Tshwane Spartans 155 for 6 (de Villiers 53, van Biljon 45, Christian 2-30) beat Jozi Stars 135 (Gayle 54, Morkel 3-21, Curran 3-30) by 20 runs

A Chris Gayle fifty. An AB de Villiers fifty. Thirty-five boundaries in total. But none during the last five overs of a simple enough chase.

Rarely is a low-scoring T20 packed so full of batting highlights - and lowlights - but that's how Jozi Stars and Tshwane Spartans rolled at the Bull Ring with the hosts falling utterly and inexplicably short. The defending champions are still winless after six games this season.

A(B) throwback

The Spartans finished the powerplay at 30 for 2 but somehow it didn't seem to affect de Villiers. Though it is now over a year since he retired from international cricket, his instincts are as sharp as ever. They told him that his team's best chance of winning was if he lasted the full 20 overs. So after starting his innings with a ridiculously cool cut for four, he throttled down, content to enter the 17th over with a score of 24 and a strike rate of 114.

Then came a slower ball. The Stars indulged in a lot of them as the innings wore on, hitting the deck to make them hold up on the batsman. No doubt that was Duanne Olivier's intention here as well but de Villiers held his shape that extra second longer and nearly took out the umpire with a pull shot straight down the ground. He reached his fifty with a strike-rate of 166.

Throwback Part II

Gayle was still on 10 when he had already survived two run-out chances and a caught-and-bowled attempt. Now you know it's your day if Morne Morkel's hands aren't long enough to reach the ball and it proved to be just so.

The Spartans tried their best to limit the damage, bowling at the left-hander's body and trying to beat him for pace. But the same reason that plan works - Gayle is 40 and his reflexes aren't what they used to be - contributed to its downfall as well. Gayle knew what was coming - you learn these kinds of things playing 400 T20 games - and soon set up expecting the bouncer. Lungi Ngidi was pulled to the boundary twice in the same over. He was also clattered for six down the ground when he tried to hit a fuller length. Gayle had found his rhythm; no other batsman goes from 11 off 13 to 50 off 25 quite like him.

Stars ended their Powerplay 65 for 2 and should have cruised the rest of the way to victory.

The spanner in the works

Tom Curran is a bank in T20s and he didn't take too long to show it. Opening the bowling for the Spartans, he produced a back of the hand slower ball that was just unreal. It deceived opener Reeza Hendricks, slipping through the gap between his bat and pad, and for a tiny moment seemed to have bounced over the stumps. Curran certainly thought so, his hands going up to his head, but a split second later they unfurled in triumph. The bail over the off stump was on the ground. It didn't seem like the ball made any contact with it, but it had been disturbed. Perhaps mere proximity was enough like how a rowdy classroom goes quiet seeing the teacher coming closer.

The England allrounder took 3 for 30 and his success inspired the rest of his team to trust in taking pace off the ball. Heinrich Klaasen, the Spartans captain, actually turned to a left-arm spinner in the final five overs and it paid off as Roelof van der Merwe helped create three wickets.

The Stars needed 33 runs from 36 balls with six wickets in hand to win this game. That they didn't is unbelievable. That they were bowled out is bonkers.

The possibility of a day-night Test between Australia and India next year seems to be drawing closer as Virat Kohli said for the second time in four days that his team is "open to doing anything" to move Test cricket ahead, provided they were given enough time to prepare for the challenge.

On Thursday, Kohli had suggested that India's refusal to play the Adelaide Test under lights on last year's tour was down to it being "more of a spontaneous plan" and not something that India could have prepared for. The BCCI had turned down Cricket Australia's offer to play a pink-ball Test in Adelaide just shy of seven months before the game was due to begin on December 6.

After the end of the Kolkata Test, India's first day-night long-format fixture, Kohli reiterated his point about preparation. He also said India were wary of the fact that they might not have learnt everything there is about this novelty, which would only strengthen the case for playing more of it.

"There has to be planning for a pink-ball game," Kohli said. "We're playing in home conditions, but if you ask the Bangladesh team, they'd have also liked a practice game. Because we know our conditions and the bowlers are really bowling well, so we don't really feel the challenge or the things that are different about pink-ball cricket. Maybe when we play away from home we will figure out what could be even more difficult while playing with the pink ball. I think with a good practice game before that and enough time to prepare, we're open to doing anything. You can't just play it on short notice, like I mentioned last time."

Kohli was responding to a direct question regarding Tim Paine's tongue-in-cheek comment earlier in the day when Australia's captain expressed interest in playing a pink-ball Test against India. Paine, who was in a witty mood during the press conference after his side beat Pakistan, had also quipped about seeking Kohli's permission to begin their home summer at Gabba.

"We'll certainly try [to start at the Gabba] but we'll have to run that by Virat," Paine said. "I am sure we'll get an answer from him at some stage. That's where we like to start our summer and has been for a long, long time except for last summer. As I said we'll ask Virat, see if we can get his permission to play here. Maybe even get a pink-ball Test, if he's in a good mood."

On Thursday, Kohli had also outlined the kind of preparation India would like on overseas tours if they were to play pink-ball Test, mostly centred around timing a practice match as close to the actual game as possible.

"I think it depends when the Test happens," Kohli had said. "If it's the first Test, then obviously before the first game you play [a practice match]. One of them can be a normal red-ball practice game, and one before the Test could be a pink-ball practice game. But if it's the second or third Test, I would ideally like more break between the two Tests. And have a practice game before the pink-ball Test, obviously under lights. So it can't be that before the tour you play a pink-ball practice game and then the [pink-ball] Test is actually the third."

On Saturday, his team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara said he was apprehensive about such an arrangement because of the logistical issues in fitting a practice match midway through a series.

"When we are playing away from home, we normally would play just one Test with the pink ball and the other three with the red one," Pujara said. "So I would rather have a practice game with the red ball rather than pink, and in any case we don't play practice games in between Test matches. I don't think it's practical to play a pink-ball practice game."

One way or another, it is looking likely that a day-night fixture will be in the schedule when India and Australia meet about a year from now. Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts recently shared his optimism on the same, praising the BCCI's new president Sourav Ganguly for taking a step towards embracing pink-ball cricket. Roberts said the discussions so far had been encouraging.

"It's fantastic to see Sourav Ganguly leading the charge as the new president of the BCCI on that," Roberts told SEN Radio. "We're having productive discussions with India about the prospect of us playing day-night Tests in the future. Let's hope this week's experience in Kolkata is a really powerful one for them and a good experience that gives them more confidence about playing more day-night Test cricket going forward."

Sunday's contest against the Miami Dolphins will be the first game that Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett will miss under the terms of his indefinite suspension.

Although Garrett lost his appeal of the suspension and will miss the rest of this season, the NFL is hopeful and optimistic that the Pro Bowl pass-rusher will not miss any games next season, league sources told ESPN.

The NFL has mandated that Garrett must meet with the commissioner's office during the offseason, and the NFL is doing that because it wants to see how he reacts to the lengthy suspension after the brawl that he was a part of earlier this month against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The NFL will be open-minded and listen to Garrett during the offseason meeting, and if his behavior is what the league hopes it will be and his answers are accurate, there's a strong chance he will not miss any playing time in 2020, according to sources.

Garrett was suspended indefinitely and fined $45,623 for ripping the helmet off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and striking him in the head with it late in the fourth quarter of Cleveland's 21-7 victory on Nov. 14.

Garrett lost his appeal and stands to lose about $1.2 million in salary for missing the six remaining games this season.

The Boston Celtics announced Sunday morning that Kemba Walker is doubtful for Monday night's home game against the Sacramento Kings with a neck sprain after his collision with teammate Semi Ojeleye during Friday night's loss in Denver.

Walker fell to the ground and hardly moved after running headfirst into Ojeleye's midsection in the second quarter against the Nuggets; he was eventually immobilized and stretchered off the court and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Before the game had ended, the Celtics announced Walker had been diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms, and later in the evening the team said he had been released from the hospital and allowed to rejoin the team to travel back home following the conclusion of its five-game West Coast swing.

The Celtics are scheduled to practice Sunday afternoon ahead of Monday's game at TD Garden against the Kings.

Walker is averaging 21.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists in his first season with the Celtics after spending the first eight years of his career with the Charlotte Hornets. The man Walker replaced at point guard for the Celtics, Kyrie Irving, has already been ruled out for the Brooklyn Nets for Wednesday's game between the two teams in Boston, which was supposed to be Irving's first game at TD Garden since joining the Nets as a free agent this summer.

After hosting Sacramento and Brooklyn this week, the Celtics play in Brooklyn on Friday and at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks on Sunday.

Boston is already without forward Gordon Hayward for the next few weeks after he underwent surgery last week to repair a broken bone in his non-shooting (left) hand. After going 2-3 on their West Coast swing, the Celtics are 12-4 and tied for second in the Eastern Conference.

With the Utah Jazz bringing back their more-beloved-over-time "purple mountain" uniforms from the 1990s, second-year power forward Royce O'Neale knew right away he wanted to create a special pair of shoes for the occasion.

As custom shoes have continued to be spotted more and more frequently in recent seasons, Las Vegas-based artist Andrew Lewis has become a go-to resource for nearly 30 players, penning precise portraits and clean, hand-painted artwork atop kicks around the league. He counts another 40 retired players as clients as well.

"This pair was made shortly after the Jazz revealed their Hardwood Classics uniforms to the team," Lewis said. "Royce hit me up and wanted to have something to match the jerseys."

Initially, the two had planned to execute the snow-capped mountain graphics and purple colorway on the Kyrie 2 Low model before Lewis opted for the more open canvas upper of Giannis Antetokounmpo's debut Freak 1 signature model instead.

"The silhouette and lines of the shoe seemed to flow perfectly with the mountains on the front of the jerseys, so that's how adding the mountains to the lateral side came about," he said. "The snowflakes on the tongue were one of the first details I noticed on the HWC uniforms."

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My guy @rolls_royce00 pulled out the custom "Jazz" Zoom Freaks I created tonight. Design is based off of the old 90s Jazz jerseys.

A post shared by Andrew Lewis (@andr3wtl) on Nov 22, 2019 at 6:18pm PST

Additional subtle details like the green and brown accents along the eyelets tied back to the armhole piping colors of the jersey, while the midsole fades right into the mountain graphics. Almost instantly, O'Neale's sneakers were the most well received customs worn this season.

"I knew it was going to turn a few heads, just because it's the Freak 1 and there's not really many artists working with it yet, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be all over every sneaker blog page out there," Lewis said with a laugh. "It was a nice surprise to see how well this pair was received by everyone."

Earlier in the week, Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic also caught people by surprise, as the sneaker free agent wore a non-Nike shoe for the first time this season. Breaking out an unmistakable neon-lime pair of the Under Armour Curry 7s caused a real-time stir, and caught the attention of Stephen Curry himself.

"I like his taste!" Curry tweeted.

On the same day Under Armour officially unveiled the shoes, Doncic teamed up on the "Sour Patch Kids" collaboration design with teammate Seth Curry, who was wearing the peach-inspired pair.

Doncic went on to have a career-high 42 points, along with a triple-double effort, in a home win against the San Antonio Spurs. The only other 20-year-old to tally a 40-point triple double is LeBron James.

I like his taste! #curry7 https://t.co/xYnPaTtlek

— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) November 19, 2019

As for a shoe deal, Doncic's representatives are in discussions with multiple brands. No deal appears imminent, according to industry sources.

"For me, it's so important because, as you know, I love shoes," Doncic told The Dallas Morning News at Mavs media day. "I have so many shoes. It's very important, this deal."

Doncic has primarily worn the Nike Kobe 4 Protro and Kyrie Irving's signature models throughout the season, even though his prior Nike endorsement deal expired Oct. 1. Doncic had originally signed a two-year deal with Nike before playing his final season with Real Madrid, which carried into his Rookie of the Year debut season in the NBA.

Doncic was spotted in the Air Jordan 34 for a pregame warm-up earlier in the week, before switching back to the Kobe 4 just before tipoff. Doncic also recently practiced in the Puma Clyde Hardwood model, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

As the potential MVP candidate continues to weigh his brand offers, he's already outlined a few key factors. "First of all, if the shoe is good for my feet, to have a long career," Doncic said. "But, yeah, the look, too."

Although Doncic's prior Nike deal technically expired Oct. 1, Nike retains its "match clause rights" on all potential competing offer sheets for the next 180 days, according to industry sources. Doncic would in essence have to play out the remainder of the regular season without a shoe deal in order to sign outright with a new brand partner after April.

A future Hall of Famer who is no stranger to landmark shoe deals, Portland Trail Blazers power forward Carmelo Anthony made his much-awaited return to the NBA floor last week and laced up a simple black and white colorway of the Air Jordan 34.

One of only a handful of players in league history to have a signature series reach a 13th model during his active career, Anthony is expected to be spotted in revamped retro editions of the earliest models from his "Melo" signature series, along with the brand's current statement game shoe.

Last but not least, Houston Rockets power forward PJ Tucker continued his onslaught of rare and limited-edition sneakers, breaking out a decade-old exclusive Zoom Kobe III originally made only for the basketball team at New York's since-closed Rice High School. The green and yellow Kobes were last seen in 2008 on the feet of the Raiders' star point guard, future NBA All-Star Kemba Walker.

Taking a page from Rockets teammate Thabo Sefolosha's love for the Nike Air Max 90, Tucker also rocked the retro runner on court. Of course, it had to be one of the most coveted colorways of the model, a Virgil Abloh-designed Off-White edition in black and white.

"He loved it!" Tucker said of Sefolosha's approval.

Check out all of the best sneakers from around the league this week, and be sure to vote on your favorite pair in our poll below. For real-time updates on sneaker culture and NBA kicks, follow @SneakerCenter on Instagram.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Southeast Conference SCCA U.S. Majors Tour competition calendar has been released.

Six weekends, 12 races in all, make up the schedule that runs from January to early June.

All but two race weekends on the Southeast Conference schedule are again three-day events. Two-day events are slated for June at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Roebling Road.

Three events on the Southeast Conference schedule will also again be Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour dates that offer a heightened experience for both competitors and race fans.

2020 Southeast Conference SCCA U.S. Majors Tour Schedule

Jan. 3-5 – Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.

Jan. 10-12 – Sebring Int’l Raceway – Sebring, Fla.

March 20-22 – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – Braselton, Ga.

April 10-12 – Virginia Int’l Raceway – Alton, Va. (Southeast/Northeast Dual Event)

June 6-7 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, N.C.

June 27-28 – Roebling Road – Bloomingdale, Ga.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said Daniel James is the "best defensive winger" in world football.

James, 22, has impressed in his debut campaign at Old Trafford since his £15 million move from Championship side Swansea City in the summer.

The Wales international has scored three goals and made three assists in 16 games this season and Solskjaer was full of praise for the youngster's defensive qualities.

"He is very analytical and is critical of himself, so he is the right type," he said. "The attributes are what you see first. His speed, his one-against-one skills.

"He is probably the best defensive winger in the world with his honesty, commitment and the way he does his recovery runs and doing his back tackles.

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"It is unbelievable, but that is also base for his attacking football because it gives him the space to run into, so I am not that surprised, though very pleased, of course."

James played a crucial role in helping Wales qualify for Euro 2020 and Solskjaer said the winger can become even better in the future.

"He is only going to improve by the coaching and the exposure he gets at Old Trafford because when you are not fazed by [being] a Manchester United player then the limit must be sky-high," he added.

After a tough start to the campaign, United have won five of their last six games in all competitions, including an impressive 3-1 win over Brighton at Old Trafford before the international break.

Solskjaer's side face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Sunday and a victory would move United into fifth position.