New Zealand 224 for 5 (Watling 45*, de Grandhomme) trail England 353 (Stokes 91, Denly 74, Burns 52, Southee 4-88) by 129 runs

Mount Maunganui's maiden Test continued to move at a sedate pace, as England and New Zealand vied for supremacy on a glorious day at the Bay Oval. Only one wicket fell during the morning session, with BJ Watling shepherding the innings in unobtrusive fashion as he reached the interval five short of a watchful half-century.

Joe Root, England's captain, was the man to make an impact with the ball, after each of his five main bowlers had tried and failed to wring life from a pitch that remained on the stodgy side. His removal of Henry Nicholls for 41 left New Zealand 197 for 5, still more than 150 in arrears, but Watling and Colin de Grandhomme averted further mishap to keep the home side's reply on track.

Having claimed the key wicket of Kane Williamson on the second evening, and seen Nicholls struck on the helmet by Archer in the closing exchanges, England's ambition would have been to chisel out a couple more during the first hour. But Archer was held back at the start, with Root preferring Sam Curran and Stuart Broad to bowl the opening salvos.

Just 11 runs came from the first eight overs, and even Archer's introduction did little to alter the course of proceedings - although England did burn a review seeking an lbw verdict against Nicholls, with replays confirming an inside edge. New Zealand's fifth-wicket pair were happy to accumulate, and it wasn't until Root decided to investigate the possibilities of spin that things livened up.

First Jack Leach won a leg-before decision against Nicholls, only for DRS to show that the impact was fractionally outside the line of off stump. Root then brought himself on from the other end, saw Watling dropped at slip by Ben Stokes from his second ball, and then trapped Nicholls in front with his fourth. This time the decision brooked no argument from the batsman.

Defending champions the Brisbane Heat secured their semi-final spot with a seven-run victory over the Hobart Hurricanes. Grace Harris played the key innings with the bat as her 43 off 27 balls put the Heat's innings back on course after they slipped to 4 for 58 in the 10th over. Amelia Kerr, who contributed an important 21 off 16, then struck vital blows with the ball to halt a promising start to the chase from the Hurricanes who had reached 0 for 52 in the powerplay. Kerr had Erin Fazackerley caught behind, with a juggle, first ball and then added Nicola Carey as Beth Mooney, who had a superb evening with the gloves, pulled off another excellent catch. Chloe Tryon threatened a late heist when she struck three boundaries in the penultimate over but Delissa Kimmince bowled with the third ball of the last as she comfortably defended 16.

Oklahoma State received a notice of allegations from the NCAA on Friday, the school announced.

The allegation includes one Level I violation involving former associate head coach Lamont Evans, who was sentenced in June to three months in prison for accepting bribes to push players to certain agents and financial advisors. Evans was among four assistant coaches arrested in September 2017 following an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting.

Evans "violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly solicited and received benefits for facilitating or arranging a meeting between student-athletes and financial advisors" from April 2016 to September 2017, according to the NCAA.

The NCAA alleges that Evans received $18,150 in the form of bribes from Marty Blazer and Munish Sood to arrange meetings with two players from Oklahoma State and South Carolina, where Evans was previously an assistant coach, and then influenced them to sign with Blazer and Sood's financial advisory firm. Furthermore, the NCAA alleges that Evans provided $300 in cash to a player, considered an impermissible benefit, in August and September 2017.

"We have been open and transparent with our team, our recruits and the NCAA," Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. "We're disappointed this occurred but are pleased that a thorough investigation has determined the most serious violation was reported in the news more than two years ago. We look forward to presenting our case on the level of violation to the NCAA."

Oklahoma State also released an official statement in response to the allegations.

"Following the NCAA's thorough investigation with OSU's full cooperation and participation, the University agrees that Mr. Evans did in fact accept bribes for the purpose of steering players to financial advisors in violation of NCAA bylaws. While OSU is very disappointed that this occurred, we were relieved to learn that there were no recruiting or other major violations on the part of the institution. There are no allegations involving current student-athletes or coaching staff.

"The NCAA enforcement staff is of the opinion that the Committee on Infractions might consider this to be a Level I violation by the institution. The University feels strongly that the bribes were taken for the sole benefit of Mr. Evans who was terminated within days of the announcement of the charges. The University did not benefit in any way and was considered by the Federal government to be the victim of the scheme. As such, we have asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to present our position on the level of violation."

Evans was fired for cause two days after the arrest, while former forward Jeffrey Carroll missed the first three games of the 2017-18 season due to a review of the men's basketball program.

Expulsion could be considered following recent charges brought by the Athletics Integrity Unit

The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) reinstatement process has been suspended, pending the resolution of recent charges brought by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), World Athletics (IAAF) has announced.

On Thursday, the AIU charged RusAF with obstructing an investigation and provisionally suspended several senior federation officials for tampering and complicity.

The Russian athletics federation has been suspended as an IAAF member since November 2015 and expulsion could be considered following the latest charges.

The World Athletics Council approved a number of recommendations made by the taskforce on Friday, including that the Council immediately suspends the RusAF reinstatement process, pending resolution of the AIU’s charges.

Taskforce also recommended that Council mandates the members of the taskforce and the Doping Review Board to review the ‘Authorised Neutral Athlete’ (ANA) mechanism that Council put in place in June 2016.

“Council mandates the taskforce to make recommendations to Council as to the sanctions that Council should impose on RusAF if it is determined that RusAF has breached its obligations under the anti-doping rules, and whether Congress should be asked to consider the expulsion of RusAF from membership of World Athletics,” the World Athletics statement added in part.

“There is an ongoing process and we have to respect that process,” said Rune Andersen, the taskforce’s independent chair. “There are charges laid by the AIU which we need to respect, and the AIU needs to receive feedback from RusAF by 12 December. When we have the answers from the AIU on what has been going on and what the process will be, then we will convene and look at the whole structure and we will come up with recommendations to the council.”

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe (pictured above) added: “This is a process that has served us well. It is neither symbolic nor have we done it to benchmark ourselves against anything else other than we felt was absolutely the right decision for our sport.

“It may not make us universally popular, but it is really important that we continue with the process we began in November 2015. The recommendation that was given to us today (Nov 22), and unanimously accepted by the council, was in the spirit of that process. We will take this through to wherever we need to take it to protect the athletes and the sport.”

Also during the 220th World Athletics Council Meeting press conference it was confirmed that Belgrade in Serbia will host the 2022 World Indoor Championships, while the Chinese city of Yangzhou will stage the 2022 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships.

Saracens' England hooker Jamie George says neither he nor his team-mates plan to skip the Six Nations in order to help the club fight relegation.

It follows comments made by England boss Eddie Jones about the possibility.

Saracens' England contingent returned from the World Cup to find the club with a 35-point deduction and £5.36m fine for salary cap breaches.

"Any opportunity to play for England, we are going to be right on it," George told BBC Sport.

"The highest privilege is to play for your country and there's certainly not going to be any doubts about our frame of mind given the opportunity to do it," added George, who said neither he nor his fellow England players from the club had spoken to Jones about the situation.

They arrived back at Saracens earlier this week for the first time since the World Cup final defeat by South Africa, after being given time off by head coach Mark McCall.

George added: "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. We were all hurting from the World Cup and to land back to the news has been really tough.

"I genuinely care about everyone in this organisation and I've been worried about them, but they tell me not to worry.

"Mark phoned me and explained the situation, but we don't want to be involved in the politics."

George is confident the club have been transparent with salary cap regulations and that nothing else will emerge to damage the club, having spoken to Saracens owner Nigel Wray.

"I'm very confident," said George. "I've known Nigel Wray for a long time. He's an incredible man - you don't find many like that.

"We've always got pressures on us, but it's a different pressure to avoid relegation. We've spoken about not focusing on the media pressure, the texts from mates, the pressure of the league table.

"We don't want to be desperate, or a team that looks desperate, we are best when we are playing with freedom."

'I genuinely want our players to play for England'

On Monday, England head coach Jones said Saracens' punishment could have a "significant impact" on the national side.

However, Saracens director of rugby McCall said he would not prevent any of his England stars from playing for their national team.

"I genuinely want our players to play for England," said McCall. "Of course I do, it's the absolute pinnacle of the game.

"Wanting to play in the Six Nations doesn't mean you're not committed to the club.

"All of these guys are 100% committed to Saracens, but playing for your country is playing for your country and I would support that every time."

UNION, Ky. – After years of building his own Club 29 Race Cars, as well as customer cars, Darrell Lanigan will embark on a new and different opportunity in 2020.

Lanigan, a three-time World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion, will move from his No. 29 dirt late model to be the driver of the Viper Motorsports-backed Barry Wright house car next season.

The news was broken by DirtOnDirt.com.

After finishing fifth in World of Outlaws standings this season, Lanigan began exploring his options for 2020 and found a new home with Wright’s team, based in Cowpens, S.C.

Wright’s house car competed on a regional basis this season with Ross Bailes, but will step back up to the national stage with Lanigan next year to contend for a championship.

“I’ve always been friends with Barry, and I know they’ve got a good enough piece to win a championship with,” Lanigan told Dirt on Dirt. “They’ve also got more (crew) manpower and he’s got more customers than we can get feedback off of. I’ve sat down the last couple weeks and really thought about it, and the more and more I look at it, the better it looks to me.”

Lanigan will cease building his Club 29 Race Cars, but will continue to provide current Club 29 customers with parts, repairs and technical assistance.

Viper Motorsports’ Shawn and Lisa Martin are stepping up their support of the Barry Wright house car for 2020 and the Martins are looking forward to having Lanigan as part of the BWRC house car program next season.

“It’s going to be a real honor to have an opportunity to do this on a national level with three Hall of Famers,” Shawn Martin told Dirt On Dirt. “There’s been a lot of backing and support that’s come in to allow this to happen, and I really think that Darrell Lanigan will have the opportunity to show the rest of the country that he still has the ‘it factor’ when he can focus on racing with a really good supporting cast around him.”

Martin confirmed to Dirt on Dirt that BWRC will continue to offer support to Bailes for Bailes’ regional racing program next season, in addition to Lanigan’s national effort.

Midway through the LPGA’s lucrative CME Group Tour Championship, South Korea’s Sei Young Kim leads the way at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Here’s where things stand entering the weekend:

Leaderboard: Sei Young Kim (-12), Caroline Masson (-10), Brooke Henderson (-9), Nelly Korda (-9), Su Oh (-8)

What it means: Kim maintained her lead Friday to move closer toward the $1.5 million winner’s check, the largest in women's professional golf history. She shot 5-under 67, capped by a birdie at the last, to enter Saturday leading by two shots over Masson. Henderson and Korda shot 67 and 68, respectively, to keep pace and their hopes to cash in big Sunday very much alive along with the likes of Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda and Georgia Hall, all of whom are in the top 10.

Round of the day: Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Jing Yan each eagled the par-5 17^th to complete six-birdie days and shoot 7-under 65.

Best of the rest: Masson birdied three of her final five holes to cap a bogey-free 66 and move into solo second. Ariya Jutanugarn responded to an opening 76 by firing 66, though at 2 under overall, the former CME champ has some work to do over the weekend. Ally McDonald, who carded eight birdies, also shot 66, as did Yu Liu, who netted seven birdies in her first 14 holes and climbed to 7 under overall.

Biggest disappointment: Ashleigh Buhai’s 7-over 79 was by far the worst score of the day, but Buhai was already six back entering the second round. Instead, most disappointing was So Yeon Ryu, who played in the final threesome Friday before falling seven shots back with an even-par 72.

Biggest storyline entering Saturday: Much was discussed of the new winner-take-all format, but so far it's working as an exciting weekend awaits. Through 36 holes, many of this season's standout players are in the mix, including Kim, who ranked seventh in the Race to the CME Globe before the week. In all, six of the top 10 in the CME Globe race are currently in the top 20 on the leaderboard. World No. 1 and CME No. 1 Jin Young Ko is just outside that group at 4 under, eight shots back.

Shot of the day: It wasn't the best of rounds for Mi Hyang Lee, who shot 72, but this bunker holeout at No. 17 was pretty sweet.