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Sources: Ill Freeze arriving late for UK matchup
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is making a late arrival to Lexington for Saturday's game against Kentucky after dealing with an illness, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Freeze didn't travel with the Tigers on Friday after falling ill, potentially due to food poisoning, sources said. He flew to join his team Saturday morning ahead of a 7:45 p.m. ET kickoff.
Auburn is in the midst of a four-game losing streak since starting SEC play. It is the first time in school history that the Tigers have started conference play 0-4 in back-to-back years.
"We seem to not make the right call as coaches or the right play from time to time in critical moments, and that's kind of been the story the whole year," Freeze said after Auburn blew a 17-6 lead over Missouri last week to lose 21-17.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Source: U-M goes back to Warren as starting QB
Michigan will turn back to Davis Warren as the starting quarterback against Michigan State on Saturday, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Alex Orji is likely to see time in a change-of-pace role to highlight the quarterback run game, the source said.
Michigan is not expected to have cornerback Will Johnson against Michigan State, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel. Johnson left the Illinois game last week with a lower-body injury and had been considered questionable by coach Sherrone Moore this week.
Moore had said Monday that the team was waiting to see how practices went this week before making a decision on a starter.
"Taking care of the ball, that's going to be the No. 1 priority, the biggest thing," Moore said. "You want big plays, you want efficiency, but we have to take care of the football."
Warren, a former walk-on, opened the season as the starting quarterback, but he was replaced by Orji following a three-interception performance against Arkansas State on Sept. 14.
Orji, primarily used as a running quarterback in 2023, struggled with his accuracy and had only 118 total passing yards in wins against USC and Minnesota before being replaced by Tuttle against Washington on Oct. 5.
Tuttle started for Michigan in its 21-7 loss to Illinois. He struggled with his accuracy early but finished with 209 passing yards, which was a season high for a Wolverines quarterback.
247 Sports first reported that Warren would start against the Spartans.
Information from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg was used in this report.
'Every time I got a wicket, it felt better' - side soreness no barrier for 13-wicket Santner
"Felt a bit harder this time," Santner said when it was his turn to speak, after he had collected the Player-of-the-Match award. "Credit to India the way they came out. We knew they were going to fire some shots; that was probably the best play on that wicket. [Yashasvi] Jaiswal played extremely well. But we were just trying to hang in there and hopefully one had their name on it. Great feeling in the end."
For context, New Zealand started Saturday's third day 301 runs in front with five second-innings wickets in hand. They added 57 more before being bowled out. The pitch was treacherous enough that even India's biggest fans wouldn't have backed their team to win, but Jaiswal sped away to a quick half-century. After Rohit Sharma fell cheaply for a second time in the Test, Shubman Gill was as positive as Jaiswal. For a while, India were going at over a run a ball.
"We knew they were going to come out pretty hard; didn't realise they were going to come that hard," Latham said. "But we obviously managed to get the breakthroughs when we needed."
That, again, was thanks to Santner. He got the first three wickets, of Rohit, Gill and Jaiswal, and later added three more.
"In the first innings, he [Santner] was absolutely fantastic. He's been around the group for a long time and to finally hit a break and bowl the way he has, not only in the first innings but in the second innings, he bowled fantastically well. The credit has to go to him," Latham said.
When you bowl as well as Santner did, you bowl a lot of overs, which is a bit rare for someone who is primarily a short-format bowler. Before this Test, Santner's match best in a Test was 6 for 93 and first-class best was 8 for 153. He had only one five-for in first-class cricket. Here, he ended up having to bowl 48.3 overs across the two India innings. That while feeling soreness in his side.
"It's a bit strange for me [to bowl that many overs]," he admitted. "My side's a little sore. Must be the spike in my workloads - 20-odd overs out there," he said, only half-joking. "I felt it a little bit early on in my spell, but I guess in that kind of situation you just want to keep going. Every time I got a wicket, it felt a little better.
"I guess every time you take wickets, you get a little bit of confidence. A few wickets under your belt is always nice. The belief kind of land the ball on the same spot for a long time, the odd change of pace, and yeah, that's all we're trying to do as a spin unit."
"I don't think we played that badly in Sri Lanka," Latham said. "I guess you look at the result, 2-0 down I thought we did a lot of good things. Then coming here, I guess it was about trying to stick to our basics and doing as best as we can and I guess trying to play the long game here. We talk about firing a shot and I think we have done that over the last two games. Both surfaces have been completely different. We've needed to adapt and I think we've adapted pretty well.
"[It was about] trying to be positive as best as we can. I think the method that we played with last night and I guess putting ourselves on the front foot, was outstanding. Runs were the most important thing out there, not necessarily time."
The last Test of the series will be played at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium from November 1.
Sajid and Noman revel in the moment as Pakistan's plans come together
"Nomi bhai is one of the most experienced players on the Pakistan domestic circuit," Sajid said at the presentation. "We should be sharing these Player of the Series awards. He's a great spinner who has mentored and helped me as well, and so every bit as much credit goes to him."
And though Sajid insists the match situation didn't worry him, the weight of expectation on him was a different matter. "There wasn't so much pressure [of the series] but [there was] some pressure of the comeback. The captain, the vice captain, the whole team was gelling well together. We play domestic cricket together, on these kinds of wickets, so there wasn't that much pressure."
The 38-year old Noman has the experience to know not to take any opportunity for granted. "I feel it's been a while since we've performed well in Pakistan," he said, sat alongside Sajid at the post-series press conference. "We're grateful we had the conditions for the opportunity to win the series this way. The way we came back is especially pleasing, and we hope we get similar conditions in future and we'll pose difficulties for other teams."
If Pakistan are to employ this strategy in the future - the prospect of which Noman was unsurprisingly supportive - he believed they needed to do it properly. "I think if you want to prepare spinners, you need to play more red-ball cricket," he said. "You get all kinds of conditions in first-class cricket with new and old ball. When you do that, it gives you a lot of experience."
Shanto wants to step down as Bangladesh captain after South Africa Tests
ESPNcricinfo has learned that Shanto sent the message to senior board officials following the first Test against South Africa in Dhaka, which Bangladesh lost by seven wickets. The BCB is yet to discuss the matter as president Faruque Ahmed is not in the country - he is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Monday evening.
If Shanto's resignation is accepted, the BCB will have to appoint a new captain on short notice with a packed schedule ahead.
The second Test against South Africa is scheduled for October 29 to November 2, and Bangladesh are then off to the UAE to play three ODIs against Afghanistan, with the first game on November 6. That series ends on November 11, and they then go to the West Indies for an all-format series - the three-day tour match prior to the series-opening first Test starts on November 15.
ESPNcricinfo understands Shanto's fluctuating form with the bat influenced his decision. He has averaged 25.76 since taking over the Test captaincy last November after being one of the team's in-form batters at the time.
He was subsequently given Bangladesh's ODI and T20I captaincy too, as the BCB was looking for a man to lead the team through the period of transition with several of their senior cricketers either retiring from certain formats or being on the verge of doing so.
Rohit on Pune defeat: 'We didn't put enough runs on the board in the first innings'
"I didn't think we batted well enough to get runs on the board," Rohit said at the post-match presentation. "Of course, if you want to win Test matches, you've got to take 20 wickets, yes, but batters have got to put runs on the board as well.
"We didn't put enough runs on the board in the first innings, and then we were behind in the game - 100 [103] runs lead to New Zealand, and then from there, obviously it was a great fightback from us to restrict them to 250-odd [255, in the second innings], but then again we knew it was going to be a little challenging, but we gave it our all.
"We came out thinking that we can chase that target, but again, the continuous pressure from both [ends] meant that we were not able to respond to those challenges."
Given the nature of the pitch, there was a feeling that India had allowed New Zealand to score too many runs on day one of the Test, but Rohit felt his bowlers had done a good job to restrict them to 259.
"No, not really [too many runs]," he said. "To be honest, when they started off, they were 200-odd [197] for 3, and then for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. But again, I thought it wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn't bat well enough. Had we gotten closer to that score of first innings, things would have been slightly different, but again, New Zealand played better."
With defeats in Bengaluru and Pune putting India 2-0 down, they go to the third Test in Mumbai under pressure to prevent their first-ever whitewash in a home series of three or more Tests. There is also the pressure of winning enough points in that Test match and the five-match series in Australia that follows to ensure India stay in the race for next year's World Test Championship final, but for now Rohit said they were only focused on the immediate task in hand.
"We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test match," he said. "Not thinking too far ahead. It's important that we focus on our next game, what better we can do as a unit because it's a collective failure. I'm not somebody who would just blame the batters or the bowlers. It's the team that has failed to accept the challenge that was thrown at us, it's as simple [as that]. We will come out with better intent, better ideas, and better methods at Wankhede."
Passan: A wild Game 1 more than lived up to the hype of this World Series
LOS ANGELES -- About an hour after the closest thing to a perfect baseball game possible, Freddie Freeman stood near home plate at Dodger Stadium, where he had just ended Game 1 of the World Series with an extra-inning grand slam, and tried to explain what had just happened. Over 10 innings and 3 hours, 27 minutes, the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees morphed from a pitchers' duel into a hitting and baserunning clinic into strategic theater into an indelible highlight among the 120 years of World Series. Baseball at its finest comes in many forms. This game somehow managed to cram them all into one.
The final score -- Dodgers 6, Yankees 3 -- does not scream classic. It is misleading. On Friday night, the 52,394 souls lucky enough to witness Game 1 in person beheld the rare sporting event that teems with hoopla only to find it exceeded. The two most famous franchises in baseball, genuine elites of their coasts, fought. And then with one swing, on a first-pitch 93 mph fastball from Nestor Cortes, Freeman managed to deliver the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history and limp around the bases 36 years after Kirk Gibson famously did the same.
"Just look at this game," Freeman said, and he started listing everything that had unfolded. Four innings of shutout baseball. The Dodgers manufacturing a run on a sacrifice fly. Giancarlo Stanton countering with a towering two-run home run. The Dodgers punching back with a run off Yankees closer Luke Weaver. The Yankees seemingly going ahead on what appeared to be a Gleyber Torres home run, only for it to be ruled interference when a Dodgers fan reached over the fence to snag it, which was confirmed by replay. New York tagging Los Angeles' best reliever, Blake Treinen, for a run in the 10th. And the tension of the bottom of the 10th: a walk and an infield single to bring up Shohei Ohtani, whose foul out to left advanced the runners to second and third, opening up a base for Yankees manager Aaron Boone to intentionally walk Mookie Betts, giving Freeman the matchup against Cortes, who hadn't thrown a pitch since Sept. 18.
"Back-and-forth moments -- that's what creates classics," Freeman said. "And I think we created one tonight."
The tens of millions who watched it, in the United States and Japan and around the world, know that they did. Great baseball can be as filled with good (Jazz Chisholm Jr. stealing second and third before scoring in the 10th inning) as it is with bad (he was able to do so because of Treinen's slow delivery). It can include great defense (Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman saving a run in the sixth knocking by keeping a grounder in the infield) and unsightly (both of the Yankees' corner outfielders playing doubles into triples).
"Some people think a slugfest is a good game," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. "Some people think a pitcher's duel is a good game. I don't know. I think if you just add a little bit of all the elements, it's pretty fun."
This game had plenty. Before the first pitch, there was already built-in tension for the starters: Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty, two right-handers who grew up in Southern California. The Dodgers had tried desperately to sign Cole when he was a free agent, and the Yankees tried to trade for Flaherty in July only to back away, and the two men, now playing against their one-time suitors, spent the early innings one-upping each other.
Stanton's sixth-inning home run and subsequent stare -- not to mention Flaherty's forlorn face after realizing the mistake he'd made -- left the Dodgers trailing 2-1, and marked the beginning of the scheming between Boone and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who had left in Flaherty for the third time through the order and paid dearly. Boone turning to Weaver in the eighth after Ohtani doubled off the top of the wall and advanced to third thanks to New York's sloppy defense was strategically sound but failed to prevent the Dodgers from tying the score.
Two innings later, it could have been Ohtani again or Betts or anyone, really, in the Dodgers' top-to-bottom scary lineup. That it was Freeman, the 35-year-old first baseman, was as exceptional a denouement as imaginable.
"I was hoping Mookie would get a hit to take the pressure off him," said Freeman's father, Fred, to whom Freeman ran after the home run, interlocking hands through the netting that surrounds the field. "Then they walked him. And I was like, 'Oh, Freddie, Freddie, Freddie.' And then first pitch."
Over the past month, watching Freeman has been painful. Not only because throughout the Dodgers' first 11 playoff games he hadn't mustered an extra-base hit. Freeman is clearly in pain. His sprained ankle throbs. His body aches. He is an eight-time All-Star, a future Hall of Famer, a World Series champion with Atlanta in 2021. He had been through a brutal year already, with his 3-year-old son, Max, suffering through a bout of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Freeman kept pushing through the pain, hoping the five days off since the NLCS would do his body enough good to do something memorable.
His first-inning triple, with him hobbling around the bases, indicated he was primed to. Little did anyone know an even better finale was to come.
"In my eyes, he's a superhero, really, honestly and truly," Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda said. "Watching him get through the injury and seeing the rehab he put in, the time he put in and just trying to get back to health, to get back on the field, doing everything he can -- that speaks volumes of him as a player and as a person. He really cares about this group. He cares about the organization. He cares about winning, and that's what drives us all."
That's true of everyone on the field Friday, including the Yankees, who now must recover from as knee-buckling a gut punch as can be thrown. The good news is, there remains plenty of baseball to be played, countless opportunities for the Yankees to do so, and the standard set for the rest of the series has gone from high to stratospheric.
To suggest any of the games, however many remain, can match Game 1 is unfair -- unless this is the sort of series where magic courses throughout, where two teams are so good, so evenly matched, so ready for the moment, so keen to win, that the hype is simply an accelerant. Maybe Game 2 on Saturday night continues where Game 1 so clearly delivered.
"The ending," Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández said. "I mean, it doesn't get better than that."
It does, actually, because Hernández is forgetting one thing. When it comes to the Dodgers and Yankees, the 120th World Series, this battle of the titans who have so much more great baseball in them, it's just the beginning.
Japan: Yazaki, Naikabula, Riley, McCurran, Tuitama, Tatekawa, Fujiwara, Okabe, Sakate, Takeuchi, Waqa, W. Dearns, Fakatava, Himeno, Makisi. Replacements: Harada, Mohara, Helu, Uluiviti, Shimokawa, Koyama, Osada, Matsunaga.
New Zealand: Perofeta, Reece, Proctor, Liernert-Brown, Telea, McKenzie, Roigard, Williams, Aumua, Tosi, Darry, Tuipulotu, Finau, Cane, Sititi. Replacements: Bell, Tu'ungafasi, Newell, Lord, Lakai, Perenara, Havili, Love.
Injured Amelia Kerr out of remaining India ODIs and most of WBBL
This also puts her WBBL participation in serious doubt for Sydney Sixers with the tournament set to start on Sunday. Amelia was a big-name pre-signing for Sixers as a platinum-category pick and could miss eight of Sixers' 10 league games even if she recovers in three weeks.
An NZC release stated Amelia was taken for scans on Friday morning, which revealed a grade-one quadricep tear, and that she would return home on Sunday to start her rehabilitation.
"We're really gutted for Melie," New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer said. "Injuries are always a challenging time for a player and we know how disappointed she is to not be able to play these games.
"Everyone knows how much of an integral part of this team Melie is so we'll certainly miss her but we're wishing her a speedy recovery."
Soon after playing a pivotal role in New Zealand's T20 World Cup-winning campaign as the tournament's highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps, Amelia was New Zealand's best bowler in the opening ODI too, taking 4 for 42 before scoring an unbeaten 25 off 23 in the chase. The remaining two ODIs are on October 27 and 29, also in Ahmedabad.
Jewel Andrew debuts as West Indies bowl; Nissanka back for Sri Lanka
Toss West Indies chose to bowl against Sri Lanka
West Indies won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat in the third and final ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, but this will be the first time they will be batting first on what is expected to be another spin-friendly surface.
"He impressed me a lot," skipper Charith Asalanka said of Madushka at the toss. "He didn't play as a debutant, he played as a mature player. I think he'll do a lot of things for the country."
It's a fresh pitch being used for today's game, with the square boundaries fairly even either side at 69 and 71 metres. Turn will be present but on the slower side, though the ball might slide on to the bat more once the weather cools in the evening. There is a chance of rain during the course of the game.
Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk) Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (capt), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Asitha Fernando
West Indies XI: Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (capt, wk), Keacy Carty, Jewel Andrew, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales, Alzarri Joseph, Matthew Forde
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