On Saturday came a respite of sorts for Barcelona. After a month that included a spat between star Lionel Messi and the club's sporting director and a strange and awkward social media scandal, not to mention a loss to Valencia that gave the league lead to Real Madrid, the Blaugrana enjoyed an easy 5-0 romp over relegation-challenged Eibar.

Well, sort of. Eibar took the early initiative, nearly scored in the opening minutes (it was negated by an offside call) and frustrated the Barca attack. But before malaise could set in, Messi happened.

Twenty minutes later, after another bout of shakiness, Messi scored twice more -- first in another act of individual brilliance and then again, after a brief and unsuccessful act of benevolence. After a turnover deep in Eibar's end, he centered for Antoine Griezmann, who miscontrolled the ball so clumsily that a defender accidentally knocked it back to Messi, who said "fine then" and completed his first-half hat trick. Messi added a fourth in the second half, then Arthur a fifth, and Barca cruised to a win that, combined with Levante's upset of Real Madrid on Saturday evening, put them back in first place in La Liga.

Long minutes of unease interrupted reliably by moments of incomparable brilliance. It's been the Barcelona way for a while now. And after a particularly turbulent time both on and off the pitch, Barca lead their league and are again one of the betting favorites to win the Champions League. It's incredible, not least because Messi himself said last week that his team "are not at the level to fight" for Europe's top prize.

This definitely hasn't been Barca's finest season, though

The table on the right shows that Barcelona's style of play hasn't changed much through the years. This team hogs the ball like few others and generally scores in one of three ways: Messi doing something amazing, set pieces (potentially involving Messi doing something amazing), or the proverbial "pass the ball into the net" long possession. They attempt fewer crosses than anyone else in the league, they take the second-fewest headers as shots and they attempt the fewest aerials.

They might be one-dimensional, but it's a pretty good dimension.

Still, with four losses and four draws in 25 league matches, they're averaging just 2.2 points per match. That's on pace for 83-84 points overall, which would be their lowest total since 2007-08, their last season before Pep Guardiola took over as manager. It's also noteworthy that a team also hasn't won La Liga with less than 87 points since that same year -- neither Barca nor Real Madrid have hit on all cylinders this go-round.

So what's gone wrong? It starts with defense

Barca are allowing 1.16 goals per match. That's not horrible, but it's only seventh-best in the league this season. It's also a 44-goal pace for the entire campaign: they haven't allowed that many since giving up 47 in 2002-03.

In terms of expected goals, Barca's defense started showing some serious cracks a couple of years ago: their xG total allowed per match oscillated between 0.85 and 1.03 each season from 2010-11 to 2016-17, but it's been 1.15 or higher every year since. And this year has seen some very poor spells: eight goals allowed in an early four-match span, a 3-1 loss to Levante, and six goals over four recent matches.

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The team's overall save percentage is 65.9%, Barca's worst in seven years, but while that number can be pretty random at times, Barca's overall defensive actions are almost universally down: Compared to the last 10 seasons, their 8.9 interceptions per 90 minutes are by far their lowest total, and their 49.4 ball recoveries and 14.4 tackles are second-lowest. Barca's best defense has always been a ball-control offense, but the team has typically posted better numbers than this.

They also aren't creating quite as many dangerous touches

At their most dangerous, Barca were able to play keep-away for days but also move on to Plan B or C when necessary. They were adept at long passes when the short passing game wasn't getting it done, and they were at times a devastating crossing team with Messi, Neymar and an in-his-prime Luis Suarez up front.

Now they make it a bit easier on you. Even if you can't stop the short passing game, you can at least prepare for it. As the table shows, while Barca are enjoying as much possession as ever, they aren't necessarily doing a ton with it. Of course, they don't have Neymar anymore, while Suarez is past his prime and even out injured with a torn meniscus. This underscores the current state of Barca's roster: it got old quick, and it hasn't yet cycled through to a new generation.

Compare the 2019-20 Barcelona squad to the 2014-15 iteration, the last Barca team to win the Champions League. The 2014-15 squad not only featured Messi, Suarez and Neymar. Sergio Busquets was 26 years old and entering his prime, as were fellow midfielder Ivan Rakitic (26), forward Pedro (27), and defenders Gerard Pique (28) and Jordi Alba (25). Plus, legendary midfielders Xavi (35) and Andres Iniesta (30) and defenders Dani Alves (31), Javier Mascherano (30) and Jeremy Mathieu (31) all had something left in the tank. Since then, Neymar left for another super club (Paris Saint-Germain), and Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Pedro, Mascherano and Mathieu all either retired or moved on to smaller clubs/leagues. Meanwhile, Messi, Busquets, Pique, Alba, Suarez, and Rakitic all passed 30. Messi even grew a 32-year-old's dad beard, which... no judgment here.

Veteran additions like Griezmann (28) and midfielder Arturo Vidal (32) have been fine, and lord knows there's an ocean of younger talent finding its way -- forwards Ansu Fati (17) and Ousmane Dembele (22), midfielders Frenkie de Jong (22) and Arthur (23), defenders Junior Firpo (23) and Clement Lenglet (24), etc. But Barca are dealing with an issue that has at least temporarily dragged down just about every successful club at some point.

Cycling from one generation to another is hard.

Setien's solution: be even more Barca-like

It's impressive that Ernesto Valverde lasted as long as he did as Barca manager, while overseeing this transition period. He replaced Luis Enrique in the summer of 2017 and won two league titles and a Copa del Rey. But consecutive Champions League collapses -- to Roma in the quarterfinals in 2018 and, famously, to Liverpool in last year's semifinals -- made his job security tenuous, and he was finally sacked on Jan. 13. Former Real Betis manager Quique Setien took over from there.

Setien is as possession-hungry a manager as has existed outside of wherever Guardiola is living in a given year, and his influence has been in some ways predictable: Barca have become basically a concentrated version of themselves. They've gone from possessing the ball 64 percent of the time under Valverde to an almost unheard-of 73% with Setien and from 681 pass attempts to a ridiculous 790. Their tempo was already plodding and slow but it's become almost stand-still: they've gone from 87.2 possessions per match to 86 and from a direct speed of 1.3 to 0.9. (Direct speed is, as defined by Opta, the number of meters the ball travels upfield in a given sequence divided by the total time of the sequence. No one else in La Liga is below 1.4.)

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A lot of this shift has come in their own half: Barca have gone from averaging 271 passes in their defensive end to 361. Busquets and Barca's defensive personnel are taking on a lot of work playing keep-away: Busquets has gone from 87 passes per 90 minutes to 113 and from 67 passes received to 95, and the threesome of Piqué, Samuel Umtiti and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen have gone from averaging a combined 186 touches and 163 pass attempts per 90 to 257 and 228, respectively.

Is this fundamentally exciting? Not in the slightest! Worst yet, it could at some point make them vulnerable to a particularly effective pressing team (hello, Liverpool). But it should be noted that Eibar and Getafe rank second and third, respectively, in La Liga in possessions won in the attacking third, and Barcelona just outscored them by a combined 7-1.

This "keep-ball" style is helping to wear opponents down a bit, and some timely and effective pressing of their own doesn't hurt. They've gone from winning 4.5 possessions per match in the attacking third to 6.7, with Griezmann, Rakitic, de Jong and Fati all creating havoc in their opponents' half. The result: the ball is ending up at Messi's feet more frequently.

Under Setien, Messi is averaging 63.8 passes per 90 minutes (his highest rate since 2011-12), 7.5 shots (his most ever), 1.0 assists (he's never averaged more than 0.6 over an entire season), and 93 touches (his most since 2010-11). Are these rates sustainable? Possibly not. But nothing that's happening appears to be dramatically outside of anyone's skill set.

Now comes the real tests in Spain and in Europe

On Tuesday (after a coronavirus test, because it's always something), Barca will play at Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, then head to Madrid on Sunday to battle for first place in the league. From there, it's a visit from sixth-place Real Sociedad, a refresher against Mallorca and the return leg against Napoli. Setien's changes haven't been particularly thrilling, but we now find out whether they're as effective as they've been out of the gates.

FiveThirtyEight's club ratings think this key stretch will also be a happy one. It gives Barca an 83% chance of advancing past Napoli and an 11% chance of winning the entire tournament. (Napoli, by the way, probably aren't a team that can take advantage of Barca's theoretical vulnerability to pressing: they won only 3.3 possessions per match in the attacking third in Champions League group play.) Back in Spain, it gives the Blaugrana a 58% chance of winning La Liga.

Not bad for a down year that's seen Messi's scoring dropped, one manager change and a slew of big injuries, eh?

We're back, baby! After a long winter's hibernation, our MLS Power Rankings are fully awake and ready to shake off the rust. Major League Soccer's 25th season is nigh (stream games live on ESPN+) and it promises to be one of the most fascinating seasons in the league's existence.

The first edition of the Rankings in 2020 are based on several critically important criteria: Results from 2019 (25 percent), off-season acquisitions (25 percent) and gut instinct (50 percent). The gut knows.

Let's get into it -- and remember, the Rankings are never, ever wrong.

1. Seattle Sounders

Last season's ranking: 5

Next MLS match: March 1, vs. Chicago, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN, ESPN Deportes)

The champions open the season in the top spot ... because they're the champions. With a somewhat quiet off-season and a team full of veterans led by Nicolas Lodeiro, Raul Ruidiaz and Jordan Morris, the MLS Cup holders are somehow entering 2020 under the radar. That probably means we're being set up for another Sounders title. See you in November!

2. LAFC

Last season ranking: 1

Next MLS match: March 1, vs. Inter Miami, 5.30 p.m. ET (ESPN, ESPN Deportes)

Bob Bradley's boys stumbled badly in Leon in the CONCACAF Champions League, but led by reigning MVP Carlos Vela, they'll be favorites to win plenty this season no matter what happens in the second leg. If we have questions, they mostly relate to the decision to trade centre-back Walker Zimmerman on the eve of the season. Seems like an odd choice.

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3. Atlanta United

Last season ranking: 3

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Nashville SC, 8 p.m. ET

If you think you know how this season is going to go for the Five Stripes, you are either: clairvoyant (in which case you should be doing more important things) or delusional. After last year's wild ride and the off-season remaking of United, it seems equally likely that Atlanta will win a title and Frank de Boer will get axed by mid-season. Buckle up.

4. Toronto FC

Last season ranking: 4

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at San Jose, 5.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Heading into 2020, Toronto FC looks exceedingly fragile. Greg Vanney's club is already without Michael Bradley for the first few months, and injuries are a constant threat to the attacking area of the field. That said, they have the talent and savvy to return to the top of the East if luck is on their side.

5. New York City FC

Last season ranking: 2

Next MLS match: March 1, at Columbus, 12.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Same cast, different director. Ronny Deila inherits one of the best shows going in MLS. Can he improve upon the excellent reviews earned by his predecessor? What will the reviews read? "It's Death for Deila as NYCFC Misses Playoffs"? Or "Deila Delights in Delivering MLS Cup"? We'll keep working on these.

6. LA Galaxy

Last season ranking: 14

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Houston, 3.30 p.m. ET

Is Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez equal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic? No, but that doesn't mean that the Galaxy's big move for the Mexican forward isn't exactly the right one for the club. Making splashy moves for famous players just feels right for L.A.'s original club, and even if Hernandez can't outdo Zlatan, there will be lots of attention on Carson.

7. New England Revolution

Last season ranking: 9

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Montreal, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+

The Bruce-a-lution of 2019 brought real optimism to Foxborough for the first time in years (for the soccer team, we mean), and expectations are high heading into 2020. Arena is excellent at getting his players to buy in and with Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou and newcomer Adam Buksa leading the attack, there's no reason to think the Revs won't be one of the toughest teams to play against this season.

8. Columbus Crew

Last season ranking: 16

Next MLS match: March 1, vs. NYCFC, 12.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

No one in the league, outside of the two expansion clubs, can claim that last year's results are less relevant to this year's than the Crew. The 2019 season was purgatorial for Caleb Porter's team. Now there's a multimillion-dollar playmaker, Darlington Nagbe, and big expectations for the Black & Gold in 2020.

9. Philadelphia Union

Week 1 ranking: 6

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Dallas, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

The Union took a big step forward in 2019 -- they won a playoff game. Can Jim Curtin's team make the giant leap into the upper echelon of MLS this season? Philadelphia's proverbial ceiling will need raising if a budget-minded team is going to challenge for silverware.

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10. D.C. United

Last season ranking: 8

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Colorado, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+

United pulled off a club-record transfer for Edison Flores, traded for Julian Gressel, locked up Bill Hamid and looked primed for a big season in 2020. Then Paul Arriola tore his ACL and now black clouds are rolling into the District. Ben Olsen has to pull his team out of that emotional nosedive and make sure they don't miss Wayne Rooney too much.

11. FC Dallas

Last season ranking: 12

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Philadelphia, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

There's really no good reason why we haven't started calling FC Dallas "Kids Inc." at this point. Outside of the individual players' fortunes, the story will be the same in Frisco this season: Can a young, talented group of academy graduates led by Paxton Pomykal, Reggie Cannon and Jesus Ferreira lead FC Dallas to the playoffs?

12. Portland Timbers

Last season ranking: 11

Next MLS match: March 1, vs. Minnesota, 7.30 p.m. ET

Diego Valeri's acrimonious contract saga is a distant memory and Merritt Paulson put down some cash to secure a few new additions, including new DP Yimmi Chara. The Timbers are more talented, but there are still questions about how it all comes together.

13. Minnesota United

Last season ranking: 7

Next MLS match: March 1, at Portland, 7.30 p.m. ET

The problem with having a three-year plan is that it only lasts three years. Minnesota United proved the skeptics wrong by securing a playoff berth last year, but there is a new bar for Adrian Heath and the Loons going into Year 4. The defense is good, but these birds lack some teeth up top after losing attackers Darwin Quintero, Angelo Rodriguez and youngster Abu Danladi.

14. New York Red Bulls

Last season ranking: 15

Next MLS match: March 1, vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Nobody is talking about the Red Bulls except Red Bulls fans (and most of what they're saying isn't complimentary.) Once a marquee club, New York is almost boring these days. While the rest of MLS is increasing spending, the Red Bulls stood pat and could be in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

15. Sporting Kansas City

Last season ranking: 22

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Vancouver, 10.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Midwesterners of the Kansas City region are known for hardy constitutions and the magical ability to slow-cook meat. The latter won't help Sporting much this season, but the former should. Conventional wisdom said all SKC needed was a goal-scoring centre-forward and they would contend. With Alan Pulido now in tow, we're about to find out if that's true.

16. Real Salt Lake

Last season ranking: 10

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at Orlando, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

If it weren't for FC Cincinnati, no team in MLS would be carrying more baggage into 2020 than RSL. Freddy Juarez did yeoman's work last year and also deserved a shot to see what he could do from the start of the season. It's not an ideal scenario in Utah, but neither is it a disaster. Jefferson Savarino is a big loss but with Damir Kreilach, Albert Rusnak and Corey Baird, staying put, this team will be in contention for a playoff spot.

17. Colorado Rapids

Last season ranking: 13

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, at DC United, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Robin Fraser is finally getting a deserved second chance as a head coach seven years after his dismissal from (doomed) Chivas USA. The Rapids aren't flashy or chock-full of homegrown talent, but there are few interesting players in the mix (Keegan Rosenberry, Jonathan Lewis, Younes Namli, etc.), and Colorado has every chance to be a surprise team this season.

18. Houston Dynamo

Last season ranking: 19

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. LA Galaxy, 3.30 p.m. ET

An American soccer legend is on the scene in Houston. Tab Ramos' first head-coaching job at a club comes with a high degree of difficulty, but his arrival is renewing hope for a once-proud franchise. The Dynamo's big guns run, and with Colombian dynamo Darwin Quintero now in the fold, they are even more of a must-watch team from an attacking perspective.

19. Montreal Impact

Last season ranking: 23

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. New England, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Best-of-their-generation players don't always make great coaches. Thierry Henry is trying to prove himself after a disastrous run at Monaco by taking on one of the trickier assignments in MLS. With Ignacio Piatti gone, the spotlight is squarely on the notoriously demanding Frenchman.

20. San Jose Earthquakes

Last season ranking: 21

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Toronto, 5.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

The problem with trying to wield chaos as a weapon on the field is that it can easily slip from your grip and wreak havoc. Matias Almeyda's team lost control at the end of 2019 and paid for it. Now he'll try again, lining up almost the same team (with Chris Wondolowski in his final season), and it promises to be anything but boring.

21. Orlando City

Last season ranking: 20

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Real Salt Lake, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

There's an adult in charge in Orlando. Oscar Pareja's arrival in Central Florida immediately changed the narrative around a club still looking for its first MLS Cup playoff berth. The man they call "Papi" knows how to win in MLS, and if he can find the goals they need from Dom Dwyer, Nani and Co., the Lions will be formidable this season.

22. Vancouver Whitecaps

Last season ranking: 18

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Sporting KC, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

The Caps are going full Canadian in 2020 after signing Lucas Cavallini to score the goals. Canadian head coach Marc Dos Santos got a free pass in Year 1 in British Columbia, but there's real pressure to improve upon a last place finish.

23. Chicago Fire

Last season ranking: 27

Next MLS match: March 1, at Seattle, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN Deportes

You know how sometimes your computer starts running really slow and nothing you do seems to fix it, so you decide to take the nuclear option and format the hard drive? That's the Chicago Fire in 2020. How long will it take to install a new operating system?

24. SC Nashville

Last season ranking: N/A

Next MLS match: Feb. 29, vs. Atlanta, 8 p.m. ET.

SC Nashville fans are probably too busy learning the lyrics to the club's new anthem, "Never Give Up on You," to be too concerned about the makeup of the roster. Or is that just us?

25. Inter Miami FC

Last season ranking: N/A

Next MLS match: March 1, at LAFC, 5.30 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN Deportes

Inter Miami is hitting all the notes you'd expect a brand-new club based in one of the most glamorous cities in America to hit: splashy signings (Rodolfo Pizarro, Lewis Morgan, Wil Trapp) high expectations and David Beckham looking dashing. Of course, all of it is happening in Fort Lauderdale and not actually Miami.

26. FC Cincinnati

Last season ranking: 24

Next MLS match: March 1, at New York Red Bulls, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+

We don't have time to hit on all of the problems in Cincinnati-- coach Ron Jans' dismissal, Darren Mattocks' felony charges, etc. -- as the club's second season gets underway, so let's just say that things can only get better on the banks of the Ohio River. We think... although FCC has proven us wrong before.

England Lions 428 (Lawrence 125, Sibley 116) and 20 for 1 (Crawley 10*) beat Australia A 176 (Wildermuth 50*, Carse 3-50, Robinson 3-66) and 271 (Patterson 94*, Maddinson 52, Overton 4-67, Robinson 4-81) by nine wickets

Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton bowled England Lions to their maiden victory over Australia A, a nine-wicket win in their four-day match at the MCG.

Early rain threatened to derail the Lions' march to victory, with the hosts trailing England's first-innings total by 72 overnight with five wickets in hand. Kurtis Patterson and Jack Wildermuth resumed, moving their partnership to 67 before Wildermuth fell to Overton for 37.

Patterson batted through with the tail, adding 44 more to the total to ensure the Lions needed to bat again and finishing unbeaten on 94 when the final wicket fell - that of Mitchell Swepson for three - with the Lions needing 20 runs to win.

Robinson and Overton finished with four wickets apiece for the innings, giving Robinson seven for the match and Overton six.

The English side's chase wasn't straightforward. They lost first-innings centurion Dom Sibley to Jackson Bird in the third over for three, but Zak Crawley and Keaton Jennings sealed victory five overs later.

Lions Head Coach Richard Dawson was impressed by his side's competitiveness throughout every session. "Once we got ahead of the game and posted that first-innings total, we held the ascendancy," Dawson said. "We kept it really basic, breaking things down to keep it simple and the effort within the squad was high class.

"The fast bowlers were made to work really hard, having asked the Aussies to follow on, but they've put in the work on their fitness to be able to achieve that."

It is the first time an England Lions or England 'A' team has beaten Australia A either home or away, with four losses, two draws and an abandonment in the seven previous encounters between the two sides.

The Lions will look to finish their tour of Australia unbeaten, with their final four-day match against a New South Wales XI starting on March 2. With Sibley, Crawley, Jennings and Dom Bess departing to join the England team for a two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, the match in Wollongong will give several players in the squad the chance to gain match experience.

Big picture

Whatever the outcome in this, the sixth and final match of South Africa's T20I fortnight, you can be sure they will emerge battle-hardened for the experience of taking on two of the toughest white-ball opponents in the world, if not entirely the wiser as to their own direction of travel in the final countdown to October's T20 World Cup.

There is, after all, a series to be won in Cape Town on Wednesday - as indeed there was against England at Centurion last Sunday. But on this occasion, South Africa may be somewhat baffled to still be in contention, given the magnitude of their shellacking in Friday's first fixture against Australia at the Wanderers.

So they bounced back with commendable vigour after being bowled out for 89 in that opening match to lose by a record 107 runs, and in so doing brought the Aussies' own run of eight consecutive T20I wins to an abrupt halt. But much as had been the case in their win against England at East London, South Africa owed plenty to their visitors' untimely malfunction, as Australia squandered a requirement of 35 off 28 balls with eight wickets standing, and a Forecaster prediction of 91 percent, to lose by 12 runs.

Of course, that reading of the result underplays a fine display of death bowling from Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada, who had looked a touch rusty when his three overs were being carted for 45 at Johannesburg, but now seems to have settled back into a rhythm since his new-year down-time. And given that Ngidi was instrumental in England's failure to score seven runs from their final seven balls at Buffalo Park, it's clear that he's developing into a key pillar of the side that will travel to the World Cup.

But elsewhere there are still too many questions for South Africa. What happens when Quinton de Kock's hot run of form goes cold? (He had a rare failure at Wanderers and look how that turned out.) Does Dwaine Pretorius offer enough in either or both of his roles? Can Dale Steyn's hard-fought comeback really withstand the frustrating ravages of time? Do they have any idea how to accommodate Faf du Plessis in his post-captaincy era, let alone another potential comeback for AB de Villiers. Time is running out to find answers to all of the above, and more.

Australia, self-evidently, have few such concerns. With the injured Glenn Maxwell still to come, they've hit upon a ruthlessly balanced XI, spearheaded by a white-ball goat in Mitchell Starc and featuring an enviable balance of pace, spin and all-sorts options. And given the recent success of host nations in global events, October's T20 World Cup can't come quickly enough for them.

And yet … Australia lost the other day, by a pretty emphatic margin, and another systems failure on Wednesday could yet hand South Africa their first series win in four attempts this home season. Which just goes to show that, in this short and wild format, it's best not to take anything for granted. It can all still be alright on the night, on any given night.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

South Africa WLLLW
Australia LWWWW

In the spotlight

In a team of mixed experience, particularly in the batting department, David Miller is a man who perhaps needs to be offering more to his side. He's had a passable time of late, with an important half-century in the ODI win against England, and a brisk 35 not out from 20 to post a daunting (though not ultimately matchwinning) 222 for 6 in the T20I at Centurion. But in his floating role in South Africa's middle order, he's made 13 from 15 balls against Australia so far in this series, a far cry from the dominance of which he's capable. At the age of 30, with a decade of experience to fall back on, and with twin T20I World Cups in the offing, this ought to be his time to shine.

As red-inkers go, David Warner's 67 at Port Elizabeth was a curious affair. When he reached his fifty from 38 balls in the 13th over, Australia were cruising, but from that moment on, his scoring seized up - just 16 more runs from his final 18 balls, as a succession of new batsmen came and went without making much of an impact. He presumably believed that Australia would win if he stayed to the bitter end - and his running between the wickets certainly helped to keep their partnerships ticking. But you suspect that he might be inclined to take a more direct course of action if faced with a similar situation in the decider.

Team news

Temba Bavuma will undergo another fitness test after missing the last match with a hamstring injury, while Heinrich Klassen is a similar doubt after injuring his hip before the Wanderers match. Dale Steyn, whose workload is being managed on his return to the team, is back in contention after sitting out at Port Elizabeth. Jon-Jon Smuts could return in the middle order to offer a second spin option.

South Africa: (possible) 1 Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), 2 Temba Bavuma, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Jon-Jon Smuts, 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Despite their set-back in the last contest, Australia's T20I outfit is a well-oiled machine at present, and the likelihood is that the side that squandered their first shot at a series win will be backed to get it right this time.

Australia: (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Matt Wade, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Kane Richardson

Pitch and conditions

It's looking set to be a scorcher at Newlands. It was 33 degrees on the eve of the match, with not a breath of wind. The pitch, according to assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, could be similar in character to the Port Elizabeth strip, where 158 for 4 proved sufficient. Keshav Maharaj claimed 4 for 24 on the same surface in a recent domestic 50-over game, so spin could be a factor.

Stats and trivia

• This time last year South Africa racked up a hefty 192 for 6 at Newlands, to win a thriller against Pakistan by six runs.

• Aaron Finch is 66 runs away from becoming the second Australian after David Warner to reach 2,000 T20I runs.

• Dale Steyn needs one more wicket to take 700 international wickets.

Quotes

"We always think about every game we play but we also understand that in this process it's important that we master the fundamentals and we get the right type of formula. It's a professional sport, we want to win but if it doesn't happen and we've played in the way we want to play, then it's a win. We've got a lot of new players and we have created a platform for them to try and find the right formula. It's ideal to win series but the big picture is more important."
Enoch Nkwe, South Africa's assistant coach, will be seeking the positives, no matter what the outcome may be

"We're definitely on track. If you look back 18 months or even further back than that, people were talking about us as not like a top-five-ranked team. It's very difficult with the schedule to play and put your best teams on the park all the time. Over the last 18 to 24 months, we have established a very strong squad and we've put our best teams on the park every time we've played. We don't rely on one or two players. We've got 11 match winners and that's the exciting thing."
David Warner feels Australia's World Cup plans are coming together very nicely

South Zone completed a hat-trick of BCL titles after beating East Zone by 105 runs in the final in Chittagong. The win came shortly after tea on the fourth day when they bowled out East Zone for 248 runs, with Shafiul Islam and Mahedi Hasan picking up three wickets each.

South Zone had dominated most of the game after posting 486 batting first. Farhad Reza struck his sixth first-class century after fifties from Fazle Mahmud, Anamul Haque and Shamsur Rahman.

East Zone were bowled out for 273 in their reply, with veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak picking up 7 for 102, his 41st haul of five wickets or more. South Zone were then bowled out for 140 in their second innings, but despite the best efforts of Hasan Mahmud and Abu Hider who took four wickets each, the 354-run fourth innings target was too much against a formidable South Zone attack.

Only Mahmudul Hasan batted out more than two hours for his 81, otherwise they capitulated in 68.4 overs. South Zone have now won the tournament five times, underlining the region's strength in producing quality players as well as banking on a group of experienced cricketers.

WHEN GIFS OF the "Tiny Hands" guy from Burger King started showing up on his phone before the NFL combine, Brandon Allen began to wonder if the pre-draft process had finally gotten just a little bit, well, out of hand. After a rough start as the quarterback at Arkansas, where fans egged and torched his truck (not at once, mind you, but in separate instances), Allen emerged as an NFL prospect after throwing for 30 touchdowns and leading the SEC in passer rating (166.5) as a senior in 2015. An invite to the Senior Bowl followed, and shortly after landing in Mobile, Alabama, Allen strolled into a room full of NFL team reps who unceremoniously ordered him to hold up his throwing hand.

Completely unaware and somewhat amused that hand size was even a thing, Allen halfheartedly offered up his hand without so much as straightening his digits. After all, he had lost a fumble a grand total of five times in four years at Arkansas, and he had thrown for 406 yards and seven TDs (and no picks) against Mississippi State in 30-degree temps. Still, a scout stepped forward with a tape measure, stretched it between Allen's pinkie and thumb and barked out "Eight and a half!" over his shoulder to audible gasps.

Before he even knew what was happening, Allen had been swept up into the annual spring revival of the QB Hand-Size Myth. The latest victim? LSU's Joe Burrow, who made headlines on the first day of the 2020 combine when his hand measured a minuscule 9 inches flat -- a quarter-inch smaller than Patrick Mahomes' mitts. The theory behind all of this, that a college quarterback's hand size correlates to his eventual fumble rate and overall performance on Sundays, has become one of the most prevalent metrics in NFL scouting. There are, however, just a few tiny theoretical stumbling blocks with this edict. For starters, it's based on a physiologically flawed principle and is, according to decades of data, utterly meaningless as a predictor of NFL performance.

Other than that, it's perfect.

And so word spread quickly in 2016 about Allen's phalangeal deformity, and the next time he checked his phone, his college buddies had filled it with the David Spade-like character from the viral Burger King ads who is terrified his doll-sized hands can't grasp a Whopper. "It was all so silly, but it was a huge ordeal for a while," says Allen, who started three games for the 2019 Denver Broncos. "I'm getting Burger King commercials on my phone, and they're actually wasting time on air on national sports shows talking about my hands, and I was like, 'OK, this is getting ridiculous.'"

But it was the NFL draft and quarterbacks, so the ridiculousness was just getting started.

After the 2016 Senior Bowl, Allen began preparing for the combine at the XPE Sports training facility in Boca Raton, Florida. When the program's masseuse overheard him lamenting his tiny mitts, and with signing bonuses hanging in the balance, Allen began receiving deep tissue massages to relax and elongate the connective tissue in his right hand. A month later, when he showed up in Indianapolis, Allen's hand had magically grown to 8⅞ inches (the same as Tony Romo's once measured), and the spotlight had shifted to Jared Goff, the eventual No. 1 pick, who just barely broke 9 inches. "It matters because we play in a division where all of a sudden there's rain, there's snow and it's different," then-Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson said at the time, echoing the hand-size myth's oft-repeated origin story. "Guys that have big hands can grip the ball better in those environmental situations, and so we'll look for a guy that fits what we're looking for in a quarterback. Is hand size important? Yes it is."

To which Goff just scoffed: "I just heard about that yesterday. I've been told I have pretty big hands my whole life. I never had a problem with that, and I don't expect it to be a problem at all."

It wasn't.

Two years later, Goff had led the Rams to the Super Bowl and Jackson was looking for work.

At the time, Allen's miracle-working hand masseuse was the talk of nearly every dinner table at St. Elmo Steak House, the popular combine hangout. In Indy, Allen's Instagram account was flooded with queries from terrified tiny-handed QBs across the country afraid to patronize Burger King and begging to learn his secret. But he says now it was all blown out of proportion, that he received only a few "treatments" and that the biggest difference was that the combine hand measurement had been done with a ruler taped to a desktop, which allowed him to lean all of his body weight onto his palm and stretch his hand for a proper measurement.

Listen: ESPN senior writer David Fleming discusses the hand-size myth on the ESPN Daily podcast.

Allen never broke the 9-inch mark, but he was nevertheless selected by Jacksonville in the sixth round. He spent 2017 and '18 with the Rams and in 2019 went 1-2 as a starter in Denver, filling in for Joe Flacco. He has yet to fumble as a pro -- or find a better summation of the hand-size myth's silliness than John Elway's take from 2016.

"As a player, you never look at hand size," the Broncos' general manager and Hall of Fame quarterback said. "As a GM, you always do."

THE NOTION THAT hand size correlates to strength and virility is as old as man himself, and almost as dumb. Although widely debunked, the "size matters" theory was popularized in the NFL thanks in part to Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre. Trying to quantify why a second-round washout in Atlanta became a three-time MVP in Green Bay, some Packers personnel were convinced that Favre thrived inside the icy confines of Lambeau Field because of his abnormally large 10⅜-inch hands. Others, including once-renowned offensive mind Chip Kelly, even said hand size was more important than a QB's height. "It never made sense to me," Allen says. "I kept asking: Where do the facts come from to back up this theory on big hands? Because it seemed more like an old-time measurement that doesn't mean anything anymore, like something that didn't have any factual basis behind it but people still went with anyway."

As is human nature, while ignoring the numerous big-handed busts, scouts instead began to lock in on Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Peyton Manning and other great quarterbacks with large hands who, in turn, selectively proved their theory. And then, without bothering to study the physiology of the grip or the abundant and readily available player performance data, the NFL scouting community (and, yes, the media) mixed common sense and an urban legend from Green Bay into QB canon: The Bigger the Hands, the Better. Period. End of discussion. All along, though, it was never more than what psychologists call an "illusory correlation." It's a logical, assumptive shortcut the human brain creates to form an overriding belief by conflating certain bits of anecdotal evidence. Every summer, for instance, we stay out of the ocean after news reports about shark attacks while ignoring the fact that millions of people swam safely in those exact waters.

While no one is arguing that a strong grip isn't important for quarterbacks, there is no biological or kinetic proof that hand size correlates in any way to hand strength. Even with hands the size of catcher's mitts, Favre still fumbled at an alarming rate (166 times, more than any QB in NFL history and good for 0.55 per game), far greater than that of his replacement, Aaron Rodgers (0.43), whose hands are a quarter-inch smaller. While you can't blame Packers scouts for trying (or wanting to claim some credit, or deeper understanding), you just can't quantify gamers like Favre with a single measurement, or a thousand. As frustrating as it is for the people charged with evaluating them, the greats are always more about art than science. Although, just to complete the ouroboros and confuse the issue, when asked about his ability to hold on to the ball, Rodgers held up his hands and smirked: "Size matters."

Rodgers was kidding, but to most scouts, hand size remains no laughing matter. And so every spring in the buildup to the NFL draft, quarterback prospects get dealt the same bad hand. The draft class after Allen and Goff featured a future NFL and Super Bowl MVP quarterback whose 9¼-inch hands inspired this actual headline: "Will Patrick Mahomes' Small Hands Tank His NFL Draft Stock?" Last year it was Kyler Murray's turn. The Heisman Trophy winner and eventual No. 1 pick had the smallest hands (9½ inches) of any passer taken in the first round but the lowest fumble rate (0.31) and highest QBR (55.7) of any rookie quarterback. The silly season has continued with the 2020 draft class. Burrow got things started when his hands sent Twitter into a meme frenzy on Monday. In Mobile, Jordan Love, from Utah State, was a sideshow for half a day after word spread about his 10⅝-inch measurement, the biggest set of hands anyone had seen since, well, Paxton Lynch or Cody Kessler. Love's draft stock has since risen. And long before he declared for the 2020 draft, when Tua Tagovailoa measured 10⅛ at this junior pro day at Alabama, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit went so far as to say that number was "more significant than his actual arm strength."

Considering retirement after I was informed the football will be slipping out of my tiny hands. Please keep me in your thoughts.

— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) February 24, 2020

That new theory on biomechanics is sure to interest the Cincinnati Bengals, who are almost certainly going to select a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick. But when Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who played quarterback at Nebraska, was asked about the role hand size would play in the team's selection, he reacted in a telling manner and one similar to the way nearly everyone else inside the NFL reacted when hand size was brought up: a helpless shrug followed by an embarrassed, apologetic laugh as if word had leaked that teams were using palm readers and psychics.

"Look, plenty of guys have had great seasons, great careers and Super Bowl seasons, and people would say they have small hands," Taylor says. "I have small hands, so I'm a little bit sensitive to it. I'm about a 9 flat, which is generally last when it comes to starting quarterbacks in the league." Here, Taylor holds out his hands in mock disgust and jokes, "It's probably why I'm not a starting quarterback in the NFL right now. You can look at this both ways: There are some great quarterbacks in the league that have 10½-inch hands, and there are some great quarterbacks who have 9s, just like myself, that are playing deep in the playoffs. There are always exceptions to everything."

Behind Taylor, on a wall inside the Mobile Convention Center, was a giant banner of Senior Bowl icon Baker Mayfield. One season after Hue Jackson's bold combine proclamation about the significance of large QB hands on cold-weather franchises, the Browns used the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 on -- wait for it -- the QB with the smallest hands in the draft. Since then, of course, Mayfield (9¼) has had the lowest fumble rate (0.41) and the second-highest QBR (51.8) of the five QBs taken in the first round that year. "Yes, we're overthinking it with hand size, which is what we tend to do in the NFL," says Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl and an ESPN analyst who won four Super Bowl rings as an NFL scout. "It's insane the amount of work and minutiae in scouting now, and hand-size measurements is just a microcosm of that."

AS A BIOMETRIC, QB hand size is fundamentally flawed on every level.

For starters, it's hard to take the statistic too seriously when there isn't a single universally accepted method for how to measure hand size. And so, as was the case with Allen, the data can vary wildly between the Senior Bowl, the combine and pro day workouts on campus. And while the size of an NFL football is close to universal -- 11 inches tip to tip and 22 inches around at the center -- where and how quarterbacks grip the ball isn't. "Every single quarterback grabs the ball just a little bit differently," Mahomes says. "It's hard to describe what makes a grip feel right because it's a mix of everything, starting with the shape of the football, and not every football is exactly the same. There are ones that are more ovalish, ones that are more rigid, ones where the laces are big or tight to the ball."

That's why Lamar Jackson puts his 9½-inch hand higher up on the laces with his pointer finger practically on the cone of the ball, while Troy Aikman threw with his hand closer to the middle of the ball and his palm over the laces. "My hands aren't the biggest," Mayfield explains, "so I [put my] ring finger on the end and my pinkie four down on the laces." All three of these quarterbacks place their hands on different areas of the ball. And if grip quality is determined by the percentage of the ball's circumference a passer can cover with his hand, unless all quarterbacks are forced to hold the ball in the same spot, it's impossible to accurately compare Grip Size A directly to Grip Size B.

Next, there's the pinkie problem. While the pinkie is an integral part of the scouting measurement, it has virtually no physiological significance in grip strength. (The NBA ignores the little finger altogether, measuring hand "height" from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger.) Last year, when ESPN surveyed nearly every starting quarterback in the NFL about their grips, players were asked which digit was the least important to throwing mechanics, and the universal response was the pinkie. It's so vestigial that Mahomes, the Super Bowl MVP, revealed he often does drills where he leaves the pinkie entirely off the ball in order to work on his wrist and the four fingers that actually matter.

"The pinkie is useless," says David Dellanave, who owns Movement Minneapolis, where he specializes in training and coaching grip strength, a niche branch of weightlifting. "So to that point it's doubly stupid to use this measurement because the pinkie is useless when it comes to gripping something."

When he wants to gauge someone's hand strength, Dellanave doesn't get out a tape measure. Instead, he uses several diagnostic tests and tools, including a $30 grip dynamometer, a squeezable clipboard-sized tool that instantly measures grip strength digitally within one-hundredth of a pound. This year, the Senior Bowl teamed up with Zebra Technologies and placed GPS tracking chips in the ball and in shoulder pads in order to precisely track player speed and ball movement. In the occasionally archaic world of scouting, this is a major step forward. But for the time being, when it comes to the most important and expensive hands in the game, they're sticking with the good old-fashioned tape measure. "That's gotta be so simple -- hand the kid a device, let him squeeze it, done," Nagy says. "The NFL and scouting in general is kind of antiquated in their methods, and hand size is a good example of that. We're making strides with technology, but for whatever reason, we just haven't gotten there with the grip yet."

These disqualifying issues with the QB hand-size measurement, however, are minor compared to the metric's central, catastrophic flaw. In the NFL, the purpose of measuring the length between a QB's pinkie and thumb is the belief that there is a relationship between this distance and a passer's hand strength, fumble rate and overall performance.

It's logical, reasonable even, to think that these two data points might be related. When you want to grab and hold something, bigger is probably better. You don't reach for tweezers when you need to pick up a cinder block. But there's zero proof that the distance between the pinkie and thumb is related in any way to the strength of the grip. "Size alone doesn't really mean anything when it comes to grip strength," Dellanave says. "I don't think there is any correlation between hand size and hand strength. You would think teams would have a ton of data and insight into this, but then again, I've seen some pretty dumb stuff in professional sports training, so I don't know."

When Taylor, the Bengals coach, was asked why NFL teams continue to measure hand size instead of what they're really after -- hand strength -- a lightbulb seemed to flicker for a split second before his eyes glazed over as if he had been asked about nuclear physics. "I don't know," he shrugged. "That's a little beyond me."

Using hand size to predict a quarterback's strength (and success) is a little like measuring a kicker's shoe size to predict field goal range and accuracy. Which means for the last few decades, the NFL, a $15 billion business with virtually unlimited time and resources, has been drafting the most critical position in the game based, in part, on a measurement that doesn't actually measure anything.

The data resoundingly confirms that there is no actual correlation between hand size, fumbles and passing efficiency. Since 2014, there have been several studies that analyzed data from hundreds of NFL quarterbacks and each one concluded the same thing: The hand-size myth is laughable. As USA Today put it: "Hand size has nothing to do with a quarterback's ability to hold on to the football [even in cold weather]. ... Just to drive that point home, the correlation coefficient between the number of letters in the quarterback's name and their fumble rate is six times stronger than hand size." ESPN Stats & Information's own analysis went back through the past 10 draft classes and found that the group of QBs with the smallest hands fumbled at nearly the same rate as QBs with large hands, and, what's more, small-handed QBs had a slightly higher QBR than passers with medium-sized hands.

More than anything, what the data shows is that by the time a quarterback has reached the level of the NFL draft, the selection process has made whatever variation is left in hand size pointless. By the combine, the range of hand sizes of potential quarterbacks is so preposterously narrow that to back the hand-size myth, you'd have to believe that the difference between a perfect passing hand and an unacceptable one is found in a variance half the width of your phone.

If that's too theoretical, just focus on Mahomes and his supposedly disqualifying 9¼-inch hands and the way he is able to pump-fake, draw the ball back, palm it and scramble with it in the open field like an NBA point guard on grass. "Scouting is checks and balances, so if there's a concern with hand size, it's just one more thing you have to go back to the tape and double-check," Nagy says. "You're not running back into the draft room yelling, 'This guy's got 9-inch hands! Don't take him!' I don't think that's happening. But absolutely, I think we should all maybe take a breath on hand size."

AS OVERWHELMING AS the data is, it's simply no match for human nature. The best -- and perhaps only -- use for QB hand size might be as a window into the pervasive, stubbornly old-fashioned groupthink of the NFL. This is a league where inside the bunker mentality of the draft-day war room, consensus is often valued far more than critical thinking. It's a league slow to innovate, where old habits die hard, where coaches who dare to run the ball on fourth-and-1 (when the conversion rate is near 65%) are still considered mavericks and loose cannons. And it's an environment in which the theory that bigger hands are better is considered to be true simply because scouts have always believed it to be true.

To move on from the QB hand-size measurement, then, or to even just trade it for a grip dynamometer, would first require some of the biggest egos in sports to admit they've been wrong for decades. There's a better chance we'll see the Lions and Browns in the next Super Bowl. "I'm afraid you just opened Pandora's box," says Linda Elder, an educational psychologist and president of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. "This just shows how entrenched the human mind is in holding on to beliefs it already has."

Elder says that when a long-held belief is questioned, our brains react by overemphasizing evidence that supports the original theory. And it just so happens that three of the most respected and influential scouting departments -- Green Bay, Seattle and New England -- all have compelling, and oft-repeated, anecdotal confirmation of the hand-size myth. And there's a good chance those stories will keep it alive, no matter how much proof is offered to the contrary. "This is where the groupthink factor comes in, the power in numbers," Elder says. "You're gonna hear a lot of: 'I know what they're telling us over here with all this data and all this lousy evidence, but everyone in this room, we all know the facts. And the fact is, the best quarterbacks all have the biggest hands.'"

Besides the Favre legend in Green Bay, before the 2012 draft, the Seahawks were concerned with Russell Wilson's height (5-foot-11) until they discovered he had a high release and the hands (10¼) of someone who, proportionately, should have been 7-foot-4. In 2003, the Patriots drafted Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury, the current Cardinals head coach, in the sixth round despite his 8½-inch hands. As if reliving a nightmare, Patriots staffers from that time still recall how badly Kingsbury struggled to hold on to the ball, especially as the season went on and the weather got worse. A year later, after a season that also included a stint on injured reserve, Bill Belichick cut Kingsbury, and he bounced around professional football until starting his coaching career in 2008.

Since then, Kingsbury, who developed Mahomes in college and drafted Murray in Arizona, seems to be trying to destroy the QB hand-size myth all by himself. Kingsbury, however, declined an interview request. Which is exactly what a former Patriots scout predicted would happen. "Kliff doesn't want it out there that he's got small hands," the scout said, laughing, "because of the way people equate small hands to something else."

INSIDE THE MOBILE Convention Center, an hour or so after the official weigh-in for the 2020 Senior Bowl, QB hand measurements begin circulating on Twitter. Suddenly, there is a larger than expected crowd around Utah State's Jordan Love, whose massive hands have turned him into something of a unicorn among the draft-guru underground. Laughing as he recalls the moment, Love explains to the captivated crowd that a scout used a tape measure and that his official size was, yes, 10⅝ inches (though he measured in at 10½ at the combine on Monday). "It's just part of being a quarterback," Love says, shrugging. "Height, weight, hand size."

Nearby, Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson isn't quite as forthcoming with the hand he was dealt. The look on his face is proof of how endlessly frustrating the hand-size myth can be for players on the doorstep of their dreams. After all, you can work out to get stronger and faster. You can study to improve your knowledge of the game. But you're pretty much stuck with the hands you were born with. Patterson says he thought he did everything right. He got his hands massaged. He worked tirelessly on his actual grip strength. But when he is asked about his rumored 9¼ Burger King measurement, all Patterson can do is deflect the question with humor. First, he blames his parents, naturally. Then he claims amnesia. Finally, he says with a smirk that he can't be 100 percent sure of the measurement, "but I think I was a 12 or a 13."

The more Love tries to downplay his hand size, the more the starstruck draft devotees in the crowd push back and escalate his indoctrination, insisting, out loud, just how big that number is, just how important that number is and just how unlikely it is that Love will ever fumble as a pro even during an ice storm or a flash flood. "Some people are born with small hands, some people are born with big hands. I'm not really sure what it means," Love insists. "But did I stretch my hand for the measurement? Oh yeah, definitely, I'm trying to make my hands as big as possible."

A few hours later, Love and the rest of the North squad take the field at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for practice, with representatives from every NFL team watching from the aluminum stands. With the wind picking up and temperatures dropping into the low 40s, after all the buzz about Love's giant mitts, it's a perfect opportunity for one more field test of the QB hand-size theory.

After warming up and breaking into groups for individual work, the offense and defense meet up at the 30 to take some live 11-on-11 snaps. Sporting a red No. 5 jersey and his white and blue U-State helmet, Love strolls confidently to the line of scrimmage while rubbing his hands together. He checks the safety depth and IDs the Mike linebacker. Then he places those can't-miss, once-in-a-generation 10⅝-inch hands under center.

And promptly fumbles the snap.

Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson sat out Monday's game and will miss at least the next four games with a right shoulder sprain, coach Rick Carlisle said.

Brunson, who suffered the injury during Saturday's loss to Atlanta, will travel on the team's upcoming four-game road trip while rehabbing.

"He will travel and begin rehabbing and we'll see where we are then," Carlisle said. "We've got J.J. [Barea], who is always ready. He'll be in the middle of it. He's a great luxury to have sitting there."

Brunson is averaging 8.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 17.9 minutes per game in 57 appearances this season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Top 10 players Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have confirmed they will play at Queen's in June.

Spain's defending champion Feliciano Lopez will return, while organisers hope Britain's Andy Murray will recover from a pelvic injury in time to play.

Former world number one Murray, a five-time champion, has not played since November's Davis Cup finals.

"Daniil and Stefanos have shown they can beat anyone in the world," said tournament director Stephen Farrow.

"Feliciano's win last year was incredibly emotional and uplifting, and Andy is our greatest champion."

Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray was forced to pull out of January's Australian Open because of the pelvic injury.

The 32-year-old said last month he was not putting a time frame on his recovery as "bone bruising" is taking longer to heal than expected.

"We know Andy is still working his way back to fitness, but we also know that he wants to play, so fingers crossed that he will be able to," added Farrow.

Russia's Medvedev, 24, is currently fifth in world rankings after reaching the fourth round in Melbourne, while Greek 21-year-old Tsitsipas, who won the Open 13 tournament in Marseille earlier in February, is sixth.

The main grass court event will run from 15 to 21 June and be live on the BBC.

On Friday, Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani released an emotional video tribute to his ex-girlfriend Caroline Flack on social media.

The 32-year-old spoke about his own mental health issues after former Love Island host Flack, 40, was found dead at her home in London having taken her own life.

On BBC Radio 5 Live's Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care, Sale wing Chris Ashton and ex-England wing Ugo Monye praised Cipriani for his bravery and opened up about their own experiences with social media and mental wellbeing.

'Personal attacks' on the day Monye's wife had a miscarriage

For Monye, the main issue is that people do not know what is going on in players' lives when they attack them on social media.

It is a situation the 36-year-old, who says he has had more abuse since starting work in the media than he used to get as a player, has personal experience of.

About four years ago, when his wife Lucy was seven weeks pregnant he was preparing to commentate on a Saracens game when he got a phone call from his sister-in-law.

"I had a feeling something was bad," he says. "I answered the phone and Lucy had just started bleeding, she'd just started having a miscarriage.

"In that moment, I was devastated. I tried to block it out because I tried to get on and do a job. I commentated on the game, did my best to get through it.

"I went home to be with her. She was in bits. I was trying to be as positive as I could. I picked up my phone and some mentions I got that day were a personal attack on me.

"I thought it was unnecessary and they didn't have a clue what was going on in my life then. The game I had just commentated on was so irrelevant. What makes them think they know me that they have the right to at me and call me whatever over a game?

"You don't know me, you don't know what's happened in my life. No-one in commentary knew that because there was no reason to share it but there is a reason to share it now."

Monye says the experience brought him "greater perspective" that "there is zero need for anyone to ever get personal".

And he believes the policies of social media platforms "absolutely have to change" to avoid other people going through something similar.

"The governance of social media is so poor now, you can be faceless and cowardly, say whatever you want and there is zero retribution," he adds.

"We want players to be accessible, but don't abuse that privilege to go out and abuse people.

"The world was a far simpler and kinder place without social media. It is only a small percentage of people that ruin it for everyone.

"Unfortunately on social media those people's voices are much louder than the ones who are really kind."

'They say, 'I hope you die''

Ashton says he struggles "to go anywhere near social media" now, comparing his feelings to a phobia, after having bad experiences with it in the past.

Around 2012, the year the 32-year-old moved from Northampton to Saracens, Ashton admits the amount of abuse left him "in a bad way".

"I took so much abuse," he explains. "Really bad stuff that if you flagged it up now people would go wild about it. Back then anyone could say what they wanted.

"They say, 'I hope you die' or 'I'm going to fill you in when I see you' or things about family. You're just there to be attacked.

"Once I've read it it's in me so it would affect me. I've got a phobia of it."

'Awful comments on pictures of my family'

For Care, who is now involved in a mental health scheme for young players, a lot of abuse is related to "indiscretions" committed earlier in his rugby career.

In a three-month period starting at the end of 2011, the Quins back was arrested three times for drink-related offences.

"You put your hand up and apologise for it but people don't forget those times you made a mistake," he adds.

"For whatever good you can do on or off the pitch, there are still people who are only going to remember the bad stuff.

"To this day, I put up a nice picture of my family and someone will feel the need to comment on Instagram with something awful."

The 33-year-old says such abuse used to have a greater impact on him, but now he deletes any negative comments and blocks the person who sent them.

"If you want to go looking for bad stuff about yourself you're going to find it," he says.

"When I was younger I read it and it affected me a lot more because I cared too much about what people thought about me. Being older and wiser, I know the people whose opinion I care about. But we're not all the same.

"Every athlete or person in the limelight deals with it differently. Some people struggle with it a lot more but that is the way I deal with it."

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by mental health issues, help and support is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

Ospreys have named former London Irish director of rugby Toby Booth as the new head coach on a three-year deal, starting in the summer of 2020.

The 50-year-old joined Harlequins as assistant coach in November 2019 after seven years as Bath's first-team coach.

"When the opportunity was presented to join such an iconic Welsh team it made it an extremely attractive proposition," said Booth.

Booth spent eight years with London Irish, four as director of rugby.

Between 2008 and 2012, he guided the Irish exiles to Premiership and Challenge Cup finals and three successive Heineken Cup qualifications.

"The Ospreys is a side full of rich talent and international experience, it is an ambitious group and has good potential to improve," he added.

A region of talent

"Having developed players throughout my career, I look forward to adding value to this squad of players and developing their performances on the pitch.

"This rich rugby region has always produced young talent. The ability to help players reach their potential was a contributing factor in wanting this role.

"A team that has high numbers of home-grown talent is exciting for coaches and supporters. It helps achieve greater levels of consistency in effort as they are emotionally connected to the team."

Ospreys had been seeking a long-term replacement for Allen Clarke, who left in December 2019.

In January 2020, Ospreys appointed ex-Wales coach Mike Ruddock as their new performance director until the end of the 2019-20 season, with part of his role to appoint a new coaching staff.

Ruddock initially joined as a consultant in December 2019 after Clarke was no longer in charge of first-team affairs at the region, while backs coach Matt Sherratt leaves at the end of the season to join Worcester.

Sherratt and forwards coach Carl Hogg have been in charge of first-team affairs since Clarke's departure.

Ruddock's recommendation

"Toby is a vastly experienced coach who has proven himself over many years in the English Premiership with London Irish, Bath and Harlequins," said Ruddock.

"He is an excellent communicator and an innovative coach. His track record of developing a high performance rugby programme impressed the interview panel and the senior players that met with him during the recruitment process.

"There were a number of outstanding candidates on our short list however Toby's ability to outline his impressive coaching philosophy and his rugby specific knowledge marked him out as a stand out coach.

"The Ospreys board would like to thank the WRU for their involvement and support for our recruitment process and we look forward to Toby taking charge next season."

Ospreys have won only two out of 18 matches this season and are bottom of Pro14 Conference A and suffered six defeats in the Heineken Champions Cup pool stage.

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