
I Dig Sports
Exhausted Woods skipping WGC-FedEx St. Jude for rest: 'I just want to go home'
Published in
Golf
Friday, 19 July 2019 03:37

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – It was always going to be a tough choice for Tiger Woods, who has repeatedly said less is more when it comes to his schedule, and he confirmed on Friday at The Open that it will be next week’s World Golf Championship in Memphis that will take the hit.
Following a second-round 70 that left him tied for 130th and well outside the cut at Royal Portrush, Woods said he won’t play the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in order to prepare for the playoffs, which begin in two weeks.
“I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the playoffs,” Woods said. “We've got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen.”
The event in Memphis was relocated this season from Akron, Ohio, where Woods won eight times, as part of the PGA Tour’s schedule makeover and falls at a difficult time for top players.
Had Woods played the event it would have been five starts in six weeks including The Open and three post-season stops. It would also mean Woods would likely play, if he qualifies for the Tour Championship (he’s currently 23rd on the points list), 14 times this season and that apparently is too much.
Woods also said that it wasn’t his play or his struggles this week with what he called a “sore” back that prompted him to skip the World Golf Championship. Instead, it was simply a matter of needing some time off.
“I had a long trip to Thailand [for a family vacation] and then trying to get ready for this event, to play this event, it's been a lot of travel, a lot of time in the air, a lot of moving around and different hotels and everything,” said Woods, who took four weeks off after the U.S. Open before The Open. “I just want to go home.”
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Can girlfriend caddie push Westwood, 46, over major hump?
Published in
Golf
Friday, 19 July 2019 04:31

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Lee Westwood is 46 years old, and he hasn’t factored in a major in years, but perhaps never before has he been in a better frame of mind at a big tournament.
Much of that credit belongs to his girlfriend, Helen Storey, who is on the bag in a major for the first time.
Lugging around a heavy staff bag stuffed with extra golf balls and rain gear, Storey has helped keep Westwood on course during rounds of 68-67 that put him only a few shots off the lead heading into the weekend at The Open.
“I’m 46 years old and still competing with these young lads,” he said Friday. “So there’s no pressure on me. I just go out there and have fun.”
The Englishman has nine top-3 finishes in majors, but during the prime of his career he was never able to stretch across the finish line. It seemed as though his time had passed – this is just his third major appearance in the past two years – but he’s been revitalized since linking up with Storey after his split with longtime looper Billy Foster.
“She doesn’t know much about golf, but she knows a lot about the way my mind works,” he said. “She keeps me in a good frame of mind and focusing on the right things at the right time. There’s more to caddying than carrying and getting the wind direction.
“I enjoy doing it myself. Get the yardage, pull the club, it’s all my responsibility, and I’m 100 percent clear in my mind what I’m doing.”
This week has been particularly pleasing for the couple – especially with bunker rakers assigned to each group. That frees them up to discuss only the most important topics, such as where to dine that evening and where to vacation later this year and, um, “whether there’s a nail file in the bag,” Westwood said.
“You’d be surprised the sort of things we talk about out there,” said Westwood, who then shared a story of the first time they worked together, a few years ago in Denmark. After Westwood took a massive divot on the soft course, Storey retrieved the piece of turf and returned to the bag with an uncertain look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Westwood asked.
“I hope there’s not a worm in this,” Storey said.
“It makes me smile,” Westwood said. “It’s a big advantage.”
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Barcelona have made Bayern Munich defender David Alaba their No. 1 target to provide competition for Jordi Alba, with Augsburg's Philipp Max and Real Betis' Junior Firpo being considered as alternatives, various sources have told ESPN FC.
Alaba, 27, offered himself to Barca through his agents several weeks back and is the club's first choice due to his versatility and experience at the top level.
Barca believe he would bring competition for Alba -- who is the only left-back in Ernesto Valverde's squad -- but also like the fact he can play in the middle of the back four after missing out on Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus.
In that sense, they view him fulfilling a similar role to that played by sporting director Eric Abidal during his playing career at Camp Nou, while he could also provide cover for Sergio Busquets in midfield if needed.
Despite Alaba's desire to make the move, negotiations with Bayern will not be easy.
"The player is interested in coming," a source at Barcelona told ESPN FC. "It's a complicated operation, but not an impossible one."
The Austria international has two more years on his deal at Bayern but his intention is to move clubs, even more so since the German champions invested €80 million in Atletico Madrid's versatile defender Lucas Hernandez.
Bayern are keen on Barca's Ousmane Dembele as they look to rebuild their attack following the departures of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
Therefore, with Barca reluctant to sell the Frenchman, they will not make things easy with Alaba. That doubt has led the Catalans to Augsburg's Max, who has been "followed continually" over the last 12 months, sources have told ESPN FC.
Borussia Dortmund are also monitoring his situation and, despite having a lower profile than Alaba or Junior, the 25-year-old defender was linked with Manchester United last summer.
Max, who grew up at the Bayern academy, has similarities with Alba and during the 2017-18 season provided 13 assists. Last season he played some games as a winger and finished the campaign with four goals and four assists.
Junior is a more attainable target. Betis are ready to sell him for less than his €40m release clause, but Barca will push for their first two options before turning to the Spain under-21 international.
Cheaper options have already been explored and rejected. Filipe Luis, without a team after his Atletico contract expired, and Alberto Moreno, who left Liverpool for Villarreal on a free, were both turned down.
Meanwhile, academy graduate Marc Cucurella, another option to provide competition for Alba, has joined Getafe on loan until the end of the season.
The Madrid-based side have an option to buy 60 percent of the defender's right's next summer for €6m. Barca had re-signed him from Eibar on Wednesday for €4m to facilitate the deal.
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Real Madrid have refused to rule out selling Isco and Marco Asensio if the money could be reinvested in signing Manchester United's Paul Pogba or another marquee midfielder, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC.
Madrid have already spent over €300 million shaking up a squad which failed in 2018-19, with Eden Hazard the headline addition to their forward line, and centre-forward Luka Jovic and winger Rodrygo also arriving.
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That puts the futures of Isco, Asensio, Mariano and Gareth Bale in doubt as coach Zinedine Zidane remains keen to add a new central midfielder.
Sources at the club have told ESPN FC that they would be open to selling Isco if a "big offer" is received and that Borussia Dortmund had made an initial enquiry, but the 27-year-old himself decided the Bundesliga club were not "important enough."
Sources close to Isco have told ESPN FC that he remains firm in his intention to stay, especially after his exile from the team under previous coach Santi Solari last winter was ended when Zidane returned as coach.
Madrid sources told ESPN FC that they want to keep hold of Asensio unless a "crazy offer" is received, with the 23-year-old being given one "last chance" to prove himself after his poor form last season. Sources close to the player said he is keen to take this opportunity to earn a regular starting spot during 2019-20.
The club are still looking to sell at least one big name this summer, although at this point even Zidane is accepting that it will be difficult to sell Bale at their €80-100m asking price.
Others more likely to leave in the near future include James Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez and three players who won the European Under-21 Championship with Spain this summer -- Dani Ceballos, Jesus Vallejo and Borja Mayoral.
Zidane remains hopeful that should more money be raised then it could become possible to bring in Pogba from United, although the Premier League club's valuation of over £150m continues to make that difficult.
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Alisson's first year at Liverpool: How the goalkeeper became the world's best and led Reds to CL glory
Published in
Soccer
Friday, 19 July 2019 07:56

"There were so many positives -- his physique, how he commanded his area, his comfort at building play -- but what immediately stood out was his decision-making. You can spend hours working on technical aspects, but you have to have the natural ability to read situations and react so that you make the difficult things look simple."
Liverpool's goalkeeping coach John Achterberg is talking about a time in 2013, when, hunched in front of the laptop in his home office, he began dissecting footage of Alisson Becker. His first impression was so strong that he began compiling an extensive dossier on Brazil's No. 1, who was just 20 and playing for Internacional before permanently displacing his older brother Muriel (five years his senior) and the World Cup-winning Dida in the position.
The army of scouts that scour Brazil for "The Next Big Thing" were zoned in on playmakers, but the young goalkeeper stood out to an unlikely talent spotter. Goalkeeper Alexander Doni, signed by Liverpool on a free transfer from Roma in 2011 and making just four appearances before his release, had taken note of the calm yet imposing figure wearing the gloves for Inter. He was convinced Alisson had an incredibly high ceiling and would quickly be considered elite at his position.
"I kept in touch with Doni after he left Liverpool, and in 2013, I asked him if there were any goalkeepers in Brazil worth following," Achterberg tells ESPN FC. "He responded without hesitation that I should check out Alisson at Internacional because he was going to be special.
"I watched him and his style of play -- he was comfortable with the ball, aggressive, positive -- fitted in perfectly with what we needed at Liverpool. But most importantly, he was excellent at doing the basics right and really well. 'Ali' would anticipate danger and make all kinds of saves: easy, hard, high, low. He had the physical aspects in terms of height at 6-foot-4 and his athleticism."
Achterberg had seen enough evidence over a long stretch to suggest Alisson could be a game-changer for Liverpool, and the coach pitched as much during transfer discussions. "He had the right profile, ticked all the boxes. He came into our recruitment talks about a year or two after the recommendation from Doni, and I spoke to his agent. The problem at that time was getting him a work permit for the UK, which would have been very difficult."
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Alisson's wife, Natalia Loewe, has relatives from Germany and Italy, so the pair were in the process of trying to get Italian-Brazilian citizenship when Roma spent a bargain £7 million to sign him in July 2016. As luck would have it, the move to Serie A encouraged Liverpool to intensify their analysis given the heightened technical demands of the Italian league. Alisson was frustrated as Wojciech Szczesny's understudy during his debut season in 2016-17, only clocking minutes in Cup games. But the Merseysiders already had the opportunity to examine him at close range in August 2016, during a preseason friendly defeat against Roma at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
"He played an impressive game, and I said to the boss [Klopp], 'That's the goalkeeper I keep telling you about,'" Achterberg says. "The next season, he was Roma's No. 1 and confirmed why he was so highly thought of."
By December 2017, Liverpool were not alone in viewing Alisson as a primary transfer target. Real Madrid and Chelsea had both made approaches to the player's camp, but the Reds had the advantage of the time and depth to their research. The Spanish giants realigned their sights and wanted to secure Thibaut Courtois from Stamford Bridge, which made the Blues the biggest threat to Liverpool landing their man. Chelsea dithered and eventually pursued Kepa Arrizabalaga as the Anfield side slowly chipped away at Roma, who were being obstructive with an initial base price of £62m in February 2018, which kept rising.
The closing months of Liverpool's five-year process of recruiting Alisson felt like football's "House of Cards." Talks would start and stall as neither the Premier League side nor Roma would blink in negotiations. During international breaks with Brazil, Philippe Coutinho, already at Barcelona after his £142m departure, was Liverpool's chief salesman, ably assisted by Roberto Firmino. They detailed the family feel of the club to Alisson and spoke about the city, Klopp's long-term vision and the adulation from the Kop.
The keeper, who had experienced the power of Anfield during Roma's 5-2 Champions League semifinal defeat in April 2018, was sold, but there were other obstacles. The Italians predicted desperation on Liverpool's part after the Champions League final in Kiev, where a concussed Loris Karius made two decisive errors as Real Madrid beat the Reds 3-1 that May. Roma raised their valuation to £90m, which threatened to completely kill a deal. It took them softening their stance to such an extent in July that the fee for Alisson dropped to a guaranteed £56m, with £9m in add-ons for the long-awaited transfer to finally be completed.
Klopp described Alisson as "one of the world's best goalkeepers" when his signing was announced on this day a year ago, but as Trent Alexander-Arnold has since stated to ESPN FC, "there is no one better on current form."
The 26-year-old is a Champions League and Copa America champion, pivotal to both triumphs with Golden Glove honours in those competitions as well as in the Premier League. He was labelled a "transformer" at Melwood, along with Virgil van Dijk, and there was confidence he would have as much of an impact on Liverpool's rearguard, results and psychology as the world's most expensive defender.
The squad's introduction to Alisson came at the lower floor of the palatial Hotel Royal in Evian-les-Bains last summer, where the club were based for a training camp. When he walked into the room in late July, there were audible gasps, with one player unable to conceal his excitement as he declared: "Get him in my f--king goal!"
There were pauses during Alisson's first training stints as his teammates stopped to marvel at and applaud him.
"Straight away he made impressions on the team with the speed of his reactions in the training games and how he restarted play," Achterberg says. "As soon as he caught the ball, it was 'boom, counter-attack!' because of the power and accuracy of his throws.
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The coaching staff believed the real challenge would come when Alisson made his first sizeable blunder. It came at Leicester City on Sept. 1, 2018, when he hesitated after receiving van Dijk's misdirected backpass in the second half, which allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to dispossess him and square for Rachid Ghezzal to score. Alisson didn't let the error affect him, and he owned up to it post-match, telling ESPN Brazil: "It was bad judgement, I made a mistake reading the play. I didn't get a very good pass. We have to learn from our mistakes."
How he reacted to the gaffe was commended in the dressing room. "He stayed positive, so the team stayed positive," Achterberg says. "If you play out from the back, there's always risk. The players needed to make quicker options for him so he could find a solution earlier.
"It's really important if you make a mistake, you realise it's gone and you move on, which is what he did. You have to be bigger than the mistake you made."
Clemer Silva, who coached the keeper at Internacional B, saw the very same attributes when Alisson was a teenager: He never lost focus after a fault. His effortlessness in high-pressure and testing moments means his brilliance is sometimes asterisked. That was the case with his save two minutes into stoppage time to thwart Arkadiusz Milik in last season's Champions League matchday 6 game against Napoli.
Liverpool were 1-0 up and had to win to progress to the knockout stages when Jose Callejon's left-footed cross fell at the feet of the Polish striker in the six-yard box with only the keeper to beat. The speed with which Alisson reacted to the danger, the intelligence of his positioning and his size, panicked Milik into sending the effort straight at him.
"The save Allison made, I have no words for that. That was, of course, a life-saver," Klopp said in the aftermath. But many questioned whether it was actually that good. It was an example of Achterberg's assertion that the Brazilian has a gift for making difficult things look simple.
Marco Savorani, goalkeeper coach of Roma and widely regarded as the best in his trade in Italy, made the same observation. "Alisson is able to make everything simple. He reads the game, is very calm and calculated," he said last year.
This line of thinking is not recent either. Daniel Pavan, who schools keepers at Internacional, had been witness to Alisson's development since he was a 10-year-old kid mimicking his brother; Pavan gave him the moniker "Iceman" due to his composure. Goalkeepers at Inter's academy were drilled to be in the right position and cover as large a portion of the goal as possible rather than constantly making elaborate, acrobatic saves. They were taught to be smart rather than showy.
Klopp regularly pinpoints Alisson's intervention against Milik as one of Liverpool's defining moments of 2018-19. For all the focus on the belief, bravery and goals that resulted in the Reds conjuring a historic Champions League comeback against Barcelona in the second leg of the semifinals, Liverpool's players often admit that without Alisson's one-man blockade against Leo Messi & Co., victory would have remained a fantasy.
His efficiency continued in the 2-0 triumph over Tottenham in the final, and as such, there was a shared pleasure among staff and the squad that UEFA's stellar, near 13-minute short film of the showpiece in Madrid ended with a shot of Alisson FaceTiming his family to show off his winner's medal.
Alisson has excelled on the grandest stages over the past year, his influence explicitly linked to silverware for his club and country. He has collected the three most prestigious goalkeeping accolades and went nine consecutive games without conceding in all competitions before reaching the Copa America final. That included shutting out Messi twice, for Barcelona and Argentina, as well as Harry Kane.
Since moving to Liverpool, he has kept the same number of club clean sheets (35) as he has conceded goals. Lev Yashin of Dynamo Moscow was the first and only goalkeeper to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or in 1963, but Alisson surely has to be a part of the conversation this year. He is too humble to consider himself a possible candidate, playing down such talk last month. "There are a lot of top players aspiring for that prize," he said. "I'm just a goalkeeper."
Roberto Negrisolo, the former Roma goalkeeping coach, previously provided the perfect counter.
"This guy is a phenomenon," he told Il Romanista of a player who was so far behind in terms of his physical development -- he was chubbier and shorter than his colleagues -- that his parents considered making him quit football at 15.
"He is the No. 1 of No. 1s. He is worth as much as Messi because he is as important as Messi. He's the type of goalkeeper who can define an era."
A year ago, Liverpool officials confided that £65m for Alisson would soon be seen as a steal. They were spot on, too: As Klopp himself admitted, Alisson is easily worth double as he regularly proved during the past 12 months.
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Niroshan Dickwella, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan recalled for Bangladesh ODIs
Published in
Cricket
Friday, 19 July 2019 08:15

A host of familiar names have returned to the fold in Sri Lanka's first post-World Cup squad, as the selectors named a 22-member ODI squad for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh. Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, Akila Dananjaya, and Lakshan Sandakan are some of the notable returnees, which means there's no room for allrounders Milinda Siriwardana and Jeevan Mendis, veteran seamer Suranga Lakmal, and young legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay.
The omissions come as little surprise, with Vandersay having seen minimal game time at the World Cup, Siriwardena and Mendis having failed to live up to their "three-dimensional" tags, and Lakmal not a regular in the limited-overs set-up.
With home conditions likely to favour spinners, Sri Lanka have stocked up in that department. Both Dananjaya and Sandakan have recently toured India with the Sri Lanka A team, and spent much of that time working on their game with national spin-bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge who was on on tour with them. Meanwhile the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga, Amila Aponso, and Shehan Jayasuriya will be eyeing up the spin-bowling-allrounder position in the side. Dhananjaya de Silva, who picked up five wickets at 39.40 in the World Cup, will also be an option.
On the batting front, the returns of Dickwella, Gunathilaka, and Dasun Shanaka will likely put pressure on what selectors had recently deemed a fairly settled top six. Dickwella scored two centuries and a fifty against India A recently, while Shanaka had shown glimpses of form on the same tour. Gunathilaka, meanwhile, hasn't played any cricket since a domestic provincial tournament prior to the World Cup, but has been selected on the form he had shown for much of 2018, which was disrupted by a poor disciplinary track record.
Lasith Malinga, who is set to retire following the Bangladesh ODIs, will lead a fast-bowling unit also including Kasun Rajitha, Nuwan Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara. Lahiru Madushanka will also be part of that contingent, though following impressive performances with bat and ball for Sri Lanka's emerging team in South Africa recently, the selectors may look at him as an allrounder option following the underwhelming World Cups endured by Isuru Udana and Thisara Perera.
Sri Lanka squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso, Lakshan Sandakan, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Lahiru Madushanka
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Eoin Morgan to represent Dublin franchise in inaugural Euro T20 Slam
Published in
Cricket
Friday, 19 July 2019 09:32

Several prominent current and former players were drafted into the six teams that will make up the inaugural Euro T20 Slam in London on Friday.
The six teams - two each based in Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands - each have one designated 'icon player' and one 'marquee player'. The identities of the icon and marquee players had been set beforehand but not which teams they would represent.
Amsterdam Knights got Shane Watson as the icon player and Imran Tahir as their marquee player. Similarly, Belfast Titans got Shahid Afridi and JP Duminy, Dublin Chiefs had Eoin Morgan and Babar Azam, Edinburgh Rocks got Martin Guptill and Chris Lynn, Glasgow Giants had Brendon McCullum and Dale Steyn, while Rotterdam Rhinos had Rashid Khan and Luke Ronchi.
The draft system meant there was a lucky draw to determine who got the first pick, with the subsequent rounds following the reverse order.
The first player to be picked was Ben Cutting, by Knights. Others who were picked up in the first two rounds included Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Ravi Bopara and Matt Henry. Shaheen Afridi was the first pick in the third round, that also saw Colin Ingram, Tymal Mills and Hasan Ali being picked.
Morgan, fresh from becoming the first England captain to win the World Cup, will have a homecoming of sorts playing for his city's franchise, Chiefs. "I am proud and delighted to participate in the inaugural Euro T20 Slam," Morgan said. "You only have to look at the calibre of international and local stars who have been selected to see that it's going to be an electrifying tournament across three new T20 locations in northern Europe. It's going to be incredibly competitive and I can't wait to get going."
The tournament has Anil Kumble, the former India captain and coach, as one of the board members on the league's advisory committee.
"It is encouraging to see the growth of cricket worldwide, and I am excited to witness teams from Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland competing against each other," Kumble said. "It will be a great opportunity for local talent to rub shoulders with some of the best cricketing talent worldwide."
The matches will take place in three cities - Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin - and the competition will run from August 30 to September 22.
Amsterdam Knights: Shane Watson (icon player), Imran Tahir (marquee player), Ben Cutting, Ahmed Shehzad, Sikandar Raza, Varun Chopra, Hasan Ali, Alzarri Joseph, Saad Bin Zafar, Tobias Visee, Roelof van der Merwe, Brandon Glover, Ben Cooper, Paul van Meekeren, Phillipe Boissevain, Wesley Barresi, Sikandar Zulfiqar, Tonny Staal.
Coach: Mark O'Donnell
Belfast Titans: Shahid Afridi (icon player), JP Duminy (marquee player), Luke Wright, Colin Ingram, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Ilyas, Aaron Summers, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Mark Adair, Boyd Rankin, Shane Getkate, Craig Young, Andy McBrine, Stuart Thompson, Greg Thompson.
Coach: Ian Pont
Dublin Chiefs: Eoin Morgan (icon player), Babar Azam (marquee player), Mohammad Amir, Harry Gurney, Daniel Christian, Robbie Frylinck, Corbin Bosch, Andy Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker, Josh Little, Simi Singh, Tyrone Kane, Gareth Delaney, Harry Tector.
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Edinburgh Rocks: Martin Guptill (icon player), Chris Lynn (marquee player), Corey Anderson, Matt Henry, Tymal Mills, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anton Devcich, Dwaine Pretorius, Waqar Salamkheil, Kyle Coetzer, Calum MacLeod, Mark Watt, Michael Leask, Craig Wallace, Gavin Main, Adrian Neill, Dylan Budge, Oliver Hairs.
Coach: Mark Ramprakash
Glasgow Giants: Brendon McCullum (icon player), Dale Steyn (marquee player), Ravi Bopara, Moises Henriques, Heinrich Klaasen, JJ Smuts, Usman Shinwari, Qais Ahmad, Richie Berrington, George Munsey, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Matthew Cross, Tom Sole, Scott Cameron, Hamza Tahir, Michael Jones.
Coach: Lance Klusener
Rotterdam Rhinos: Rashid Khan (icon player), Luke Ronchi (marquee player), Samit Patel, Peter Trego, Fakhar Zaman, Hardus Viljoen, Shaheen Afridi, Anwar Ali, Max O'Dowd, Pieter Seelaar, Scott Edwards, Fred Klaassen, Shane Snater, Stephan Myburgh, Saqib Zulfiqar, Vivian Kingma, Bas de Leede.
Coach: Herschelle Gibbs
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Rain wrecks England's hopes of Ashes fightback as Perry stars with hundred
Published in
Cricket
Friday, 19 July 2019 09:48

Australia Women 341 for 5 (Perry 116, Haynes 87) v England Women
As if it was not already clear that Ellyse Perry is the finest all-round cricketer in the women's game, she confirmed her pre-eminence on the second day of the Ashes Test at Taunton by converting her overnight 84 into a steadfast 116 that has put Australia in total command of both the match and the series.
It was Perry's second Test century in as many innings, having also racked up an unbeaten 213 at Bankstown in 2017, and by the time she was removed after five-and-three-quarter hours at the crease, she had amassed a women's Test record of 329 runs between dismissals.
On her watch, Australia batted England to the very brink of Ashes surrender, as she and Rachael Haynes added 162 for the fourth wicket, more than double the total when they had come together on the first afternoon.
And though both players fell in the final overs before lunch, that did not signal an upturn in England's fortunes - far from it. Instead, a bout of persistent rain swept across Taunton, blurring out the Quantocks and writing off 68 precious overs in which England might have begun to script their response.
In reality, however, the brief window of play reconfirmed the extent to which Australia have pulled away from their biggest rivals in the women's game. With 341 runs on the board and 200 overs left in the Test, there's only one side that can realistically win now, not least if Perry reprises the sort of bowling form that earned her 7 for 22 in the third ODI a fortnight ago.
For the time being, however, it was all about Perry's batting, as she and Haynes added 76 more runs in 32 overs of the morning session. They proceeded with caution but poise, withstanding a disciplined spell from Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole, who found the sort of full and probing lengths that had deserted them on the first day, but were unable to find a way past two solid techniques and dead-straight bats.
Having resumed on 84, Perry's progress through the 90s was glacial, in both speed and coolness. Both of her morning boundaries were things of beauty - a perfectly placed punch through the covers as Shrubsole offered a hint of width, before leaning on an effortless on-drive to ease Nat Sciver through long-on.
There was a bit of a stutter on the brink of her milestone - Haynes was over-eager in backing up on 99 and might have caused a run-out - but two balls later, a wayward shy from square leg gave away the vital overthrow to take her through to her second Test century.
It was another example of England's ropey fielding in the crucial moments. Meg Lanning had been dropped early in her innings on the first day, and now it was Haynes' turn for a life - a full-blooded pull bursting through Sophie Ecclestone's hands at square leg on 66. She couldn't quite make her luck count for three figures though - Laura Marsh straightened an offbreak into a planted foot as Haynes attempted to sweep on 87. A thin brush of glove went unnoticed by the umpire.
Perry's vigil had ended four overs earlier, as she galloped out of her crease to meet Marsh on the full, and scuffed a low clip to Heather Knight at midwicket. She grimaced as she departed, but not before an appreciative handshake from Knight herself, which was as much an acknowledgement of England's series situation as of Perry's supremacy.
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Hill won't face NFL ban, to return at Chiefs camp
Published in
Breaking News
Friday, 19 July 2019 08:10

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill will rejoin the team at training camp after the NFL determined that he will not be disciplined under the league's personal conduct policy following an investigation into allegations of child abuse.
The NFL said in a statement Friday that it could not determine whether Hill, 25, violated the personal conduct policy and will not suspend him.
"Based on the evidence presently available, the NFL cannot conclude that Mr. Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy," the NFL said in a statement Friday. "Accordingly, he may attend Kansas City's training camp and participate in all club activities. He has been and will continue to be subject to conditions set forth by the District Court, Commissioner [Roger] Goodell, and the Chiefs, which include clinical evaluation and therapeutic intervention."
Following the NFL's announcement, the Chiefs said in a statement that "it is appropriate for Tyreek to return to the team at the start of training camp," which begins July 27 at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.
"The club fully supports the conditions for return laid out by the league and will continue to monitor any new developments in the case," the team said. "We are glad to welcome Tyreek back to the team and look forward to the start of training camp next week."
Hill also released a statement via Twitter, in which he thanked the league, the National Football League Players Association and the Chiefs, among others, while vowing to continue to work hard as a teammate and a father.
Love you guys !!!✌? pic.twitter.com/QWKA7ia37i
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) July 19, 2019
The league left open the possibility of revisiting Hill's case should further information come out through police.
Earlier this month, Kansas City station 610 KCSP aired the full audio recording of an argument between Hill and his ex-fiancée, Crystal Espinal, in which the wide receiver denied committing assault and battery against Espinal -- a charge he pleaded guilty to in August 2015.
During the argument, Espinal accused Hill of abusing the couple's 3-year-old son, who had suffered a broken arm. The boy's injury led to an investigation into possible child abuse, but Hill was not charged with a crime, as the district attorney's office announced in April that it could not determine how the injuries were inflicted.
The NFL said it was not given access to information in the court proceedings.
"Local law enforcement authorities have publicly advised that the available evidence does not permit them to determine who caused the child's injuries," the league said.
A partial recording of Hill and Espinal's argument was broadcast in April by television station KCTV5 and led to the wide receiver being barred from the Chiefs' facility.
Hill had an eight-hour meeting with NFL investigators on June 26 to discuss the case involving his son. A league source told ESPN's Dan Graziano earlier this month that NFL investigators had heard the full recording and were factoring it into their discussions on potential discipline for Hill.
"Throughout this investigation, the NFL's primary concern has been the well-being of the child," the league said Friday. "Our understanding is that the child is safe and that the child's ongoing care is being directed and monitored by the Johnson County District Court and the Johnson County Department for Children and Families."
The Kansas Department of Children and Families has been looking into possible child abuse, battery or neglect.
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CHICAGO -- Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh stood by comments made Thursday in which he said controversy has followed former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer "everywhere he's been."
"I don't think it was anything that was new, or anything of a bombshell," Harbaugh said during Day 2 of Big Ten media days on Friday. "It's things that you all understand and have written about."
Meyer retired after last season in the wake of domestic violence allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith.
"Urban Meyer's had a winning record. Really phenomenal record everywhere he's been," Harbaugh said on The Athletic's "The TK Show" podcast Thursday. "But also, controversy follows everywhere he's been."
Meyer coached the Buckeyes for seven seasons and won a national title in 2014, but last season began with a three-game suspension after an investigation determined he mishandled allegations of domestic abuse against Smith.
Meyer returned and finished the regular season, but he announced his retirement Dec. 4. His final game came in the Buckeyes' 28-23 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl.
Meyer also won two national titles as head coach of the Florida Gators from 2005 to 2010, but he was often criticized for the number of off-the-field incidents involving his players. During his six seasons with the Gators, 31 of his players were arrested, some on serious charges.
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