Australia women's nine-wicket win in the final ODI over Sri Lanka women at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Wednesday was a world record - their 18th win in a row in the format, surpassing the run by the team led by Belinda Clark between 1997 and 1999. Meg Lanning, the captain of the record-setting team, was modest at the post-match press interaction, but conceded that it was a "very special" achievement.

"It's a special group to be a part of, especially over the last couple of years, probably since that 2017 World Cup [they lost in the semi-final to India] - it was a turning point for our group and we really did change a few things around, and we needed to, to be in the position we are now," Lanning said. "Everyone's put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and to be able to get the record off the Belinda Clark team is certainly very special because there have been some amazing cricketers who have come before us.

"We speak a lot about making sure we look back at the past and understand what has come before us, because they certainly laid the foundation for where we are today. It's important that we recognise that."

The latest win was as commanding as you'd expect from this team. First, Nicola Carey and Jess Jonassen kept things tight and Georgia Wareham and Megan Schutt picked up a couple of wickets each to keep Sri Lanka to 8 for 195 despite Chamari Atapattu's 103. Then Alyssa Healy came out to bash an unbeaten 76-ball 112 and, with Rachael Haynes hitting 63 and Lanning 20 not out in 11 balls, the target was crossed in 26.5 overs. The series was wrapped up 3-0, and the lead at the top of the Women's Championship table over England has now stretched to eight points (from one fewer game).

"The WBBL prepares you extremely well for international cricket, it gets you in front of crowds, on TV, and the style of cricket is great as well. I've got no doubt that that's lifted the ability within our team" Alyssa Healy

"It's something we have made a bit of a habit of, of finishing off series really well," Lanning said. "I know there's been a lot of talk in the media about the record, but I can honestly say that within our group, we haven't really spoken about it. We go into every game to try to win it. So it was no different today. So to finish it off in style was a great effort. We spoke about making sure we do that because we do sort of split up now as a group [for the Women's Big Bash League]. I thought everyone did a great job, the bowlers especially, and Midge [Healy] and Rach with the bat."

Adding a bit of flavour to the record-breaking win was Clark's presence at the Field. Healy joked, "She just turns up at the opportune times! It's the end of the series, and hey, there's Belinda!" Lanning, meanwhile, pointed out that Clark had set yet another target for the team: "She sent me a message saying that her team only lost two games out of 33, so we need to keep going. So we've got one record, but we need to make sure we keep going. So we're under strict instructions."

Not just that, there's one more record up for the Australians to target: the most ODI wins in a row, irrespective of gender, which currently stands at 21 in the name of the Australia men's team, achieved between January and May 2003 under Ricky Ponting. That has to wait, though, because of the WBBL, as Australia next play ODI cricket in March in South Africa. "We'll give it a crack," Lanning promised.

It's over to the WBBL then. And Healy, for one, is sure that the tournament will give the Australians the perfect way to prepare for the 2020 T20 World Cup, to be played at home in February-March next year.

"World Cups are extremely difficult to win, and we've experienced the highs and lows of World Cups over the last four-five years, so we've obviously got a bit of a chance to go into a different environment and keep improving our games and adding things to our game and that sort of thing," she said. "Our group is hungry as ever to keep improving, and keep being successful. Once we get back together as a group [after the WBBL], hopefully [we will] continue to be successful.

"I think the WBBL prepares you extremely well for international cricket, it gets you on the big stage in front of crowds, on TV, and the style of cricket is great as well; the world's best players from overseas and Australia playing, and it's a great standard. I've got no doubt that that's lifted the ability within our team and, as we have seen over the last two tours, we have brought players in who have been playing state cricket for a while and WBBL, and they have fitted in seamlessly and have looked at home on the international stage."

And Healy has built up nicely to the WBBL, doing one of the things in the last game she hasn't always managed to despite her staggering form: finish an ODI chase.

"I guess a little bit of a mental thing [getting out]," she said in response to a question. "I was saying to Meg today, often when I get to 60-odd I hit one in the air, so it's all a bit weird. But to be able to be clinical and finish off the series really well, and be not out, is probably not something I have done a lot. So to do it today was obviously pleasing."

Jason Gillespie will remain as Sussex head coach at least until the end of the 2022 season, after agreeing a contract extension.

Gillespie, who won the County Championship with Yorkshire in consecutive seasons in 2014 and 2015, moved to Hove at the start of the 2018 season but has so far been unable to oversee the side's return to Division One.

However, Sussex have enjoyed more success in one-day cricket, reaching the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast in both of his seasons in charge, including to the final in 2018.

His stature as a coach, including his links to the BBL franchise Adelaide Strikers, has also been helpful in attracting a high calibre of overseas players, including Alex Carey, Mir Hamza, Travis Head, Rashid Khan and Ishant Sharma.

"I'm absolutely delighted to extend my time at Sussex," said Gillespie. "I absolutely love the place and everyone at the club has been fantastic since I joined.

"I really feel we're moving in the right direction, which is really pleasing. I can't fault the efforts of all our players and coaches. We're all on the same page; everyone wants what's best for the club, and I feel we're progressing in reaching those aims.

"We've had some really good times together, and we've had some challenging times, but we're all clear about what we're setting out to achieve and focussed on improving and developing to keep us moving forward.

"That's a pretty special thing to be part of. I want to thank the club for the opportunity to carry on being part of that and for showing faith in me. I'm determined to repay that faith by keeping things moving in the right direction and hopefully having some success down the track."

Rob Andrew, Sussex Cricket's chief executive added: "We are delighted to announce that Dizzy [Gillespie] has extended his contract through to 2022. There is going to be a lot of change in cricket over the next couple of years and we wanted some continuity through this period.

"We still have a lot of work to do to improve the men's side and we were disappointed not to achieve promotion to division one of the County Championship this season. It is where the club aspires to be.

"We have been more consistent in our performances in T20 and 50-over cricket in the last couple of years but need to find that consistency in Championship cricket as well. Dizzy and his coaching team will be working hard to move the club forward and we are delighted he has chosen to help us on this journey."

Britain's Heather Watson and Harriet Dart have been knocked out of the Tianjin Open women's doubles.

The pair were beaten 6-4 4-6 2-10 by China's Zhu Lin and Han Xinyun.

The British pair took the first set but were forced into a tie break after losing the second and struggled to find momentum, handing the Chinese duo victory.

Watson, 27, is in singles action on Thursday 10 October as she plays second seed Wang Qiang in the second round.

Dart, 23, was knocked out by qualifier Kurumi Nara on Tuesday.

On Sunday Chris Wyatt will watch his final game in Japan. His 43rd World Cup match since 2011.

Forty three games in three men's tournaments. His favourite one to date?

"The one that I really enjoyed the absolute most was between Georgia and Namibia in Exeter [in 2015]," says Wyatt.

"Namibia nearly got their first World Cup victory, it was 17-16 to Georgia.

"That one kind of stands out for me, it was a great crowd and a great day."

For Wyatt, a Baltimore native who last month concluded 36 and a half years of active duty with the United States Army, the joy of the World Cup is found primarily in experiencing what every team, and their fans, bring to the party.

By the time he leaves Japan he will have seen 18 of the 20 teams at this tournament.

"I only do the pool stage because to me that's much more fascinating," he says.

"You see the minnows, and you never get to see them otherwise. I mean when do I get to see Georgia play?"

Eighteen games in 29 days

Wyatt cuts a restless figure when we meet on platform four of Shin-Yokohama station on the fourth day of the tournament.

Having undertaken the mission of watching 18 games in 29 days, there is little margin for error when it comes to travelling around a country the size of Japan.

It's early afternoon but Wyatt needs everything to run like clockwork if he is to make kick-off between Wales and Georgia some 300km away in Toyota city.

Luckily for him, this is Japan. The train says it's arriving at 14:19, so it does.

Even with the help of a ruthlessly efficient rail network, Wyatt's trip needs to be planned with military precision.

No problem for a man who has spent the best part of four decades planning things to that end.

In a career that saw him travel the globe several times over, Wyatt spent much of his time in Africa as a Foreign Area Officer and served as the Director of African Studies for the US Army War College.

Although his love affair with rugby union began as a college freshman in 1982, it was not until a conversation with an Australian colleague in Liberia 25 years later that the idea of travelling to a World Cup began to take shape.

When watching South Africa defeat England in the 2007 showpiece, a plan to meet at the tournament in New Zealand in four years' time was agreed.

Maximising the World Cup experience

And so to 2011, where fortuitous circumstances allowed Wyatt to take the short notice leave required to turn his World Cup pipe dream into a reality.

Upon arrival and with no tickets, Wyatt used the situation as a blank canvas to formulate the process that he still uses when working out his World Cup roadmap.

"I drove into Auckland and looked at where I could go," he explained.

"There was one in Hamilton, Wales against Samoa, so I drove down there and wound up buying a ticket from a guy. Six rows up, centre of the pitch.

"That night I got a hotel room. I didn't have any other matches booked so I went online and I made a plan."

The plan was based not on the best rugby, but on the best experience.

"What's feasible, what can I do to see the country and learn something about it?" Wyatt said.

"Springboks games are a priority, then USA games and then any other team I can see."

The fans make the tournament

Since 2011 there have been five World Cups, three men's and two women's, Wyatt has been to every one with each trip becoming more ambitious than the last.

His 18-game trip to Japan is his most ambitious yet and by the close of Sunday's group stage he will have travelled to nine of the 12 venues and watched every team barring the hosts and Argentina.

Missing out on seeing Japan in front of their own fans is a shame. The Brave Blossoms have so far lit up the tournament with their exhilarating brand of rugby matching the atmosphere created by the home fans.

Thankfully though, the presence of local fans has been a fixture of every game so far, something that Wyatt argues is the key to a successful World Cup.

"The most important thing to a World Cup is the fans," he says.

"Japanese fans are top drawer. You can't have empty stadiums, and you can't have people that are just there to be drunk or people who are clueless."

True to form, the stand-out moments for Wyatt have so far arrived not on the biggest stages in Yokohama or Tokyo, but in some of Japan's lesser known areas that have risen to the challenge of opening their doors to the world's rugby fans.

"When I got to Kumagaya, from the moment I got off the train there were volunteers everywhere.

"You walk down the street and there are people offering you high-fives and pointing you towards the stadium.

"There were school groups all over the stadium and it really added a nice touch.

"When it comes to a World Cup it comes down to the organisers and the quality of the volunteers."

Wyatt's tournament ends on Sunday with the USA v Tonga.

Perhaps not the encounter that most onlookers are focusing on as the pool stage reaches its crescendo.

But, for Chris Wyatt, game number 43 is exactly the type of fixture that will see him travelling the globe to attend more World Cups for many years to come.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson is undertaking extra training sessions at Melwood as he pushes for a return to action against Manchester United on Oct. 20.

Players not on international duty have been given the week off by manager Jurgen Klopp, but the 27-year-old, who sustained a calf injury during the Premier League opener against Norwich City, has remained at the training complex to improve his sharpness.

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Goalkeeping coach John Achterberg has been working chiefly on Alisson's speed, reactions, distribution and power having spent the September break getting Brazil's No. 1 out on the pitches again to do catching, footwork and small passing drills.

The Premier League's Golden Glove winner for 2018-19 has progressed well through his recovery stages and has upped his strength with rehabilitation fitness coach Dave Rydings in the gym.

Liverpool had earmarked Alisson to be available after the October interval, but there is no longer such a strong need for him to return against struggling United if he is not yet at 100% given the performances of his understudy, Adrian.

The 32-year-old has been an excellent stand-in as Liverpool have recorded a perfect start to the league season, with eight wins from eight.

Adrian's form has allowed Liverpool to ease Alisson through the different phases of his rehab with no time constraints or pressure to be in line for contention.

Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, meanwhile, have voluntarily ceded time off to do additional training at Melwood.

Both midfielders have been informed they will have bigger roles to play as the games continue to come thick and fast for Liverpool.

Ajax right-back Sergino Dest has said that, as a child, he always pictured himself playing for the Dutch national side.

Dest, 18, could still pledge his allegiance to either the United States or Netherlands, despite having made two friendly appearances for the USMNT.

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He recently said he made himself unavailable for selection for both national sides in this international break in order to take more time to decide his future.

"When I thought of football when I was younger, it was always Ajax or the Dutch team," Dest said in an interview with U.S. club teammate Alex Mendez, published on the Ajax website.

"Never the U.S. But I haven't been approached by the Dutch team."

Asked whether not being contacted by the Netherlands had been a factor in his decision, he added: "Maybe."

Dest grew up in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and American father. However, Dutch has always been his first language and Dest said it was only when he visited the U.S. that he began to embrace his American heritage.

"My father is from Brooklyn, but we spoke Dutch at home," Dest said. "Actually, until a few years ago, my English was very poor.

"I wasn't thinking of my American roots at all until I went to play in an American youth team. From that moment, my English improved, and I started to feel more American.

"I realised that: 'Hey, this is my nationality, too.' Now I think it's great to be an American as well. It's an asset and as well. The U.S. passport is one of the best in the world."

In case you're not familiar with expected goals (xG) yet, the statistic is built around the idea that the majority of teams and players convert the same chances at the same frequency. For the most part, the best teams and players aren't the best because of their ability to finish a high percentage of attempts; they're the best because of their ability to generate a high volume of high-quality shots.

In other words, it puts a number on the idea that you hear managers talk about every weekend: Who created the better chances?

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Now, that isn't to say that there aren't especially skilled finishers adept at catching a ball on the half-volley or nonchalantly lobbing an onrushing keeper. But the importance of that skill pales in comparison to the importance of getting the chances in the first place.

To wit: Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are two of the best scorers of this generation. Since the 2014 World Cup, Lewandowski has more goals in domestic play than anyone not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, and Aubameyang is just three spots and 15 goals behind him.

But guess what? They've each scored slightly fewer goals than expected in that stretch.

Which names pop up at the other end? Who's adding extra goals to their totals by consistently picking out the corners of the net?

Expected goals awards a value based on a number of factors, including the location of the shot, but all of those factors occur before the shot is taken. That's where Expected Goals on Target comes in. Here's how Opta describes it:

The Expected Goals on Target model is built on historical on-target shots and includes the original xG of the shot as well as the goalmouth location where the shot ended up. It gives more credit to shots that end up in the corners compared to shots that go straight down the middle of the goal. This model is for on-target shots, given that if you don't get your shot on target, there's a 0% chance that it will result in a goal.

To determine the best shooters, we can compare xG to xGOT to see which players have added the most value to their attempts. Using TruMedia data for all domestic seasons going back to the start of the 2014-15 season, we'll identify the best at a number of shots and end by identifying the best shooter of them all.

Headers

First up: There aren't many good header-ers out there! Among the top 15 players in xG from headers since 2014, a whopping zero have added any value to their attempts. If you think about it, that makes total sense.

For starters, it's a lot harder to control a ball out of the air with your head than it is to direct a ball on the ground with your foot. Headers are also pure opportunity. You don't get in better positions to head the ball; you meet the ball where it is. On top of that, think of how many headed attempts come from a player just shoving his noggin into a crowd of defenders and hoping to make contact with a cross. There's nothing wrong with that from a strategic perspective, but it's not the recipe for an efficient conversion profile.

Given all that, perhaps it's not a surprise that the award for "Best Header-er" goes to 5-foot-4 Argentinian winger Pablo de Blasis, who currently plays for Eibar in La Liga. (Here's a taste of his skills.)

Because he's so tiny, De Blasis is typically getting his head on the ball only when he's in a lot of space, but he's a master of accelerating at the last second, cutting in front of a defender and using the full force of his movement to direct the ball into the corner. He has added 2.79 expected goals to his headed attempts since 2014, and another South American winger, Juan Cuadrado, is the only other player to break two.

De Blasis has scored four goals on headers since 2014, and among players his height or shorter, the entirety of the player pool in Europe's Big Five leagues has scored five. De Blasis has attempted 35 headed shots, and no one else in the 5-foot-4-or-shorter cohort has more than 16.

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Long range

Since 2014, the average open-play shot has been converted 9.7% of the time. Move that attempt to outside the box -- beyond 18 yards -- and the number plummets to 3.2%. Managers and players have seemingly become aware of this, as the total number of shots from outside the 18 has slowly declined over the past few seasons.

One player who hasn't stopped destroying opponents from deep: Philippe Coutinho! The Brazilian playmaker has scored the second-most open-play goals from outside the penalty area and added the second-most value to his attempts since 2014. (No. 1 in both categories is the recipient of a later award.) His conversion percentage on shots from outside the box (6.1%) is nearly double the Europe-wide average. All of these shots have low xG percentages, but the xGOT rises because of all the corners Coutinho can pick out.

Just for fun: Who's the worst long-range shooter? It's Bournemouth's Jermain Defoe, who has lost 1.65 goals worth of value with the 59 shots he has attempted. Unsurprisingly, just one of them ended up in the back of the net.

Volleys

We're talking full volleys here, shots struck sweetly with the ball in flight -- none of that bouncing stuff. Interestingly, a volley is three times more likely to be converted (9.5%) than a shot from outside the box. What's also interesting: the list of the most aggressive volleyers since 2014. First is Sampdoria's ageless Fabio Quagliarella, with 101, and no one else broke 90. Second is Luis Suarez, then Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani, Raul Garcia, Lewandowski and then our winner: Napoli's Jose Callejon.

To anyone who has watched Napoli since Maurizio Sarri was manager from 2015 to '18, Callejon's presence won't be a surprise. He has scored the same back-post volley so many times that there is an entire Reddit thread devoted to it.

The 32-year-old Spaniard has added 2.13 goals' worth of value to his volleyed attempts. Only one other player in the top 20 of attempted volleys has added any value to his shots. Striking a ball cleanly out of the air and placing it in a corner of the net: It's a skill that really only Callejon has mastered over the past half-decade.

Free kicks

He has scored only six of them since 2014, but Christian Eriksen is our Master of Dead Balls. The nice thing about xGOT is that it credits shooters for everything they can control; not every well-hit and well-placed shot ends up in the goal, and a lot of mis-hit, poorly placed attempts find their way through a keeper's legs. Yet Eriksen has added 5.88 goals worth of value with his shooting from free kicks, and his xGOT total is 10.99.

Across the 99 shots Eriksen has attempted, opposing keepers have made a bunch of unlikely saves. PSG's Angel Di Maria has the same number of free-kick goals as Eriksen, but they came on 3.94 xGOT, while Juventus' Miralem Pjanic has scored 11 on 7.81 xGOT.

Most managers across Europe deserve a gold star here, as the majority of the players who have provided negative value on free kicks have not been allowed to take a lot of them! There are very few poor free-kick takers who get to keep taking them because of seniority or unearned reputation. However, if you're considering a bathroom break and you see Paul Pogba or Antonio Candreva lining up a dead ball -- both have taken at least 30 free kicks, and both have provided minus-0.78 of value or worse -- well, now you know what to do.

The best

I'm going to go ahead and guess that some of you have figured out who this will be. If not, here's a hint.

Messi makes Eriksen look like Micah Richards. The Argentine legend has scored 21 free-kick goals since 2014, and no one else has more than 11. His xGOT is even slightly higher than that, at 21.71. He has added 10.35 goals worth of value to his free kicks, which is nearly double Eriksen's next-best number.

These are all of Messi's free kicks since 2014. Look how many ended up in the corners. Goals are green, and misses are red:

Of course, Messi has scored the most goals (16) and added the most value (6.04) on open-play shots from outside the box, too.

How about zooming that out to include all goals from open play? He's also the best there. Messi has added 19.34 goals worth of value since 2014, and only two other players -- Mohamed Salah (11.23) and Alexis Sanchez (10.02) -- are in double digits. Messi has scored 120 open-play goals, and only two other players -- Suarez (108) and Lewandowski (101) -- are in triple digits. He has produced 109.29 xGOT, and no one else has broken 100.

Messi's case for being named the GOAT. also stems from a number of other factors. Since 2014, he has completed more than 300 through-balls; next best is 173. He leads all players in assists, and he's second in dribbles. He's as good -- if not better -- than every other player alive at facilitating attacking possession, breaking down a defender and creating for teammates. But even if you removed all of that and reset those totals to zero, he'd still probably be the best player in the world.

Throw every kind of goal together -- open play, set pieces, penalties -- and he has scored 177 since 2014, 19 more than Ronaldo in second place. Messi has added 32.6 goals worth of value on his 900 attempts, and Valencia's Dani Parejo earns a distant silver medal at 12.53. (In case you're wondering, Ronaldo has attempted more shots (1,005) than anyone else since 2014, but he has actually subtracted 3.07 goals with wayward finishing.)

So just how good is Messi? Nearly three times better than everyone else.

Trevor Hohns, Australia's national selector, has stopped short of guaranteeing David Warner his spot for the opening Test of the season following his woeful Ashes series.

Warner managed just 95 runs - the lowest tally for an opener to have batted 10 times in a series - as Stuart Broad removed him seven times.

Last week, Test captain Tim Paine, who does not have an official voice in selection, suggested that Warner's record gave him "enough credits in the bank" to secure his position at the top of the order for the series against Pakistan which starts on November 21 in Brisbane. Warner averages 59.64 in home Tests where he has made 15 of his 21 Test hundreds.

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However, ahead of the Sheffield Shield that begins on Thursday - which includes Warner's New South Wales side facing Queensland at the Gabba - Hohns did not put his full weight behind him.

"I'm not going to comment on that right now," Hohns said when asked if Warner's spot was cemented regardless of early-season form. "David knows what he has to do as well as anybody, same as Marcus Harris and any of the players that played in England. Make no bones about it, there is a couple of batting spots, two or three, up for grabs."

Warner was not the only opener to struggle in the Ashes with Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris making 102 runs between them. That pair, along with Joe Burns, Matt Renshaw and possibly Usman Khawaja, will be battling for the Test positions.

"There are plenty of openers around the country, it's up to them to perform," Hohns said. "The players who performed well [in the Ashes] know and those that didn't know and it's up to them to put performances on the board to have a chance to be chosen. If you want to relate it to the Ashes it was difficult for both countries, it seemed like the hardest place to bat. The slate is wiped clean [at home], in different conditions, but it's nice if we have in-form openers, there's no doubt about that."

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On Tuesday Warner was included in Australia's T20I squad to face Sri Lanka and Pakistan so he will have a maximum of three Sheffield Shield matches before the first Test next month.

He and Steven Smith are now back in all three formats following their bans and are inked in at the top of the T20I order, alongside captain Aaron Finch, as Australia begin a year-long build-up to the men's T20 World Cup next October.

Hohns acknowledged that the selectors would keep a close eye on the workload of those players who appear across all formats. After the home Tests against Pakistan and New Zealand there is a one-day series in India, a limited-overs tour of South Africa, a home one-day series with New Zealand then a T20I series across the Tasman to complete the season.

"That'll be something we'll be very mindful of as the season goes on," Hohns said. "It's difficult for players to play every format, which [Smith and Warner] in particular and probably Pat Cummins and a couple of them are likely to do. But we'll certainly be keeping an eye on their workloads and making sure they don't get tired. Obviously there is a massive focus on this T20 World Cup in 12 months' time."