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ANCASTER, Ontario – Brandt Snedeker's early record-tying round didn't stand up to late charges by Scott Brown and Matt Kuchar at the RBC Canadian Open on Friday.

Snedeker fired a 10-under 60 to tie the Canadian Open's record low score. That was good enough for an early clubhouse lead at 11 under at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

But Kuchar and Brown, playing in the afternoon, went low, too, shooting 7-under 63s and finishing the second round as co-leaders at 12 under.

Brown and Kuchar agreed that Snedeker's round was a mixed blessing. They said it challenged them to play their best and confirmed that low scores were possible.

''You kind of feel like you have to go out and shoot a good one, and then you kind of feel like there is a good one out there,'' Brown said. ''So I think the key is just to not get crazy aggressive. I've kind of been conservatively aggressive.''

Snedeker and Carl Pettersson are the only players to shoot 60 at the Canadian Open. Pettersson did it at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto at 2010 en route to a victory. Greg Norman also had a round of 10-under 62 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario, in 1986.

''I'm not scared about going low. I realize these days don't happen very often,'' said Snedeker, who carded a 59 at the Wyndham Championship in August. ''Almost get more excited when I feel like it's going that way.

''More often than not, you're getting beat up. You have to take advantage of it.''

Most golfers coming off the 6,966-yard, par-70 layout spoke about wrestling with the poa annua greens that were playing exceptionally slow. The hilly course has sloping greens that need to be soft to prevent balls from rolling off.

Snedeker was one of the few able to consistently drain long putts Friday.

''Didn't help me yesterday. I think I left every putt a foot short yesterday,'' said Snedeker, who had a 1-under 69 in the opening round. ''I was excited for this morning because I got out here and I knew they would be a little faster and I could still be aggressive, which I felt like needed to be.''

Four Canadians were within four shots of the lead. Nick Taylor was tied with Snedeker for third after a second-round 65, good for 11 under.

Webb Simpson was another stroke back at 10-under after a second-round 64.

Rory McIlroy followed an opening-round 67 with a 4-under 66 and was tied with two others at 7 under.

Brooks Koepka, fresh off his PGA Championship win, followed an opening round 70 with a 4-under 66 and was at 4 under heading into the weekend, along with defending tournament champion Dustin Johnson, the No. 2 players in the world, who followed a 1-over 71 with a 65.

No Canadian has won the national championship since Pat Fletcher in 1954 at Vancouver's Point Grey Golf and Country Club. Ben Silverman moved up the leaderboard Friday with a 9-under 61, second only to Snedeker. It also was a record for the best round by a Canadian at the championship.

Messi scores twice as Argentina thrash Nicaragua

Published in Soccer
Saturday, 08 June 2019 03:53

Lionel Messi scored twice as Argentina thrashed Nicaragua 5-1 in a friendly in San Juan on Friday.

Barcelona star Messi struck twice before half-time as his side continued their preparations for the Copa America later this month, with Lautaro Martinez also scoring a double.

Messi, who had missed an early chance when he fired wide, opened the scoring after 37 minutes when he weaved past three defenders and added a second within three minutes after Sergio Aguero's shot was saved.

Messi and Aguero were taken off at half-time and substitute Martinez took centre stage, making it 4-0 with goals after 63 and 72 minutes.

The fifth came when Watford's Roberto Pereyra scored with nine minutes left before Juan Barrera's penalty pulled one back for Nicaragua.

Argentina take on Colombia in their opening Copa America match in Salvador and also face Paraguay and Qatar in Group B.

Real Madrid agree deal to sign Hazard

Published in Soccer
Friday, 07 June 2019 17:10

Eden Hazard is set to complete his long-anticipated move to Real Madrid after the clubs announced a deal had finally been agreed on Friday evening.

Sources told ESPN FC on Wednesday that Chelsea had accepted an offer of an initial £88.5 million from Madrid for Hazard, whose deal with Real will run until 2024, with significant add-ons and bonuses that are expected to be reached and that could push the total payout to £130 million.

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Hazard will undergo a medical on Thursday before signing his contract and being presented at the Bernabeu.

In a statement issued on his social media accounts on Friday, Hazard insisted he would never have considered leaving Chelsea for any club other than Real Madrid and thanked owner Roman Abramovich for granting his wish to join the Spanish giants.

"You now know that I will be joining Real Madrid," he said. "It's no secret that it was my dream to play for them since I was a young boy just scoring my first goal. I have tried my very best not to distract myself or the team through this difficult period of speculation and media attention, especially the last 6 months.

"Now the clubs have reached an agreement I hope you understand I had to pursue my next chapter, just as each and every one of you should when you have the chance to pursue your dreams. Leaving Chelsea is the biggest and toughest decision in my career to date. Now it's in the open I would like to put on record one thing was always clear to me, I have loved every moment at Chelsea and not once did I ever consider, nor would I have left for any other club.

"Chelsea and especially Chelsea fans will always be special to me and next season I will look for your results first. I hope that we are drawn against each other in the Champions League next season and every season so we can meet again.

"Before I go, one last thank you to everyone at the Club for their tremendous effort as we lived through every moment. To all of my ex-Colleagues we will say our goodbyes at the right time but I must thank the owner Mr Abramovich and his board for helping me realise not one, but two dreams, my first in becoming a Chelsea player and today my second, becoming a player at Real Madrid."

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane had made signing Hazard a priority, as he revamped his squad after a disappointing season, with Chelsea having resigned themselves to selling their star player before he entered the final year of his contract.

Hazard will leave Chelsea after 110 goals and 81 assists in 352 appearances in all competitions, with two Premier League titles among six major trophies won in his seven seasons at Stamford Bridge.

He inspired Chelsea to a 4-1 win over Arsenal in the Europa League final on his farewell appearance, scoring twice and setting up a goal for Pedro.

Sources told ESPN FC that Hazard had been in regular contact with Zidane for several months, with Hazard and his family looking into housing and school options in Madrid.

Madrid have harboured an interest in the Belgium international for many years and asked about signing him last summer, but Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia made it clear he was not for sale.

Hazard's move to Madrid sees him reunited with former Chelsea teammate Thibaut Courtois, who left Stamford Bridge in a £35 million deal last summer.

Hazard is the third major signing Madrid have made in a bid to rebuild their squad after an embarrassing campaign on all fronts -- they ended trophyless, sacked two coaches and finished 19 points behind La Liga champions Barcelona.

They have already recruited Brazilian defender Eder Militao from Porto for a fee reported by Spanish media to be €50m and Serbian striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported €60m.

Brazilian forward Rodrygo is also due to join the club next season after agreeing to a reported €45m move from Santos last year.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

MLS W2W4: Red Bulls' run to continue in Philly?

Published in Soccer
Friday, 07 June 2019 19:22

MLS has a limited schedule this weekend with international tournaments coming to the fore, but there is still plenty to look forward to as Eastern Conference heavyweights Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls do battle, plus the back-from-the-dead Colorado Rapids take on Minnesota United.

Bull run to continue in Philly?

Back in preseason, if you would have said that Bradley Wright-Phillips would have one goal by the first week of June and the New York Red Bulls would be top five in the East, people would not have believed it.

By now, we should all know better. Doubt the Red Bulls at your peril, because whether it's a key midfielder leaving each winter -- Dax McCarty in 2017, Sacha Kljestan in 2018, Tyler Adams in 2019 -- or the star striker getting injured, as is the case with Wright-Phillips, the Red Bulls always find a way.

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This year, instead of Wright-Phillips handling the scoring duties, it has been more of a spread-the-wealth approach with Kaku pulling the strings, and it has yielded a five-match unbeaten run, which included a 4-0 dismantling of Real Salt Lake last Saturday at home. Now, the Red Bulls head to Philadelphia on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+) looking to make another step up the Eastern Conference ladder.

This is a great opportunity for the Union to flex their muscles. Thus far in 2019 they have not had too many chances to go up against the alpha dogs of the East, like Atlanta United, D.C. United and the Red Bulls. The lone contest was a 1-1 draw with Atlanta back in March. A win on home soil against the Red Bulls would send a firm message to the rest of the conference that Philadelphia is for real.

All hail Casey in Colorado

To give you an idea of just how awful the Colorado Rapids were in the first 2½ months of the season, the team is unbeaten in its past four matches with three wins yet is still in last place in the Western Conference. That takes some doing.

But since Anthony Hudson got the pink slip after a 0W-2D-8L start and Conor Casey was named interim boss, the Rapids have found new life. Their play is much more direct and that has resulted in eight goals in the past four games. There's no question that getting younger has helped the Rapids; out went Feilhaber and in came Jonathan Lewis and Lalas Abubakar and it has sparked Colorado to life.

Unfortunately for Casey, Lewis is on international duty with the U.S. and won't be available for Saturday's home date with Minnesota (9 p.m. ET, ESPN+). Minnesota is thriving in its new home and that has helped put the club in playoff position in the West.

But there are still concerns for coach Adrian Heath. Darwin Quintero hasn't scored in forever -- OK, it was April 19, but it feels like forever -- and fellow designated player Angelo Rodriguez is also slumping, goalless in his past six.

It will be crucial for one of Minnesota's two Colombians, if not both, to get on the score sheet before the league takes a one-week break for the opening week of the Gold Cup.

In 1977, Johan Cruijff's Dutch team came to Wembley and England fielded five players whose natural position was center-back. Oranje fooled them by playing without a center-forward: Cruijff dropped into midfield and set up both goals in a 0-2 victory. Times change, but England doesn't, at least not very much. Early in Thursday's Nations League semifinal, Memphis Depay retreated from center-forward to midfield. He and his teammates found space between the rigid lines of England's defense and midfield, and the Oranje won 3-1.

As Cruijff once said, football is a game you play with your head.

On Sunday, the Dutch face Portugal in the final of the inaugural European Nations League (2:45 p.m. ET, live on ESPN). That's quite a turnaround after four dreadful years in which they couldn't even qualify for Euro 2016 or the 2018 World Cup. Watching those orange shirts buzz around the chilly field in the small Portuguese town of Guimaraes evoked memories going back decades. Oranje is part of football's heritage, and it's not just Dutch fans who are happy the team is back. This isn't yet a vintage Oranje side, but it is about two-thirds of one. Given that the only outfield player in his 30s is the nonessential winger Ryan Babel, there's plenty of room to grow.

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When Ronald Koeman's first match as Dutch manager ended in a sad 0-1 defeat to England in March 2018, even he didn't realise how much talent was about to arrive. Matthijs de Ligt played in that game, aged 18, but wasn't yet the world's most coveted young defender, routinely linked with big moves to the sport's biggest clubs. Frenkie de Jong, Steven Bergwijn and Donny van de Beek hadn't yet made their Dutch debuts by that point, while Virgil van Dijk was just starting to prove himself at Liverpool.

The core of this Dutch team is built from the two clubs that lit up this season's Champions League, Liverpool and Ajax. Van Dijk and De Ligt are in central defense, just behind their club teammates Georginio Wijnaldum and De Jong. Ahead of them, Ajax's "master presser" Van de Beek helped Oranje score three goals after he replaced Marten de Roon on 68 minutes.

The embodiment of both Holland's brilliance and its shortcomings is De Ligt. Being chased by every big club in Europe must surely be a distraction, but his blunder against England -- mishandling a pass, turning so slowly that Marcus Rashford got ahead of him and finally diving in with his "wrong" leg to concede a penalty -- wasn't a one-off. A heavy-footed De Ligt was at fault for two of Germany's goals in the 3-2 defeat in March; he also collided with a teammate to leave Cristiano Ronaldo unmarked for an easy Juventus goal against Ajax in April.

The bloopers on his highlights reel must make Barcelona or Bayern Munich wonder whether he is ready yet. As Koeman says, people sometimes forget De Ligt is only 19. Yet his response to his blunder showed extraordinary resilience. Koeman noted that on his next touch, he dribbled past an Englishman and barely made another mistake all game. He also smash-headed in a corner for Holland's equaliser, after heading in corners against Germany, Juve and Spurs this spring. Thanks to him and Van Dijk -- and Van de Beek, who blocked De Ligt's marker on the corner -- the Oranje now rival England as the world's best aerial team.

The team's transformative player may be another youngster, De Jong. Only nine months after his debut against France, in which he kept dribbling past Antoine Griezmann for fun, it's already hard to imagine Oranje without him.

De Jong isn't simply the best Dutch creator to have emerged since Wesley Sneijder 16 years ago, he is also a marvellous defensive player. When Oranje lose the ball, he slots in as a third center-back, tackling opponents and intercepting passes purely on timing. He is also always available for a pass, no matter how many men the opponents dedicate to closing him down, and since it's beneath his honour ever to boot clear no matter how dangerous the situation, he can play his team out from a press. With him orchestrating Dutch passing, England spent much of the game chasing the ball. He had more touches (128), passes (105, with 96 percent accuracy), tackles (five) and recoveries (13) than any other man on the field, according to data providers Opta.

"I want to touch the ball a lot," he said, receiving the man of the match award with his usual broad grin. Unlike plenty of footballers, De Jong loves playing football. He embodies the cheeriness of this team, which Koeman says was partly modelled on the Dutch women's team, who are the European champions. And there are ever more reasons to be cheerful.

Oranje's other central midfielder, Wijnaldum, has quietly improved month by month until, at 28, he appears to be the complete all-rounder. On Thursday, five days after he played the Champions League final, "it looked as if he was the fittest of the 22 players by the end," murmured Koeman in disbelief. Wijnaldum and Van Dijk can now win their second final in eight days.

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2:26

Netherlands seal Nations League final berth in extra time

A combination of VAR, awful England defending and clinical finishing saw the Netherlands set up a UEFA Nations League final clash with Portugal.

One player to look out for on Sunday against Portugal is PSV's 21-year-old winger Bergwijn, whose dribbles discomfited England's defense. He is little-known outside the Netherlands largely because few foreigners follow PSV, but there's a reason why Manchester United and Spurs are reportedly watching him, and why Ajax has bid for him.

For now, though, Oranje's key forward is Memphis, a No.9 and No.10 rolled into one and the focal point of a team that aims to attack through the middle. Of the nine Dutch goals in 2019 so far, he scored or assisted eight; the other was the second goal on Thursday for which he pressed and dispossessed John Stones and forced a save from Jordan Pickford before Promes netted the rebound off Kyle Walker. Oranje's last goal came from Promes pressing Ross Barkley. This team doesn't press as rapidly or constantly as Ajax or Liverpool, or the great 1970s-era Holland, but the knowhow is there.

Of course, it would be foolish to get too carried away. Oranje could easily have lost to England -- Jesse Lingard's late strike was ruled offside by mere inches -- and is still at least three players short of a strong side.

Babel, De Roon and right-back Denzel Dumfries in particular don't quite belong in a team that can boast De Jong and Van Dijk. England left Dumfries unmarked, trying to cajole Oranje into passing to their least skilful player, but the Dutch refusal to give him the ball even when he was free 20 yards from England's goal was by turns comical and embarrassing. Dumfries' poor defensive positioning also repeatedly spoiled the Dutch offside trap, but to be fair, Oranje has been waiting years for a top-class right-back.

In the short term, Van de Beek for De Roon could prove an upgrade of an already highly functional midfield, while Babel may give way to Promes. Still, even ordinary Dutch players learn how to use their intelligence to disguise their weaknesses: that's how Oranje were able to reach the 2010 World Cup final with a back five consisting of Maarten Stekelenburg, Gregory van der Wiel, Joris Mathijsen, John Heitinga and Gio van Bronckhorst. It's also how today's national team can keep bouncing back after falling behind, as they did on Thursday, but their resilience extends beyond spirit: this team, and its coach, can switch formations and learn during a game. Their notable victims since October now include France, Germany and England, plus a tie in Belgium.

Netherlands vs. England was much the better of the UEFA Nations League semifinals. At times, Portugal vs. Switzerland looked as if Cristiano Ronaldo had accidentally wandered into a Europa League match. His hat trick settled the match, but Koeman remarked that "as a team, I thought Switzerland was better."

Koeman was the sweeper in defense when Oranje won the only prize in its history, at Euro 1988. If his 2019 team adds a second trophy on Sunday, he will consider it to be just the start of a new Dutch era.

On a wet Tuesday night in March 2017, Nathan Coulter-Nile was concerned.

Having batted in the indoor nets at Perth's Revolution Sports, preparing for a WACA first-grade two-day final with his club side Subiaco-Floreat, he wondered aloud to a team-mate about whether he should play. He was in the team as a specialist batsman having not played a professional match since an ODI against the West Indies in June 2016 due to stress fractures in his back. He had failed to reach 20 in his last five innings batting at No. 4 and he asked whether he was stealing a spot from club player.

Liam Davis, the former Western Australia and Australia A opening batsman and Subi's batting coach, intervened with a knowing nod. Struggling for motivation as an injured professional cricketer had been a path he had walked every inch. The pair came up with a plan. They would meet an hour before training on Thursday for a conversation, just the two of them, away from group.

When training started on Thursday the pair emerged from the Floreat Oval changing rooms with vigour and purpose. Coulter-Nile strapped his pads on, Davis grabbed his trusty side-arm 'wanga' and a brand new ball and the pair went to work. Coulter-Nile faced more balls that night than he had all season, maybe in his career.

WATCH on Hotstar (India only) - Nathan Coulter-Nile's powerful 92

It worked a charm. Coulter-Nile walked out at 82 for 2 on the Sunday morning, with his team needing 285 to win the final and made a clinical 55. His footwork was sharp, his defence was tight, his balance was sound but he drove, cut and pulled with authority and power. That innings was an integral part in Subi winning the WACA first grade premiership.

The game was taken aback by Coulter-Nile's performance at Trent Bridge, where he made a match-winning 92 off 60 against West Indies, the highest score by a No.8 in a World Cup, 58 runs more than his previous highest ODI score. While it was shock to those looking at his career ODI (average 12.83 before this innings) and first-class figures (average 18.75), it was not a shock to anyone who had seen him play for Subi. It was exactly what they had been waiting to see.

In 2012 he walked out in a semi-final against Melville, whose attack featured two first-class bowlers, at 193 for 5 and made a run-a-ball 87 not out, sharing a 100-run stand with England's David Willey, Subi's visiting overseas player. He had already made a century that season and followed the match-winning semi-final effort with a top-scoring 68 in a losing final a week later on a green pitch at the WACA.

This isn't to compare the WACA grade competition with what Coulter-Nile faced against West Indies, with the stakes at their highest and bouncers coming down at 150kph, but in the context of a team being in trouble it is a situation that has previously brought the best out of him. However, he was quick to defer to the man who helped make it happen.

"I have to give him 100 percent of the credit," Coulter-Nile said of Davis' role. "He takes time out, doesn't take anything off me. He's not a cricket tragic so for him to come and help me like that, I really appreciate it. In all honesty I owe him everything for my batting."

Davis isn't a full-time cricket coach. He's barely a part-timer. A business and three kids don't allow much time. But he's an outstanding batting coach. He has experienced the highs and lows of professional and club cricket. He made a Sheffield Shield triple century against New South Wales and played for Australia A against South Africa before his career ended prematurely due to a badly broken finger.

He played alongside three current professional coaches. Australia coach Justin Langer, WA and Perth Scorchers assistant coach Kade Harvey, and New South Wales' batting mentor Beau Casson all played in the same grade team together at Scarborough, a Perth club that has also produced Marcus Stoinis, Marcus Harris and AJ Tye.

While Davis has not pursued the professional coaching path he's had a huge impact on Coulter-Nile. They make a great pair. Davis, a five-foot nothing wannabe fast bowler, with his side-arm and a bag of brand new balls skipping in and endlessly bouncing anyone who faces him. Coulter-Nile stands there at the other end, bat waggling like a wannabe baseballer, trying to hit every ball into the next suburb. When he connects he asks Davis sarcastically and loudly, 'how big is that?!'.

He has the ability to get Coulter-Nile to understand his power and skill. Coulter-Nile is at his best when he's balanced, holding his shape and not trying to over-hit the ball, even when they now work exclusively on white-ball batting with Coulter-Nile having stepped away from first-class cricket.

"I was working really hard on the red-ball sort of stuff, trying to get in and he just said 'scrap that, we're not playing red-ball cricket anymore and we just hit balls, I just tried to hit balls for six. That's all I've been doing for last year," Coulter-Nile said.

More than anything Davis, who is a salesman by trade, sells belief and the patter had an enormous pay-off at Trent Bridge. However, Coulter-Nile is his harshest critic and he knows his batting isn't guaranteeing his spot in this Australia side.

"No, I took 0 for 70," Coulter-Nile said. "We've got two world-class bowlers [not playing]. I'm not in the team to make runs, hopefully the top order does that so I wouldn't be surprised if I got dropped for the next game. I'm in the team to take wickets and I've had two wicketless games so we'll see how we go."

Coulter-Nile's runs saved Australia's blushes on Thursday. Whilst he says it's not his job, it can be. He's shown exactly what he is capable of.

Alex Malcolm is a freelance writer based in Melbourne

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Ponting concerned by Australia's short-ball troubles

Published in Cricket
Saturday, 08 June 2019 01:18

Ricky Ponting has expressed concern over the mindset of some of Australia's batsmen despite the 15-run victory over West Indies in their group match. Australia lost five wickets for just 79 runs in the face of fast and aggressive short-pitched bowling before Steven Smith partnered with Alex Carey and Nathan Coulter-Nile to steady the innings.

"It's pretty fair to say some of the boys are a bit disappointed with their batting at the top," Ponting said. "But listening to Steve Smith talk about it as well, the wicket was a little bit more uneven than what we thought it might have been, you could see a lot of uneven bounce with the shorter ball in particular.

"The boys found it difficult to play the ball off the back foot. Yes, they led to a couple of dismissals, but it was more the follow-up balls and the mindset around how we played some of the short pitched bowling today that was the biggest concern."

Of particular concern to Ponting was that Usman Khawaja was struck twice by short balls. On the second occasion, he was attempting to pull Andre Russell and he was out edging a loose drive on the next delivery. Khawaja was also hit on the grille of his helmet facing Russell during Australia's warm-up match against West Indies in Southampton and underwent scans on his jaw. Ponting said he hoped to find out if there was an underlying issue.

"That's a big part of my role now - I'm not going to teach him how to play a cover drive or a pull shot, I need to know what's going through his mind in moments like that. What leads to that thinking about playing a shot like that. If I can help in some way just to get him through a situation like that and give him something else or something different to think about, I think that's a huge part of coaching.

"I thought he's looked really good. He started his innings really well today, he punched one down the ground for four early on. He got hit in the head. I'm more concerned to what led to him playing that shot. What was he thinking? Was he expecting another short ball? Was he going to try to help it over backward point? What was he thinking? I'll get to the bottom of it in the next 48 hours."

India's bowling attack will present a different challenge to Australia's batsmen at The Oval on Sunday. After a six-month period in which Australia and India have met in five Tests and five ODIs there will be some familiarity in the contest. But Ponting said that has only increased the Australians' respect for Jasprit Bumrah, in particular.

"I think everyone has learnt he's probably one of the best fast bowlers in the world with a white or a red ball," Ponting said. "They've learnt he can surprise you with pace. They've learnt his control is outstanding as well, which is why he's one of the leading fast bowlers in the world.

"We'll need to be well prepared for him and I'm sure the boys will be, having played as much as they have against him during the summer. "They also pose some pretty strong threats with the spinners as well. They were both pretty good the other day - [Yuzvendra] Chahal and Kuldeep [Yadav]. There's some work for the boys to do. More a mindset thing. I've been really happy with the skills I've seen from all the boys, it's just about getting the mindset right and getting the adaptation of that mindset right between what you need at different times in the game and playing accordingly."

Ponting has been closely involved with several players in the India squad, thanks to coaching stints with Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in the IPL. When asked if that gave him any insights he could pass on to the Australian players, he made a wry reference to Shane Warne's comments in the Mumbai Mirror that questioned Ponting's involvement in the 2019 tournament on the grounds of conflict of interest.

"I'm going to say I didn't learn anything about any of the Indian batsmen while I was at the IPL otherwise I might not get a gig back there again. Warnie will have me out of a job like he tried to before this year's IPL," Ponting said.

"I coached Rohit Sharma for a couple of years at Mumbai, I had Shikhar Dhawan for a couple of months at Delhi. I didn't learn anything about those guys by being with them in India that I didn't already know before.

"I think I'm a pretty astute watcher of the game and, with batsmen, I'm pretty good at picking why certain batsmen are good at hitting the ball to particular areas. The way they pick up the bat, the way they hold the bat, the backlift, the foot movement - whatever it may be. So I don't think I've learnt anything more about them having been a part of the IPL. It's a different format as well obviously.

"We saw a couple of days ago how good Rohit Sharma is at the top of the order for them, he's a class player. I'm not the only one. Steve Smith's shared dressing rooms with a lot of other players as well. As a coach, yes, I can bring some stuff, but a lot of the players in the team have played with them and against them over the years. If I can add a couple of gold nuggets, I'll try to my best."

Japan have qualified for next year's ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa - the first time the country has qualified for a cricket World Cup at men's, women's or junior level - in bizarre circumstances. They secured their place in the tournament after Papua New Guinea - their opponents for Saturday's final group match in ICC Under-19 East Asia-Pacific Regional Qualifier - forfeited the game in Sano. The forfeit occurred when PNG could not field a team for the final day's play after Cricket PNG suspended 11 of its 14 squad members "for internal disciplinary reasons and failing to adhere to our strict codes of conduct," according to a statement issued over Facebook by Cricket PNG.

Japan, who were the hosts, and PNG were both undefeated, with three victories each heading into Saturday's final day of group play at the Sano International Cricket Ground, a turf facility located 100 km north of Tokyo. Both teams had defeated Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu in their opening three encounters and had a scheduled off-day on Friday June 7, ahead of their de facto final on Saturday, before a statement was issued by the ICC announcing that PNG had forfeited due to the suspensions en masse.

Japan participated in the East Asia-Pacific Regional Under-19 Qualifier for the first time since 2011. In their three prior appearances - 2007, 2009 and 2011 - Japan had only won one of 11 matches, a 24-run win over Fiji. This year's squad is a cosmopolitan mix of Japanese players, along with several players of other ethnicities.

PNG had won the East Asia-Pacific Under-19 championship seven consecutive times from 2002 through 2014. But this is the second time in the last three tournaments that they have failed to take the regional berth to secure a spot in the Under-19 World Cup, having finished runner-up to Fiji four years ago albeit under more traditional circumstances.

The Japan Cricket Association was first established in 1984 before the country became an ICC Associate Member in 1995. The closest the Japan men's team came to reaching the World Cup was their participation in 2008 WCL Division Five in Jersey, a tournament more famous for being the start of Afghanistan's journey up the world rankings. Japan were relegated to Division Seven after that event, and after they lost a semi-final to Ghana in 2012 WCL Division Eight in Samoa they were dumped out of the World Cricket League for good, effectively closing the door on a pathway to qualify for a men's World Cup.

The Japan women's team has also struggled competitively over the years. Most recently, they finished fifth out of six teams in the Women's East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup Qualifier held last month in Vanuatu. Their only win came by 31 runs over Fiji.

Live Report - England v Bangladesh

Published in Cricket
Saturday, 08 June 2019 01:34

All the action and analyses from the England v Bangladesh game. Don't forget to follow our ball-by-ball commentary for the match. And if you don't see the blog immediately below, please refresh the page

Live Report - Afghanistan v New Zealand

Published in Cricket
Saturday, 08 June 2019 04:36

All the action and analyses from the Afghanistan v New Zealand game. Don't forget to follow our ball-by-ball commentary for the match. And if you don't see the blog immediately below, please refresh the page

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EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsWhen Manchester City announced back in October that Sporting CP's H...

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Basketball

Lakers, sparked by Redick ripping, tie up series

Lakers, sparked by Redick ripping, tie up series

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES -- With the Lakers' lead, which was once 22 points, cut...

Celtics' Pritchard honored with Sixth Man award

Celtics' Pritchard honored with Sixth Man award

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsTwo years ago, Payton Pritchard was on the fringes of Boston Celtic...

Baseball

Stanton joins Yankees mates for batting practice

Stanton joins Yankees mates for batting practice

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsCLEVELAND -- New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton t...

Phils' Sanchez leaves start, confident left arm OK

Phils' Sanchez leaves start, confident left arm OK

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEW YORK -- Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez was re...

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