DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A random draw has placed Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Clash, which is set to kickstart the NASCAR season on Tuesday at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

The race, which in previous years has taken place on the 2.5-mile Daytona Int’l Speedway oval, will take place on the track’s 3.56-mile infield road course for the first time.

The lineup for the Busch Clash was determined on Monday, Feb. with a drawing held virtually at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Crew chiefs for each of the teams competing in the race picked a Busch Beer can, which was then turned over to reveal a starting position.

Blaney will be joined on the front row by Alex Bowman, who will be making his debut in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and William Byron will start third through fifth, respectively.

The race will be 35 laps, with a scheduled caution set for lap 15.

Busch Clash Starting Lineup:

1. Ryan Blaney
2. Alex Bowman
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Brad Keselowski
5. William Byron
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Chase Elliott
8. Cole Custer
9. Erik Jones
10. Joey Logano
11. Ryan Newman
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Chris Buescher
14. Ty Dillon
15. Kurt Busch
16. Kyle Busch
17. Kevin Harvick
18. Martin Truex Jr.
19. Austin Dillon
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21. Aric Almirola

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – With five laps to go in Monday night’s Jeep Beach 175 at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, a red flag for rain paused the action on the half-mile oval for well over an hour.

And the long wait for the last few laps was worth every second, especially for Max Gutiérrez.

The 18-year-old ARCA Menards Series East rookie from Mexico City, Mexico, passed both Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith on the final stretch of the last lap of the 2021 opener to win a three-wide photo finish.

Not a bad way for one to earn his first victory on the ARCA Menards platform.

“The last corner, they were battling for first,” Gutiérrez said after the race of his move to steal the win from Gray and Smith, the latter of whom was attempting to pass the former in turn four before the No. 30 ToughBuilt Ford entered the equation. “I saw an opportunity, and I took it.

“I’m very happy, very proud of the team. That’s a great, great win to start the championship.”

Gutiérrez, who plans to race the full ARCA Menards Series East season for car owner and crew chief Mark Rette, is a six-time Super Kart Champion (2008-13) who won Rookie of the Year honors in Mikel’s NASCAR Truck Series in Mexico in 2017 before capturing the series championship a year later in 2018.

In 2019, he advanced to the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series, where he won two races in 10 starts while also competing in select Late Model Stock Series events. Last season in the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series, he won five of his 12 races and earned 10 top-five finishes.

Now he is an ARCA Menards winner — in epic fashion. His margin of victory over Smith on Monday night was 0.046 seconds.

“Just a last lap deal,” said Gray, the third-place finisher Monday night. “(Smith) tried to move me and didn’t do it right.”

Smith, though, did not have enough to cross the stripe first after Gutiérrez had stolen the inside lane on the final stretch.

“I can’t believe it,” said Rette, the co-owner of Rette Jones Racing. “I’m so proud of Max and his determination, not to mention the work by everyone on this Rette Jones Racing team. I knew we had a shot if we timed it right and Max did his job when it counted most, and we’re winners again in the ARCA Menards Series East.”

Gutiérrez’s win was the product of the second of two overtime attempts at the end of Monday night’s East Series season-opener, the first of which ended in Turn 1 of the first lap when Mason Diaz spun.

The final lap was the only one Gutiérrez led.

Smith ended up second ahead of Gray in third. Mason Diaz and Joey Iest rounded out the top five.

The finish:

Max Gutiérrez, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, Mason Diaz, Joey Iest, Daniel Dye, Colt Hensley, Brandon Oakley, Parker Retzlaff, Willie Mullins, Rajah Caruth, Richard Garvie, Jack Wood, Carson Kvapil, Dick Doheny.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the second year in a row, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway went caution-free, but it again ended in mass chaos on the final lap.

After a dazzling display of mostly three-wide racing for all 250 miles, contact between Jim Beaver eSports’ Michael Guest and William Byron eSports’ Logan Clampitt in turn four as the field raced toward the checkered flag led to a multi-car pileup that collected most of the 40-car field.

When the smoke finally cleared, it was JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti – the 2014 series champion – who raced to the finish line unchallenged for his 11th career win and first at the World Center of Racing.

In doing so, Conti became the 13th different Daytona victor in the 12-year history of the Coca-Cola Series. It marked the first superspeedway triumph of his career since he joined the tour a decade ago.

He also locked himself into the playoffs with the win, in the first year of the series utilizing a win-and-you’re-in postseason format, similar to the postseason rules in NASCAR’s three national divisions.

“I’m sure everybody saw it after the race, but I am over the moon with this win,” said Conti. “Anybody that knows me can tell you that plate tracks are not my specialty. I admittedly don’t know what I’m doing half of the time in them, but going into the race tonight with everything that Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and JR Motorsports, Chad Wheeler, and everything that everybody’s put behind me during offseason … I knew I had to step up my game.

“In years past, I played it safe. I stayed in the back and then we’d get to the end and it’d be three by three and I couldn’t go anywhere,” Conti added. “Tonight, we almost did the same thing. I qualified poorly; we got a bad gust of wind, and I started in the back and was going to play it safe. And then about 15 laps in, I told Adam (Benefiel), my crew chief, that we needed to go for it. And if we wrecked, we wrecked, but there was too much of an upside potential to just sit there and not try to get the victory.

“Some things went our way. We had some lucky breaks, the pit cycles were good, and I got a hell of a push by Michael Guest there at the end. I can’t thank him enough, because without him, I definitely would not have been able to pull that off.”

The intensity of the race hit fever pitch with 22 to go, after the final round of green-flag pit stops wrapped up and the lead pack cycled out with Conti leading the inside lane, Clampitt guiding the middle groove and Ottinger pacing a handful of cars around the far outside of the 2.5-mile oval.

The latter won the series championship last year with the support of the former pair, roommates who race together out of the same room on a weekly basis, meaning all three were working together in the closing stages to control all three lanes and settle the battle for the win among themselves.

With masterful precision, the trio kept any other challengers from sliding up in front of them to capitalize on any runs in the draft, holding their positions through the white flag and back to turn three.

However, in the final corner, Guest washed up a half lane and contacted Clampitt’s Chevrolet, sending Clampitt spinning in front of the field as Conti snuck through down low and raced home to victory.

Guest got sideways on the apron but gathered his Ford Mustang up and followed Conti to the line as the runner-up. The official margin of victory was .420 seconds.

Series rookie Jake Matheson crossed third, followed by active series Ironman Corey Vincent and another rookie-of-the-year contender in Isaac Gann.

Bobby Zalenski, Podium 500 winner Casey Kirwan, Vicente Salas, Chris Shearburn and Brad Davies filled out the top 10.

Contact between Ryan Luza and Malik Ray on the backstretch working lap 31 led to a multi-car incident that, surprisingly, did not bring out a yellow flag. It did, however, collect several contenders for the win.

Among them was 2019 series champion Zack Novak, who was later penalized for failing to maintain minimum speed and disqualified as a result. He was credited with last – 40th – in the final results.

Race two of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season takes place at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 23, back in the tour’s traditional Tuesday night timeslot.

Coverage of the event begins at 9 p.m. ET on enascar.com/live and iRacing’s streaming platforms.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Multiple competitors tried, but no one was going to take the checkered flag away from Craig Lutz on Monday night at New Smyrna Speedway.

Lutz, a three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race winner, eventually held off Matt Hirschman to win the first Tour-Type Modified feature of the week during the 55th World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.

The New York native started from the pole following an eight-car invert, which put fast qualifier Hirschman in the eighth position at the start. The field was stacked with more than 30 cars after plans for a B-Main were scrapped due to a rain delay during the ARCA Menards Series East opener earlier in the evening.

The result was a caution-filled affair that forced Lutz to survive multiple restarts. The first caution flag of the evening was the most eventful as Jon McKennedy spun off the nerf bar of Ryan Preece coming out of turn two and down the backstretch.

McKennedy’s modified slid to a stop in the middle of the track, leaving several cars that arrived on the scene seconds later with nowhere to go. The eventual multi-car crash resulted in a lengthy red flag period for cleanup.

Every caution happened behind Lutz, but that doesn’t mean his evening was uneventful. He found himself having to fend off challenges from the likes of Patrick Emerling, Ron Silk and, eventually, Hirschman.

Hirschman was able to race his way into contention following a restart with nine laps left when he went from fourth to second. Another restart a few laps later saw Hirschman snatch the lead from Lutz, but officials deemed Hirschman jumped the start and he was forced to give the position back.

Multiple restarts would follow, but each time Lutz was able to fend off Hirschman’s advances to earn his second career World Series victory.

“This is the longest 50 laps I’ve ever raced,” Lutz said in victory lane. “It all worked out. My guys, we struggled a little bit in practice, but awesome group. My crew chief Doug Ogiejko put an awesome car together.

“It’s a big deal to win down here.”

Hirschman settled for second, with Silk coming home third. Six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby came from 21st to finish fourth, with two-time Southern Modified Tour champion Burt Myers taking fifth after starting 20th.

The finish:

Craig Lutz, Matt Hirschman, Ron Silk, Doug Coby, Burt Myers, Anthony Nocella, Ryan Preece, Brian Robie, Chris Finocchario, David Sapienza, J.R. Bertuccio, Danny Knoll Jr., Buddy Charette, Patrick Emerling, Eric Goodale, Matthew Galko, Marcello Rufrano, Chuck Hossfeld, Chris Ridsdale, Jeremy Gerstner, Jimmy Blewett, Ronnie Williams, Jim Gavek, Bobby Jones, Tom Martino Jr., Zane Zeiner, Timmy Catalano, Amy Catalano, Tyler Catalano, Jon McKennedy, Tyler Rypkema, Eddie McCarthy, Stephen Kopcik, Tommy Catalano, Tyler Truex.

Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella benched newly acquired winger Patrik Laine during Monday night's game against Carolina, acknowledging afterward that although sitting a player is "the last thing I want to do," it was something he felt was needed.

The Blue Jackets acquired Laine two weeks ago in a trade for center Pierre-Luc Dubois, whom Tortorella had also benched this season.

Laine didn't see the ice again Monday after Hurricanes forward Brock McGinn scored with 6:19 remaining in the second period. Laine appeared to passively defend in his zone on the play, but Tortorella said that wasn't the sole motivation for the benching.

"It wasn't because of the missed assignment. There's a number of things that come into play with that. That'll stay in the locker room," Tortorella said after the Blue Jackets' 3-2 win improved them to 6-5-3 (.536 points percentage).

Laine entered the game with three goals in his first three games in Columbus, after being acquired along with winger Jack Roslovic from the Winnipeg Jets for Dubois on Jan. 23. Tortorella had benched Dubois twice for a lack of effort in the games leading up to the trade.

Along with Laine, Tortorella also benched defenseman Dean Kukan after McGinn's goal.

"It's what I feel I need to do," Tortorella said. "The last thing I want to do is bench a player. But we're just disjointed in all areas. Quite honestly, on and off the ice. It's an easy thing to bench a player. It's the last thing I want to do, but if I think I need to do it, then I need to do it."

For Laine, this kind of tough love is new. But veteran Blue Jackets like winger Cam Atkinson -- who has played all six seasons Tortorella has coached in Columbus -- know the benchings could continue until effort and execution improve.

"Torts expects us to play as hard as we can. It doesn't matter who you are, and I think everyone knows that. If you're not giving 100 percent and looking like you're trying, he's going to sit you. It's no secret. That goes for everybody, myself included. I've been that guy plenty of times. He just wants the guys that are gonna work," said Atkinson, who scored on a penalty shot in Monday's victory. "It's not always going to be pretty. You might be playing with a lot of different [linemates]. But for the most part, if we play the right way and stick to our concepts of playing north and forechecking hard, it doesn't matter who you play with."

Atkinson said he spoke to Laine about the benching.

"I sit next to him in the locker room, so we've chatted," Atkinson said. "We're a pretty open group. He knows [what he did wrong]. He'll be the first to admit it. He just has to be better, plain and simple, and he knows it. Expect him to have a big game next game. That's what we have to. Whether you're a new guy or an old guy, we have to hold each other accountable. It doesn't matter who you are or where you play. We have to all buy in."

Tortorella said that while veteran players like Atkinson can help communicate his message, he doesn't believe he needs an intermediary with a player like Laine.

"I think it's important that teammates help one another, but my feeling is with players we don't need anyone in between us," Tortorella said. "[Laine] and I will discuss it. I think it's important that the players and coaches discuss situations.

"And I'll listen to him also. It's all process here. I've got to get this team to play as a team and to care as a team, or we're going to continue to play the hockey that we're playing right now. It's my job."

As it happened, on a night when the other high-profile player included in last month's trade was benched, Roslovic scored the game-winning goal late in the third period with a singular offensive effort.

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has identified lack of mental application and diminished match awareness as the two main reasons for the poor batting and fielding that led to the Test team's 2-0 defeat in Pakistan.

South Africa lost both matches in the series, suffered batting collapses in each of their innings, and four of their 40 dismissals were caused by run-outs. They also dropped at least seven clear catches across the two Tests, including the costly one of Mohammad Rizwan in Rawalpindi, who was put down on four and went to score a match-winning 115*.

"The way we played in big moments really cost us," Boucher said. "Our match awareness of when to tighten the screws was lacking. That is the reason why we lost the game. We didn't bat well, didn't field well but our bowling stood out. We created opportunities, we just didn't take them. That cost us, in this game alone, about 150 runs."

In the space of two balls in Pakistan's second innings, South Africa put down Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf, who had yet to score a run. Pakistan were 76 for 5 at the time, 147 runs ahead on a pitch that was becoming easier for batting. "If we had taken those catches, we would have them 76 for 7, [and] maybe bowled them out for 120, chased 220 and won the game," Boucher said.

For that to have happened, South Africa would have also needed to chase well, something they did in patches in the second Test, but which they have not done successfully consistently for several years. The last time South Africa won a match chasing a total over 200 was almost a decade ago, in 2011 against Australia. They have had 21 opportunities to repeat that feat since but have lost 18 of those matches and drawn three.

Given their reputation for stumbling before the finish line in major limited-overs matches and their string of nine losses on the road in Asia, Boucher believes the batting problems run deeper than difficulties in technique. "It's more mental," he said. ""Maybe there are some technical issues in guys are getting out in the same sorts of ways every time but we are continuously looking at little technical things that we can improve on. I think it's more mental. There's lots of scars from past tours to the subcontinent. Some guys who have had technical issues in the past, like Aiden Markram spent time at the crease and was able to fight his way through it. It's more mental than anything else."

South Africa lost series in Sri Lanka and India in the last three years with many of the same members of the line-ups that were defeated in Pakistan. While learning to play on turning tracks and adjusting to low bounce are some of the things that South African batsmen have done, they are not able to apply those principles for long enough periods of time or show the patience required to build an innings on slow pitches. "We just seem to, in big moments, when we really need to drive home an advantage, find ways to get out. In the first innings with Temba and Wiaan, it really looked like the game was getting easier and we were building a partnership and then we had a run out," Boucher said, referring to Mulder taking on Shaheen Shah Afridi's arm and losing while pushing for a second run. "It's stupid ways; ways to get out in really important moments of the game. It really cost us."

The absence of a specialist batting coach will also come under scrutiny with South Africa looking to re-engage Jacques Kallis in a consultant role as soon as possible, but the allround failure to explain the constant collapses remains. Much like Quinton de Kock and Markram, Boucher was unable to isolate a reason for South Africa losing wickets in clumps.

"We added an extra allrounder to the equation this game and it didn't seem to work. The second new ball played a massive role in the collapse, which can happen, but not to the extent of losing seven wickets for 33 runs. That's a major batting collapse, especially when you are looking to chase down a total," he said. "Our match awareness against the new ball wasn't quite where it should be. We needed to understand it was going to be vitally important to get through. The history of the game is that when the ball is 15-20 overs old it's a lot easier to bat. We need to look after those 15-20 overs and we didn't do that."

Among the batsmen who were dismissed with the second new ball was temporary Test captain de Kock, who had a disappointing series with a top-score of 29. de Kock has scored just 74 runs in four Tests since being given the leadership but Boucher cautioned against using the extra responsibility as the sole cause of de Kock's lean patch. "Batters go through periods where they score and periods where they don't score. Quinny, unfortunately, it's been when he had the captaincy as well. It's difficult to answer yes or no because batters go through lack of form at certain times. The big thing is that when you are a captain everything is highlighted, so his lack of form has been highlighted," Boucher said.

After earlier suggesting de Kock would be relieved of the Test captaincy at the end of this series, Boucher also said he thought the time was right for South Africa to appoint someone who they believe will be in the job for the long-term. "We've got a bit of time now. We've got time to make a non-emotional, smart decision on the way forward. If it's looking at someone else to do that job, the time is probably now. We have got a bit of time and we can give that guy a few months to get his way in and listen to what thoughts he's got."

South Africa do not have any confirmed Test fixtures for the rest of 2021, with the FTP still to be decided. After the last-minute postponement of Australia's three-Test series, they have been unable to find opposition for the March window and will instead look at the internationals playing domestic first-class cricket in a bid to find form. "It will be good to get some four-day games in the domestic competition and get everyone playing. That's where the guys get some good confidence and match awareness gets highlighted," Boucher said.

Welcome to our live report of the final day of the first India-England Test from Chennai. Join us for updates, analysis and colour. You can find our traditional ball-by-ball commentary here.

*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local.

11.15am: Ashwin takes a blow

Anderson's spell is done: 5-3-6-3. Not bad for a 38-year-old seamer on the fifth day of a Chepauk Test. Archer returns, and is chipped effortlessly down the ground by Kohli, but he strikes back straight after, rapping Ashwin on the glove. It looks like the middle finger of his right hand is the one causing him some pain, which will concern India with three Tests to come in quick succession, but he's comfortable enough to bat on.

11.00am: Bess gets Sundar

It's hard to imagine how this session could have gone better for England. Sundar is rooted to the crease, defending Bess with a straight bat, and gets a thin edge through to Buttler who takes a sharp catch. Given not out, but England overturn it on review. Five wickets inside 90 minutes: India's only hope is that Kohli can bat for two more sessions.

10.55am: England halfway there

A leading edge from Pant loops up into the hands of short cover, and India are five down. What a spell from Anderson, whose Test bowling average in India has dropped below 30 with that dismissal. Anderson ran his fingers down the side of the ball, not looking to reverse it, Pant was looking to work to leg, and it skewed up off the outside of the bat to Root, in tight. An incredible effort from Anderson at the ripe old age of 38, with his figures on the fifth day reading: 4-3-5-3.

10.40am: Leach vs Pant, Round Two

Pant nudges the first ball he faces from Leach into the covers, and then misses out looking to reverse-sweep the second. He's not going to die wondering. Jon Lewis, England's seam-bowling consultant, was asked about their first-innings battle last night. "Jack was asked to do a really specific job for the team and I thought Pant's options were really high risk," Lewis said. "Obviously he got more runs than we would have wanted him to, but the percentages were still very much in [Leach's] favour.

"Jack showed his character with the way he came back after Pant got after him [on Sunday]. He's bowled an absolutely beauty to get out Rohit - who is obviously a class, class player - and looks a real threat on this pitch. He could walk away with four or five wickets tomorrow and we could win a Test match - I'm pretty sure people won't be talking about Rishabh Pant's first-innings runs if he does that."

10.25am: Two in the over

Amazing start from Anderson and England are buoyant. Plenty of reverse-swing on offer and who better to extract it than the man with 600 Test wickets? Rahane is struck on the pad second ball by another shooter, which would have crashed into the base of middle stump but umpire Menon's not out decision was upheld because the impact was 'umpire's call' according to ball-tracking. And Rahane's third ball cleans him up. It jags back in from wide on the crease, squeezing through the gap between bat and pad, and off stump is sent cartwheeling once more.

Rishabh Pant strides out at No. 6, and it will take a Pant special for India from this position.

10.20am: Cleaned up

Anderson comes into the attack for his first over of the day, and Gill's off stump has gone flying. Gill had just reached fifty, again looking a million dollars and timing the ball sweetly, but this one flies through him with the ball reversing. Anderson pitches on a fullish length outside off stump, and this shoots through low off the surface and sends the stump cartwheeling. Two for England within the first hour.

10.10am: Gill attacks Bess

Shubman Gill has decided that Bess is the man to target today. He threads his first ball of the morning through mid-off for four, then swings him just out of reach of the man running round from deep midwicket in the same over. In Bess' next, he skips down the pitch and nails a sweet six over mid-on.

I think this is a calculated decision from Gill, who is determined to through Bess off his length, but perhaps he doesn't need to be overly aggressive against him: since his spell on the third afternoon, Bess has bowled one bad ball in most overs, so it is easy enough to take him for four or five runs while playing in a fairly restrained manner.

9.55am: Pujara goes

That's a huge wicket for England and a blow to India's hopes on the final day. Leach gets one to turn sharply again, spinning away from the bat with extra bounce as Pujara closes the face, looking to work him into the leg side. The ball takes the outside edge and lobs up to slip, where Stokes snaffles it. India lose Pujara within half an hour.

It was always likely to take a good ball from Leach. That was only the sixth time Pujara had been dismissed by a left-arm orthodox spinner in Tests, having faced 1898 balls from them. He's still averaging 138.83 against SLA bowlers.

9.50am: Variable bounce

A mixed bag for Jack Leach this morning, with Shubman Gill getting his second ball of the day away to the boundary, but there have already been signs of turn and bounce from a fullish length. Gill did well to jam him bat down on a shooter, and another turned sharply away from the outside edge.

"We saw a lot of India's fight and character in the tour of Australia just recently," James Anderson said before the start. "We know that they're not going to roll over easily. We're going to have to put a lot of hard work in, and we might have to be clever at times with fields and the way we bowl. We're in a good position but we know it's going to be a day of hard work."

"There was a good amount of turn and bounce yesterday," Washington Sundar said. "Given the scenario we'd like to take one session at a time and stay positive. We've got a lot of depth so let's stay positive."

9.15am: All results possible

A reminder of the match situation ahead of the final day. England need to take nine wickets in 90 overs, after Jack Leach dismissed Rohit Sharma on the fourth evening. If they fail to do so, we're heading for a draw - unless India can pull off another remarkable heist by scoring 381 fifth-day runs on a wearing Chepauk surface.

There was plenty of discussion yesterday about England's go-slow after tea as they looked to set up a declaration, but George Dobell wrote that after they had dominated large swathes of the match, their caution was understandable. In the India camp, R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma were bullish about their chances of pulling off the win.

Jhye Richardson's friends noticed there was something not quite right about him during the latter phases of the same Big Bash League in which he was feted as its leading wicket-taker.

Though an overall return of 29 wickets at 16.31 made Richardson, 24, the BBL's standout pace bowler, his figures at the pointy end were less flattering. Five wickets at 48.75 while conceding 10.26 per over across his final five games of the BBL for the Perth Scorchers meant that Richardson found himself getting visibly frustrated that the fruitful earlier days of the competition did not stretch into the finals, where he rounded things off by conceding 45 runs at the SCG as James Vince, Jordan Silk and Carlos Brathwaite all found their range.

The raw figures were not themselves unexpected in a format as fickle as T20, but Richardson's harried reactions to them were. Speaking from New Zealand, Richardson said that those close to him had pointed out how emotional he was getting, and he has resolved to be kinder to himself during his next assignment. This lesson will be one that Richardson doubtless returns to in coming years, as he looms among the most likely candidates to bring younger legs and a challenging, skiddy trajectory to the Test team.

"I definitely did - I think one of the main ones being that T20 is such a fickle game that you can't be so hard on yourself," Richardson said when asked whether he took anything from those final five games. "I probably felt a little bit of pressure having such a good tournament to then not performing so well, I felt like I was letting the team down a little bit and put myself under pressure to perform. I wouldn't say I was trying too hard, I was still trying to go about it the same way I normally would. I probably just got a little bit more emotional.

"That was visible as well from people watching, I certainly got a few messages after games saying 'haven't really seen you that emotional in a while', and that's a really good thing to get pulled up on as well, something I worked really hard on earlier in my career, just to stay a little bit more level-headed and I think I felt that personal pressure a little bit. But learning from that and having a few conversations especially with our bowling coach Matt Mason, he just said 'mate you need to go about it the way you normally do, you need to enjoy your cricket, because when you're enjoying it you play really well'.

"That's one thing I need to take into this tour, just to enjoy playing cricket and not be too hard on myself, because T20 is such a hard game. It's more of an internal emotion, just getting frustrated with myself, getting annoyed with myself about things not going the way I've planned before the game. It's getting annoyed at execution, it's getting frustrated at the way the ball's coming out. If I concentrate on having fun, then all that washes away because I'm enjoying myself regardless of the result and things become a bit easier."

While Richardson's reconstructed shoulder is still a source of wariness, as he is yet to be able to throw from the outfield and must "check himself" in terms of diving around in the field, the shoulder is more than up to the rigours of bowling. How much Richardson will bowl in long-form cricket is open to question, given that after this tour he has made himself available for the IPL, which will now clash with parts of the conclusion of the Australian domestic season.

"Bowling is pretty good, earlier in the tournament when we were down in Hobart and a few of the earlier games I was pulling up quite sore, but I think a lot of that had to do with external conditions," he said. "The weather being so cold and one game was the Melbourne Stars game that got rained off, incredibly cold and having to warmup and cool down and warmup and cool down again was a little bit taxing on my shoulder from a pain perspective.

"But as the tournament went on that improved significantly, being able to go back-to-back became easier, and now at the latter end of the tournament was completely fine. The only ball I've really lost is the back of the hand slower ball, which I haven't actually felt like I've needed as much as I would in the past.

"I have put my hand up for the IPL, but I have confidence in myself to be able to play red-ball cricket. I think a really good test of that was our back-to-back games, albeit only four overs a game, but I think from a back-to-back perspective trying to get up and go again and test how my shoulder was, it was completely fine. Test cricket is always the dream, that would always be the ideal, and I'd love to get back and play Shield cricket for WA as well, that would be really exciting."

As for the difficult journey of the past two years, where Richardson recovered from a serious shoulder dislocation that cost him the chance to take part in the 2019 World Cup and Ashes double only to require major surgery and a second period of rehab in 2020, he said the reward of an international tour to New Zealand made the rougher days worthwhile.

"For me it comes back to enjoying playing cricket, because if I'm not enjoying it then I'm obviously doing something wrong"

"It's been a little bit tough, but the reassurance there is that I've been there once, there's no reason for me to no try and get back there again," Richardson said. "That's the way I think about it anyway, the opportunity is still going to be there, I'm still only 24 years old so there's plenty of time, it's just about concentrating on what's happening at that particular moment, whether I'm playing for WA or the Scorchers and then whatever happens after that, if I get picked for Australia that's a bonus.

"For me it comes back to enjoying playing cricket, because if I'm not enjoying it then I'm obviously doing something wrong. It's been difficult dealing with such a big injury as well, but the positive now is I'm back on an Australian tour, which I'm really excited for and that positive out of all of it makes the whole road to recovery worth it. All of it's been difficult. The initial injury that happened in the UAE probably didn't hit me as soon as I thought it would.

"I was optimistic with the World Cup not too long after that and the discussion being trying to get up for that, things stayed relatively positive. Something that's helped is there was always something around the corner to aim for, and then every time you get shut down from that or not make that [goal], it sort of chips away at you that little bit more. It's been tough at times, but to be able to come back and play this BBL and have such a good tournament, to then get picked in the Australian team, it makes everything worth it. So super happy to be back."

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma likes to make analogies to other sports, which is how famed running back Jim Brown came up when Auriemma was talking about freshman sensation Paige Bueckers.

Bueckers had her third consecutive game of 30 points or more -- something no other UConn player has ever done -- as her 31 points lifted the No. 2 Huskies over No. 1 South Carolina 63-59 in overtime on Monday night in Storrs, Connecticut. The 5-foot-11 guard scored the Huskies' final 13 points, including all nine in the extra period, and played all 45 minutes. She made 14 of 26 shots from the field and had 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals.

"She's very slow, and I say that with a high degree of appreciation," Auriemma said. "She takes her time ... she's like when Jim Brown used to run. When she gets the ball, she's like, 'Should I go to that hole, that hole, that one ... what's the best decision for me right now?' She waits until the absolute last minute, and nothing rushes her. So you can't make her play faster than she wants to play.

"When you're as good a shooter as she is ... she really just has a lot of confidence in her ability. If she can get one off, she thinks it's going in. I marvel sometimes at how hard she has to work because of the defensive attention that she gets every night. She's just good."

This game didn't become a matchup of the top two ranked teams until Monday afternoon, when the Associated Press poll came out. Eleven-time national champion UConn has been in many of these matchups since ascending to national status in the 1990s. Even though the Huskies are 14-1, this isn't a powerhouse team like many UConns in the past; even Auriemma would say that.

But it does have a superstar freshman who expertly scores off screens and steps forward in the biggest moments like a longtime veteran. Bueckers, who was the No. 1 recruit from the class of 2020, is leading the Huskies in scoring (21.1 PPG), assists (5.6 APG) and steals (2.6 SPG). She is shooting 56.9% from the field, 55.6 from 3-point range.

UConn has had a treasure trove of past superstars who also had remarkable freshmen seasons, including Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart in the past 20 years, all of whom went on to be the MVP in the WNBA. None of them, though, were playing on a team with six other freshmen, as Bueckers is. It means it's her team in a way it wasn't for those other superstars as freshmen. She is getting an enormous spotlight and so far is excelling even beyond expectations.

"She's a player," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "She makes big shots when her number's called time and time again."

Yet if the Gamecocks had hit one of the four shots they had at the basket at the end of regulation--- Destanni Henderson's jumper was short, then Victaria Saxton missed a putback, followed by Aliyah Boston's two missed putback attempts -- Bueckers wouldn't have been the story of the night.

The Gamecocks will rue their missed layups, which ruined their normally lethal transition game, missed free throws (they went 8-of-15) and turnovers (21). They kept the Huskies 24.1 points below their season average of 87.1 coming into the game, held them to just 2-of-15 from behind the arc and outrebounded them 52-39.

South Carolina ended the 2019-20 season ranked No. 1 and started this one in the same place, before losing to NC State on Dec. 3. The Gamecocks' replacement in the top spot, Stanford, dropped down after an overtime loss at Colorado on Jan. 17, and Louisville took over at No. 1. When NC State beat Louisville last Monday, South Carolina elevated to No. 1 again in this week's poll.

But it will be a short stay, because the Gamecocks' mistakes and Bueckers' big shots Monday did them in. The second of the Huskies' 3-pointers came from Bueckers with 13 seconds left, hitting the rim, bouncing high in the air and then falling through the net.

"It felt good when it left my hand," said Bueckers, who missed her other five 3-point attempts. "But, yeah, I would say that was a really nice bounce."

It was that kind of night for her, but it's already become a regular thing just 14 games into her college career (she missed one game with an ankle sprain). Bueckers also had a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left against Tennessee on Jan. 21 that was the dagger shot of that 67-61 victory.

"It's still crazy to me," Bueckers said of how her UConn career has started. "Just the blessings that I've been given, just the opportunities I've received. It's all just so crazy to me that I'm here playing at my dream school in huge games like this with an amazing team and coaching staff. Every day, every second, every minute, I'm super grateful to be here."

About two hours before the scheduled tipoff, Monday night's men's basketball game between Miami and North Carolina in Chapel Hill was postponed, the ACC announced.

The decision came hours after The Daily Tar Heel, North Carolina's student newspaper, posted a Snapchat video that shows UNC standouts Day'Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot partying without masks on, along with other young people who also aren't wearing masks Saturday after UNC's 91-87 win over Duke.

A source told ESPN that the video and the league's decision to postpone the game, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, are connected. Andy Fledderjohann, a league spokesman, referred to the ACC's statement when asked whether the video influenced the decision. He also said the ACC doesn't "have any further information to provide."

"The postponement follows a meeting of personnel from both schools, who mutually concluded the game could not move forward today," the league's statement said.

In the brief video, Sharpe and Bacot, who combined to score 27 points in the win over their chief rivals Saturday, are shown hanging out with multiple people in a room as music plays in the background.

The ACC's health and safety protocols list multiple reasons for postponing a game, which include the "inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with governmental requirements or recommendations" and the "inability to isolate new positive cases, or to quarantine high contact risk cases of the traveling and home team university students."