Arsene Wenger has said he struggles to deal with the possibility that he will never manage a football club again.

The former Arsenal boss has been out of work since calling time on his 22-year period at the North London club after the 2017-18 season.

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The Frenchman said he has turned down offers but he is desperate to return on the bench one day and experience the intensity of football.

"I can't live with the fact that I'll never be on the bench again," he told beIN Sports. "I might go for an intermediate position. I would like to experience one more time the intensity of a competition."

Wenger had previously said he expected to return to management in January but he continues to work as a pundit on television.

Wenger also said it was difficult to move on from Arsenal, where he won three Premier League titles and a record seven FA Cup trophies.

"I never felt that I could live without Arsenal, being disconnected with the club," he added. "I had to take a distance by being positive.

"Sometimes you could become a bit bitter because you don't have the same excitement anymore and I'm very happy to have survived that in a very positive way.

"I'm happy to have disconnected and being seen like a baby who has evolved from a distance."

Spain manager Robert Moreno has said he is ready to step aside should Luis Enrique decide to return to coaching.

Luis Enrique officially resigned from his role as Spain manager on June 19 and assistant Moreno was appointed.

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Moreno has overseen first team duties since March 26 after Luis Enrique went on a leave of absence to care for his nine-year-old daughter, Xana, who died last week after a five-month battle with cancer.

When asked if there is a possibility Luis Enrique could return to coach the national team, Moreno told Tuesday's news conference: "There is a very recent situation and we are not going to discuss that.

"I consider Luis a friend and friendship is above everything. If one day he wants to return, I would be delighted and be the first one to step aside and work with him. I enjoyed the situation we had before."

Moreno, who since 2011 has worked as Luis Enrique's assistant at Celta Vigo, Roma, Barcelona and the Spanish national team, cancelled the news conference for his first squad announcement on Friday following the news of Xana's passing.

"It has been a very difficult week," Moreno said. "We will try to give a little joy in what is a very tough time.

"It's the only thing we can do. We owe a victory to Luis Enrique."

Moreno was also asked about the possibility of seeing Barcelona sensation Ansu Fati one day wearing the Spain jersey. Fati, 16, became the youngest-ever Barcelona goalscorer in La Liga with his header in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Osasuna.

"We cannot rush him," Moreno said. "He must be allowed to progress through every stage.

"He was only a youth player until recently and now he is playing at Camp Nou. We have to be very patient in every sense. I know [Barcelona coach] Ernesto [Valverde] will guide him well but if he has to play with the reserves or the youth sides, there is nothing wrong with that."

Moreno included Dani Ceballos in his squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers with Romania and the Faroe Islands. The Spain coach is hopeful the 23-year-old will continue to impress at Arsenal while on loan from Real Madrid this season. Ceballos has made four league appearances and set up two goals for Unai Emery's side.

"I am not going to get into Madrid's decisions because [coach Zinedine] Zidane is the one that makes the choices there [at Real Madrid]," Moreno said. "I want him to play many minutes with Arsenal."

Sometimes, especially when you're trying to win just your third title in 42 years, you need things to go your way.

You need the crowd to, almost literally, become your 12th man. You need your substitutes to produce three goals in two games. You need a wonderkid. You need your greatest comeback in a decade. You need your richer, more powerful rivals to drop four or five points across three games. And sometimes you need to suffer a shock, something akin to waking up to find a scorpion in your pajamas. Oh, and a last-minute winner to go five points clear at the top of the table doesn't hurt either.

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Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to the mad, pulsating but deeply promising world of Atletico Madrid -- Spain's sudden title favourites. Mind you, please whisper that phrase or Diego Simeone might take you by the shirt front and pin you to the wall. More of that later.

Let's join all those dots, starting with the 12th man.

On Sunday night, as Simeone's rather punch-drunk men tried to haul themselves back into their contest with Eibar after going 2-0 down inside 20 minutes before Joao Felix struck back, goalkeeper Jan Oblak began a move by rolling the ball out to his central defender, Jose Gimenez. Now, I don't know for sure whether Gimenez was planning his postmatch meal or just taking a standing micro-nap, but he had his back turned. At that moment, he couldn't have dreamt that an Atleti attacking move might be starting with him.

The ball rolled towards Gimenez, unbeknownst to him, and Eibar look poised to go 3-1 up at the Wanda Metropolitano. But at that crucial moment, the 12th man, or rather 54,000 of them, roared to the rescue. Just before Gimenez's position became fatally embarrassing, every man, woman, child and ball-boy in the stadium screamed at him to wake up and pay attention. No parental warning needed here because while there was language which would make anyone blush, I won't repeat it.

As soon as the Uruguayan was startled into turning around and gathering the ball, Atleti's move for Vitolo's goal that would draw them level at 2-2 began. The newspapers on Monday morning should have read: Assist: Lemar/Crowd. But they didn't.

Remember the fears that leaving the now demolished Vicente Calderon stadium might be, for Atleti, like Samson getting a haircut? A huge drop in power? Forget it.

The subs? Well Vitolo now has two goals in two blistering second-half performances, each contributing to wins which looked like being a draw and a defeat respectively. Thomas Partey joined the party (do excuse me) with a 90th-minute winner despite having only been on the pitch just over 10 minutes.

Afterwards, Vitolo said: "I'll keep on fighting in every training session, with every match minute I get to help the team and to try and force the coach into picking me."

Thomas added: "Every one, starter and sub, feels equally important here. The work the team did from the moment Eibar went 2-0 up was absolutely phenomenal."

The two of them followed the right actions with the right words. Everyone here sings from the same hymn sheet. Smells like 2013-14, doesn't it?

Whatever else is going on, Simeone has all his back-up players pawing the ground with energy, resilience and determination rather than sulking. They seem to know that the biggest trophies are always won by an 18-man squad, not 11 men.

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While 19-year-old Rodrigo Riquelme didn't turn the game on Sunday, his introduction as a sub means that Atleti's coach, unfairly branded as "conservative," has now brought on seven homegrown kids for their debuts since April last year.

I don't think it's necessary to explain, again, what a dramatic impact Simeone has had on the club, the fan base, the media, the training ground environment, the squad, the academy or the trophy cabinet (seven in just under eight years). But I'll bet you didn't know that not only was Sunday against Eibar the first time his team had conceded twice at home before the 20-minute mark, or that Atleti hadn't fought back to win from 2-0 down since 2009?

Sunday's fightback against Jose Luis Mendilibar's Eibar represented just that for Atleti -- calamitously shipping in one smash-and-grab goal, followed by a comedy second to give the impression that Barcelona drawing and the prospect of Real Madrid doing the same later on didn't matter to them.

But they have this wonderkid, see?

Joao Felix is not only special, he's durable and oozes winning mentality. After hogging the entire European preseason with his performances, the Portuguese phenom, still just 19, has a goal, an assist and a penalty won through three games for the top-of-the-table and title favourites. His delightful piece of skill (the Spanish have begun to call such tricks "delicatessen" recently) near the halfway line to take a crisp pass, flick it past his marker and set Diego Costa off on a run which would end with Felix side-footing home Atleti's first to make it 2-1, brought a primeval roar of approval from the gullets of the red-and-white 54,000.

Yet when the Portuguese starlet tired, Simeone had the chutzpah to replace him with match-winner Partey. Normally a right-back, midfield enforcer or even a centre-back, here the Ghanaian was deployed as a second striker ... and scored.

I liked the cut of Simeone's jib postmatch. He said: "I saw that Joao was flagging and I knew that Thomas had the impetus to play off Diego Costa. I wanted speed, I wanted to attack Eibar."

It brought drama, a third goal, postmatch questions about winning the title and three beautiful points but Simeone remained realistic.

"If you win 3-2 then you've committed some errors. But the point is the fight back and winning. We want to win, then win some more then win again and again ..." was his payoff, an homage to Luis Aragones, his only challenger as Atleti's most famous, most loved servant, and the 'Wise Old Man of Hortaleza's' historic phrase: "Ganar, y ganar y volver a ganar."

Atleti are well stocked across their squad, trust their academy products, look fit, fast, renewed with the energy and competition that astute new signings can bring and, up front, they seem to ooze scoring power.

Here's the rub. It's not for nothing that they've only won the title twice since 1977. Madrid and Barcelona have often claimed La Liga with "moderate" performances where their deep resources are impossible for Atleti to emulate. This time Simeone has the resources, several special players, a throbbingly good home support and his principal rivals are, at best, flat-planing and, likely, regressing.

That leaves us with the fact that if they are to become Spanish champions it will be the first time in nearly half a century that they've done so starting as most people's outright favourites. A burden.

Expect the "one game at a time," "we aren't thinking about that" and "if you mention the title one more time" to be growled out from Atleti's Majadahonda training ground and postmatch news conferences all the way to next May. When, based on recent evidence, great things await.

The transfer window for Europe's major leagues is closed for the summer but who did well? And which clubs failed to make the deals they wanted?

Winners

Inter Milan

We can take one thing from Inter Milan's summer transfer strategy: They are deadly serious about ending their decadelong wait for a Scudetto.

It was a bold enough move to enlist Antonio Conte, such a success with serial champions Juventus, as manager, but their on-field activity has made a statement too. Romelu Lukaku has his doubters, but the bare fact is that the €80m striker is one of the best, most prolific centre-forwards around. Few centre-backs have shut down Champions League attacks as resolutely as Diego Godin over the past decade, while the exciting midfielders Stefano Sensi and Nicolo Barella should push on after joining from Sassuolo and Cagliari.

And then what about Alexis Sanchez? The on-loan forward, who turns 31 in December, was a flop at Manchester United, and his rumbustious, all-action best days seem to be beyond him -- but Conte could be the man to get a tune out of him again. It also seems a bonus, on the face of things, that the Mauro Icardi soap opera has rolled out of town and joined Paris Saint-Germain.

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Atletico Madrid

No Antoine Griezmann? No problem! The manner of their star forward's €120m departure for Barcelona may have rankled, but in truth Atletico were due a refresh in any case and they appear to have reinvested superbly.

With the likes of Rodri and Lucas Hernandez also leaving, Atleti brought in around €300m in transfer fees and may well be stronger for the way they have spent it. Splashing €126m on one 19-year-old in Joao Felix, they have a forward almost a decade younger than Griezmann who seems set to be a global star.

Kieran Trippier is a canny signing from Spurs, and the centre-back Marco Hermoso, signed from Espanyol, looks a good replacement for Diego Godin. The Uruguayan veteran is among those whose experience may be missed when the Champions League's business end comes around but, judging by their flying start to the La Liga season, Atletico seem to have managed this summer's regeneration astutely.

RB Leipzig

Their arrivals have not made flashy headlines, but RB Leipzig have quietly assembled a top-level squad that can challenge all the way for the Bundesliga title. Having an outstanding new manager, Julian Nagelsmann, in situ helps, but his five major signings all add quality in important areas.

Hannes Wolf and Christopher Nkunku are gifted young midfielders from Red Bull Salzburg and PSG respectively; Ademola Lookman knows the ropes having previously been on loan from Everton and can operate across the front line; Patrick Schick offers another dimension up front, and Ethan Ampadu is one of Chelsea's most exciting young prospects.

Leipzig have bolstered an already decent squad and give Nagelsmann the chance to rotate and keep key players fresh. The signs are that they may be able to last the course this time around; three straight league wins and a kind Champions League group certainly set them up well.

Losers

Paris Saint-Germain

They have kept Neymar and added further firepower in Icardi, so what's not to like about the Ligue 1 champions' window? Mainly the fact that their balance still seems all wrong and that the time would have been right to pursue a new model where slow, organic improvement rather than Hollywood glamour was the norm.

Tough tackling midfielder Idrissa Gueye is at least a good signing while Pablo Sarabia and Keylor Navas have the solid profile PSG should be pursuing -- but Icardi brings a significant degree of baggage while Neymar's ego presents a sideshow that Thomas Tuchel could do without.

How Tuchel manages the personalities at his disposal will define PSG's campaign; the nagging worry is that clear lessons have still not been learned.

Eintracht Frankfurt

The Bundesliga side played some thrilling football last season and were agonisingly close to reaching the Europa League final -- not to mention a Champions League spot that ultimately slipped from their grasp. But much of that came through the brilliance of their front three -- Luka Jovic, Sebastien Haller and Ante Rebic -- and none of them will be on show at Commerzbank-Arena over the coming campaign.

Those players will represent Real Madrid, West Ham and AC Milan respectively, the latter being confirmed when Rebic joined AC Milan in a season-long loan late on Tuesday. Eintracht have received more than €100m in return but it is impossible not to feel that a golden chance to establish themselves among Germany's front runners has gone begging.

Andre Silva, Bas Dost and the exciting Red Star Belgrade forward Dejan Joveljic go some way towards filling the gap they have left, but the drop-off in firepower is stark and Eintracht -- who face Arsenal in the Europa League group stages -- may well count the cost.

Roma

While Roma are not the only Serie A side to have plundered an array of Premier League offcuts over the transfer window, their late trolley dash smelt of desperation and, critically, a lack of imagination.

Man United's Chris Smalling and Arsenal's Henrikh Mkhitaryan are hardly signings for the future and the latter has been on a downward spiral ever since leaving Borussia Dortmund. At 30, he is unlikely to recapture past glories.

Nikola Kalinic, now 31, was a success story with Fiorentina but has endured a fallow three years and seems little more than ballast for Paulo Fonseca's squad. Fonseca himself should be a good signing having enjoyed a highly promising stint at Shakhtar Donetsk, but his squad looks like a hastily assembled mish-mash that will do well to return to the Champions League spots and will surely miss defensive lynchpin Kostas Manolas, who was sold to Juventus.

Big Picture

More than a week has passed since The Greatest Test Ever veered and lurched its way to a conclusion that had to be seen to be believed, and the events of Headingley 2019 still feel just as surreal.

But this Ashes series, with five Tests in six-and-a-half weeks, waits for no man - as James Anderson has discovered to his cost. The spectacle of a great mid-series comeback, of England's best bowler returning alongside Australia's best batsman, has been quashed by Anderson's troublesome calf, and Stuart Broad's dream "that he would be back and open the bowling at the James Anderson End, and bowl us to victory" is destined never to become a reality.

Instead, it is Australia that go to Manchester with their key man returning. If Steven Smith's absence due to concussion was not as keenly felt as Justin Langer might have initially feared at Headingley, the pace at which England managed to expose Australia's weak underbelly of a lower-middle order was slowed only by a pair of battling fifties by Marnus Labuschagne, who proved as apt a like-for-like replacement as could have been hoped for.

Labuschagne's reward will be a move back up the order to No. 3, where he batted at the SCG against India at the start of the year, while Usman Khawaja has paid the price for extending his poor record in England, as Smith slots back into the middle order. He is sure to be met with some hostility from Rajasthan Royals team-mate Jofra Archer, who said last week that there would be "more than ample time to get him out" in the series after Smith's jibe that he was yet to do so.

With the best batsman in the world returning - and it's now official again - Australia can remind themselves that they are still only one win away from retaining the urn, and remember that but for one of the great individual efforts in Test history, they would have done so already. The wounds opened up in England's first-innings effort of 67 all out have been patched up with little more than a sticking plaster, and after plenty of time off to get "cherry ripe", the seam attack will be raring to go.

The exact make-up of the bowling attack is yet to be confirmed, with Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc going head-to-head for the final spot, while Nathan Lyon has recovered from a niggling ankle injury and will be thrust back into the spotlight, no doubt with the added pressure of the Manchester crowd on his back after that fumbled run-out attempt in Leeds.

England, meanwhile, have stuck to their theory that their current batting line-up comprises "the best seven batters available to us at the moment" but have decided that Joe Denly - who is surely the only man to become a Test opener by improving his part-time legspin - should switch roles with Jason Roy. If there appears to be some logic to the move, with Roy less likely to be exposed against the moving ball, it should be remembered that Denly has not opened regularly in first-class cricket since 2015; that captain Joe Root has a substantially better record at four than a three; and that Roy's most recent red-ball hundred came at number three.

With the ball, England have opted for a change, naming Craig Overton in their XI, with Chris Woakes paying the price for an expensive display in the first innings at Headingley. While Sam Curran had game-changing lower-order runs and a left-arm angle in his favour, Overton's impressive County Championship form and Ashes experience made him a reasonably compelling alternative.

In truth, though, neither has been afforded an opportunity to stake much of a claim in recent months; that Australia's back-up seamer Michael Neser has played more first-class games than both Curran and Overton in the past five weeks is a damning indictment on the county schedule's suitability.

Form guide

England WDLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LDWWW

In the spotlight

If Ben Stokes' World Cup feats meant that England were more than used to pinning their hopes on him, the burden will only have increased after his heroics at Headingley. Stokes' record at Old Trafford is mediocre - he has one 50 in six first-class innings with an average of 29.33, and two Test wickets at 60 apiece there - but if we have learned anything from Stokes it is that his ability is reflected poorly by conventional statistics. With 258 runs for one dismissal in his last three innings, Stokes is bound to revert to more human numbers soon; England will be desperate for him to keep riding the wave for a few weeks more.

Only one Test into his Ashes career, Marcus Harris finds himself under pressure having kept his spot for Manchester despite an expectation that Khawaja would move up to open. In an alternative timeline, Harris would have been the hero after clinging on to a brilliant catch diving forward at third man to dismiss Stokes at Headingley, but instead needs to combat a perceived weakness against right-arm seamers from around the wicket. He was dismissed twice by Jasprit Bumrah and once by Mohammed Shami from that angle in his debut series, and fell to Archer from that angle in the third Test; expect England to keep on using that as Plan A against him.

Team news

Joe Root confirmed England's XI on the eve of the Test, with Overton likely to slot in at No. 8 above Archer after replacing Woakes. Jos Buttler is set to continue at No. 7, below Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in England's engine room.

England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Joe Denly, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Jason Roy, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Jos Buttler, 8 Craig Overton, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Jack Leach.

Australia's decision to leave Khawaja out of their side for Old Trafford raised a few eyebrows, not least with Matthew Wade keeping his place in the middle order. Tim Paine suggested a late decision would be made as to whether Starc or Siddle plays as the third seamer, but Starc is the favourite after spending the first three Tests on the periphery.

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Marcus Harris, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Peter Siddle/Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Pitch and conditions

The Old Trafford pitch looked a bit cracked and largely free of grass, suggesting it should be a good batting pitch, and certainly one that the winning captain would be expected to bat first on. It is sufficiently dry that the sides might have considered a second spinner in different circumstances, but with Australia only naming one spin bowler in their touring party, Moeen Ali out of form, and Adil Rashid injured, the Test will largely be dominated by seam.

The forecast is mixed for the five days, with conditions overcast at best for the most part. Friday in particular looks set to be threatened by rain.

Stats that matter

• England last won an Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1981, when Ian Botham hit a 102-ball 118 in a 103-run victory.

• Seamers have outperformed spinners at Old Trafford in the past ten years, averaging 27.62 compared to 39.21.

• No English ground has a higher scoring rate in Tests than Old Trafford in the last decade (3.46 runs per over).

• David Warner averages 39.51 against right-arm seamers from around the wicket in Tests, compared to 58.63 over the wicket.

• Craig Overton and Jack Leach have played together 48 times in first-class cricket for Somerset, winning 18 and losing only nine of those games.

Quotes

"We've thought long and hard about our top order. I feel like we have the right players, but reshuffling it is going to be what really works for us and gets off to a strong start. Look at someone like Jason coming in lower down and the ability to play in his manner - more freely when it's not doing as much - might give him a better chance."
Joe Root, England's captain, thinks changing the batting order will be the final piece in the jigsaw

"I thought the way our group engaged in that and were really honest with each other, and the way that guys who had to look at some pretty ordinary stuff copped it on the chin and realised that it's coming from a good place and a place where we want everyone to really improve - I thought the group handled that really well, and we have learned some valuable lessons from the last Test match."
Australia captain Tim Paine says the team are all the better for their Headingely post-mortem

Paul Stirling will leave Middlesex at the end of the season after committing his future to Ireland.

With Irish players no longer qualifying as non-overseas players in county cricket from next year, it had been suggested that players like Stirling would renew their county contracts and give up international cricket.

But Stirling - who captained Ireland in T20 cricket earlier in the year - has signed a new international contract, ending ten years of association with Middlesex.

Stirling said: "It's been a real privilege to represent Middlesex over the last decade, and it has been an unforgettable journey for many reasons. Winning the Championship in 2016 was undoubtedly the highlight on the field, while also receiving my county cap will be something I will cherish for a very long time.

"However, it was the relationships built with the players, staff and supporters that was the most rewarding, and that I will miss the most.

"I am looking forward to the next chapter with Ireland, with a busy year in 2020 and the T20 World Cup Qualifier coming up it is an exciting time to be a part of."

Angus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket, said that everyone at the club "fully respects Paul's decision" and that the coaching staff fully understood the reasoning behind it.

"From a selfish and Middlesex point of view it is obviously sad to see Paul leave," said Fraser. "His aggressive and destructive batting has thrilled Middlesex players and supporters for a number of years.

"The Middlesex coaches and myself totally understand Paul's decision. It has not been an easy one and I know he has thought about it long and hard. Playing for your country is something that should never be taken for granted. It is an honour and a privilege, and to finish a career with regrets is something nobody wants to do.

"He will always be welcome at Lord's and if he ever feels like coming back to play for us in any capacity he has my phone number."

Stirling's team-mate Tim Murtagh is yet to make a decision whether to continue playing international cricket or whether to renew his Middlesex deal.

"It's getting to the stage where we have to choose one or the other and I haven't really made my mind up yet," Murtagh told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast in August.

"There are still discussions to be had with both sides but unfortunately that loophole has been shut and we can't continue playing in county cricket as local players. I'm going to have to make quite a tough decision at the end of the summer and decide which way I want to keep going."

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v New Zealand

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first in the second T20I in Pallekele, just as they had in the first match.

Both teams have made one change each. The hosts have swapped out seam bowler Kasun Rajitha for left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan, perhaps expecting this track to take significant turn. New Zealand, meanwhile, have been forced to leave out Ross Taylor, their top scorer on Sunday, on account of an injury. Tom Bruce comes into the XI in his stead.

Sri Lanka must win this match in order to stay in the three-match series, having lost the first game comfortably on Sunday.

Sri Lanka: 1 Kusal Mendis, 2 Kusal Perera (wk), 3 Avishka Fernando, 4 Niroshan Dickwella, 5 Shehan Jayasuriya, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Lasith Malinga (capt), 11 Lakshan Sandakan

New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Tom Bruce, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Seth Rance, 10 Tim Southee (capt), 11 Ish Sodhi

Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh), Babar Azam (Central Punjab), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab), Imad Wasim (Northern), Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Haris Sohail (Balochistan) will lead six provinces in a new, streamlined domestic season set to begin next week. The welcome prospect of Pakistan's elite players taking part in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy - from September 14 - is partially offset by the reduction in the number of players who can call themselves first-class cricketers this season: 96, down from 256 last season.

According to the PCB's new model, each of the six associations will have a pool of approximately 35 players, split in half between first-class and non-first-class categories. In all 192 players will be offered a year-long contract (in each province Pakistan's centrally contracted national players such as Sarfaraz, Babar, Haris and others, do not get paid the provincial contract fees), with half playing first-class cricket and the other half playing three-day games, which don't have first-class status, for their association's Second XI.

The old model, which included 16 regional and departmental teams playing first-class cricket, was officially scrapped by the PCB last week.

Given that department sides have long employed the country's best players - because they can afford to pay more - a large majority of the 192 players selected are those who were playing for department sides last year; many of the players who populated the regional sides last year don't make the cut. Performances from the last three years of first-class cricket, the last two years from List-A cricket, and the last four years of under-19 cricket were taken into consideration before the squads were named.

Both squads - the First XI and the Second XI - for each association was finalised by a three-member panel comprising of Misbah-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif and Nadeem Khan. The provisional squads list was put together earlier by the ex-selection committee members - Tauseef Ahmed, Wajahatullah Wasti and Wasim Haider - and the present junior selection committee - Saleem Jaffer, Arshad Khan, Rao Iftikhar, and Taufeeq Umar - alongside the regional coaches.

Last year, 69 first-class games were played. Under the new structure, this season there will be 31 first-class games, and 16 T20s and 31 one-dayers. The squad for each of these formats will be selected from within the extended squad. The domestic season starts on September 14, with the first-class teams and Second XIs playing concurrently.

The Second XI's version of the country's premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, will include 30 three-day group matches, with a four-day final contested at Karachi's State Bank Stadium from November 26.

Balochistan Cricket Association

First XI: Haris Sohail (c), Imran Farhat (vc), Abu Bakar, Ali Shafiq, Ammad Butt, Asif Zakir, Azeem Ghumman, Bismillah Khan (wk), Hussain Talat, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Butt, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Asghar, Shahbaz Khan, Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, Taimur Khan, Taj Wali, Umar Gul, Yasir Shah

Second XI: Akbar-ur-Rehman (c), Akhtar Shah, Atif Jabbar, Awais Zia, Dawood Khan, Fahad Iqbal, Gohar Faiz, Gulraiz Sadaf (wk), Haseeb Azam, Jalat Khan, Mohammad Junaid, Nazar Hussain, Rameez Raja (from Pishin), Shehzad Tareen, Taimur Ali, Usama Razzaq

White-ball specialists: Akif Javed, Ibtisam Sheikh, Mohammad Talha

Central Punjab Cricket Association

First XI: Babar Azam (c), Ahmed Shehzad (vc), Ahmed Bashir, Ali Shan, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Ehsan Adil, Fahim Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Saad, Nasim Shah, Rizwan Hussain, Saad Naseem, Salman Butt, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Waqas Maqsood, Zafar Gohar

Second XI: Ali Waqas (c), Abdullah Shafiq, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Aizaz Cheema (mentor), Ali Zaryab, Asad Raza, Atiq-ur-Rehman, Ayaz Tasawar, Bilawal Iqbal, Farhan Khan (wk), Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Ali (from ZTBL), Raza Ali Dar, Suleman Shafqat, Zahid Mansoor

White-ball specialists: Nasir Nawaz, Nauman Anwar, Usman Qadir (subject to availability)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association

First XI: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Sahibzada Farhan (vc) Adil Amin, Ashfaq Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Sr, Irfan Khan, Israr Ullah, Junaid Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Ilyas, Musaddiq Ahmed, Nabi Gul, Rehan Afridi (wk), Sameen Gul, Umar Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari, Zohaib Khan

Second XI: Khushdil Shah (c), Ahmed Jamal, Akbar Badshah, Arshad Iqbal, Asad Afridi, Asif Afridi, Atizaz Habib Khan, Azizullah (from Peshawar), Gohar Ali (wk), Irfanullah Shah, Khalid Usman, Mehran Ibrahim, Mohammad Mohsin Khan, Mohammad Naeem (from FATA), Sajid Khan, Samiullah Jr

White-ball specialists: Imran Khan Jr, Mohammad Arif, Mohammad Mohsin

Northern Cricket Association

First XI: Imad Wasim (c), Umar Amin (vc), Afaq Raheem, Ali Asad, Ali Sarfraz, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Hammad Azam, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Nawaz, Musa Khan, Nauman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wk), Sadaf Hussain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Waheed, Waqas Ahmed

Second XI: Faizan Riaz (c), Ali Imran, Hasan Raza, Jamal Anwar (wk), Naved Malik, Raza Hasan, Salman Irshad, Sarmad Bhatti, Shadab Majeed, Shehzad Azam, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas, Syed Tauseeq Shah, Umair Khan, Umair Masood (wc), Usama Mir, Zeeshan Malik

White-ball specialists: Mohammad Amir, Sohail Akhtar, Zaid Alam

Sindh Cricket Association

First XI: Sarfaraz Ahmad (c), Asad Shafiq (vc), Abid Ali, Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam, Hasan Mohsin, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasan, Mohammad Hasnain, Omair Bin Yousuf, Rameez Aziz, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel, Shehzar Mohammad, Sohail Khan, Tabish Khan, Waleed Ahmed

Second XI: Mohammad Sami (captain and mentor), Rameez Raja Jr (vc), Adeel Malik, Ahsan Ali, Ammad Alam, Ashiq Ali, Ashir Qureshi, Danish Aziz, Ghulam Muddasar, Hassan Khan, Jahid Ali, Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Waqas, Rumman Raees, Saad Khan, Saifullah Bangash (wk)

White-ball specialists: Abrar Ahmed, Ahsan Jamil Mirza, Shahnawaz Dahani

Southern Punjab Cricket Association

First XI: Shan Masood (c), Sami Aslam (vc), Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Adnan Akmal (wk), Amir Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Imran Rafiq, M Irfan (slow left-arm), M Irfan Sr (left-arm fast medium), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Abbas, Rahat Ali, Saif Badar, Sohaib Maqsood, Umaid Asif, Umar Siddiq, Wahab Riaz, Zahid Mehmood, Zain Abbas

Second XI: Naved Yasin (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Ali Usman, Anas Mustafa, Ataullah, Maqbool Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Ali Khan, Mohammad Basit, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Mohammad Mohsin (from Lahore), Mohammad Umair, Mukhtar Ahmed, Zeeshan Ashraf, Zia-ul-Haq, Zulfiqar Babar (mentor)

White-ball specialists: Ali Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sadaif Mehdi

Australia's captain Tim Paine has publicly conceded for the first time that he misjudged the thrilling conclusion of the Headingley Test, admitting he had not pressured Ben Stokes enough by keeping fielders up to the bat and at the same time allowing the England allrounder to farm the strike away from the last man Jack Leach.

While explaining why Usman Khawaja had been dropped for the Old Trafford Test to make way for the return of Steven Smith from a concussion, Paine admitted that he had been forced to face some harsh truths in Australia's post-Leeds discussions about the way he had led the team at the most critical moment, one wicket away from securing the Ashes in the space of three Test matches.

"I would do something differently with my field placings," Paine said. "There was times looking back at it where it was really obvious I should've had the field up and allowed Ben even to hit a couple of boundaries so we had more balls at the tailender. But I didn't do that. The mistake's been made, we've moved on, we've learned from it, but that would've been the main thing I would've done differently.

"We made some mistakes, it happens, we've addressed it as a team, we've spoken about it honestly. I was certainly one of those people who made mistakes, it happens in cricket, we've moved on and we're here ready for a great Test match."

The decision to drop Khawaja, arrived at during discussions between Paine, coach Justin Langer selection chairman Trevor Hohns two days out from the match, was both an admission of English dominance against a top order stacked with left-handers and also a conclusion on the No. 3's ability to handle the moving Dukes ball, which on average tends to deviate a significant amount more than the Kookaburra both in the air and off the pitch.

"Usman's obviously a key player in our side batting at No. 3 and he hasn't scored the runs that he or we would like," Paine said. "So with Steve Smith coming back it was a tough decision to make on Usman, but we think he's still got a lot of cricket left in him, he's had a very good Test record over his career, and we expect he will bounce back pretty strongly.

"I give my opinion, it's only been spoken about that I've been aware of this week, Us hasn't scored the runs that he would like and we would like from him and it's unfortunate for him that Steve Smith missed the last Test, and when a player that good is coming back someone's got to make way. It's a good thing for us that we've got a player of Usman's quality on the sidelines, it means we're getting our team to where we want to be and we want our selectors making hard decisions."

At the same time, Paine said it would have been a difficult call to drop Marcus Harris after one match, even though, having not made a century and averaging less than 30 after seven Tests, he has a much inferior record to Khawaja. "I think so, you're not going to change your order too much," Paine said. "Marcus came in, played one Test, I think it would have been hard to then leave him out straightaway. He played okay, he would've liked a few more runs as well, but we think Harry's had a decent start to his Test-match career and we think he's got a lot of talent and we think he's going to convert that into a lot of Test runs."

Australia's attitude to batting in this series has at times looked preoccupied by survival, and Paine said it was important for the tourists to get the right balance between diligent defence and natural attack over the next five days. "I don't think it's about buying time, it's about scoring runs," he said. "And whether you're David Warner and you score a hundred off 80 balls, or if you're Marcus Harris or Rory Burns and it takes time, it's important that when you play in England you stick to what works for you.

"I think at times that's what's brought people undone. They've come over here and tried to play in a completely different way rather than just try and adjust to what's coming at you. Don't go out there with any preconceived ideas about swing and the Dukes ball, and the wickets over here. It's the same distance, with the stumps behind you, and it's about watching the ball and playing the way you play. We're just driving that home to our batters at the moment. Obviously we'd like some more runs out of our top order, and England are the same."

Mitchell Starc is closer than ever to taking part in the series, though once again he will have to be part of a four-man bowling attack due to the continued omission of the allrounder Mitchell Marsh. Paine said that one further look at the Manchester surface would be required before a final decision is made. "He's in the 12 so he's close. We'll have another look at that wicket, it looks pretty dry," Paine said. "Hopefully it's got a bit of pace in it, but Starcy bowled superbly last week down at Derby.

"He's been working really hard at getting his length right and we were really impressed with what he did down there, he held his pace back a little bit, got the ball in the right area and swung it when he needed to, then we know what he can do to tail-end batters when he really cranks it up. the boys have been calling him 'The Mop' for a few years now, that's a thing he does really well, and even when you've got a couple of set batters you've got a big, tall left-armer who can bowl 150kph and can shake things up a little bit.

"He's a great option for us, we think this wicket might suit him, and if we make that call we're sure he'll do a great job as he has over his whole career."

As for Australia's overall Ashes blueprint, which had held up to within a single wicket of retaining the urn at Headingley, Paine remained adamant that his men would stay the course. "We are doing a lot of things right, we know that," he said.

"We know where we made some errors in the last Test match, but on the whole - when you look at the way we played our cricket and the numbers and things we look at and mark ourselves on - we've been doing them really well. that's why we've been in positions to win Test matches, we've just got to be better at finishing the job. Like we didn't do last week. We've learned from that and we'll be better for it."

RENTON, Wash. -- The deal that brought Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks came down to the wire, according to coach Pete Carroll, and had been on general manager John Schneider's radar for several months before it was completed over the weekend.

In between, an important phone call from Duane Brown helped make it happen.

Brown selling Clowney on the city and the team helped the Seahawks land the Pro Bowl pass-rusher, capping off an eventful six months during which he was franchise-tagged by the Houston Texans, stayed away from them as he sought a long-term deal, and met with the Miami Dolphins before Seattle won out.

"Phew," Clowney said when asked how crazy the process that led him to Seattle has been. "Very crazy."

He spoke with reporters Monday, having taken off the No. 91 jersey that he wore during his first practice with the team, one number higher than what he wore for his five seasons in Houston. Carroll said Clowney is in line to play in Sunday's opener against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.

"He's a rare football player," Carroll said of Clowney, who has made three consecutive Pro Bowls and totaled 18.5 sacks over the past two seasons. "He's got special skills that most guys just don't have. It's great quickness, his reaction time, the length that he can use, his ability to run, his instincts. He's made a lot of plays in the backfield over the years, instinctive plays, penetrating and causing problems, and we plan to allow him to do that in our scheme. It'll fit really well with what we're doing. We saw a great fit whether it's third down or early downs. So he's pretty much got what you're looking for."

It was about a month ago that Clowney got a call from Brown, his teammate in Houston from his 2014 rookie season to when Brown was dealt to Seattle at the trade deadline in 2017. Clowney asked Brown how he likes it in Seattle.

"He was like, 'You need to come play with us. You'll love it here. Great weather. It's not hot like Houston. Great fan support. Other great teammates on this team. Come be a part of something great,'" Clowney recalled. "I was like, 'Man, you know what? I'm going to look into that, try to get up there with you guys.'"

And as a franchise-tagged player who had yet to sign his tender -- meaning he wasn't under contract and couldn't be traded until he was -- Clowney had a great deal of say about where he would end up. That was the idea all along.

"I just really tried to take control of what I could control, as far as where could I play at and how could I be traded, as far as that," he said. "I was just taking that into consideration. It was like, 'If I don't sign the tag, maybe I could decide where I end up going,' and I got somewhere I wanted to be. That's what happened."

In addition to Brown giving his recruiting pitch, he gave the Seahawks his stamp of approval on Clowney. Specifically, Carroll said Brown vouched for Clowney's work ethic, the subject of questions earlier in his career.

"Without question, Duane helped us through the process in making us know who we're dealing with and the player he used to practice against and his capabilities, potential habits, background, family," Carroll said. "We really had a lot of insights because of Duane."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Texans gave Clowney a $7 million signing bonus and that the Seahawks are paying him only an $8 million salary. Carroll confirmed Schefter's report that the Seahawks agreed not to franchise Clowney, 26, at the end of this season, calling it something they had to do to get the deal done. He lauded Schneider's persistence in pursuing Clowney and the job he and vice president of football administration Matt Thomas did in completing the trade with all the moving parts surrounding the Saturday afternoon deadline for teams to set trim their rosters to 53.

"There was about 20 seconds before 1 o'clock [Sunday]," he said. "It was right to the nub. We're a long ways away from Houston, and a lot of stuff could happen in between, and really, we're all sitting in the office up there. J.D. is there and his agent and Matt and John and I, and we're sitting there looking at the clock, waiting for the word to come back. So it was really, there was a lot of drama to it. So it was fun that we were able to pull it off, and really, we didn't know right until the very end."

Clowney cited the appeal of playing with Russell Wilson as a factor in wanting to join the Seahawks, along with getting to play end in Carroll's 4-3 defense. Clowney -- listed on Seattle's roster at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds -- said he can put on weight knowing he won't have to drop into coverage against tight ends as he frequently did as an outside linebacker in Houston's 3-4.

Carroll said there's "no question he's really in good shape" based on what he has seen from Clowney so far. Clowney trained for the bulk of the offseason in Miami and more recently in Houston.

"I know that Jadeveon was really concerned about being ready for this season coming up," Carroll said. "He would tell you he put together the best offseason he's ever had. ... He was really healthy going through the process with the physical and all that kind of stuff, so he's in great shape in that regard. Everything is really positive."

Carroll said there is "without question" a chance Clowney remains a part of Seattle's plans beyond 2019. Clowney punted on that when he was asked about it, saying he isn't thinking that far ahead.

"I'm still trying to figure out where the cafeteria is at and where the locker room is," he said with a laugh. "It's all confusing."

Clowney's first priority: getting up to speed in Seattle's scheme in time to play Sunday, when he'll line up on the opposite end from fellow newcomer Ziggy Ansah, provided neither player has any setbacks in practice this week.

When asked if he could have imagined his situation working out better than it did once he decided he wanted out of Houston, Clowney offered a clarification.

"I don't think I decided that," he said. "They decided that. I didn't have no say-so in that. I just held the cards of where I end [up] playing at. They decided to get me out.

"But like I said, I'm thankful for the opportunity I had in Houston. They drafted me No. 1 overall. Great opportunities down there. I met some great guys on that staff and great, great teammates. I'm just glad to be part of this team now. I'm just trying to look forward. I ain't looking back."