SONOMA, Calif.  – After a second place finish in their Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb debut in 2018, Flying Lizard Motorsports is set to return to the Race to the Clouds with Toyo Tires and Clint Vahsholtz, racing a McLaren 650S GT3.

In the team’s Pikes Peak debut, Vahsholtz and the Flying Lizard Motorsports McLaren 12C GT3 finished second in class on the 12.42-mile, 156 turn course. Located on the highest summit of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb is the second oldest automotive racing event in North America, and the only course where the finish line sits 4,720 feet above the starting line.

“We are looking forward to taking on the Pikes Peak Hill climb for a second year with Toyo Tires,” said Flying Lizard Program Manager Darren Law. “The McLaren 650S GT3 will allow us more options in gearing, and a better aero, suspension and electronics package which should help in all areas. Clint Vahsholtz is the winningest driver at Pikes Peak, and he has put a lot of work into learning the 650S GT3 with our recent testing at Sonoma Raceway.”

Flying Lizard Motorsports and Toyo Tires started a tire testing and development program in 2015, and have gone on to record four consecutive overall wins at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, one of the most challenging sports car races in North America. The relationship has not only allowed Toyo Tires the opportunity to develop, test and expand their Proxes Race Slick program with the six-time IMSA champions, but has also allowed Flying Lizard Motorsport the opportunity to expand their vast racing resume to pursue new challenges. Together, the pair hold six class wins at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

“With its high number of turns and challenging corners, the road up Pikes Peak has been excellent for the ongoing development of our Proxes Race Slicks,” said Marc Sanzenbacher, senior manager, motorsports, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. “Our dedicated staff of engineers in Japan have developed a new range of Pikes Peak specific compounds we are confident will provide the needed traction and control to return our McLaren 650S GT3 to the podium once more in 2019.”

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will take place June 30. In preparation for the event, the Lizards recently completed a test at Sonoma Raceway in the McLaren 650S, giving Vahsholtz additional seat time with the GT3 machine. Former race car driver now Program Manager Darren Law was on hand to offer his expertise during the test.

“I am looking forward to the 97th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and teaming up with Flying Lizard Motorsports and Toyo Tires, said Vahsholtz. “Darren Law’s expertise and knowledge of the McLaren 12C GT3. His coaching has assisted my adaption immensely to this type of driving. Once again working with Marc and Toyo,which is the perfect tire for Pikes Peak, will allow my confidence in gripping the course. Also, with the set up expertise from Tommy Sadler and his team, we are expecting good results.”

“We are very appreciative of Toyo Tires and their commitment to this program,” concluded Law. “We have been working with them for many years now on multiple programs, they produce an amazing Proxes Race Slick that is perfect in these conditions and we can’t wait to go for the top step of the podium this year.”

CONCORD, N.C. – United Rentals has signed on as entitlement sponsor for the inaugural United Rentals Patriot Nationals, a two-day World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event on Friday and Saturday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Sprint car stars including Donny Schatz, Brad Sweet, Daryn Pittman and Carson Macedo will take on The Dirt Track at Charlotte’s high-speed, four-tenths-mile dirt oval beginning with Friday’s first night of action and concluding on Saturday.

Each Patriot Nationals sprint car feature will pay $15,000 to win and $1,000 to start.

“United Rentals is extremely proud to sponsor the United Rentals Patriot Nationals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte,” said Dave Brown, United Rentals’ regional sales manager in the Southeast and the Carolinas. “We’ve enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Charlotte Motor Speedway and are excited to take the next step by sponsoring one of dirt racing’s most exciting weekends.”

Fans in attendance will also get to enjoy the FUEL Racing Series on Friday and the SECA Late Models on Saturday, which will serve as undercards for the United Rentals Patriot Nationals.

“There’s an abundance of excitement this weekend at America’s Home for Racing,” said Greg Walter, the executive vice president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Memorial Day weekend is a special time for all of us to reflect on the freedoms provided to us by our nation’s Armed Forces. Adding United Rentals to the fold with the United Rentals Patriot Nationals gives us an extra chance to thrill our race fans at The Dirt Track while saluting our servicemen and women with the ultimate patriotic dirt-racing experience.”

CONCORD, N.C. – Everyone loves playing in front of their home crowd, whether it’s a high school baseball game at your school’s home field or a professional golfer teeing off on the hometown links.

Hometown advantage matters so much that certain professional sports leagues schedule their championship games in a neutral stadium as often as possible.

Professional race car drivers very rarely get the opportunity to race at the track where their careers began, because few professional racing sanctioning bodies schedule races at local short tracks. But once you make it up the stock car racing ladder you get to race in front of the home of the entire industry.

Whenever they open the gates at Charlotte Motor Speedway, those who strap into the cars that take to the speedway’s 24-degree banked turns are racing in front of their families, their friends, the people who build and maintain their racecars, and thousands of other industry insiders.

It can mean a lot of pressure, especially for young drivers.

With the entire industry paying attention, everyone wants to perform. The edge between a great day and a bad day can be razor thin, and that can mean a stressful day for those behind the wheel.

Last year, it was a great night for Brandon Jones as he earned his fifth career series victory. He took advantage of the misfortunes of Todd Gilliland, who had a great night going until the final round of pit stops changed the handling of his car and he was forced to settle for fourth at the finish.

Jones, who will be in the booth as a driver analyst for the FS1 broadcast of the General Tire 150, believes racing in the ARCA series gives drivers like himself plenty of relevant experience to succeed in the upper levels of NASCAR. He currently drives the No. 19 Menards Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“I give the ARCA Menards Series a lot of credit for my success over the years and helping me get to the NASCAR Xfinity Series today,” Jones said. “I’ve gained so much confidence in that series, winning with multiple teams and at different tracks; it really helped build me up as I prepared to take the next step in my racing career. I’ve always felt that getting track time in the ARCA Series helps a lot when preparing for my Xfinity Series races.”

A couple of drivers that are prospects to join Jones as ARCA graduates who have gone on to success in the upper levels of NASCAR include Travis Braden and Christian Eckes.

Braden won in his ARCA Menards Series debut at Lucas Oil Raceway in 2015 and was included in ESPN’s list of drivers to watch for 2019. He is from Wheeling, W.Va., and a graduate of West Virginia University with dual degrees in aerospace and mechanical engineering. His team is located in Brownsburg, Ind., just outside of Indianapolis, so the Charlotte race isn’t necessarily a home game for him but he does see the value of a strong performance in the sport’s epicenter.

“Charlotte is still the capital of stock car racing and probably always will be,” Braden said. “To win at this venue is arguably as sought-after as an event like Daytona or Homestead, but for a little different reason. Obviously the opportunity to perform, and hopefully win, in front of the eyes of the majority of the sport’s leadership is of similar value to each of us. For myself and RFMS Racing, and any other non-southeastern-based team, I think you have an extra piece of motivation here. To go down there and beat those guys means a ton. It’s impressive in the eyes of any. You definitely won’t hear the typical “well he’s in the highest-budget ride and got all of the backing, he should have won” response if we were able to pull it off.”

Eckes is making his first run at the series title in 2019. Racing a part-time schedule in 2018, he won three times and has already collected one win so far in 2019 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville. Eckes, a native of Middletown, N.Y., races for Venturini Motorsports, which is located near the race track in Concord, North Carolina. He will be making his first appearance at Charlotte and knows a good run will impress his other boss, Kyle Busch, who he drives for in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

“It’s going to be really cool to race at Charlotte for the first time,” Eckes said. “It’s going to be my first mile and a half race as well, so I’m really looking forward to it. We tested a few weeks ago and our No. 15 JBL Camry showed a lot of speed. My Venturini team is based about five minutes from the track so it’s important for us to go have a good run. We will be ready.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Two teams have three drivers each starting in the top nine of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

One is expected, it’s the powerful Team Penske as Simon Pagenaud starts on the pole, with defending Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power sixth and Josef Newgarden eighth.

But the other is Indiana’s own Ed Carpenter Racing, with three of its drivers starting second, third and fourth in Sunday’s race.

Carpenter, a three-time Indianapolis 500 pole winner, barely lost the pole to Pagenaud, who ran a four-lap average of 229.992 mph. Carpenter’s speed was 229.889 mph. Carpenter lost the pole by just .1 of a mile per hour.

“Simon was just more consistent,” Carpenter said. “I think I had the fastest lap of qualifying and usually that’s a good sign for the pole, but I’ve also won a couple of my poles and not had the fastest lap. So, he was just a little more consistent than me, and that’s why he deserves to be on the pole.”

Pagenaud won his first Indianapolis 500 pole on Sunday. Carpenter was attempting to win his fourth and lost it by the narrowest of margins.

“That’s the way this series is now,” Carpenter said. “Everything is just thousandths and hundredths of a second all the way through. The battle that you saw for guys fighting for the 30th spot on Saturday, the ninth spot Saturday and now (Sunday) the strength of this series between the teams and drivers from top to bottom. You’ve got to be perfect to really put it together because if you’re not, everything is so tight you’re going to slide down, and that’s what’s great about being a part of the NTT IndyCar Series is it’s really the best competition in the world.”

Had Sunday’s Fast Nine been rained out, Carpenter’s teammate Spencer Pigot would have been the pole winner because he was the fastest on Saturday.

“Spencer was doing a rain dance, I was wanting to run,” Carpenter said.

Despite the fact he did not win the pole, Pigot was still happy to be starting on the outside of row one.

“Starting front row in the Indy 500 is a real honor, and like Ed said, a testament to our team,” Pigot said. “I wouldn’t say I was doing the rain dance all day. I think as race car drivers we love driving Indy cars at the limit, and you definitely get a chance to do that here in qualifying. Any chance we get to put four laps of qualifying together here is exciting in the car.

“Unfortunately, it was a little short, but like Ed said, great day for the team. 2, 3, 4, and I think all of us were pretty happy with our race cars Wednesday and Thursday, so we have a lot to look forward to and a lot to be confident about heading into next weekend.”

Ed Jones, who shares the No. 20 Chevrolet as the street and road course driver with Carpenter driving on the ovals, is in the No. 63 Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500. His fourth-place starting position is his best Indianapolis 500 qualifying effort.

“Of course, it’s great to be where we are,” Jones said. “As great as that sounds, I really wanted the pole today. I’m a little bit bummed. I thought we had a good shot at it. It’s just frustrating.”

Raphael Varane will stay at Real Madrid amid reported interest from the likes of Manchester United, a source close to the player has confirmed to ESPN FC.

Sources told ESPN FC in April that the 2018 World Cup winner was seriously considering seeking a new challenge, which alerted clubs throughout Europe including United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

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However, a source now says the 26-year-old has resolved to stay with Los Blancos and help the team bounce back from a disappointing 2018-19 campaign.

Since returning to the Bernabeu bench in March, Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has been clear that he wanted his fellow Frenchman to remain at the club -- and the pair have regularly discussed where Varane fits into the new project being planned by Zidane and club president Florentino Perez.

Varane also felt that leaving the Bernabeu after such a poor season was not something he could do, and is instead looking forward to a "new start" after the summer.

Monday saw the announcement of a contract extension for Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, another player who was reportedly unsettled this season. However, the source said that no discussions had taken place about extending Varane's current deal which ends in 2022.

The former Lens youngster has always had a strong relationship with Zidane, who was instrumental in his arrival in the Spanish capital as an 18-year-old for just €10 million back in 2011.

Varane has won 16 trophies since, including two La Liga crowns and four Champions League titles, but saw his form slip this season.

Madrid have already added a new centre-back to their squad for next season, with 21-year-old Brazil international Eder Militao joining from Benfica for €50 million.

And with Varane now sure to stay, Madrid's transfer decision-makers will likely turn their attention to other areas of the team, with Eden Hazard, Paul Pogba, Luka Jovic, Christian Eriksen and Ferland Mendy among their many reported targets.

Manchester United are ready to make a formal offer for Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff, sources have told ESPN FC.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen to sign at least one midfielder during the summer transfer window and has targeted the 21-year-old.

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Newcastle have no desire to sell Longstaff, who is under contract until 2022, and United are yet to agree a fee although there is hope he could be convinced to move to Old Trafford.

Longstaff, who has had loan spells at Kilmarnock and Blackpool, has made just eight Premier League appearances for Rafael Benitez's side.

Solskjaer is set to undertake an extensive overhaul of his squad this summer after finishing sixth in the table and missing out on a place in the Champions League.

The Norwegian will need to replace Ander Herrera after the Spain midfielder rejected the offer of a new contract to join French Champions Paris Saint-Germian on a free transfer.

There is also doubt about Paul Pogba's future. The French midfielder is being chased by Spanish giants Real Madrid although sources have told ESPN FC that United have no desire to sell the 26-year-old.

Sources also say Solskjaer is set to make 21-year-old Swansea winger Daniel James his first signing of the summer.

The Wales international is expected to move to Old Trafford for an initial fee of £15 million after United beat completion from Leeds, Newcastle, Brighton and Newcastle.

Frenkie de Jong receives a back-pass standing still in the Ajax half. Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior and Luka Modric charge at him, but the Dutch playmaker, who seems to have all the time in the world, turns full circle and then accelerates away, leaving Modric chasing helplessly behind him. Vinicius, who has missed him by meters, falls over. The scene is a thing of beauty, like Charlie Chaplin escaping a posse of cops. Ajax won 4-1 in the Bernabeu on March 5.

There are supposedly no secrets in top-level soccer anymore. Everyone has been scouted, it seems, yet opponents are still trying to figure out how to handle De Jong. Last August, the Dutchman, who just turned 22 on May 12, was almost unknown outside the Netherlands. By January, Barcelona had agreed to buy him for between €75 million and €86 million (depending on bonuses or add-ons/incentives). Barcelona's president Josep Bartomeu admitted to me that the signing was "risky, of course, because he's young" but then said "there are players that maybe one or two seasons they are the best, and other players are so talented that they last 10, 12 years like Leo Messi, or [Gerard] Pique.

"We think Frenkie de Jong is going to create an era of Frenkie de Jong. Probably he's going to be one of the three best players [in the world]."

De Jong is a beautiful player, but will he turn out to be a great player? Is Barcelona the right club for him, and how will he change there?

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For now, De Jong is possibly unique in soccer: a playmaker who habitually dribbles out of his own defense. In his first full match against top-level opposition -- vs. France in Paris in September -- he kept going past the French captain Antoine Griezmann. Later Griezmann named him as his best-ever opponent, saying: "I tried very often to put him under pressure, but it never worked."

This makes De Jong the ideal creator for modern soccer. Pep Guardiola believes that as defenses get savvier and quicker, it's becoming hard to pass them apart as his Barca sides did a decade ago. Now you need players who can create numerical superiority by beating a man and then giving the killer pass. That's De Jong. In the Champions League through the quarterfinals, he gave 134 forward passes inside the other team's half -- more than any other midfielder except Madrid's Toni Kroos, according to data providers Opta. De Jong is also a remarkably effective (and elegant) tackler.

It's no wonder that half the big clubs in Europe came in for him. Last summer he turned down Tottenham, who deserve kudos for spotting him first, but this winter the shortlist was another level entirely: Guardiola's Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. De Jong would reportedly lay awake at night sometimes, fretting over the choice.

Whatever De Jong's criteria, Barcelona don't appear to have made him the biggest offer. They claim (oddly, given that their annual revenues of over €1 billion are the highest of any sports club in history) that they cannot match City's or PSG's salaries. But De Jong grew up with a very Dutch love of Barcelona. There's a photograph from 2015 of him and his girlfriend posing in the stands of the Nou Camp before a game: just two ordinary teenage fans enjoying their moment.

As a player, he seems made for Barca too. Both Ajax and Barcelona were bequeathed almost identical styles by the same father, Johan Cruyff. De Jong isn't Cruyff, of course, but his long torso, short legs, upright head, and surprising decisions recall the great man.

Bartomeu repeated for me the pitch he made to De Jong and his father. "Whoever is the coach of Barca, the style will be always the same. Now we have Ernesto Valverde as coach. The following coach will be another name, but you don't see too many differences. Other clubs, depending on the coach they choose, change the style or the idea of the football.

"If you look for a coach, go with Pep Guardiola, but when he leaves City, I don't know who is going to be the following coach. If you look for money, go to PSG. You will be a billionaire. But if you want to enjoy your life for the next 12 or 14 years, come to Barcelona."

Bartomeu adds, "Frenkie is 21, but his maturity is older. He knows what he wants. He doesn't want to be the best footballer in the world. The first thing he said was 'I want to enjoy my life with my girlfriend, playing.'"

De Jong's worry was that he wouldn't get enough playing time at Barça "especially because I'm a doubter by nature," he told Dutch magazine Voetbal International. After all, he considers Sergio Busquets the world's best defensive midfielder. Breaking into PSG's team looked more realistic, even if he couldn't imagine spending a decade in the French league. But Barcelona told him that in the short-term, he could fit into either of the two midfield positions in front of Busquets.

Finally, De Jong decided that if he turned down Barca, he might spend his life wondering whether he could have made it there. As he told Voetbal International: "You have to have a bit of faith in yourself." Bartomeu assured him: "If one day you say 'I don't like it,' we will talk. We are not a prison." When Pedro, Alexis Sanchez and Marc Bartra had asked to leave, Barcelona did let them go.

Money isn't De Jong's primary motivation: he drives a Mercedes, but not the most expensive model. Still, at a crucial point during the contract negotiations, Barcelona's kit sponsor Nike agreed to top up his salary. Nike wants to put the name Frenkie on his shirt. The player, named after the 1980s British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, isn't sure about that, but given what we know about money in soccer, it will happen. When he finally signed a five-year contract, Barca asked him to knock Real Madrid out of the Champions League, so he did. Yet Barcelona's former coach Louis van Gaal believes that perhaps he should have joined PSG first.

"He still needs to go through a whole development," Van Gaal said on Dutch TV. "If [Ivan] Rakitic and Arthur don't leave, it's going to be hard for Frenkie to play them out of the team."

Anyone who watched the Netherlands' 3-2 defeat to Germany on March 24 will have seen Van Gaal's point. Whenever the Dutch tried to build from the back, the Germans filled the spaces around De Jong. He failed to make space for himself, and so the Netherlands, dependent on him and Memphis Depay for creativity, was stifled. His tactical helplessness was surprising for a man capable of providing an acute analysis of a game on live TV moments after walking off the field.

At Barca, a team with many creative threats, opponents won't be able to target him the same way, but De Jong does need to learn how a player without much speed can find space. He also knows he needs to register more goals and assists.

Furthermore, no club at the highest level will tolerate his current appetite for risk. Even in the most dangerous situations, he considers it beneath him to give a boring square ball or back pass, so opponents now try to choose the right moment to press him. He gave away a goal against Bayern in December with a bad pass, and very nearly another in Madrid when he lost the ball to Karim Benzema just outside his own penalty area. After the game a Dutch TV presenter told him, jokingly, "Don't do that again." De Jong laughed before replying: "I think: do it, but better."

All his life he has ignored advice to play it safe. He has said, "My quality is my intuition. I can't just ignore that, can I? Then I'd be a player of whom there are a thousand of my age. Often I'd say I understood the coach, then do my own thing on the field."

Still, he will have to learn that sometimes, when there's a Benzema at his back, he needs to be boring. Over the next decade, he might well become as good as Bartomeu and Barca envision, but along the way, he will also become a more normal, less extraordinary player. Something will be lost in translation, so enjoy the untamed version now.

Hampshire 310 and 3 for 1 lead Nottinghamshire 239 (Mullaney 102, Barker 3-46) by 74 runs

Steven Mullaney first learned about cricket in Golborne, a town which now lies in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. The place is no sort of Orwellian wasteland but neither is it Ambridge. And it certainly has next door to nowt in common with the pastoral glory of Newclose. Yet as we watched Nottinghamshire's captain fight like fury to keep his team in this match it was possible to discern the toughness which still characterises the league cricket he once played. Mullaney's century here was, among its other qualities, a monument to simple defiance and it should be recalled fondly by all those who saw it.

But let us be crystal on two points: firstly, the resolution Mullaney displayed is not some exclusively Northern characteristic; and secondly, Nottinghamshire's skipper long ago transferred his absolute allegiance from Old Trafford to Trent Bridge. It is in the East Midlands that he has won all the honours the domestic game has to offer and his loyalty to the place is very deep. So much is clear every time he strides to the wicket and it was plain again when he walked out with Nottinghamshire on 61 for 3 in reply to Hampshire's 310.

Things became much worse before they got even slightly better. Having beaten Ben Slater outside the off stump and induced a mistimed pull from Chris Nash, Kyle Abbott nipped one back to bowl Joe Clarke for 23. Then Jake Libby was leg before to Keith Barker to leave Nottinghamshire on 72 for 5. And all these ructions, we thought, on almost the first summer's day of the season.

For there was a Blyton-blue sky and so there had to be hampers. The hospitality was corporate and it was familial. The white Burgundy was chilled this afternoon and the beer needed only gravity to get it from barrel to tankard. Most in the crowd cheered happily either side of lunch as Abbott and Barker put Nottinghamshire in the toils. But then they watched in grudging admiration and near-perfect joy as Mullaney and Tom Moores, scrappers both, set about rebuilding the innings. Men under panamas and women in print dresses agreed that fast bowling looked warm work.

Warm but also productive. Having battled away for 101 minutes to stifle his attacking instincts and accumulate 34 out of a 79-run stand with Mullaney, Moores almost waved his bat at a ball from Fidel Edwards and gossamered a catch to a diving Tom Alsop down the leg side. Luke Fletcher and Stuart Broad followed him back to the pavilion in short order and the visitors took tea on 159 for 8 with Mullaney 43 not out. People wondered how much batting Hampshire might have to do before stumps. As things turned out, by the time Mullaney had near single-handedly reduced the deficit to 71 runs Joe Weatherley and Oli Soames needed to survive six overs, something they failed to do, Weatherley falling leg before to Fletcher when only eight balls remained. We are set for two more fine days on the abudant Island.

During the afternoon, though, spectators who craved warmth had sat in the generous sun; many bared their legs and some were badly advised to do so. Those who sought the shade lounged under the scoreboard on the Medina side of the ground and ate their ice-creams in peace as Mullaney continued his innings. One well-spoken chap licking his cornet was even watched by his envious pooch. On the opposite side of the ground Jack Russell sold sketches and prints.

He, perhaps above all spectators at Newclose, would have admired Mullaney's refusal to yield in the evening session. Nottinghamshire's warrior-leader reached his fifty off 113 balls but the deficit was then still over a hundred. So he buckled down again and shepherded Matt Carter through a superb stand of 80 for the ninth wicket. Carter played a fine supporting role as Mullaney took just 52 balls over the second fifty runs of the hundred he reached with a pulled six off Mason Crane.

This was Mullaney's fourth century against Hampshire and it was nothing like a perfect demonstration of batsmanship. He was dropped three times, most noticeably on 25 when Weatherley put down a two-handed slip chance off Abbott. But faultless 30s matter little when set beside the effort Nottinghamshire's skipper summoned at Newclose. When he reached three figures he raised his arms to the pavilion as if to reinforce the message that he requires similar effort from everybody in any team he leads. When he top-edged a return catch to Ian Holland, spectators stood to him and many were wearing Hampshire badges. He had played an innings worthy of the day and worthy of the place in which it was played. But they will read about Mullaney's hundred in places far beyond the Isle of Wight this evening; and they will smile at their warm memories.

Warwickshire 135 and 103 for 6 (Hain 43*) need a further 136 to beat Somerset 209 and 164 (Norwell 7-41)

Paul Farbrace would not be human if just before start of play he did not feel a tiny pang of regret when England's World Cup squad was announced over the PA system. Timing does not always work out perfectly, and to accept Warwickshire's director of cricket role he had to relinquish his job as England assistant coach with cricket's biggest one-day tournament beckoning.

What is more, instead of a chance to share in history, he now knows he has walked into a Warwickshire relegation fight. They are not entirely out of this match at Taunton, but to be 103 for 6 at the close of a hectic second day, chasing 249 on a sporty pitch, identifies them as big outsiders. Much rests with Sam Hain, whose unbeaten 43 is the top score in the match. Few, if any, batsmen in a match where 36 wickets have tumbled in two days have looked as assured. Not that many have even tried to look as assured.

If Farbrace was in search of optimism he found it in the performance of Liam Norwell, a close season capture from Gloucestershire, who took 7 for 41 on his Warwickshire debut with a controlled display of swing and seam bowling. Sporty pitch or not, he has wasted no time in proving he can make the step up to Division One cricket.

Signing Norwell was a bit of a gamble for Warwickshire. He had spent eight seasons at Gloucestershire, though missed the entire 2018 season with recurring hamstring problems, but he has always been capable of hot spells when the conditions are in his favour.

His debut for Warwickshire was delayed when he strained a pectoral muscle while fielding in a practice session at Edgbaston, inviting fears that ill luck had begun to follow a bowler who had previously enjoyed a decent enough injury record, but he felt the sun on his back at Taunton as he hustled in with an open action and revelled in the murmurs of a good crowd as the wickets built up.

"I was quite fired up for it," he said. "Warwickshire have been so great for me since I've been here and it's nice to repay some of their faith. My bowling in the first innings was a bit rusty. I've had quite a long injury lay-off - a dark season in a way last year with three tears on the same hamstring - but today felt like I was back to where I was a year and a half ago. So it's come back quite quickly.

"I think it's a good cricket wicket. Yes, it's low scoring, but if you are going to be highly critical there is a lot of batsmen error as well as good bowling. There is pace in the wicket and a bit of nip, but I'd much rather play on these wickets and I think a lot of people would much rather watch cricket on these wickets than just getting to the third innings and shaking hands."

Somerset have batted in a frenzy in this match, regarding the surface with fatalism. The result of that was scores of 209 and 164 and an average run rate across the two innings of more than four an over. It was primarily down to Norwell that they subsided to 78 for 7 and it was largely in his absence that Craig Overton organised some late-order resistance for the second time in the match.

Azhar Ali and James Hildreth were snaffled in his first two overs, both of them without scoring. Azhar fell to bounce and movement when he edged to the wicketkeeper; Hildreth was wary of something similar when he was lbw to one that held its line.

His new-ball spell then brought wickets in consecutive overs for a second time. Marcus Trescothick released a few square drives, inviting hopes that his measured tread would bring some ballast to Somerset's batting, but he became Norwell's second lbw victim, 23 logged, his highest score to date in his 27th season. Tom Abell fell defensively to a ball that left him.

When Norwell swung one back to bowl Lewis Gregory immediately after lunch and caused Steve Davies to follow a wide one that went wider, Somerset only had a lead of 152 and their hold on the game was tenuous at best. But Overton, who had begun the day by extending his Championship wickets tally to 22 at 14.77, responded with gusto as the last three wickets more than doubled the score.

Tim Groenewald caused most merriment. Disconcerted by Henry Brookes' pace, and struck on the hand, he was dropped at deep mid-on by Oliver Hannon-Dalby, a reprieve he celebrated by hauling a length ball over midwicket for six. "Short or yorker," was probably the gist of the advice given to Brookes by his captain, Jeetan Patel. Brookes went short, and Groenewald was duly on his way, making room for a failed wind-up.

Warwickshire lost two for 26 by tea. Will Rhodes fell in the first over, caught behind of Gregory for a duck and Rob Yates suffered the same fate. Jack Leach was popped on for a while and turned one to have Dom Sibley caught at slip for 26, so ending his run of centuries in successive first-class matches on six. Adam Hose completed an unhappy return to his former club by falling lbw to Overton for 4.

This Somerset side can excel in the field, too, as was shown by the run out of Tim Ambrose. Hain ran the ball through point, the pair went for a quick single, but George Bartlett pounced to hit direct with a single stump to aim at. They will be confident about completing the job on the third morning.