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Mayor: Toxic site won't derail Beckham MLS plan

Published in Soccer
Thursday, 22 August 2019 13:13

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that the finding of high levels of toxic materials on the proposed site for Inter Miami's soccer stadium is "not anything that jeopardizes the deal in any way."

Inter Miami, which counts David Beckham among its ownership group, is currently in the process of negotiating a 99-year lease with the city for a $1 billion development project -- dubbed Miami Freedom Park -- that will include a 25,000-seat stadium. The project is set to be built on what is currently the home of Melreese Country Club, Miami's only city-owned golf course.

On Monday, an environmental analysis of the site -- paid for by Inter Miami -- was made public, and it revealed levels of arsenic, barium and lead that exceeded legal limits. This was due to debris from an old municipal incinerator that was closed decades ago. Inter Miami has long known about the environmental concerns related to the site, and pledged to pay the total cost of any remediation that is needed.

On Tuesday, The Miami Herald reported that Miami city manager Emilio Gonzalez had ordered the closure of the golf course pending an analysis of the report's findings.

"It's more for the health and safety of the people that are using the site at the moment," Suarez told ESPN about the closure of the golf course. "There wasn't as much concern about the deal itself. There was always an understanding that the team was going to remediate [the site]. They understood that it was contaminated. It's not anything that jeopardizes the deal in any way."

Mayor Suarez, a proponent of the project, confirmed that the new analysis means that the cost of remediation, initially estimated at $35 million, is now around $50 million, but he remains unconcerned that this will adversely affect Inter Miami's plans.

"From my perspective, it doesn't really matter because [Inter Miami has] agreed to pay it, and capitalize it," he said. "This is a $1 billion deal; $35 million, $50 million, that's 3.5 percent or 5% of the deal. I'm not saying that's insignificant, but they have a range, and they are comfortable that it's within the range."

The initial terms of the deal with Inter Miami -- the broad framework of which was approved by voters last November -- state that the team will make annual lease payments based either on the site's fair market value or 5% of the gross revenues minus the amount of "common area maintenance," whichever figure is higher. Two previous appraisals pegged Inter Miami's annual payments at $3.6 million per year, making that the minimum payment in any lease. Two additional appraisals are being done to reassess the site's fair market value. If the figure is higher, that is what will be used in the lease agreement.

Commissioner Manolo Reyes, a staunch critic of the deal, questioned whether the closure of the golf course was necessary, and whether it was being used as leverage in the lease negotiations that could see the city leave money on the table.

"What I want to know is if it is something that's been done as a tactic to devalue the land," Reyes told the Herald. "Then they can claim they will have to pay less."

Reyes did not immediately respond to request by ESPN for comment.

Suarez countered that the appraisals made before Monday's announcement give the city protection on the downside. He also continued to tout the project's benefits, including the construction of a hotel, office space, a 58-acre park and soccer fields.

"We did this as a zero-subsidy deal. We're going to be making $5 billion in revenues," he said. "If you can find a deal that's better than that, please let me know."

Suarez also said he was unconcerned about a City Commission resolution that required lease negotiations to be completed by Sept. 12.

"We're just continuing work," he said. "If we can make that deadline, wonderful. If we can't, then we'll go back to the commission and say, 'We need more time.'"

Once the lease negotiations are completed, four of the five Miami city commissioners must approve the deal for it to go into effect. With Commissioner Reyes set to vote "no," Commissioner Willy Gort, in whose district the site lies, is considered to be the swing vote.

Sources: PSG pondering Neymar sale deadline

Published in Soccer
Thursday, 22 August 2019 10:09

Paris Saint-Germain are considering setting a deadline to sell Neymar this summer, sources have told ESPN FC.

The potential transfer of the Brazilian superstar has become a frustrating saga for the PSG squad and the club this offseason. Sources say no decision has been made but there have been discussions internally about stopping all forms of negotiations with Barcelona, Real Madrid or any other club interested at a set date.

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There are 12 days left before the European transfer window ends and PSG have yet to reach an agreement for Neymar, who wants to leave the club this summer.

However, with an eye toward focusing on the season and reintegrating Neymar into the first team, PSG could declare the door closed for a move away.

Sources have told ESPN FC that, contrary to recent reports in France, PSG are yet to receive a concrete offer from Real Madrid. Juventus are also reportedly interested in having Neymar but likewise have not formally presented a deal to PSG sporting director Leonardo, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC.

On the other hand, Leonardo has turned down two offers from Barcelona. The first offer of Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic plus €80 million was rejected last week. And Barca's latest bid -- a loan including a payment to PSG and an obligation to buy Neymar next summer for a total fee of €190 million -- was also rebuffed earlier this week.

Sources say the PSG hierarchy is unsure about Barcelona's ambitions, and they have questioned in private the Catalan club's desire for a deal to happen, with belief shrinking that Barcelona can afford to bring Neymar back to the Camp Nou. The French champions want to recoup a majority of the €222m they spent to sign the Brazil international two years ago. And sources say they believe they are in a strong position to negotiate because it was never their intention to sell Neymar, who is under contract until the summer of 2022.

Barcelona remain keen on Neymar as they see his signing as "strategic" and are expected to return to the negotiating table with a fresh bid in the next few days.

Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu is on holiday in Spain, but he is keeping close tabs on the negotiations. He wants Neymar back at Camp Nou and maintains contact with the former Santos man's entourage as he prepares his next offer.

The Catalan club, however, has been waiting for Neymar to make a public declaration of his intentions to return to the club and, privately, the club's hierarchy is considering how far they can go with a bid which will be attractive to PSG and not significantly harm the club economically.

Sources: Man Utd face £12m Sanchez wages bill

Published in Soccer
Thursday, 22 August 2019 08:58

Manchester United are facing a £12 million bill for Alexis Sanchez's wages this season, sources have told ESPN FC, even if the forward completes a loan move to Inter Milan before next week's European transfer deadline.

United and Inter remain in talks over a season-long loan deal for the 30-year-old, who has scored five goals in 45 appearances since completing a free transfer move from Arsenal to Old Trafford in January 2018.

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But with Sanchez unwilling to take a pay cut in order to end his United nightmare, sources have told ESPN FC that Inter are only prepared to pay up to €5m (£4.5m) of the player's €20m (£18m) salary at the Premier League club.

The Italian outfit have been told that Sanchez has already taken a 20 per cent drop in wages this season as part of his contract due to United not participating in the Champions League this term.

And, although the Chile forward is keen to kick-start his career by returning to Italy -- Sanchez spent three years in Serie A side Udinese prior to signing for Barcelona in 2011 -- United and Inter remain some distance apart on an agreement over sharing the burden of the player's wages.

With Inter only prepared to pay £85,000-a-week towards Sanchez's £350,000-a-week basic salary at Old Trafford, United could be forced to fork out in excess of £1m a month simply to get a deal done with Inter.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Inter, who paid a club record €80m to sign United striker Romelu Lukaku earlier this month, remain hopeful of reaching an agreement for Sanchez.

United have already paid Sanchez's wages for July and August, leaving approximately £15m of his annual salary to be covered.

And with the player having been omitted from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad for the games against Chelsea and Wolves this season, Inter are confident of a breakthrough being made before the deadline.

Juve are title favourites, but Napoli and Inter can pounce

Published in Soccer
Thursday, 22 August 2019 11:36

After a three-month hiatus, Serie A returns this Saturday, starting with Juventus at Parma, while every game in Italy's top flight can be seen live in the United States on ESPN+ this season.

On the eve of the 2019-20 campaign, there is hope for all 20 clubs and questions abound: Will Juve win a ninth consecutive Scudetto? Who will qualify for the Champions League? Can Mario Balotelli keep his hometown club Brescia from being relegated?

Tom Williams is here to answer those questions and examine all of the calcio storylines to watch in 2019-20.

Serie A is still Juventus' to lose

If Juventus fans will be closely scrutinising how their team adapts to life under new head coach Maurizio Sarri over the opening weeks of the new Serie A season, the same will be true for supporters of their expected title rivals, Napoli and Inter Milan.

Sarri, who might miss Saturday's opening fixture against Parma after being diagnosed with pneumonia, was brought to Juventus to take the club to the next level. After eight successive Serie A titles, won by an average of more than nine points, mere domestic dominance will no longer suffice. The former Napoli coach is expected to inject panache into the somewhat perfunctory football that was Juve's calling card under Massimiliano Allegri and end the club's 23-year wait for a third Champions League crown.

It is no small order, but he has plenty of resources at his disposal. Juve saw off competition from various super clubs to sign centre-back starlet Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax and have bolstered their midfield with free transfers Aaron Ramsey from Arsenal and former PSG ace Adrien Rabiot. Cristiano Ronaldo, last season's Serie A Player of the Year, has had a full year to acclimate to life in Italy and is chasing a sixth Ballon d'Or. Although Juve must adapt to an unfamiliar coach, so too must Inter, AC Milan and Roma.

If everything clicks, the Scudetto will be Juve's to lose. But if Sarri experiences any of the teething problems he encountered during his solitary season at Chelsea, where the fans never took to his vision or style, the chances of Italy crowning a first champion other than Juve since Allegri's Milan took the spoils in 2011 will significantly increase.

Who can strike if Juve slip?

Runners-up last season, Napoli have enjoyed a more tranquil summer than their major rivals, with Carlo Ancelotti remaining at the helm and the club quietly conducting some impressive transfer business. Kostas Manolas, a €36 million capture from Roma, looks set to form what could become one of Europe's most imposing centre-back partnerships alongside Kalidou Koulibaly, while Mexico winger Hirving Lozano will add dynamism and directness in attack -- and soften the blow of losing to Arsenal for Nicolas Pepe.

Napoli failed to replicate 2017-18's captivating title charge last season due to their inability to win the big games. They lost twice to Juve in the league, were eliminated by Milan in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals and crashed out of the Europa League against Arsenal, having previously failed to advance out of a Champions League group with PSG, Liverpool and Red Star Belgrade. But Ancelotti believes Napoli's serene summer could give his side an edge.

"Napoli will get to the start of the season quite tried and tested," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "We don't need to experiment in our play in order to become more fluent. That may give us a small advantage over our rivals, who have changed something."

If Napoli are banking on stability, an offseason of clear-minded evolution at Inter has left Nerazzurri supporters dreaming of a first league title since Jose Mourinho's 2010 treble.

Inter head into the new campaign with a management team that knows exactly what it takes to win the championship, after former Juve CEO Beppe Marotta brought in former Juve coach Antonio Conte to replace Luciano Spalletti. A born winner, Conte's task is to infuse Inter with the kind of uncompromising mentality he instilled at Juve, where he won three Scudetti in a row, and with Chelsea, who stormed to the Premier League title in his first season in England.

Conte's preferred 3-5-2 system will benefit from intelligent additions in every department: the wily Diego Godin bolstering the defence, young Italy internationals Stefano Sensi and Nicolo Barella bringing craft and guile to midfield, and Romelu Lukaku, a €80 million acquisition from Manchester United, furnishing the new coach with the kind of battering ram striker he adores in attack. With Radja Nainggolan (loaned to Cagliari) and Ivan Perisic (loaned to Bayern Munich) gone and divisive former captain Mauro Icardi expected to follow, Inter will also hope to avoid some of the internal conflicts that hampered them in 2018-19.

"I don't have a magic wand, but it's up to me to show the way, and it'll be important for everyone to follow this path," Conte said earlier this summer. "A spirit of sacrifice, ferocity, passion and a great desire to work hard will be required if we want to have a season where we're one of the key players, as is our intention."

The race for Champions League qualification

Conte's return to his homeland maintains Serie A's quota of tigerish former Italy midfielders, following Gennaro Gattuso's departure from Milan in the wake of last season's disappointing fifth-place finish. Former Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo will look to add some sparkle to the Rossoneri's football, and with no European commitments to worry about, after Milan were excluded from the Europa League due to Financial Fair Play infringements, he will have plenty of time to hone his signature 4-3-1-2 system.

Ismael Bennacer, signed from Empoli after starring in Algeria's Africa Cup of Nations triumph, is an eye-catching acquisition in midfield, while young Portuguese forward Rafael Leao, bought from Lille for €35 million to replace the outgoing Patrick Cutrone (Wolves), will form a new-look strike partnership with Krzysztof Piatek, who hopes to put the curse of the Milan No. 9 shirt to bed after inheriting the jersey following his impressive start to life at San Siro last season.

Sixth last term, Roma are looking to new head coach Paulo Fonseca and a youthful squad to find calmer waters after a turbulent few months in which the Giallorossi parted ways with a coach (Eusebio Di Francesco), a sporting director (Monchi) and two club legends in Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi. Simone Inzaghi remains in charge across town at Lazio, where last season's Coppa Italia winners will attempt to improve on an eighth-place showing, despite modest dealings in the transfer window to date.

Then there is last season's surprise package, Atalanta, who were guided to a superb third-place finish by Gian Piero Gasperini. They must contend with the distraction of the first Champions League campaign in their 111-year history, which seems certain to take a toll on the squad over the first half of the season at least.

Other storylines to watch

The other clubs bidding to upset the established order include Sampdoria, where Di Francesco is now in charge, Walter Mazzarri's water-tight Torino and Bologna, who are likely to benefit from widespread neutral support following head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's leukemia diagnosis. The former free-kick maestro, who steered Bologna to safety last season after arriving in January, has been watching training sessions and friendly matches from his hospital bed and delivering team talks via Skype.

Brescia, promoted from Serie B alongside Lecce and Verona, have generated plenty of column inches following Mario Balotelli's decision to sign for his hometown club. The striker, who spent the second half of last season at Marseille, is motivated by the ambition of claiming a spot in Italy's squad for Euro 2020, but national coach Roberto Mancini -- who knows the 29-year-old better than most -- has warned him to not expect any special treatment.

"I love him, but I can't do anything for him. He must remember that he's in the prime of his career and that he still has so much to give," Mancini told La Gazzetta. "It's all about how much he wants it."

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.

Jofra Archer claims six as Australia are rolled for 179

Published in Cricket
Thursday, 22 August 2019 15:38

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.

Panthers' Newton exits with foot injury after sack

Published in Breaking News
Thursday, 22 August 2019 18:47

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.

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