CINCINNATI -- A swarm of bees settled above the backstop screen shortly before the first pitch, prompting an 18-minute delay to the start of a game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.

The game began after the swarm moved toward the upper deck.

Ready now... play ball! ? pic.twitter.com/Z4ioWU8Ojp

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 6, 2019

It's the second time the Giants have been involved in a bee delay in Cincinnati. A swarm went into the Giants' dugout at Riverfront Stadium on April 17, 1976, forcing a 35-minute delay. The Reds won the game 11-0

There was a 17-minute bee delay before another game at Riverfront on May 11, 1987, against the Phillies. Reds starter Ted Power got stung on his hand.

Pablo Sandoval on Monday became the first major league player since 1905 to hit a home run, steal a base and pitch a scoreless inning in the same game.

Sandoval achieved the feat in the San Francisco Giants' 12-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

The only other time the feat was achieved was also by a Giants player in a game against the Reds. Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson threw nine shutout innings, hit a homer and stole a base in a victory on May 23, 1905, according to the Elias Sports Bureau's data.

Chief Johnson of the Kansas City Packers also accomplished this feat playing in the Federal League on August 14, 1915.

Sandoval's steal of third base in the second inning of Monday's game was his first stolen base since the 2012 season. His home run Monday was a three-run shot in the sixth inning that cut the Giants' deficit at the time to 7-4. He has three home runs this season.

In his scoreless inning Monday, which came during the eighth inning, he hit Jose Peraza to lead off the inning but got Josh VanMeter to fly out and induced a ground ball double-play off the bat of Nick Senzel. When Sandoval hit Peraza, it marked the fifth time in Monday's game that a Reds player was hit by a pitch, tying a National League record.

Sandoval has now pitched two innings in his career and has not allowed a run.

After crawling across the London Marathon finish line to a 2:33 PB, the England international marathoner tells AW about her mental strength, training and future plans

When asked about the biggest lessons she has learned in her running career so far, Hayley Carruthers replies: “That ultimately nothing beats hard work and that the sport will reward persistence and resilience.”

Her own resilience and persistence was proved at the recent Virgin Money London Marathon, when Carruthers crawled across the finish line after collapsing just metres from it. Swinging her leg across the timing mat, the Birchfield athlete clocked a PB of 2:33:59.

The 26-year-old NHS radiographer has come a long way since starting out in the sport just three years ago (she ran 3:22:58 on her marathon debut in Manchester). Having had time to reflect on London, she shared some insight into her performance, mental strength, training and future plans.

Athletics Weekly: The past week must have felt like a bit of a whirlwind. Now you’ve had time to reflect on your run in London, how are you feeling?

Hayley Carruthers: I suppose it is mixed emotions. The disappointment from the outcome is still there as we really, really wanted to qualify for Doha (World Championships) and so it is bound to hurt for a while. On the other hand, people have been so lovely and supportive that it’s been hard to feel too sorry for myself.

Today I learnt how NOT to run a marathon! ?? #londonmarathon atleast I PB’d … pic.twitter.com/iD1FYZSA5N

— Hayley Carruthers (@mileswithhayley) April 28, 2019

AW: We know mental strength is something you’ve worked on and we featured some advice from your coach Dan Robinson before the race. How important is mental strength and using that strength alongside listening to your body? Is that what you had to do in London?

HC: We always talk about having a toolkit of mental strategies available. It allows me to feel more relaxed that I have something else I can turn to in the difficult moments. I think by the end on Sunday I was looking around in the bottom of the bag! Seriously though, I was having to employ those strategies from around 10km onwards. It helped because I was able to focus on dealing with the here and now rather than contemplating having 20 miles to go feeling like that!

AW: Can you give some insight into your training set-up and diary in the lead-up to London?

HC: Dan is my coach and also, despite being middle-aged, he can still do the sessions with me which is great. Up until the autumn I was coached remotely by someone else which worked well at the time. Since I have started working with Dan though I have really felt the benefit of building up a close relationship where we speak all the time. He knows when I am tired or stressed and can adapt the training accordingly. I am sure this has helped to avoid injury and illness.

A typical training week might be:

Monday: AM – 30min easy, PM – 45min easy / gym

Tuesday: AM – 40min easy, PM – track – 4 x (5x400m)

Wednesday: AM – 30min easy, PM – 60min easy

Thursday: AM – rest, PM – 4x10min threshold / S&C session

Friday: Rest day

Saturday: AM – parkrun and 6x2min off 60sec

Sunday: AM – 2 miles easy, 4×4 miles at marathon effort with a 1 mile float

AW: Is it hard to combine your running with your full-time job as an NHS radiographer?

HC: I think for the most part it has worked pretty easily up to this point. The fact that I am new to running has meant that we have built up the volume quite gradually and so the job hasn’t been too much of a problem in that respect. Maybe in the future that will change as I get stronger and we can progress the training further. I am conscious that in this build-up, recovery became more of an issue as the intensity increased.

Don’t worry guys! I am a’ok! Back to reality… ? #doublelife pic.twitter.com/ba03G05zaQ

— Hayley Carruthers (@mileswithhayley) April 29, 2019

AW: What are your next goals – both long and short term?

HC: In the short term I am having a much needed rest before racing the Vitality London 10,000 at the end of the month. It will be good to race in London again and hopefully finish a race vertical. I will then try and get as fit as possible to run well at Highgate (Night of the 10,000m PBs) in the summer. It is already an iconic event and I can’t wait to race there. Longer term we will look at an autumn marathon but I don’t want to think about that too much just yet.

AW: You must have received many messages since last Sunday – are there any which have meant that bit more to you?

HC: It’s hard to pick out individual messages because they’ve all been so positive. Some teachers have been in touch saying that they have used the footage in school assemblies or with their junior cross-country teams. That’s very gratifying and if there is a positive message associated with what happened I feel very fortunate.

AW: What are the biggest lessons you have learned in your running career so far?

HC: That ultimately nothing beats hard work and that the sport will reward persistence and resilience. Absorbing disappointments is just part of it but that makes successes all the more satisfying.

Brother and sister Leo and Annie Au are runners-up in KL
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent

India celebrated an historic first-ever double as Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa won the men’s and women’s crowns at the 20th Asian Individual Squash Championships in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Chinappa successfully retained the women’s title after fending off a strong challenge by top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong in the final at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil.

The Indian number one was certainly fired up as she stuck to her game plan for an 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6 win.

The match was a display of excellent shot-making and retrieval but it was Chinappa who drew first blood by taking the first game 11-5. World No.11 Au did well to keep herself in the game and as she stepped with a more aggressive approach to level proceedings.

But Joshna wasn’t going to let this slip away and she took crucial points before sealing the win in 42 minutes.

“I lost to Annie in our last three meetings with a 3-0 scoreline so this was obviously going to be hard match but I felt I was much better prepared this time,” said the 32-year-old Chennai native.

“Physically I felt I was in good shape and I also thought she was struggling a bit on the big points so I wanted to capitalise on that.

“Of course, there were times when the game was getting away from me for a bit so I tend to fire myself up on court so that I can take the next few points seriously and I’m so happy to win this.”

In doing so, Chinappa also becomes the first woman since record nine-time champion Nicol David to successfully retain the title.

“I mean wow…Nicol’s shoes is such a big one to fill and I’ve only done one tenth of what she’s done so I’m really pleased to get this result,” added Joshna.

Buoyed by Joshna’s success, world No.10 and top seed Saurav Ghosal went on and completed a fabulous day for India by beating 2015 winner Leo Au 11-9, 11-2, 11-8.

It was a long, hard match especially in the first game as Annie Au’s brother Leo stuck close to Ghosal and picked up almost every shot.

The Indian showed his top 10 pedigree with a quickfire grab of the second game before winning the points when it mattered to take the win, also in 42 minutes.

In doing so, Ghosal becomes the first ever player from India to win the men’s Asian title.

Saurav certainly exorcised some demons of old after falling short numerous times in Asian tournaments, most notably in the final of the Asian meet in 2017 and the final of the Asian Games in 2014.

“I thought Leo played really well in the first and third games. It was some of the best intensity I’ve seen from him and it’s all credit to him,” said Saurav.

“But I stuck to the plans that I wanted to for the most part. There were certain patches where it went off and he took advantage of that but I’m still very pleased to win 3/0 against Leo who has been playing so well all week.

“Of course, winning a tournament is always great, winning my first Asian title is also pleasing but to do it together with Joshna is simply unbelievable.

“If someone had told us 15 years ago that India would win the double, I wouldn’t have believed it. But it’s happened and hopefully it will lead to a lot more in the future.”

India’s National Coach Cyrus Poncha added: “It was a fabulous result in the Asian Championship. What was missed two years ago, we have for the first time won both the titles.

“It is a massive achievement and both players have been working hard for this. Saurav is in the top 10 in the world and Joshna is 15. A system was set two decades ago has now begun to push Indian squash forward in a glorious way.”

The winners both received the ASF Challenge Trophy which was presented by Asian Squash Federation (ASF) president David Mui. 

Asian Championships 2019, Bukit Jalil National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Men’s Final:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [4] Leo Au (HKG) 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 (42m)

Semi-finals:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [7] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 (32m)
[4] Leo Au (HKG) bt [2] Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4 (38m)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [6] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (34m)
[7] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [3] Max Lee (HKG) 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 (50m)
[4] Leo Au (HKG) bt [8] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (62m)
[2] Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) bt [5] Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 (26m)

3rd round:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-3
[6] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Robert Garcia (PHI) 13-11, 11-8, 15-13
[7] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [14] Ammar Altamimi (KUW) 11-2, 11-6, 11-4
[3] Max Lee (HKG) bt [9] Tayyab Aslam (PAK) 11-5, 12-10, 8-11, 11-1
[4] Leo Au (HKG) bt [11] Asim Khan (PAK) 11-7, 11-6, 11-3
[8] Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt [16] Tomotaka Endo (JPN) 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-0
[5] Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) bt [15] Sajad Zareian (IRI) 11-3, 11-9, 11-7
[2] Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) bt [12] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 11-8, 11-4, 11-6

Women’s Final:
[2] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [1] Annie Au (HKG) 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6 (42m)

Semi-finals:
[1] Annie Au (HKG) bt [4] Low Wee Wern (MAS) 11-6, 11-13, 13-11, 11-4 (47m)
[2] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [6] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 (30m)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Annie Au (HKG) bt [5] Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) 12-10, 12-10, 11-5 (29m)
[4] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [9] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 5-11, 5-11, 11-1, 11-8, 11-8 (46m)
[6] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [3] Joey Chan (HKG) 11-7, 11-8, 15-17, 11-8 (38m)
[2] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [14] Tanvi Khanna (IND) 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 (34m)

3rd round:
[1] Annie Au (HKG) bt [12] Wen Li Lai (MAS) 11-8, 11-0, 11-2
[5] Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) bt [16] Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND) 11-9, 11-9, 11-1
[9] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [8] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9
[4] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [10] Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7
[3] Joey Chan (HKG) bt [11] Jemyca Aribado (PHI) 11-5, 11-6, 12-10
[6] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [13] Aifa Azman (MAS) 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7
[14] Tanvi Khanna (IND) bt [7] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 9-11, 5-11, 18-16, 11-7, 11-6 (50m)
[2] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Jihyun Lee (KOR) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5
 
Full results on www.squashinfo.com

Pictures courtesy of Zheng Guan Kng and WSF

Edinburgh back-row Bill Mata was named Pro14 Players' Player of the Season and Glasgow Warriors' Adam Hastings won the Next Gen Star of the Season award.

New Zealander Kieran Crowley was voted Coach of the Season by his peers for leading Italian side Benetton to the play-offs for the first time.

Edinburgh fly-half Jaco van der Walt received the Gilbert Golden Boot for the best percentage conversion rate.

And team-mate Ross Ford received an award for his "incredible longevity".

The Scotland hooker, who is leaving Edinburgh at the end of the season after 11 years with the club, was recognised with the Chairman's Award to make it a treble celebration for the capital side along with Fijian Mata and South African Van der Walt.

Meanwhile, two of Van der Walt's countrymen were rewarded for Cheetahs' first season in the Pro14.

Rabz Maxwane won the Top Try-Scorer Award for crossing the line 14 times, while Tian Schoeman's "incredible accumulation of 1,564 minutes" meant he was the Dacia Iron Man winner for the 2018-19 season.

Ospreys forward James King was named the Pro14's Tackle Machine, the Australia-born Wales international's 96.6% completion meaning he missed only eight tackles all season - 224 in total.

English flanker Olly Robinson, who was the previous Tackle Machine winner, received a newly introduced award for being the Turnover King, the Cardiff Blues player finishing the season by winning possession against the head 26 times.

Main award winner Mata, the 27-year-old who joined Edinburgh two seasons ago after helping his country to Olympic gold and who has nine full caps, scored five tries as his side finished fifth in Conference B.

The 22-year-old Hastings, who joined Glasgow from Bath in 2017, scored two tries and contributed 38 points with the boot during a Pro14 season in which he took his total of Scotland caps up to 11.

Guinness Pro14 award winners

Guinness Players' Player of the Year: Bill Mata (Edinburgh)

Guinness Coach of the Season: Kieran Crowley (Benetton)

Guinness Pro14 Chairman's Award: Ross Ford (Edinburgh)

Energia Next-Gen Star of the Season: Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors)

Gilbert Golden Boot: Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh)

SportPesa Top Try-Scorer: Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs)

Ronseal Tackle Machine: James King (Ospreys)

Big Red Cloud Turnover King: Olly Robinson (Cardiff Blues)

Dacia Iron Man: Tian Schoeman (Cheetahs)

Leicester Tigers have signed Samoa prop Nephi Leatigaga and former academy captain Charlie Clare for next season.

Leatigaga, 25, most recently played for French side Biarritz and has also had a spell with Piacenza in Italy.

"Tigers has a big history of producing some of the game's best front rowers and have a big focus on that part of the game," he said.

Hooker Clare, 27, has played for Northampton and Bedford since leaving Welford Road.

He told the club website: ""Geordan [Murphy, head coach] has such a passion for the club and I want to be a part of what he's building at the club."

Front rower Leatigaga won the last of his five Samoa caps in July 2017.

Newly-promoted London Irish have signed Australia Test prop Sekope Kepu for next season's Premiership campaign.

The 33-year-old is the Wallabies most-capped prop, having made 103 appearances since his debut in 2008.

He made his name with New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby and also had a stint at French Top 14 side Bordeaux in 2015-16, where he played 14 games.

"I'm excited at the opportunity to join London Irish as they return back to the Premiership," Kepu said.

"I was very impressed by the facilities at Hazelwood and the new stadium taking shape in West London, so as a player, it is an exciting time to be joining the club."

His signing follows that of Ireland and Leinster back-rower Sean O'Brien by the Exiles for 2019-20.

Irish are due to leave the Madejski Stadium in Reading when Brentford FC's new ground is ready in 2020.

Jordan Henderson says the Liverpool players will watch Monday's Premier League clash between Manchester City and Leicester City praying for a miracle that might give them an edge in the title race.

The Merseyside club, who won the last of their 18 English league titles in 1990, are two points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League but have played a game more.

A win or a draw for Leicester, who beat the champions before Brendan Rodgers took over as manager earlier this season, would put Liverpool's fate in their own hands before their last league match of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

- Prem Review: Liverpool's heroics may not be good enough
- Ogden: Reds' fighting spirit keeping Premier League title hopes alive

"The lads will watch Monday's game and, yeah, pray for a miracle," Henderson told reporters.

"I'm sure Leicester, who are a great team, will go and give everything. Will I send Brendan a text? No. Well, maybe. I'll think about it.

"City are a great team but so are we. Whoever gets the title will deserve it. We couldn't have done any more, we can't have any regrets.

"It's going to the last game and we need to finish on a high at Anfield and pray that something, a miracle, can happen."

Liverpool's hopes of winning a double faded last week when Barcelona beat them 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

Henderson, though, said they could take positives from their performance at the Nou Camp ahead of Tuesday's second leg at Anfield.

"We're not stupid, we know it's a massive task and I'm sure everybody expects that Barcelona will advance," the England midfielder added.

"Obviously we weren't happy with the result in the end but we still got belief from the performance we put in over there. I couldn't have asked any more of the lads.

"It will be difficult on Tuesday, we just have to perform like we can, finish on a high and you never know what will happen. We can have no regrets. There are still at least two games to go and we need to focus on them."

Nick Miller recaps the penultimate weekend in the Premier League, as Liverpool continued to keep the pressure on Man City and the top four race fizzled out to a disappointing end.

Inevitability of the weekend

After Liverpool's late win at Newcastle, which took them to a barely credible 94 points, already more than all but two teams since three points for a win was introduced in 1981 (even more remarkable when you consider 11 of those seasons were 40 or 42 game campaigns), Jurgen Klopp was asked if he feared the worst in the game's closing stages.

"No, I was completely calm," he said, initially putting that serenity down to "destiny," but it's also because he has seen this film before. Divock Origi's winner was the 24th goal Liverpool have scored past the 75 minute mark of games this season: no other Premier League team has more than 19. Those goals have been worth 14 points.

Which is a neat encapsulation of their season as a whole really. Liverpool will keep on going until the end, whether that turns out to be good enough or not.

-- Ogden: Liverpool's triumph shows fighting spirit

Mixed blessing of the weekend

In weird way the injuries to Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino might turn out to be a positive for Liverpool, on a couple of conditions. Assuming neither are fit for Tuesday's lost cause/second leg against Barcelona, but are back for the final league game of the season against Wolves, the pair of them will in theory be better rested for a game that could be meaningful.

Miracles can happen, but realistically even with their top men they probably won't overturn Barcelona's 3-0 lead, so in pragmatic terms it might be advantageous if two-thirds of their dazzling forward line are saved for the game that could still win them the title.

Worrying sign of the weekend

It's not a good sign when a team finishes a game with nine players and can consider themselves lucky it was that many. The concerning thing for Tottenham about Son Heung-min and Juan Foyth's sendings off is that they were both entirely avoidable, as was the lunging tackle from behind that Eric Dier got away with in the first half.

That sort of muddied thinking points to a collection of tired minds, which isn't a huge surprise given their recent schedule and of course their lack of transfer incomings over the past two windows.

Mauricio Pochettino could take it as a positive that they held out with nine men until the very last seconds, but of bigger concern is that they regain some sort of clear-headedness for Wednesday night against Ajax, and it's more to do with the inconsistencies of their peers that they look almost certain to grab a top four place. Spurs are stumbling rather than striding towards the summer.

Admission of the weekend

"The Europa League is probably the right place for us at the moment."

You might even say that, having not even been able to beat the worst team in the division, even that assessment of Manchester United by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a little generous.

-- Dawson: The worst has yet to come for Man Utd

-- Man United Keep/Dump: Assessing Solskjaer's squad

Stat of the weekend

You'll probably be aware that the last time either of the top two dropped any points was on March 3, just over two months ago. Since then they have both been relentless winning machines, but it's been rather different for the three teams beneath them.

In that same time, 99 points have been available to Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester United. They have taken 42 of them. Less than half. If that was one team, extrapolated over a 38-game season, this conglomerate of mediocrity would finish on around 48 points, which at the moment would be enough for 12th place.

If nothing else, it provides handy ammo to anyone arguing against the idea of the Premier League as unquestionably the greatest in the world.

Disappointment of the weekend

But of those four, Chelsea and Spurs have outlasted their challengers, the former by being just slightly less inconsistent over recent weeks and the latter thanks to their fine record in the first two thirds of the season.

So what of Arsenal? They need an eight-goal swing on the final day -- or "a miracle" as it's also known - to overhaul Tottenham, meaning they'll miss out on the top four for the third season in a row.

You could certainly make the case that, like United, the Europa League is about their level at the moment in terms of talent, but equally Unai Emery's side have dropped so many careless points in recent weeks that it's difficult to think they have not underachieved. Sunday's draw against Brighton was the latest, but losing to Everton, Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester is what ultimately cost them.

Emery is two transfer windows into what will be at least a four-window job to make this Arsenal team ship-shape again, but it remains a colossal disappointment that they have dropped out of the elite quartet again. This is going to be a delicate summer.

Missed opportunities of the weekend?

The natural instinct would be to say that Cardiff came closer to survival than anyone expected, that the Emiliano Sala tragedy threw their season off in various ways, and that ultimately their squad was nowhere near good enough to stay in the Premier League.

All of which is true. But you still just wonder whether they might rue a few games, not least last weekend against already relegated Fulham, which could have tipped the balance. A pair of 0-0 draws with Huddersfield will stick in the mind too, not least because the second was one of just two of the Terriers' last 25 games they didn't lose.

All seasons come down to regrets like this, but for Neil Warnock, who maintains he previously didn't have a "fair crack at the whip" in the Premier League, this might turn out to be his last chance.

Relief of the weekend

Brighton are safe, but hopefully Chris Hughton and the other decision-makers at the club won't think this means everything is OK. They have been a lesson in how recruitment in the Premier League is incredibly far from an exact science, and generally speaking you're more likely to make mistakes than succeed.

While last season they struck gold by signing Pascal Gross for £3 million and was their player of the year, this term they spent £17m on Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who has contributed zero goals and zero assists. All teams will make good signings and bad signings, but a side like Brighton lives or dies by how successful their transfer moves are. If they are to avoid another season of struggle, their moves need to be more Gross than Jahanbakhsh this summer.

Australians 9 for 219 (Finch 52) beat New Zealand XI 215 all out (Blundell 77, Young 60, Behrendorff 3-34, Cummins 3-36, Coulter-Nile 3-44) by one wicket

The Australians, including Steven Smith and David Warner for the first time in more than a year, had to scramble for a one-wicket victory against a New Zealand XI including just five of the World Cup squad after suffering a batting collapse on the first of three practice matches at Allan Border Field.

Having earlier restricted the New Zealanders to 215 they stumbled from 2 for 122 to 9 for 205 leaving the final pair of Jason Behrendorff and Adam Zampa to edge them across the line and save the blushes of a middle order that produced some poor shot selection.

For all the excitement at the end, the result of this match won't be hugely significant in the bigger picture but it was the latest milestone in the comeback story of Warner and Smith, pulling on the Australian colours for the first time since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. They are likely to face more hostile crowds over the next few months than the friendly local support that gathered on a public holiday. "Welcome back, Smithy" came a lone voice as the Australians took the field in the morning and both were greeted by warm applause as they walked to the crease. In England, however, things are expected to be a bit different.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the day was a small message sent to Warner: it doesn't matter how good your form is, you may have to take on a new position in the team as he was slotted in at No. 3 despite only once in 104 ODI innings having not opened.

As it was, he arrived at the crease in the first over of the chase when Usman Khawaja was bowled by Matt Henry and, after an iffy start where he was dropped at gully before scoring, cantered his way to 39 off 43. Smith, who earlier took a terrific one-handed diving catch that will have given the troublesome elbow a good test, got himself settled before falling for 22 and the innings stuttered.

Marcus Stoinis was caught behind from a loose drive, Shaun Marsh slashed to gully and Alex Carey nicked a wild shot to leave it to the bowlers. Nathan Coulter-Nile tried to muscle the Australians over the line but was lbw to Todd Astle with 11 still needed.

In the weeks leading up to Warner and Smith returning, Australia strung together eight consecutive ODI wins. One of the key parts of that was the success Khawaja and Aaron Finch had together at the top of the order. What the top order looks like at the World Cup remains one of the questions Australia need to answer. In all likelihood various combinations will be used during the three matches against New Zealand, but the fact Warner didn't get first crack to open was a reminder on whose terms the comeback is happening.

Warner didn't quite middle everything from the off, perhaps still adjusting to the change in conditions from the IPL to Brisbane. He almost spooned his first ball close to backward point then nearly offered a return catch to Henry, who should have had him in his next over when Daryl Mitchell spilled a chance at gully, but was soon dispatching deliveries to the boundary. He took a particularly liking to anything Doug Bracewell dropped short before trying something a little too inventive off Todd Astle and top edge a reverse sweep.

Smith had been given a tough net session by the Australian quicks yesterday but looked reasonably assured in the middle, one straight in particular standing out, until he was caught behind off Henry as Australia's collapse was set in motion.

The player who was a shining light for the men's team during a difficult home summer, Pat Cummins, had got the day off to a lively start when he struck twice in the opening over to send back George Worker and Henry Nicholls.

From there, the New Zealanders recovered impressively through a third-wicket stand of 137 between Will Young and Tom Blundell. Young, recently handed a central contract, is the next in line behind the incumbent batsmen while Blundell earned the final spot in the World Cup squad when he was preferred ahead of Tim Seifert as back-up wicketkeeper.

After laying a foundation following the early losses both started to expand their strokeplay; Blundell launched Behrendorff into the grandstand over deep square and Young later peppered the same area. However, when Young clubbed Coulter-Nile to deep midwicket and Blundell fell four overs later and the innings went into a nosedive as the New Zealanders lost 8 for 78.

Cummins, Behrendorff and Coulter-Nile each finished with three wickets while Adam Zampa nipped out Daryl Mitchell with a stumping. Kane Richardson, who is one of the standby pacemen for the World Cup along with Josh Hazlewood, and would be in line for a call-up if Jhye Richardson doesn't recover from his dislocated shoulder, went wicketless and will hope for another chance in the next two matches. Australia will hope to bat better.