South Australia 6 for 124 (Hunt 36, Stoinis 2-11) trail Western Australia 8 for 492 dec (Green 126, Inglis 91) by 368 runs

Western Australia quicks reduced South Australia to 124 for 6 to leave them trailing by 368 runs at the WACA on day two. Earlier in the day, Cameron Green's second ton of the season, along with handy lower-order contributions from Josh Inglis, Ashton Agar and Joel Paris, took the hosts to 8 for 492 dec.

Green continued his impressive recent form to help Western Australia out of trouble after they were reduced to 94 for 4 on the opening day. Resuming on 95, Green brought up his ton on the fifth ball he faced, with the No. 7 Inglis batting on 44 at the other end. The duo went on to put up a 139-run stand to take the team's total past 300, before Adam Zampa got the breakthrough by pinning Green in front for 126.

Inglis, joined by Agar, then cruised to his highest first-class score of 91, while the latter also brought up a half-century of his own. Zampa came back to dismiss Inglis shortly before lunch but another fruitful partnership, between Agar and Paris, followed. The pair went on to add 102 for the eighth wicket before Zampa made Agar his third victim. Western Australia declared at that point.

In response, South Australia lost their opener Jake Weatherald within the first six overs following which Henry Hunt and Callum Ferguson came together for a 45-run second-wicket stand. David Moody triggered a mini collapse with Ferguson's wicket, as South Australia lost four wickets for 24 runs in the middle, with Marcus Stoinis picking two wickets and Paris snaring one. Liam Scott then joined captain Alex Carey at the crease, as they pushed the total past 100. Scott was run out in the last over bowled on the day, after which Zampa joined Carey at the crease and the duo are set to resume batting tomorrow.

Pakistan 6 for 96 (Starc 4-22) trail Australia 3 for 589 dec (Warner 335*, Labuschagne 162) by 493 runs

If the opening day was wretched for Pakistan, the adjectives to describe the second are best left unprinted. There was no humiliation spared, no skillset left unexposed as Australia's batsmen - led by David Warner's epic unbeaten 335 - did what they liked to Pakistan for the first half of the day, with the bowlers cutting in on the action in the final session.

Warner will grab tomorrow's headlines, and cement a place in Australian cricketing folklore for his innings, becoming the first triple centurion in the Adelaide Oval's history, and surpassing Donald Bradman's 334 which Mark Taylor equaled in 1998. That was when Tim Paine finally took mercy on the hapless visitors, calling his side in just as the cricketing world was settling in to see a serious challenge to Brian Lara's record 400 not out.

If that tempted you to decry the pitch a mundane road, the final session would have had you reaching for the emergency brake. Mitchell Starc was one wicket away from a five-fer, while Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins swarmed all over Pakistan early. Regular breakthroughs meant there was never any chance of a partnership building that so much as hinted Pakistan might challenge Australia's 589 enough to force them in to bat again at some point this Test. When it was time to wind up, Pakistan were 493 runs behind, with the tail already exposed. Babar Azam, predictably, was the lone source of resistance from the other end, but when the umpires called stumps, they might as well have been calling a halt to a boxing match.

Pakistan were still seven overs away from the new ball becoming available when the day began, but the signs were ominous in that early half hour. Instead of being able to rein Australia in during that initial spell, Yasir Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed operated ineffectually, with Australia piling on 65 in nine overs of the old ball, scoring more freely than they had across the entirety of the first day. Any pressure they might have felt at the start was already well off when the new pink ball was called for, and the records were quickly stacking up.

The 361-run partnership between Warner and Marnus Labuschagne was the second-highest second-wicket stand for Australia in Test cricket, with the pair joining an elite group to have scored 150 in consecutive innings. By the time Shaheen Afridi - again Pakistan's best bowler - castled Labuschagne's offstump with a genuinely delightful inswinger, he had amassed 162. Australia were 2 for 369, with Steven Smith walking in. Hardly a sight for sore bowling shoulders.

Warner would continue to bring up milestones. He reached 200 and celebrated with the steel of a man only halfway through his journey. Moments later, it seemed, he was raising his bat for 250, which is when he really cut loose as Australia looked to wring every last run out of their innings. Pakistan didn't help themselves when debutant Muhammad Musa had Warner caught at fourth slip from a no-ball, the second time a Pakistan debutant reprieved Warner in this way this series after Naseem Shah's overstep in Brisbane.

Pakistan's bowling might have been consistently listless, but the extent of Yasir's nightmare may yet have career-affecting consequences for him. His struggles in the southern hemisphere are well-documented, particularly his record in Australia. But here it almost seemed safer to have Iftikhar bowling instead. He was, after all, "only" going at five per over, while Yasir conceded 197 in his 32 at more than a run-a-ball, unable to keep himself from dragging the ball down several times every over, or feeding them faithfully into the left-handers' hitting arcs. If, in these past three years, Yasir worked on how to manage a game where wickets come at a premium, it did not show today.

After Smith edged a wild hack, Warner and Matthew Wade combined for a breezy 99-run partnership which saw Warner bring up 300 with a pull off Mohammad Abbas - who still wasn't targeting the stumps - and brought out a celebration so emotive it moved his wife, sitting in the stands, to tears. After that he was even more unconfined, and when he took Abbas for 17 in an over, it really appeared that 400 was going to be given a shot. But when a single to extra cover took him past 334 - to stand second behind Matthew Hayden's 380 for Australia - Paine emerged from the dressing room and called them in, a cue for Adelaide to stand as one as its most prolific scorer walked off.

It is perhaps no coincidence that was the precise moment when the wicket decided to change character as the lights took hold. Shan Masood was given out in the first over, and though he had it overturned, the breakthrough was never far away. Imam-ul Haq nicked off to Warner - who else? - in the slips in the fifth over, and it wasn't long before Cummins found Azhar Ali's outside edge after the dinner break, allowing Smith to take a sharp catch diving forward at second slip.

It was, more or less, the way every Pakistan batsman was dismissed. Each one of the six that fell would have their outside edge tickled, with Starc doing much of the damage in the final half an hour. Asad Shafiq fell to one he could do little about, while poor shot selection from Iftikhar and Mohammad Rizwan meant Pakistan were making Australia's task much easier than it needed to be. Sunday might be affected by rain, but it appears little can impact the outcome of this match.

David Warner has revealed that Australia captain Tim Paine had extended a predetermined cut-off time for the innings to allow the opener to pass the 334-run record jointly held by Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor as the nation's second highest Test score.

The agreed time to end Australia's domineering innings against Pakistan was 5.40pm Adelaide time, at which point Warner had equalled but not passed 334. However, Paine sent out the message that Warner had time to go to 335 before he closed the innings, allowing the 33-year-old opener to write a fresh page of Australian cricket history a little more than 18 months after the Newlands scandal that had threatened to leave his name more associated with ball tampering than batting. Paine called Warner in immediately after the final single at about 5.45pm.

There was never any question in Warner's mind - or that of others - about batting long enough to challenge Brian Lara's world record 400* against England, or Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe. This was due to a grim weather forecast, with the time gained on the second evening allowing the Australians to rip out six Pakistan wickets before stumps, leaving only 14 more to get for a series sweep.

ALSO READ: Brettig - 'Ironman' David Warner's 335-run journey from ignominy to history

"I don't think so at all. We really looked at the weather that's around tomorrow, we wanted to give ourselves a lot of time," Warner explained after the day's play. "If we could have the amount of overs we got tonight and try to get a couple of wickets, we've managed to get six wickets down, if there is a bit of rain about tomorrow, the bowlers get a good rest, only have to come out and try to get 14 wickets in the last two days, so it wasn't a thing in our mind to go out there and try to get that record or anything.

"The first person I asked was [Steven] Smithy when I was out there batting. I said how many overs do you reckon we'll have at them tonight, and it was literally that perfect amount. Then I came in, I think at that [tea] break, and I said 'when are we declaring', and they said '5.40pm' and I said 'ok'. I kept on asking when we were out there, we got to five, then ten past five, and I was making sure that was still the message and it was. Until I think that last over before, it just ticked over [5.40pm] and Painey wanted me to try and get past that 334 mark."

Reflecting on the innings, Warner said he had wanted to "make a statement" in the wake of his poor Ashes tour. "It is obviously a massive achievement. But for me, it is always about coming out here and trying to make a statement," he told Fox Cricket. "Through my poor form in England, but to come back to Australia and put back-to-back performances on the board and have that consistency back here and start the summer well for our team, that is what I was more proud of myself for.

"It is obviously a massive achievement. But for me, it is always about coming out here and trying to make a statement"

"Yeah 100% I was aware of it [the history]. You grow up knowing what those milestones are. Forever you talk about Donald Bradman. I remember Michael Clarke at the SCG declared on 329 not out. They're things that you look at the history books and say, 'how did they get there - that's a long time in the middle'. I managed to go out there and do that but it takes an incredible amount of patience which I surprised myself."

Looking back on a grim Ashes series, Warner said that he had learned a valuable lesson about backing his own game rather than listening to too many voices, however well-meaning, about how he should play against the moving ball. "You're going to have people who doubt you, and through that whole series I said 'I wasn't out of form, I was out of runs'," he said. "If I had my time again I would've not changed my guard, I wouldn't have listened to some external noises, I would've backed myself more and bat where I have been here outside off, leaving the ball patiently, getting my bat and pad closer together and under my nose, and I am capable of that.

"I just think in England you can get caught up in playing too much in front [of the body], especially with the way I play, so I've had to regroup coming back from England, I've hit 3500-4000 balls leading into Brisbane and here as well I batted for a good two hours per session as well.

"It's not by chance that I've actually tightened all that up, I've actually been working really hard on it in the nets, it's one of those things where I'm a very confident person, whether I scored these runs or didn't score these runs, I still hold my head up high and have that little smirk on my face that I always have."

Following their latest loss Friday, Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin says his team is lacking "fight."

"Right now we haven't shown that we're willing to do things to win," Griffin told reporters after the 110-107 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. "I think it's real light in here after a win, so it seems to me we love the victory, but we don't like the fight. You're not going to win games like that."

The Pistons (6-13) blew an eight-point lead with five minutes remaining, being outscored 15-4 during that stretch.

"We are putting ourselves in position to win," Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. "We just have to get thought in the game and execution in the fourth quarter and down the stretch."

Griffin had a chance to tie the game at 108 with 1:29 remaining, but he made just one of two free throws and the Pistons didn't score again. Langston Galloway's shot from around midcourt that could have sent the game to overtime rimmed out at the buzzer.

The Hornets have won nine straight over the Pistons, who haven't put together back-to-back wins this season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James and Anthony Davis didn't need to play a minute in the fourth quarter for the red-hot Lakers to do something the franchise hasn't done in a decade.

The Lakers won their 10th straight game by flattening the Washington Wizards on Friday night 125-103. It is the first time the Lakers have won this many consecutive games since notching 11 straight from mid-November to mid-December of the 2009-10 season.

That Lakers' squad went on to win the NBA Finals, something they have not done since that campaign.

"Obviously, this is a historic franchise; they have done so many great things," said Davis, who had 26 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks in 27 minutes. "To be a part of a franchise like this is definitely amazing. I just want to leave my mark here and just keep it going.

"Obviously, our goal is to add another banner here. It's something we feel like we can do, and if we do that, to be a part of that would be nothing but great."

The Lakers improved to 17-2, matching the best 19-game start in franchise history with the 1985-86 and 2008-09 teams. The 1985-86 squad posted the best two-loss start at 19-2.

Frank Vogel's team continues to win with stifling defense, holding Washington to 39.6% shooting. And James and Davis continue to play like the best superstar tandem in the league. James collected 23 points and 11 assists in just 24 minutes.

The Lakers rank in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency -- the only team in the top five of both categories.

The Lakers went 14-1 in the month of November, but the schedule gets much more difficult. On Sunday, the Lakers host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, before playing three straight road games at Denver, Utah and Portland. They return home to face Minnesota, then hit the road again for a five-game trip to Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Indiana and Milwaukee.

"We have championship aspirations, but at the end of the day, that's not what's here right now," James said. "What's right now is our next opponent, and that's Dallas. And they're very good. And we want to continue to get better and better and have championship mindset every time we step on the floor.

"Playing at championship level, we have guys that have been there, who know what it takes, so that helps for sure. But we just want to continue to get better and continue the process. This is a big process, this is a long process, but we can never shortcut it. But we enjoy it along the way."

The Lakers hope to get good news on the injury front. Forward Kyle Kuzma suffered a mild ankle sprain in Friday's second half, and he is considered day-to-day after X-rays were negative, according to Vogel. The coach also said that guard Avery Bradley (hairline fracture in right leg) will be reevaluated on Saturday to determine his availability.

The Lakers, though, enter December with the NBA's best record, and they're ready for stiffer competition.

"I wouldn't have been surprised," Davis said when asked if he were told before the season began that the Lakers would start 17-2. "We know the type of team we have. And when we defend, we can beat anybody, and we have a lot of veterans. So when we're down, we're able to fight back and have the confidence in our schemes."

Ospreys chairman Rob Davies believes a British and Irish league will be launched in 2022-23 after investments from private equity company CVC.

Davies also predicted a more stable financial future for Ospreys and their Welsh rivals after a turbulent period.

CVC has invested in the English Premiership and Davies expects their in-principle £120m for the Pro14 to lead to British and Irish competition.

Davies said talks are "proceeding quite well".

He added: "That will enable a different outlook, planning towards a season in a better, more structured way so that then you can fit in your league and Six Nations in a more orderly fashion instead of having this disjointed way that it currently is.

"That is the opportunity and that's what makes it exciting. It [a British and Irish league] will be in 2022.

"It is as certain as once you get these hedge funds involved and there's lots of money on the table. Something is going to happen.

"It will be nothing to do with me, but I'll vote for it."

Davies says recent developments in Welsh rugby's Professional Rugby Board (PRB), the umbrella body for the Welsh Rugby Union and regions Ospreys, Dragons, Scarlets and Cardiff Blues, offer hope for the future.

Last season was bedevilled by rows over a proposed merger of Ospreys with Blues, then Scarlets, which ended in bitterness and rancour.

But after saying last season the Ospreys had their funding cut by £900,000, Davies believes the future looks brighter for all Wales' professional teams, especially with the expected boost of £35m into the Welsh game from the CVC deal.

"With the help of the PRB and others we are making very good progress into achieving our ambition to be a highly competitive region when the British & Irish League commences," said Davies.

"All the TV deals are due to expire in two years time: 2022 season.

"What will happen is that the CVC who already have an interest in the English league are attempting to secure the rights to the Six Nations. That discussion is well advanced.

"As you might imagine when you are dealing with the English, French, Irish and Scots, and then add in the Italians and the French, it's not going to be easy to get consensus.

"But those negotiations are proceeding quite well. The timescale for that is probably the middle to the end of the autumn internationals next year."

'One of Welsh rugby's biggest steps forward'

Davies joined the PRB at a volatile moment in Welsh regional rugby's history in March, 2019.

He suggested a spirit of co-operation has since prevailed, saying: "I've been involved for seven months now and last week was probably one of the biggest steps forward that board has taken, in that we agreed the new distribution model, which guarantees funding for a period of years.

"Since the game went professional in 1995 it's probably the most exciting development I can remember. It is fundamental to the future of the game in Wales.

"It is an agreement that gives all of us a fair chance to build a business model."

Davies was speaking as Ospreys confirmed Allen Clarke has left his role of head coach and says coach development should improve in Wales as a result of the PRB funding model.

"It is a pre-requisite now that as part of our business model we have a certain amount of funding for coaching.

"There's a perception, rightly or wrongly - probably rightly - that coaching in Wales has been under-funded. We don't develop, particularly well, our own coaches. We've never historically had that many coming through.

"But there is a larger sum of money available for all regions to invest in the development of coaches, but in particular the quality of the coaching set-up.

"And those funds became available only last week, so as part of this review we will be looking to implement the funds available to us in the best possible manner and I suspect we'll be having a process starting very quickly."

VENTURA, Calif. – Kyle Larson made a late charge past Cannon McIntosh and held on through a double-overtime finish at Ventura Raceway to win his third Turkey Night Grand Prix on Friday night.

The 79th running of the Thanksgiving Classic, postponed a day due to weather, actually finished in the early hours of Saturday morning due to a rain shower that halted the proceedings mid-way through.

But neither the rain nor a 13th-place starting spot could stop Larson from kissing the iconic Aggie Trophy at the end of 98 laps, as he charged through the field before making the winning pass on a restart with 11 to go.

From there, Larson raced away down the stretch, despite several late-race incidents that brought McIntosh back to his bumper in the waning moments.

Larson took the twin checkers in front by .893 seconds with the No. 1k Lucas Oil/iRacing King-Speedway Toyota for his 19th career NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series win, fourth of the season and third in a row to close out the year.

It was his fifth win in six starts since debuting his own Kyle Larson Racing midget entry, but Friday night’s victory wasn’t easy, as a rough-and-tumble Ventura surface wreaked havoc on the Turkey Night field.

“It’s a great feeling to win this event for the third time. I’ve always run well in the Turkey Night Grand Prix, and to get another one means a lot,” said Larson in victory lane. “I had to work hard for that one; everybody did, just to get to the checkered flag. That (track) was extremely rough, but that made it fun too, because it was extremely challenging and the ruts changed all throughout the night.

“Hats off to everyone at Ventura who worked so hard to get this one in. At one point, when it was raining, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to,” he admitted. “But glad we did and we’re the ones celebrating.”

Though Larson was the eventual winner, McIntosh was the start of the show for nearly three-quarters of the distance at the beachside, fifth-mile dirt oval.

The 16-year-old Oklahoma young gun drove from third to first – passing polesitter Kevin Thomas Jr. and Spencer Bayston on a lap-21 restart on the outside – and fended off all challengers for most of the night.

McIntosh drove like a veteran and opened up a lead of more than four seconds at times, appearing much like a rookie who could win the Turkey Night Grand Prix and etch his name in the history books.

However, the right-rear radius rod broke off McIntosh’s family-owned No. 08 with roughly 20 to go, hampering the handling and drivability of his car and making him easy prey for Larson in the final laps.

It showed when Larson caught McIntosh in traffic and rapped on his rear nerf bar just before Jesse Colwell stopped at the flagstand to bring out the race-changing yellow with 87 laps complete.

That set up a restart with Larson on McIntosh’s tail, and when the teenager hit a rut just the wrong way in turn three on the 88th rotation, Larson pounced with a run to the outside and never looked back.

“Cannon, I really do feel like had the best car,” Larson noted. “He was really fast. I finally noticed the issue he was having with the right-rear radius rod on the caution right before I got around him, and at that point I knew I had to put together a good lap to get by him quick. Luckily I was able to get through (turns) one and two well, and then got past him over there in three and four. That was a big move.”

Issues for Ben Worth brought out a yellow with seven laps left, following which McIntosh briefly pressured Larson once more, but after that it was no contest out front.

Not even a flip by Tyler Courtney after the white flag, or a subsequent spin in turn one by Rico Abreu on the first overtime restart, could stop Larson from taking home the $6,000 winner’s prize at that point.

McIntosh came home a bittersweet second and was declared Don Basile Rookie of the Race, becoming the highest-finishing first-time Turkey Night starter since the inception of the award in 1998.

Spencer Bayston completed the podium, just ahead of Jason McDougal and Carson Macedo.

Courtney’s championship season in the USAC National Midget Series came to a close with his end-over on lap 97, relegating him to an 18th-place finish. Meanwhile, Robert Dalby retired before halfway but still hung on to claim the USAC Western States Midget Series title over rival Cory Elliott.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

Everything you need to know about this weekend's Premier League action, all in one place.

Jump to: How will Arsenal react? | How will Chelsea cope without Abraham? | Man to watch | Game not to miss | Stats of the weekend | Team that needs a bit of luck | One thing that will definitely happen | Predictions

The weekend's big questions

How will Liverpool cope without Fabinho, their first big test?

While an eight-point lead at this stage of the season certainly seems pretty commanding, there are any number of things that could go wrong and lead to Liverpool not winning their first title in 30 years.

One of them is key injuries: They have a strong squad, but if the wrong players are struck down for a significant period of time, the team could suffer. Virgil van Dijk is one, Andy Robertson another, but the one they have to worry about right now is Fabinho.

The Brazilian is the solid core around which this season's success has been built, but hearts sank on Wednesday when he limped out of their Champions League draw against Napoli with an ankle problem. Jurgen Klopp described the prospect of losing Fabinho as "massive" and admitted "I don't want to say what I expect," about the severity of the problem.

Fabinho will certainly be missing for the visit of Brighton. Graham Potter's side aren't the most fearsome of opponents, but if Liverpool can get through it without Fabinho, then one of the hurdles to them retaining their healthy lead in the Premier League will have been negotiated.

What impact will the sacking of Emery have on Arsenal?

It was tough not to feel a little sorry for Unai Emery as he watched his side slump to a 2-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in an emptying stadium on Thursday. He should have been yanked out of there long ago, for everyone's sake, so the news of Emery's sacking on Friday morning was very much a case of better late than never. It's not just that they have gone seven games without a win, their worst run in 27 years, more that everyone could see it coming and it was never going to improve under him.

But will it under Freddie Ljungberg, in place for their trip to Norwich on Sunday? This is still a very decent set of players, particularly going forward, which was why the club's failure to make a change was so frustrating: Emery was making them less than the sum of their parts, and even though Ljungberg will only have a couple of days to prepare them, he should benefit from simply not being the man he's replaced.

How will Chelsea adapt without Abraham?

If Tammy Abraham has to miss Saturday's game against West Ham with the hip knock that forced him out of the Valencia game, it will be interesting to see how Chelsea adapt. The chances are that Olivier Giroud will come in, but he has barely played this season and hasn't scored for Chelsea yet, though he has four in six for France. More to the point, he operates in a different manner from Abraham, which could have a significant impact on the side that Frank Lampard picks.

With someone like Giroud, it's best to pick an attacking line of three behind him to best capitalise on his hold-up skills, which would probably mean Mason Mount and a couple of wingers. But he would then have to drop one of Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante or Jorginho, none of whom deserve to be on the bench on current form. One small change in personnel could lead to plenty of other questions for Lampard.

Man to watch

David Martin

David Martin has enjoyed a pretty decent career. He isn't a household name and would not exactly cause a stir walking through the Westfield Shopping Centre near West Ham's London Stadium, but having started out as a youngster at Wimbledon, he signed for Liverpool (although he never played) and went on to have a perfectly respectable few years at MK Dons and Millwall. He also has a sentimental attachment to West Ham, being the son of club legend Alvin Martin.

When he signed for the club in the summer as their third-string goalkeeper, he probably didn't think he would actually get to play at any stage, but Roberto, the man ahead of him in the pecking order, has been so calamitously bad that Manuel Pellegrini really has no choice but to give Martin a go now. A game against Chelsea would usually be the deepest of deep ends to be thrown into, but Martin surely cannot be any worse than Roberto and the avoidance of humiliation at Stamford Bridge might just save Pellegrini's job. For now.

The game you're not planning to watch but should

Wolves vs. Sheffield United

A game on a sleepy Sunday afternoon when there are a few more high-profile fixtures not only on that day but also at that time: This one will probably be down your list of potential ways to pass the hours. But not so fast. The game holds some interest simply because it is between a couple of teams who have recently both won promotion from the Championship and found a way of more or less immediately succeeding in the top flight.

The sides have enough similarities to be worthy of comparison but enough differences to make it a diverse contest. Plus it's a fixture between sides who, in their own ways, play exciting football. This one could be a case study for aspiring Premier League teams to watch and learn.

Stats of the weekend

Information courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information group.

- Newcastle's Miguel Almiron has had more shots without scoring than any other Premier League player this season (22).

- Man City's Gabriel Jesus has scored seven goals in his past eight Premier League starts.

- Chelsea play their 250th Premier League London derby. The Blues have won more such games (128) than any other side in the competition's history.

- If Liverpool avoid defeat against Brighton, it would see them equal their all-time longest unbeaten run in top-flight history (31).

- Tottenham have won all four of their Premier League home games against Bournemouth by an aggregate score of 13-0.

- Only Norwich (three) and Watford (four) have scored fewer away goals than Arsenal (five).

- Aston Villa's Jack Grealish has carried the ball farther than any other Premier League player this season (3441 metres). He's created 17 chances after carrying the ball (moving the ball five or more metres), more than any other player in the competition.

The team that needs a bit of luck

Everton

It's one step forward, one massive push back about 50 yards for Everton at the moment. A win over Southampton was followed by defeat at home to Norwich, the recriminations long and loud and leaving Marco Silva dancing on a pinhead, trying to keep his job. That's the bad news.

The really bad news is that Everton's next three fixtures are against Leicester, Liverpool and Chelsea, with Manchester United and Arsenal (plus Leicester again, in the Carabao Cup) to come after that.

A team playing as badly as Everton won't survive that sort of run without a little fortune, which they will be praying for when they visit the King Power Stadium on Sunday.

One thing that will definitely happen

Southampton vs. Watford will be unrelentingly grim

The point of football matches is that they're watched. Whether it's in person, on TV or on the internet, the game there to be observed. If there is nobody there to observe, has it actually happened? But the authorities might want to make an exception for this one, a match that promises to be so unrelentingly grim that watching it simply cannot be advised by anyone sensible.

Instead, the whole business should probably take place behind closed doors, with an independent observer present to note down the score and (if there are any) scorers, report the result and update the league table accordingly. That's it. Allowing the public to witness this depressing spectacle is simply not socially responsible.

Predictions

Newcastle United 1-2 Manchester City
Tottenham 2-0 Bournemouth
Liverpool 4-1 Brighton
Chelsea 4-0 West Ham
Burnley 0-1 Crystal Palace
Southampton 0-0 Watford
Wolves 2-2 Sheffield United
Norwich 1-3 Arsenal
Manchester United 2-0 Aston Villa
Leicester 3-0 Everton

Queensland 240 (Heazlett 135, Bird 3-55) and 0 for 18 beat Tasmania 107 (Steketee 5-19) and 150 (Bailey 82, Steketee 4-32) by ten wickets

Mark Steketee made the most of helpful conditions for pacemen at Hobart's Bellerive Oval to complete a first-class career-best match haul of 9 for 51, and Sam Heazlett hit 135 in the first innings to lead Queensland to a ten-wicket win, inside two days, over Tasmania.

Steketee's 5 for 19 in the first innings - also his innings best - had shot Tasmania out for 107 on the first day before Heazlett led the reply, ending the day on 54 as Queensland got to within nine runs of the Tasmania total. On the second day, Heazlett completed his fourth first-class century, and went on to score 135 in just 198 balls, his career-best score studded with 20 fours and a six.

He got decent support on the second day from No. 10 Mitchell Swepson, who hung around for 36 balls, and hit six fours in an innings of 37 before becoming the ninth man out. The total was 9 for 219 then, and Heazlett then stepped up the scoring to add 21 for the final wicket with Billy Stanlake, who faced six balls without scoring a run.

That gave Queensland a 133-run first-innings lead, which Steketee built on with three wickets within the fifth over of Tasmania's second innings. Steketee sent back Jordan Silk first in his second over and then, in his third, accounted for Alex Doolan and Ben McDermott as well. With Cameron Gannon dismissing Beau Webster, Tasmania were 4 for 15 after five overs, looking at going down by an innings.

That it didn't happen was chiefly because of Australia's new selector George Bailey. Coming in at No. 4, Bailey did what he could with the remainder of the batsmen, scoring 82 in 157 balls with 13 fours before becoming the ninth man out. The next highest for Tasmania was Jackson Bird's 22 as Steketee's 4 for 32, Gannon's 2 for 36 and Jack Wildermuth's 2 for 24 shot them out for 150.

The target of 18 runs was knocked off in 5.3 overs by Bryce Street and Matt Renshaw.

Stuart Broad has challenged England's batsmen to bat for 150 overs and "set up the game" over the next couple of days in Hamilton.

Having been frustrated for hundreds of overs by New Zealand's batsmen in the series to date, Broad urged his team-mates to show similar determination if England are to secure a series-equalling victory. And while it wouldn't quite be true to suggest that Broad intimated the bowlers had done their job, now let's see the batsmen do theirs, it wouldn't be entirely untrue, either.

England's bowlers again performed with heart and stamina in restricting New Zealand to 375 on a docile pitch in Hamilton. But England's batsmen were soon struggling in reply and were probably fortunate to reach the close with just two wickets down. Rory Burns was dropped twice.

ALSO READ: Pope keen to prove he's a keeper

That left Broad calling on his batting colleagues to seize the opportunity to record a substantial total over the next day or two. And he called on Burns, in particular, to make a telling contribution.

"We know we've got to go and bat 150 overs here to set up the game on day five," Broad said. "Our opportunity is there. There's not a lot happening in the pitch, there's not a lot of scoreboard pressure. There's a chance for a couple of people to go and get hundreds.

"Someone like Rory Burns is our key batsman because he's a player that has his areas that he scores in. If he can stay in that bubble and not chase balls outside off stump, he's someone who could go and get 200. We need someone to go and get a big hundred for us to win this game and we've got the players to do it. If a batsman really applies himself on these pitches and doesn't play loose shots and wants to just score in their area, they can be a real handful."

While Broad's words were, no doubt, meant as encouragement, he could be forgiven if there was an element of frustration behind them, too. For Broad was one of the bowlers sentenced to 201 overs in the field in New Zealand's only innings in Mount Maunganui after England's batsmen squandered the opportunity to make first use of a benign surface. At one point on day two, with the score 277 for 4, it looked as if England might make a game-defining total, but a first innings of 353 turned out to be deeply inadequate.

Equally his highlighting of Burns' role is intriguing. Burns was originally selected as something of an old-fashioned, solid opening batsman. But in the last hour of play on Saturday, he played a couple of oddly aggressive strokes and was fortunate to survive. Broad, it seems, was gently trying to remind him of his strengths and the team's requirements.

"We had an opportunity at Mount Maunganui on the morning of day two to heap all the pressure on New Zealand for the rest of the game," Broad said. "And we didn't manage to take that. But if we had gone and scored 450-500 then they would have been batting under pressure.

"Equally, when they were 200 for 5 in their first innings, we had another opportunity to take pressure off ourselves and apply it to New Zealand. But Mitchell Santner and BJ Watling batted fantastically well. We gave the pressure back to them and lumped it on ourselves at the end of the fourth day.

"I thought it might change the balance of the trigger movement for the batsman. It caught him by surprise a bit" Stuart Broad on BJ Watling's dismissal

"Here we're not batting with a scoreboard of 500. They made 375. So, I think our pressure is reduced slightly and we just go and play. If you're a batsman, you'd want to bat out there, wouldn't you? If you were good at batting, you'd fancy that.

"For us to win this game, we'll need a batter to get 150-plus and someone else to get a hundred and leave ourselves a day to bowl them out on day five. I think that's how New Zealand won the last Test they played here: they got 700 for six. Arguably, they're probably 300 under par.

"If we bat through the whole of day three and go past New Zealand, we can apply some pressure on them in the second innings. If we don't go and get 400, we can't. The opportunity is there to bat big and bat big once."

While some will look at the scoreboard from these two Tests and suggest the bowlers might do well to worry about their own jobs rather than give advice to the batsmen, Broad has a point. The pitches in both Tests have been painfully slow and, armed with a Kookaburra ball that has offered little after 20 or so overs, England's bowlers have been demonstrated impressive control and discipline. "They make your work hard for the wickets here," Broad said.

Broad finished with 4 for 73 here. While he dismissed Jeet Raval, caught at slip in fairly conventional fashion on day one, and then ended Tom Latham's excellent innings when the batsman left a straight one, he was forced to think outside the box for his other two victims.

Watling, for example, was deceived when Broad deliberately bowled one from at least a foot behind the popping crease in a bid to put the batsman's trigger movements out of sync.

"I tried it once at The Oval, where Steve Smith was causing us a lot of problems," Broad said. "Because he triggered so much, I thought if I bowl it a yard before the line, it might surprise him and catch him off guard. But I hadn't practised it all.

"So leading into tea here, I thought I'd nothing to lose. I thought it might change the balance of the trigger movement for the batsman. It caught him by surprise a bit. I don't know if it did him for lack of pace, but you take anything out here.

"I've tried to vary my pace and I've tried to use the short ball at times. I've got a lot of respect for how Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult have gone about their business over a long period of time. I looked at Tim Southee at Mount Maunganui and he changed his position on the crease a huge amount. Wagner bowls a bit of everything. The mindset is a bit different here. I feel I'm learning a bit as well."

Now it's up to England's batsmen to show they can pick up new tricks, too. If their first innings doesn't extend into day four, it's hard to see how they can claw their way back into this series.