MELBOURNE, Australia – In Abraham Ancer’s defense, he is a rookie.

There have been plenty of players who have aspired to play Tiger Woods in a crucial match, and more times than not it doesn’t go their way. Ancer is hoping Sunday at the Presidents Cup is different. 

“I would like to play against Tiger (Woods),” Ancer said at last month’s Mayakoba Golf Classic. “But the truth is that our objective is to do everything we can to win. Winning a match in the singles would be very special, so we need to try to get the cup.”

Ancer will get a chance to accomplish both goals Sunday at Royal Melbourne where the International team holds a 10-8 lead. International captain Ernie Els sent Ancer out in Sunday’s first match and captain Woods quickly countered with himself in the opening bout.

Ancer went 3-0-1 in team play this week and has been a crucial part of the International team’s success.

“We figured it would be either Tiger or [Justin Thomas]. They have been going with that almost all week, and obviously Tiger we thought was going to play early,” Els said. “Abraham has been really playing well. He knows the course well. He likes the conditions. That will be a top match, Abraham against Tiger.”

Big Picture

It is common knowledge that Chennai gets a lot of rain in December. Yet, here we are trying to squeeze in an ODI, when two more T20Is would've brought in more context with the World Cup just around the corner. Ironical as it may be, we could well have a curtailed game veering towards the T20s if the weather, which forced India to call off their optional nets on Friday and West Indies on Saturday, continues to remain fickle.

India have not played ODIs for a while. Their last 50-over series came in the Caribbean, well remembered for that audacious Virat Kohli shot, where he opened up the off-side and carved a short of length delivery on the up for six over extra cover while being off balance. It even had Sir Viv Richards admiring the shot in awe. If you don't remember the scoreline of the series, though, or any other detail, well, you would be forgiven.

West Indies have the benefit of having played a good amount of white-ball cricket on tour, even before the T20I series. They whitewashed Afghanistan 3-0 in the ODI series in Lucknow to begin Kieron Pollard's captaincy era on a promising note. So far, West Indies have made all the right noises, both in terms of their squad selection as well as administrative intent to become a formidable force once again. This ODI series is another opportunity to build forward.

Form guide

India WWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West IndiesWWWLL

In the spotlight

KL Rahul is in one day, out the next. He is opening one day, at No. 4 the next. There hasn't been much clarity about his role in the white-ball set up. With Shikhar Dhawan injured, this is Rahul's best chance to settle the debate by making big runs. It will be of massive help to him that he is coming into the series on the back of a Man-of-the-Series-winning performance in the T20Is.

He has been mistaken to be the son of Courtney Walsh, but if he bowled anywhere like he did in the Caribbean Premier League - where he picked up 22 wickets in nine games - Hayden Walsh will likely carve an identity of his own. He cannot ask for better spin-friendly tracks than Chennai and Cuttack to make a splash. His three ODIs against Afghanistan didn't bring him a rich haul, but there were shades of promise.

Team news

Mayank Agarwal may have to wait for his ODI debut, but Shivam Dube could earn his. There could be a toss-up between Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja.

India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Shami

Ewin Lewis has a soft-tissue injury on his knee, so he's likely to be assessed. With their net session on match eve called off, it's unlikely they'll want to risk him straightaway. For now, he'll remain with the squad. Sunil Ambris or Brandon King could come in for Lewis at the top of the order.

West Indies: 1 Sunil Ambris, 2 Shai Hope, 3 Roston Chase, 4 Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Romario Shephard, 8 Kharry Pierre, 9 Hayden Walsh, 10 Keemo Paul, 11 Alzarri Joseph

Pitch and conditions

Rains for two days in the build-up to the ODI have forced the groundstaff to cover the pitch right through. There hasn't been much sunshine either. That said, the spinners won't mind bowling on what is traditionally a good deck for them. India made 281 in the previous ODI here, in September 2017, with Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav picking five Australian wickets in a truncated chase to win the game.

Stats and Trivia

• Virat Kohli has more runs against West Indies in just half the number of games of his nearest competitor. For long, Javed Miandad led the runs rally with 1930 runs in 64 innings. Kohli has already racked up 2146 runs in just 35 innings. In his last nine innings alone, he's made six hundreds and 870 runs at an average of 174.

• Shai Hope has had a phenomenal last two years as an ODI batsman, averaging 60.54 in 41 innings, with six centuries and 10 half-centuries. This is significantly higher than his overall average of 50.63. However, his strike-rate hovers around 76 in this period, which is far below the norm in ODIs these days. He may want to press on a lot earlier, to avoid putting too much pressure on the big hitters to follow.

Quotes

"The reason why we keep discussing [about] him [Rishabh Pant] is that he has got immense ability. Everybody believes he can be an X-factor. All of us believe he is a good player who can come good."
India's batting coach Vikram Rathour

"Yes, playing in the IPL augurs well financially and experience-wise, but it is not something which should be at the forefront of your minds in order to succeed."
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard

December 15: India v West Indies, 1st ODI in Chennai

NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates

Our XI: Virat Kohli, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Sheldon Cottrell, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav

Captain: Virat Kohli

Kohli averages 174 against West Indies in his last nine ODI innings with six hundreds - and a 72 - and you simply cannot ignore him for your captain pick, not after the T20I series he has had.

Vice-captain: Nicholas Pooran

Pooran has a 50-plus score in a T20I in Chennai, and his average of 44 in ODIs this year makes him a great shout - wicketkeeping batsmen are always a good option anyway.

Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are carrying injuries, and have been replaced by Mayank Agarwal and Shardul Thakur in the Indian squad

Hot picks

Shreyas Iyer
Iyer gets the nod over Rohit Sharma, who has a poor record in Chennai. Not to forget that Iyer hit 71 and 65 in the only two ODI innings he played in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Shai Hope

Hope's last three ODI scores are 109*, 43 and 77*, against Afghanistan last month. His last series against India in the Caribbean wasn't the best, but when he came to India in October last year he scored a 123* and a 95 in two of his five innings.

Yuzvendra Chahal

Chepauk loves its spinners and the last time Chahal played an ODI there, he put the brakes on Australia and took three wickets. Chahal has never gone wicketless against West Indies, and should be the first pick among bowlers.

Value picks

Rishabh Pant

He can totally tee off as a batsman, and there is the possibility of a few dismissals via Chahal and Kuldeep, who could be among the wickets. Wicketkeepers were involved in five wickets in the last ODI played in Chennai.

Sheldon Cottrell

Cottrell was West Indies' highest wicket-taker in the World Cup and, with the variations he has, you'll pick him to strike at some stage. A slower pitch, best suited for a 270-plus game, will also play to his strengths. He did well in the home ODI series against India too.

KL Rahul

Rahul is in hot form, hit a hundred in his previous but one ODI innings, scored 48 against West Indies the last time they played an ODI, and his best Test score came in Chennai - 199 against England in 2016.

Point to note

• The batsmen who rotate the strike and score at a steady rate are best suited for Chennai, which might not have a 300-plus pitch. Among bowlers, medium pacers, spinners, and smart death bowlers should be your go-to men.

Pat Cummins and Chris Woakes "could go for big money" at the IPL auction on December 19, according to Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting.

Cummins, No. 1 and No. 5 in the ICC rankings for Test and ODI bowlers respectively, was part of the Delhi franchise in 2017, where he topped their wicket-taking chart with 15 strikes from 12 games with an economy rate of 8.07. He has set himself a base price of INR 2 crore (US$ 282,900 approx.) this time.

Woakes, who has earlier been part of Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, has set his his base price at INR 1.5 crore (US$ 212,195 approx.).

ALSO READ: Where do the eight franchises stand before the 2020 auction?

"There's going to be a lot of focus and attention on fast bowlers, overseas ones in particular. Pat Cummins could go for big money, as could Chris Woakes," Ponting said in a Capitals statement. "Allrounders are always interesting in my opinion. Players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme could all be big picks."

They weren't the only ones Ponting picked to do well in the auction - perhaps even suggesting that his team might try to acquire them - with a number of allrounders, according to him, likely to be on the franchises' radar.

Ponting also welcomed the addition of R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane to the Capitals' ranks, saying the two senior India cricketers will "bring tremendous experience with them".

Rahane and Ashwin, two big-ticket Indian players have already joined the Capitals during the trade window to bolster their top-order batting and spin bowling. "They are the kind of players who are likely to do well on the [Ferozshah] Kotla wicket, and of course, bring tremendous experience with them."

Capitals, who have 14 players and go into the auction with 11 available slots - six Indian and five overseas - have INR 27.85 crore (US$ 3,939,760 approx.) to spend at the auction.

"Going into the auction you have to be very specific about the kind of players you need," Ponting said. "For instance, we've got three openers [Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw], so we don't need to look for one. You need to identify the problem areas in your starting eleven, and essentially plug the gaps.

"We've had several discussions over the last few months, and have put in a lot of time and effort to make sure that we're well prepared. You can do all the planning in the world, but at the auction table, the unpredictable always happens."

The Capitals have never won the IPL, with final-four finishes in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2019, the last season, their best performances to date.

"The semi-final loss against Chennai [Super Kings] was disappointing of course," Ponting said of the 2019 season. "But we played some great cricket, and even now, about 7-8 months after the tournament, I feel like there were times when we were the best team in the competition.

"I just remember how much fun everybody had. It was a totally different environment than most other IPLs that I have been a part of. The idea is to recreate that atmosphere and culture with our new and existing bunch of players."

Pakistan 145 for 8 (Nahida Khan 55, Glenn 4-18) v England - Match abandoned

Legspinner Sarah Glenn claimed a four-wicket haul in only her third ODI but rain ruined the prospect of a result in the final match of the series between Pakistan and England. Having been put in to bat, Pakistan were 145 for 8 from 37.4 overs before the weather intervened, meaning England took the series 2-0.

Looking for their first ODI win over England, Pakistan made an impressive start in reaching 96 without loss. Glenn then removed both openers in consecutive overs, dismissing Javeria Khan for 37 and Nahida Khan for a fluent half-century.

The spin pairing of Glenn and Sophie Ecclestone wheeled their way through 16 overs in tandem, as England dragged the game back their way. Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof was caught behind off Ecclestone and Glenn bowled Kaynat Hafeez and Nida Dar to give her figures of 8-1-18-4.

"I was really happy to get four wickets today, but it's a shame the rain came and the game had to be abandoned," Glenn said. "We came back really well with the ball after Pakistan had started on top. We kept it tight and we got our rewards.

"I've really enjoyed the three matches and it's good to come out with a series win. The girls have been really welcoming and I'm looking forward to the T20s."

Anya Shrubsole returned from an expensive opening spell to pick up three wickets, with only Umaima Sohail's unbeaten 27 offering much in the way of middle-order resistance for Pakistan. There was also an economical performance with the ball from Freya Davies, making her ODI debut, but England's chances of claiming a third consecutive win were ended by the rain.

The result means England finished their ICC Women's Championship campaign with 14 wins from 21 games, placing them second on the table behind Australia. Pakistan moved up a spot to fourth, level on 16 points with South Africa, but having played three games more. The top four teams qualify automatically for the 2021 World Cup.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Veteran pitcher Dan Straily has signed a one-year contract worth $800,000 with the Lotte Giants, the Korea Baseball Organization club announced on Saturday.

The 31 year-old right-hander became a free agent in October after spending last season with the Baltimore Orioles, his sixth major league team.

Each KBO team is allowed two foreign pitchers with Straily joining Adrian Sampson, formerly of the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, who signed with the Giants in November.

MELBOURNE, Australia – The unthinkable happened Saturday at the Presidents Cup.

Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler, the Americans strongest duo, a team that had a combined 4-0-1 record to this point, blew a seemingly insurmountable lead at a crucial point of the matches at Royal Melbourne.

Thomas and Fowler went 5 up through seven holes in their foursomes match against Marc Leishman and Abraham Ancer and held that same lead with just eight to play.

And the match ended tied. Yes, tied.

“Speechless,” Thomas said. “It’s unacceptable for us to get a half point.”

Added Leishman: “Half point never felt so good.”

With eight holes remaining, the Internationals birdied Nos. 11 and 12 to cut the deficit to 3 down. The score remained there with three holes remaining. Thomas and Fowler then bogeyed each of the last three holes, losing all three, to back into a tied match.

“That's the way it is, that’s the way match play goes,” Fowler said. “We flipped them a few times on 18 yesterday, and just gives us a little bit more work to do tomorrow. But it’s something that we can take care of.”

Thomas and Fowler three-putted the 16th and 17th holes from 70 feet and 60 feet, respectively. Then, with a 1-up lead on the 18th tee, Thomas blew his tee shot way left, leaving only to advance the ball up the fairway from underneath a tree. Thomas hit the ball on the green, and they two-putted for bogey.

One par on any of the last three holes would’ve clinched the full point for the Americans. Instead, the Internationals now lead, 10-8, heading into Sunday singles.

“We had our chances, and I mean, flat honest, just didn’t execute,” Thomas said.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Leishman said. “It’s going to be a big momentum gainer for the Internationals.”

The Internationals lead, 10-8, over the United States after three days at the Presidents Cup. The final day of competition features 12 singles matches.

The first team to reach 15 1/2 points will win the 13th edition of the biennial matches. If the event finishes in a 15-15 tie, the overall competition is deemed a tie (unlike the Ryder Cup, in which the defending champion would retain the cup).

Here's a look at the Sunday singles matches. You can watch the action live on Golf Channel, beginning at 6 p.m. ET (all times ET).

Match 19, 6:02PM: Abraham Ancer (INT) vs. Tiger Woods (U.S.)

Match 20, 6:13PM: Hideki Matsuyama (INT) vs. Tony Finau (U.S.)

Match 21, 6:24PM: C.T. Pan (INT) vs. Patrick Reed (U.S.)

Match 22, 6:35PM: Haotong Li (INT) vs. Dustin Johnson (U.S.)

Match 23, 6:46PM: Adam Hadwin (INT) vs. Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.)

Match 24, 6:57PM: Sungjae Im (INT) vs. Gary Woodland (U.S.)

Match 25, 7:08PM: Joaquin Niemann (INT) vs. Patrick Cantlay (U.S.)

Match 26, 7:19PM: Adam Scott (INT) vs. Xander Schauffele (U.S.)

Match 27, 7:30PM: Byeong Hun An (INT) vs. Webb Simpson (U.S.)

Match 28, 7:41PM: Cameron Smith (INT) vs. Justin Thomas (U.S.)

Match 29, 7:52PM: Louis Oosthuizen (INT) vs. Matt Kuchar (U.S.)

Match 30, 8:03PM: Marc Leishman (INT) vs. Rickie Fowler (U.S.)

Stumps Sri Lanka 282 for 6 (de Silva 87*, Dilruwan 6*, Afridi 2-58) v Pakistan

A scintillating onslaught from the weather overnight proved yet again to be the definitive performance in the Rawalpindi Test, which did not see a single ball bowled on day four before play was called off at noon. Frigid showers have been in outstanding form right through this Test, and the force with which they imposed themselves on a hapless outfield ensured that the turf was too sodden for play.

The covers also showed signs of having endured a battering, with vast pools of water laying atop them in the morning. The groundstaff cleared some of the water off them over the course of several hours, but this merely made an inevitable result look a little closer than it was. There was just no beating the weather in this mood.

MINNEAPOLIS -- With Lou Williams out, LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers wanted Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to be even more aggressive in their staggered minutes on Friday night.

What Rivers got in return was the first pair of teammates in franchise history to score at least 40 points each in the same game. George had 46 points and seven assists, and Leonard added 42 points and 11 rebounds to help the Clippers hold on for a 124-117 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

If this was what Leonard and George envisioned when they talked about joining forces early in free agency, the Clippers' All-Star duo joined some elite company with their Friday the 13th performance. They became the 21st pair in NBA history to each score 40 or more in a game, regular season or playoffs, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

"It's great to have somebody else out there help scoring the ball, making the game easier for myself," said Leonard, who hit 10-of-24 shots and went 19-for-19 from the line. "We are still trying to build our chemistry out there. We didn't close that third quarter too great. We still got to improve."

"[But] I didn't think that coming into the season," Leonard added about how explosive he and George could be together. "We just want to win a basketball game. If it's me having 10 and him having 40 or vice-versa, or Lou Will is going or Trezz [Montrezl Harrell] or somebody else having a great game, that is what I envision. I just want to envision winning games."

With Williams ruled out earlier in the day with a sore right calf and Patrick Beverley (concussion), Landry Shamet (ankle sprain) and JaMychal Green (tailbone) already out, Leonard and George carried the load.

In the first quarter, the two combined to put up 28 points, as Minnesota's entire team scored 29 in the quarter. The pair scored the Clippers' first 23 points of the game, until Harrell joined the party with 3 minutes, 55 seconds to go when he became the first other Clipper to tally a point.

The two All-Stars only seemed to get hotter. Leonard had 31 points and shot 9-for-14 by halftime, while George had 23 going into the break. Minnesota's entire team only outscored Leonard and George 58-54 at the half.

Entering the fourth quarter, George had 39 points and Leonard had 37 as the Clippers led by as much as 100-73. The two would each crack 40 in final stanza -- and the Clippers ended up needing all the points, as Minnesota cut the deficit to 121-117 with 28.7 seconds left, before the Clippers staved off the comeback.

This 40-40 outing by two teammates isn't new for George, who was part of the duo that most recently completed the feat when he and Russell Westbrook did so in February with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"It's special," said George, who did not come out in the fourth quarter on Friday and played 39 minutes. "Two guys, offensively, and the thing about it is we dish and we're finding each other and feeding each other, and then when we have moments to be aggressive. We are looking to be aggressive and attack and looking for our shots. It is great when both guys can get going."

Now, George and Leonard are hoping this experience -- albeit with a short-handed roster -- might serve the Clippers well later on this season.

"I thought that was a good indication tonight," George said of the things that he and Leonard might be able to use moving forward. "Again, both of us were aggressive to start, our defense got us going and down the stretch, you saw there was still some slippage, still some opportunities where we can grow."

"I thought overall we did a great job of just playing off one another," he added, "both being aggressive tonight, looking to score and attack and then finding plays to make our teammates better, as well."