Joe Root has admitted he is still learning how best to handle Jofra Archer and cautioned against expecting too much of England's newest fast-bowling talent, after a debut series in which Archer collected 22 wickets from four Tests while showcasing both searing pace and impressive control.

Archer helped set up victory at The Oval with a first-innings 6 for 62, as England came from behind to secure a rare drawn Ashes series. Although he finished wicketless in the second innings, his high-intensity duel with Australia centurion Matthew Wade, who was peppered with short balls during a spell in which Archer's pace topped 95mph, was an arresting spectacle that helped lift the crowd as England pursued a breakthrough on the fourth evening.

His rise to becoming an integral part of England's planning has been almost as rapid as his bowling. Having delivered the Super Over that led to England claiming their maiden World Cup at Lord's in mid-July, Archer went on to make a memorable Test debut on the same ground, landing a concussive blow on Australia's leading batsman, Steven Smith, before claiming six-wicket hauls in each of England's victories.

There have already been concerns about his workload, however. He bowled 44 overs in his first Test outing and sent down 156 across the series - behind only Pat Cummins, Stuart Broad (who both played a Test more) and Josh Hazlewood, among pace bowlers.

"He's come in and been fantastic," Root said. "Four Test matches, two six-fors. He has a way of having a huge impact on the game, you saw his spell here, it just changed the whole atmosphere of the ground, was incredible really. For someone right at the beginning of his career to have such a gift is entertaining, it's great to be able to captain that and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of his journey.

"When I faced him in the nets against the red ball, it was clear he was going to be something special. [But] we've got to be careful of expecting too much of him. He's a young guy at the start of his career, playing in three formats, and he's still learning. I'm still learning how to get the best out of him as captain.

"But one thing you can expect is he's going to entertain and make things happen. At times he's not going to bowl at 90mph, but he'll go at two-and-a-half an over and create chances. I think making sure we don't expect him to average 12 is something really important, while also knowing he's got that ability to turn a game."

ALSO READ: 'Jofra thought he could rip my head off' - Matthew Wade

Archer's stamina has been as notable as his speeds - his contest with Wade, which often saw Archer end his followthrough a few yards from the batsman, lasted for eight adrenalin-fuelled overs after tea - but Trevor Bayliss, England's outgoing head coach, suggested it would be wise to allow him to deliver "thunderbolts" more sparingly as his career develops.

"I think maybe in Test cricket, I know Joe had relied on him to go with some longer spells this series, but I think looking forward it might be a case that he comes in a little bit shorter spells," he said. "Four or five overs. Come on, bowl a few thunderbolts, and have a rest and then come back on a little bit later."

Winning the final Test saw Root avoid a second consecutive series defeat against Australia as captain, and allowed him to look forward with a greater degree of confidence than had seemed likely after last week's loss at Old Trafford, which extinguished English hopes of reclaiming the urn.

"It looks a hell of a lot better than 3-1, that's for sure," he said of scoreline. "I think it's probably a fair result over the whole series. People might disagree with that, but you look at Lord's and things could have been very different after that game. You can look at ifs and buts - if Jimmy [Anderson] was still playing things might have been slightly different.

"We didn't do enough to win it back but we've certainly put in a performance this week, which meant a huge amount. To level this series I think it was really important for us as a side, and we'll take a lot from it moving into the winter."

Root laughingly described Smith as "a pain", after his series tally of 774 runs proved the difference between the sides, and also took some satisfaction in his final dismissal (though it would be hard to call England's tactic of positioning a leg slip a success). "It was nice to see a plan come together finally, even though it was what we started with at Edgbaston right at the start of things. Finally one went to hand."

He added that a demanding summer, in which England had narrowly failed to win back the Ashes alongside lifting a first World Cup, should be viewed as "a huge success" for the English game and an opportunity to nurture interest in the years to come.

"That World Cup was incredible, for it to finish how it did and across the board there were some fantastic contests. To be backed up by such an evenly matched Ashes series, again we were blessed with brilliant support throughout but the cricket itself was gripping - quite hard to be involved in at times, especially when you were on the wrong end of it. But what a summer of cricket it's been, I think a huge success for English cricket and we've got a great opportunity now to spring the game forward in this country."

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 143 for 4 (Lewis 65, Fawad 1-11) beat St Lucia Zouks 138 for 9 (de Grandhomme 30, Jordan 4-33, Mir 2-13) by six wickets

For the second night in a row at Warner Park, the first innings batting lineup was shredded apart. Whereas St Kitts & Nevis Patriots were sliced and diced by the spinners of the Amazon Warriors on Saturday night, on this occasion it was the Patriots pace-unit that inflicted maximum damage on the St. Lucia Zouks in a six-wicket win on Sunday evening.

Debutant Akeem Jordan was one of four changes to the Patriots XI and galvanized the bowling unit with a four-wicket haul, including three in the Powerplay, to dismantle the heart of the Zouks batting, the visitors scraping their way to 138 for 9. Patriots navigated their way through a pair of rain stoppages in the chase before knocking off the target with 31 balls to spare following a blistering knock from Evin Lewis.

Akeem the Dream

The 24-year-old fast bowler had a fairy-tale debut. He struck with his third ball when Andre Fletcher cut straight to Fabian Allen at backward point. Jordan followed it up in his next over getting Rahkeem Cornwall to slash to third man. Bowlers rarely bowl three overs in a row at any stage of a T20 match but Carlos Brathwaite's persistence to stick with Jordan was rewarded when Kavem Hodge picked out Kjorn Ottley at deep midwicket with a pull in the fifth to make it 33 for 3.

The recalled Usama Mir then built off Jordan's early breakthroughs, striking with his very first ball in the sixth when Roland Cato's clumsy paddle flick ballooned off a top edge to Rayad Emrit at short fine leg. Emrit got into the act with the ball in the ninth, inducing a top-edged swat from Thisara Perera to Laurie Evans on the ring at point to make it 52 for 5 and from there the Zouks were behind the game.

Colin de Grandhomme did his best to get the Zouks innings back in gear. In the same over that Thisara fell, de Grandhomme struck 16 in three balls off Emrit. But he found the going much tougher against legspinner Usama Mir, eventually falling in a wicket-maiden 12th over skying a drive to Ottley on the cover sweeper rope.

Who's Tommy?

Devon Thomas then took center stage with a pair of sensational catches. The first came on the final ball of the 15th when Darren Sammy was unlucky to be given out off the thigh guard missing a pull down the leg side. But Thomas sold it well with an acrobatic effort supporting the appeal from Sheldon Cottrell.

There was no doubt about the edge off the bat of Kesrick Williams two balls later though. A full ball from Jordan produced the edge that flew to the keeper's right.

Caught wrong-footed, he leaped one-handed to his right to pull off a stunning catch for Jordan's fourth wicket. At 100 for 8, Hardus Viljoen and Obed McCoy did their best to stretch the innings to the full 20 overs.

You just dropped the 13th match of CPL 2019!

Coming back into the lineup after missing Saturday night's loss due to an injury sustained playing football in warm-ups, Lewis tore apart the Zouks attack with five fours and six sixes. But the Zouks had two chances in the first two overs to nip the Lewis knock in the bud, failing on both occasions.

The first opportunity came off his second ball when he had yet to score as the lefty drove hard at Obed McCoy. Cornwall stabbed at a chance high to his left but only managed to parry it to the third man rope. It would have been a regulation catch for a second slip but Sammy opted to stay conservative despite needing to press for wickets. A far easier offering came in the second over. Williams had struck off his second ball getting Thomas to slash to third man and three balls later set a trap for Lewis putting in place a deep square leg. Williams sent down a bouncer that produced a top edge on the attempted pull by Lewis. Kavem Hodge was in perfect position but spilled it badly.

After taking two off the drop to move to six, Lewis hooked the next ball for his first maximum and never looked back. He continued to remind Hodge of his error by belting him for two sixes - the first of which brought up a 26-ball fifty - and two fours off the left-arm spinner in the 11th. Hodge finally got him out off a full toss off the last ball of the over. But by that stage the Patriots needed 21 off nine overs and cantered over the line.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Indianapolis Colts have a kicking problem the team said must be addressed immediately.

Veteran kicker Adam Vinatieri, the NFL's all-time leading scorer, missed two more extra-point kicks and almost became the reason the Colts lost for the second straight week in their 19-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

"Breaks my heart to see it because I know how hard (Vinatieri) works," Colts owner Jim Irsay said outside the locker room after the game. "Of course it's a concern. I can't lie to you guys. Anyone would tell you it's a concern. Adam, coach (Frank Reich), (general manager) Chris (Ballard), me. Yeah, I mean, in this league, it's professional football. We all have to produce.

"The expectation is to win when you're a professional. So we have to figure out where we're at there and see what coach and Chris think is the best direction. And I know Adam will be the most self-honest person of all, so we'll see where we're at."

Vinatieri has lasted 24 years in the NFL by being reliable. But now he's a weak link on the roster for the Colts after the two missed extra points, which are 33-yard kicks. He has already had the same number of missed extra points in two games -- three -- that he missed in all of 2018 on 47 attempts.

"I have zero concern," Reich said. "He hit the upright on the one. You guys probably saw the first one. It was not a good operation. That snap and hold was not clean, the ball barely got on the ground. It was not clean."

Vinatieri took "100 percent" of the blame after missing three kicks in the Colts' Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Vinatieri has now missed an extra point in three straight regular-season games, going back to last season. That's the longest streak of his NFL career. He has also missed an extra point in four of the past five games overall, which includes the playoffs, and he's missed a total of seven kicks in the past three games.

That's a drastic falloff for a kicker who made winning field goals in Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII and nailed kicks in blizzard conditions during his career with the New England Patriots.

But time has appeared to catch up with the 46-year-old Vinatieri, who re-signed with the Colts last winter because he thought he could still be effective. Vinatieri, a future Hall of Famer, immediately left the locker room Sunday while saying very few words.

"You'll hear from me (Monday)," he said.

When reminded that Monday is the players' day off, Vinatieri reiterated, "Yeah, you will (hear from me)."

It's been more than 20 years since the Colts have had to worry about their kickers. But now might be the time for Ballard to find Vinatieri's replacement.

"This is a man of very tough cloth, and I know all our fans, like I, hurt with Adam," Irsay said. "No one hurts worse than Adam does."

DENVER -- Chicago Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired to propel Chicago to a 16-14 victory over the Denver Broncos.

Pineiro finished the game 3-for-3 on field goal attempts, including a 52-yard conversion in the second quarter.

"It felt different. This was an emotional kick," Pineiro said afterwards. "With everything I've been through. The whole kicking situation. The Augusta silence. The media, everybody piling on."

The Bears (1-1) went 1-of-2 on 50-yard field goals last season. The last time Chicago made two 50-yard field goals in the same game was 2011 at the Oakland Raiders, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The Bears settled on Pineiro to replace Cody Parkey after an exhaustive offseason search that at one point included nine place-kickers at the club's annual rookie minicamp in May.

The Bears traded for Pineiro in the spring after he spent last year on the Oakland Raiders' injured reserve list.

"I like rooting for good people and he's a good person," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "He fought for a lot to get to this point. He listened to coaches, he trusted himself, and teammates that believe in him. Good things happen to good people. 42-yarder, 52-yarder, 53 to win the game. Can't make that up."

Pineiro, 24, is a perfect 4-for-4 on the season after nailing his lone attempt in last week's season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers.

"Whenever you have a new guy come in, you want to see if that particular player has the 'dawg' in him -- meaning that raw, doesn't care, just going to go in there and compete persona," Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara said. "All throughout training camp, OTAs, we've just seen that in Eddy. He's always had ice in his veins. When he missed one, he was never shaken over it."

Bears guard Kyle Long compared Pineiro's game-winning field goal to the last-second 58-yarder kicked by the New Orleans Saints' Wil Lutz to beat the Houston Texans in Week 1.

"The 30 other teams not involved in that all watched that clip this week. We said before Eddy took the field for that game-winning kick, why not us?," Long said.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The calmness in Matt LaFleur's voice and the smile on Aaron Rodgers' face was all that was left of the first animated sideline interaction between the Green Bay Packers' new head coach and the veteran quarterback in Sunday's 21-16 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The exchange occurred when Rodgers came off the field after the final possession of the first half, a three-and-out that ended with a Rodgers throwaway on third-and-16.

"It was about the look on defense," Rodgers said. "I was actually kind of surprised that he was coming over to talk about that, but we got it all sorted out over there on the sideline. It actually wasn't a big deal. ... We're a little animated at times. I can't say we were yelling how much we love each other, but we definitely weren't MF-ing each other or anything. It was talking about the look there and getting on the same page."

After another unsuccessful drive to start the second half -- one that ended when Rodgers lost a fumble on the snap -- LaFleur sat next to Rodgers on the bench while the Packers' defense was on the field. Rodgers couldn't remember many times when his head coach sat next to him on the bench while the game was going on.

"It's different," he said, noting that interim coach Joe Philbin did it a couple of times last year in the final four games after Mike McCarthy was fired.

"It's definitely helpful, when he's bouncing stuff off -- 'Do you like this? Do you like that? Do you want to start with this? You want to get to this?'" Rodgers added. "Obviously I did that with Mike a bunch, I'd kind of go to over where he was at, but Matt likes to get cozy on the bench."

Neither Rodgers nor LaFleur were surprised or seemed annoyed by the line of questioning -- a sign they had already moved on from the exchange.

"That's just two competitive guys, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last one we have," LaFleur said. "But you know, just competitors, heat of the moment and it is what it is. I would much rather have that than anything else because you want guys that are extreme competitors, and that's what he is."

A week after the Packers' new offense managed just 213 yards -- 31st in the NFL in Week 1 -- in the 10-3 win at Chicago, Rodgers led touchdown drives on the first three possessions to stake the Packers to a 21-0 lead on Sunday.

For the first time in his NFL career, Rodgers wore a playcalling cheat sheet on his wrist to try to help speed up the offensive tempo.

"This is probably the wordiest offense I've been in since Cal," Rodgers said. "At Cal, we would signal from the sideline and if there was ever a play that needed more than seven signals, we'd wristband that one. I think it just helps with the communication, so he doesn't have to say 12 syllables to me and then I say 12 syllables in the huddle. It helped speed things up a little bit. But we didn't use it a whole lot. We only used it probably five or six times."

Still, the offense sputtered after the opening three drives. The Packers totaled 171 yards on those three scoring drives and then just 164 total net yards on their final 11 possessions.

A fumble by Geronimo Allison and a mistake by Rodgers on what he thought was a first down but instead was a fourth-and-1 ended drives in Vikings territory.

"I think they made some adjustments and we did as well," said Rodgers, who completed 22 of 34 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. "We just didn't execute. We had some chances at some stuff. I think they just tightened up. They made some good plays on contested balls. We had three or four opportunities for a contested catch and they made plays on the ball, which would have been big plays. Marquez [Valdes-Scantling] had one where he kind of got carried out of bounds. Davante [Adams] had one on their sideline. [Aaron Jones], I underthrew that one. But those plays, not converting them hurt. And then obviously we were driving there and then G-Mo trying to get some extra yards kind of took away some points there. And then my bonehead play took away some points as well."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Derek Carr is not one to usually argue with game officials. But on this occasion, the Oakland Raiders quarterback was steamed.

Carr had just thrown his second interception in the third quarter of the Raiders' 28-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, when a flag came flying in. Surely, it would be for defensive pass interference after Oakland receiver Ryan Grant was knocked off his route by Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, milliseconds before Kansas City's Charvarius Ward snagged the pass meant for Grant, no?

No. Grant was called for offensive pass interference, and the Chiefs declined the penalty.

"The second interception will blow my mind forever," Carr said. "It was offensive pass interference; they said he was blocking. So, I asked the man, I said, 'Sir, why would I throw him the ball if he was blocking?'

"And he didn't have an answer and just walked away. I don't know what to do in that sense. We got the coverage we want, we got the exact look we want, I'm throwing it to where I'm supposed to throw it, and they tackle our receiver -- yet it's a penalty on us. This is changing the outcome of a football game. That shouldn't happen. That blows my mind. When things like that happen, I get kind of upset."

It was the second straight series ended by a Carr pick, after he threw a jump ball to Tyrell Williams on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line that was hauled in by Bashaud Breeland in the end zone (it was the third pick of Carr's career thrown on first-and-goal).

On the Grant play, the Raiders, trailing 28-10 late in the third quarter, were facing second-and-7 at their own 47-yard line.

"It was a slant pattern," Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. "I've never had an offensive pass interference called on a slant, but we did today and that one worked against us as well."

It was not all bad for Carr on the day, though, as he surpassed late Hall of Famer Ken Stabler to become the Raiders' all-time leader in passing yardage after throwing for 198 yards on 23-of-38 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions against the Chiefs. Carr has thrown for 19,196 yards in his career; Stabler passed for 19,078 yards for Oakland.

Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas has finished an emotional and gruelling triathlon challenge - on the day he revealed he has HIV.

The former Wales captain said he was determined to complete the Ironman event in Pembrokeshire to help dismiss the stigma some still attach to the disease.

He captured the hearts of the crowds in Tenby, who cheered him around the epic swim, bike ride and road race.

He finished in just over 12 hours - greeted by his husband Stephen at the finish line.

MOHNTON, Pa. – It’s been more than a year since Jack Beckman parked his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car in an NHRA winner’s circle.

On Sunday at the 35th annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil, that dry spell came to an end.

Not only did Beckman defeat John Force in the final round at Maple Grove Raceway, he also took over the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series points lead in the process.

“Our Sunday, I think it was perfect,” Beckman said. “That car was consistent, and it was fast. It’s one thing to be consistent and be a 10th (of a second) off the field but to run numbers as good as any other car out here, up and down the race track all four runs on race day.”

Richie Crampton (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were victors in their respective divisions at the first race of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Beckman had been the runner-up four times in 2019 but it was his 3.958-second pass at 330.07 mph that gave him the holeshot win over Force’s quicker 3.952-second run. One of the runner-up finishes was just two weeks ago at the U.S. Nationals against Force.

“In NHRA, you have zero control over what the car and driver in the other lane are doing. Did I want to beat him? Of course. Did it sting that he beat us in the Indy final? Duh. But none of that was going to help me be any better. Some fans came over before the final and said, ‘Hey, we’ll go razz John.’ And I said, ‘Don’t poke the bear.’ That guy, always seems to find a way to get motivated and win more races.”

It was a battle of Kalitta Motorsports in the Top Fuel final round but it was Crampton who raised the Wally trophy when he defeated his teammate Doug Kalitta with his 3.738-second pass at 329.10 mph in his DHL dragster. Crampton now ties team owner and NHRA legend Connie Kalitta with 10 wins.

D. Kalitta snagged the Top Fuel points lead when previous leader and reigning champion Steve Torrence made an early exit in round one.

“It was definitely a great day for the whole team,” Crampton said. “All four cars are running good, particularly the dragsters, of course. But for Doug to take the points lead heading out of here, and we made a good jump in the points as well, that’s what we need to do. It’s that time of the year. It’s time to execute on race day and Connie and (crew chief) Kurt Elliott gave me the car to do it.”

Line earned his 50th Pro Stock title when he defeated Fernando Cuadra in the final round of eliminations thanks to his 6.553-second pass at 210.60 mph in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro. Line also took over the points lead from his KB teammate Bo Butner. Cuadra, who was completing in his first career final round, is also a KB powered car.

“It was a big victory, for sure,” Line said. “Not one of my shiner moments, but big victory, nonetheless. I was a little tardy (leaving the starting line) so not what you want to do in the final round. But 50 wins just means I’ve had some great race cars to drive and some great people I’ve gotten to work with over the years. It’s been a fun ride.”

Savoie picked up his second consecutive win on his White Alligator Racing Suzuki. He took down Steve Johnson with his 6.774-second lap at 198.55 mph in the final round and went on to claim the Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead.

“It was just a great, great day for everyone. My whole team. I don’t take any of this credit. (Crew chief) Tim (Kulungian) and everybody on the team worked their butts off and here we are. At my age, I can do it. I didn’t count on making the top 10 because I took three races off. And, bam! Here we are. No one, not even myself expected this.”

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - Joaquin Niemann became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA Tour, shooting a 6-under 64 on Sunday for a six-stroke victory in A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.

The 20-year-old Niemann entered the final round of the season opener with a two-stroke lead and Niemann held off challenges from Tom Hoge and Richy Werenski.

Niemann birdied the final three holes to finish at 21-under 259 at Old White TPC.

It marks the first year since 1931 that there has been more than one tour winner under 21. Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open in June at 20 years, 2 months.

Niemann is the first third-round leader to win at The Greenbrier since its debut in 2010.

Hoge shot 65 and finished second at 15 under. Werenski faded to a 69 and finished in a four-way tie for third at 14 under.

D.C. United caught a much-needed break on Sunday, getting a first-half own goal and then holding on for a 1-0 road win against the Portland Timbers in a key clash of teams fighting to stay playoff-eligible.

D.C. United (12-10-9, 45 points) nearly benefited from a second own goal in the first half, but it was denied on a controversial call after a VAR review.

The tough-luck defeat for the Timbers (13-12-4, 43 points), in a game played amid a steady rain, prevented them from making a move in a crowded Western Conference.

A loose ball in front of the Portland goal in the 37th minute bounced off goalkeeper Steve Clark and appeared to cross the goal line for a D.C. United score before it was cleared by midfielder Eryk Williamson. Officials did not find a frame on replay that showed the ball completely across the goal line.

There was no denying the first Portland miscue that gave D.C. United a 1-0 lead. Midfielder Ulises Segura delivered a cross in front of the Portland goal that was redirected by Timbers defender Bill Tuiloma and off the leg of Clark, who was moving in the opposite direction.

The goal in the 25th minute held up despite relentless pressure on offense by the Timbers in the second half. Portland had a 23-7 advantage on shots.

The defeat left the Timbers 7-4-2 at home the season as they work their way through a quirky schedule that started with 12 consecutive road games due to a stadium remodel. Portland is now in the midst of 10 consecutive home games, but is just 4-3-0 in that stretch.

D.C. has now won consecutive games after a three-game losing streak in mid-August. It was D.C. United's first MLS game since Aug. 31 because of the recent international break.

D.C. has three games remaining while Portland still has five games left to play.