England Lions 232 for 6 (Sibley 74) trail Australian XI 397 (Head 139*, Curran 6-95) by 165 runs

Two sights signalled this as day one of the Ashes campaign for England, though still in the afterglow of a scarcely believable triumph in Sunday's World Cup final over New Zealand at Lord's.

The first was that of the England selectors Ed Smith and James Taylor making their presence known by striding around the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, demonstrating their intent to finalise a Test squad, to face Ireland and then Australia, by Wednesday. The second came in the middle, where the left-armer Sam Curran obliterated the touring XI's middle and lower order with the second new ball on his way to figures of 6 for 95.

Where on day one the Australians had dominated through Travis Head and Matthew Wade as both sides kept one eye on events in London, now the spectre of a swerving Dukes ball in skilful hands was raised by Curran, a highly impressive performer in his first home summer as a Test player last year and likely to figure again this time around.

Alongside Head, who remained impassable throughout, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine and company would have hoped to bat well into the afternoon. However Curran was able to swerve his way through five Australians in the space of four overs, engineering the loss of the last six touring wickets for 17.

Marsh was first to go in circumstances that looked contentious - certainly the batsman thought so. Given out caught behind, Marsh made to remonstrate with the umpire, stood his ground for several moments and then trudged his way off with slow reluctance familiar to those who once watched Inzamam-ul-Haq for Pakistan.

Such a display of disagreement was not to be repeated by the rest, who fell with blinding speed. Paine was pinned in front of the stumps for a duck, Michael Neser edged behind, and then Chris Tremain was bowled first ball to have Curran on a hat-trick. Jackson Bird found three runs to avert that at least, but his exit was swiftly followed by Jon Holland shouldering arms to hand Lewis Gregory a third wicket.

The England Lions innings was thus underway far sooner than expected, and even as wickets fell regularly the Australians were unable to create quite the same level of mayhem throughout the rest of the afternoon. Plucky resistance was provided by Dom Sibley, spending precisely four hours over his 74, and James Bracey also hung around for a stand worth 89.

Curran was then in to bat for the final hour or so, playing attractively in the company of Sam Hain, who lofted Head for six down the ground before being well taken by Paine off Holland's slow left-arm in the day's final over - a reward for two tidy, thoughtful spells. That gave Australia's selection chairman Trevor Hohns, in attendance alongside Messrs Smith and Taylor, a little more to ponder ahead of Ashes squad selections.

Binghamton basketball player Calistus Anyichie drowned Sunday after an accident at a New York state park. He was 19.

The school announced Anyichie's death Monday, calling it a "heartbreaking loss for our community." Anyichie was entering his sophomore year at Binghamton.

Binghamton coach Tommy Dempsey tweeted that the program was "devastated" by the news.

pic.twitter.com/qYGbKFL8uV

— Tommy Dempsey (@tadempsey4) July 15, 2019

Authorities confirmed to the Ithaca Journal that Anyichie's body was found at the base of a 15-foot gorge in Buttermilk Falls State Park, located just southwest of Ithaca, New York.

Anyichie was pronounced dead at Cayuga Medical Center. An autopsy is expected to be performed, and authorities are investigating his death.

The 6-foot-9 Anyichie appeared in 32 games as a freshman last season, averaging 1.9 point and 2.1 rebounds. He was majoring in political science after being recognized as one of New Jersey's top scholar-athletes in high school.

"A talented young person has been tragically taken from us," Binghamton president Harvey Stenger said in a statement. "This is a heartbreaking loss for our community. We will do all that we can to be there for his family, for the team and everyone who knew Calistus."

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- During the final round of last month's U.S. Open, Jordan Spieth, long out of contention and coming off three consecutive bogeys, couldn't believe where his tee shot ended up on the 15th hole at Pebble Beach.

Spieth's ball was buried in the tall native grass on top of a deep fairway bunker. Spieth took off his hat, rubbed his thinning hair and drove an iron into the ground in frustration.

After waiting a few minutes for playing partner Sergio Garcia to hit his second shot from the fairway, Spieth became impatient and quickly whacked his ball out of the grass. Garcia turned and looked at him, apparently surprised that Spieth had hit out of turn.

Spieth salvaged par on the 15th hole, had birdie on 16 and then another bogey on 17.

After driving his tee shot into the thick rough on the right side of the 18th fairway, Spieth waited for the pair in front of him to clear the green. When they finally did, he drew back a hybrid, turned his hips and took an explosive swing at the ball.

It dribbled 75 yards down the fairway. He threw up his right arm and shook his head in disbelief.

The reinvention of Jordan Spieth -- or reclamation, depending on whom you believe -- continues this week at the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

There's no guarantee the next step won't be as ugly or frustrating as the past two, when Spieth finished tied for 65th at the U.S. Open and missed the cut at the Travelers the next week.

"Not anywhere near where I want it to be," Spieth said of his game last month, after shooting 73-69 at the Travelers, before taking a three-week break to prepare for The Open.

What once seemed so simple isn't anymore. The former World No. 1, who won so quickly and so frequently early in his career, hasn't claimed a victory in nearly two years, not since a three-shot win in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. That one, of course, is famous for his bogey from the practice range near the equipment trailers on the 13th hole of the final round.

"If not for my past success, I don't think I'd get as many questions about being in a little bit of a slump," Spieth said earlier this season. "I think people would look at me and say, 'He's coming along nicely.' But because of the success I've had, people don't look at it that way."

Spieth has had to answer questions about his lack of victories for much of the past two seasons. At the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in May, Spieth corrected a reporter who suggested he's in a slump.

"Was," Spieth interjected.

The reporter then asked if others walked around Spieth on eggshells or were awkward around him because of his subpar play.

"No, I mean, I didn't, like, go away from the game for five years," Spieth said. "I just happened to not win in the last year and a half or so."

What was once endearing is now being closely examined, too. All of Spieth's tics -- constantly talking to himself, his ball and his caddie, Michael Greller; backing off shots; or reaching for a towel before every swing -- are scrutinized.

When Spieth and Greller came up with the wrong club selections on consecutive shots in the opening round of the U.S. Open, TV microphones captured Spieth's terse reaction.

"Two perfect shots there, Michael," Spieth told Greller. "You got me one in the water and one over the green."

Spieth was criticized on social media for throwing his caddie under the bus. After the round, Spieth explained that he was frustrated they hadn't come up with the correct yardage.

"I'm going to be frustrated that as a team we didn't figure out how to make sure that didn't happen," Spieth said. "Yeah, I may have looked like the bad guy there, but my intentions were that we should be in play if the ball is hit solidly, and I was out of play on both shots."

Of course, none of it probably matters if Spieth is winning like he did so often in the early stages of his career. He has won 11 times on the PGA Tour and had three major championship victories before age 24 (Tiger Woods had only two at that age).

Spieth became the youngest winner in PGA Tour history when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic at 19. He won five times in 2015, including the Masters (he was the second-youngest golfer to win a green jacket, behind Woods), U.S. Open (he was the youngest champion since Bobby Jones in 1923) and Tour Championship. He won twice more in 2016 and three more times in 2017.

His game has often been in disarray ever since. He is ranked No. 38 in the world.

"Your expectations are what drives your mentality, and when he came out and had so much success, his expectations went through the roof," said Kevin Kisner, who played two practice rounds with Spieth at Pebble Beach before the U.S. Open. "His mentality when he tees it up on Thursday -- and it's this way with any of us, not just him -- you expect to have a chance to win. This game can be a harsh reality when things aren't working."

According to Kisner, Spieth was working on two swing changes before the U.S. Open. It's a continuation of what has seemed like a never-ending process as Spieth tries to regain form. Spieth even admitted during the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive that he'd been working on the wrong thing in his swing for months and needed additional time to make corrections.

"The things I've been working on are so drastic that it's just really difficult to try and play through it, I guess," Spieth said.

Cameron McCormick, Spieth's swing coach, did not respond to an interview request from ESPN.com.

Spieth isn't the first PGA Tour player to alter his swing. During the mid-1980s, Nick Faldo decided to change his swing, which he believed was unreliable and involved too much wrist. Under the guidance of coach David Leadbetter, Faldo's swing became more compact and efficient. The changes helped Faldo win six major championships from 1987 to 1996.

Like Faldo, Curtis Strange redesigned his swing from a powerful but erratic action to a more compact and tighter swing. After the face-lift, Strange won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1988-89.

"Sometimes it doesn't work out, but you've got have the patience to do it if it's going to be a long-term change and you're really committed to it," Strange said. "You've got to have commitment and patience because there's going to be a rocky road ahead of you, especially when you're doing it during tournament play. Then you finally get to a point where you're really practicing well, but now you've got to believe in it. Can you hit that shot to a corner pin when there's pressure on? It's tough."

Even Woods, who has won 15 major championships, has made dramatic changes to his swing at least three times.

Woods, after winning his first major at the 1997 Masters by a staggering 12 strokes with the lowest 72-hole total in history, completely overhauled his swing and started from scratch with the help of Butch Harmon.

After making the changes, Woods won once in 1998 and didn't win again for for more than nine months. Once he perfected the new swing, he won eight times in 1999 and nine times in 2000, including four majors in the two seasons combined.

"I was in it to find the answer to one question: How good can I be?" Woods said in the biography, Tiger Woods, by Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict. "I suppose I was searching for perfection, although that's not attainable in golf except for short stretches. I wanted to take control of my swing, and, hence the ball."

Despite his early success, Spieth was never considered one of golf's great ball strikers. During the 2015 season, he ranked 78th in driving distance (291.8 yards) and 80th in driving accuracy (62.9 percent of fairways hit). His greatest strengths were putting, chipping and his imagination around the green.

"The guy just gets the ball in the hole," said swing coach John Tillery. "He's one of the best scorers in history. When you're that good, it's easy to never feel like you're that far off."

In reality, though, Spieth's short game masked flaws in his swing.

"In my opinion, his stats from tee to green were never up to par with his record that he established early on," Strange said. "He was a great chipper and putter. I applaud him for trying to get better. But in the long run, you're trying to be a better ball striker. I hope he can accomplish that. He's certainly accomplished a lot with what he has."

Given how much Spieth won early in his career, and how much he has struggled lately, it might be fair to ask if his best golf is in his rearview mirror. Was his 2015 season, which was as good as many players' careers, as good as it gets? Most players would be satisfied with what Spieth has accomplished.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North, an ESPN golf analyst, doesn't think Spieth is too far away from returning to form. He points to Spieth's three consecutive top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial -- before the struggles at the U.S. Open and Travelers -- as an indication that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

"I think he's out of his funk," North said. "He's played some really good golf over the last month or two. If you'd look at any other guy with three top-10s in a row, you'd say he's playing unbelievably. But because he's coming out of a slump, everybody wants to talk like he's still struggling because he hasn't won. To finish in the top 10 three weeks in a row, that doesn't happen very often. You can probably count how many times it happens in a year on one hand."

And Spieth was in contention in two majors last season: He shot 64 on Sunday at the Masters to finish two strokes behind Patrick Reed, and he tied for ninth at The Open Championship. He didn't have a birdie in the final round at Carnoustie, where he finished four shots back of Francesco Molinari.

"If you put yourself in position enough times, the bounces go your way, sometimes they don't," Spieth said. "I had a chance to win two majors last year feeling like I had a 'C' game. I mean, that's realistic. I was in the final group Sunday of last year's Open at Carnoustie, and I woke up saying, 'How in the world am I in the final group at Carnoustie?'

"And that's not just me not believing in myself -- that's just legitimately, mechanically, how I felt through my swings. It just wasn't good compared to when I was on."

Finding that form again hasn't been easy.

"He's come through the darkest part, and he's doing some really good things," North said. "I think he's gotten through the worst of it and figured some things out. ... Winning is hard. It's hard to do it. You go through stretches where you don't do it, and if you're putting pressure on yourself, then you're really going to have trouble with it. There's no way you can figure it out. I think it's something we all go through."

The Cleveland Cavaliers will waive guard JR Smith on Monday, before his contract for next season becomes guaranteed, and he will become a free agent, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The news was first reported by Cleveland.com.

The Cavs have been looking to trade Smith since November because only a portion of his $15.6 million for next year is guaranteed. The team worked out a deal with Smith to extend his guarantee date from June 30 to July 15, boosting his guarantee from $3.9 million to $4.4 million, but were unable to find a deal.

By waiving and stretching the guaranteed money, the Cavs will move below the luxury tax for the 2019-20 season.

Smith, 33, played in only 11 games last season, agreeing to leave the team last November to await a trade or release. The 15-year veteran is a career 37 percent 3-point shooter.

The Philadelphia 76ers and star Ben Simmons have agreed to a five-year, $170 million maximum extension, Simmons' agent Rich Paul confirmed to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

The sides had until mid-October to finalize the extension of Simmons' rookie deal, but Paul and Sixers general manager Elton Brand completed the deal significantly sooner.

ESPN reported earlier this month that the Sixers had offered the max $170 million extension to Simmons, the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017-18. The Athletic first reported Monday that the sides had reached an agreement.

Simmons, the 2016 No. 1 overall draft pick, is one of the cornerstone stars for the 76ers. His teammates, including All-Star center Joel Embiid (five years, $150 million), Tobias Harris (five years, $180 million) and Al Horford (four years, $109 million), have been secured with long-term deals.

Simmons, who will turn 23 on Saturday, averaged 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists for the Sixers last season. At 6-foot-10, he has one of the NBA's most unique skill sets as a playmaker and finisher at the rim.

As Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway owner Kent Evans pondered the upcoming racing season, he struck on an idea he felt could spice up the 1996 schedule.

Indiana Sprint Week, a collaboration of Hoosier state short-track promoters, had worked passably well for eight years. The car counts had always been solid and the crowds weren’t bad either. Still, Evans felt this event had untapped potential. Taking the initiative, Kent spearheaded a meeting at a Martinsville, Ind., restaurant to discuss his idea.

Attendees included Paragon Speedway owners Keith and Judy Ford, Bloomington Speedway’s Mike Miles, USAC Vice President Bill Marvel and USAC Communication Director Dick Jordan. In retrospect, it was one of the most important gatherings in USAC history, and a turning point in a new era for traditional, non-winged sprint car racing.

As a result of an agreement forged by the aforementioned participants, Indiana Sprint Week became a USAC-sanctioned affair for the first time in 1996. The pact created a modest three-race slate with events at Bloomington, Paragon and Kokomo Speedways.

Kevin Thomas and Jon Stanbrough topped the first two rounds and in a memorable moment, Brad Marvel scored his lone USAC national series victory in front of his proud father to conclude the series at Kokomo.

Within a few short years, the series exploded, augmented by the appearance of stars from the West Coast-based Sprint Car Racing Ass’n. In a time when non-winged sprint car racing, once moribund, was showing signs of renewed life, this event was a godsend.

The uniting of the best traditional sprint car racers in the land added luster to this series within a series.  Not surprisingly, as the cars and drivers migrated from east and west in droves, the stands filled to capacity. Soon, what once seemed like a risky proposition was now viewed as a masterstroke.

Not wanting to be left on the sidelines, other tracks were anxious to join the fun. Now, as the 2019 edition of Indiana Sprint Week looms, this year’s edition of the event is scheduled to include eight races over a 10-day stretch during July.

The slate features stops at Gas City I-69 Speedway, Plymouth Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Bloomington Speedway, Terre Haute Action Track, Lincoln Park Speedway and the finale at Tri-State Speedway.

Today, Indiana Sprint Week is no longer a regional phenomenon but has become a destination racing vacation for sprint car fans.

This must-see event tests the stamina of spectators and participants alike. Yet, for those who race for a living, it can be the pivotal moment in the campaign. From a logistical perspective, the June swing through the East can prove to be a greater challenge. For teams based in the Indianapolis area, finding the parts and the space to work is challenging when disaster strikes miles from home.

However, timing is everything. When the schedule turns to mid-July, those in contention for the USAC crown know they have reached winning time. The pressure grows exponentially.

Nothing underscored the importance of every single race more than the 2018 USAC championship tussle. In the end, Tyler Courtney and Kevin Thomas Jr. ended the year tied in points, and Courtney walked away with the top prize by virtue of his edge in feature victories.

Unquestionably, Thomas had quiet moments during the offseason in which he pondered where a stroke of bad luck or a quick decision in traffic thwarted his night. Just one more point would have made all the difference.

Chris Windom, the 2017 USAC sprint car champion, deems Sprint Week “the turning point of the season. When you come out of sprint week, you know who is going to be in the chase for the rest of the year.”

The 2019-20 season is just a month away and some of the biggest names in football go into the campaign with question marks over their future, both on and off the pitch.

Where will they be playing, and when they get their boots on, can they deliver and live up to their reputations?

- When does the transfer window close?
- All major completed transfer deals

NEYMAR

Wherever the Paris Saint-Germain forward is playing his football next season -- and the most likely outcome is that he remains at PSG due to the sheer cost of trying to sign him -- he simply has to get back to being a footballer first and a celebrity a distant second.

At 27, the Brazilian should be at the peak of his career, but he has endured two injury-hit seasons in Paris since becoming the world's most expensive player following his €222m switch from Barcelona in 2017. He has also had issues off the pitch, having been accused of raping a woman at a Paris hotel in May (which he denied) and was criticised by PSG chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi for his lifestyle away from football.

PSG signed Neymar to take the club to the next level in the Champions League, yet they have not gone beyond the round of 16 since he arrived. A three-match ban hangs over him after last season's exit against Manchester United, when he was sanctioned for insulting match officials on social media while injured, so if he stays in Paris he really needs to start delivering.

PHILIPPE COUTINHO

Little has gone right for the Brazilian since his £142m move from Liverpool to Barcelona in Jan 2018 and this summer's arrival of Antoine Griezmann at Camp Nou is more bad news for the 27-year-old.

Booed by his own fans last season, Coutinho has cut an unhappy figure with the Spanish champions and a move would appear to be the best solution for player and club.

Barca are making it clear that Coutinho is not for sale, but with potential of interest from the Premier League before the English window closes on Aug. 8, there is a chance that the forward will get the chance to rebuild his career elsewhere.

A loan move looks most likely for Coutinho unless Barca are prepared to take a huge loss on their initial outlay.

PAUL POGBA

Paul Pogba's future at Manchester United has now been a rumbling saga for over a year, with the midfielder upping the ante this summer by admitting recently that he wants a new challenge elsewhere.

United are determined not to sell and value him at over £150m anyway, so with potential buyers such as Real Madrid and Juventus committing their transfer funds elsewhere, there is an increasing likelihood that Pogba will still be at Old Trafford next season.

If he does stay, Pogba must show what he is capable of on a more consistent basis, otherwise the big clubs will look elsewhere and the United supporters, who have already started to lose patience, could become hostile towards their £89.3m star signing.

JOHN STONES

The Manchester City defender was signed by the club for £47.5m in 2016 to become the long-term replacement for Vincent Kompany, with Pep Guardiola comparing the England man to a young Gerard Pique.

But while Stones has since helped City to two Premier League titles and both domestic cups in England, the 25-year-old has seen his development stall at the Etihad, with Aymeric Laporte moving ahead of him as the cornerstone of the defence.

Kompany's departure at the end of last season has opened up a vacancy alongside Laporte at the heart of the defence, but with Guardiola still to be convinced by the former Everton defender's consistency, Stones faces a make-or-break season at City.

ALEXIS SANCHEZ

Having scored just five goals in 45 appearances for Manchester United since arriving from Arsenal in January 2018, Sanchez has been a huge disappointment at Old Trafford.

Injuries, Jose Mourinho's tactics and a general loss of form by the Chilean have all conspired against him in a United shirt, but with striker Romelu Lukaku likely to leave for Italy this summer and few, if any, takers for Sanchez due to his £400,000-a-week wages, the 30-year-old will get the chance to prove his worth under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But the big question about Sanchez, and the one that only he can answer, is whether he still has the desire and energy to turn his situation around at United. If the answer is yes, United will have a world-class forward to call upon.

DELE ALLI

Remember when Dele Alli was being billed as English football's next thing -- a goal-scoring midfielder destined to end up at Real Madrid or Barcelona? Still only 23, the Tottenham player faces a big season in 2019-20 because his progress has slowed alarmingly for his club, and he is no longer certain of his place in the England team.

Having hit 10 and then 18 goals in his first two Premier League seasons with Spurs, Alli scored 9 in 2017-18 before netting just five last season, so it is clear where his game has deteriorated.

He still has time on his side to rediscover the form that made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe, but Alli needs to perform.

GARETH BALE

It is the same old story every summer for Gareth Bale. His Real Madrid future is always the subject of intense speculation, but with coach Zinedine Zidane making it clear that the Welshman will not be a central figure in his plans, this time around might finally signal the end of his six-year spell at the Bernabeu.

But Bale is 30 on Tuesday and is on huge wages at Real, so potential buying clubs will not be prepared to spend a big fee to land a player who, while clearly a world-class talent, has been plagued by injury problems in recent seasons.

Bale has vowed to fight on in Madrid, yet a loan move elsewhere looks the most likely outcome, and it could be a last-minute deadline-day deal that finally resolves his future.

ANTHONY MARTIAL

A player with undoubted talent, Anthony Martial must prove he belongs in the Premier League with Manchester United.

The 23-year-old enjoyed his second-best season in terms of Premier League goals at United last term, hitting 10 in 36 appearances, but he always leaves the impression that there is so much more to come.

When he signed for United in 2015, he was touted as one of the most exciting young players in Europe, but he has since been eclipsed by the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, so can Martial become a 20-goal-per-season forward, or have we already seen the best of him?

MESUT OZIL

The Arsenal midfielder divides opinion like few others. Many regard him as a luxury player who is out of place in the modern game, while others point to his ability to turn a game with a pass or moment of brilliance.

Arsenal coach Unai Emery appears to have a foot in both camps, although there were many times last season when the Spaniard's patience with Ozil looked to have run out.

Still, in 166 Premier League games for Arsenal, Ozil has scored 32 goals and racked up 52 assists, so his numbers deserve respect. But can he still do it, and more pertinently, does he want to?

JORGINHO

The Chelsea midfielder was key figure in Maurizio Sarri's passing style last season, but Premier League opponents quickly realised the Italy international was too slow and lightweight to inflict real damage.

Sarri stuck with him, however, and towards the end of the season, Jorginho began to win over the Chelsea fans and show signs of being able to make a difference in English football.

But he now faces perhaps the biggest challenge of his Chelsea career: persuading new manager Frank Lampard that he can fit into his system. It is not just a make-or-break season for Jorginho -- it could be make-or-break in the opening month of the campaign.

BCB director Khaled Mahmud is "close" to becoming Bangladesh's temporary head coach for the upcoming three ODIs against hosts Sri Lanka, according to his colleague Akram Khan, the chairman of the cricket operations committee.

Mahmud will replace Steve Rhodes who was removed from the head coach's position last week through "mutual consent" after the BCB reviewed his performance following their World Cup campaign.

"Khaled Mahmud is close to becoming the senior team's temporary coach. The board will confirm the decision in a couple of days," Akram said but didn't comment on whether Mahmud continues to be a board director at the same time.

This is the second time Mahmud will become a director-coach after he took over in a temporary role (called the team's technical director) following Chandika Hathurusingha's resignation in October 2017. Mahmud has several roles in the BCB and within Bangladesh cricket, including that of the senior team's manager and selector, vice-chairman of the cricket operations committee, chairman of the game development committee and vice-chairman of the high performance committee

Mahmud is also the coach of Dhaka Premier League side Abahani Limited and the BPL's Dhaka Dynamites franchise, as well as head coach of Bangla Trac Cricket Academy. He recently said that he wouldn't mind leaving the BCB directorship if given a long-term coaching role with the Bangladesh team.

Meanwhile, Wasim Jaffer and Champaka Ramanayake, currently working as the BCB's high performance batting and bowling coach respectively, will be the senior team's batting and bowling consultants for the Sri Lanka tour. Both places in the team's coaching staff became vacant after the board didn't renew Courtney Walsh's contract after the World Cup while Neil McKenzie, the team's white-ball batting coach, is currently on leave.

"We have given charge to Wasim Jaffer and Champaka Ramanayake in these two roles. Since the series was arranged much later, McKenzie had already asked for a leave during the same time," Akram said.

Ramanayake had rejoined the BCB two years ago as a bowling coach, while Jaffer joined in May after he had impressed his Abahani coach Mahmud with his batting performance as well as the time he spent with the other batsmen in the nets.

The Bangladesh team is leaving for Sri Lanka on July 20, but with BCB chief Nazmul Hassan unlikely to return until the day before, the decision to appoint Mahmud and the rest of the temporary staff is looking like a last-minute call.

Fakhar Zaman, the Pakistan opener, has signed for Glamorgan for the first half of their Vitality Blast campaign as a replacement for the injured Shaun Marsh.

Marsh was ruled out of the closing stages of the World Cup with a fractured forearm, suffered while batting in the nets against Pat Cummins, and the club hope he will be available for the final six group games.

Zaman underwhelmed in the World Cup with 186 runs in eight innings, and only one score above 50, but has an impressive T20 record. He was Lahore Qalandars' leading run-scorer in an otherwise underwhelming PSL campaign this year.

The move will be Zaman's first stint in county cricket, though he briefly signed for Somerset in 2017 only to be recalled by the PCB for a training camp the day before he was due to fly to the UK.

Glamorgan will start their Blast campaign with only one overseas player, with their other signing - Mitchell Marsh - part of Australia's 25-man preliminary squad for the Ashes, though Colin Ingram rejoins on a Kolpak deal as captain.

Zaman holds fond memories of playing at Cardiff, which date back to his debut tournament for Pakistan, the 2017 Champions Trophy. Then, he made 57 off 58 in a partnership of 118 in their semi-final victory against England at the ground, the game before his memorable century in the final against India.

Glamorgan's director of cricket, Mark Wallace, said: "It is disappointing to lose Shaun Marsh for the start of the competition but to secure the services of Fakhar on short notice is great news for the club. He is a fantastic cricketer and one of the most destructive batsmen in the world who has a history of performing in big matches."

Glamorgan start their campaign on Thursday night against Somerset, before travelling to play Gloucestershire at Cheltenham the following afternoon.