Ashok Dinda, the former India and Bengal seamer, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 36-year old played 13 ODIs and nine T20Is between 2010 and 2013, picking up 12 and 17 wickets respectively. He enjoyed a longer and more productive domestic career, taking 420 first-class wickets in addition to just over 300 white-ball scalps.

After having represented Bengal for over a decade, Dinda had moved to Goa ahead of the ongoing domestic season which has been curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. He was the second-highest wicket-taker for Goa in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with five strikes, but it came at the cost of 10.08 runs an over, as they suffered an early exit.

"I have had my run. I have a few injuries and they have been troubling me," Dinda said. "I played three games for Goa this season and picked up five wickets, but I think I have done what I could have as a player. I am almost 37, and I have been playing first-class cricket for 15 years, so it's time to go.

"I am a cricketer, so I will stay connected with cricket. I have a few options to stay connected with the game. I haven't thought about what I will do. It's too early. So maybe I will take a decision before the next season, once things get better [in terms of the pandemic]."

Dinda took at least one wicket in the nine T20Is he played, with his career-best 4 for 19 coming in a handsome victory against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2012. He played for the Delhi Daredevils, the Pune Warriors, the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and more recently, the Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL, picking up 69 wickets in 78 games at an economy rate of 8.20.

In the Ranji Trophy, he was a stalwart for Bengal, grabbing 339 wickets. Among seamers, only R Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh, Basant Mohanty, Madan Lal and Ashish Winston Zaidi have more wickets than Dinda in the Ranji Trophy.

Speaking to PTI, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya paid tribute to Dinda. "The contribution of Dinda is enormous," he said. "He is one of the best fast bowlers we have produced. He will be remembered for his ability to take wickets and win matches, bowl long spells and his never-say-die spirit."

Ollie Pope looks set to be added to England's Test squad in time to play the first Test of the series against India.

Pope, the 23-year-old middle-order batsman, suffered a dislocated shoulder while fielding in the final Test of the English summer in August which subsequently required surgery. It was the second time he had suffered a dislocation to the shoulder.

While Pope has been part of the touring party in Sri Lanka and India, he has not been an official part of the squad. Instead, he has been able to continue his rehabilitation with England's support staff and acclimatise to conditions in Asia.

He has been able to bat without issue for some time. Indeed, he made a fluent - and unbeaten - half-century in the warm-up game which preceded the first Test of the Sri Lanka series. There were, however, doubts over how his shoulder could withstand the demands of long periods in the field and the need to dive and throw in particular.

But having come through England's first full training session of the tour unscathed on Tuesday, there seems every chance Pope will be added to the squad in the next couple of days. He will then be considered for selection for the first Test, which starts on Friday, and likely to bat at No. 5 or No. 6.

If Pope is deemed not quite ready to return, it seems Dan Lawrence will keep his place in the England side. There is also a chance Moeen Ali could be recalled to add another spin-bowling option.

Another man set to return is Jofra Archer. While he has also had a long break from the game - he was rested for the Sri Lanka tour - he insists he is fit and ready to go. "I was still training in my time off," he said. "The drive hasn't stopped when the cricket stopped."

While Archer's previous experience in India is limited to white-ball cricket - meaning he has to get accustomed to the red SG ball - it would appear his main concern is dealing with the limitations of life in the bubble. No England player spent longer in the bubble than Archer during the summer of 2020 and there were moments in his press conference on Tuesday, when he seemed daunted by both the schedule in front of him and looming months in lockdown.

England are scheduled to play nine Tests against India, two against New Zealand, most of an Ashes series, a T20 World Cup and tour Pakistan and Bangladesh in the coming months, with Archer also required to play in the IPL.

And, with a veiled reference to Andrew Johnston, the golfer who withdrew after nine holes of the British Masters, Archer dismissed criticism of England's policy of rotating people out of the bubble suggesting cricketers had been obliged to endure more than their fair share of it.

"I have looked at the schedule today and all I can say is it is going to be a very long year," Archer said. "We are only in February now and it is going to be a long, long year. We have a few series coming up and body management is going to be essential if I want to play everything, or most of everything.

"Anyone criticising us never spent a week in the bubble. Or months in the bubble, I should say. One golfer left after four days. We've been in here for almost a year now.

"I didn't really feel like I left [the bubble]. The same faces. Maybe one or two have gone now. But it's the same faces. You don't feel like you've gone anywhere.

"It's vital to get in and out. At the end of the day, humans are social people. It starts to get hard if you are not having a great game or not feeling good within your cricket because there is no escape; there's nowhere to go.

"I think the ECB has made it really great to give people like myself six weeks away. Jos [Buttler] is going after this game. Sam [Curran] has gone. So they are making it a priority that everyone gets time away so they can come back refreshed and ready to go. Not drained.

"I don't mind to be honest because I know I will get my time away. I am just going to focus on the job at hand. If it does get too overbearing, there's no shame in saying that. I think [head coach] Chris Silverwood has said already: if you have a problem come and tell him.

"But at the moment I am good to go until at least July."

Yorkshire have promised to ban for life anyone found to have made threats against Azeem Rafiq or his family and legal team.

The club made the commitment after ESPNcricinfo showed them a collection of messages sent to Chadwick Lawrence, the legal firm used by Rafiq.

Among those messages was a demand for Rafiq to "stop trashing Yorkshire CCC" or see the post office run by his family members "trashed". Rafiq described the messages as "vile" and "terrifying".

Such messages - and a host of others sent over social media - have been reported to both South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire police.

The messages followed Rafiq's claims that he had faced racial abuse and discrimination during his time at Yorkshire. They would appear to have intensified after he decided to take legal action against the club.

Yorkshire had already launched an enquiry into Rafiq's claims. But while they had originally hoped to report before Christmas, the timeframe has slipped considerably due to the large number of witnesses involved. The club are now avoiding putting a specific timeframe on a conclusion and insist their priority is ensuring the investigation is thorough.

"I have received social media abuse since I spoke out about my experiences at Yorkshire," Rafiq told ESPNcricinfo. "That's been awful, but much more worrying have been threats to my family and the implicitly threatening vile messages that my team has received. It's terrifying.

"On the advice of my lawyers, I have reported the matter to the police. No one should feel scared to open up about as serious a matter as racism or be bullied once they have done so. This is another reason why Yorkshire's investigators must complete their inquiry into racism at the club as quickly as possible.

"I urge others who have suffered racism to not be cowed by such nasty characters. Revealing those experiences is the only way to make sure there is progress in sport and society."

While the majority of messages are simply abusive, one or two are specific and chilling. One, in particular, refers to the specific address of the post office run by members of Azeem's family and then asks: "Do you want it trashed or do you want to stop trashing Yorkshire CCC. It is your choice."

The club was quick to condemn such harassment.

"We are appalled to learn of the threats made against Azeem Rafiq, his family and his legal team and condemn them in the strongest possible terms," the club said in a statement released to ESPNcricinfo. "We understand that this is now a police matter and when the perpetrators are found we can confirm they will receive a lifetime ban from any premises owned or operated by Yorkshire County Cricket club or any of its affiliates."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins said he is optimistic about playing in Super Bowl LV on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after missing both previous playoff games because of a calf injury.

"Feeling great," Watkins said Tuesday. "Still working out with the training staff and [athletic trainer Rick Burkholder], just going over everything so I can have a chance and possibly go out there and feel 100% or 95% or 85%, wherever I get at by Sunday. Feeling pretty good, very optimistic. Been having good practices."

Watkins also missed six games during the regular season. He was fifth on the Chiefs with 37 receptions, 421 yards and two touchdowns.

In the final season of his contract, Watkins said he would listen if the team would like to re-sign him because he values winning and playing in Super Bowls over personal stats and money.

"I would say, let's win this Super Bowl and see where my head will be at," Watkins said. "It would definitely be something to think about. It would definitely be something I would talk to my wife and my kids about, to think about coming back. Would I love a third ring? For sure.

"I would definitely not say no about it. ... To come back and win a third one? Yeah. I don't mind. I would definitely have to sit and think about it, see what my future holds."

Neymar has agreed a four-year contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain after negotiations started a few months ago, sources have told ESPN.

The Brazil international's contract was due to expire in June 2022, and his new deal will keep him in the French capital until 2026. PSG made Neymar's extension a priority and the player was very keen to remain longer at the Parc des Princes.

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"I want to stay" Neymar said on Sunday in an interview on French television. Leonardo, PSG's sporting director, whose relationship with Neymar Jr. and his father has improved in the last year, was instrumental in the negotiations and the agreement found.

Leonardo wants to achieve the same result with Kylian Mbappe who is also out of contract in 18 months. However, so far, the France international has not decided what he wanted to do, extend or leave.

Neymar, who turns 29 on Friday, is delighted to continue his career in Paris and could sign very soon his new contract. Ideally, the club would like it all done before the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Barcelona on February 15.

Since arriving at the Parc des Princes in August 201 on a world-record €222 million deal from Barcelona, Neymar has won three Ligue 1 titles, to go with two Coupes de France, two Coupes de la Ligue and two Trophees des Champions.

He also finished Champions League runner-up last season, losing to Bayern Munich in Lisbon (1-0).

He reached the 100 games milestone for the club last week, before the defeat at Lorient on Sunday where he scored two goals.

EA Sports is coming back to college football.

After last making a college football video game in 2013, the possibility of the game returning had been in limbo. Now, it isn't. Daryl Holt, EA Sports vice president and general manager, told ESPN the game-maker will be returning to the space with EA Sports College Football.

"As we look for the momentum that we're building on in sports, it all starts with the passion of our fans and the opportunities of what they are interested in," Holt said. "I don't think there's a visit where I go outside wearing a piece of EA Sports-branded apparel that someone doesn't go, 'Hey, when is college football coming back?'"

It will -- at some point. Holt said there is not a date on when the game will return or even a date when the return will be announced other than it won't be coming back for this year.

To make the game happen, EA Sports partnered with collegiate licensing company CLC to make sure it had the FBS schools, traditions, uniforms and playbooks -- among other things -- ready to go for the game. Over 100 teams will be in the game.

For now, EA Sports is planning to move forward without rosters that include the names, images or likenesses of real college players. Current NCAA rules prohibit athletes from selling their NIL rights while in college.

However, those rules are likely to be changed at some point in the coming year -- by the NCAA, state legislatures or Congress. It's not yet clear whether the evolving rules will allow for the kind of group licensing arrangements that would be needed for EA Sports to negotiate with athletes to use their names in the game.

Holt said that EA Sports will monitor the NIL discussion if and when things change but that it's too early for that to happen. He also said what happens in NIL legislation will not change whether the game happens or when it will end up on shelves.

"We'll just keep tabs on everything as it develops, and we'll be ready," Holt said. "That won't be a problem for us. But it's really, that's not an answer for us right now to decide. We're as much passengers as anyone else.

"So we make sure we deliver what our college football game players would want in a game. And that starts with just a very immersive experience, and there's lots of things we can do to bring the true college game play and game day to the virtual world."

Holt said EA Sports is still in the very beginning of the process of game development, building out the team and deciding what direction it wants the game to go in. Conversations about bringing back the game began over a year ago, Holt said, and the combination of momentum of the company combined with the technology it has seen on next-gen platforms such as the Sony PS5 and Xbox Series X further bolstered its decision to return to the space.

"What we had as plans for growth and expansion of our portfolio, college football has always been at the top of my list, personally, working with the Tiburon Studio where it was made," Holt said. "So it was an easy conversation internally to say, 'Here is how we would approach it designwise, and here's how we can move that forward.'

"That's been going on for a while and certainly wasn't a 'Wait to see what happens here,' even as continued legislation gets proposed. It's more around what we think we can do around the game and for our [game] players."

One change from the prior iterations of the game -- for now -- will be the name of the game. In previous iterations of the game from 1997 until 2014, the title NCAA Football was used, along with the year. Before that, it was College Football USA for two years and, in the first two years of the game, Bill Walsh College Football.

Holt said the plan for the reboot will be to not have the NCAA name but use simply EA Sports College Football.

"It all starts really with where we see college football as going. There's a lot of things happening, and there's a lot of things happening in sports," Holt said. "EA Sports College Football gives us a name and a brand to kind of work around for some things that might evolve as well as what we're focusing on really out of the gate, which is really the FBS Division I schools and the road to the College Football Playoff and college football championship.

"So EA Sports College Football we just felt is the right name for the product for not only now but also as we move forward."

The game, whenever it returns, will be the first college football title since NCAA Football 2014, which had former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover.

ESPN reporter Dan Murphy contributed to this report.

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are progressing toward an agreement for an All-Star Game on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, a single-night event that encompasses a game between the Eastern and Western Conferences and skills competitions, sources told ESPN.

While a formal agreement has yet to be finalized, the NBA and NBPA have been working through the details of a scaled-down event that centers on transporting players in and out of Atlanta in a significantly shorter window of time than what would be required on a typical All-Star weekend, sources said. Safety protocols are among the details still being ironed out.

The NBA and union are increasingly confident that enough of the league's top players are willing to participate during a tight midseason break in this condensed pandemic schedule, sources said. Outside of the conference and NBA Finals, the All-Star Game is traditionally at the top of fan engagement for the league -- another motivating factor to salvage the event this season.

The raw financial impact of playing the game is immediately unclear. Because the league reduced the regular season by 10 games and doesn't have a separate All-Star Game television deal, the league also could have generated more revenue by filling the weekend with more regular-season games. The NBA and NBPA share roughly a 50-50 split in basketball-related income.

The NBA has made the All-Star event mandatory for players in the past, but opt-out clauses have been included in much of the pandemic, including the Orlando restart and the 2020-2021 regular season. That's believed to be part of the discussions around the All-Star Game as well, sources said.

The NBA has a midseason break set for March 5-10. The league is pursuing a truncated 72-game regular-season schedule, which includes a second-half schedule that has yet to be announced. NBPA president Chris Paul has been an advocate of the Atlanta All-Star Game idea, including a plan to use the game to benefit historically black colleges and universities and COVID-19 relief, sources said. Nevertheless, this is an idea that has been met with resistance and skepticism among both players and team executives. Even with protocol safeguards around the game, many see it as an unnecessary risk for the league, players and support personnel. The travel and safety protocols are expected to be similar to a regular-season NBA game -- flying in the night before on a private plane and flying out after the game.

Atlanta is the home of Turner Sports, which can televise the game without having to send its crew outside of the city. Even a game without fans -- or with sparse, socially distanced attendance -- would still require significant travel for players, support staff and league officials in the teeth of the pandemic. The typical hosting of corporate sponsors, a significant financial component of normal All-Star weekends, wouldn't be possible amid the pandemic.

The NBA had originally postponed a February All-Star Weekend set for Indianapolis. Indiana has since been rewarded with the 2024 All-Star Game.

Great Britain's rearranged tie against Mexico in the Billie Jean King Cup will be held at the National Tennis Centre and is likely to be played behind closed doors.

Victory for Anne Keothavong's team - which will be announced on 6 April - would put them into a one-off qualifier to be played next February.

The winner of that tie would reach a new-look 12-team finals in April 2022.

"There is a high likelihood that the event will be staged behind closed doors given the current restrictions, however the LTA will continue to review the situation and are keeping all options under consideration," the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) said in a statement.

Britain initially missed out on a spot in the inaugural finals by losing a qualifier in Slovakia in February 2020.

The tie against Mexico was set to be held in the North American country last April before the date and venue was switched because of the pandemic.

Ireland forwards Caelan Doris and Quinn Roux have been ruled out of Sunday's Six Nations opener against Wales.

Munster back row Gavin Coombes and Leinster lock Ryan Baird have been added to the Ireland training squad for the game in Cardiff.

Ireland report no other injury worries with captain Johnny Sexton set to train with the squad this week.

Iain Henderson also looks in contention to feature having not played since sustaining a knee injury in Ireland's Autumn Nations Cup game against Scotland in early December.

Sexton picked up what was described as a "minor muscle injury" in Leinster's win over Munster 10 days ago but said last week that he expected to be fit for the Cardiff game.

An IRFU statement said Doris had "flagged some symptoms that could be associated with concussion".

"He has returned to Leinster to allow his symptoms to be appropriately assessed and investigated.

"Quinn has a neck complaint that has not settled so he has returned to Connacht."

Doris, 22, has won seven Ireland caps with South Africa-born Roux, 30, making 16 appearances for his adopted country.

The Leinster back row was arguably Ireland's standout performer during the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup campaign while Roux would also have been in contention to play in Cardiff.

OCALA, Fla. – Ricky Thornton Jr. came from the 10th starting spot to take the lead on a lap 14 restart on his way to victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned K&N Filters Winter Nationals presented by OPTIMA Batteries Monday at Bubba Raceway Park.

Thornton recorded his second series victory and became the seventh different winner in the first eight races of the new season.

Mike Marlar had his best series finish of the season by finishing second, with Hudson O’Neal crossing the line in third. Devin Moran was fourth and current series point leader Brandon Overton rounded out the top five.

Brian Shirley grabbed the lead and held it for the first 11 laps of the race until Jonathan Davenport passed him on lap 12. Davenport’s lead was short-lived as he had trouble on a lap 13 restart when his engine stalled heading into turn one. Thornton took over the lead with O’Neal and Marlar behind him on the Delaware double-file restart. Thornton carried his momentum to the checkers to take the win by 1.1 seconds over Marlar.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the second time in his career, Thornton was elated with how well his year was going as he attempts the full Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule for the first time.

“The cautions helped quite a bit and cleared out traffic for us,” Thornton said. “We struggled at All-Tech and the first part of East Bay, though it was probably more me than the car. The ending at East Bay was a confidence booster and to come here and run as good as we did tonight definitely feels great and says a lot about our team.”

Marlar, like Thornton, is competing in his first season with the series and came home in second.

“That last caution pretty well did me in as far as a chance to win the race,” Marlar said. “Ricky was good. Congratulations to him, and thank you to my team and everyone that helps us out. We couldn’t do this without all of them.”

O’Neal recorded his fourth top-five finish of the season with a third-place result.

“We’ve had success early and it’s great being up front and competing for wins,” O’Neal said. “Thanks to Roger Sellers for giving me this opportunity and my team for giving me such as great race car.”

The finish:

Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Brandon Overton, Mark Whitener, Kyle Bronson, Bobby Pierce, Tanner English, Tim McCreadie, Tyler Bruening, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards, Brandon Sheppard, Billy Moyer Jr., Earl Pearson Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Dennis Erb Jr., Ross Robinson, Tony Jackson Jr., Tyler Erb, Kyle Strickler, John Baker, Rick Eckert, Frank Heckenast Jr., Jeff Mathews, Brian Shirley, Jimmy Owens.