Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu's adviser Jaume Masferrer has been suspended following the social media scandal which has rocked the club, sources have told ESPN.

Masferrer was suspended from all duties with Barca at a tense board meeting on Friday after being held responsible for the club's relationship with I3 Ventures, the company revealed to be behind social media accounts that had discredited, among others, the first team players Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.

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Vice presidents Emili Rousaud and Jordi Cardoner both wanted Masferrer to be sacked. Bartomeu did not agree with taking such strong action but eventually consented to the suspension.

Bartomeu has confirmed Barca were working with I3 but denied any involvement in the social media posts, which also smeared club legends and presidential candidates. The president said the company was contracted to monitor social media activity involving the club.

Barca's board of directors has now ordered an external investigation from PricewaterhouseCoopers into the link with I3. They want to get to the bottom of who knew what and if the price paid to the company -- nearly €1 million since 2017 -- adjusts to the market price for monitoring services.

Other members of the board, including Maria Teixidor, Xavier Vilajoana and Oriol Tomas, wanted more drastic measures to be taken but the board of directors will wait for the results of the investigation before meeting again to decide on the next steps.

Sources close to the club have suggested it is not out of the question that a presidential election is subsequently called this summer. Bartomeu has a mandate to preside over the club until 2021 but, as he is in his second term as the club's president, he would not be able to stand. The board of directors would have to offer an alternative candidate.

The chaos began on Monday when SER Catalunya alleged that I3 had been contracted by the club with the initial idea of helping to clean up president Bartomeu's image.

Evidence was revealed that showed that, as well as defending Bartomeu, I3 was behind a number of Facebook accounts that had attacked people related to the club, including Messi, Pique, Xavi Hernandez, Pep Guardiola, Victor Font and Agusti Benedito.

Sources told ESPN that Bartomeu met with the first team manager Quique Setien and the club's four captains -- Messi, Pique, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto -- on Tuesday to offer an explanation and deny any knowledge of the posts.

Defender Pique, meanwhile, called a journalist who posted a message defending Bartomeu on Twitter a "puppet."

Dale Steyn wants South Africa to "adapt quicker" to keep pace with the T20 game and joked that they "can't get any worse" after their defeat to Australia in Johannesburg on Friday night.

South Africa were bowled out for their lowest T20 total and lost by their biggest margin in the format during the opening game of the three-match series, appearing to have undone much of the gains they made against England. Steyn, however, is not too worried about his team's performances yet.

"You are allowed to have a blow-out," Steyn said. "We played some good cricket against England. It was one of the better series that I've played against England, even though we lost. We batted superbly and we bowled in patches really well. We don't have to be too hard on ourselves.

"This team is going to be learning. I hope our growth will be upwards. Even though we are losing, the process that Mark (Boucher) and Quinny [Quinton de Kock] have put in place is the right one."

South Africa are yet to win a series this summer under new coach Mark Boucher, and though Quinton de Kock's white-ball captaincy started well with victories in the opening ODI and T20I against England, the team still lacks consistency. At the Wanderers, Steyn saw South Africa make many of the same mistakes they made against England, which he hopes they can rectify by the time they get to Port Elizabeth for Sunday's second fixture.

"We've got to start learning a little more from the mistakes we made against England. We carried it into Australia," he said. "In the first six overs, we were a little bit too wide. We've got to adapt a little bit faster."

Steyn, along with Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada, was responsible in the start Australia got off to, with 70 runs coming in the Powerplay and a slew of short, wide balls despite Boucher emphasising the need to pitch the ball up. Rabada, in particular, came under scrutiny for his off-colour return from a period of extended rest.

Rabada was suspended for the final Test against England in late January and was given time off the white-ball leg of the series, during which he travelled to Chicago for the NBA All Star game, but came back lacking rhythm and presence. Steyn, though, expects him to improve.

"It's lovely to have KG back with the ball. I know he went for a couple of runs but he hasn't been around so he is probably feeling ring rust," Steyn said. "And the younger bowlers like Lungi (Ngidi) and And (Phehlukwayo) look up to someone like him. Big time."

The same could be said of Steyn, who is the most experienced bowler in the side by some distance and has showed his own ability to innovate with clever use of slower balls. Steyn, who retired from Tests last year, admitted that being out of the international scene showed him how tough it is at the top level and, like his team-mates, he wants to get better.

"Although I have played my entire career at the highest level, if you haven't played for a while, you quickly come back and realise that it moves a lot faster than any other level. Playing in the MSL was great, I went to the Big Bash which was fantastic but this was two levels harder. I can hopefully rewind the clock a little bit and bring some of those golden years back."

England Lions 3 for 274 (Lawrence 125*, Sibley 108*) v Australia A

Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence made it back-to-back centuries as England Lions ended the opening day of the marquee match of their tour, against Australia A at the MCG, in a strong position on 3 for 274.

Sibley, an incumbent England opener who will soon be heading off on the tour of Sri Lanka, and Essex batsman Lawrence added an unbroken 219 for the fourth wicket after the Lions had slipped to 3 for 55 after being put into bat in the day-night fixture.

Jackson Bird and Jack Wildermuth, the latter a late addition to the squad after Marcus Stoinis' injury, did the early damage. Zak Crawley, also part of England's current Test set-up edged behind, and Keaton Jennings - another bound for Sri Lanka - gave a return catch to Wildermuth as did Sam Northeast a few moments later.

That was the last of the success for Australia A, though, as Sibley and Lawrence picked up their form from the CA XI match in Hobart although this was against a much sterner attack that included recent Test-squad members Michael Neser and Mitchell Swepson.

The pair reached their centuries under the floodlights late in the day do the tunes of a nearby Elton John concert.

"I'm really pleased to be able to carry on my good form and to help put the team in a strong position in the match," Sibley said. "The conditions are tough and playing against a quality attack with a pink ball under floodlights is a new experience for us as a team. It has been a great learning experience so far and I'm delighted to have been able to make the most of it and put on a really good partnership with Dan."

The credibility of Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend rests on the "must-win" Six Nations game in Italy, says former scrum-half Andy Nicol.

Scotland were beaten narrowly by Ireland and England in their opening two Six Nations games after a disappointing World Cup campaign.

Nicol believes a loss in Rome would send them into the "depths of despair".

"It's a must-win in every sense, for the players and fans, but definitely for Gregor Townsend," he said.

"Wins are what give you credibility. In his first year he had three, which was on the back of Vern Cotter finishing his reign with three. That was the first time Scotland had done that back-to-back.

"The Six Nations is a tough competition, but this is the game that Scotland can target and say 'if we play well, we win'. Without a win tomorrow, it takes you into the depths of despair.

"The players need to get a win and I think they will."

Scotland are fifth in the table, having failed to score a try in their opening two games, with bonus points keeping them ahead of opponents Italy.

Nicol, who won 23 caps for Scotland, believes the key to success in Rome is for Townsend's side to play without fear of losing.

"So many times we've come to Rome and just tried to avoid losing because of the pressure," he said. "Unfortunately this game is exactly as it has been over many years - the wooden spoon decider.

"We have to try and eradicate that and just go out and play. Scotland need to come out and set the tempo.

"If we do that, with the attacking players we've got, I think we can win, and win quite well."

Darren Sammy has played a major role in the return of top-flight cricket to Pakistan, and the country has decided to express its gratitude in style, by extending an honorary citizenship to the former West Indies captain. Arif Alvi, the Pakistan president, has signed off on the same, and Sammy will also receive the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the country's top civilian award, on March 23 in Islamabad.

The idea of the honorary citizenship was initiated by Javed Afridi, the owner of Peshawar Zalmi, the team Sammy has represented since the start of the PSL in 2016. The PCB followed up on it with the federal government in light of Sammy's "invaluable contribution to cricket in Pakistan".

St Lucian Sammy, 36, has been Zalmi's premier marquee player from the beginning of the PSL. Ahead of the second edition, Shahid Afridi, who led the team in the first season, stepped down and handed the reins to Sammy, and he has led them since - they won the title in 2017 and were the losing finalists in 2018 and 2019.

More than that, though, it's Sammy's support to the Pakistan cause that has endeared him to people in the country. He was the first to agree to tour Pakistan when the PCB wanted to bring the PSL final to the country.

Then, when an ICC World XI was lined up tour Pakistan for three T20Is in September 2017, Sammy - a part of that squad - spoke to the other tourists as part of a security briefing.

At the time, he had said, "I did brief them quickly about my experience in Lahore for the PSL final. We've had the best security team, who have also briefed them. Like I said before, it's important. I get to play in front of my fans in St Lucia and around the world and we see how passionate they are, and to get an opportunity after so long, they are all happy to be part of that process.

"First thing I said to guys after the PSL final - apart from all the security and the protocol - once I stepped on the field, it felt like playing in St Lucia. That is my honest experience - the crowd were just hungry for cricket, to see their icons and role models play in the game. That is what it felt like. That is what I briefed the players when the coach [Andy Flower] asked me about my experience."

West Indies 3 for 80 (Taylor 26*, Campbelle 25*) . beat Thailand 9 for 78 (Koncharoenkai 33, Taylor 3-13) by seven wickets

West Indies opened their T20 World Cup campaign with a win they would have expected, though not without a sizeable fright chasing a small target against a Thailand combination that lost their first ever match at an ICC global event but won plenty of friends along the way at the WACA Ground in Perth.

If Thailand's batting order found themselves struggling to handle the pace and bounce of a pitch that could not have been more different to that prepared for the opening night on the other side of the continent, they bowled and fielded with tremendous skill, determination and no little flare to have the West Indies in early trouble in their chase. But for a DRS reprieve for Shemaine Campbelle, West Indies may have been 4 for 27 chasing 79 to win.

As it was, Campbelle and the captain Stafanie Taylor had to work extremely hard to build the partnership that closed out the fixture, allowing West Indies to notch a valuable opening victory. As for Thailand, they now know they belong among the world's best company, and other sides will need to be wary.

Full report to follow...

LOS ANGELES -- Anthony Davis went from injured to insurmountable; fragile to a force to be reckoned with in the Los Angeles Lakers' 117-105 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday at Staples Center. And his performance -- 28 points, 13 rebounds and 7 blocks in only 31 minutes -- left his team again stumping for his candidacy as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.

Davis had exited the game after taking a Jaren Jackson Jr. knee into his right shin area less than a minute into the first quarter. He missed the rest of the quarter and the first several minutes of the second, needing to return to the locker room to receive treatment on the bruised right calf muscle and for hamstring tightness the collision caused.

Then he came back in and wreaked havoc on the Grizzlies' offense -- one of the hottest teams in the league since the calendar turned to 2020 -- holding Memphis to its lowest-scoring output in its past seven games.

"He does everything," LeBron James said of Davis. "He's able to protect the rim, he's able to guard in the post, he's able to switch out to guards. He's able to block shots when guys are shooting floaters and runners. Get steals. I mean, he does everything defensively for us. That's why he's Defensive Player of the Year. He just does everything for us, it's not one thing he doesn't do well defensively."

L.A. really clamped down in the second quarter when Davis made his return, outpacing Memphis 32-19 in the period while holding the Grizzlies to 37.5% from the field.

At times he was charged with guarding the massive 6-foot-11, 265-pound Jonas Valanciunas. On other possessions, he found himself keeping in front of the waterbug-like, Rookie of the Year favorite Ja Morant.

Both players -- Valanciunas was 4-for-11 and Morant was 5-for-14 -- had a rough go of it with Davis patrolling the court.

"He's the best defender in the league from a versatility standpoint and what we can do," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "His ability to switch out and mix it up in transition, all of those are areas he impacts the game. He's the best defender in the league, simplest way to put it."

Davis, who came in third for DPOY in 2017-18 while playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, said that the hardware isn't his main motivating factor.

"I'm not playing defense for that, but it is appealing. I mean, that award, I would love to have that award several times before I retire -- which is not soon," he said. "[I am] just trying to set a standard for one, myself, and two, my team, on the defensive end and the rest of the guys will follow. ... I'm talking to guys, covering for guys and I think if I continue to do that I put myself in position to win that award.

"But I just want us to get back to being the defensive team that we are and I know that starts with me with a defensive mindset."

The Lakers, whose defensive efficiency numbers allow 106.2 points per 100 possessions, rank fifth in the league.

That's not good enough for Davis.

"We're going to continue to get better and I'm going to continue to get better and try to position ourselves to be the No. 1 defensive team in the league," he said.

While Davis admitted to Spectrum SportsNet during an on-court postgame interview that he expected his right calf to be "pretty sore and tight" Saturday, he sounded plenty motivated to get right for Sunday.

That's when the Boston Celtics come to town, the team that absolutely drubbed the visiting Lakers the last time they played -- 139-107 on Martin Luther King Day.

"The worst loss of the season for us, we didn't play our best at all, so we remember that for sure," Davis said. "We feel like we owe them. It's going to be a fun game so, they remember that. I'm pretty sure they're thinking like, 'We beat them guys by 40,' or something like that. They're thinking about that, we're obviously thinking about it, so [we are] going to come out a little different."