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Kuhnemann undergoes ICC testing, awaits fate on action
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Just a week after being reported during Australia's 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka, Kuhnemann has now completed tests on his suspect action.
"Matthew has completed the assessment which was performed at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane," CA said in a statement on Wednesday. "The ICC will make a determination in due course. Neither Cricket Australia nor Matthew will be making any public comment at this time."
The 28-year-old was put through his paces during a session that lasted more than one hour in Brisbane, asked to bowl at a similar speed and with similar revolutions to what he did in Galle.
International Cricket Council (ICC) experts watched on, with Kuhnemann wearing markers on his body and being surrounded by several high-speed cameras, and a 3D motion analysis system.
The results of those tests will be assessed over the next week, before a determination is made by the ICC on Kuhnemann's action. If he is found to extend his elbow by more than 15 degrees on his stock ball, Kuhnemann will be banned from bowling until he can prove he has remedied the issue.
Otherwise, the spinner will be cleared to continue bowling for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield and be available for Australia's tour of West Indies in June.
The ICC also has the power to determine if a bowler's action is only problematic on certain types of deliveries. In that case, a player would be able to continue bowling in matches without those variations until cleared.
Australia's players are no stranger to biomechanical testing, with high performance staff often using the same facilities to help streamline or improve the bowling actions of quicks.
Kuhnemann also played through the pain to be the leading wicket-taker of the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy with 16 wickets at 17.18 in the two Tests in Sri Lanka. It was after the second Test that Kuhnemann was told his action had been reported, for the first time in eight years of professional cricket.
Australia's players have backed Kuhnemann in the bid to have his action cleared, with stand-in captain Steven Smith expecting him to have no issue.
"It's come as a bit of a surprise to me," Smith, who captained Australia against Sri Lanka, said last Friday. "He has been playing for eight years in professional cricket and nothing has been said in that amount of time.
"I am thinking of him, at present, he has to go through the process. We're confident he will pass. He will go through that process back home, we wish him all the best."
Fakhar Zaman being examined for 'muscular sprain'; Ravindra not yet ready
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New Zealand opener Will Young drove Shaheen Afridi through the covers to beat the infield, with Zaman setting off in pursuit. He cut it off before palming it over to Babar Azam to throw it back to the keeper, but immediately appeared to feel discomfort in his lower back. He signalled that he needed to be replaced, and went off the field with the physio, though he walked unaided back to the dressing room.
"Fakhar Zaman is being assessed and examined for a muscular sprain and further updates will be provided in due course," the PCB said in a statement.
Pakistan had been hampered by an injury to Saim Ayub in similar circumstances, one that ultimately kept him out of the Champions Trophy. In a Test against South Africa, he set off in pursuit of a ball to the boundary and ended up twisting his ankle. It resulted in a fracture that will keep him out until at least the middle of March. Fakhar, who until then wasn't part of Pakistan's ODI plans, came back into the side as Ayub's replacement, and made an impressive return, scoring 84 off 69 and 41 off 28 in his first two matches back in the side.
The game marks the return of ICC tournament cricket to Pakistan after 1996, with huge crowds building up outside the National Stadium in Karachi in the hours before the start. The opening ceremony was attended by Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari and had an air force fly-past parade after the toss, which Pakistan won and asked New Zealand to bat.
For Maharaj, it's about 'building pressure and limiting boundary balls' on Pakistan belters
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South Africa's bowlers are looking forward to the chance to test themselves on batter-friendly surfaces in Pakistan, where high scores are expected to define the Champions Trophy.
"It's a wonderful opportunity to see the class within our bowling line-up stand up and sort of defend these scores," Maharaj said from Karachi, where South Africa will play Afghanistan in their tournament opener on Friday. "Although the totals might seem high in the context of cricket it's probably on par to get 320 these days when batting first and chasing it down in the 44th or 46th over.
"It's a nice test. As cricketers, if you're not tested in your chosen skill, then you're not going to challenge yourself to get better. I think it's a wonderful advert to see the high scores and when the bowler does come out on the right side of things, it shows his class and worth within the team and the world line-up."
Maharaj recognised that this may mean a return to a more traditional containing role for him with the seamers expected to attack.
"They're quite happy with the conditions, but they understand that it's not just rock up and score runs. It's still a process and method"
Keshav Maharaj on the South Africa batters
"In order to get success, it's about building pressure and just limiting the boundary balls in between," he said. "It's probably more of that holding role that one's accustomed to seeing in South Africa. It's not about changing the way I bowl, it's just about changing the field sets that we have. I'm still trying to bowl my best ball to create opportunity, but with probably a more defensive type of field, maybe not carrying a slip for so long. That's basically the sort of mindset."
On the evidence of the only ODI Maharaj has played in Pakistan, which was just last week, he has taken to the task well. He was South Africa's most economical bowler on a difficult day as Pakistan chased down 353 with an over to go - going wicketless but conceding just five fours and a six in his ten overs, which included 30 dot balls. And his economy of 5.40 was a result of experimenting with ways to limit run-scoring in a place where he has found that "it doesn't turn as much as one would think".
So Maharaj has had to rely on changes of pace instead. "You still want to try to spin the ball because the more revolutions you get on the ball, you create flight and drift," he said. "For me, it's about trying to play with the overspin and the sidespin and it's more about the paces that I bowl at so that the batters can't really line you up in terms of using their feet or getting them caught on the crease."
South Africa's approach of using their spinners as holding bowlers and loading their squad with seamers - there are five seamers and two specialist spinners in the squad - is in keeping with what the statistics say about what kinds of bowlers have success in Pakistan. Since 2021, pace bowlers have taken 180 wickets in 44 innings at 36.02, a better average than the spinners' 43.98, though spinners have had an economy of 5.49 to the seamers' 6.02. That may mean the quicks can expect to get hit, which Roux said needed "critical real good planning and execution" to prevent.
It also means that the batters, especially those that like the ball coming on to the bat like South Africans tend to, would be licking their lips at the prospect of big runs. Asked if the likes of Temba Bavuma, Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller have just been walking around smiling, Maharaj indicated that they were not complaining but were being careful not to count their chickens.
"They're quite happy with the conditions, but they understand that it's not just rock up and score runs. It's still a process and method," Maharaj said. "When wickets are in your favour, you train that much harder because you want to make the most of the opportunity that you're presented with. I don't think there's any sense of complacency even though conditions are deemed to be in the batters' favour. You're going to see a supercharged outfit."
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's correspondent for South Africa and women's cricket
'Awful' Kansas loses by 34, tied for Self's worst
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PROVO, Utah -- Richie Saunders scored 22 points to lead BYU, and the Cougars handed No. 23 Kansas a monumental 91-57 defeat on Tuesday night.
At 34 points in margin, Tuesday's loss tied for the worst under Jayhawks coach Bill Self and was the third-worst defeat in the storied program's history, according to ESPN Research. In 2021, Self's team also lost by 34, that time to USC in the NCAA tournament.
The defeat also meant the Jayhawks, who fell to Utah 74-67 on Saturday and have not led through their past 80 minutes of basketball, suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season in conference play. This one could be easily explained. They committed 15 turnovers and allowed 52% shooting en route to the result.
Trevin Knell added 15 points and Mawot Mag had 13 to help the Cougars (18-8, 9-6 Big 12) register their third straight win. Saunders, Knell and Mag combined to connect on 11 3-pointers.
"I thought we were awful, and I thought they were great," Self said after the loss. "I think that BYU could have beaten anybody tonight. They were great. And we didn't do anything to make them play less great. ... Our offense stunk, but that wasn't it. It wasn't our offense. It was we couldn't stop them or getting momentum to stop them."
Hunter Dickinson led the Jayhawks with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Kansas (17-9, 8-7) trailed by as many as 38 points in the second half.
"Obviously we're going to catch a lot of flak, whether it's fans or national media, and rightfully so because we just lost by damn near 40," Dickinson said. "Nobody is going to feel bad for us now that NIL is the thing, and players are getting paid and everything like that. Nobody is going to feel bad for you. They're going to expect you to perform like a paid player."
Efficient shooting and relentless defensive pressure powered the Cougars. Mag and Keba Keita each scored a pair of baskets to fuel a 14-2 run that gave BYU a 22-7 lead just seven minutes into the game, much to the delight of the fans.
"We were so poor," Self said, "that I don't think we felt the full energy of a building than if it had been a tight game."
Kansas had a chance to close the gap after BYU went six minutes without scoring a basket. The Jayhawks cut the deficit almost in half, pulling to 25-17 on a 3-pointer from Rylan Griffen.
The Cougars regained a double-digit lead behind a flurry of 3-pointers. BYU made five 3s over the final 6:15 before halftime, highlighted by back-to-back outside baskets from Saunders and Knell, to extend its advantage to 46-26 at the break.
Tuesday night was a statement win for the Cougars as much as a statement loss for the Jayhawks. BYU started 2-4 in Big 12 play but has won seven of nine since.
"We've been waiting for a win against a really storied program and a team that's good," BYU coach Kevin Young said. "Tonight was impressive by how our guys carried out the game plan on both ends of the floor."
For the Jayhawks, the losses are becoming more and more confounding. According to ESPN Research, this is the seventh loss of the season for Kansas as a ranked team playing an unranked opponent. That is tied for the program's most such losses in a season in The Associated Press poll era, which began in 1948-49. The Jayhawks also suffered that number of losses, in that qualification, in the 1998-99 and 1986-87 seasons.
This also marked the first time Kansas -- the preseason No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll -- lost by 30-plus points against an unranked team since the poll began in 1948.
"We need to regroup. We need to get away from each other for a day, go home, and hopefully be able to," Self said. "A lot of times with teams, there needs to be something that happens that pulls everybody together that is us against the outside. And we're going to have an opportunity to do that for sure."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tiger laughs off TGL gaffe: 'That was embarrassing'
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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Tiger Woods had 199 yards to the hole. His Jupiter Links teammates realized too late that something was dreadfully wrong Tuesday night in a TGL indoor match.
Woods asked to confirm the yardage and heard 99; caddies often drop the first number when it's obvious. But it apparently wasn't obvious to Woods.
He hit wedge, a perfectly good shot that traveled 100 yards.
"I heard 99 yards, so I went out there and hit it," the 15-time major champion said after losing the 13th hole against Cameron Young of New York Golf Club.
"One of the most embarrassing moments in my golfing career just happened," Woods said on the ESPN telecast, laughing amid the disbelief. "I just screwed up. That was embarrassing."
His Jupiter Links teammates, Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim, dropped to the floor laughing.
New York never trailed in a 10-3 victory.
Sources: SGA leaves agent, will represent himself
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Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has parted ways with his agent, Thad Foucher of Wasserman, and will now represent himself, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Gilgeous-Alexander is eligible to sign a super maximum extension with the Thunder this summer worth nearly $300 million.
Foucher also represented former longtime Thunder star Russell Westbrook before the pair parted ways in 2022.
Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is having an MVP-caliber season for the top-ranked Thunder, averaging a league-best 32.5 points per game while shooting 52.3% from the field.
The Oklahoma City star's decision to part ways with his agent was first reported by NBA journalist Chris Haynes.
ABS challenge system to feature in spring games
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PHOENIX -- Thirteen spring stadiums and over 60% of Cactus and Grapefruit League games will feature an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system as MLB continues to inch closer to using it during the regular season -- though that won't occur any earlier than 2026.
The league is testing out the system at the big league level for the first time after years of experimenting with ABS in the minor leagues. The rules are as follows:
During the spring, each team will be given two challenges per game and will retain successful challenges.
Only the batter, catcher or pitcher can initiate a challenge, which must happen immediately after the umpire's call. The player must quickly tap his hat or helmet to indicate a challenge.
The results of the challenge will be displayed on the scoreboard and television broadcast to communicate whether a call was overturned or not.
The five dual-team stadiums in Arizona -- Seattle Mariners/San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals/Texas Rangers, Cincinnati Reds/Cleveland Guardians and Colorado Rockies/Arizona Diamondbacks -- will all have the system in use this spring.
The same is true for the eight teams that play in Florida -- Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals/Miami Marlins.
Every game in each of the above stadiums will employ the challenge system. The league plans to gather data throughout the spring in hopes of determining whether the system is ready to bring to the major league level a year from now.
Additionally, Triple-A baseball will employ the challenge system during the 2025 regular season, giving the league as much information as possible before a decision is made on 2026.
League officials are encouraging players to use the system liberally throughout spring training. After years of experimenting with ABS in the minors, the league determined that both players and fans prefer a challenge system to having every pitch call be automated.
The league believes a challenge system would be less disruptive while retaining the human elements of the game, including pitch framing by catchers.
The league says a challenge takes about 17 seconds to complete. Experiments in the minor leagues showed an overturn rate of about 50%. On average, there were 3.9 challenges per game during minor league testing.
After collecting data, including talking to players, coaches and umpires throughout the spring, and evaluating the Triple-A regular season, the league's competition committee will determine if ABS becomes a reality in Major League Baseball's regular season and postseason.
The first game to feature the challenge system will be between the Dodgers and Cubs on Thursday at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.
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PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday called payroll disparity a principal concern throughout the industry but would not necessarily commit to a salary cap as a central point of negotiations leading up to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have stoked concerns about payroll disparity with their spending over the past two offseasons, during which they signed five players to nine-figure contracts -- Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Will Smith and Tyler Glasnow, the latter two by virtue of extensions.
Speaking during a spring training media event, Manfred reiterated prior comments while saying the Dodgers have "gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field, and I think that's great for the game." But he acknowledged that fans and owners have expressed concern about their ability to blow other teams away monetarily.
The Dodgers' competitive balance tax payroll is currently estimated at about $392 million, well beyond the highest threshold, according to Spotrac. Only the New York Mets, a distant second at roughly $321 million, have even cracked $300 million. And while offseason spending has reachedroughly $3.3 billion, the Dodgers and Mets have accounted for more than 40 percent of that total. Nine teams, meanwhile, spent less than $20 million on free agents this winter.
"Disparity should be, it certainly is, at the top of my list of concerns about what's occurring in the sport," Manfred said. "When I say I can't be critical of the Dodgers -- they're doing what the system allows. If I'm going to be critical of somebody, it's not going to be the Dodgers. It's going to be the system."
The current Dodgers often have been compared to the New York Yankees teams of the 2000s that, under late owner George Steinbrenner, were commonly referred to as "The Evil Empire" for their ability to continually sign star players. But Manfred said these Dodgers are "probably more profitable on a percentage basis than the old Yankees teams were -- meaning it could be more sustainable, so it is more of a problem."
On top of residing in a major market and coming off a World Series championship, the Dodgers boast a regional cable deal that pays them about $334 million annually at a time when teams continue to fall out of their local media contracts. The Dodgers also benefit greatly from Ohtani, who deferred $680 million of his $700 million contract and has brought in massive revenue streams from Japan. The Dodgers have responded by investing the additional money back into their roster, making owners of even major-market teams such as the Yankees and the Chicago Cubs complain about their inability to keep up.
It has all worked to push MLB's long-held desire for a salary cap back to the forefront. Given that the MLB Players Association has been adamant it would never agree to one, it also has led to widespread concern about a lockout or a work stoppage after the current CBA expires in December 2026. The sides are expected to begin negotiations a year in advance, and payroll disparity -- tied strongly to the fading traditional cable model and MLB's hopes of fitting local media into a national umbrella -- will undoubtedly become a hot-button issue.
"I'm not going to get into what the answer is," Manfred said when asked whether he will seek a salary cap in the next round of bargaining. "We're a year away. I have owners with really strongly held views that I need to coalesce into a position that we'll ultimately take to the MLBPA. I don't think starting that debate publicly is a good start. Whatever we settle on, we're going to present in the collective bargaining process and try to handle it privately in order to get a deal."
Manfred addressed many other topics in his wide-ranging media availability, which lasted close to half an hour:
Manfred recently toured Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, which will house the Athletics for at least the next three years, and he said the level of excitement within the community for a major league team is "palpable." He added that the timeline for the A's new ballpark in Las Vegas has not changed. "I believe we're going to be on time to go in 2028," he said.
Manfred said he believes the Cubs would make a "good host" for the All-Star Game, which has not come to Wrigley Field since 1990. But he did not say whether there has been any progress in talks with city officials about closing down the streets around the ballpark for the event, which MLB and the Cubs consider a prerequisite. The Cubs are pushing to host the All-Star Game as early as 2027, the next available date.
Manfred reiterated his belief that a separate draft is the best remedy to clean up some of the corruption that occurs on the international market, particularly in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where pre-deals, performance-enhancing drug use and age fraud have become especially prevalent in recent years. "The transparency of a draft, the inability to make secret deals because you don't know who's going to draft whom, is really the best systemic approach," he said.
Manfred said the San Diego Padres, who were previously in danger of violating MLB's debt-service requirement, have "really improved their revenue situation dramatically." Manfred said John Seidler, who recently was approved as the Padres' control person amid litigation from the late Peter Seidler's widow, "is committed to the Padres long term" and "shares the kind of vision" that Peter Seidler, one of his brothers, had for the team.
Manfred called the loss of local media deals a "temporal" problem that he believes will eventually affect every team, even the big-market clubs with contracts that are currently secure. He added that the issue won't be addressed significantly until, at the earliest, after the 2028 season, when MLB's prominent national deals expire.
"I do think baseball needs to alter its approach in advance of those negotiations," Manfred said. "I think we need more central control over all the rights, whether they're traditionally regarded as national or local, and we should be making an effort to make our product more national, because those national games are worth a lot more than games that are sold only in the local market."
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Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, a team spokesperson said Tuesday.
Demko will not join the Canucks on their five-game road trip coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. The team will reevaluate him after returning from the trip, which concludes March 1 at Seattle.
Demko, last season's runner-up for the Vezina Trophy honoring the NHL's best goaltender, did not make his season debut until Dec. 10 because of a knee issue that surfaced during the 2024 playoffs.
According to The Athletic, Demko's current issue is not in that knee. He played only 32 games the year before that due to a groin injury.
The one-time All-Star is 6-6-3 with a 2.87 goals-against average and .891 save percentage in 17 games (all starts) this season.
Demko, 29, was selected by Vancouver in the second round of the 2014 draft and has played 236 career games, making 230 starts. He is 122-87-20 with a 2.80 GAA and .911 save percentage for his career.
As Demko's availability has fluctuated, Kevin Lankinen has made the most of his opportunities in net. He is 19-8-7 with a 2.53 GAA and .905 save percentage in 34 games (32 starts). Vancouver will lean on him and third-stringer Arturs Silovs for its five-game road trip, which begins Saturday at Vegas.
The Canucks recalled Silovs from AHL affiliate Abbotsford on an emergency basis and also added a practice goaltender, Nikita Tolopilo, on Tuesday.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
Sun deny Mabrey trade request as agent fires back
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The Connecticut Sun denied guard Marina Mabrey's request to be traded, a move that she asked for earlier this month.
Mabrey arrived in Connecticut last summer after requesting a trade from the Chicago Sky prior to the All-Star break. She averaged 14.4 points and 4.1 assists in 2024, mostly operating as the first player off the bench for the Sun, who pushed the Minnesota Lynx to five games in the WNBA semifinals.
Mabrey's agent, Marcus Crenshaw of The FAM agency, fired back at the franchise's decision in a statement provided to ESPN on Tuesday.
"In this current age of women's empowerment and support of the players, the CT Sun threatening to force Marina Mabrey to play for them after her trade request is mind-boggling," Crenshaw said. "Why would anyone try to force someone to play on their team when they don't want to be there? It's counterproductive in a ton of ways and everyone we have spoken to is perplexed about how they are handling Marina, after trading away Hall of Fame caliber players.
"The coach parted ways. No free agents returned and they are doing all they can to try and force Marina to stay when she clearly doesn't want to be there. It's interesting."
Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti told ESPN that the organization decided it "wasn't in our best interest to move her because of the value that we gave up to get her, but also that we place on her."
The Sun sent their 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 pick swap, as well as guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson to Chicago to acquire Mabrey.
"The reasons that we have for not trading Marina are rooted in positivity," Rizzotti told ESPN. "It's rooted in a desire to build around her, have her here, have her be the catalyst for what we want to do offensively, taking advantage of her versatility, knowing that the style that [coach] Rashid [Meziane] plays with will suit her game, and knowing that we can put her in an individual situation to be really successful as this current CBA closes and a new one opens."
The Sun, who are coming off a sixth consecutive semifinal appearance, have experienced massive roster turnover this offseason. Free agent Alyssa Thomas was cored and later traded to the Phoenix Mercury. Fellow All-Star free agents DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones signed with the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream, respectively. Connecticut also traded young guards DiJonai Carrington, a restricted free agent, and Ty Harris to the Dallas Wings.
The Sun are the first team in WNBA history -- and in NBA history, since starters were first tracked in 1970-71 -- to lose all five starters from their final playoff game in the ensuing offseason.
The team also had to replace coach Stephanie White after she departed for the Indiana Fever. The Sun hired Meziane, the former Belgian national team head coach.
Mabrey, who had previous stints with the Los Angeles Sparks and Wings prior to getting traded to the Sky, has yet to publicly express why she would like to move on from the organization.
"I think there's probably a lot of professional athletes that are on teams that they don't necessarily prefer to be on," Rizzotti said. "I don't think that this would be an isolated situation. ... I think Marina is as competitive as they come. It's one of the reasons that we wanted her here ... it might also be seen as counterproductive for us to give in to every single trade request, right? So I think sometimes you get put in a no-win situation, and I think we're trying to be as fair as we can to a lot of different constituents."
In the past few weeks, the Sun have reshaped their roster by bringing in Tina Charles, Diamond DeShields, Natasha Cloud, Jacy Sheldon and Lindsay Allen via trades or free agency and signing 2024 draft pick Leïla Lacan to her rookie-scale contract.
The Sun looked to achieve a balance of veterans and rookies on their roster to "stay competitive while also building for the future," general manager Morgan Tuck told ESPN, "so we're not having as much turnover going into next season or in the seasons in the future."
The vast majority of WNBA free agents are signing one-year deals this offseason, as a new collective bargaining agreement with expected salary bumps is set to come into effect in 2026.