Former South Africa allrounder Lance Klusener has been appointed as the team's assistant batting coach for the T20I leg of their India tour next month. Former South Africa assistant coach Vincent Barnes has been named the assistant bowling coach, while former batsman Justin Ontong has been named assistant fielding coach role.

As part of South Africa's new directive, the assistant coaches and all other technical staff will report directly to the newly-appointed interim team director Enoch Nkwe, who will be in charge during the India tour, which comprises three T20Is and three Tests.

Klusener represented South Africa in 49 Tests and 171 ODIs from 1996 to 2004. Often considered among the best allrounders of his generation, he collected 1906 runs and 80 wickets in Tests, as well as 3576 runs and 192 wickets in ODIs. He took up a coaching role with his domestic side Dolphins in 2012, before serving as the batting coach for the Zimbabwe team in 2016. In 2015, he was roped in by South Africa to tutor the lower order during their home series against England. Klusener was also appointed as the head coach of Glasgow Giants for the inaugural Euro T20 Slam, though the tournament was ultimately cancelled two weeks before the start.

"In terms of the new team structure, the team director appoints his three assistant coaches who have specific skills focus in the three key disciplines of batting, bowling and fielding," Corrie van Zyl, CSA's acting director, said.

"His [Klusener] record as one of the best all-rounders in the world, particularly in white-ball cricket, during his playing career speaks for itself and he also has extensive coaching experience both at franchise and international level."

Barnes had been South Africa's bowling and then assistant coach from 2003 until 2011 and has been CSA's High Performance coach since 2011, while also working with the side's elite fast-bowling group. Ontong represented South Africa in all three formats between 2001 and 2015. He also served as South Africa's fielding coach under Ottis Gibson, before the restructure was announced earlier this month.

"He [Barnes] also has extensive coaching experience at international level and his knowledge of playing conditions in India will make his contribution invaluable," van Zyl said. "Vincent currently also fills the role of the HP Bowling Lead for CSA. Ontong meanwhile has built up a strong relationship with the players over the last two years and is an acknowledged expert in this department.

"Enoch is targeting a batting coach who has extensive knowledge of Indian conditions for the Test series and we will be in a position to announce this successful candidate shortly."

Under CSA's recent restructuring programme, the roles of head coach and team manager have been merged to create the team director's post. CSA introduced the changes - including a decision against giving Gibson and the support staff contract extensions - as part of sweeping changes to the way the senior men's team would be run after the 2019 World Cup.

Australia 179 (Labuschagne 74, Warner 61, Archer 6-45) v England

Anyone watching his debut at Lord's was left in little doubt as to what Jofra Archer brings to this England side, but his six-wicket haul rammed the message home all the same as Australia were bowled out for 179 on the opening day of the third Test at Headingley.

It was a case of another day, another intriguing chapter in this Ashes contest as David Warner found some form and Marnus Labuschagne - only in the side because Steven Smith was still suffering the effects of being concussed by Archer - top-scored for Australia for the second time in as many innings. But Archer, playing just his second Test, had the last word, his 6 for 45 putting England on top.

Despite rain and bad light forcing a delayed start and long, frustrating stretches without any play at all, there were enough twists and turns amid the action to ensure it was in keeping with the rest of the series so far.

England, keen to make the most of Joe Root's decision to bowl in overcast conditions upon winning the toss and having already reduced the tourists to 25 for 2, were stymied first by the weather they had hoped would work in their favour and then by the stubborn pairing of Warner and Labuschagne.

But just as it looked like Warner might dig in after rediscovering some much-needed form with his first double-figures score of the series and then having a caught-behind decision rightfully overturned, he exited, the first in a flurry of three wickets that had England back in control as Australia slid from 136 for 2 to 139 for 5 in the space of 15 balls.

That became 162 for 6 thanks to Root's deft use of the DRS when Tim Paine was given not out lbw on 11 to a Chris Woakes inswinger, with replays showing the ball hit the knee roll in line and would have taken the top of leg stump.

But as in the second Test, when he came in as Smith's concussion replacement and scored 59, Labuschagne produced another composed innings.

After play started 70 minutes late, Archer struck in the fourth over of the match when he had Marcus Harris - in the side for Cameron Bancroft who was dropped after scores of 8, 7, 13 and 16 in the series so far - caught behind for 8. Harris' disappointment was compounded as the players immediately followed him off the field as the rain returned.

After lunch was taken early, Stuart Broad had Usman Khawaja out just as cheaply early in the second session, caught down the leg side after a confident and ultimately successful review by Root. The England players looked rather dubious when play was halted as light rain began to fall again with Warner on 18 and Labuschagne yet to score and they were even slower to leave when bad light was called 3.1 overs into the resumption.

An elongated tea break was followed, however, by a break in the weather, which is forecast to be fine for the coming days. That did not, however, lift England's mood as they became bogged down in a tenacious partnership between Warner and Labushcagne, which yielded 111 runs.

Warner reached his half-century off 79 balls with a four off Woakes and booing could be heard as the batsman - still finding his way back into the game following his year-long ball-tampering ban - acknowledged the crowd, which also offered warm applause as his wife and two of his three young daughters cheered him on from the stands.

Warner was on 61 and mighty swift to call for a review when he was given out caught behind off Broad, with UltraEdge revealing he had not hit the ball. He failed to add to his score, though, before Archer found the edge in the next over with a near-unplayable 90mph ball and Bairstow took the catch.

Far from the onslaught of speed and aggression he showed with such devastating effect at Lord's, Archer bowled in more controlled spells with no damage whatsoever to his figures. He still produced speed when he needed to, as Warner discovered, and enough bounce to keep the batsmen on their toes. He bowled the most overs with 17.1, having sent down 44 overs of venom in the previous match, which ended just four days ago.

Broad, too, caused Australia some problems, answering Labuchagne's fifty celebration with a ball to the groin that took the batsman several minutes to recover from and taking 2 for 32 from his 14 overs, including the dismissal of Travis Head for a duck with a gem of a delivery that crisply struck the top of off stump, the second wicket of Australia's mini-collapse.

Matthew Wade followed, also for a duck, after an Archer delivery struck him on the glove and thigh pad before dropping behind him and rolling gently into the base of leg stump.

Labuschagne carried on as Paine, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins fell - the latter two more Archer fodder - before his bizarre dismissal, lbw to a dipping Ben Stokes full toss that he reviewed to find the ball would have smashed into the centre of middle stump.

Nathan Lyon was the last man out, and Archer's sixth wicket, lbw to a full, straight ball that was hitting leg stump and which allowed England to claim the day.

David Warner would have been happy to get out nicking any one of the multiple deliveries Stuart Broad sent fizzing past his outside edge on a difficult day for batting at Headingley, but admitted Australia now had a significant challenge ahead of them to defend 179 in conditions and weather that are expected to improve in Leeds over the next two days.

Having entered the third Ashes Test without a double-figure score in four innings, Warner resolved to defend his off stump and also take opportunities to score whenever they arrived, finding a better balance between defence and attack than he had previously managed in the series.

During a stand of 110 in 23 overs with the highly impressive Marnus Labuschagne, Warner and Australia could see the potential for a first-innings total that would have set up the whole match, only to lose 8 for 43 to Jofra Archer's brilliance and so leave the Test well and truly open to England.

"My theory has always been the same when I come to England," Warner said. "The first two wickets didn't have as much dampness in them or weren't going to seam as much and for me it's about taking out that lbw equation but then not trying to get out nicked off from a good length ball and knowing where your off stump is there. You want them to come into your pads when you bat outside off and you can get the cheeky one inside midwicket, that's the thought process behind it.

"Travis Head's dismissal is the perfect dismissal that you don't want to do as a left-hander. I don't want to have the bat come down at an angle and exposing my off stump, so for me it was about going across a little bit, getting my bat in front of my pad, and that's outside the line there. That's my thinking, it always has been. It's been challenging but coming into it mentally I felt like I was in form. I've had three balls where I probably couldn't have done anything with them.

"The first one [at Edgbaston] was just a lazy one I missed on my legs. But I've always felt like I've been in form and worked my backside off in the nets as well. Then today was about trying to negate that good ball and not get out to it. I had a lot of luck, I played and missed quite a lot but I kept my bat nice and tight. That's what I wanted to do and I was happy to get out if a good ball was going to get me out. I was very pleased with the way I adjusted. I moved across a little bit more so my bat was covering that off stump, allowed me to leave a little bit more."

A pre-match round of golf with Ricky Ponting, who had been an assistant coach with Australia during the World Cup and has now returned as a commentator, was also useful for sorting through the many thoughts in Warner's mind. "Going out on the golf course with Ricky was great, always good to have my mate around and just let your hair down," he said. "He was all about making sure I'm still backing my game plan, looking to get forward and looking to hit the ball, and I know when I'm looking to hit the ball my defence takes care of itself and I'm compact. That was fortunate enough today that it came off, but obviously you get another good ball there but can't do anything about it.

"Our top order, we all got good balls. We always knew that partnership with me and Marnus, that's how cricket goes, you're going to lose one straight away, if not the next five overs, but if you get through that, as a new batter, it can get a lot easier. Early back in their second spells there, it's challenging. That's the beauty of this game. It's hard to start, especially when you have two world-class bowlers coming on who are hitting their line and length impeccably.

"You are always nice and sharp when you have a lot of movement out there, you have to commit to the front foot or the back foot, you can't get caught on the crease. I look back on the [World Cup] game against Pakistan and I got some runs there, it was green, and the ball was swinging and nipping around, and same thing, I just held my line and I pounced on anything that was wide or short. Today, you weren't going to get that from Broady or Jofra. They bowled unbelievable. It's always challenging, but as a batsman you have to stay in a positive mindset. A play and miss is a good shot."

Having watched Labuschagne up close and been on the receiving end of his ever-active cricket brain, providing plenty of advice about how to survive in the middle, Warner had little hesitation dubbing him a long-term Test batsman for the future - albeit with a caveat over his batting position. "Definitely, [but] not at four, Steve Smith's there," Warner said. "He's just taken the bull by its horns, he's got that opportunity and he's working his backside off to reinstate himself into the Test arena and he is doing himself every favour by hanging in and batting the way he is, so obviously it wasn't ideal that Steve couldn't play but [Labuschagne] got another opportunity to come out and play. He's a fantastic player and he has got a lot to offer and we have seen it first hand there.

"I though he was outstanding today, his discipline was outstanding, him coming over here and playing that stint of county cricket, scoring some runs and knowing where his off stump is ... We talked our way through our innings out there, we rebounded a lot of positive comments and he kept telling me about being disciplined and making sure I'm holding my shape which was great getting reassurance from a youngster."

The partnership between Warner and Labuschagne stood out boldly amid the rush of wickets either side of it, underlining that there will be opportunities for Australia to take wickets provided they maintain their discipline.

"For us it was about pushing the field," Warner said, "we always spoke about running between wickets and we pushed the field as much as we could. That can break up some tension when they're bowling well, just little things we were ticking over in our minds, we were running hard, we were leaving well, but make sure we are being ultra positive and that's probably why we got that period.

"We've got to come out tomorrow and hit the right lines and lengths, I think the weather is quite hot, it could dry the wicket out a lot. It's a fast-scoring outfield so we have to hit the right line and length and try to shut the scoreboard down. It's about discipline, they had the right phase today, they had the conditions in their favour but they put the ball in the right spot all the time so that's the challenge."

Throughout his post-play press conference, Warner was being harangued by the chants of England fans who could see him speaking from outside the ground - typifying the abuse he has faced throughout the tour. "They are allowed to do want they want," he said. "They pay to come in and watch cricket and are allowed to carry on if they want.

"If they carry on too much they get evicted. For us we just worry about what we have to do. It's hard enough trying to hit a swinging and seaming ball than worry about what the crowd are doing. They just come here to have fun, enjoy a good game of cricket and try and add some extra pressure on us. Some of us thrive on it like me, some of us don't even listen to it."

Hampshire 131 for 3 (Vince 69) beat Middlesex 128 (Hafeez 34, Morris 3-22, Abbott 3-25) by seven wickets

Chris Morris and Kyle Abbott claimed three wickets apiece as Hampshire kept their Vitality Blast hopes alive with a seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Lord's.

The men from the Ageas Bowl came through the Grace Gates knowing they needed four wins out of four to have a chance of making the knockout stages and their South African pace duo all but clinched the first of these as they bundled out the hosts for 128.

James Vince's 69 made short work of the chase, leaving Middlesex, who have been riding high in the South Group standings still looking for a couple of wins to book their own place in the quarter-finals.

Middlesex were put in after losing the toss and struggled from the outset.

Paul Stirling's poor form in T20 this year continued when he became Abbott's first victim, lbw to the first ball of the fourth over.

Dawid Malan and Stevie Eskinazi briefly threatened to post a score, but once the former had edged Morris through to keeper Lewis McManus the Seaxes lost their way.

Eoin Morgan continued the cameos trend, striking two sixes in his 20, before perishing attempting a third from the bowling of the excellent Liam Dawson, who bowled well in tandem with South African debutant Tabraiz Shamsi.

Middlesex debutant and Pakistan Test star Mohammed Hafeez tried to hold things together with 34, sharing a stand of 46 with wicketkeeper John Simpson. But he was bowled by Wood before Abbott dismissed Simpson and Toby Roland-Jones with successive balls.

Morris picked up two late scalps as Middlesex lost their last five wickets for seven runs in 16 balls.

Having top scored with the bat, Hafeez struck an early blow with the ball when Rilee Rossouw drove him straight to Nathan Sowter at cover.

Hampshire skipper Vince, though, looked in ominous form from the get-go, one sumptuous cover-drive underlining his class.

Sam Northeast tried to follow his example only to blast a Roland-Jones delivery straight up in the air and give Stirling a simple catch.

But Dawson, fresh from his unbeaten half-century against Surrey in the County Championship 24 hours earlier, proved a valuable ally to Vince, who went to 50 from 33 balls with his seventh boundary. The 50 partnership came in just 32 deliveries and although Vince holed out on the cover boundary, Hampshire sprinted home with 31 balls to spare.

There was a revealing moment as Jofra Archer walked off the pitch having just completed the first five-wicket haul of his Test career.

Thrown the ball by team-mates who recognised the significance of the occasion - there will, no doubt be more five-wicket hauls, but there will never be another first - Archer did not, initially, at least, raise it to soak up the applause of the crowd. Instead, he continued to rub it on his trousers; still looking for the shine that might help him gain some swing.

It was a moment reminiscent, perhaps, of the way in which Jonathan Trott, at his best, would sometimes mark his guard even after he had guided his side to a victory in a match. For these are men so locked in their craft, so consumed by their profession, that it becomes instinctive to work on it even when the immediate targets have been hit.

ALSO READ: Warner makes own fortune on return to form

That craft was evident in Archer here. After showing the fire and brimstone side to his game at Lord's, where he achieved a pace of 96mph and displayed that wonderfully unpleasant bouncer, here Archer reasoned that conditions called for different skills. So instead of looking to make the batsmen jump and parry, he sought to draw them onto the front foot and exploit conditions which saw the ball move sharply through much of the day.

That is a remarkably mature approach for a young man playing just his second Test. Many of this crowd would have longed to see him unleash the sort of deliveries that had Lord's on the edge of their seats last week and many of them roared him in at the start of the day. So despite claiming one wicket - Marcus Harris caught behind of an almost perfect delivery that demanded a stroke and moved fractionally to kiss the edge - in his opening spell, there was a slight sense of anti-climax as it finished. This had been a demonstration of subtlety, skill and control. And when you're dressed as Elvis, a banana, or a monk - and that accounts for a fair few in the Headingley crowd on Thursday - subtlety can get a bit lost.

But this was exactly the approach taken by the likes of Malcolm Marshall or Richard Hadlee in such conditions. And Archer's ability to nip the ball both ways, using both seam and swing, while maintaining that full length that allowed the ball the chance to swing and demanded a stroke from the batsmen. After producing a hostile performance at Lord's that would have made Mitchell Johnson proud, he produced a skilful performance here that would have done the same for James Anderson. To be capable of both approaches is immensely encouraging for England.

"I don't need to run in and bowl 90mph every spell to get wickets," Archer said afterwards. "I've shown that today. There will be times in Test matches you have to focus on hitting your length. There will be times to ramp it up as well but you don't have to go into it every innings.

"This wasn't a wicket where you had to run in and bowl 90mph. It was a bit softer on top; there was a bit of swing and nip. If you put it in the right areas you should get wickets."

That's not to say Archer did not display sharp pace here. By the time he was recalled to the attack for his second spell, Australia were 124-2 and England were in real danger. In these conditions, that was a fine score. The support bowlers had failed to maintain the control of the openers and, at one stage, 88 runs had been leaked from 14 overs. The thought remains that, had they all bowled tighter, Australia may have struggled to score many more than 100 in such conditions. England may yet struggle in reply.

As a result, Archer appeared to go up a gear. Having beaten David Warner with an 88mph delivery that nipped past his outside edge, the next ball - timed at a fraction under 90 mph - demanded a stroke and again took the edge on its way to the keeper. The word 'unplayable' is overused, but the best most batsmen could hope to do with such a delivery was miss it. The wicket precipitated a sharp decline which saw Australia lose eight wickets for 43. Coincidentally, 8 for 43 were the figures Bob Willis took here in that famous game in 1981. Archer's haul of 6-45 was the best by an England bowler in the Ashes at Headingley since.

Later, Warner compared him to Dale Steyn - in terms of his skills and his ability to up his pace as required - and Jasprit Bumrah - in terms of the difficulty in picking up his lengths from his action. Look at the names mentioned in this article so far: Marshall; Hadlee; Steyn; Bumrah. These are some of the best there have ever been. England have something very special here.

"It was incredible Test bowling," Warner said of Archer and Broad's opening spells. "It was world-class bowling at its best. They bowled unbelievably well and a play and miss became a good shot."

Is this praise premature? Well, we'll see. But Archer really does appear to have the armoury - the control, the pace, the skills and the robust body - to suggest he can sustain the bright start to his career. Indeed, when his captain eventually realises that he is the man who should be running in down the hill, and he is the man who should bowl in shorter spells, it's possible his figures could even improve. He bowled at the wrong end for much of this innings and conceded runs as a result of the unusually attacking fields.

The one cloud on his horizon is his workload. Already, he has delivered 61.1 overs in this series and this was just the third innings in which he has bowled. By contrast, Broad has delivered fewer than 50 overs in the same timeframe. Overall, England have delivered 194.1 overs since Archer came into the Test side, meaning he has bowled almost a third of them. That is not sustainable.

So while it is understandable that Joe Root turns to him in every situation - the Ashes are on the line here, after all - it has to change. While he's shown he is far more than a tearaway with a magnificent bouncer, that top register of pace remains a significant weapon. Even in this innings, he produced the odd sharp bouncer which would have had batsmen just a little reluctant to prop onto the front foot. England need to help him retain that pace. Johnson, at his best, rarely bowled spells of longer than three or four overs.

It was that weariness that was most apparent straight after the game. Asked by the BBC how he felt about that first five-for, his instinctive response was to reply: "It means I get to rest now. I'm over the moon to have got six wickets today, but I'm equally happy just to get off."

That sustains a familiar theme. Following the Lord's Test, Archer tweeted a picture of an old man struggling to raise himself from a chair with a stick for help and wrote: "Me getting out of bed tomorrow morning."

It was a joke, of course, but it was also a warning. Bowlers like Archer come along, for England at least, very rarely. He's already helped England to a World Cup and he might just have got them back in an Ashes series. He needs looking after. He needs protecting. We're only at the start of Archer's international journey, but already he has shown an array of skills that whisper the potential of greatness.

Cam Newton's surgically repaired shoulder has been the focus for much of the Carolina Panthers' preseason, but the focus turned to the franchise quarterback's left foot and ankle after a first-quarter sack in Thursday night's preseason game at New England.

Team medical staff examined Newton's left foot on the sideline after the sack, his second in three series. The 2015 NFL MVP then walked to the locker room, the team later announcing he would not return.

Newton, 30, underwent surgery on his left ankle on March 2014.

Newton sat out the first two preseason games as the staff used extreme caution in his recovery from January arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder, the second time that shoulder had been operated on in three offseasons.

He completed his first four passes Thursday for 22 yards before his first incompletion, a throwaway to avoid a sack.

Newton didn't get rid of the ball on the play he was injured. He scrambled around the pocket before going down with New England defensive lineman Adam Butler holding onto his left foot.

Replay didn't show anything out of the ordinary, but Newton was favoring the foot when he left the field.

This wasn't the first time Newton incurred a preseason injury against the Patriots on a scramble. He suffered a fractured rib in 2014 and ultimately missed the opener at Tampa Bay.

Newton finished 4-for-6 for 30 yards.

A video of Conor McGregor punching an older man inside a Dublin bar surfaced online last week, and seeing the video was "like a dagger into my heart," McGregor told Ariel Helwani in an exclusive interview with ESPN on Thursday.

In the interview, McGregor expressed regret for his actions in April, when he struck the man in an ugly incident in his native Ireland. The former two-division UFC champion came clean and took full responsibility for his "unacceptable behavior" in that event.

"I was in the wrong," McGregor said. "That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having it end the way it did. ... I tried to make amends and I made amends back then. But it doesn't matter. I was in the wrong. I must come here before you and take accountability and take responsibility. I owe it to the people that have been supporting me. I owe it to my mother, my father, my family. I owe it to the people who trained me in martial arts. That's not who I am. That's not the reason why I got into martial arts or studying combat sports. The reason I got into it was to defend against that type of scenario."

The Gardai, Ireland's national police, are investigating the incident at The Marble Arch Bar on April 6, a spokesperson confirmed to ESPN last week. The Gardai do not comment on named individuals. McGregor said he would accept any consequences.

"Whatever comes my way, I will face it," McGregor said. "Whatever comes my way, I deserve it. I will face this head on. I will not hide from it. I was in the wrong. It was completely unacceptable behavior for a man in my position."

The pub punch was McGregor's second run-in with the law in two months. McGregor was arrested and charged with smashing a man's cellphone and stealing it outside a Miami club in March. Those charges were dropped in May. McGregor admitted he was in the wrong with regard to that situation, too.

"I need to just stop reacting to the bait," McGregor said. "People are trying to bait me into things. Am I the fish or am I the whale? I must be calm, I must be zen. I must lead by example. There's so many people looking up to me. How can I react in this way? I need to get ahold of this and, like I said, I'm working very hard to do this."

McGregor, 31, is the biggest star of the UFC, having been a part of four of the top pay-per-view events in promotion history. He also fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match in 2017, a bout that earned him upward of $50 million, he has said. In the interview with Helwani, McGregor expressed concern that his current lifestyle will squander the fortune he has made in combat sports.

"So, if I have this opportunity before me, if I don't execute this and get this right, make this happen for the children of my children's children, all of my successes, all of everything I've achieved will be void, will be meaningless to me," McGregor said. "I must get this right and I must not go down that path, the written path, the cliché of the fighter that has it all and ruins [it]. I need to be aware of my past, of the past of other individuals, and learn from it and grow and that's what I'm doing."

McGregor said he's "eager" to return to the UFC. He's currently recovering from surgery on a broken left hand he suffered in May. The original plan was for him to return in July, possibly against Justin Gaethje at Madison Square Garden, McGregor said, but the hand injury prevented that. A fight before 2019 is over is a possibility, he said.

For a comeback bout, McGregor said it doesn't matter whom he faces. He mentioned former rivals such as Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, as well as possible new foes such as Tony Ferguson, Frankie Edgar, Jorge Masvidal and Gaethje. McGregor said he is in a good position as far as negotiations with the UFC. A stake in the company is no longer a "sticking point" for his return, but it remains something he wants.

McGregor said he took inspiration from Diaz's victory over Anthony Pettis at UFC 241 last weekend in Diaz's first fight since losing to McGregor in 2016. McGregor also mentioned Stipe Miocic's ability to overcome his knockout loss to Daniel Cormier and finish Cormier at UFC 241. The Irishman said he yearns for his own chance to make a triumphant return after his loss to Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.

"Mine is gonna be the greatest one of all," McGregor said.

In March, McGregor announced on Twitter his retirement from the UFC. In the interview with Helwani, however, McGregor said he is anything but retired -- and he's not sure he ever will hang up the gloves. At the moment, it seems McGregor's primary focus is getting back in the Octagon.

"I must get my head screwed on and just get back in the game and fight for redemption, retribution, respect -- the things that made me the man I am," McGregor said. "And that's what I will do."

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Due to holes in the end zones of IG Field, where goalposts for the Canadian Football League's bigger field are usually planted, the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers played on a shorter field Thursday night.

Lengthy conversations among NFL, Packers and Raiders officials ended with the decision that the players should not be in such unsafe conditions, so the playing field was reduced to 80 yards, with each 10-yard line serving as the goal line.

Up until about 20 minutes before kickoff, field workers were trying to tamp down a square of artificial turf in each end zone, to no avail. It would not stay put.

NFL, #Packers and game officials check out the "hole" in the end zone before #Raiders game. pic.twitter.com/N8JBhBAYx2

— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) August 22, 2019

A statement from the NFL was released shortly after kickoff:

"Tonight's game is being played on a reconfigured field. The field met the mandatory practices for the maintenance of surfaces for NFL games based on an inspection yesterday. Concerns arose today surrounding the area where the Blue Bombers' goalposts were previously located. The 10-yard line will function as the goal line at this game. In lieu of kickoffs, the ball will be placed at the 15-yard line."

Caesars and most other sportsbooks graded the game as usual since field size is not in any rules as far as canceling bets. At Caesars, the game closed as a pick 'em, with an over/under of 40.

The Raiders were technically the home team for the preseason contest, which raised the question as to why the team would give up a game in Oakland, California, to travel to the middle of a foreign country. Per a league source, the Raiders did not yet have a lease with the Oakland Coliseum when the NFL scheduled its preseason and gave the Raiders a Week 3 home game, be it in San Francisco; Santa Clara, California; Reno, Nevada; Las Vegas; or Oakland.

But with MLB's Oakland Athletics home this week, the Raiders had to hit the road to play host, hence the team having talks with Canadian cities Regina, Saskatchewan, and Edmonton, Alberta, and even with Honolulu, before signing up with Winnipeg for the first NFL game of any kind played in Western Canada.

And while the Packers, who had planned on playing some front-line players, made a statement by sitting 33 players, it was hard to tell if the Raiders reacted similarly since they did not plan on playing many, if any, starters against Green Bay. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was questionable to play due to a sore back, was one of the 33 players the Packers sat.

There was at least one other game in NFL history played on a field shorter than 100 yards. In 1932, the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans played the league's first playoff game indoors at Chicago Stadium, on a modified 80-yard field, due to poor weather.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump presented 91-year-old basketball legend Bob Cousy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday, praising the former Boston Celtics star as "one of the all-time greats in the history of sports."

Cousy played for the Celtics from 1950 to 1963, winning six league championships and the 1957 MVP title. The Bob Cousy Award, given to the country's best point guard in men's college basketball, is named for him. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and played a pivotal role in founding the National Basketball Players Association.

After hanging up his No. 14 jersey, the 13-time NBA All-Star went on to coach basketball at Boston College.

"This acknowledgment allows me to complete my life circle," Cousy said during the Oval Office awards ceremony. "I can stop chasing a bouncing ball. The Presidential Medal of Freedom allows me to reach a level of acceptance in our society I never once ever dreamed of."

Trump spoke of Cousy's childhood during the Great Depression and discovering his talent for basketball at a young age. The president said Cousy never forgot his first mentor's advice to never be predictable, and jokingly added: "Hey, I've heard that lesson, too."

The president recognized Cousy's achievements on and off the court, lauding his support for underprivileged young athletes and speaking out against racism.

Cousy, who is white, ardently supported his black teammates who faced discrimination during the civil rights movement. Still, Cousy lamented in Gary Pomerantz's biography "The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End" that he didn't do more for his black teammates, including 2011 Medal of Freedom recipient Bill Russell.

The Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, celebrates individuals for their "especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the U.S., to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Trump credited West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin for suggesting the medal be given to Cousy.

Cousy is the second Medal of Freedom recipient this year. Trump presented the award to golfer Tiger Woods in May.

Cousy is the 10th honoree under Trump, who is Cousy's candidate of choice in the 2020 presidential election.

In a recent interview with NBA.com, Cousy described himself as politically moderate. He said that although he disagrees with some of the president's actions, he plans to vote for Trump next year.

During the awards ceremony, Cousy said the medal was made all the more special because it had been presented by the "most extraordinary" president in his lifetime.

"I know in your world, you're well on your way to making America great again," Cousy told the president. "In my world, it's been great for 91 years. Only in America could my story have been told."

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wants to temper expectations. Maybe that is understandable.

He is preparing to step into the point guard position Russell Westbrook held for 11 years for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 10.8 points and 3.3 assists as a rookie for the Los Angeles Clippers last season. He joined the Thunder in the deal that sent All-Star Paul George to the Clippers.

He has a massive hole to help fill. Westbrook was the 2017 NBA MVP and two-time scoring champion, two-time All-Star MVP and two-time assist leader who averaged a triple-double the past three seasons with the Thunder before he was traded to the Houston Rockets this summer.

"I am not Russell Westbrook," Gilgeous-Alexander said matter-of-factly Thursday. "We don't have the same name, the same body type, nothing like that. So I'm going to try to be myself and be the best me, and everything else will take care of itself."

Thunder general manager Sam Presti has said Gilgeous-Alexander has star potential, yet he will likely split time with new addition Chris Paul next season.

"Regardless of the situation, I'm going to continue to work hard and play my game," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I know that eventually it will come out and things like that. I don't worry about starting. I don't worry about accolades or anything like that. I just work hard, keep my head down and be true to who I am."

Gilgeous-Alexander relishes the opportunity to be mentored by Paul, a nine-time All-Star who averaged 15.6 points and 8.2 assists last season. He has worked with Paul since joining the Thunder, but wouldn't share all that he has learned.

"Some of the things I like to keep a secret," he said, laughing. "I've learned a lot from him in terms of thinking the game, angles, things like that. He's obviously a really good player. He's been a really good player for a really long time, and a guy that I looked up to growing up. I'll continue to learn from him as long as I get to."

The Thunder have a slew of draft picks for future years, and Gilgeous-Alexander, just 21, could be a key building block.

"I think where Shai is today is not close to where ultimately he's going to be," Presti said last month. "But we have to be really patient with that process. But he's got great tools, and he'll have to follow the same track that a lot of these other players have, but we think he has a bright future."

Danilo Gallinari, a key piece who helped the Clippers reach the playoffs last season, also joined the Thunder in the Paul George deal. The forward averaged career highs of 19.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season and made 43.3 percent of his 3-pointers.

"Really skilled," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Competitive as well, and even a better guy. One of my vets from my rookie season, and I'm happy to have him still with me."

Gilgeous-Alexander looks forward to working with Steven Adams, a 7-foot center who averaged 13.9 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Thunder last season while shooting nearly 60 percent from the field.

"Honestly, he was very annoying," he said. "His screens are rock -- very annoying to get over. Having him on my side of the playing field will be a lot better this year."

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

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