have a conversation, but I guess it works. It's a good story. I don't know if he's making it up, because that's a great story." -- Alex Pietrangelo on how the team learned of the bathroom convo between Berube and Gunnarsson

The seeds for next season's Champions League group-stage draw are almost set after Chelsea won the Europa League on Wednesday night.

Chelsea will be in Pot 1 as a European titleholder, with the only outstanding issue being whether Liverpool or Tottenham join them by winning the Champions League on Saturday.

Chelsea and Tottenham or Liverpool will be with the winners of the top European leagues: Barcelona (La Liga), Manchester City (Premier League), Juventus (Serie A), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1) and Zenit Saint-Petersburg (Russian Premier).

It means the Premier League will have three teams in Pot 1.

The rest of the teams are seeded based on UEFA's five-year coefficient score for performance in European competition, with the strongest teams in Pot 2 and the weakest in Pot 4. One team from each pot will be drawn into the eight Champions League groups in the draw ceremony on Aug. 29.

Ajax, if they come through qualifying, will benefit from Chelsea winning the Europa League by taking the spare place in Pot 2.

Provisional teams can also be drawn up for the other pots, based on the highest-ranked clubs progressing through qualifying. Teams in bold are guaranteed to be in that pot.

POT 1: Liverpool or Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2 (provisional): Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto*, Liverpool or Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax*

POT 3 (provisional): Benfica, Dynamo Kiev*, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Valencia, Inter Milan, Celtic*

POT 4 (provisional): FC Copenhagen*, Dinamo Zagreb*, Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Lille

*denotes must go through qualifying

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has told ESPN he was "saddened" by predecessor Loris Karius' mistakes in last season's Champions League final.

Jurgen Klopp's side have made it to the Champions League final for the second consecutive season and will face Tottenham in Madrid on June 1. Last season, they were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid in Kiev, with Karius at fault for two of Los Blancos' goals.

- When is the Champions League final?
- Who qualifies for Europe from the Premier League?

And Alisson, who was in goal for Liverpool's semifinal opponents Roma last season, offered support to Karius.

Asked how he felt watching Karius' mistakes, he said: "I was saddened. We know the feeling of making a mistake in a competition as big as the Champions League; it's something that can stick with you for the rest of your career.

"But in life we always have the chance to make it better. I try to stay aware of everything. When I do something well, I don't let it get to my head. And when I make a mistake, I don't let it either."

Alisson joining as a replacement for Karius in the summer was pin-pointed as one of the main reasons behind Liverpool's improvement in form this season. But the Brazil international said he does not feel any extra pressure given Karius' mistakes -- and added that the responsibility is shared among the players.

"I don't think you can put it one guy's shoulders," he said. "The team has 11 guys.

"When we win, everyone wins. And when we lose, everyone loses. It wasn't Karius who lost that match, Liverpool did. This year we have a new opportunity, my first one.

"We will do everything to win and try to ease the pressure of being in the Champions League final."

Meanwhile, midfielder Fabinho said the Liverpool players are stronger because of their defeat in Kiev last season.

"We do not talk about what happened [in Kiev] in the dressing room much," he told ESPN. "I have not asked anyone what the days after the final were like either.

"But I think that having already played last season's final gives the team more experience. We already know the mistakes which need to be avoided.

"We are relaxed. It will be a different rival and our team is also different. We will do our best to win the final."

Information from ESPN FC's Eduardo Fernandez-Abascal

South Africa women will host Australia for three ODIs and as many T20Is in March-April 2020, soon after the completion of the T20 World Cup. The ODIs will be part of the ICC Women's Championship that aims to identify seven direct qualifiers for the 2021 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.

The fixtures unveiled on Thursday also included an itinerary for the emerging teams' tournament, in which South Africa will first host Bangladesh in three one-dayers and three T20s from July 23 to August 4.

South Africa have rewarded their best performers from the women's academy with berths in the emerging team, with the aim to build on their gains from last year's Emerging Tri-series against England Women's Academy and Australia's Shooting Stars.

"We are very excited to announce these two home tours, with more quality women's cricket being played on home soil, said Vincent Barnes, CSA's High Performance manager. "We've seen some thrilling performances recently from our national team and the Australia tour will be another opportunity for them to impress in South African conditions against elite opposition."

The exposure to an emerging tour is valuable as South Africa, semi-finalists at the 2017 World Cup, look to expand their talent pool in the country by tapping the grassroots. With the ICC indicating the possibility of staging an age-group World Cup for women soon, South Africa's step towards increasing their exposure to competitive cricket will be seen as a welcome development.

"There's a lot of cricket coming up for the Women's team over the next two years, with the T20 World Cup next year and the Women's World Cup in 2021, so it is important to ensure the development pipeline continues to produce and that is where the National Academy and the emerging side will prove to be pivotal.

"We have seen the likes of Nondumiso Shangase, Faye Tunnecliffe and Sinalo Jafta make their breakthroughs from the programme, going on to earn their national colours, so that is promising for the future."

South Africa's Emerging Team squad: Tazmin Brits, Faye Tunnicliffe, Lara Goodall, Saarah Smith, Robyn Searle, Tumi Sekhukhune, Zintle Mali, Nonkululeko Thabethe, Jade de Figuerido, Nadia Mbokotwana, Nondumiso Shangase, Evodia Yekile, Nadine de Klerk.

Big Picture

With the World Cup wheels having been well-oiled by a mouth-watering opening match between South Africa and England at the Oval, two rather more distant contenders for the trophy kick off their official campaigns at Trent Bridge. West Indies and Pakistan are few people's picks for an appearance at Lord's come the 14th of July, but two teams that have the Cricket World Cup in their blood for very different reasons will look to add sweat and tears to that concoction and brew something special over the coming six weeks.

For West Indies, the World Cup is their reference point to glory, so sweetly timed was this competition's induction to cricket for that magical side which dominated the sport for the best part of 20 years it took them three editions and eight years before they finally let a trophy leave their grasp. It was 40 years ago when they last lay claim to one of these, and after all that time spent wandering in the desert, they may feel destiny has the Promised Land in reach once more.

How easy is it to forget, then, that but for a bit of Harare afternoon rain falling just the right side of DLS calculations one March day, this grand side would have been by a Caribbean beach, watching Scotland take the field against Pakistan tomorrow? Much water, if you will excuse the pun, has passed under the bridge since, and West Indies look a completely different side to that one, if only because off-field matters seem more under control than they have for many years.

The squad seems to have unity and togetherness, something they haven't been famed for, and a much-settled, respected captain in Jason Holder. The side's balance was evident in their crushing defeat of New Zealand in Tuesday's warm-up, a destructive batting display laying down a marker of sorts.

Pakistan have a strange relationship with the World Cup, particularly since 1992, where an odds-defying win crafted the team's reputation and gave them their brand of unpredictability. They come into the tournament having lost 10 ODIs on the bounce, in addition to a warm-up loss against Afghanistan - and a record against the top five that reads three wins in 23 since their famous Champions Trophy win in 2017.

The fast bowling, Pakistan's stock trade, has seen one after another lose form and effectiveness, with Mohammad Amir, once the prince of this generation, the heir apparent to Wasim Akram, only barely squeezing into the final 15. Hasan Ali is the obvious leader of the attack, though a bowling average of nearly 60 since the Asia Cup last year is worrying, and Shaheen Afridi is the only one to keep both average and economy rate respectable over this period.

The batting looks to have caught up somewhat to modern standards, with Pakistan becoming the first team to reach three consecutive ODI totals of 340 earlier this month against England (though they lost all three matches). In any case, they must be wary of a West Indies side that pummelled New Zealand's bowling attack for 421, and the batting is a department Pakistan are not about to outgun West Indies in any time soon.

The odds may not be in Pakistan's favour, but that was the case in 2017, too, when, having barely qualified for the Champions Trophy, they caught fire and singed England and India in the semis and final, laughing the face of logic. The squad that defied those odds carried 11 of the players that return to England with that trophy tucked under their arms, and will wonder why they should be rated any inferior to the teams they left in their wake just two years ago.

Form guide

West Indies LLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LLLLL

In the spotlight

Shimron Hetmyer is the second-youngest in the West Indies squad, but is assured of his place in Guyana's cricketing history at 22. An Under-19 World Cup winning captain, Hetmyer showcased his array of hitting ability which he married with consistency when England came calling earlier this year in a series West Indires squared 2-2. It isn't just the average and the numbers - four hundreds and two half-centuries in just 24 innings - but the technique and obvious promise the left-hander possesses. The biggest stage of them all is another fine opportunity to showcase his abilities.

Fakhar Zaman's average since the Asia Cup in September 2018 has dropped down to 32; it had been 76 until then. His strike rate has taken a hit too - 91 against a career strike rate of 98, and so has Pakistan's ODI form in this period. With Fakhar assigned a role of a dasher, one that most others in the side aren't equipped with, his ability to execute it is likely to be directly proportional to Pakistan's fortunes at the World Cup.

Team news

Pakistan have a fully fit squad to choose from, with the only real question being the bowling combination they go with. Shadab Khan's fitness means one of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik could prove superfluous to requirements, though the vast experience of both means neither is an easy drop.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman 3 Babar Azam, 4 Haris Sohail/Mohammad Hafeez 5 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 6 Imad Wasim 7 Asif Ali, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali 11 Shaheen Afridi

West Indies line-up is harder to predict, with Shannon Gabriel the only bowler to play no part in the warm-up against New Zealand.

West Indies (possible): 1 Chris Gayle 2 Evin Lewis 3 Shai Hope (wk) 4 Shimron Hetmyer 5 Darren Bravo 6 Jason Holder (capt) 7 Andre Russell 8 Ashley Nurse 9 Kemar Roach 10 Sheldon Cottrell 11 Oshane Thomas/Shannon Gabriel

Pitch and conditions

Overcast skies are expected for much of the game at Nottingham, but rain should not play spoilsport. It also gives each side the chance to bowl first and pit their swing bowlers against the opposition to see if overhead conditions can be utilised to their advantage.

Stats and trivia

• Jason Holder is one of only two captains to have also captained his side at the previous World Cup; Eoin Morgan of England is the other one.

• This is the fourth time in six World Cups that Pakistan begin their campaign against West Indies. The previous three openers saw them win once, while West Indies triumphed twice.