USA Cricket board chairman Paraag Marathe and chief executive Iain Higgins declared their goal to host at least one major ICC global event in the next eight-year TV rights cycle, as well as a long-term objective to attain Full Member status. Both goals are part of a series of ambitious targets laid out in the inaugural USA Cricket annual general meeting on Friday night in New York.

The pair also reinforced their commitment to launch a 22-team city-based "Minor League" T20 franchise tournament this summer to lay the foundation for a "Major League Cricket" T20 franchise event launch in 2021. However, USA Cricket did not disclose any specifics about city locations or the scale of the tournaments, nor did they disclose any documents communicating the board's financial standing at the end of 2019 as part of an annual report published on the same day of the AGM.

"To truly make cricket a mainstream sport in the US, we need to work together to tackle five things: to grow engagement, to increase participation, to improve the performance of national teams, to deliver financial stability, and to build trust within the entire community," Higgins said during the AGM, which was conducted as a listen-only conference call for members.

"If we are able to grow the sport as we anticipate, if we are able to deliver on all of our strategic objectives in partnership with all of you, we all at USA Cricket - and I can also speak on behalf of the ICC and the international cricket community - we believe the future of cricket in the USA is extremely bright."

ICC officials have previously pinned major plans on expanding USA's role in the global market and Higgins, the former chief operating officer of the ICC, backed that up on Friday night with the pursuit of hosting an ICC tournament. He also reaffirmed that USA Cricket will support the inclusion of cricket for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which he believes would contribute towards a major transformation for the awareness and engagement of the sport in the USA.

"At one end of the spectrum, we ultimately hope of course that USA Cricket, both men and women, can achieve Full Member status and can have regular cricket against Full Members, regular participation in ICC global events," Higgins said. "At the other end of the spectrum, we're hoping to see huge growth and rapid growth in the levels of engagement with cricket in schools and in community programs up and down the country.

"Along the way we are also pursuing the exciting prospect of staging an ICC global event, if not more than one global event in the next eight-year ICC commercial rights cycle. We're working with our friends in the international cricketing community now about how we best position ourselves to hopefully stage ICC global events in the future. Of course, we are hoping to seek the inclusion of cricket in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 which we think will have an incredibly catalytic effect on the growth of cricket in this country."

In the last 20 years there have been multiple aborted efforts to launch a franchise T20 competition in the USA, beginning with ProCricket's lone season in 2004 and followed by a failed partnership between New Zealand Cricket and USA Cricket Association in 2010. But Marathe, who doubles as executive vice president for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, said he believed the launch of USA's own franchise T20 cricket tournament - starting with the Minor League T20 later this summer - will be a turning point in American cricket history.

"The reason why we're excited about this is because we really have an opportunity to make history together, both with Major League Cricket and ACE, and within USA Cricket and all of you guys with our USA Cricket membership," Marathe said. "We always knew there is a latent fanbase within the US for cricket. You can see by virtue of the appetite for global cricket there already is here. Here we are the largest media market in the world without a league of our own.

"So this is really neat for us to be able to do this partnership, to build this league and really build something that outlasts any of our lifetimes. Something that we look back on this 50 years from now or 100 years from now and people think about, 'How did the USA become such a dominant global force in cricket?'"

The pair were the only two to speak during the AGM. Aside from a passing mention in the annual report about a "dropoff in membership numbers," there was no discussion for how USA Cricket plans to arrest the major decline in members from 2018 to 2019. After having approximately 5500 members registered and eligible to vote in 2018, just 725 renewed for this past year, an 87% decline. There was also no financial disclosure made during the meeting, other than to confirm that USA Cricket had spent money in the summer of 2019 to professionally contract numerous players as well as hire more technical support staff with funding provided through their commercial partnership with ACE.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo equalled a Serie A record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches against SPAL -- a game which is being recognised as his 1,000th career appearance.

Ronaldo put Juve 1-0 ahead against SPAL as he equalled the record set by Gabriel Batistuta with Fiorentina in the 1994-95 season and matched by Fabio Quagliarella with Sampdoria in the last campaign.

- Watch live Serie A football on ESPN+

However, it is worth noting that only Batistuta played and scored in 11 consecutive matches, with Ronaldo having missed the 2-0 victory over Brescia last weekend. His last league match without a goal was the 1-0 victory over AC Milan on Nov. 10.

Only one other active player -- Juventus teammate Gianluigi Buffon, with 1,088 matches -- has notched 1,000 career appearances. Ronaldo's total, however, includes two games with Sporting CP's B team in 2002 and 2003, leading to a dispute about their inclusion.

Ronaldo, 35, started his career at Sporting CP, who he appeared for 31 times for the first team, with his debut having come before the first of those two B-team games.

He joined Manchester United in 2003 and made 292 appearances before moving to Real Madrid in 2009, for whom he turned out for 438 times.

The five-time Ballon d'Or-winner has been at Juventus since 2018 and this is his 73rd match. He has 164 caps for Portugal.

Ronaldo has won the Champions League on five occasions -- once with United and four times with Madrid. At international level, he captained Portugal to success at Euro 2016.

WACO, Texas -- Udoka Azubuike had 23 points and a career-high 19 rebounds and No. 3 Kansas held on to beat No. 1 Baylor 64-61 on Saturday, snapping the Bears' Big 12-record 23-game winning streak and likely ending their five-week hold on the No. 1 spot in the AP poll.

The Bears are the sixth No. 1 team to lose this season. Their streak ends with one more win than Kansas -- which won 22 straight in 1996-97, the Big 12's inaugural season.

The Jayhawks (24-3, 13-1 Big 12) have won 12 in a row since their first-ever home loss to Baylor on Jan. 11. Saturday, they had a 10-point lead with 6 ½ minutes left but had to hold off Baylor's late charge.

Isaiah Moss, who had 11 points, made two free throws for Kansas with 7.9 seconds left before a timeout. The Bears (24-2, 13-1) had one more shot, but guard Jared Butler's 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key ricocheted off the front of the iron as time expired.

If both teams finish 17-1 in the conference, a random draw will determine who the No. 1 seed is in the Big 12 tournament.

Butler and MaCio Teague had hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final half-minute to get Baylor within 62-61.

Devon Dotson added 13 points for the Jayhawks, who shot 51% (27 of 53) against a tenacious Baylor defense that held them to 55 points in a 12-point loss last month.

Butler had 19 points to lead the Bears, while Freddie Gillespie and Matthew Mayer each had 10.

The sellout crowd of 10,627 at the Ferrell Center, already in a frenzy after ESPN's College GameDay broadcast on the court leading up to the late-morning tip, was roaring after Teague returned to the lineup by swishing a 3-pointer on the game's first shot and Gillespie made it 5-0.

Marcus Garrett then had seven points in a 14-2 spurt for Kansas, which never trailed again. Baylor hadn't been behind by more than two points in any of its previous 12 home games. The Bears trailed 14-7 before Butler hit a 3-pointer and then made a long pass ahead to Mayer, the lanky, high-energy sophomore, for a layup.

Mayer then had a three-point play after going inside and drawing a goaltending call from Azubuike while being fouled, and Mayer's 3-pointer with 9:21 left tied the game at 18. Kansas regained the lead with six points in a row, including a layup and another putback by Azubuike, who later in the half had back-to-back impressive dunks for nine-point leads.

Azubuike bowed back his shoulders and let out a shout after his powerful slam over the 6-foot-9 Gillespie. The Jayhawks' next basket was also a powerful dunk by Azubuike that made it 32-23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LAS VEGAS -- A paramedic was treating Ryan Newman inside his car 35 seconds after the ruined and flaming vehicle came to rest after a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

NASCAR gave a brief timeline Saturday of the response to Monday night's airborne accident that was so startling many drivers feared him dead. Newman hit the wall and his car went airborne, was hit by another car to send it airborne a second time, rolled upside down and landed on its roof in flames.

"You've heard us say this many times, that safety is our primary responsibility," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's executive vice president and chief racing development officer.

"Everything that goes on at the R&D Center on a daily basis is put in place for a reason. This is our job. This is what we do, and you've got the 40 drivers in the garage area who expect us to do this every day."

NASCAR said the first fire responder arrived 19 seconds after Newman's car stopped. A trauma doctor was at the car 33 seconds later and a paramedic entered 2 seconds after that.

Newman was then treated for more than three minutes, NASCAR said. It took roughly two minutes to overturn the car, during which time Newman was still being assisted and the treatment continued as the roof was cut away. The 42-year-old driver was removed from the car 15 minutes, 40 seconds after it halted.

NASCAR revealed its findings from a review that began Tuesday when the cars of Newman and Corey LaJoie, the driver who hit Newman's car on the driver's side, arrived at the North Carolina Research and Development Center.

NASCAR said it could not discuss Newman's health, citing federal privacy laws.

Despite the violence of the crash, the Indiana native nicknamed "Rocketman" walked out of a Florida hospital holding the hands of his two young daughters some 42 hours later.

"During this entire time, doctors and paramedics were attending to Ryan, except for during the car rollover," O'Donnell said. "The first responders performed their jobs as they were trained. The training systems all worked as were designed.

"We are never satisfied with what took place and we will learn as much as possible and implement those changes, if there are any, as soon as possible."

Ross Chastain is scheduled to drive Newman's No. 6 Ford on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Newman's 649-consecutive races streak dating to the 2002 Daytona 500 will end.

Newman has yet to speak publicly and his team has said nothing about his injuries or his status. Roush said he was in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries late Monday night, but Newman progressed so quickly he left the hospital faster than the team could post updates.

NASCAR said the sanctioning body and Newman's medical team will have to clear him before he can return to race, but good friend Martin Truex Jr. said Saturday to expect Newman back in his race car soon.

"I feel like he'll be back before anyone thinks he could. He's a tough son of a gun," Truex said. "It was good to see how good a shape he was in, and it was a little surprising as well. He's got no neck and a big hard head, so that helped for sure."

Several competitors have talked or texted with Newman and said his wit remained intact, with many making lighthearted jokes at his expense. Many marveled how one of the toughest guys in the garage seemingly walked away unscathed, needing nothing more than his daily fix of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to get out of the hospital.

NASCAR also wants to speak to Newman. Its crash report was limited because it wants feedback from the driver, an engineering graduate from Purdue University.

Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner, has has been involved in several rolls at superspeedways. He has been outspoken about safety and has been fined by NASCAR for criticism it deemed excessive.

Newman also advocated for more support in the cockpit for protection during rollovers. A device now referred to as the "Newman bar" is standard.

"Ryan's feedback in this will be key," O'Donnell said. "I think that'll be a key component as it's always been throughout the process when he's been racing."

O'Donnell also said changes won't be made to overtime rules as a result of the accident, but work continues dissecting Newman's crash and ongoing safety efforts.

"Our job now is to have continued dialogue with the drivers, see what happens in terms of this race package," O'Donnell said. "Were there any changes from Talladega to Daytona in terms of how they raced? How that may have contributed or not to this incident and if we can make some changes we will."

NASCAR also must balance the fan appreciation of the dangers of Daytona and Talladega with the safety of the show.

"Our job is to get the races in, make them exciting for the fans and not have those kinds of incidents," O'Donnell said. "So, if we can improve on that, we'll do that."

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin became the eighth player in NHL history to reach 700 goals, scoring a third-period goal on Saturday vs. the New Jersey Devils.

The Russian winger now takes up residence in one of the most exclusive clubs in NHL history, joining Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Brett Hull, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito and Mike Gartner.

On his way to 700, Ovechkin, 34, orchestrated a run that is lofty even for his standards, scoring 16 goals in a 10-game run, stretching from Jan. 7-Feb. 4, that landed him on 698. Included in that stretch was three hat tricks.

It took six more games to get to 699, which came Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. No. 700 was only one game and two days after that.

Everyone is getting into the celebration! #700VI pic.twitter.com/VckaBRhz87

— NHL (@NHL) February 22, 2020

The Gr8est Goal Scorer of All Time. #700vi #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/JZSjEITYlo

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 22, 2020

As buzz began to build for the milestone since the turn of the calendar year, Ovechkin was asked time and again about what it means to him. Typically mild-mannered in front of the microphone, Ovechkin often responded generically. Though he's clearly honored to be with that group, he didn't want to spend too much time reveling in it. Not with Washington trying to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason, and its second Stanley Cup championship in three years.

"I'm still playing," Ovechkin said earlier this month. "But after the year, yeah, I'm pretty sure me and my family and my friends are going to talk about it."

Even beyond 700, Ovechkin's numbers continue to be headline-grabbing. Due in part to that 10-game stretch, he now has 27 career hat tricks and 11 40-goal seasons.

"If you're going to think about it too much, you're never going to get it," Ovechkin said earlier this month. "So I have to go out there and play."

Ovechkin remains No. 8 on the all-time goals list, but is closing in on Gartner (708), the former Capitals forward, at No. 7. Ovechkin passed Hall of Fame center Mark Messier for eighth place earlier this season.

Ovechkin is the first Russian player to reach 700, and the third Capital to make the list, joining Gartner and Jagr, though neither recorded that milestone tally in a Washington uniform.

The last player to reach that mark overall, in fact, was Jagr, who scored for the Devils on March 1, 2014 against the Islanders.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Chicago White Sox agreed Saturday to a $16 million, five-year contract with reliever Aaron Bummer that includes two club options, and a $3.5 million, one-year deal with infielder Leury Garcia.

Bummer is due $1 million in 2020, $2 million in 2021, $2.5 million in 2022, $3.75 million in 2023 and $5.5 million in 2024. The White Sox hold options for $7.25 million in 2025 and $7.5 million in 2026, with $1.25 million buyouts for either season.

Garcia gets $3.25 million in 2020, with the White Sox holding a $3.5 million option for 2021 with a $250,000 buyout. He avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $3.25-million contract in January.

The 26-year-old Bummer had a 2.13 ERA and 27 holds in 58 appearances with the White Sox last season.

Garcia, 29, hit .279 with eight home runs, 40 RBIs and a team-leading 93 runs for Chicago last year.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The 2017 Houston Astros were cheaters. They were selfish, unfair, wrong. Their actions influenced opponents' careers. Their championship is tarnished.

And with all that being true, they do not deserve this.

Perhaps this was inevitable -- that the fallout of the Astros' sign-stealing scandal would include cowards protected by the anonymity of social media allegedly issuing death threats to players and wishing cancer upon their children -- and here we are.

As much consternation and pearl-clutching as there has been about what the Astros' cheating means, how it's a reflection of modern society, let's be honest: The response to the Astros, and to Mike Fiers, the whistleblower who unveiled the team's misdeeds, is far more representative of life in 2020.

Certainly this runs the risk of sounding obvious, and those with consciences already are nodding their heads, but the Astros so deeply inflame emotions that this warrants not just attention but empathy. Don't mistake that for lessening the egregiousness of what they did either. It's simply another truth here, one worth remembering as the scandal's tentacles reach into the principals' personal lives: The Astros did something bad; they didn't do something so bad that they should ever be in a position to say the following.

"I put a post on my kid rolling over for the first time and I gotta look down there and see: 'I hope your kid gets cancer,'" Astros outfielder Josh Reddick said.

"They start talking about raping, talking about killing and all this stuff," shortstop Carlos Correa said.

"I think ultimately the family safety is a big issue right now," Reddick said.

"They are the ones that [are] exposed the most," Correa said.

Cancer. Raping. Killing. Family.

It's easy to hide underneath the cloak of invincibility offered by social media, which is high on impulsivity and low on accountability -- easy to tap away at a phone or clack at a keyboard, reach down to the deepest, darkest place and emit a stream of pure, unmitigated hatred. And it's not just the cheating scandal that propagated this. Correa said he received menacing messages after his costly error in the 2015 division series and following his game-winning home run in the 2019 American League Championship Series, too.

Reddick and Correa went public Friday following a three-hour meeting with the Major League Baseball Players Association, during which the players, Correa said, spent a significant amount of time discussing security efforts for the upcoming season. The Astros, sources said, will receive increased security, particularly when on the road. The details are of particular import to the team, which has weathered a volcano-force eruption of anger inside and outside the sport over the lack of suspensions players received for the scheme of their own doing.

The notion that Astros players haven't been punished simply isn't true. It manifests itself in ways relatable to all, even those most aggrieved. There are the deserved costs: the loss of respect from their peers, the permanent brand of "cheater," the question of whether to strip their 2017 championship altogether. There are the ones that are fair but still warrant sympathy, even for those whose actions were patently unsympathetic. One Astros player this week admitted he sought therapy for depression over the winter. He didn't want his name used because he feared the blowback would leave him a target for scrutiny by those who would accuse him of playing the world's smallest violin. At the same time, he admitted, this is something of his own doing and he expects nobody to feel sorry for him.

Still, to deny that the human cost of this scandal reaches the Astros too is to lack the very same empathy the Astros did when they chose themselves and their goals over what was right. It's hypocrisy personified.

And when the punishment extends so far beyond the pale, it's worth stepping back and recalibrating. Yes, the vast, vast majority of those on social media stay within the bounds of decency, and it tends to be a small handful of trolls who breach decorum, vomit awfulness and hit send. Just as the Astros should be held accountable, so should they. The fecklessness of social-media platforms to police their darkest corners allowed this to happen, not just in sports but everywhere. That is a far truer shame than anything the Astros did or can do.

Everyone on social media has seen it. Someone once told me that he hopes I die in front of my kids on Christmas ... because I wrote a column saying Kansas City fans should not have booed Robinson Cano at the Home Run Derby in 2012. Maybe it's just a fact of life today. That's a hard thing to accept, to believe the world is so black-and-white that whether it's a difference of opinion or an error of great consequence or, in Fiers' case, a service to the game he loves, someone -- anyone -- believes that it warrants the invocation of cancer or rape or death, of the truest horrors we know.

Selfish, unfair, wrong. Yeah. That sounds about right.

FORTVILLE, Ind. – Isaac Chapple will compete full time with the MPD Racing Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series this season, driving his familiar No. 52 non-winged sprint car.

The 20-race BOSS schedule will feature stops at 13 different racetracks in four different states. Of the 13 tracks on the schedule, Isaac has previously competed at four of them.

This year brings a new challenge to Chapple’s family-owned race team, but one that he is eager for. He looks forward to not only change, but a fun and successful season as well.

“I’m super excited about our plans for the 2020 season. I have high expectations for us this year, but I’m also looking forward to a change of pace and having some fun,” Chapple said. “I really enjoy traveling and racing sprint cars and I’m just blessed and thankful that I can continue to do that year after year. I have some great supporters behind me and we’re all really like family. The relationships that I have with every sponsor and crew member are special and we have fun doing this deal together.

“I really like what Aaron (Fry) has going on right now with the BOSS series and I’m looking forward to following his tour this year,” Chapple added. “With the schedule being just 20 races, I’ll be able to go hit other shows as well. I just love racing sprint cars and we’re really excited to go have some fun this year.

“I know we can be successful if we keep it fun.”

Chapple will also contest other selected shows throughout the year in the Midwest as well.

The BOSS Sprint Car Series season begins March 28 at Waynesfield (Ohio) Raceway Park and wraps up Oct. 9 at Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio.