Manchester United breezed into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a thumping 6-0 win over Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park on Sunday.

Harry Maguire and Anthony Martial claimed the pick of the goals as United romped to a 5-0 half-time lead, before Mason Greenwood completed the scoring early in the second half with a penalty after substitute Tahith Chong was fouled.

Positives

It was a first-half exhibition of ruthless finishing from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, with each of their five goals in the opening 45 minutes having its own sprinkling of quality.

Negatives

If we're being picky, Phil Jones had a couple of difficult moments against Tranmere's pacey striker, Morgan Ferrier, but aside from that, it was an imperious performance from the 12-time FA Cup winners.

Manager rating out of 10

7 -- The Norwegian opted to experiment with a three-man defence, and the new-look shape caused the hosts all sorts of problems.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best, players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Sergio Romero, 6 -- The stand-in keeper had a couple of simple saves to make, but was otherwise untroubled in what was a comfortable game for the Argentine.

DF Luke Shaw, 6 -- The 24-year-old was pushed farther forward as United went for a three-man defence, and he enjoyed the freedom he was offered by a Tranmere side that struggled with the visitors' shape. Could have added a seventh for his side when he found space in the box, but fired straight at the keeper.

DF Phil Jones, 6 -- Yellow-carded inside the opening four minutes for bundling over Ferrier, and at the end of an occasionally uncomfortable first half he guided an excellent looping header into the far corner to make the score 4-0.

DF Harry Maguire, 8 -- Notched his first goal for Manchester United in quite stunning fashion as he strode into the opposition half and fired an unstoppable effort into the top corner from 25 yards. Also had a role in the third as he laid the ball on a plate for Lingard to stroke home. With the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final just three days away, the England international was brought off just after the hour and replaced by Brandon Williams.

DF Victor Lindelof, 6 -- A relatively quiet afternoon in comparison to his central defensive colleagues, but the Swede never found himself in any real danger when protecting his goal.

DF Diogo Dalot, 7 -- The second United defender to bag his first goal for the Red Devils. Dalot's was an excellent strike as the Portuguese played a neat one-two with Martial before chopping inside and firing in to put United in total control after 13 minutes.

MF Nemanja Matic, 7 -- The Serbian was a calming influence in the heart of midfield as he elegantly mopped up loose ends, whilst also looking confident in possession. With the job done at half-time, he was replaced by Fred.

MF Andreas Pereira, 6 -- It was a stroll in the park against a home midfield that stood off the rampant visitors, and Pereira neatly kept play ticking over. Can be pleased with his afternoon.

MF Jesse Lingard, 7 -- Scored United's third as he found space on the edge of the box to calmly curl home an almost identical strike to his goal against Panama in the 2018 World Cup. The 27-year-old found himself in good positions to add to his tally throughout the game, but couldn't quite find the finish.

FW Anthony Martial, 7 -- The Frenchman played his part in the second goal as he played a tidy ball around the corner to release Dalot into space. Got a deserved goal of his own with a glorious curling effort to put United 5-0 up before half-time. Withdrawn at the interval and replaced by Chong.

FW Mason Greenwood, 6 -- The 18-year-old got himself in on the goal-scoring act when he rolled home a penalty early in the second half for United's sixth

Substitutes

MF Tahith Chong, 7 -- Won his side a penalty when he beat Tranmere keeper Scott Davies to a loose ball and was brought down. Later fired a rasping effort against the bar.

MF Fred, 6 -- An easy second half in the deep-lying midfield role.

DF Brandon Williams, 6 -- Slotted in as one of the three United centre-halves, and never looked in any real trouble.

England 400 and 248 (Root 58, Hendricks 5-64) lead South Africa 183 (de Kock 76, Wood 5-46) by 465 runs

After his first match in six months at Port Elizabeth, Mark Wood had the aches and pains to show for it, but perhaps not the stats. On Sunday, he marked a memorable weekend - one that so nearly didn't happen - with ink on paper as well as, no doubt, the inevitable twinges of a fast bowler, only masked by that broad, affable grin of his.

Wood's perfectly serviceable figures of 0 for 31 and 3 for 32 in the third Test were made ever sweeter by his excellent cameo with the bat, which yielded 42 runs off just 23 balls in England's only innings as they romped to a massive victory, and the fact he had not played since suffering a serious side strain during the World Cup final in July.

By all accounts desperate to back that up in Johannesburg, despite the fact he hadn't done so since 2017 and that he pulled up considerably sore after his previous match, Wood ended up playing - he may well not have, had Jofra Archer not aggravated his elbow injury in the warm-up minutes before the fourth Test started - and how.

Wood's contribution in Port Elizabeth was so much more than the five sixes he struck, the sharp catch he took and the three wickets he claimed as he hit the pace that makes him such a weapon, intimidating as well as damaging. But in adding his second five-wicket haul in Tests to his unbeaten 35 off 39 balls in an 82-run partnership with fellow tailender Stuart Broad at the Wanderers, Wood added the stat - the cherry on top - to a pivotal performance.

And he had to bat again, adding 18 off 11 balls before walking across his stumps to be bowled by Dwaine Pretorius in the closing stages of the day, the ninth England wicket to fall. England set South Africa 466 to win when Joe Root was out on the last ball, caught brilliantly by Faf du Plessis for 58 to give Beuran Hendricks a five-wicket haul on debut.

Wood already had three wickets in the bag when South Africa resumed on a teetering 88 for 6.

After Chris Woakes accounted for Vernon Philander, caught by Broad on the fifth ball of the day, South Africa put up some resistance via Quinton de Kock and Pretorius in a 79-run stand for the eighth wicket. Ben Stokes ended up making the breakthrough when he had Pretorius caught by Zak Crawley at gully for 37 off 73 balls.

De Kock failed to convert the big score he had threatened, falling for 76 off 116 to a beautiful ball from Wood that trimmed the top of middle stump and shattered the leg-side bail.

It became a mater of time before South Africa were all out and they were soon enough, when Wood had Dane Paterson caught behind by Jos Buttler to claim his fifth and send the hosts to lunch with a deficit of 217 runs at 183 all out.

England opted not to enforce the follow-on and their new opening pair of Crawley and Dom Sibley posted their third consecutive stand of 50+ runs.

Philander, playing his last international match, limped off after bowling just nine balls, in the third over of the innings. He was sent for scans on his hamstring and did not return, later diagnosed with a grade-two hamstring tear and ruled fit to bat in South Africa's second innings. Thus ended a torrid day for Philander, who was also fined 15 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point - which is of no consequence in his final match - for giving Jos Buttler a verbal send-off on Saturday.

Hendricks stepped up in his the absence - and that of the suspended Kagiso Rabada - by claiming 5-64 off 15.3 overs.

The Crawley-Sibley union was ended on 56 when Pretorius had Crawley caught behind by de Kock for 24. Sibley hung around to put on 44 runs but was furious with himself when he chipped Hendricks straight to Pieter Malan at midwicket.

Stokes came out swinging, adding 28 off 24 but he became Hendricks' second victim, edging to Rassie van der Dussen in the slips.

When Anrich Nortje had Ollie Pope caught behind cheaply, it was de Kock's 200th dismissal as a Test wicketkeeper. Nortje and de Kock combined again to extend Buttler's tortuous time with the bat, out for eight, having failed to reach 30 this series.

Hendricks took care of Sam Curran and Woakes before du Plessis' stunning dive at gully sent Root on his way and handed him his fifth wicket.

Vernon Philander has suffered a grade two hamstring tear in his final Test appearance, which limited him to nine balls in England's second innings, though South Africa's head coach Mark Boucher confirmed he will be available to bat.

Philander, who starred on the second day of his farewell series with 4 for 16 in 14.2 overs at Newlands, has struggled since, taking four wickets at 49.25 in 87.3 overs since that innings.

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He pulled up during his follow-through after his eighth ball of the second innings, and after bowling one more ball went off the field for a scan, which revealed the extent of the injury.

"Vern will be able to bat," Boucher confirmed. "I believe he has got a grade two tear. I'm sure that Vern in his last innings will definitely go out and bat and try and add value to the team."

As a general rule, grade two tears rule players out for somewhere between four and eight weeks, meaning Philander is likely to be fit in time for the start of the County Championship season, after signing a county contract with Somerset on a Kolpak registration.

There was further bad news for him on the third day of the Wanderers Test, with the news that he had been punished by the ICC for using abusive language towards Jos Buttler after dismissing him in England's first innings. He was given a demerit point, which will count for very little, and was fined 15 percent of his match fee.

When you imagine a dream South African attack to operate at the Wanderers, the home of fast bowling since Australian pitches died, who do you picture running in? Is it Dane Paterson? Or Dwaine Pretorius? Or Beuran Hendricks?

Let's be honest, given what we've seen from this Test, it's probably none of them. Which begs the question: What, without Kolpak, without injury, without anything, would South Africa's dream attack be right now?

For this exercise, we're not harking back to the glory days of Allan Donald or Makhaya Ntini or even the more recent firestarters like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. We're only going to consider players who are active on the current circuit and see if we can come up with a better bowling group than the one playing in this match.

We'll start with the pick of the existing lot, Anrich Nortje, who has tirelessly and single-handedly ensured South Africa have salvaged some pride from this series. Nortje has all the qualities of an old-fashioned South African quick: he is fast and aggressive, his stock ball is short and he has stamina. Nortje has been the seam-bowler putting in the heaviest workloads with more overs than any of his colleagues, and he is also having the most success.

His 18 wickets include those that have come late in an innings or the day, like the ones of Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler - both caught behind playing nothing shots to back-of-a-length balls - which created a small opening for South Africa. Nortje left England on 160 for 6. Had the lead not already ballooned to 377, it would have been a handy position for the hosts to be in. All he needs is someone else in the team to put their hand up at the same time.

Imagine if Kagiso Rabada had not been suspended for this match and could have bowled alongside Nortje. South Africa would have been able to apply pressure through pace from both ends, the way England did. That said, Rabada is an automatic pick for the dream attack, even if he hasn't come up with ways to channel his emotions when celebrating better. Hopefully with a more potent pack around him, Rabada's frustrations will not build to the point where he needs to release them as recklessly as he did at St George's Park.

The question now is who will open the bowling with Rabada. Nortje is one option but it would be difficult to look past Kyle Abbott, who has taken 182 wickets in three seasons in the County Championship, at an average of 18.62. Abbott's ability to move the ball, through the air and off the seam, would offer a Vernon Philander-esque partner to Rabada.

This series, SuperSport Park aside, has not been the best example of how Rabada and Philander can work in tandem, but we can still consider the theory of it. On one end, batsmen would be rushed by Rabada, on the other, contained and tested by Philander and/or Abbott. It would mean they would face contrasting challenges as their innings began and on a Wanderers pitch, it would make it difficult for them to settle. It's also likely that Abbott would not be as much of a green-track bully as Philander has been accused of, because he has the skillset for other surfaces. Abbott could enhance South Africa's attack significantly and if there is a way to bring him back, it should be on top of acting director of cricket, Graeme Smith's to-do list.

A similar argument could be made for the inclusion of Simon Harmer, whose 212 wickets in three county seasons have come at an average of 20.25. Harmer would present some interesting problems for the selectors, who have anointed Keshav Maharaj the first-choice spinner, with good reason. Until his omission at the Wanderers, Maharaj had done South Africa's dirty work throughout this series, and before, often holding up an end for an entire day. He is disciplined and occasionally dangerous, which is exactly how South Africa like their spinners. If Harmer was to return immediately, given some of the things he has said about the South African system, it's more likely he would be an understudy with Maharaj worthy of his retention in this dream attack.

That leaves space for an allrounder, a position to which South Africa have committed themselves by blooding Dwaine Pretorius in this series and including Andile Phehlukwayo in the squad. Neither of them offers anything more than medium-pace so South Africa may want to cast the net wider. Wiaan Mulder is the option that would turn the quality attack we have now into a dream. Mulder is young and talented with a first-class batting average that sits just under 40 and a first-class bowling average that is a shave over 23. He is a genuine two-in-one-player and, at 21, has time on his side. Why isn't he in the squad now, you may ask?

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Well, he has spent the last six weeks recovering from a lower-back stress fracture and is due to bowl for the first time tomorrow. If there's one warning that comes with Mulder, it's the injury one. He has already struggled with an ankle problem and an Achilles injury and would need to be monitored and managed if he was to play regularly.

So there we have our dream attack: Rabada, Abbott, Nortje, Mulder and Maharaj.

But we still need some back-ups. If fit, Lungi Ngidi would immediately come into consideration for his pace and bounce. So would Duanne Olivier, another Kolpak player who left when he was excelling. Olivier was the leading wicket-taker against Pakistan early last year where he used barrages of short balls to set South Africa up for a series win. Olivier's departure opened the door for Nortje, so you could argue that he should be considered ahead of Nortje, but we'll send him to the back of the queue if he returns. Other names that would come into contention are Lutho Sipamla, who is fourth on the first-class wickets charts and Gerald Coetzee, South Africa's tearaway at the Under-19 World Cup.

So when you are faced with the situation in South African cricket right now, and you're struggling to find anything in what looks like an empty cupboard, come back to this little exercise. Picture this dream attack on this Wanderers pitch and think about how differently things could have been. And then wake up.

Mark Boucher knew taking the job of South Africa head coach would be "very tough", but would not be drawn into whether the situation in the country's cricket is worse than he anticipated. Instead, he says his efforts are fully focused on putting in the work that will lead to the team's improvement in the long term, which he warned will take time.

"I always knew it was going to be very tough. We've got a lot of hard work to do," Boucher said. "We've set up different processes in the near future to up-skill the guys. It is tough times but we've got the attitude in the dressing room that we want to try and get back to where we should be and we understand it's going to take a lot of hard work, but that's what we are prepared to do. It's been a tough and dark period for us over the last couple of weeks but the efforts are still there, as we saw in the field today. I thought the guys tried really hard."

South Africa's second-innings effort in the field was considerably better than their first, in which they conceded 400, including a last-wicket partnership of 82, and set puzzling fields. Today, they bowled to clear plans and struck regularly, even without Vernon Philander who only managed nine deliveries before sustaining a hamstring tear. Beuran Hendricks followed Anrich Nortje with a maiden five-wicket haul and England were bowled out for 248.

Had it not been for England's massive first-innings lead, South Africa would have been fairly pleased with their efforts. However, they now face a near-impossible task, a record chase of 466 with a batting line-up that has not crossed 300 in this series. Boucher has put the onus on top six, particularly those who have not been in form, to step up.

"We are still not scoring the runs we need to, especially with regards to the top six, which is putting us under pressure" Boucher said. "In order to win a Test match, you need to go out there and score runs and that's where we are suffering at the moment. If you look at the amount of time we've got in the game, we've still got to look at going for a win. It's quite a few runs to chase down - it's never been done before - but we've got to hold on to some sort of positivity. And also the fact that quite a few of our batters are due as well. It's going to be tough but we will give it a go."

Among those who are in the spotlight is captain Faf du Plessis, who has gone ten innings without a half-century. He was stood down from the ODI captaincy last week and is due to meet acting director of cricket Graeme Smith after this series to discuss his future. In what could be du Plessis' final Test innings, Boucher hopes he can draw inspiration from a sensational one-handed catch, with which he dismissed Joe Root to end the England second innings.

ALSO READ: Imagine there's no Kolpak, it's easy if you try...

"He is under pressure from a weight of runs as well, from captaincy, all that stuff," Boucher said. "The players back him in the dressing room. It's nice to see him take that catch towards the end of the day. Hopefully it will lift his spirits. He will go out there and fight. He understands that he is the leader and he wants to do well and lead from the front. Hopefully there is something big around the corner for Faf. The whole scene is set for him to come in under pressure and score big runs and hopefully get us close to winning a Test match."

As improbable as it seems, Boucher has to entertain the possibility that, if South Africa bat for two days, they could win the game. And statistically speaking, scoring over 400 is not a completely crazy thing to consider doing here. In 2013, South Africa finished eight runs short of a target of 458 against India, in an innings that featured a du Plessis century. All that's required is to get through the new ball and hope for a captain's knock.

"I don't think there is any opportunity to second-guess yourself," Boucher said. "We just need to get off to a good start and allow ourselves to maybe put a bit of pressure on the bowling line-up. I'd like to see us take it deep into the last day. If that's the case, the English bowlers would have spent a lot of time on their feet and that's maybe when we can throw that punch to try and win the game, but there's a lot of hard work that needs to go in before that.

"It's a new-ball wicket. It did go around for 30-odd overs, when it does get a bit softer batting gets a bit easier and stroke-making becomes easier. Its difficult for a bowling side to keep the run rate down. There are ways and means to go about getting 450 and we need to try and do that."

With Josh Donaldson off to the Minnesota Twins on a four-year deal, the Atlanta Braves had a huge hole in the middle of their lineup, prompting the short-term investment in Marcell Ozuna on a one-year, $18 million deal. Ozuna will be the left fielder, with Ronald Acuna Jr. likely to split time between center field and right field, and with Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis and Adam Duvall sharing time in the third spot.

The Braves intend to go into spring training with Johan Camargo and Austin Riley lined up to share third base unless one of them wins the job outright, and Atlanta has confidence that this could happen.

Camargo played well in 2018, posting an .806 OPS, but last season, with Donaldson set at third and Dansby Swanson off to a good start at shortstop, Camargo didn't play much early in the season -- and with intermittent playing time, he didn't perform well. He was sent to the minors in August, worked on his swing and looked better when he returned -- but then fouled a ball off his shin, suffering a fracture.

Riley was promoted to the big leagues in May and did big damage initially but then struggled, in keeping with his history; at every level he's played, there's been a period of adjustment. Mark Monaghan, his high school coach in Mississippi, said that Riley's ability to cope with adversity is one of his best traits as a player, and that part of Riley will be under examination this year: In his final 49 games last season, he batted .173, with 67 strikeouts in 164 plate appearances. He'll be 23 in April and like many young players, he'll need to make adjustments.

But if Camargo and/or Riley don't hit and the Braves' current third-base plans evaporate, there likely will be other options on the market. There will be potential solutions available, such as:

Once the Houston Astros gather in spring training and begin their preparations for the 2020 season, it seems inevitable that this group of competitive professionals will eventually and reflexively rally around a mantra of "We'll show you."

You don't think we were the best team in baseball in 2017? We'll show you. You think we hit those home runs and piled up those big numbers because of sign stealing? We'll show you. You believe that we're defined by the cheating scandal? We'll show you.

The Astros will be bombarded with criticism from the stands everywhere they play, and some of them will undoubtedly come to look at it as disproportionate and unfair. The resentment that grows out of this treatment may help fuel them on a given day, or longer.

But it's possible that the backlash will negatively affect some individual players.

A Fed Cup tennis tournament has become the latest sporting event in China to be moved or postponed because of coronavirus.

The Asia/Oceania Group I event was scheduled for the city of Dongguan from 4-8 February.

Instead it will now be played in Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan on the same dates.

Football, boxing and basketball are among the other sports to be affected.

Group B in the third round of the AFC Women's qualification tournament for this summer's Tokyo Olympics from 3-9 February, originally set to take place in Wuhan, the city where coronavirus broke out, has now been moved to Sydney.

Wuhan was also lined up to host the Asia/Oceania qualifiers for the Olympic boxing competition from 3-14 February. That has been postponed with no new host venue announced.

In domestic sport, the Chinese Super Cup football match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua on 5 February has been postponed, along with the start of the Chinese Basketball League.

The Asian Champions League play-off between Shanghai SIPG and Buriram United of Thailand will take place on Tuesday, but will be played behind closed doors.

So far, 56 people have died from coronavirus, and there have been almost 2000 cases as authorities try to prevent the spread of the disease, with significant travel restrictions in place across a number of Chinese cities.