While Brendan Steele was granted free relief from the grandstands of the 72nd hole at the Sony Open on Sunday, Ryan Palmer wasn't so lucky in his encounter with a temporary immovable obstruction.

Playing in the second-to-last group and trailing by just one, Palmer pulled 3-wood from the fairway bunker at the par-5 18th. His ball then sailed to the right and ricocheted off the top of a very large, very tall television screen, never to be seen again.

After his three minutes of search time elapsed, Palmer took a long cart ride back to the fairway bunker, from where he advanced his fourth shot to short of the green. Although he nearly holed his pitch shot for par, he was left to settle for a bogey, a round of 68 and a tie for fourth at 9 under par.

Asked if he knew that he was just one back at the time or if he would have done anything differently, Palmer answered: "Yeah, no, I knew I was one back. It's a shot I hit every time. There is no doubt about it."

He even doubled down on Twitter after the round:

Apparently, the only thing Palmer does regret is his misjudging of the carom: "I told [rules official Slugger White] driving up, I was trying to hit the left side of the cylinders holding up the scoreboard, not the right side."

Oddly enough, it was Palmer's flare to the right that prompted Steele, watching in the group behind, to violently miss to the left after a 15-minute wait in the fairway.

"I was watching Ryan and trying to figure out what he was doing," Steele explained after his playoff loss to Cameron Smith. "I was trying to figure out where he could have possibly hit it, and then I was thinking, 'Oh, he's hit it out of bounds right.'

"I was like, well, we don't want to do that. So that wasn't positive at all."

HONOLULU - Cameron Smith of Australia won his first PGA Tour title on his own Sunday when he least expected it.

Two shots behind with two holes to play, Smith made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole to force a playoff against a faltering Brendan Steele, and won the rain-soaked Sony Open with a two-putt par from 10 feet on the first extra hole.

Steele had a three-shot lead when he holed a bunker shot for birdie on the 11th hole and he never trailed the entire day until it fell apart at the end. He missed a 6-foot par putt on the 17th, and then hit a wild hook from the fairway on the par-5 18th and never had a reasonable look at birdie.

On the 10th hole for the playoff, Steele was in ideal position in the fairway, 88 yards from the hole, when he hit wedge over the green. He chipped off the mud and wet grass to 15 feet and missed the par putt. Smith, who had driven into right rough, chased his shot to 10 feet.

It was only easy at the end for Smith, a two-time Australian PGA champion who shared the team title with Jonas Blixt in the Zurich Classic three years ago.

''Just had to hang in there. No one was playing good golf today, it seemed like,'' Smith said after a 68. ''Just hung in there, and what do you know?''

The victory assures Smith a spot in the Masters. He also is assured a return to Hawaii next year for the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

''That's been one I've wanted to tick off for a long time, to finally say I've won an event by myself,'' Smith said. ''It's quite good.''

Steele was trying to win for the first time in just over two years. This was hard to take.

''Everything that could go wrong went wrong today,'' Steele said. He closed with a 71.

They finished at 11-under 269, the highest winning score at the Sony Open in 15 years. The wind finally died to normal strength instead of 30 mph gusts. But the rain was steady, and the course was soaked.

A final round that was wet, gray and full came to life in the final hour, which is about how long it took to play the last two holes because the maintenance crew kept having to squeegee the 18th green.

Steele brought possibilities into play when he missed the green to the left on the par-3 17th, pitched to 6 feet and missed his par putt, reducing his lead to a single shot.

Ryan Palmer and Webb Simpson were in the group ahead, both one shot behind. From a fairway bunker, Palmer went with fairway metal and sent it soaring so far to the right that it bounced off the metal railing atop a monster video board, beyond the corporate tent and vanished, presumably in a backyard. He had to return to the bunker and made bogey.

Simpson's wedge skipped off the soaked green and settled 15 feet behind the hole. He narrowly missed the birdie putt, shot 67 and finished alone in third.

Steele, who had to wait 15 minutes to tee off, had to wait another 15 minutes to hit his second shot from the fairway. He went just as far offline as Palmer, just the opposite direction. It bounced off the roof of the tents left of the green and stopped near the ropes lining the 10th fairway. Given free relief from the grandstands, he hit wedge from the muck to 30 feet and two-putt for par.

''The lie was good,'' Steele said. ''It was just a 2-iron to win a golf tournament. It's hard.''

Smith holed his 8-footer for birdie for the second playoff in two weeks.

With his bogey on the 18th, Palmer had to settle for a 68 and tied for fourth with Graeme McDowell, who had a 64 to match the low score Sunday, and Kevin Kisner, who played in the final group but made only one birdie on the back for a 69.

Lanto Griffin extended his steady play. The Houston Open champion, who opened with a 71 and was in danger of missing the cut, closed with a 64 to tie for seventh. In his 10 starts this season he has finished in the top 20 eight times.

After the first two holes of the Sony Open, Cameron Smith was already 4 over par. With two holes remaining, he was still two shots behind Brendan Steele.

But with an eye on the troubles facing his homeland, Smith persevered through both situations and found a way to lift the trophy at water-logged Waialae Country Club, defeating Brendan Steele in a playoff for his first individual PGA Tour victory.

It was an unexpected turn of events given how well Steele played for much of the weekend, and it came despite the 72^nd hole being engulfed in drama for the second time in as many weeks. Smith needed to hole a 9-foot putt on the final green simply to force overtime; he did so with gusto, then authored the decisive shot of the week when he escaped from under a tree on the first extra hole and rolled his approach to within 15 feet.

It capped a breakthrough week for Smith, 26, who won the Zurich Classic team event in 2017 when paired with Jonas Blixt but had been searching for his first taste of solo triumph on Tour.

“You just had to hang in there. No one was playing good golf today, it seemed like,” Smith told reporters. “That’s been one that I’ve wanted to tick off for quite some time. I’ve been out here four or five years now, and to finally say that I’ve won an event by myself is quite good.”

With weather a factor all week, Waialae was a soggy shell of its former self during the final round. Mud patches were abundant, the 18^th green had to be squeegeed as the leaders lined up their final shots and the playoff was shifted to the par-4 10^th because of the poor playability of the home hole.

Those wet conditions offer a vivid juxtaposition to those experienced in Smith’s native Australia, where brushfires continue to ravage much of the continent. Smith and fellow Aussie Marc Leishman spearheaded a charitable donation effort based on birdies and eagles this week and encouraged other players to join; Smith’s uncle is one of thousands of Australians directly impacted by the fires. The Tour offered to match player donations this week and the International Team from last month’s Presidents Cup chipped in $125,000. 

Smith’s victorious play translated into $10,500 in donations based on his personal scorecard, and he shared with the trophy by his side that his early-week efforts to scrape back into contention were fueled in large part by a desire to chip in as much as he can toward ongoing relief efforts.

“I’ve always been quite good at not giving up. I’ve never felt the need to kind of mentally check out in any way,” he said. “I started bogey, triple bogey (on Thursday), and then finished that day even par and progressed from there. So yeah, I mean, it was a big fight all week basically.”

Smith has been in and out of the top 50 in the world rankings over the last few years, reaching as high as No. 24 last spring. But despite his team win with Blixt a few years back and numerous triumphs in Australia, he’s largely viewed behind the likes of Leishman and Adam Scott when it comes to Aussies playing regularly in the U.S.He narrowly missed out on a top-50 ranking at the end of 2019, meaning he entered the new year without a Masters invite secured.

But prior to that he was a surprising force in front of partisan crowds at the Presidents Cup, where his normally stoic and soft-spoken persona flashed a rare air of emotion. And thanks to his comeback victory on Oahu, he can safely book travel for Augusta in April.

With an Olympic berth now a realistic goal, Smith can ditch the asterisk that comes with having a lone Tour victory come from a team event. He’s a winner on the biggest stage in his own right, the product of an unlikely comeback during a week when the resiliency of his homeland has been on full display.

“Things just fell into place,” Smith said. “Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck to kind of fall your way, and you never know what can happen.”

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Diego Simeone said Fede Valverde's last-man challenge on Alvaro Morata won Real Madrid Sunday's Spanish Supercopa as Atletico Madrid were beaten by their local rivals on penalties in Saudi Arabia.

Valverde took out Morata in the final stages of extra time when the Atletico striker was racing clean through on goal. The Uruguayan midfielder was sent off and Kieran Trippier sent the resulting free kick into the wall as the game ended goalless after 120 minutes.

Saul Niguez and Thomas Partey missed their penalties to set up Sergio Ramos to score the winning spot kick as Madrid won the Supercopa for the 11th time in history.

"It was the most important moment of the game," Simeone said in his postmatch news conference. "I told him [when he was sent off] that anyone would have done the same in his place."

Valverde, 21, had an otherwise exceptional night as Zinedine Zidane made it 10 trophies as Madrid boss, including nine wins in nine cup finals. His performance earned him the Man of the Match award.

"I think it makes sense to give him the award because he won the game with that challenge," Simeone added.

Despite the support from the Atletico boss, though, Valverde said he felt bad about the nature of his challenge, even if it helped Madrid win the game.

"I've apologised to Morata," Valverde said in a news conference. "It's not good to do what I did, but I didn't have any other option. I'm happy to win the trophy, but I'm left feeling bad about that."

Madrid coach Zidane said: "At the end of the day, he did what he had to do. It's a bad foul, but he had to make it at that moment. He did well. What's important is that he's apologised to Morata because they know each other well."

The LA Galaxy are in discussions with Sevilla and Mexico international striker Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, the club has confirmed.

A Galaxy spokesperson told ESPN on Sunday that the club continues to speak to Hernandez and Sevilla about a transfer. A report from Marca stated that Sevilla is willing to part with Hernandez for a $10 million transfer fee, which would be a Galaxy record, but the Galaxy spokesperson said no deal was in place, nor was one imminent.

Galaxy general manager Dennis Te Kloese told the LA Times about the possible acquisition of Hernandez, adding: "I think he could be good for us. We'll give it a serious try."

Hernandez, Mexico's all-time leading scorer with 52 goals, is in his first season with Sevilla after moving last summer from West Ham United for $8.7 million, but he has found playing time hard to come by. Hernandez has made just 15 league and cup appearances, scoring three goals.

The Mexico legend would be tabbed to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who, after scoring 31 league and playoff goals last season, departed the club and eventually signed for AC Milan. Given his Mexico roots, Hernandez figures to be a massive box office draw, should he sign with the Galaxy.

After breaking in with Liga MX side Chivas in 2006 and spending four years with the club, Hernandez has spent the bulk of his career in Europe, suiting up for the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham and eventually Sevilla.

At club level, Hernandez has scored 156 goals in 424 club appearances. He was on two Premier League-winning sides with Manchester United in 2010-11 and 2012-13, and he won the 2006 Apertura with Chivas.

At international level, he has been part of three World Cup squads with Mexico, making 109 appearances.

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Danny Drinkwater has seen Riyad Mahrez make fools of his opponents countless times, but this was the first time the opponent in question was him.

Having been Mahrez's teammate for four years at Leicester City, during which the pair played pivotal roles in the club's fairytale Premier League title triumph of 2016, Drinkwater will have known exactly what was coming when the Algerian powered towards him in the 18th minute of Sunday's game at Villa Park. Yet with a trademark dip of the shoulder, Mahrez stole past his former colleague before planting a low shot into the bottom-right corner to open the scoring of Manchester City's 6-1 rout of Aston Villa. In a manner that reflected the stark way in which their fortunes have diverged since they parted ways at Leicester, Drinkwater got no closer to his former colleague all afternoon.

If the blame could be shared for Mahrez's opener, Drinkwater was almost solely responsible for the City winger's second goal, six minutes later, when he was caught on the ball inside his own box by David Silva and his former sparring partner smashed home. He did not cover himself in glory for the visitors' third either, shortly before the half-hour mark, tamely nibbling at Kevin De Bruyne's heels and allowing the Belgian to tee up Sergio Aguero for a zinging shot that flew into the top-left corner from just outside the box.

After Gabriel Jesus added a fourth, gloriously created by De Bruyne, Aguero went on to complete his hat trick with the visitors' fifth and sixth goals. It gave him the outright record for hat tricks in the Premier League era (12) and increased his career tally of goals in the competition to 177, which took him past Thierry Henry as the top-scoring non-English player in the English top flight during the same period. Mahrez had a hand in Aguero's hat-trick goal as well, punishing Kortney Hause's weary pass with a first-time ball into the Argentine, who rifled a shot past Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.

Drinkwater had left the fray by then, his Villa debut having come to an unceremonious end in the 79th minute. They were the first minutes that he and Mahrez had spent on the pitch together in the Premier League since their final match in Leicester's colours against Watford in May 2017.

Both players had hoped to leave the King Power Stadium that summer, but it was only Drinkwater whose wish was granted, with Mahrez obliged to spend one last season in the East Midlands while his colleague headed to Chelsea. Drinkwater appeared sporadically in his maiden campaign at Stamford Bridge under Antonio Conte, before disappearing from view entirely when Maurizio Sarri arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2018. Used just as sparingly at Burnley in the first half of the current campaign, this was only his second Premier League start since March 2018.

Unfortunately for Drinkwater, each of his past three league starts -- for Chelsea, Burnley and now Villa -- has come against Pep Guardiola's City. The 29-year-old, signed on loan to provide cover for the injured John McGinn, can at least console himself that he will not have to face the defending champions again in the league this season, although they could yet meet Pep Guardiola's men in the Carabao Cup final.

While he accepted that Drinkwater had been at fault for City's second goal, Smith defended his decision to throw his new recruit straight into his starting XI. "Danny Drinkwater will make us a better team," said the Villa manager, whose team at least grabbed a consolation through auxiliary striker Anwar El-Ghazi's stoppage-time penalty.

There were moments last season when Mahrez's post-Leicester career looked to be in danger of heading in the same direction as Drinkwater's, as he struggled to impose himself at the Etihad Stadium, but he has come into his own in recent weeks and his performance at Villa Park left Guardiola beaming.

Mahrez has already made 12 league starts this season, compared with 14 across the whole of last term, and his tally of 22 goal involvements (nine goals, 13 assists) is bettered at City by only De Bruyne (24) and Raheem Sterling (26). After a difficult spell between early November and early December, during which City won only twice in seven outings in all competitions, Mahrez has played a central role in their recent upturn, starting each game of their current five-match winning streak -- with the exception of the 4-1 FA Cup victory over Port Vale -- providing three goals and three assists.

"The difference between last season and this season is that he plays more minutes because the manager is so kind to him," Guardiola said with a smile. "But the level he played last season was good too. He loves to play football, has incredible quality. You see his legs, it's impossible [for him] to be injured, because he has no muscles. In the final third he has something special. You always have the feeling he can score a goal."

After recent tactical innovations including a switch to a back three and a fluid striker-less system for the mid-week Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg win over Manchester United, Guardiola reverted to a more conventional 4-3-3 formation for the trip to Villa, although he did permit himself the novelty of pairing Aguero and Jesus at kick-off for the first time in the league since Sept. 2018.

Regardless of the team's set-up, when Mahrez is in this kind of mood, City can be impossible to stop. Just ask his old pal Danny Drinkwater.

Another wild weekend in the Premier League is done and dusted. We get you caught up on the action with the Weekend Review.

JUMP TO: Luckiest moment of the weekend | Southampton achieve redemption | Aguero, De Bruyne worth it for City | If only Mata was faster | Are Burnley in trouble? | Bournemouth can't sack Howe | Latest VAR controversy?

Spurs fans should be angry at Jose Mourinho

Any Tottenham fans would have been forgiven for feeling anger as Spurs created and missed great chances late in their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool. But that anger shouldn't have been directed at the players missing those chances, rather at the realisation that even though they were playing a team who had dropped a ludicrous two points in their previous 29 games, Liverpool were still beatable.

But this is what you get with Jose Mourinho, who declared before the game that nobody thought Spurs could beat Liverpool and they couldn't play their usual game without Harry Kane.

Spurs beat Borussia Dortmund last season without Kane. They beat Arsenal. They beat Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinals without him for two-thirds of the tie. They beat Ajax in the semifinals without him for all of it. Obviously, they're better with him, but they don't crumble into a little pile of dust without him.

As such, Tottenham spent the first half playing with such an aching lack of ambition that you would have thought this was an FA Cup game between two sides with 80-odd positions between them, rather than a repeat of last season's Champions League final. Liverpool are better than everyone else this season, but at least part of the reason for that is managers who play like Mourinho did here.

Tottenham got to where they are now -- or were this time last year -- with a manager who thought they were bigger and better than they were, which eventually manifested itself in reality, in a Champions League final, in title challenges and in perennial top-four finishes.

It wasn't wrong to remove Mauricio Pochettino, but they have now got a manager who curled up into a little ball and cowered, who begged Liverpool not to hit them too hard, rather than trying to hit them back. But that's what you get with Jose Mourinho.

Luckiest moment of the weekend

All that said, and sensational as they have been this season, Liverpool got extremely lucky thanks to those late missed chances. Giovani Lo Celso, and to a slightly lesser extent Son Heung-min, had opportunities that they would have converted nine times out of 10, perhaps more frequently than that. It was proof that this Liverpool side still has its vulnerabilities, even if they might not feel like it given their form.

Southampton achieve glorious catharsis

It's impossible to overstate how cathartic Southampton's win over Leicester must have been. The 9-0 defeat in October could have been the start of an unstoppable fall, relegation sealed after barely a quarter of the season because of how demoralising such a humiliation, at home, was.

But this was the culmination of the work Ralph Hasenhuttl has done in the interim, gradually improving performances, and thus morale, and thus results. On an intangible level, victory on Saturday will have been akin to an exorcism, driving out the grim thoughts that would inevitably come with such a defeat, but in a more practical sense it was their fifth league game unbeaten, four of which have been victories, and you can throw in a 2-0 success over Huddersfield in the FA Cup too.

"With the special history of this game we pushed a lot of good buttons during the week, otherwise this kind of performance was not possible," said Hasenhuttl afterward. "We wanted to show how much this team has changed since then."

They did, and it has. They're now 12th in the Premier League, level with Arsenal, two points back from Spurs and closer to the European places than they are to the relegation zone.

Aguero, De Bruyne reason enough to follow City

With no chance of winning the title we, as neutrals, must look for reasons to be interested in Manchester City for the rest of the domestic season. Fortunately, they display plenty of those, and the two most prominent are Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. Just watching that pair until May will be enough to keep most of us occupied, the latter as he thunders in implausible, geometry-defying crosses, the former as he gets on the end of them to top up his already ridiculous goal tally. Sunday's hat trick against Aston Villa made Aguero the most prolific foreigner in Premier League history: he's on 177 now, level with Frank Lampard, and he'll probably overtake Andy Cole's 187 by the end of this term.

He's 31 now, 32 in the summer, so the chances of him reaching Alan Shearer's tally of 260 are slim without being nonexistent, but if he continues at this pace, he'll almost certainly end his career with a better goals-to-games ratio than Shearer. What a player.

If only Juan Mata was quicker

The headline performer in Manchester United's thumping of Norwich City was of course Marcus Rashford, continuing his sensational season in his 200th appearance for the club with two goals, his 22nd of the campaign for club and country.

But then there was Juan Mata, pulling strings and playing his passes and registering two assists. Mata is such a pleasing player to watch at times that, as a neutral observer, you can forgive his slowness -- of feet and moving the ball rather than thought -- but if he plays for your team that lack of speed means he becomes a luxury that's tough, if not impossible to accommodate.

If only he was a little quicker. Just a little quicker. He's had a fine career, but it could have been even better with a little more pace.

Could Burnley be in relegation trouble?

How much trouble are Burnley in? So solid has Sean Dyche's side been for the past few seasons that you just assume they won't get in too much relegation strife, but their defeat to Chelsea was their fourth in a row, and over the next few weeks they face Leicester, Manchester United and Arsenal. They find themselves three points above the relegation zone with Watford on a charge and West Ham with a game in hand just beneath them.

There probably are three worse teams than Burnley in the division, but if this form continues they will be sucked into trouble pretty quickly.

Bournemouth would be removing their heart if they sack Howe

For any other manager, a 3-0 defeat to relegation rivals, extending their run of form to four points from the last available 33, would be the final straw. But Eddie Howe is not any manager to Bournemouth. He's so much a part of their club, so integral to their success over the years that getting rid of him at this stage would be like removing part of them. Their situation feels a bit like that of Aron Ralston, the subject of the film "127 Hours" who became trapped in a Utah canyon and ended up cutting off his own forearm to escape and survive.

Keeping Howe at this stage seems an irresponsible thing to do if you think that staying in the Premier League is the only thing Bournemouth should care about. But some things are more important than that.

You can point to injuries and shoddy recruitment as bigger factors in Bournemouth's struggles than their greatest ever manager. Perhaps Howe has done all he can now, but Bournemouth should and surely do know that in removing Howe they would be removing a part of themselves.

The weekly complaint against VAR

Let's skip over more millimetre offside calls, the Declan Rice "handball' and how long it took to make a pretty obvious decision on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's red card, and go to a decision that VAR didn't make this weekend.

In Everton's win over Brighton, the video official took a look at Lewis Dunk putting his arm across Theo Walcott's chest, saw him tug the winger back and very clearly impede his progress, and decided that wasn't a foul and everything was fine. Walcott, to his credit, didn't dive and for that reason Dunk was not punished. Like an obtuse child, at the moment VAR is piping up when it's not wanted but staying silent when it's needed.

January 13: Hobart Hurricanes v Perth Scorchers

Our XI: Liam Livingstone, Josh Ingilis, Matthew Wade, Cameron Bancroft, Ben McDermott, Mitchell Marsh, Qais Ahmed, Jhye Richardson, Chris Jordan, Fawad Ahmed, Nathan Ellis

Hurricanes' D'Arcy Short is with the Australia ODI squad in India while Riley Meredith (side) and James Faulkner (calf) are injured. Scorchers' Ashton Agar and Ashton Turner are also on international duty.

Captain: Liam Livingstone

With 223 runs from 142 balls, Livingstone is crucial to the Scorchers' chances. His starts go a long way in helping them win but there is a risk here: he has failed more than he has succeeded this season, but if he gets going, you do not want to miss the points. With Hobart being batting friendly, he's worth a punt.

Vice-captain: Matthew Wade

Wade is the main man for the Hurricanes. Their batting line-up is weak. As such, the total they put up will be dependent on Wade's form. He has started the season well with scores of 61 and 16 and would look to continue his good form.

Hot picks

Mitchell Marsh

Not bowled as much as he can but he has been making up with the bat. With 307 runs from 196 balls at a strike rate of 156.63, Marsh has delivered two match-winning knocks. The reason he has not been chosen as the captain is because his performances away from his home ground Perth have not the same.

Josh Inglis

Just like Livingstone, Inglis is key to the success of Scorchers. Together they form a powerful opening pair. Inglis has scored 202 runs from 131 balls striking at 154.19 with two fifties. He has blown hot and cold but against a weakened bowling line up why ignore the man in form.

Value picks

Qais Ahmed

Without Meredith, the Hurricanes' bowling is reliant on Qais Ahmed and he should relish conditions in Hobart which are better suited for spin. Ahmed has taken ten wickets at an economy of 7.73 and has gone wicketless only once. If the Hurricanes are going to win, he needs to perform a key role.

Fawad Ahmed

The Hurricanes have lost 18 wickets to spin and average just 23.66 - second-worst for any team in this year's BBL. Fawad Ahmed has taken nine wickets at 7.34 runs per over. He could play a big role to trouble this inexperienced Hurricanes' line-up.

Point to note

• The last time these two teams met, Hurricanes won by eight runs. Short made a century and Meredith broke the Scorchers' strong opening pair. Without Short and Meredith, Hurricanes have lost big players in both departments. It will be better to stack your team with Scorchers players.

• The average first innings score in Hobart is 168 and only twice in the last eight matches have teams batting first won the game. The Heat scored 212 against the Hurricanes here. Pace bowlers have an Economy of 8.9 while the spinners go at 7.9.

Dwayne Bravo is set to play his first international since 2016 after being recalled to the West Indies T20I squad for the series against Ireland.

Bravo, 36, confirmed in December that he was coming out of T20I retirement with the hope of securing a spot in the squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

His last international was a T20I against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in September 2016. Despite announcing his retirement in October 2018, he was included among West Indies' reserves for last year's World Cup, but when he officially made himself available again he said it would only be for T20Is.

"Once selected I'll be fully committed to represent the region again in T20 cricket, which I think is exciting for West Indies cricket and fans, with the young talents around," he said.

Bravo has had an extensive T20 career, amassing 450 matches - currently the second-most behind Kieron Pollard - with a host of franchises and leagues. He has played 66 T20Is, scoring 1142 runs and taking 52 wickets and it's with the ball that he is being earmarked for a key role by the West Indies selectors.

"Dwayne Bravo was recalled with the specific intention of bolstering our 'death' bowling which was identified as an area that really needs improving," Roger Harper, CWI's lead selector, said. "His record in this department speaks for itself. He will also be able to act as a mentor to the other 'death' bowlers and lend his experience wherever needed."

Jason Holder is being rested for the three-match series as part of workload management while allrounders Fabian Allen and Keemo Paul were unavailable due to injury. Paul suffered a back problem during the ODI series against Ireland.

There is also a recall for allrounder Rovman Powell. The selectors will add a 14th player to the squad on Monday.

"Rovman Powell is a genuine all-rounder who we believe can add impetus and up the strike rate at the back-end of the innings," Harper said. "He was excellent in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup - where he scored two excellent centuries and a 96 and also had some other good performances."

AB de Villiers has arrived in Australia for his long-awaited Big Bash stint with the Brisbane Heat feeling in some of the best form of his career and ready for the "big role" he has to play on and off the field.

De Villiers replaces Tom Banton for the latter stages of the tournament with the Heat currently fifth in the table, having four wins and four defeats from their eight matches.

It was a lengthy process to bring de Villiers to Australia with the chances of the signing having seemingly slipped away until the deal the was agreed in early October.

De Villiers joins on the back of 325 runs at 46.42 and a strike-rate of 152.58 in the Mzansi Super League for Tshwane Spartans, who finished runner's up.

"I had a fantastic tournament in South Africa, had a few good knocks, felt in some of the best form of my career so hopefully we'll see more of that in this tournament," he said the morning after arriving in Brisbane ahead of his first match against the Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday.

Even with so many matches behind him - 304 in all T20s - de Villiers admitted he still gets butterflies but believes that is a good thing and is ready to embrace a broader role with the Heat.

"I've said it many times before, wherever I play around the world, whether it's a club game or a World Cup semi-final, I feel the same pressure when I go out to bat," he said. "I've always got that pressure I put on myself to perform at the best of my ability. I've done it so many times, it doesn't guarantee success but I know what to expect, I know the butterflies are a good sign generally.

"All I can do is go out and enjoy myself, make sure I have a good influence on my team-mates and make sure I have an impact on the game with bat in hand. Then there's the fielding and the off-field stuff, I have big role to play as an individual and not just a cricketer."

The Heat captain Chris Lynn has urged team-mates to make use of every moment de Villiers is with them as they hunt for a place in the knockouts in what has so far been a topsy-turvy tournament.

"Experience is everything, there were a couple of games where we needed that experience so to have him is just gold," Lynn said. "We've got a young team and the guys are mad if they aren't like a sponge over the next few weeks."

"It's a natural role for me," de Villiers said. "I'm 35 and have played quite a bit of cricket around the world. I'd hate to think that I won't have that kind of role. I had a similar role in South Africa. I enjoy guys asking me questions about my batting. Like to think we'll help some of the youngsters understand what's needed to achieve success."

Where de Villiers bats is yet to be determined with the Heat needing to reshape the order now that Banton has departed, but it is likely to be at No. 3 or 4. All eyes will be on the team if de Villiers and Lynn are at the crease together for any length of time. "It could be interesting," de Villiers said. "I don't know what to expect to be honest. I've a feeling it's going to work and will be nice to watch."

Lynn, who was a key part in long project to get de Villiers to the Heat, was in no doubt of his standing. "In my opinion he's probably the No. 1 entertaining batsman in the world. When he gets going he hits the ball 360 degrees whenever he wants. I believe he's two steps ahead of the game compared to everyone else. I think he's the best in the game and the way he thinks is totally different to other batters around the world."