ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Whatever metaphor, analogy or parable you might look up, isn't it always the giant who falls? Does this have anything to do with what transpired the past two days at Tropicana Field? Or are we seeing the tech-infused Tampa Bay Rays crowd-sourcing their way around the considerable problem of dispatching the star-laden Houston Astros?

After the Rays' 4-1 win in Game 4 of their American League Division Series on Tuesday, a game that began with 2019 Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander on the mound for Houston and ended with 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell polishing off his first save, everything feels as if it is on the table.

"We made it this far," Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. "It's pretty safe to say, but we're not content with this. We want to win one more and keep this thing going. We plan on doing just that."

The ogre in this baseball parable, at least on Tuesday, would be Verlander, who might not be the biggest pitcher in baseball in terms of stature, though at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, he's a load. More so, he's a giant by reputation and by accomplishment. In a few weeks when the pending retirement of New York Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia becomes official, Verlander will become baseball's active leader in wins and strikeouts. He is Gulliver to the Rays' Lilliputians. He is Goliath to the Rays' David. He is South Bend Central to the Rays' Hickory High.

You get the idea.

With Verlander on the hill, the Rays countered with ... no one. OK, that's not precisely true. They had Diego Castillo on the mound and he fired thunderbolts with even more ferocity than Verlander, but just not for as many innings. Castillo is an opener, that Rays innovation, one they believe in so deeply that they trotted it out in a game they had to win to extend their season. Castillo electrified a rocking, hanky-waving crowd at the Trop by striking out Michael Brantley, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman in order in the first inning.

"Castillo, thank God he was an opener and not a regular starter," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "Having him out there for four, five, six innings would be devastating for anybody."

Well, Castillo was only out there for seven batters because he's an opener and that's how this thing works. From there, Rays skipper Kevin Cash summoned lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who soft-tossed his way to two scoreless innings after Castillo. The last batter he faced was rookie Yordan Alvarez. Yarbrough threw him three straight curves that topped out at 72 mph, and followed that with a change-up -- at 78. Alvarez then cracked a double off the wall violently, perhaps angered by the audacity of it all.

Then it fell to Nick Anderson, the out-of-nowhere reliever who began the season on the other side of Florida with the Marlins but has emerged as a lock-down reliever who throws a vicious curve of his own, along with upper-90s heat. He, like Castillo and Yarbrough also got seven batters. Colin Poche got six hitters; Emilio Pagan got four, taking it into the ninth inning but leaving runners on the corners with the dangerous Alvarez at the plate.

So the Rays being the Rays, in came Snell for his 100th career appearance, including the postseason. The first 99 were as a starting pitcher. As good and different as the curveballs of Yarbrough and Anderson are, Snell's hook may be baseball's best. And he used one to strike out Alvarez before getting Yuli Gurriel on a well-struck grounder to end it. Snell, in his first-ever relief appearance, had his first-ever save.

"We didn't draw it up that way," Cash said. "As soon as Alvarez came up with a chance to tie the game, we felt that that was our best matchup. We were fairly confident that Blake was going to be pretty amped up. He was."

That, too, is the Rays. It doesn't just take a village, it takes a village in which everyone does more than one job and may be asked to do just about anything at any time. Everyone knows this, especially Hinch.

"It's October, I'm not surprised by anything," Hinch said. "There's no real hidden tricks when you're faced with elimination. They used a lot of resources. We knew they would."

Of course. The Rays always use a lot of resources. They used 57 batters during the regular season; Houston used 45. The Rays deployed 33 pitchers; Houston used 26. The Rays had only four players compile as many as three wins above replacement during the regular season. Houston had that many studs surpass six WAR. Somehow or another though, it all seems to be coming out even.

"People mentioned David and Goliath to me and some of the other guys before this series and I just had to cut 'em off before they even went on with that," an indignant Kiermaier said. "Because I don't want to hear that. I know Houston is probably better on paper and all that, but anything can happen when you step on the field at the same time."

Here's something Kiermaier might approve of: While Verlander and Gerrit Cole were dominant in their initial starts, the Rays have dominated the series beyond the Verlander/Cole innings in Houston. With those two on the mound, the Astros outscored the Rays 8-0, enough to take the first two games of the series. But beyond that, in all the other innings of series including Game 4, the Rays have outscored Houston 17-5.

The numbers all swing the Rays' way. Tampa Bay has a 10-4 edge in homers in the series. They have that 17-13 edge in scoring. They have more walks, a better on-base percentage, a better slugging percentage. The Astros have been outplayed.

"Hey, I hate to say it, [but] about time, you know," said Tommy Pham, who got the Rays started with a solo homer off Verlander in the first. "Because we have a really good team over here. And to win 96 games in this division with New York and Boston is an impressive feat. And all year, we've been getting talked down. And now, with the last two games, the way we played, the whole world has seen how good of a team we are and how well-rounded we are."

They've seen how good the Rays are, but they still might not know who they are. There are just so many of them. Avisail Garcia and Ji-Man Choi both reached base four times in Game 4. Willy Adames homered, swung a hot bat in both games the Rays won, and threw a laser bolt on a relay throw in the fourth to gun down Altuve at the plate.

Everybody contributed it seemed. Even the Rays' bullpen was a hive of activity, with relievers constantly warming up, sitting down or, often, entering the game. Every pitcher on the roster either pitched or warmed up at some point Tuesday except for Game 3 starter Charlie Morton -- who may well be called on for a couple of innings in Game 5 -- and the scheduled starter for Thursday's contest, Tyler Glasnow.

"Their pitching is exceptional," Hinch said. "What they did on the mound tonight was incredible. They're not just throwing different arms at you. You talk about the opener, they'll throw a lot of different arms and get platoon advantages. That's not neglected. Their stuff is really good. They're throwing elite guys."

The baseball world is seeing this but, come on, this is the Astros, who won 107 games during the season with a plus-280 run differential that ranks as the 10th best in history. Surely the star power that fuels Houston will manifest itself, right? It better, and fast.

To borrow a football saying, the Astros are now off schedule. They didn't really want to use Verlander on short rest, something he'd never done in back-to-back starts. But the fourth rotation slot has been problematic because of Wade Miley's late-season slide. Rookie Jose Urquidy was an option, but he's a rookie. (He pitched in relief in Game 4.)

"We would have gone with Urquidy and if he would have [struggled], it would have been, 'Should you have put a rookie in that situation?'" Hinch said. "I understand with the results, it's tough. It was my decision to put [Verlander] out there. I felt it was the best chance to win the series -- JV today and Gerrit in Game 5 if we needed it. We're going to test the latter part of that in Game 5."

On Thursday, the Rays once again will be battling a giant. Cole has not lost a start since May 22. He struck out 326 batters this season. But just as the Rays had some familiarity with seeing Verlander a few days ago, they will have that with Cole too.

"That [was] the second time we faced him this year, so now everyone has multiple at-bats against him to kind of see what he likes to do to us," Rays catcher Travis d'Arnaud said. "But the guy is a great pitcher. He's under 2.50 ERA, over 300 strikeouts, so it's gonna be a battle for sure."

As Hinch said, the Rays used a lot of resources in Game 4 but Wednesday is a travel day, so Cash should have everyone available on Thursday. Familiarity with his hurlers isn't much of an issue -- on Tuesday, no Astros hitter saw the same Rays pitcher twice. The Astros have witnessed that the Rays are not going to be overwhelmed by the status of their All-Star roster. And while that might be a revelation to many, Houston knew what they were encountering, confident as they were and as they remain.

"This team, these guys, even after going up two games against this ballclub, I don't think we took anything for granted," Verlander said. "I know I didn't. I can't speak for everybody, but that was the mentality. We know how talented these guys are and we knew it would be a battle. Obviously we were hoping to win yesterday, hoping to win today. We've had our backs against the wall before and come out victorious. Hopefully this is an opportunity to go prove ourselves."

And for a proof of the concept to which Verlander refers -- that has the Astros as a championship team -- having Cole going at home in front of fans just as raucous, waving orange hankies instead of yellow, is not a bad fail-safe option.

"He's been on one of the most incredible runs I've ever seen," Verlander said of Cole. "That the baseball world has ever seen. If you could name a starting pitcher in all of major league baseball, you'd want him on the mound."

For the Astros, it is about him. For the Rays, it'll be about them. After two sultry days under the white roof of the Trop, it's hard to say which pronoun will prevail. We only know with the Rays, expect the unexpected.

"I'm not going to be surprised if Charlie Morton is available in Game 5," Hinch said. "I'm not going to be surprised if Blake Snell is available in Game 5. I wouldn't expect anything less out of this type of game."

Neither does Snell.

"That's what we do," Snell said. "We make every game tough. We got two wins now, but now we've got to see what we really can do in going to Houston and taking it from them."

ESPN's Jenna Laine contributed to this report.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The merger between the International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR is expected to close on Oct. 18.

The International Speedway Corp. recently delivered a written communication to NASDAQ stating that it has called a special meeting of shareholders on Oct. 16 for the purpose of voting to approve the merger.

NASCAR and the International Speedway Corp. announced plans to merge in May of this year, which would take NASCAR private. International Speedway Corp. owns 12 tracks that host NASCAR events, including Daytona Int’l Speedway, among others.

The France family, descendants of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., are the majority owners of both NASCAR and the International Speedway Corp. Jim France is the current chairman and CEO of NASCAR.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight tracks that host NASCAR events, recently went private after Sonic Financial Corp. agreed to acquire all oustanding common stocks not already owned by Sonic. Bruton Smith, the founder of Speedway Motorsports Inc., owns and controls Sonic Financial Group with his family.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Alexis DeJoria is coming out of retirement to compete full-time in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2020.

DeJoria retired following the 2017 season, but will return to the NHRA’s Funny Car class beginning with the 2020 NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

DeJoria made her NHRA debut at the 2011 Texas NHRA FallNationals and went on to win five races, including the 2014 NHRA U.S. Nationalss, before hanging up her helmet at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

“I honestly knew deep down when I made the announcement to retire at the end of the 2017 NHRA season that it was going to be sort of an open-ended retirement,” said DeJoria.

“I’m beyond excited to get back out there. I’ve been blessed spending time with my family these past two years off. This was a decision I made with their support, and we are all looking forward to my return to the driver’s seat.”

Leading DeJoria’s latest venture into drag racing will be Nicky Boninfante and Del Worsham. The trio has teamed up to form an independent team with Boninfante and Worsham serving as co-crew chiefs on DeJoria’s Funny Car.

DeJoria’s history with Boninfante and Worsham extends back nearly a decade. Worsham signed off on DeJoria’s Funny Car paperwork when she licensed in his car in 2010 before taking the lead as her crew chief during her rookie season in 2012. Boninfante worked alongside DeJoria during her tenure at Kalitta Motorsports before taking over the tuning duties on her car in 2017.

“I now have this incredible opportunity to build a team with two of the people who were by my side when I started my nitro Funny Car career,” said DeJoria, whose ultimate goal is to become the first female Funny Car world champion.

“Del is my mentor and the person whose car I licensed with in the first place, and Nicky was one of the first people at Kalitta who I talked to when I made the transition from Top Alcohol Funny Car to nitro Funny Car. Del and Nicky, they’re the ‘dream team’ for me, and I’m eager to embark on this new adventure with them.”

DeJoria’s partners, including her primary sponsor, will be announced at a later date.

After a winless start to the regular season, the San Jose Sharks are hoping an old friend named Patrick Marleau can bring some stability.

GM Doug Wilson announced that the team is signing the 40-year-old Marleau, who is the franchise leader in games (1,493), goals (508) and points (1,082). The deal is for one year with a $700,000 cap hit, which is the league minimum.

The signing would necessitate a roster move, as Cap Friendly had the Sharks with just $7,837 in cap space without Marleau on the roster.

Wilson said that Marleau's agent, Pat Brisson, asked him to keep them in the loop if the Sharks needed to add a veteran player. "We had several conversations where he shared his desire and dream to return to the Sharks," Wilson said.

The forward last played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, finishing last season with 37 points in 82 games -- the 10th straight season in which he didn't miss a game.

But his $6.25 million annual average salary was too much for the cap-strapped Leafs, who traded him to Carolina. The Hurricanes made the move in order to buy out the last year of Marleau's contract, which netted them a first-round pick in 2020 (or 2021, if Toronto is in the lottery this summer).

Marleau had skated with former Sharks teammate Joe Thornton in the run-up to the season, and there was speculation that he could rejoin San Jose. But Wilson dismissed that notion in the offseason, citing a collection of younger players the Sharks wanted to give ice time and saying the franchise was in a different place than it was when Marleau left for Toronto in 2017.

Perhaps the Sharks' frustrating start prompted an early shakeup. San Jose started the season 0-3-0, mustering only three goals scored to 12 against. The team lost three forwards to free agency in the offseason: wingers Joonas Donskoi and Gustav Nyquist, and center Joe Pavelski, the team's captain who left a leadership void in the dressing room.

Wilson said that the team's record wasn't the motivating factor, but that the team's injuries and lack of veteran depth were. San Jose was going to be without winger Marcus Sorensen against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

"We stay very committed to what we've started the year with, which is integrating all the young players into the organization. But there are realities you have to deal with," Wilson said. "While we have a lot of depth, this is an opportunity to add a veteran into our group to give us some veteran depth that's versatile, understands how we play, and is very accepting of the role that [coach] Pete DeBoer may need on different nights."

Marleau captained the Sharks from 2003 to 2009.

Some NHL teams placate their fans with free hats or magnetic schedules. The Philadelphia Flyers, however, know what their fans really want: the opportunity to smash a flat-screen television with a hockey stick.

The Flyers announced on Tuesday that the Wells Fargo Center now has a "Disassembly Room," the first-ever "rage room" inside a major professional sports arena.

Located behind a "hidden" library wall entrance in the team's new "Assembly Room" lounge and bar area, the anger cave allows Flyers fans to take out their aggression on household items like TVs, dishware, bottles and guitars using a variety of tools like baseball bats, orange and black sledgehammers and, of course, hockey sticks.

Let's rage. https://t.co/yuDGpdrOmr pic.twitter.com/S8rt12KMH1

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 8, 2019

Fans wear protective gear during the session, and there's also an observation room.

Smash some of the items enough, and they might reveal the logo of an opposing team, according to the Flyers.

"The concept is definitely one-of-a-kind and non-traditional," said Valerie Camillo, president of business operations of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center. "We ran the concept by some of our fans who told us they thought this would be a fresh way to have some harmless fun."

The "rage room" concept started in Japan about a decade ago, and eventually spread to the U.S. Locations like Break Stuff Bay Area in San Jose, California, use recycled electronics as fodder, and charge $25 for a "BYOB" option that allows people to bring in their own stuff to break.

To access the Flyers' rage room, fans make a reservation for a specific time before, during or after Philadelphia home games at a cost of $35 for individuals and $60 for groups of two. Participants receive five minutes to smash up items, and are given one five-gallon bucket of smaller breakable items and one "medium-sized" item to break.

A 45-year Stanley Cup drought should provide an ample source of rage for Flyers fans.

ST. LOUIS - The PGA Tour Champions is returning to the St. Louis area next year for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The tour announced a four-year deal Tuesday with St. Louis-based Ascension. The Ascension Charity Classic will be held Oct. 2-4 at Norwood Hills Country Club, which hosted the 1948 PGA Championship won by Ben Hogan and the Greater St. Louis Classic on the PGA Tour in 1972 and 1973.

The PGA Tour Champions was last in the area from 1996 to 2001 at Boone Valley, west of St. Louis.

Bellerive hosted the PGA Championship in 2018 and a FedExCup Playoff event in 2008.

This gives the PGA Tour Champions 27 tournaments next year in four countries and 19 states.

Phil Mickelson has never played this much golf this late in the year since the PGA Tour began a new season in October instead of January.

He's never had this much of a reason.

Mickelson is running out of time to show why U.S. captain Tiger Woods should pick him for the Presidents Cup. At stake is a streak that is unlikely to be matched. Mickelson has played on 24 consecutive Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, qualifying for 20 of them. The last time he wasn't on a team was 1993, the year Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were born.

Through two tournaments, there are few signs of progress except for his weight loss.

As always with Mickelson, there is no shortage of optimism.

How else to explain how a player can be so good for so long? How he could win his first PGA Tour event when he was in college and his most recent when he was a year away from being eligible for the PGA Tour Champions?

How he could go nearly 26 consecutive years among the top 50 in the world?

''The challenge of playing golf at the highest level brings out the best in me,'' Mickelson said in Las Vegas after he tied for 61st in a tournament he had not played since 2005. ''It forces me to get in the best shape, forces me to work hard and to focus on something positive, improving my game. It gives me a direction, and it's been a big part of my life and I love it.

''It's a fun challenge for me right now to play my best golf.''

It doesn't look like much fun, not based on the results.

Since winning at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson has gone 18 consecutive tournaments out of the top 10, the longest drought of his career. The second-longest drought out of the top 10 was 16 events, all but three of those when he was finishing his senior year at Arizona State.

He began his 29th season on the PGA Tour by hitting consecutive shots out-of-bounds on the par-5 fifth hole at Silverado and making a quadruple-bogey 9, which led to a 75 and a missed cut in the Safeway Open. The next week in Las Vegas, just four shots out of the lead going into the weekend, Mickelson shot 74 in the third round on a TPC Summerlin course that yielded six scores of 63 or lower.

Mickelson finished too low to earn world ranking points in Las Vegas and dropped to No. 46.

Next up for him is the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea next week, and he has hinted strongly about playing the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, where he has won twice. That's the final event before Woods makes his four captain's picks.

If Mickelson doesn't perform well in either of those, he will be out of the top 50 by the end of the year. The last time he was in danger of that was the start of 2018. He was at No. 49 and then tied for fifth in the Phoenix Open. A month later, he won the WGC-Mexico Championship.

That's what makes Mickelson so compelling, along with his sheer talent, imagination and willingness to take on any shot. Even at age 49, having gone seven months without so much as contending, there is no telling what Lefty will do next - or when.

It's not just about playing in another Presidents Cup. That streak will end at some point, and it might take a win for Woods to justify picking him over the seven players ahead of Mickelson in the standings, a list that includes U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler and Woods, who has not ruled out being a playing captain at Australia's Royal Melbourne in December.

Mickelson won't accept anything less than what he believes he can do.

''There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to play at my best,'' he said at the Safeway Open. ''I'm physically able to do it, my game feels sharp, the touch is there, the elements are there and yet I haven't been pulling it out. But I'm determined to turn that around.''

Mickelson first mentioned when he won in Mexico City last year that he wants to reach 50 wins on the PGA Tour. ''Oh, I will. I'll get there,'' he said that day after No. 43. When he reached No. 44 at Pebble, he was a little more practical about it - not because he's getting older, but because winning is getting harder.

Lefty has never played more than twice in the fall since the PGA Tour went to the wraparound season in 2013. Now he's playing at least three tournaments, probably four, with hopes of making it five at the Presidents Cup.

Beyond that?

In June, the U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot, where he made double bogey on the 18th hole to lose the U.S. Open, the only major he hasn't won.

There's always something.

This much is certain: Whether he gets there or not, Lefty will go down swinging.

Tasmania

Last season Fifth (League stage: 3 wins, 5 defeats, 2 draws)
Captain Matthew Wade
Coach Adam Griffith

2018-19 stats

Overview

George Bailey stepping away from the captaincy early last season and the shoulder injury he sustained during the BBL certainly disrupted Tasmania's attempt to try and go one better than 2017-18. They started the season with a superb win in Queensland but were very inconsistent thereafter. There was a heavy reliance on Matthew Wade in the middle order. He had an extraordinary season scoring over 1000 runs and moved from No. 6 to No. 4 midway through the year to firstly try and arrest Tasmania's batting issues but also push his Test case. He did the latter but could do nothing about the former and his potential absence during the Tests this summer will severely challenge Tasmania's young players. Jordan Silk and Alex Doolan battled manfully at the top of the order on a difficult new-ball pitch at Bellerive. Charlie Wakim announced himself at No.3 last year but they need the likes of Jake Doran and Ben McDermott to take the next step in the middle order. One of those two is likely to keep wicket when Tim Paine and Wade are unavailable while Silk is set to captain. The attack will be strong again. Jackson Bird and Gabe Bell are a formidable new-ball duo in the heavy Hobart air and Riley Meredith adds speed at first change. Tasmania opted to go without a specialist spinner quite often last year, particularly at home, but young offspinner Jarrod Freeman could well get further opportunities after debuting last season.

Player to watch

Jordan Silk made a century in Tasmania's last Sheffield Shield final triumph back in 2012-13. He was the youngest of the six players that season to make multiple Shield centuries at just 20, and he achieved it in just three games. He was selected to play for Australia A on a tour of England in 2013, but after 50 first-class games, and 97 innings, he's only managed to score four more centuries. Bellerive Oval has been a very difficult place to open the batting and so his overall average of 31.67 is better than it appears. At 27, he is stepping into the captaincy when Wade is absent and Tasmania would love for that added responsibility to help him thrive with the bat.

Young gun

There is a lot of hype around Riley Meredith in white-ball cricket but Tasmania are excited about his development in all three forms. At 23, he is still arguably a little while away from becoming a fully-fledged international prospect but he has shown a lot of promise. He had a good Shield season last year as the first change option behind the new ball pairing of Bird and Bell as he took 27 wickets at an average of 28.96, without a five-wicket haul. Tasmania have some solid bowling all-rounders which allows Meredith to be used in shorter bursts to maximise his pace. His development will be interesting to follow.

South Australia

Last season Sixth (League stage: 0 wins, 6 defeats, 4 draws)
Captain Travis Head
Coach Jamie Siddons

2018-19 stats

Overview

South Australia are desperate to improve this season after two disastrous years. They failed to win a game last season after winning just two the year before. There were some injury issues with 2016-17 Player of the Year Chadd Sayers missing half the season due to a knee injury, Ashes hopeful Daniel Worrell played just four games due to back and hamstring problems and Alex Carey missed eight games due to national duty. But coach Jamie Siddons is desperate to see his established players like Callum Ferguson, Tom Cooper, Jake Weatherald and Jake Lehmann step up. Captain Travis Head will also be eager for big runs to regain his Test place after failing to post a century last year despite reaching 50 five times in 13 Shield innings. The batsmen are still coming to terms with the new drop in surface at Adelaide Oval, which has become a seamer's playground after previously being a batsman's paradise. The bowling depth will be tested again. Sayers is still working back to full fitness, Worrall will miss the first part of the season and Joe Mennie, who took 37 wickets at 19.72 last season, is also sidelined. Young legspinner Lloyd Pope got a taste last year and may well play a little bit more this season depending on Adam Zampa's availability depending on T20I selection.

Player to watch

Alex Carey only played two matches last season and it remains to be seen how much he plays this season but at this stage, he is guaranteed to play three of the first four matches and looks set to be available for five of the first six. He broke the record for the most dismissals in a season in 2016-17 and is all but inked in as Paine's successor in the Australia's Test team, but the selectors will want more runs from him. He made a Shield century last season but he only has two first-class hundreds in 55 innings. He is a better player than that and some continuity in playing a string of first-class games should give him the chance to prove it.

Young gun

Lloyd Pope has developed a cult following after bursting onto the scene in the Under-19 World Cup, but he found his first experience in Shield cricket difficult, as many young legspinners do. Western Australia's Shaun Marsh took a liking to him in a fourth-innings run chase last season and Pope learned some valuable lessons from the experience. He is expected to continue to develop over the coming seasons but patience will be required from all involved.

Australia's selection chairman Trevor Hohns feels Alex Carey should be given more leadership exposure so that he may be a legitimate captaincy contender whenever Tim Paine's time is up, even if he is doubtful whether there would be room for both to play in the Test team this summer.

Having successfully retained the Ashes in England, Paine's immediate future is secure, leaving him with a good deal of autonomy about how long he decides to continue playing. Carey, though, is held in extremely high regard by Hohns and the national team coach Justin Langer, while he has also assembled a first-class batting record that is trending impressively upwards after two difficult Sheffield Shield campaigns to begin with.

Hohns admitted that Paine's position as captain of the Test side in England had made it virtually impossible to fit Carey into the squad, and also suggested that like Adam Gilchrist 20 years ago, he might have to wait until the incumbent gloveman exits the scene before gaining a debut. Hohns was selection chairman in 1999 when Ian Healy's decorated Test career was summarily ended after the panel had decided against first trialling Gilchrist as a batsman only before making him the No. 1 wicketkeeper.

"Alex Carey is very highly thought of and desperately unlucky, but it just didn't quite fit him when Tim's the captain and there's a couple of other blokes that wicket-keep as the fill-in, but Alex understands all of that," Hohns told ESPNcricinfo. "He is held in such high regard that I'd seriously like to see him captaining his state, but that's not for me to say. He's the type of person that potentially is a very, very good leader.

"I keep going back to Adam Gilchrist as a prime example. He possibly could have played as a batsman but we don't know. I put him in the allrounder category and Alex can be the same."

Undoubtedly, there is a sense among Australian cricket's decision-makers that Carey is the team's future wicketkeeper in all forms, and also potentially the captain. Paine, by his selection as a leader while keeping wickets, has opened up the possibility for someone other than the best batsman getting the job as had been customary.

"Along the way we've been trying to develop leaders. Not necessarily anointing who the next captain is, and that's all been to give some of the younger guys, who deserve it by the way, the opportunity to show some leadership around." Trevor Hohns

In doing so, he has opened a door for Carey who, was inaugural captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the AFL before returning to cricket, is yet to play a Test. In South Australia he has played under the leadership of Travis Head, who has this year served as Test vice-captain but was dropped for the fifth Test at The Oval.

"It's nice to hear that and to have the support of the playing group and the coaches," Carey told ESPNcricinfo about Hohns' comments. "It means I'm doing something right. I would love to captain firstly South Australia if that opportunity came up. Once I'm in the green and gold it's [a case of] keep learning as much as I can from guys that have led the country.

"I guess learning from experiences through footy, through cricket, through life, I see my best leadership qualities is how I try to handle myself, and how do I try to train, and how do I try to be the best player and person I can be. If I can help Finchy [Aaron Finch] at all behind the stumps, obviously that's my job as vice-captain, so to keep learning and keep growing in that role. Hopefully one day if there's an opportunity I'd be comfortable enough to do that."

The other man in leadership considerations will naturally be Steven Smith, having stamped himself as one of the world's finest batsman during the Ashes and also demonstrated a growing measure of maturity and life balance that was arguably missing before Newlands and his year out of the national team. "That'll be one for the future to be answered about Steven in general," Hohns said.

"Along the way we've been trying to develop leaders. Not necessarily anointing who the next captain is, and that's all been to give some of the younger guys, who deserve it by the way, the opportunity to show some leadership around. There's more to being the captain than just making the calls out on the field. It's more about off the field etc. We're trying to make sure some of these guys get experience at state level, and while we can't tell the states who we want as their leaders, we can make suggestions."

Carey's first two summers in the Shield reaped a mere 200 runs in seven matches for South Australia, but since then he has compiled 1338 first-class runs in 24 matches at an average of 37.16, including two centuries. It's a record that compares favourably with most batsmen in the country save for the very top of the pile, meaning that a rapid start to the Shield this season would pose serious questions for Hohns and Langer, particularly after Carey showed himself more than comfortable in international company during the World Cup.

Paine's batting was the subject of plenty of scrutiny during the Ashes, as he struggled for runs until a vital half-century in the decisive fourth Test at Old Trafford, after had been counselled by none other than Healy to "bat like a wicketkeeper" and be more intent on scoring than occupation of the crease.

"Tim's done a very good job as captain, that goes without saying. We do obviously need him to continue to contribute," Hohns said. "He's still probably the best wicketkeeper in the world in my mind, I might be a bit biased, but in the area he operates in it's important to contribute with the bat. That's all we'll be asking him, and he'll know when the right time is I would say. Then if his performance or his contribution wanes then they're the conversations we have to have at the appropriate time."

There is some irony to the level of discussion to be had about the future of the Australian captaincy, given the extremely rushed and far from glorious circumstances in which Paine was handed the role by Hohns and the former coach Darren Lehmann at the height of the Newlands scandal last year. Hohns has revealed his account of the snap decision to make Paine the Test captain in Cape Town, within minutes of being informed by Smith that he was to stand down.

"We didn't have time to go into anything in too much detail because we had to make a decision just like that," Hohns said. "But it was clear he was the type of person who could do the job, personality-wise as well. As it's turned out he's done a wonderful job. In a very, very difficult period of time he's been outstanding for us and for Australian cricket."

A full interview with Trevor Hohns will appear on ESPNcricinfo later this week

LOS ANGELES -- USC freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis has been medically cleared to play and will start at No. 9 Notre Dame this weekend, head coach Clay Helton announced on Tuesday.

Slovis had been in concussion protocol for the past few weeks after suffering a concussion in the first series of the Trojans' 30-23 win over Utah on Sept. 20.

"We're glad to have him back," Helton said.

Both Slovis and redshirt junior Matt Fink are preparing as if they'll be the starter against the Irish this weekend, Helton said. Fink threw for 351 yards and three touchdowns with one interception after replacing Slovis against Utah, but threw for just 163 yards and three interceptions in the loss to Washington two weeks ago.

Slovis said Tuesday he "feels great" and has no concerns about playing on the road Saturday. "I don't think it makes a big difference whether I'm on the road or in the Coliseum. Just be disciplined, going through the reads, not letting the last play affect what I do the next time," he said.

Slovis, who has thrown five touchdowns to four interceptions since replacing former starter JT Daniels (ACL) during the opener against Fresno State, returns to face a Notre Dame defense that has allowed more than 200 passing yards in a game just once this season and has limited opposing quarterbacks to just three passing touchdowns in five games.

Although Slovis wasn't cleared to go through normal practice reps until Monday, Helton said that the freshman used the bye week to work and throw with receivers, and looked sharp the past two days.

"He does not look out of form to me," Helton said. "He looks really good. He came out today and I thought was very decisive with his decision-making, looked really good. Hopefully that continues and carries into South Bend."

With the practice time Slovis lost, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said the key to getting Slovis game-ready is to get him as many reps as he can this week.

"He'll be ready," Harrell said. "He did a good job while he was out of getting mental reps and stuff ... he has a little bit of rust and stuff, and you can see it. His arm might not be as crisp as it was because he took some time off, but I do think it probably feels good because he gave it a little break. We got four more days to get him right and I think he'll be ready."

Helton also said that sophomore safety Talanoa Hufanga, who was also dealing with a concussion, has been medically cleared and the staff anticipates that he'll play this weekend. Sophomore cornerback Olaijah Griffin, who missed the Washington game because of a back injury, is "getting very close," Helton said, and practiced Monday and Tuesday. His status for Saturday is still unclear.