Major League Baseball does not presently plan to cancel or postpone spring training or regular-season games due to the coronavirus outbreak but has established an internal task force to deal with possible complications in the coming months, according to a memo obtained by ESPN.

The memo, distributed Tuesday morning to hundreds of high-ranking baseball officials, outlined suggested preparations for teams. Among the recommendations, according to the memo:

• Players avoid taking balls and pens directly from fans to sign autographs -- a suggestion that will be fleshed out in training materials the league intends to send to teams -- and opt against handshakes.

• Teams open lines of communication with the local public-health authority.

• Front offices consult a local infectious-disease specialist who can serve as a conduit to health officials.

• Medical personnel ensure all players have received the 2019-20 flu vaccine and are up-to-date on other vaccinations.

The league is currently "developing recommendations to mitigate the spread of coronavirus at ballparks" that "address proper hygiene, cleaning methods for the clubhouse and training room, and supplies that Clubs may seek to purchase," according to the memo. MLB expects to inform teams of the plan later this week.

The most common question posed to MLB, according to the memo, regards the access to clubhouse facilities by media and scouts who have traveled to countries in which the virus has spread. Some teams, the memo said, have limited access to those who have traveled to Iran, Italy and South Korea, countries that are not currently on the Center for Disease Control's recommended two-week quarantine list.

Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who is from South Korea, is conducting interviews with Korean media outside out of the clubhouse, telling reporters via a translator: "I just want to be cautious, especially around the players."

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus that has surged around the globe in recent months. The coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious respiratory diseases. Flu is caused by a different virus. There is no vaccine for coronavirus, though researchers are working on one and hope to begin testing soon. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are most at risk. The coronavirus spreads mainly through coughs and sneezes, though it also can be transferred from surfaces. The best way to prevent infection is by frequent hand-washing, cleaning surfaces with regular household sprays and wipes, and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

Officials from all teams who intend to travel to countries labeled by the CDC with a Level 2 or 3 travel warning must notify the league's medical director, Dr. Gary Green, before traveling, according to the memo, which added: "We do not recommend travel to such countries."

The Arizona Department of Health Services said Tuesday that it confirmed a "presumptive positive" in Maricopa County for coronavirus -- the second case in the area. Fifteen major league teams hold their spring training in Maricopa County.

Gloucester have announced the signing of former England Under-20 prop Jack Stanley from Edinburgh.

The 23-year-old tight-head has linked up with the Cherry and Whites with immediate effect.

Stanley was a member of the Exeter Chiefs academy, before moving on to Edinburgh ahead of the 2018-19 season.

"Jack will give us strength in depth for the rest of this season but more importantly, for the long-term future," director of rugby David Humphreys said.

He added: "It's been well documented that we've had some injuries in the front row this season, especially at tight-head.

"We're all looking forward to seeing Jack fulfil his potential at Gloucester."

The Kingsholm club are currently ninth in the Premiership table, having lost their last four matches in the competition.

BROWNSBURG, Ind. – Reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship title winners Cape Motorsports have confirmed their fourth and final driver for the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.

American Michael d’Orlando will complete the team’s quartet, returning to the Road to Indy’s first rung after competing in four F4 races last year. A 12th grader at the Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, N.Y., d’Orlando will turn 18 just before the official Road to Indy Spring Training test at Homestead-Miami Speedway this coming weekend. He competed in four USF2000 events in 2018 with a best finish of sixth among three top-10s.

“We are really excited to have Michael as one of our drivers for the 2020 campaign,” said Cape Motorsports owners Nicholas and Dominic Cape. “It has been a long time coming since we first contacted the d’Orlando’s over two years ago. Michael has exactly what we look for in one of our drivers; a good karting background, which is essential, he has the pace we look for and will only strengthen our line-up. Michael has done really well in testing and works really well in our environment.”

The Hartsdale, N.Y., student capped a successful 10-year karting career in 2017, having racked up multiple victories and championships. D’Orlando scored a US Rotax national championship in 2013 in the MiniMax category, and followed this by earning the vice-champion honors in 2014 and vice-champion in the Junior Max category in 2015. As part of this success, he competed for Team USA at the Rotax Grand Finals on two occasions. He also won the Rotax Junior title in 2016 in the Florida Winter Tour, as well as the vice-champion title in Junior Rok. He ended his karting career as a factory team driver for BirelART in the WSK Super Master Series and the CIK FIA European Championship series for two years (2016-2017).

Moving into cars in 2018, d’Orlando competed in four USF2000 events during his car racing debut season. In only four events and with very limited experience, he showed in the top-six at Mid-Ohio. In 2019, he took most of the year off due to budget restrictions until he moved to F4 for the last four races of the season. He completed the year at the Circuit of the Americas with a top-three qualifying effort and a podium result. d’Orlando’s primary sponsors include Focused Project Management, DB Collaborative, UFC Gym – Mamaroneck and Iona Preparatory School.

“I’ve been itching to get back in the seat again as soon as possible and I’m so excited to get this year started with Cape Motorsports,” said d’Orlando. “Dominic and Nicholas (Cape) have been great with helping me prepare for the season and I’m looking forward to getting back in the USF car. I can’t wait to see what this year brings and I’m sure it will be a good one.”

BURIRAM, Thailand – Due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus, FIM, IRTA and Dorna have made the decision to postpone the Thailand Grand Prix that was scheduled for March 22.

Government officials informed event organizers that it wouldn’t be possible to hold the event on its scheduled race date at the Chang Int’l Circuit as a result of the outbreak.

Thus, the race on April 5 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, will serve as the season opener for the stars of the MotoGP circuit.

This is the second MotoGP event either postponed or cancelled because of the coronavirus. The MotoGP portion of the Qatar Grand Prix was also recently cancelled.

Rory McIlroy is the betting favorite this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and it's not a close race.

The world No. 1 headlines the field at Bay Hill, where he won in dramatic fashion two years ago. McIlroy has finished worse than 11th just once in five trips to Orlando, and coming off fifth-place finishes in each of his last two starts, he is listed as a 5/1 favorite this week according to oddsmakers at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

McIlroy's spot at the top isn't exactly surprising, but the distance between him and the competition might be: Tommy Fleetwood (14/1) is the only other player listed at lower than 20/1, with Bryson DeChambeau and Hideki Matsuyama next on the odds sheet.

Here's a look at some other notable odds as the Florida swing continues at the home of The King:

5/1: Rory McIlroy

14/1: Tommy Fleetwood

20/1: Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama

25/1: Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott

30/1: Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Tony Finau

40/1: Marc Leishman, Collin Morikawa, Byeong-Hun An, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose

50/1: Bubba Watson, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick

60/1: Billy Horschel, Abraham Ancer, Lee Westwood, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler

80/1: Phil Mickelson, Kevin Kisner, Joaquin Niemann, Wyndham Clark, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Ryan Moore, Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel, Kevin Na, Brendan Steele

100/1: Francesco Molinari, J.T. Poston, Keegan Bradley, Harris English, Charles Howell III, Jason Kokrak, Bud Cauley, Maverick McNealy, J.B. Holmes, Emiliano Grillo, Scott Piercy, Joel Dahmen

Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri has said Cristiano Ronaldo is doubtful for Wednesday's Coppa Italia semifinal return leg against AC Milan as he deals with a "personal problem."

The Portugal captain travelled to Madeira to visit his mother, Dolores Aveiro, on Tuesday, who is reportedly recovering in a hospital in Funchal after suffering a stroke.

- Watch live Serie A football on ESPN+

Ronaldo's former club, Sporting Lisbon, tweeted their support on Tuesday: "Sporting Club Portugal wishes Dolores Aveiro, ambassador of the Club's Foundation and an unmistakable reference for all our members, a speedy recovery."

Asked about Ronaldo's availability for Wednesday's game in Turin, Sarri said in a news conference: "Cristiano is going through a strictly personal problem and his availability tomorrow will depend on how that problem goes, once he returns, if he wants, he will talk about it."

Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in 31 appearances in all competitions for Juventus this season and his absence will be a big setback Sarri said.

"It is clear that the possible absence of Cristiano could cause us to change things tactically," he added. "There are no substitutes for him in the world."

Juventus drew the opening leg 1-1, and the return will see no supporters from the Milan region allowed in the stadium due to the coronavirus outbreak in Lombardy.

Valencia's home Champions League round-of-16 clash with Atalanta will be played behind closed doors, Spain's health minister has announced.

Atalanta are based in Bergamo, which is in Lombardy -- the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy -- and their first meeting, which the Italian side won 4-1, led to a Spanish journalist contracting the virus.

Inter Milan, who have seen each of their last two Serie A matches postponed due to the virus, will face Getafe in their Europa League round-of-32 second leg in Spain behind closed doors.

Much of the surprise around the Sylhet International Stadium upon seeing Donald Tiripano hammer five sixes and two fours was also felt in the Zimbabwe dressing room. Tiripano always had a reputation for being an able batsman down the order, but even Sean Williams, the stand-in captain for the day, did not think he had this kind of a big-hitting streak in him.

After slumping to 225 for 7 by the 42nd over, with their last recognised batsman Sikandar Raza gone, there was an air of inevitability about this contest. Bangladesh's total of 322 for 8 seemed a bridge too far for Zimbabwe's lower order to overcome, but Tiripano and Tinotenda Mutombodzi added 80 off the next 45 balls, bringing the game down to the final ball: Six needed off one.

Tiripano unforunately missed out, but his big-hitting exploits were for all to see. Over the years, he has built a name for himself as a stodgy lower-order batsman, often sent out as a nightwatchman. He averages around a hundred balls per Test, interestingly, and has many times been the difference between a poor Zimbabwe performance and a respectable one.

"Tiripano played a magnificent innings this evening," Williams said. "He caught me off guard. I know he can bat. He has always been able to bat. I am glad that he has finally got to the half-century mark. If he had hit that ball for a six, I am pretty sure we would all be elated and jumping around, celebrating in the change room. It is a good thing for us. Losing by such a big margin in the previous game, and losing by four runs now; yes we lost but we have taken the first step in the way forward."

Bangladesh's captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that dew played a part in the pitch becoming easier for batsmen, something Williams himself acknowledged.

"When their score was around 140, Raza was at the crease, me and the bowlers were discussing that the ball was coming quite easily on to the bat," Mortaza said. "There was dew so it was hard to grip the ball, and the bowlers couldn't bowl to their strength. I think it really helps us for the future to win such tight games, to find out how we should react in these situations.

"Because the ball wasn't gripping on the wicket, they were charging quite often against our spinners. I had to bring in Riyad into the attack but then Taijul came back strongly. They were playing the pacers quite well in the end so it was hard to bring back Mehidy towards the end."

Williams said that the result reflected just how vastly different Zimbabwe's performances had been over the two ODIs, but regretted that substantial partnerships came too late.

"I am very disappointed but these things happen in cricket," he said. "Coming from the previous ODI, I think we have to hold our heads high. I think the batting was exceptional. If we can remove the partnerships from the bottom of the order to the top-order, I think we will have a better chance of winning.

"The guys showed a lot of fight and character. At one stage, we didn't think we'd get close to their total but we got extremely close. I am extremely proud of them, and I am happy that they went. We have to be more disciplined and clinical with our bowling and fielding department."

Williams also took solace from Wesley Madhevere's early foray in the international game. The 19-year-old was impressive with the ball, and also held his own with the bat, hitting his maiden half-century.

"I don't really like to look at the negatives in the game, but sometimes you have to be honest and truthful towards a player. Everybody is different and has their own personal feelings. I think our guys are growing up a little bit more. It is a very young side. I think there's only two or three players close to a hundred ODIs.

"Brendan [Taylor] and myself have played more than a hundred and [Sikandar] Raza is on 99. The rest are not even close to 50. It is a good thing for me. I think it is extremely exciting to see someone like Wesley [Madhevere]. He is an extremely good find for Zimbabwe cricket. It is unbelievable the way, as a 19-year old, he has batted in the middle order."

Former India players L Sivaramakrishnan, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi and Rajesh Chauhan have been shortlisted by the BCCI's cricket advisory committee (CAC) to fill the two vacant positions on the men's national selection committee. The five candidates were chosen out of a pool of 40 applications forwarded by the BCCI to the CAC.

They will face the CAC for in-person interviews at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Wednesday. It is understood the CAC will hand over their two choices to the BCCI, which is expected to announce the two new selectors tomorrow.

The CAC, which comprises three former India players - Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik - was formed recently by the BCCI to fill the selectors' position, which was necessitated after the tenures of former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad and former Rajasthan captain Gagan Khoda had ended. Both Prasad and Khoda were on extensions, having finished their tenures in November 2019. Both were appointed originally as selectors in 2015, with Prasad taking over as chairman a year later.

Incidentally both Prasad and Khoda had been picked as selectors on the zonal basis, where the BCCI appointed one person on the selection committee from each of the five zones. Khoda was picked from the Central Zone. But in 2016, falling in line with the Lodha Committee recommendations, the BCCI discarded the zonal criteria to pick selectors and instead conducted interviews through which Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi and Jatin Paranjape emerged as the three selectors along with Prasad and Khoda.

In the advertisement issued in January, the BCCI had pointed out no specific conditions or said that the final shortlist would be based on the zonal policy. However, ESPNcricinfo understands that the CAC used zonal system to draw up the final shortlist and would pick one name from the South Zone (Sivaramakrishnan or Prasad or Joshi) and one from the Central Zone (Chauhan or Harvinder).

Consequently, some of the more prominent names, including the pair of former India fast bowlers Ajit Agarkar and Chetan Sharma, former India wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia, along with former Mumbai and India seamer Abey Kuruvialla missed the cut. Among the original applicants, Mongia had the most Test caps (44) while Agarkar, who retired in 2013, had played in all three formats.

It is understood that the CAC also took into account the fact that the three incumbent selectors - Sarandeep, Gandhi and Paranjape - have less than six months left before their four-year term comes to an end. And some of those who had applied but could not make the shortlist this time could apply later in the year.

Among the five candidates shortlisted today, Sivaramakrishnan, former India legspinner, is the oldest, and has played nine Tests. Sivaramakrishnan is a well-known broadcaster and was also part of the ICC Cricket Committee.

Prasad, meanwhile, has played 33 Tests and also has the experience of having been a national selector in the past. He had served as the chairman of the junior selection committee, a position he resigned in 2018 to avoid conflict of interest.

Prasad's former Karnataka and India team-mate, Joshi, the left-arm spinner, played 15 Tests and has worked as head coach with a few states in domestic cricket. Joshi also was part of the Bangladesh coaching staff last year briefly, having worked as a spin consultant. Chauhan, the former India offspinner, played 21 Tests while former Railways and India fast bowler Harvinder Singh played just only Tests.

LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan judge who sentenced Larry Nassar to up to 175 years in state prison might have made some inappropriate comments but not any that show judicial bias, according to the state's attorney general's office.

Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State team doctor convicted of sexually assaulting his former patients, is appealing the lengthy prison sentence he received in Ingham County, Michigan, in January 2018. His appeals of two other sentences -- 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges and up to 125 years in Eaton County, Michigan, on sexual assault charges -- have already been denied.

His attorneys argued in court Tuesday that Judge Rosemarie Aquilina was not an impartial decision maker based on comments she made during the seven-day sentencing hearing that drew international attention. They also said her actions after the hearing were further evidence that she showed bias.

"It was obvious from the beginning the judge was, in a sense, holding a political, social rally and she wanted to become the star of that rally," attorney Jacqueline McCann said Tuesday.

Aquilina sentenced Nassar to a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 175 years in prison, which fell within the sentencing guidelines included in Nassar's plea deal.

McCann argued to a trio of appellate court judges that Nassar should receive a new sentencing hearing and that Aquilina should be disqualified from presiding over the case. Those judges have the option to dismiss Nassar's appeal, to grant him a new sentencing hearing or to send the case back to circuit court to have a different judge decide if a new sentence is necessary.

Aquilina praised survivors throughout the sentencing hearing in 2018 for their bravery and courage. She also spoke harshly to Nassar on several occasions. In one instance, she told Nassar that if the Constitution didn't prohibit cruel and unusual punishment she would "allow someone or many people to do to him what he did to others." In response to Nassar saying he was a good doctor, Aquilina told him she would not send her dogs to be treated by him.

Nassar submitted a letter to the court during his sentencing hearing saying he was manipulated by the attorney general's office and Aquilina into accepting a plea deal and punishment he did not feel was appropriate. Aquilina asked him if he wished to withdraw his plea before issuing her sentence. He declined. She told him that she had just signed his "death warrant."

After the hearing, Aquilina became an outspoken public advocate for sexual assault survivors. She spoke at forums, granted interviews to media outlets and posted about Nassar on social media -- including sharing on Twitter a political cartoon that depicts her in her black robe dangling a rat labeled "Dr. Nassar" above a garbage disposal.

Assistant solicitor general Christopher Allen, who argued to dismiss the appeal Tuesday on behalf of the attorney general's office, told the appellate court that while some of Aquilina's comments might have been ill-advised for a judge to make, they did not rise to a level of showing judicial bias that impacted his prison sentence.

"I'm not here today to justify everything the judge said. Some of them were inappropriate," Allen said. "... There are a handful of statements, the judge maybe should not have said those things, but best practice is not the same as reversible error."

A spokesman for the attorney general's office said there is no specific deadline for the appellate court to reach a decision. Some cases take less than a week to decide and others can go months before the appellate judges reach a decision.

Nassar, who is in a Florida prison serving his 60-year federal sentence, did not appear in court.