LAS VEGAS – Despite the fact that he’ll have to fall to the rear in a backup car, Myatt Snider will still lead the field off pit road to start Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Snider earned the top starting spot on the NASCAR Xfinity Series grid when qualifying was rained out Saturday morning at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval, setting the field by the rule book.

The Xfinity Series rule book sets the grid by the 2019 owner standings for the first three races of the year in the event of a qualifying washout, then reverts to the 2020 owner points starting with the fourth race of the year at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway.

Snider’s No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing has the owner points from the championship-winning No. 2 entry that earned the Xfinity Series title last year with Tyler Reddick, provisionally slotting the 25-year-old on the pole.

However, a Friday practice crash that relegated Snider to a backup car will put him to the rear of the field before the green flag waves to officially start the 300-mile event.

Chase Briscoe, whose No. 98 Ford Mustang has the points from Cole Custer’s No. 00 that was last year’s title runner-up, will line up on the front row.

Harrison Burton starts third for Joe Gibbs Racing, followed by JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and JJ Yeley, whose Jimmy Means Racing entry has the points that Briscoe’s No. 98 accrued last season.

Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett, Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric – making his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend – fill out the first five rows of the grid.

The Boyd Gaming 300 is scheduled for a 4 p.m. ET start, live on FOX Sports 1, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

LINEUP: NASCAR Xfinity Series; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Feb. 22, 2020

1. Myatt Snider
2. Chase Briscoe
3. Harrison Burton
4. Justin Allgaier
5. JJ Yeley
6. Austin Cindric
7. Noah Gragson
8. Michael Annett
9. Brandon Jones
10. Daniel Hemric
11. Justin Haley
12. Riley Herbst
13. Brett Moffitt
14. Joey Gase
15. Joe Graf Jr.
16. Jeremy Clements
17. Robby Lyons II
18. Ray Black Jr.
19. Brandon Brown
20. Josh Williams
21. David Starr
22. Jesse Little
23. Alex Labbe
24. BJ McLeod
25. Ross Chastain
26. Matt Mills
27. Vinnie Miller
28. Mason Massey
29. Timmy Hill
30. Stephen Leicht
31. Joe Nemechek
32. Ryan Sieg
33. Kyle Weatherman
34. Chad Finchum
35. Tommy Joe Martins
36. Landon Cassill

KWINANA BEACH, Australia – James McFadden clinched his fifth QSS World Series championship with a thrilling win at Perth Motorplex Saturday, after title rival Kerry Madsen failed to finish with a broken front end.

McFadden entered the final event of the season with a 42-point lead over Madsen, expanding the gap to 64 after securing Revolution Racegear Fast Time honors and logging third- and fourth-place finishes in his heats.

However, Madsen had a nightmare start to his campaign, battling motor issues in time trials and qualifying 16th. That sparked a motor change prior to the heats, which thankfully produced a win and third that slotted Madsen 11th on the main event grid.

McFadden lost his provisional front row starting spot when Brad Maiolo and Cory Eliason raced through the Gold Shootout, but he wasted no time in assuming second behind Eliason at the start of the main event.

Taylor Milling brought out the first caution after driving over Madsen’s right rear and crunching the wall, and the contact with Madsen cast concern over the fitness of the No. W2, however the car looked fine on the restart, locking in to fourth within two laps.

However, Madsen rolled to a stop in turn three with a broken right front stub axle, seeing his pursuit of a maiden World Series championship fade away.

Ben Ellement endured a large spill shortly after the restart to bring on the third and final caution of the race, and with Madsen out of the picture, McFadden threw away any need for conservation on the restart.

He aggressively pursued Eliason, who produced another blistering launch to leave the field behind. Eliason was amazing in traffic and had fans nervously watching, as he systematically disposed of everyone in his path, with passes on any and every line of the track.

Meanwhile, McFadden watched from behind, contemplating his moves down the stretch.

Meanwhile Dave Murcott was chipping away from ninth on the grid, usurping Maiolo’s hold on third at lap 23 as Jason Kendrick was working his way forward from 12th to fifth along with Brock Hallett, who’d eventually claim the American Racer Hard Charger Award by climbing from 19th to eighth.

But McFadden was looming in the closing stages, and with three laps remaining started to hint at being within striking distance of Eliason after exploring a higher groove.

On the final lap, McFadden closed in and breathtakingly drove around the No. W26 coming through turn four to the checkered flag, claiming the win by just .097 seconds.

Brooke Tatnell finished ninth and locked in third in points behind Madsen with the Ray Scott Transport team, while Jock Goodyer took Rookie of the Year honors by three points.

The finish:

James McFadden, Cory Eliason, David Murcott, Bradley Maiolo, Jason Kendrick, James Inglis, Rusty Hickman, Brock Hallett, Brooke Tatnell, Ben Van Ryt, Lucas Wolfe, Jock Goodyer, Ryan Lancaster, Jason Pryde, Tom Callaghan, Mitchell Wormall, Callum Williamson, Andrew Priolo, Adrian Haywood, Lynton Jeffrey, AJ Nash, Ben Ellement, Kerry Madsen.

The chase officially began the moment Alex Ovechkin's 700th NHL goal crossed the goal line behind the Devils' Mackenzie Blackwood in Newark. Shattering Wayne Gretzky's sacred record of 894 career goals is an ambition that has shifted from possibility to probability. Ovechkin is 34. He hasn't missed a game to injury since 2016.

The chase is on.

"If anybody's going to do it, it's obviously him," said Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, who was an 8-year-old when Ovechkin scored his first NHL goal in October 2005. "I think he can break that record. And it's going to be pretty sweet to see it."

Ovechkin has acknowledged the chase. "It would be nice. I'm not going to lie," Ovechkin told ESPN late last season. "But it's still a long way to go."

Gretzky, who retired in 1999 at age 38, has acknowledged the chase, saying it would be "great for the sport" and that he would be the first to shake Ovechkin's hand were he to become the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer.

"I'm a big believer that records are made to be broken," Gretzky told NHL.com at the All-Star Game. "What I accomplished, I'm very proud of. It's hard to do what I did, and it's really hard to do what he's doing now. But there's no question in my mind that he has a real legitimate chance of doing it. The two things that you need; you've got to stay healthy, and he's proven that over his career. He plays hard and he stays healthy. And, secondly, you've got to be on a good team -- and he plays on a good team."

It's impossible not to acknowledge the chase, because the math fuels it.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, if Ovechkin maintains his career average of 0.61 goals per game, he would pass Gretzky during the 2023-24 season when he's 38 years old. If he slows to 0.50 goals per game, he would break Gretzky's record at age 39 during the 2024-25 season.

"We're used to hearing the crazy stats about him all the time. And it becomes normal, even though it's far from it," said Capitals defenseman John Carlson, Ovechkin's teammate since 2010. "I think you take it for granted a little bit, what kind of career he's had."

The hallmarks of Ovechkin's career -- the way he scores, his durability and his temperament -- have some of the best goal scorers in NHL history convinced he can break Gretzky's record.

"I really believe that it's possible, and I never thought it was going to be possible," said Bernie Federko, a Hockey Hall of Famer. "You look at the numbers that Wayne put up, you think, 'No one is ever going to score that many goals.' But the way Alex shoots the puck, the way he always hits the net, the fact that he always keeps himself in good shape ... he has the possibility of doing it."

The shot

The differences between Ovechkin and Gretzky are stark, and not just because one is a Russian rock star and the other is a Canadian hockey deity.

As goal scorers, Ovechkin is a winger with a hard, seemingly unstoppable shot, while Gretzky was a center whose shot velocity meant "you could wear driving gloves and catch one of his shots, and it wouldn't hurt," according to former NHL goalie Chico Resch.

"If you sat down and said, 'Name the four best goal scorers in hockey,' my name probably wouldn't come up. My playmaking has probably overshadowed my goal scoring a little bit," Gretzky told Sports Illustrated in 1994. "Some guys are just pure goal scorers. I don't know if I was a pure goal scorer. I didn't have a very hard shot."

Ovechkin, in contrast, does. (He won the NHL All-Star Game hardest shot competition at 101.3 MPH in 2018.) But it's not just the speed of the shot but the volume and the accuracy. Ovechkin has led the NHL in shots on goal 11 times, and he leads the league again this season. Gretzky, the man who coined the mantra, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take," only led the league in shots four times.

Gretzky said the key to Ovechkin's scoring prowess is that "he hits the net all the time," and frequently from the same area of the ice: the left circle of the offensive zone, better known as "The Ovi Spot." As of March 2019, 43.4% of his goals had been scored from that location, per NHL.com.

"The way he shoots the puck ... on the power play, he scores a lot of goals from the same area. It's a pretty indefensible play. I mean, 700 goals is a lot of goals," said Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane.

No one has scored more power-play goals than Ovechkin in the past 30 years. They account for about 37% of his goal total -- Gretzky's power-play goals accounted for 22.8% of his career haul.

"It truly amazes me what Ovi's been able to do. I mean, he stands in the same spot, basically," said Federko. "He's a shooter. I think guys like that are really in tune to what they're doing. He's a natural goal scorer. It's mechanical. He's learned so much. It's really in the same spot, but he floats around and finds the soft spots. And he's able to get the shots every time."

Evgeny Kuznetsov has played with Ovechkin since 2013-14, bearing witness to that shot on a nightly basis. "When you're watching the tape, you still don't know how that puck goes in," he said. "But he's hungry for those goals. There's something inside him where he knows where he always has to be. I think you have to be born with it. That taste inside you. You want to score, you want to score, you want to score."

Some players are just simply born with it, which is why so many of Ovechkin's peers -- and opponents -- are in awe of his offensive output.

"It's an honor to share the ice with him and watch him write his own history," said Buffalo Sabres star Jack Eichel. "I think he has a chance. He's got [fewer than] 200 goals to go. I can't imagine him not playing four more years and getting 50 goals a year. He's not slowing down at all."

Eichel entered the NHL in 2015-16, discovering a league that was faster, younger and more offensively inclined than it had been in 20 years. But also featuring goalies well ahead of their counterparts in the 1980s.

"What [Ovechkin] has been able to do, year in and year out, I don't think anyone has ever seen it [before]. Especially in this day and age. Nowadays, you look at the goalies ... you guys interview them. You see how big they are, and their gear. It's so hard to score in this league," Eichel said.

"It's just such a statement about what he's doing. That doesn't take away from what people did before. We're using composite sticks, and they didn't. There's so many variables that go into it. Nowadays, speaking for his consistency of scoring and other teams knowing what he's going to do and he still does it ... it's just so impressive."

Therein lies the other juxtaposition between Ovechkin and Gretzky. Between his first and last 40-plus-goal campaign, Gretzky never played in a season with an average team goals per game less than 3.46 league-wide. Last season was only the second time in Ovechkin's 15-season career that the team goals per game rate broke 3.00. The goalies are better. The athletes are better.

"We're very proud of our era. But the game itself is better than it was in the 1980s," Gretzky told SportsPulse in 2019. "It's tougher to score now. I'm the first guy to sit here and tell you that I played in the right era. It's harder to score points now than when I played."

Hall of Famer Mike Bossy finished second to Gretzky in goals scored from 1979 to '89, with 451 in 599 games.

"I hate comparing eras. Everyone played in their own era. Who knows what kind of shape Ovi would have been in had he played during my day? Or if he played with a wooden stick? Or if he played with the red line in?" said Bossy, referencing the rules change that allowed two-line passes that was adopted before Ovechkin's rookie season. "So I hate comparing eras, with Ovi or with myself or with anyone that came in between. Goal scorers are goal scorers no matter when they played."

Does Bossy think Ovechkin can set an NHL goal-scoring record?

"A lot of people have been asking me if he can get to Gretzky's goal mark, and my answer is that if he wants to, I think he can," Bossy said. "If he stays healthy."

The durability

In October 2006, Ovechkin was hit on the ankle by a shot from Capitals teammate Shaone Morrisonn. He limped off the ice to the dressing room. There was concern that his sophomore season could be derailed by an unfortunate friendly-fire injury, but Ovechkin played in Washington's next game.

The reason, according to his now-famous quote delivered to the media?

"Russian machine never breaks."

The next 14 seasons have supported this. Ovechkin has missed more than four games in a season once. Since 2016, he's missed three games to injury, and two to suspension for skipping the All-Star Game. Only Patrick Marleau (1,148) and Eric Staal (1,144) have played more games than Ovechkin (1,135) since he entered the league.

"Mother Nature gave me a hell of a body. My parents, or whatever. I got lucky. It's a tough sport. Anything can happen out there," Ovechkin told ESPN. "I changed my training last couple of years. My training, not my diet. I'm not a big diet fan. I tried to diet once. Didn't work well."

Of course, durability becomes more of a concern with age. Ovechkin turns 35 on Sept. 17, 2020, and he's played a brand of heavy hockey throughout his career.

"I think in the end, what's going to be the most telling thing about Ovi is his longevity, playing the way that he does. He really hasn't changed his style of play over the years. Still hits as much," said Bossy.

Only five players in NHL history have scored more than 150 goals after turning 35 -- Teemu Selanne (232), Mark Messier (171), Brett Hull (155), Jaromir Jagr (154) and Mark Recchi (153) -- and all but Jagr are in the Hall of Fame. (Jagr, 47, has continued his career in the Czech Republic.)

Carlson believes that Ovechkin's age is part of his motivation.

"Once in a while he's got to let people know when they're saying he's getting too old," he said. "He certainly hasn't slowed down at all in his career, so I don't expect him to [slow down] any time soon. He's a treat to watch, to learn from and to play with. He has a legitimate chance at the record. He's put himself in a position to do so."

The mentality

In 1986, Bossy became the fastest player in NHL history to hit 500 goals, needing just 647 games. But chasing Gordie Howe's scoring record along with Gretzky wasn't in the cards, as he retired in 1987 because of injuries after 10 years in the league.

"From a personal standpoint, I didn't start my career wanting to play 20 years in the National Hockey League. Don't ask me why. I didn't know how long I wanted to play. When I started, my goal was to play 10 years and score 50 goals every year. Because of injury, I only played 10 years and missed out on the 50 goals one year because of the injury," said Bossy. "If I would have been healthy, I'm sure I would have continued playing a little. And if the numbers would have kept on mounting, I know myself enough where if I was approaching something of that sort I would have considered it. But it's all hypothetical. I never realistically entered that mindset."

Ovechkin is obviously in that mindset, now that Gretzky's record is on the horizon. The closest Bossy came to a record was in 1981, when he became the second player in NHL history at the time to score 50 goals in 50 games.

"I went through it one season, where I got the 50-in-50, and everyone was thinking I was going to beat Phil Esposito's record of 76 goals [in a season] -- that was before Gretzky started scoring an obscene amount of goals every year," Bossy said. "I remember answering those questions a lot, so I can imagine Ovi's going to go through having to answer those questions for as long as he continues to play."

Federko grew up an admirer of Gordie Howe, and because of the legend's longevity, he was briefly his contemporary. When Gretzky was chasing Howe's record, Federko wasn't convinced he would break it, because he wondered if the attention would break him.

"We didn't know. There was so much attention on him. People are usually pretty right when they spot someone that's really special, and he had so much press," Federko said. "But you look at the pressure that Wayne had on him. Was he going to live up to that hype? But he showed everybody they were absolutely right in thinking what they did."

Sports fans have seen many elite athletes crack under the weight of history. There's a reason Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak has stood as a Major League Baseball record since 1941, a reason no one has seriously threatened it since 1978. Not only does it take extraordinary skill to set a mark like that, but it takes exceptional mental fortitude to assail it.

But Bossy thinks goal scorers like Ovechkin are different. There's a belief that's inherent to them, where slumps and slowdowns don't frustrate them for too long.

"You know, I think he's like a lot of other goal scorers. We were in Washington earlier this season, and we pulled up his stats," Bossy said. "He had like five goals in his last 15 games. He wasn't on pace to do much of anything. Then all of a sudden he can put together a string of seven or eight games where he's going to get 10 or 12 goals. Goal scorers are like that. They go on streaks. They get that boost of confidence. Not only does that go throughout the year, it goes throughout your career. You finish a season with 50 or 60 goals, and you're like 'Oh s---, I can do this again next year.' He's in that mode."

Kuznetsov has marveled at that consistency and Ovechkin's drive.

"It's hard to be motivated in his position, probably. He already scored a lot of goals. But he's still going out there. Still focusing on the goals. That's really hard to do," he said. "Every player sees the hockey differently, right? But for him, he knows where he has to be, and where he's shooting. It's something that's pretty much impossible to learn. You have to be born with it."

What if Ovechkin tops Gretzky? What if that mechanical, unstoppable shot, combined with his durability and mental toughness, gets him to 895 goals or more? What if the Great 8 overthrows The Great One atop the all-time goals list?

"You're probably never going to see me on the ice again. [Retirement] right away. See ya," Ovechkin told ESPN earlier this season, laughing.

Kuznetsov believes that if Ovechkin breaks the record, it will be his record for quite a long time.

"The people that follow him and follow the hockey league know that he's so close right now. Not just to Gretzky, but to [outscoring] every player that's probably ever going to play hockey again," he said. "And I don't think there are any players in the next 50 years, maybe 100 years, that are going to reach that milestone. It's that impossible."

South American football's governing body Conmebol have threatened a continental ban to any team who don't release their rights to EA Sports, according to ESPN Brasil sources.

Several clubs across the continent have contracts with rival sports gaming company, Konami, who produce Pro Evolution Soccer, while Conmebol themselves were also had a deal with the Japanese company until 2019.

However, from 2020, they agreed rights with EA Sports and have requested all clubs release their commercial and naming rights for the FIFA series and threatened those who do not comply with expulsion from the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.

Sources have told ESPN Brasil that Athletico-PR, Atletico-MG, Corinthians, Palmeiras and Sao Paulo have all questioned the demand.

The quintet, along with Copa Libertadores holders Flamengo, Argentine duo Boca Juniors and River Plate, as well as Chile's Colo Colo have exclusive contracts with Konami.

Italian club Juventus were dropped from FIFA 20 and renamed "Piedmonte Calcio" after they signed an exclusive deal with Konami.

Martin Braithwaite joked he won't wash his Barcelona kit after getting a hug from new teammate Lionel Messi during a 5-0 win against Eibar on Saturday.

Braithwaite, who signed for Barca from Leganes on Thursday for €18 million, was introduced for the final 20 minutes and made an immediate impact with a cross for Messi's fourth goal of the game.

The Danish international was also involved in his new club's fifth; Braithwaite's shot was saved by goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic but Arthur Melo netted the rebound.

"Messi congratulated me [for the pass]," Braithwaite told reporters when asked what the Argentine said during their embrace. "He's a great guy. He tried to make me feel comfortable and looked to find me with his passes.

"I won't wash my kit after the hug he gave me [laughs]. Honestly, I am really happy to have been able to set him up for a goal."

Barca were given special dispensation by La Liga to sign Braithwaite this week as a replacement for Ousmane Dembele, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

The former Middlesbrough forward, who will only be allowed to play in league matches, was given a warm welcome by home supporters when he replaced Antoine Griezmann.

"The ovation was really special," Braithwaite said. "It's something that I saw on television when I was little, how they treat the new players [here], and suddenly to be here and experience that from the fans is incredible. I am really proud.

"I feel really good here, surrounded by fantastic players. I tried to run and move, which is what I have to do, and my teammates found me. It's been amazing. I am really happy."

Barcelona coach Quique Setien was impressed with what he saw from his new signing and tipped him to make a contribution in the final phase of the campaign.

"Braithwaite did more than I expected, much more," Setien said in a news conference. "Honestly, I think we have made an extraordinary signing. He's going to adapt perfectly to what we need.

"We've seen he has good movement this afternoon, but beyond the goals he was involved in, he's good in space and he understands the game so well. He is an extraordinary player and he's going to help us a lot."

While Braithwaite impressed on his debut, Messi once again stole the show. The Barca captain had gone four league games without scoring, but his four-goal haul against Eibar took his season tally to 23 in all competitions.

With this win, Barca went them two points clear of Madrid at the top of La Liga, although Zinedine Zidane's side can reclaim the lead when they meet Levante later on Saturday.

Setien said the win was "just what was needed" ahead of a testing week, in which his side visits Napoli for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, then face Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu five days later.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo equalled a Serie A record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches against SPAL -- a game which is being recognised as his 1,000th career appearance.

Ronaldo put Juve 1-0 ahead against SPAL as he equalled the record set by Gabriel Batistuta with Fiorentina in the 1994-95 season and matched by Fabio Quagliarella with Sampdoria in the last campaign.

- Watch live Serie A football on ESPN+

However, it is worth noting that only Batistuta played and scored in 11 consecutive matches, with Ronaldo having missed the 2-0 victory over Brescia last weekend. His last league match without a goal was the 1-0 victory over AC Milan on Nov. 10.

Only one other active player -- Juventus teammate Gianluigi Buffon, with 1,088 matches -- has notched 1,000 career appearances. Ronaldo's total, however, includes two games with Sporting CP's B team in 2002 and 2003, leading to a dispute about their inclusion.

Ronaldo, 35, started his career at Sporting CP, who he appeared for 31 times for the first team, with his debut having come before the first of those two B-team games.

He joined Manchester United in 2003 and made 292 appearances before moving to Real Madrid in 2009, for whom he turned out for 438 times.

The five-time Ballon d'Or-winner has been at Juventus since 2018 and this is his 73rd match. He has 164 caps for Portugal.

Ronaldo has won the Champions League on five occasions -- once with United and four times with Madrid. At international level, he captained Portugal to success at Euro 2016.

Gabriel Jesus scored a late winner as Manchester City edged Leicester to a 1-0 win in the Premier League on Saturday.

Jesus found some space on the right-hand side of the 18-yard box before dispatching the ball past Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. The goal was later confirmed by VAR after it was checked for offside.

USA Cricket board chairman Paraag Marathe and chief executive Iain Higgins declared their goal to host at least one major ICC global event in the next eight-year TV rights cycle, as well as a long-term objective to attain Full Member status. Both goals are part of a series of ambitious targets laid out in the inaugural USA Cricket annual general meeting on Friday night in New York.

The pair also reinforced their commitment to launch a 22-team city-based "Minor League" T20 franchise tournament this summer to lay the foundation for a "Major League Cricket" T20 franchise event launch in 2021. However, USA Cricket did not disclose any specifics about city locations or the scale of the tournaments, nor did they disclose any documents communicating the board's financial standing at the end of 2019 as part of an annual report published on the same day of the AGM.

"To truly make cricket a mainstream sport in the US, we need to work together to tackle five things: to grow engagement, to increase participation, to improve the performance of national teams, to deliver financial stability, and to build trust within the entire community," Higgins said during the AGM, which was conducted as a listen-only conference call for members.

"If we are able to grow the sport as we anticipate, if we are able to deliver on all of our strategic objectives in partnership with all of you, we all at USA Cricket - and I can also speak on behalf of the ICC and the international cricket community - we believe the future of cricket in the USA is extremely bright."

ICC officials have previously pinned major plans on expanding USA's role in the global market and Higgins, the former chief operating officer of the ICC, backed that up on Friday night with the pursuit of hosting an ICC tournament. He also reaffirmed that USA Cricket will support the inclusion of cricket for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which he believes would contribute towards a major transformation for the awareness and engagement of the sport in the USA.

"At one end of the spectrum, we ultimately hope of course that USA Cricket, both men and women, can achieve Full Member status and can have regular cricket against Full Members, regular participation in ICC global events," Higgins said. "At the other end of the spectrum, we're hoping to see huge growth and rapid growth in the levels of engagement with cricket in schools and in community programs up and down the country.

"Along the way we are also pursuing the exciting prospect of staging an ICC global event, if not more than one global event in the next eight-year ICC commercial rights cycle. We're working with our friends in the international cricketing community now about how we best position ourselves to hopefully stage ICC global events in the future. Of course, we are hoping to seek the inclusion of cricket in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 which we think will have an incredibly catalytic effect on the growth of cricket in this country."

In the last 20 years there have been multiple aborted efforts to launch a franchise T20 competition in the USA, beginning with ProCricket's lone season in 2004 and followed by a failed partnership between New Zealand Cricket and USA Cricket Association in 2010. But Marathe, who doubles as executive vice president for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, said he believed the launch of USA's own franchise T20 cricket tournament - starting with the Minor League T20 later this summer - will be a turning point in American cricket history.

"The reason why we're excited about this is because we really have an opportunity to make history together, both with Major League Cricket and ACE, and within USA Cricket and all of you guys with our USA Cricket membership," Marathe said. "We always knew there is a latent fanbase within the US for cricket. You can see by virtue of the appetite for global cricket there already is here. Here we are the largest media market in the world without a league of our own.

"So this is really neat for us to be able to do this partnership, to build this league and really build something that outlasts any of our lifetimes. Something that we look back on this 50 years from now or 100 years from now and people think about, 'How did the USA become such a dominant global force in cricket?'"

The pair were the only two to speak during the AGM. Aside from a passing mention in the annual report about a "dropoff in membership numbers," there was no discussion for how USA Cricket plans to arrest the major decline in members from 2018 to 2019. After having approximately 5500 members registered and eligible to vote in 2018, just 725 renewed for this past year, an 87% decline. There was also no financial disclosure made during the meeting, other than to confirm that USA Cricket had spent money in the summer of 2019 to professionally contract numerous players as well as hire more technical support staff with funding provided through their commercial partnership with ACE.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo equalled a Serie A record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches against SPAL -- a game which is being recognised as his 1,000th career appearance.

Ronaldo put Juve 1-0 ahead against SPAL as he equalled the record set by Gabriel Batistuta with Fiorentina in the 1994-95 season and matched by Fabio Quagliarella with Sampdoria in the last campaign.

- Watch live Serie A football on ESPN+

However, it is worth noting that only Batistuta played and scored in 11 consecutive matches, with Ronaldo having missed the 2-0 victory over Brescia last weekend. His last league match without a goal was the 1-0 victory over AC Milan on Nov. 10.

Only one other active player -- Juventus teammate Gianluigi Buffon, with 1,088 matches -- has notched 1,000 career appearances. Ronaldo's total, however, includes two games with Sporting CP's B team in 2002 and 2003, leading to a dispute about their inclusion.

Ronaldo, 35, started his career at Sporting CP, who he appeared for 31 times for the first team, with his debut having come before the first of those two B-team games.

He joined Manchester United in 2003 and made 292 appearances before moving to Real Madrid in 2009, for whom he turned out for 438 times.

The five-time Ballon d'Or-winner has been at Juventus since 2018 and this is his 73rd match. He has 164 caps for Portugal.

Ronaldo has won the Champions League on five occasions -- once with United and four times with Madrid. At international level, he captained Portugal to success at Euro 2016.

WACO, Texas -- Udoka Azubuike had 23 points and a career-high 19 rebounds and No. 3 Kansas held on to beat No. 1 Baylor 64-61 on Saturday, snapping the Bears' Big 12-record 23-game winning streak and likely ending their five-week hold on the No. 1 spot in the AP poll.

The Bears are the sixth No. 1 team to lose this season. Their streak ends with one more win than Kansas -- which won 22 straight in 1996-97, the Big 12's inaugural season.

The Jayhawks (24-3, 13-1 Big 12) have won 12 in a row since their first-ever home loss to Baylor on Jan. 11. Saturday, they had a 10-point lead with 6 ½ minutes left but had to hold off Baylor's late charge.

Isaiah Moss, who had 11 points, made two free throws for Kansas with 7.9 seconds left before a timeout. The Bears (24-2, 13-1) had one more shot, but guard Jared Butler's 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key ricocheted off the front of the iron as time expired.

If both teams finish 17-1 in the conference, a random draw will determine who the No. 1 seed is in the Big 12 tournament.

Butler and MaCio Teague had hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final half-minute to get Baylor within 62-61.

Devon Dotson added 13 points for the Jayhawks, who shot 51% (27 of 53) against a tenacious Baylor defense that held them to 55 points in a 12-point loss last month.

Butler had 19 points to lead the Bears, while Freddie Gillespie and Matthew Mayer each had 10.

The sellout crowd of 10,627 at the Ferrell Center, already in a frenzy after ESPN's College GameDay broadcast on the court leading up to the late-morning tip, was roaring after Teague returned to the lineup by swishing a 3-pointer on the game's first shot and Gillespie made it 5-0.

Marcus Garrett then had seven points in a 14-2 spurt for Kansas, which never trailed again. Baylor hadn't been behind by more than two points in any of its previous 12 home games. The Bears trailed 14-7 before Butler hit a 3-pointer and then made a long pass ahead to Mayer, the lanky, high-energy sophomore, for a layup.

Mayer then had a three-point play after going inside and drawing a goaltending call from Azubuike while being fouled, and Mayer's 3-pointer with 9:21 left tied the game at 18. Kansas regained the lead with six points in a row, including a layup and another putback by Azubuike, who later in the half had back-to-back impressive dunks for nine-point leads.

Azubuike bowed back his shoulders and let out a shout after his powerful slam over the 6-foot-9 Gillespie. The Jayhawks' next basket was also a powerful dunk by Azubuike that made it 32-23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.