Harry Gurney, the English left-arm seamer, will return to the Big Bash this winter after signing up for another season at the Melbourne Renegades, where he won the title in his first year in the competition.

Gurney, who played 12 white-ball internationals for England back in 2014, enjoyed a successful first season on the global T20 circuit last winter, playing for the Renegades, Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League, and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

As a replacement for Usman Shinwari, he played nine games for the Renegades last season, taking ten wickets with a miserly economy rate of 7.17 despite bowling half his overs at the death.

In the tournament's dramatic final, in which the Stars collapsed from 93 for 0 to 132 for 7 in pursuit of 146, he took 1 for 20 from his four overs.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo's Talking T20 podcast, Gurney described winning the 2018-19 edition of the tournament as a "huge career highlight".

"The Big Bash was a really special one for me," he said. "It's a competition I've admired from a distance for many years.

"To get a chance just to play in it I was over the moon with, so to go over there, play a key role, win a Man-of-the-Match award, and perform consistently and go on and win that trophy was a huge career highlight for me.

"I [usually] bowled one over in the Powerplay, one in the middle, and two at the death, and bowled really well at the death, going at sevens. That's sort of where I've built my reputation."

Gurney, 32, said that he is at the stage of his career where team success comes before individual targets.

"At my age, it's just about winning trophies - those are the best days of your life, so you want to recreate that as much as you can while you're still playing. Your focus becomes more team-based once you become more assured of your spot in the side.

"Early on in your career, you're focused on yourself and making your way in the game, you want to go on and play for England. Once you become a bit old and decrepit like me, you just want to win trophies really."

The regular season in this year's Big Bash has been condensed from 54 days to 42, in part to attract more high-profile overseas players who stay for the duration of the competition.

Last season, several teams used three or four overseas players over the course of the competition, with two players splitting one spot depending on their availability. Competition organisers will hope that Gurney's deal - which lasts the whole tournament - is a sign of things to come.

Chandika Hathurusingha's return as Bangladesh's head coach is closer to becoming reality after Nazmul Hassan, the Bangladesh Cricket Board president, said he could become a candidate for the job after the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh ODI series. Khaled Mahmud will be the coach of the team in an interim capacity for the Sri Lanka series, after Bangladesh parted ways with Steve Rhodes at the end of their World Cup campaign.

Hathurusingha had been Bangladesh coach between 2014 and 2017, and the only thing that seemingly stands in the way of his return to that position is the manner of his exit from the Sri Lanka set-up, which remains unclear. Hassan, one of Hathurusingha's biggest supporters during his Bangladesh stint, said the BCB is unable to talk to Hathurusingha and some of their other candidates right now, as they are involved in their current jobs. The BCB president also said the board would prefer a coach with previous experience of working with a subcontinent team.

"We have started the process to find a head coach, a fast-bowling coach and a physio," Hassan said. "Since the ODI series is about to begin, we are not allowed to talk to Hathurusingha. He will become a candidate when there's a break after this series, if he expresses his wish to come. We want a coach as soon as possible. We are in talks but some of the coaches are still involved in their present jobs.

"My first preference is that the coach must have national team coaching experience. We are also looking for someone who has previous experience with subcontinent teams. We are looking for coaches outside those who applied [for the coaching position] too. Top coaches have to be contacted through agents, so we are pretty much using all our avenues."

Hathurusingha still has around 16 months to go in his contract with Sri Lanka Cricket, the early termination of which is understood to come with a hefty severance package. Last week matters came closer to a resolution, when Sri Lanka's Sports Ministry handed SLC a written directive demanding the resignation of the national team's coaching staff.

SLC CEO Ashley De Silva was tightlipped on the matter, simply stating that the board would have to comply with any directive by the sports ministry, as per Sri Lanka's sports law.

"We have to abide by the sports law, and when the sports minister gives a directive we're compelled to abide by those directives," De Silva told ESPNcricinfo. "So this is something we're looking at, we've had discussions about it internally, and our executive committee will need to have a discussion with the minister about how to proceed and take it forward from there.

"We know there will be a lot of speculation until then, but since it's a very sensitive area we don't want to make a statement until a final decision has been made. We don't know if Hathurusingha is okay with resigning, we'll only know after we speak to him. He's aware of the current situation, but we haven't had a discussion with him as yet, so we just have to wait and see."

When questioned on the matter earlier this week, Hathurusingha kept his cards close to his chest. "As far as I am concerned, I haven't heard from anybody relevant to me that there's going to be a change in the coaching staff," he stated on Monday. "I have to just wait for what they're going to tell me and then I will make my decision."

Hathurusingha remains a favourite for the BCB president Hassan, though, who said that he likes coaches who have a win-at-all-cost attitude. "Everyone has a different coaching technique, style and thinking. We also have a thinking. I don't want to say much but some coaches feel that there's no point being serious about a game. But we also had coaches who wanted to win at any cost," said Hassan, who also came down heavily on Rhodes' tenure.

Nazmul Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, has come down heavily on Steve Rhodes' one-year tenure as coach of the national team. Hassan alleged that Rhodes did not seem serious enough about winning as a coach, did not push the players hard during a pre-World Cup preparation camp in Leicester, and was not involved in strategic matters. Rhodes did not respond to ESPNcricinfo when contacted about these allegations.

Rhodes was appointed Bangladesh coach in June 2018, with his contract set to run until next year's T20 World Cup. However, the BCB and Rhodes parted ways earlier this month, following the team's eighth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup in England.

Hassan said that the players had told him they did not get to speak to Rhodes, and that he did not address team strategies.

"We arranged for a practice camp before the World Cup, but nobody came. There was a cultural mismatch. He assumed that every player will practice on their own, but since our players heard it was optional, no one turned up. So there was no use making all that arrangement spending so much money."

"I saw the changes [in the style of coaching] when I was in Dubai for the Asia Cup final. We saw that things have changed. We waited. The players have told me continuously - after the New Zealand tour and also during the World Cup - that they don't get to speak to the coach.

"He only lands in the team meeting on the day before the game. He doesn't talk about strategy. He is just there. This is what the players have told me. I am telling you after listening to everyone. I never had a direct interaction. But from what I have seen, I felt that he doesn't match with us."

Hassan believed that a five-day break for the team during their World Cup campaign -in the eight-day gap between their matches against Afghanistan and India - affected the concentration of the players, even though the team had been given a break to freshen up. He claimed that players had gone to Europe and expressed his surprise that nobody had informed him or the board directors Akram Khan (present with the World Cup squad as cricket operations chairman) and Khaled Mahmud (team manager) of the break. However, the players had been informed of the break by the team management, led by Mahmud. and none of them visited Europe.

"There was a five-day holiday before the India game," Hassan said. "There's a difference between giving rest and a break. Everyone had left, so it broke their concentration. Maybe it is fine in their culture, but we feel that it doesn't match with our culture.

"Ahead of matches against two tough opponents, how does it feel to know that your players have gone to Europe? It is not acceptable. I don't care what anyone is saying. I don't think it was the right decision. You can give rest for two or three days. Their eyes and face should have said that they were thinking about the World Cup, the next two games. They haven't matured as cricketers to come back from this type of break."

"The biggest surprise was that I didn't know that the team was on holiday. It hasn't happened before. This was definitely a lapse but I am not singling out anyone. We had Akram [Khan] and [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon who were there but they also didn't know. They heard about it after the break was given, so how did it benefit us?"

Hassan claimed that captain Mashrafe Mortaza and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim were added to the squad on the morning of the team's last game against Pakistan, despite them carrying injuries.

"The night before the Pakistan game, I was with the players till 11.30pm. Mushfiq, with his hand in a sling, was telling me that he couldn't move his hand," Hassan said. "He was not in the squad. Mashrafe didn't practice the day before, and neither did he attend strategy meetings. He was also out of that game. These are just two examples.

"We had fixed the squad in the presence of the coach and everyone. But the next day we saw another team playing the game. These things haven't happened in the past. This is definitely a problem. We have decided that it won't work like this. We are not saying he is not good but the way the team was running, it was totally different from our thinking."

Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lakshan Sandakan and Lahiru Madushanka have missed the cut, as Sri Lanka announced their finalised squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh which starts on July 26.

As such there will be six changes to the squad that travelled to England for the World Cup, with Shehan Jayasuriya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso and Lahiru Kumara all coming in. Dasun Shanaka, meanwhile, is set to play from the second ODI onwards as a replacement for the retiring Lasith Malinga.

ALSO READ: Malinga to retire from ODIs after first match of Bangladesh series

Of the newcomers, Jayasuriya, Kumara and Hasaranga have the best chance of being included in the side for the first ODI. Jayasuriya, who is also a part-time offspinner, impressed in the warm-up game with a gritty fifty, legspin-bowling-allrounder Hasaranga had a wicket to go with an impressive 28-run cameo, and pacer Lahiru Kumara was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers in largely unhelpful bowling conditions.

Dananjaya, who is the only specialist spinner in the squad, will also likely feature, though Aponso's superior batting may figure in the minds of selectors.

Among those who missed out, Dickwella, who was out for three-ball duck in the warm-up, and Gunathilaka, who squandered an impressive start, will rue a missed opportunity to get back into the first-team fold. Both Sandakan and Madushanka, though, can count themselves a touch more unfortunate. Despite being named in the original 22-man squad, Sandakan wasn't even named in warm-up side, while Madushanka, who has impressed with the emerging team and was name-checked by captain Dimuth Karunaratne earlier this week, was available to play but featured neither as a bowler nor batsman.

Sri Lanka's finalised squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana.

LOS ANGELES -- The Pac-12 has agreed in principle to move its football championship game to Las Vegas when the Raiders' new NFL stadium opens in 2020 and remain there for at least two years, conference commissioner Larry Scott announced Wednesday.

Though the deal is not yet finalized, it is expected to be completed in the near future, Scott said.

"Our Pac-12 universities and entire conference are thrilled to have our 2020 and 2021 football championship event take place in one of the most anticipated new venues in sports," Scott said in a statement. "Highlighting and showcasing our programs on one of the biggest stages in a major destination market is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes, universities and fans, and consistent with our mission to create the best possible experiences for student-athletes."

In the two-plus years since the Oakland Raiders announced they would move to Las Vegas, there has been speculation that the Pac-12 football championship game would follow. The conference's men's and women's basketball tournaments already are held in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas' accessibility from a travel logistics standpoint within the Pac-12 footprint, in addition to the new venue, made it a logical destination, though the new NFL stadium in Los Angeles was also considered.

In 2020, the new stadium will also host the Las Vegas Bowl, which pits a Pac-12 team against either a Big Ten or SEC opponent.

The conference introduced the championship game in 2011 after it expanded to 12 teams and split into north and south divisions. For the first three seasons, the team with the best conference record hosted the title game. The title game then moved in 2014 to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Looking for a raise, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive back Jalen Ramsey showed up at training camp in an armored bank truck Wednesday.

At least he showed up. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue did not report to the team facility with the rest of his teammates because he wants a new contract, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Ramsey said after June's mandatory minicamp practice that his agent told him the Jaguars will not give him a contract extension in 2019. Roughly an hour later, Ramsey joked on social media that he's going to "ask for so much money, they have to put me on lay-away."

Ramsey, however, said then that he wasn't angry that he wouldn't be getting an extension this season, the final year of his rookie contract. The Jaguars picked up his fifth-year option, which means he would make $13.703 million in 2020 but the contract would be guaranteed for injury only, and the team could use the franchise tag on him in 2021.

Arriving to training camp in an armored truck brought the money issue back to the forefront. Ramsey rode in the back of the truck and had his own emcee, who grabbed a bullhorn and announced his arrival by saying:

"Y'all know what time it is. ... A man so good they're fixing to give him his own jail, Jalen Towers, because these receivers are on 24-hour lockdown. He's got eight Master Locks in his pocket. They're on lockdown all season. The man, the myth, Jalen Ramsey."

Ramsey, the No. 5 overall pick in 2016, has made two Pro Bowls and was named a first-team All-Pro once in his first three seasons. He has nine interceptions and 44 pass breakups and hasn't missed a start.

Ngakoue, a fourth-year player, had skipped the three-day mandatory minicamp in June, resulting in a fine of $86,650. He now faces a fine of $40,000 for each day he misses.

Ngakoue is due to make $2.02 million this season and wants a deal similar to the mega-contracts that pass-rushers DeMarcus Lawrence and Frank Clark signed in the offseason. Both players' deals are worth more than $100 million over the life of the contract. Lawrence received $65 million guaranteed and Clark received $62.3 million.

Ngakoue has recorded 29.5 sacks and 10 forced fumbles since he entered the league as a third-round pick in 2016. He has more sacks than Lawrence (26), as well as Dee Ford (25) and Trey Flowers (21), who also received new contracts that guaranteed them $45 million and $56 million, respectively.

Information from ESPN's Michael DiRocco was used in this report.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A big salary, an injury and some high-priced additions on defense spelled the end for Mike Daniels with the Green Bay Packers.

The team will release Daniels, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday, one day before the Packers' first training camp practice.

While the former Pro Bowl defensive tackle's release might have come as a surprise, Daniels was due to make $8.5 million this season -- $7.6 million base salary, $500,000 roster bonus and $400,000 workout bonus -- in the final year of a four-year, $41 million contract extension signed on Dec. 13, 2015, when he looked like a future star.

While the workout bonus already would have been paid, the Packers will save $8,312,500 in salary-cap space this season. His cap charge for this year would have been $10,712,500.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur said general manager Brian Gutekunst will address the move later Wednesday, but added: "I've been around Mike for a short period of time. I know he's meant a lot to this community, he's meant a lot to this football team. Obviously, having to prepare for him in the past, I still think he's a really good player. I wish him well.

"You always want to keep good players. Unfortunately, that's part of this business. There's tough decisions that you have to make."

The move came one day after the Packers signed fellow defensive lineman Dean Lowry to a three-year, $20.325 million deal.

The Packers believe they have plenty of depth on the defensive line, which is led by rising star Kenny Clark, who is under contract through the 2020 season. They also have Montravius Adams, a third-round pick in 2017, signed through 2020. They drafted defensive tackle Kingsley Keke in the fifth round this year and return backups Tyler Lancaster, Fadol Brown and James Looney -- all three of whom finished last season the 53-man roster.

First-round pick Rashan Gary and veteran free agent Za'Darius Smith, while technically outside linebackers, can move inside on the defensive line in certain packages for coordinator Mike Pettine.

The Packers spent $56 million in signing bonuses in the first week of free agency, including $20 million to Smith and $16 million to fellow pass-rusher Preston Smith.

Daniels, a fourth-round pick in 2012, made the Pro Bowl as an alternate after the 2017 season. He missed two games that year because of a hip injury, and he finished 2018 on injured reserve following a foot injury that ended his season after 10 games.

Daniels did not take part in any of the offseason practices, but indicated recently that he expected to be cleared for the start of training camp.

Lindsey Harding, who was hired as an assistant coach by the Sacramento Kings on Friday, said that "being afraid of the unknown," rather than concerns over whether they'll be respected by players, is all that's keeping women from ascending to head-coaching positions in the NBA.

"The question is always, 'Will the guys respect you? Can [women] coach men?' But when you get [to the NBA], the guys aren't the problem at all. That's the most fun part," said Harding, the former Duke and WNBA star who coached with the Philadelphia 76ers last season before landing a promotion on the Kings' staff.

"I think the whole thing is just being uncomfortable, or being comfortable in the unknown."

Harding told ESPN that she developed great relationships with several players, including point guard T.J. McConnell and forwards Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler, last season on the Sixers' bench.

"The moment you talk to any guy that plays [in the NBA], you say hi, here's who I am and what I've done, I've played [in the WNBA] or coached [in college], there's an automatic respect," Harding said. "It was as if I'd been an NBA player."

Harding joins the growing list of female assistant coaches in the NBA, which includes Becky Hammon (San Antonio Spurs), Jenny Boucek (Dallas Mavericks), Natalie Nakase (Los Angeles Clippers), Kristi Toliver (Washington Wizards), Kara Lawson (Boston Celtics) and Karen Stack Umlauf (Chicago Bulls).

"I think if you speak to any other woman that is coaching here, they would say the same thing about the players," Harding said. "They've been fantastic. The players have never been the issue. I guess it's just being afraid of the unknown.

"Because you can't say we don't know basketball when you have someone who has played in the WNBA or played professionally [overseas] for years, you can't really say that."

Harding said the growing ranks of female coaches should help close that opportunity gap eventually.

"This isn't the only job in the world that was difficult for women to break through," she said. "At one point, with every job, there was only one woman doing it. and then eventually other women start doing it. I mean, you don't think twice now when you see a female doctor."

Harding began her time in Philadelphia as a scout with an eye toward a career in the front office. But she pivoted into a coaching role toward the end of the season and in the playoffs.

The opportunity to join Luke Walton's staff in Sacramento came up very recently while she was at summer league in Las Vegas. She'd previously worked with Kings assistant coach Jesse Mermuys, when they were both on the Toronto Raptors summer league staff, and he recommended her for this position. In addition to being an assistant, she will be a player development coach as well.

Harding said Sixers general manager Elton Brand immediately encouraged her to take the opportunity.

"From her strategic and insightful approach as a scout, to her commitment to excellence and attention to detail as a player development coach, Lindsey Harding was fantastic here," Brand said. "I'm not surprised she is in high demand in our league. I'm thrilled for her promotion and opportunity in Sacramento."

Free agent forward Furkan Korkmaz has agreed to a two-year contract to return to the Philadelphia 76ers, agent Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports tells ESPN.

Korkmaz, 21, brings back a rotational forward with the ability to spread the floor with his shooting. The loss of JJ Redick in free agency - and Kyle Korver's decision to choose Milwaukee over Philadelphia - brought some increased urgency to keep Korkmaz on the Sixers roster.

The deal includes a guarantee on the deal's first year, league sources said.

The Sixers had declined his option for the 2019-20 season to create salary cap space, but brought him back as an unrestricted free agent. Korkmaz was the franchise's 26th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Turkey, where he enjoyed an impressive professional and national team career prior to the NBA.

Korkmaz has played two full seasons with the Sixers, including averaging nearly six points in 14 minutes a game last season.

Korkmaz's deal will include a guarantee on the first year of the deal, league sources said.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is not happy with the events that transpired to expedite the departure of Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers, saying it was "bad for the league."

Kerr said the trend of players who are not free agents forcing trades to get out of existing contracts, as evidenced by the Davis-to-Lakers deal, is a "real problem."

"I'm talking more about the Anthony Davis situation," Kerr told The Warriors Insider Podcast. "Where a guy is perfectly healthy and has a couple years left on his deal and says, 'I want to leave.' That's a real problem that the league has to address and that the players have to be careful with.

"When you sign on that dotted line, you owe your effort and your play to that team, to that city, to the fans. And then it's completely your right to leave as a free agent. But if you sign the contract, then you should be bound to that contract."

Davis, who had another season left on his deal with the Pelicans when he requested a trade to the Lakers in January, was dealt to Los Angeles in exchange for three players and three first-round draft picks in June.

"If you come to an agreement with the team that, 'Hey, it's probably best for us to part ways,' that's one thing," Kerr said. "But the Davis stuff was really kind of groundbreaking -- and hopefully not a trend, because it's bad for the league."

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly said he wishes trade demands "were handled behind closed doors" to avoid franchises being involved in very public tugs of war over the teams' and players' best interests.

"You have a contract and it needs to be meaningful on both sides," Silver said at the Las Vegas Summer League earlier this month. "On one hand, there's an expectation if you have a contract and it's guaranteed that the team is going to meet the terms of the contract, and the expectation on the other side is the player is going to meet the terms of the contract.

"I will say, without getting into any specific circumstances, trade demands are disheartening. They're disheartening to the team. They're disheartening to the community and don't serve the player well. The players care about their reputations just as much. And so that's an issue that needs to be addressed."

On the podcast, Kerr agreed there's a right way and a wrong way to the process.

"What LeBron [James] did, played out his contract. What Kevin [Durant] did, both when he arrived at Golden State and when he left. You sign contracts, you play them out and you move on. That's how it should be done," Kerr said.

"But it's a little disturbing that there has been some action that happens before contracts are up, where teams are sort of held hostage and the league is sort of held hostage. I'm not a big fan of that. That's damaging for everybody."