Jose Mourinho sang the praises of Gareth Bale after the Wales international's two-goal show in Tottenham Hotspur's 4-0 drubbing of Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Tottenham manager gave Bale only his third league start since he returned on loan in September, and was rewarded with a dazzling display.

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Mourinho has seemed reluctant to trust Bale in the league, citing his lack of match fitness and injury problems.

But after his second-half impact off the bench against West Ham United last week, his midweek showing against Wolfsberger and Sunday's two goals, Bale is beginning to blossom again.

"I am very happy for him, very happy for the team because the team needs his talent," Mourinho said.

"I am happy because when his condition is good he can do things like today -- his game was very good, not just scoring, changing speeds, going inside. I am very happy for him."

Bale has now scored four goals in his last four appearances in all competitions and his revival augurs well for the rest of Tottenham's campaign as they have a League Cup final, a Europa League last 16 and a Premier League top-four battle to play for.

"It was good, I have been building up a little bit to get fully fit -- felt comfortable and my form is coming back, it's nice to help the team," Bale said. "I know you get criticism but I am experienced enough to keep my head down, not say anything stupid and keep plugging away."

The sight of Bale lining up alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min was what Tottenham fans hoped they would see when he came back on loan, and the attacking trident tore Burnley to shreds on Sunday.

Son set up both of Bale's goals while Bale provided the assist for Kane's strike.

"Playing with them is why I came here and what I wanted to do -- it's great to be on the pitch and feeling good, hopefully we can kick on from this and get some confidence," Bale said.

Victory left Tottenham in eighth spot but only six points behind fourth-placed West Ham with a game in hand.

"We needed three points for the table, for the players to have a smile. That is the most important thing. We needed a good victory in the Premier League," Mourinho, whose team had lost five out of their last six games in the league, said.

"We need points, I believe lately in the Premier League we have had periods playing well and of course we need points. Today we got them in quite a solid way, we need that."

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said Manchester United are receiving fewer penalties as a result of referees being influenced by rival managers.

United were held to a 0-0 draw by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after referee Stuart Attwell opted not to give the visitors a 14th-minute penalty following a handball incident involving Callum Hudson-Odoi which he was asked to look at on the pitchside monitor.

Former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had previously questioned the number of spot-kicks United have been awarded.

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Klopp claimed United "had more penalties in two years than I've had in five-and-a-half years at Anfield."

United have had eight penalties this season, two more than Liverpool, but Solskjaer said those comments have had a negative impact on his team.

"They probably thought his [Hudson-Odoi's] hand was in a very natural position when he flicked the ball," Solskjaer said.

"It's gone now. We should have had a penalty and that's clear. I'm a bit concerned that we don't get those penalties after what noises were made a month or two ago about us getting penalties. So clearly there is a point of managers influencing the referees which they shouldn't do.

"That's just the nature of us as managers isn't it, that anything that goes against you, you probably want to highlight. If something goes for other teams, you'd like to try to stop that probably. But I trust the referees not to be influenced by it.

"I was very surprised by the decision today when I looked at the video. Live, I didn't think it was a penalty so I can understand why he didn't give it straight away but when you look at the video, it is not a very natural position to have your hand in."

Attwell decided that Hudson-Odoi did not motion towards the ball with his hand but defender Luke Shaw added that the officials were also concerned by the backlash.

"I don't know. At the time I saw a handball. I didn't know if it was Mason Greenwood or Callum Hudson-Odoi. I just carried on. I didn't even know there was a VAR check. I don't know why they stopped it. If it was a penalty... but if they didn't think it was a penalty I don't know why they needed to stop," Shaw told Sky Sports after the game.

"The referee even said to [Harry Maguire], I heard him say: 'If I say it's a penalty then it's going to cause a lot of talk about it afterwards.' So I don't know what happened there.

"[Maguire] said they got told it was a penalty. They got told it was a penalty by VAR so... I'm not sure. I don't understand. If he's going to stop then you think he is going to give a penalty. We had the ball, we were attacking so it's confusing with this VAR.

"If it's not going to be a penalty they might as well just carry on the game and not stop the flow of the game. It was another one, that look, I'm not going to moan about it because I don't think either team did enough to win."

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel played down the incident.

"I was surprised and I'm still surprised because I didn't see live where the penalty should come from and when we checked on the pictures that we have on the bench from our iPad, I could not see any incident that should qualify for a penalty." he said.

"Maybe I have to look at it again. Until now, I don't know why it should be a penalty."

TAZEWELL, Tenn. — In just more than five weeks, the grounds of Tazewell Speedway will roar back to life honoring one of East Tennessee’s greatest drivers.

On April 3, the running of the Lil’ Bill Corum Memorial presented by Toyota Knoxville will pay out $21,000 to the winner, but there will be even more money on the line.

The track has announced that the Fast Time Award will pay $2,100 courtesy of Toyota Knoxville. The overall fastest qualifier of the event will receive that prize money, as long as the driver is pre-entered for the event.

Driver’s must pre-enter the Spring Nationals Series/Iron-Man Series event by filling out the entry form located at this link and postmarking it in the mail by March 20 or emailing it in by March 20.

Only drivers who are entered by March 20 will be eligible for the Toyota Knoxville Fast Time Award. The entry fee is $150 and a completed entry form must accompany the payment.

The $21,000-to-win and $1,000-to-start event will boast feature purse money in excess of $64,000 and feature a co-sanction of the Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series and the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series.

It will be the biggest payday in the history of each tour. The feature is 75 laps.

Lil’ Bill Corum, the winner of more than 300 races, is a Hall of Fame member at three race tracks. His career spanned from 1959 through 1989 across East Tennessee and north Georgia.

Corum won the first event at Knoxville Raceway, was a two-time winner of the Tennessee Dirt Track Championship and captured the NDRA’s Stroh’s 100 at Atomic Motor Speedway in 1981. Corum also competed in the only ARCA race that was held at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn., finishing third in 1973.

Corum collected track championships at 411 Motor Speedway, Atomic Motor Speedway, Tazewell Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Ashway Speedway, Appalachian Speedway and Newport Speedway.

Lahore Qalandars 189 for 4 (Zaman 83, Dunk 57*, Wiese 31*) beat Karachi Kings 186 for 9 (Sharjeel 64, Nabi 57, Shaheen Afridi 3-27)

In a game that had all the ingredients fit for a contest between franchises representing the two biggest cities in Pakistan, Lahore Qalandars came out on top, defeating Karachi Kings by six wickets - in the final over - to move into the top two of the PSL points table. Qalandars' win made it 11 in a row for chasing teams this season, with the side batting first still searching for victory in PSL 2021. It was a fascinating match that had plenty of chirping, a whole lot of sixes, and an overdose of entertainment, fit for a ground that now allows up to 50% attendance for fans.

The second innings began with the Kings roaring on the back of three wickets in the Powerplay, but a 119-run fourth-wicket stand between Fakhar Zaman (83) and Ben Dunk (57) brought the Qalandars back into the match. When Zaman fell, Kings had a sniff once again, but David's Wiese's nine-ball cameo of 31 extinguished those hopes, securing a Qalandars win with four balls to spare.

Kings' first-innings performance, where they reached 186 for 9, was quite similar to the chase. Like the Qalandars, they lost three wickets in the Powerplay before half-centuries from Sharjeel Khan (64) and Mohammad Nabi (57) lifted their innings. However, they could add only 24 runs in their last four overs while setting a total, and in the end, that was the difference between the two sides. A big reason why Kings scored at only six per over in the death overs was because of Shaheen Shah Afridi's accurate bowling. He finished with 3 for 27.

Shaheen cranks it up

After conceding two boundaries in his first three deliveries with the new ball, Shaheen eked out the early chance for a breakthrough when Sharjeel mistimed a shot to mid-on, only for Qalandars captain Sohail Akhtar to drop the catch. Shaheen's second over was consistently quick. He nearly got a run-out in the second ball of the third over when he tried to kick the ball onto the stumps at the strikers' end. Two balls later, a second chance was dropped off Shaheen, when Babar Azam flayed an edge to wide first slip. Then Shaheen conceded five wides when he missed the yorker only for it to slide down the leg side. But he had the last laugh in his opening spell, when he knocked Azam's middle stump back with a length ball that moved in and went past the inside of the batsman's blade. Shaheen enjoyed the wicket a lot, perhaps a bit too much, such that once he recovered from the high of the dismissal, he hugged Azam.

After bowling two of the first three overs, Shaheen was taken out of the attack. He returned at the end of the 17th with Kings at 168 for 6 and then proceeded to trouble the Kings' lower-order batsman. Shaheen nearly dismissed Waqas Maqsood with back-to-back yorkers in the 18th finally removed him in the 20th with the same ball. He then proceeded to york Mohammad Amir as well - with a massive celebration once again. He ended the innings with a 151kph delivery to restrict Kings to 186 for 9.

Sharjeel, Nabi dominate between Shaheen's spells

After Azam fell in Shaheen's third over, Kings slid further when they lost Joe Clarke and Colin Ingram off back to back deliveries in the fifth. Clarke was run-out for 4 trying to complete a single while Ingram was out to an Ahmed Daniyal yorker for a first-ball duck.

That brought Sharjeel and Nabi together and they responded by smoking 16 runs off the sixth over, delivered by Mohammad Hafeez. Sharjeel was the aggressor, hitting sixes off Haris Rauf and Wiese in the following overs, the latter bringing up his half-century in the tenth over off 34 balls. Nabi then hammered Samit Patel for two sixes and a four in an 11th over that leaked 21 runs before Sharjeel fell at the start of the 13th trying to look for another big hit. Sharjeel's 39-ball 64 had 56 runs that came off either fours or sixes.

Nabi then took over from where Sharjeel left, hitting Wiese and Rauf for plenty in the late middle overs, helped by some wayward deliveries that included a useful mix of full tosses and short balls. However, he fell in the 16th over for his 35-ball 57 when he sliced a Rauf slower ball to extra cover. Christian brought out his long handle to clobber a 14-ball 27 but his dismissal, coupled with Imad Wasim's deflated Kings' charge into the death overs. They went at just six per over from overs 16 to 20 to set a total far lesser than the 200-plus they were aiming for at one stage.

Amir's mixed day

Shaheen's over-the-top celebration at dismissing Amir, who batted at No. 10, probably fired the senior bowler up because when he took the new ball in the chase, he was raring to go. With Zaman not finding a run off the first three balls, Amir went up to the batsman to say a few words, and off the fourth ball eked out a wicket. Zaman, trying to get Qalandars off the mark, tried to take a single, only to cause a run-out that saw Sohail out for a duck without facing a ball. Amir then bowled a full ball to No. 3 Joe Denly to bowl him for a first-ball duck as the first over was a double-wicket maiden. His second over - the chase's third - was equally entertaining but yielded seven runs. However, the opening spell was menacing.

Like Shaheen, Amir was taken off the attack after two overs and only returned at the death. On that occasion, though, his fortunes changed. Although he conceded just seven in the 17th over, the 19th went for plenty. Dunk set the tone for the 19th with a four off a wide delivery after which Wiese hit him for two fours and a six. When Amir came to bowl his final over, Qalandars needed 30 off 12. When he was done, they needed 10 off six.

Zaman, Dunk set up the win

When Zaman and Dunk came together at 33 for 3, it seemed that for the first time the chasing side would lose a PSL 2021 match. The in-form Hafeez and Clarke were already gone, and Dunk was not in form. However, Zaman was hitting it clean. He struck two sixes and three fours off Mohammad Ilyas, and two sixes of Arshad Iqbal in the first eight overs to keep the asking rate in check. He then tore into Nabi, Christian and Maqsood to sprint to a 36-ball fifty while Dunk was still struggling at a run-a-ball 26.

After the 12th over, though, with Qalandars needing 93 off 48, both batsmen stepped up a gear. Dunk matched Zaman stroke for stroke against Nabi and Maqsood such that by the 17th over came, the Australian had reached his fifty in 39 deliveries and Qalandars needed 36 off the last three overs.

Zaman then fell to Christian courtesy a slower ball, but the momentum had already shifted Qalandars' way courtesy the century stand for the fourth wicket. Wiese came in to bat firing all cylinders and Dunk then turned into spectator. Wiese's annihilation of Amir's final spell left only 10 to get off the final over, and he needed just two balls in the 20th - delivered by Christian - to take Qalandars over the line. Dunk finished unbeaten on 57.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Several players showed up Sunday wearing a red shirt and black pants in honor of Tiger Woods for the final round of the WGC-Workday Championship.

Tony Finau probably handled it the best, wearing a red mock golf shirt, black pants and his Nike hat backward -- the way Woods has often arrived at tournaments.

And at the Puerto Rico Championship, the opposite field event this week, the entire grounds crew did so for Woods, who traditionally has worn those colors on Sunday going back to the early parts of his professional career.

For Tiger. pic.twitter.com/UmAGYMRMpP

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2021

It's a ⁦@TigerWoods⁩ Sunday for the maintenance staff at the ⁦@PuertoRicoOpen⁩. ⁦@PGATOUR⁩ pic.twitter.com/OheyF4o1N8

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 28, 2021

Woods' mother, Tida, had suggested the attire when he was a young pro, and he ended up following through no matter the circumstances.

Woods, 45, was involved in a serious car accident on Tuesday that saw him suffer several injuries that required surgery. He is still hospitalized in California.

Among those who arrived in red were Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Champ, Sebastian Munoz, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed. Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas wore a shade of red that appeared to be more pink.

Day, Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Kuchar also used a Bridgestone golf ball with Tiger's name stamped on the side.

Max Homa -- who won the Genesis Invitational last Sunday and was awarded the tournament trophy at Riviera Country Club from Woods, said on social media Saturday night that he would honor Woods by trying to play his best; Homa didn't have a red shirt nor could he arrange to get one with his various sponsorships. He was immediately scolded on social media.

Among his responses on Twitter:

"I am contractually obligated to wear clothes with certain logos that I can't buy at a Dick's/Pro shop/Roger Dunn/Walmart/'a store'/etc. Thank u for all the options tho!"

And later:

"I mean this with zero hyperbole, this is the weirdest thing I've ever experienced on Twitter lol. I love Tiger more than u guys. Promise. Listen to an interview from last week. Red and black tomorrow doesn't prove that. A lifelong attempt to mimic his approach to the game does.''

ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – Before Saturday’s Ice Breaker at Lincoln Speedway, Kyle Moody held a team meeting.

Such a get together is a yearly occurrence for Moody Motorsports: a time to focus on what’s important for the upcoming season. This meeting, though, had distinct meaning.

“I told everyone we definitely have pressure this year,” Moody said. “This is the year we need to step up.”

When Saturday ended, Moody was understandably frustrated, as he lost what appeared to be a surefire win and settled for a runner-up finish to Tim Wagaman.

It’s a solid points day for Moody, who is running Lincoln’s full schedule this year, but even that didn’t suffice. The 30-year-old has lofty expectations for himself and his program this year and just wants to capitalize on every opportunity.

“Between equipment and crew personnel, it’s the highest expectation it’s ever been,” Moody said in a phone interview Saturday night. “It’s definitely the highest expectations we’ve had. It’s the first year we’re adding pressure to everyone without taking out the fun.”

Moody is normally a talkative individual, someone more than willing to carry out a conversation and elaborate. But in this instance, as another opening day victory slipped out of grasp, Moody was in no mood for chatter.

“I’m just so upset at myself,” Moody said on the front stretch after finishing second. “Hey, it is what it is. Sucks going backward once you’re on top. It is what it is. I just want one of these opening day Ice Breaker wins so damn bad. I’ve been so close so many times.”

After drawing the pole for the opening race of the year in central Pennsylvania, Moody positioned himself for his first win since 2019.

But on a lap-five restart, Wagaman caught Moody off-guard with the go-ahead pass a groove higher, thwarting his hopes of victory.

“I just did not think it was possible,” Moody said of Wagaman passing him on the outside given the narrow racing surface. “Clearly, Timmy showed it was.

“I should’ve known better to open up my entry getting into one a little bit, so he didn’t have had the room to get a run on me,” Moody added.

Perhaps the reason Moody badly wants an Ice Breaker win is because it removes the weight of hunting for victory No. 1 out of the gate. Also, it was the first sprint car race of the year in central Pennsylvania, so all eyes were on the event.

This is the fifth straight year Moody has finished inside the top-seven at the Ice Breaker. In 2019 and ’20, he finished seventh both times. In 2017 and ’18 he finished second and third, respectively, and won his heats.

On Saturday, Moody finished second in his heat, made the redraw, then drew the pole and led the opening five laps. He raced out to a two-second lead on Wagaman prior to the race’s first caution for Jordan Mackison.

That’s when Wagaman overtook Moody on the ensuing restart, and all Moody could do was try to make something happen in slower traffic.

“I thought I was going to get him back [in lapped traffic],” Moody said. “I threw everything I had and that was it.”

This is the eighth year at the 410 level for Moody Motorsports, which is operated by the Moody family. The team will once again race regularly at Lincoln and Williams Grove Speedways.

Last year was a trying year for Moody and company. After ranking 14th in money earned in a stingy Pennsylvania Speedweek field, Moody suffered a concussion just two weeks later.

That sidelined him for a month, and even when he returned he had to ease into action.

This year, Moody is ready to take the next step. He’s added experienced personnel to his team, which is giving him optimism for this season and beyond.

“I have no reason we’re not a top team,” Moody said. “In my mind, there are no more excuses.”

GAFFNEY, S.C. – The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series will visit Cherokee Speedway for a doubleheader weekend on March 26-27.

It’ll be the series’ fifth straight year visiting the three-eighths-mile track, which will mark the Outlaws’ first visit to South Carolina this year.

Brandon Overton, who picked up his 14th career World of Outlaws victory at Volusia Speedway Park, became the first repeat winner with the series at Cherokee last year. He bested three-time defending champion Brandon Sheppard to claim the victory.

A win at Cherokee for Sheppard would be his first at the track and put him on the path to try and secure a couple of historic milestones.

He’s currently one win away from 70 career World of Outlaws wins, which would put him only seven victories away from tying Josh Richards’s all-time win record of 77 career wins. He’s also looking to tie Richards for the most championships in series history this year, too. Richards has four. Sheppard is currently at three.

There will be a hoard of competitive drivers for him to try and contend with, though. Two of them may even be a pair of rookie-of-the-year contenders.

South Carolina native Ross Bailes earned his first career World of Outlaws victory at Cherokee in 2019, and Kyle Strickler picked up two wins in the first five races of the season. Strickler is also currently atop the championship standings.

Chris Madden, a 28-time World of Outlaws winner who hails from Gray Court, S.C., has yet to pick up a series win at Cherokee but has 26 victories at the track – most recently with the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series – and finished third against the Outlaws there last year.

The only other two drivers to have picked up a win with the World of Outlaws at Cherokee are 2018 series champion Mike Marlar – in 2018 – and 2015 series champion Shane Clanton – in 2017.

Clanton has rejoined the tour full-time this season and will be on the hunt for his first Outlaws win since 2019.

Several PGA Tour players showed their support for Tiger Woods on Sunday at Concession Golf Club. Some wore red polos and back pants, Woods' Sunday staple, while others who didn't pack red-and-black outfits chose alternative methods to pay tribute to the 15-time major winner, who was seriously injured last Tuesday in a single-car accident in Los Angeles.

Rory McIlroy

Jason Day

Justin Thomas

Cameron Champ

Bryson DeChambeau

Cameron Smith

Tommy Fleetwood

Matt Kuchar

Sebastian Munoz

Min Woo Lee

They have had contrasting tours of New Zealand so far, but England are backing the opening combination ofTammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt as they look ahead to their World Cup defence.

After defeat in the third and final match of their ODI series, which England won 2-1, Beaumont had amassed 231 runs with three half-centuries from as many innings, carrying her bat in the last two.

Wyatt, in comparison, had managed scores of 17, 0, and 1 despite showing promise with 54 in one of the the pre-series warm-ups. Before that, her highest ODI score of 110 - made against Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur in December 2019 - remains her most notable innings amid limited recent opportunities in the format due to the Covid-19 pandemic upsetting the women's schedule last year. In T20s, Wyatt has failed to reach 30 in 13 innings since that trip to Malaysia when she also scored a fifty against Pakistan.

But, as England turn their focus to a three-match T20I series against New Zealand, head coach Lisa Keightley expressed faith that Wyatt would rediscover her white-ball form in the next 12 months leading up to the 50-over World Cup, which will also be held in New Zealand.

"Everyone knows what a class player Dan is," Keightley said via Zoom from New Zealand. "She probably hasn't had the runs that she wanted. She just needs to have a clear mind, back her ability and execute her strengths.

"When Dan is going, with Dan and Tammy up the front, it will be a really exciting time when that happens and I'm backing them in that we'll see that throughout the summer.

"Dan up front, I'm really confident she's a player who can take on teams and that's what we want. We want her to be able to play free flowing cricket and take it to teams and I'm really confident that she'll come good in this [ODI] format."

Beaumont, recognised as one of England's leading ODI players, seemed to relish her return to 50-over cricket, having navigated her own challenges in T20Is last year. Shuffled round the order previously, she settled into a rhythm as opener during England's 5-0 sweep of their series against West Indies, the only international cricket of their home summer.

She subsequently had a relatively lean WBBL campaign with the bat for champions Sydney Thunder and will no doubt be looking to convert her ODI form when England face New Zealand in the first T20I on Wednesday.

"Tammy Beaumont showed her dominance in this format," Keightley said after the third ODI. "It's been brilliant for her to score as many runs as she has and she' been a real anchor for us and that's allowed Heather [Knight] and Nat [Sciver] to play a few more shots and take teams on a little bit more."

Knight, who scored two half-centuries of her own during the ODI series, was full of praise for Beaumont.

"So important for us in ODI cricket, Tammy's got a brilliant record probably over the last four or five years now," Knight said. "I'm really pleased that she's carried that on. She's a real rock for us and her consistency is a really good example for the rest of the team.

"She's found that role where we can bat around her a little bit and other batters be a little bit more aggressive and her be a rock for us. Hopefully it continues. She's a key player for us."