Exeter have signed lock Jannes Kirsten from South African Super Rugby side the Blue Bulls on a one-year deal.

The 25-year-old joined the Bulls in 2012 and this will be his first time playing for another club.

Kirsten, who can also play back row, is the sixth signing of the summer for Chiefs' director of rugby Rob Baxter.

Kirsten told the club website: "If you ask any South African player, they want to come here and have a taste of the Premiership."

The Sandy Park club have already welcomed Tom Price, Will Witty, Stuart Hogg, Stan South and Jordon Poole as new arrivals this summer.

The Chiefs start the season on 21 September with a home encounter against West country rivals Bath in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

CONCORD, N.C. – Tuesday’s final round of the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw Carson Ferguson aim for the perfect night – a win in the Boston Reid Real Estate Pro division finale to cap off a dominant championship season.

Running second to Joey Padgett in the closing laps, Ferguson needed a caution to finish his season in style. Ferguson got what he needed.

He roared into the lead soon after a restart and held off Padgett and Bubba Wallace to score the win and net another Pro championship for Ladyga Motorsports.

“The first couple laps, Joey got in the corner and just moved me,” Ferguson said. “He didn’t tear anything up, so it was just racing. I caught him and tried to hang him on the outside but Bubba kept racing me and it took a while to get back to Joey. I wasn’t gonna let them get me that time.”

Jason Alder needed a top-10 finish to clinch the VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro title, while Isabella Robusto entered Tuesday night needing a win and some help to pull off her first crown. While D.J. Canipe emerged unscathed to win a caution-filled race that ended two laps short of the scheduled 25 laps, Alder did what he needed to do.

The Maryland native finished fourth to Robusto’s sixth, bringing home the Semi-Pro crown.

Cutter Love won the Semi-Pro B-Main.

Mark Green and Robby Faggart had the easiest paths to the Twenty-Six Acres Brewing Company Masters championship when Tuesday’s races began: whichever driver finished higher won the title.

Faggart began the 25-lap feature from the pole and had the inside line to the title, but Green hounded Faggart for the first 20 laps. Once Faggart had to lift off the throttle to avoid lapped traffic, Green moved to the inside of Faggart’s machine entering turn one with three laps to go. The two cars made contact and each continued – but Green cleared Faggart and clinched the crown.

“My car was really good tonight. Robby’s car was really good on the get-go. I got underneath him and he rubbed me a bit, but that’s OK, it’s just good hard racing. I’m glad we were able to put on a little show.”

Zack Miracle led the way for the first half of a crash-heavy PMG Young Lions feature and appeared to have the division title in hand before a mid-race restart saw Miracle get sent spinning out of the lead – putting Sam Butler, the second-place driver in points, in the driver’s seat.

While Miracle tried to make up enough points, leaders Kade Brown and William Cox tangled on the final lap. Cox spun out in turn two while Brown sped away to the finish line.

Brown was penalized for the contact, handing the win to Conner Jones and the championship to Butler.

“I just had to keep my eyes peeled and never give up,” Jones said of his win.

Jadyn Daniels drove away from the field for the second consecutive night in Farm Bureau Bandolero Outlaws competition, but couldn’t hold on for the win in the end.

A caution with eight laps to go afforded Cameron Murray the opportunity to challenge Daniels, but Daniels’ No. 24 appeared to have it in hand before contact on a restart triggered a melee that eliminated Murray from contention, knocked Daniels to the tail of the field and moved points leader Garin Mash to the front with three laps to go.

Like D.J. Canipe in the Semi-Pro feature, Mash avoided any further carnage and collected his fifth win of the season to wrap up his title-winning summer.

“I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve dreamed of this for years,” Mash said. “This has been the biggest year of my life and I think it’s gotten a little better tonight.”

Layton Harrison and Luke Morey fought nose to tail in the closing laps of the final K1 RaceGear Bandolero Bandits feature, with Harrison holding Morey off by a car length at the finish. Lucas Vera captured the Bandits division title.

Josh Willams stormed to victory in the Beginner Bandolero feature. Natalie Richard won the B-Main.

BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – Jeff Strunk picked up his second consecutive Thunder Modified win during Tuesday’s NASCAR 358 Modified portion of the Thunder on the Hill at Grandview Speedway.

Doug Manmiller and Tim Buckwalter led the field to the green flag, with Manmiller holding the lead for the initial two laps.  Buckwalter would takeover the top spot on lap three with Meme Desantis and Manmiller right on his tail.

RELATED: Windom Edges Courtney At Grandview

All eyes were on Strunk as he moved into second on the eighth lap of the event – from his fifth-place starting spot. He powered past Buckwalter for the lead two laps later.

In a race without any caution flags, Strunk was able to steer the Glenn Hyneman-owned number 126 machine around heavy lapped traffic maintaining the lead and claiming his 200th career victory.

Craig VonDohren closed in the late stages – but would settle for second place, Tim Buckwalter finished in third, Kevin Hirthler finished in fourth and Brett Kressley finished in fifth after starting in the 14th position.

NASCAR 358 Modified heat races were won by Kevin Hirthler, Tim Buckwalter, and Alex Yankowski

The finish:

Jeff Strunk, Craig VonDohren, Tim Buckwalter, Kevin Hirthler, Brett Kressley, Duane Howard, Mike Gular, Meme Desantis, Alex Yankowski, Brian Hirthler, Ryan Lilick, Rick Laubach, Mike Lisowski, Louden Reimert, Briggs Danner, Frank Cozze, Ryan Beltz, Justin Grim, Don Norris Jr., Billy Pauch Jr., Glenn Strunk, Mark Kratz, Ray Swinehart, Dylan Swinehart, Doug Manmiller, T.J. Lilly

SHAWANO, Wis. — Just 17 days after getting his first World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series win for his new team at Skyline Motorsports, Shane Clanton has done it again.

Leading all but one lap in the Sundrop Shooutout at Shawano Speedway on Tuesday night, the Zebulon, Ga., native did what he hasn’t done since his last Series win at Ogilvie Raceway – outrun Brandon Sheppard, a 15-time World of Outlaws winner this year.

“It was phenomenal from the word ‘go,’” Clanton said. “We hot lapped well, we qualified well, we heat raced well and then we Feature raced well. To have a night like tonight feels really good.”

Clanton set quick time, setting him up for a win in Drydene Heat Race No. 1 and a third-place redraw. It only took 1.5 laps of the feature to make the move on then-leader Boom Briggs and Chase Junghans for the top spot, as Clanton got a great run out of turn two after sticking to the very bottom line in turn one and launched his car down the backstretch to grab command of the race.

“I was trying to go anywhere I needed to go,” Clanton said. “I passed a couple of cars on the outside, and I thought I could get up there and go, but I was afraid that it might hurt my tires up there. So, I just stayed on the bottom and made it pull hard leaving the corner and it worked out.”

But Clanton’s work was only getting started. Sheppard was a man on a mission to get that 16th win of 2019 and first at the Shawano County Fairgrounds. Passing one car every other lap from his sixth-place starting spot, Sheppard used the high line to advance to the runner-up spot by lap eight.

“That actually wasn’t the plan. My plan was to run just a few laps up top, pass a few cars and get down to the bottom,” he said. “I just felt pretty comfortable up there, and the bottom of the racetrack – everybody was in it.”

The gap Sheppard walked into between he and Clanton at that point was growing, which looked massive on the half-mile of Shawano. Clanton’s lead stretched to nearly three seconds at one point before Sheppard got into clean air.

Sheppard locked onto his target of the black-and-blue No. 25, a half-straightaway ahead, and turned on the Rocket boosters, closing the gap to just over 1.5 seconds by lap 20.

Sheppard continued to hammer the cushion until just after the halfway point, when he suddenly switched to the popular bottom lane through the corners and cut the deficit to just .7 seconds. But the leaders were deep into lapped traffic, and it only took two corners of racing behind a slower car for Sheppard to lose a bit of ground he gained and move back up to the top.

“I just couldn’t really run consistent laps down there because I was so used to running the top and I had my tires hot,” he said. “When I got to second, I figured Shane wasn’t going to slip up out of the bottom, so my only shot to pass him was going to be to ring the top, and that’s what I did.”

Through the final 15 laps of the caution-free event, Clanton made perfect moves in traffic to keep Sheppard at bay, always at least one full second behind. By the time the checkered flag fell over him for the third time this season, his advantage over the Rocket1 Racing car was back to where it was originally – 2.7 seconds.

“It’s a testament to this crew,” Clanton said. “We worked all day today to rebuild this thing from last night.”

Garnering his eighth top-five finish of the season, Clanton is now tied with leading Rookie of the Year contender Ricky Weiss for second in points.

Northern regional veteran Jimmy Mars once again tied his best World of Outlaws finish this season on Tuesday night, grabbing the final podium spot to the inside of Junghans with two laps remaining.

“Chase was still up on the top, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that he was not going to move down and give up on the top,” Mars said. “He stayed up there and I found a little bit more speed on the bottom.”

The finish:

Feature (40 Laps) 1. 25-Shane Clanton [3][$10,000]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard [6][$5,000]; 3. 28m-Jimmy Mars [9][$3,000]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans [2][$2,500]; 5. 15n-Nick Anvelink [15][$2,000]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard [5][$1,700]; 7. 58-A.J. Diemel [12][$1,400]; 8. 7-Ricky Weiss [7][$1,300]; 9. 29-Darrell Lanigan [10][$1,200]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening [11][$1,100]; 11. B1-Brent Larson [8][$1,050]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb [4][$1,000]; 13. 99B-Boom Briggs [1][$950]; 14. 3-Brett Swedberg [17][$900]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz [13][$850]; 16. 27-Derek Janike [21][$800]; 17. O3-Kyle Raddant [20][$770]; 18. 11-Justin Reed [16][$750]; 19. 10-Paul Parker [18][$730]; 20. 942-Terry Casey [14][$700]; 21. 6-Blake Spencer [19][$700]; 22. 81-Troy Springborn [22][$700]; 23. 33e-Chris Engels [23][] Hard Charger: 15n-Nick Anvelink[+10]

BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. — Chris Windom earned his second NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series victory of the season in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Midget Week opener at Grandview Speedway.

He fought Clauson/Marshall Racing teammate Tyler Courtney for the win on the final lap, losing the lead via a Courtney slider in turn one, then outracing him into turn three to retake the position before sealing the deal to win in the series’ first visit to the third-mile dirt oval in three decades.

RELATED: Strunk Thunders To Grandview Checkers

“Honestly, it took me a little while this year,” Windom admitted. “I raced midgets quite a bit in 2011 and 2012, but I felt like I never really ran a lot. Being off six years, these things have changed quite a bit.  Most of these guys have gotten to do it two or three years straight.  It took me a little bit to get back into the rhythm of it. CMR and (crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) and everybody gives us cars to go out and compete first and second with.  You know you have a car to win, so you’ve got to go figure out how to do it.”

Windom was slotted into the pole position for the start of the 30-lapper after originally scheduled pole starter Zeb Wise had to go to a backup car after his engine expired at the finish of his heat race. Wise’s misfortune moved him to the tail of the field and fortuitously gave Windom the pole.

Windom slid past outside front row starter Kevin Thomas Jr. into turn one on the opening lap, with Thomas maintaining a one to two car length distance behind Windom’s rear bumper for most of the first third of the race.

Windom utilized the higher line between turns one and two but found comfort on the bottom of turns three and four until the ninth lap when he was forced into taking the high road around the lappers hugging the bottom rail.

As Thomas attempted to close on Windom a couple car lengths back, the bottom was no longer an option as a stack of traffic hung to the low side in the ensuing laps.  As it turned out, it forced Windom out of the comfort zone and into the track position it turns out he needed to occupy.

“Before I caught lapped traffic, I felt like the bottom was starting to get slower,” Windom recalled. “I was actually kind of glad to see lapped traffic because it forced me to go up there and then it just felt like I was gaining more and more momentum, so that’s where I stayed. I felt like the only way anyone was going to get us running there was on a caution and a slide job.”

With 12 laps remaining, 11th running Karsyn Elledge spun to a stop between turns three and four, putting a lid on the traffic game for the leaders and bringing a resumption of the battle up front which encapsulated the top-five under a blanket just prior to the yellow.

The see-saw battle between Thomas and Courtney picked up the lap 19 restart where Courtney slid by Thomas into turn one.  Thomas countered underneath to retake the runner-up spot in turn three.

On lap 25, Courtney returned the favor, sliding by Thomas again in turn one. Thomas tapped Courtney on the rear bumper as the pair exited turn two, with Courtney securing the position.

Zeb Wise and Steve Buckwalter got together in turn one while racing for 12th, sending Buckwalter flipping.

A wild scramble for second on back behind Windom allowed Windom to distance himself from the pack following the restart, building a 1.2 second lead prior to the stoppage with three to go due to a spin by USAC East Coast Sprint Car champ and 16th running Steven Drevicki between turns one and two.

Courtney was now right Windom’s tail tank once again for the three-lap sprint to the finish. Though he didn’t initially attempt a slider, Courtney began the stint with a decent restart, staying within a couple car lengths of Windom throughout the first lap.  A lap later, Windom escaped Courtney, who now appeared to not be close enough to make another last-ditch run at Windom as the leaders passed under the white flag.

Further back in the pack, eighth-running Jason McDougal spun sideways to a stop in turn four to bring a halt to the event, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

When leading in this situation, a driver is fully aware that they are ripe for the picking and a slide job is most likely going to be delivered. Windom was cognizant of that fact and had readied himself for Courtney.

“He’s on top of his game in a midget right now and he’s a really aggressive driver, so I wasn’t just expecting him to sit back and run second on a restart,” Windom said. “I knew whatever line I went to, he was going to the opposite.”

Courtney remained a car length back on the first lap following the restart, shadowing Windom and anticipating when he, himself, would shoot his shot while a hard-charging Kyle Larson raced side-by-side with Tanner Carrick for third midway down the back straight.

Courtney took his shot in turn one on the final lap and Windom already had the next half a lap planned out before Courtney even made his move.

“I felt like, at some point, it had to be coming,” Windom expected. “I was trying to get as good of a restart as I could, but when guys running second get two and three opportunities at you in the last three laps, they’re going to figure out something normally. He was able to get in front of me there and I knew my only option was to cross him over and beat him to turn three.  So, that was my plan when I saw him come across my front end there. I knew I had to cross him over and just hope we got to turns three and four smoothly.”

Windom did just that, after turning his car down at the exit of two to sneak back under Courtney, drive past him on the back straight and clear him high into turn three.  Courtney ducked low off turn four underneath Windom, but it wasn’t enough as Windom closed out the victory by a car length over Courtney, Carrick, Tanner Thorson (from 15th) and Chad Boat.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Barcelona had classified the sale of Philippe Coutinho as a priority this summer but sources at the Catalan club have told ESPN FC there's "concern" about the fact they have still not received a single offer for the Brazilian.

With just eight days to go until the transfer window closes in England, Barca are now worried that there will be no bids from Premier League clubs for Coutinho.

- When does the transfer window close?
- All major completed transfer deals

Barca paid an initial fee of €120 million to sign Coutinho from Liverpool 18 months ago, with up to €40m more due in possible add-ons. Sources have told ESPN FC it is going to "take a lot" to find someone willing to pay that much for him now, despite the fact the Spanish champions would be prepared to sell for around €105m.

Chelsea saw him as a possible replacement for Eden Hazard, who left for Real Madrid. Intermediaries sounded out the situation at the start of the summer but a transfer ban ended the Blues' interest. Various reports suggested Liverpool were keen on re-signing him, too. However, that was never an option, as Jurgen Klopp explained in an exclusive interview with ESPN FC this month.

"In general, Coutinho helps each team in the world, still -- 100 percent," the Liverpool coach said. "It's not about that. I like Phil, I think he's a fantastic footballer and all that stuff, but it would be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big-money signing and it's not our year for that.

"It's just not possible. As I said, having him would make each team better -- us included -- but I really hope that he finds his luck at Barcelona."

Barca also hoped interest may develop from Manchester United as Paul Pogba looked for a move away from Old Trafford. But with just over a week left before the transfer window shuts in England, the France midfielder remains at Old Trafford and no one from United has called Barca to express an interest in Coutinho.

Without any offers from England, the other option Barca have been hanging on is Paris Saint-Germain. The French transfer window remains open until Sept. 2, and sources told ESPN FC earlier this summer that Coutinho could be included as a makeweight in a possible deal for Neymar.

However, sources at the Catalan club have said doing a deal for Neymar is looking "very difficult" but they would still be open to selling Coutinho to PSG if they get near the €105m asking price.

Barca, therefore, are increasingly concerned that they will not bring in as much money as they were hoping for this summer. Their model has become more reliant on player sales in recent years and, as revealed by ESPN FC, they had hoped to bring in €150m for Coutinho, Rafinha and Malcom before the end of August.

Boca Juniors have rejected a $16million bid from LA Galaxy for Cristian Pavon, sources have told ESPN Argentina.

Sources have told ESPN Argentina's Diego Monroig the Major League Soccer side submitted an offer for the forward over the weekend but Boca believed it to be "insufficient."

Pavon, 23, has been left out of the Boca squad to face Athletico Paranaense in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores on Wednesday amid links with a move away.

It is understood that Boca value the forward at $24m and sources have told ESPN Argentina negotiations between the two clubs have now ended.

Sources have said Galaxy have turned their attention to Independiente forward Martin Benitez as an alternative option.

Pavon was part of the Argentina squad in the 2018 World Cup in Russia and scored four goals in 19 appearances for Boca last season.

The MLS side have failed to make any signings in the transfer window and forward Giovani dos Santos left to sign for Club America this summer.

Mumbai Indians, the IPL 2019 champions, have added West Indies batsman Sherfane Rutherford to their squad, after trading legspinner Mayank Markande to Delhi Capitals.

Rutherford is known for his big-hitting abilities. Playing for Guyana Amazon Warriors in his debut season of the Caribbean Premier League last year, Rutherford made a mark against Trinbago Knight Riders, smashing a 13-ball 45 with six sixes and a four, in a match-winning partnership with Shimron Hetmyer. His overall run tally in CPL 2018 was 171 runs at a strike rate of 142.5 and he earned a call-up to West Indies' T20I side on the India tour, going on to make his international debut against Bangladesh in Dhaka in December.

Capitals bought Rutherford for INR 2 crore from a base price of INR 40 lakh in the December 2018 auction, and one of the most impactful performances from the 20-year-old came against Royal Challengers Bangalore, when he scored a 13-ball 28 and took the wicket of AB de Villiers with his medium pace.

Markande played only three matches for Mumbai in IPL 2019, after a solid debut season last year where he finished as the team's third-highest wicket-taker, with 15 dismissals in 14 matches. He now joins Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane and Rahul Tewatia to form a legspinning quartet for Capitals to choose from.

From Mumbai's point of view, young legspinner Rahul Chahar had a breakthrough season in 2019, picking up 13 wickets in 13 games with an economy rate of 6.55, and Markande ended up picking just one wicket and going for plenty - 59 runs in six overs, perhaps making the second leggie surplus to their requirements.

Since their dominant innings win there in the 2001 Ashes, Australia have been abject at Edgbaston, while it has quickly turned into England's best venue.

A boisterous, partisan crowd, helpful conditions for their seamers with the red ball, and assistance for spinners with the white have combined to create a lethal cocktail for touring teams, and after a pair of vital wins there in the World Cup, they will hope that high spills over into Thursday's Test.

Australia haven't tasted victory at Edgbaston in any format since 2001, when current head coach Justin Langer was running the drinks, and Marnus Labuschagne had just celebrated his seventh birthday.

While plenty of Australia's squad have experience playing at the ground in county cricket, their record is still disastrous: between them, their 17 squad members have played 52 games in all formats at Edgbaston, and have registered just five wins.

For England, meanwhile, Birmingham has proved a happy home. After the Walkabout win in the 2013 Champions Trophy, they lost three and suffered a no-result in their next four fixtures there, but ever since it has been something of a paradise for them.

Starting with an Eoin Morgan-inspired win in an end-of-season T20I in 2014, they have won 11 on the bounce at Edgbaston - and are unbeaten in Tests there since 2008.

England's seamers have been relentless at Edgbaston across their Test careers. James Anderson has taken more wickets at only two venues - Lord's and Old Trafford - while in 14 innings there Stuart Broad has only twice failed to take a wicket.

Chris Woakes has only played one Test in Birmingham, against Pakistan in 2016, but it is his home ground in county cricket, and he has 177 wickets at 24.03 there in all first-class cricket.

Ben Stokes snared a vital 4 for 40 at the ground against India last summer - which included the prized wicket of Virat Kohli - and in the same game Sam Curran took four first-innings wickets and won the match award for his game-changing 63.

It has been a less productive venue for Moeen Ali with the ball, with his offspin leaking runs, though he has three fifties in four innings there with the bat.

After the retirement of Alastair Cook, who made 869 runs at 57.93, England batsmen's records at Edgbaston look less imposing.

Joe Root has enjoyed himself there, with an imposing 136 against the West Indies in 2017, and Moeen has made his usual lower-order contributions, but for the rest of the likely batting line-up it has been a different story.

Ben Stokes' highest score in four innings in Birmingham is 21, while Jos Buttler eked out a 38-ball 9 in the 2015 Ashes, before adding 0 and 1 against India last summer.

Tellingly, three of England's top four have never played a Test at the ground, though Jason Roy has a 95-ball 112* there alongside his two World Cup fifties, and Rory Burns averages 38.25 in first-class games at the venue.

Joe Denly, meanwhile, made 86 in a Championship match at Edgbaston in 2006 - as an opener, no less - but his subsequent 11 innings there have brought only 143 runs.

England captain Joe Root will believe Australia have ceased to be the mouthy, win-at-all-cost combination he had encountered two years ago only when the behaviour of Tim Paine's men stands up under the extreme pressure of an Ashes series.

Numerous members of England's squad were left bruised if not outright scarred by their experiences on that tour, bullied by Australia's pacemen and batsmen and also subjected to plenty of hostile and at times outright abusive language. The subsequent Newlands scandal and its fallout pushed Australia in a fresh direction, ruling out premeditated abuse, but it was evident during their Southampton internal trial match that there would still be plenty of chatter on the field.

In the lead up to the first Ashes Test, Root admitted he was yet to be convinced that the new, more respectful Australian approach would stand up when they were in the crucible of an Ashes series in England - where they have not won since 2001.

"Not sure, to be perfectly honest. We'll have to wait, obviously we'll find out," he said. "Some of the comments that have crept out over the last couple of weeks makes me suggest that maybe not. But we'll see. Certainly would be different [if quieter].

"I can't control how other people are going to react within the ground, and how the crowd go about that" Root on the possibility of fans heckling Smith, Warner and Bancroft

"I'm sure it'll come up in the preview to the game with the match referees and stuff. We've got a way of playing our cricket and we don't want to get involved in anything that's unnecessary, or - we just want to play good cricket. We want it to be entertaining; we want the crowds to enjoy themselves at every ground. But we want it to be done in the right way."

At the World Cup, England, the eventual champions, faced Australia twice. In the group-stage game, Root scored 8 in a 64-run defeat at Lord's, while in the semi-final at Edgbaston, he hit an unbeaten 46-ball 49 in just over an hour to guide England to an eight-wicket win.

"The first game I wasn't out there long enough to find out. The second game… by that time we were in a very commanding position," Root said. "So it's very different - and it was hard to hear anything above the noise at this ground. It was an incredible atmosphere, for the English anyway. Yeah, we'll see."

The comments that Root referred to included Josh Hazlewood's suggestion that Jason Roy would struggle as a Test match opener, while the inclusion of the highly talkative Matthew Wade should also mean things are seldom quiet when he is in the field.

"I saw a few comments, yeah," Root said of Hazlewood. "You expect those ahead of a big series. So, anyway, it's always tasty when people have a bit to say. I think with selection, he [Roy] is there to go and play in his own manner at the top of the order. He's a very talented player, he can take a game away from a number of sides.

"People have opinions he might be better suited to No. 4. I think it's really exciting having him at the top of the order and he deserves the opportunity to go out there first up and have a good crack at the top, and hopefully apply some pressure back onto Australia."

As for the reception expected for Australia's players from the Edgbaston crowd, particularly Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Root said he was expecting the noise to play a significant part in the series. "I'm certainly not going to be stood there booing, that's for sure," Root said. "It must've been a really tough time for the three of those guys.

"I can't control how other people are going to react within the ground, and how the crowd go about that. I think the [World Cup] one-dayers gave a small idea of what it probably will be like for them. But we're not going to get involved in that as a team, we want to play good cricket, and make it a really memorable series. It's been a great summer for us so far, and it's an opportunity now, five more Test matches to build on that and hopefully make it a very special year to remember."