Pace bowler Chris Tremain has returned to the Sydney Thunder on a three-year deal after winning a title last season with the Melbourne Renegades.

Tremain previously played three seasons with the Thunder between 2012 and 2015 before moving to the Renegades.

He only played six matches last season for the Renegades but was part of the winning final against the Melbourne Stars. Tremain believes he returns to the Thunder a much more mature cricketer.

"I think I've changed quite a bit," Tremain said. "I've played a lot more cricket, experienced a lot more. I've had a lot more success, and I've failed a lot more. I've had a career, basically.

"When I was at the Thunder last time, I was really young. I was still learning how to do things - not even cricket. Everything was really raw and full of youth."

Tremain will join South Africa bowling allrounder Chris Morris as the Thunder's two senior bowlers in a relatively inexperienced attack.

"We just wanted a good, serious, hardened pro and I think he showed his value for the Renegades last season, opening the bowling through the back-end of the season," Thunder coach Shane Bond said.

"He's just a solid performer day-in, day-out. He knows what he's doing, he's durable and he's a great guy around the team. He just brings that experience that we were missing a little bit last season."

Nathan Lyon has implored the SCG not to turn to drop-in pitches following the latest clash between sporting codes which has seen New South Wales' Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania shifted away from the iconic ground.

The game will now be played at Drummoyne Oval - with next week's Marsh Cup match also moved to North Sydney Oval - after the decision was taken that the wicket block would be at risk from significant damage if it was used this week.

The problem has been blamed on the Sydney Roosters' training session in early October before the NRL Grand Final. It has resurfaced the debate about the usage of the ground with cricket under pressure from the winter sports.

Next month's T20I between Australia and Pakistan will now be the first cricket of the season at the ground followed by New South Wales' Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia in mid November.

Lyon, who has played just three Sheffield Shield matches at the SCG through his career, hopes the ground does not go the way of the MCG, which has had problems with its pitches in recent years, and Adelaide by using drop-in surfaces.

"I really hope it doesn't go to drop-in. I really think the characteristics of an SCG pitch is part of our cricket history here," Lyon said ahead of his first appearance of the season. "It's called the Sydney Cricket Ground so I personally believe we should keep the wickets the same, I don't really want drop-ins."

Though the latest problems have stemmed from rugby league, the SCG is home to the Sydney Swans Australia Rules Football team. Earlier this year their coach, John Longmire, said drop-in surfaces should be discussed.

"With a wicket base on the ground, it's something we've always been mindful of, obviously we'd support a drop in wicket if that was part of the discussion," he said in April. "It's certainly very important to discuss it, it's a 12 months a year venue."

"It gets highlighted now because there's more traffic here, and every weekend there's a game where that hasn't been the case in the past. Ideally, the winter codes would appreciate having just the same turf all over the ground. We understand we've got compromises. They play a lot of cricket here."

In July, the SCG Trust - which runs the ground - formed a committee to consider drop-in pitches. Cricket NSW is strongly opposed to any move that way. "The move to a drop-in wicket with lifeless uniformity will create the risk of boring cricket," their submission to the committee said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jalen Ramsey got what he wanted, and so did the Jacksonville Jaguars.

As a result, the disgruntled cornerback is headed to the Los Angeles Rams.

The Jaguars on Tuesday sent Ramsey to the West Coast for first-round draft picks in 2020 and '21, and a fourth-rounder in 2021, the teams announced. Ramsey joins two former Jaguars on the Rams in defensive end Dante Fowler and quarterback Blake Bortles -- all three were taken with top-five draft picks from 2014 to '16.

The move fills major holes in the secondary for a Rams team coming off an NFC title but losers of three straight games to fall to .500 on the season.

Los Angeles on Monday put starting cornerback Aqib Talib on injured reserve with a rib injury. On Tuesday, it agreed to trade Pro Bowl corner Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens for linebacker Kenny Young and an undisclosed 2020 draft pick.

The Ramsey trade comes less than a week after Jaguars owner Shad Khan had what he described as a "heart-to-heart" meeting with the cornerback and two weeks after Khan told the Associated Press he didn't want to deal the two-time Pro Bowler.

The Rams' offer apparently was enough to change his mind.

Ramsey asked to be traded after Jaguars vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin scolded him for his actions during the team's 13-12 Week 2 loss at Houston. Ramsey got into a sideline shouting match with Doug Marrone after the Jaguars coach refused Ramsey's request to challenge a completion to DeAndre Hopkins.

Ramsey played against Tennessee the following Thursday but did not practice on the ensuing Monday because of an illness. He also missed that Wednesday's practice with a back injury. Marrone said he didn't know when Ramsey suffered the injury, but three hours later the team released a statement saying Ramsey actually did report back soreness to the team's medical staff during the fourth quarter of the game against the Titans.

Later that day the team announced that Ramsey would return to his hometown for the impending birth of his second child.

Ramsey was inactive for the past three games because of the back injury, which snapped a streak of 51 consecutive starts that dated to when the Jaguars selected him fifth overall in 2016. Ramsey has nine interceptions and 45 pass breakups in his three-plus seasons.

The 24-year-old Ramsey is in the fourth season of his five-year rookie deal. He arrived at training camp in July in an armored bank truck, undoubtedly a not-so-subtle move in search of a raise.

A source told ESPN's Adam Schefter that the Rams and Ramsey do not have any type of new deal in place, and that the cornerback in not in a rush to get one done.

After the deal, the Rams moved from 60-1 to 50-1 to win the Super Bowl and 25-1 to 20-1 to win the NFC at Caesars Sportsbook.

The Rams have lost three straight games, allowing the second-highest total QBR during that span (81.6, only behind the 82.0 of the Falcons).

Ramsey should help.

From 2016 to '18, he recorded the fourth-most pass breakups in the league. And according to NFL Next Gen Stats, he has the fourth-lowest completion percentage allowed as the nearest defender since his rookie year in 2016 (minimum 200 targets).

But the move comes at a cost for Los Angeles.

The Rams haven't had a first-round pick since selecting quarterback Jared Goff first overall in 2016. They currently don't own another first-rounder until 2022.

Information from ESPN's Lindsey Thiry and David Purdum was used in this report.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- LeBron James said Tuesday he had not seen reports of protesters in Hong Kong trampling on his jerseys and even watching one burn following his comments about Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweet that sparked turmoil and tension between China and the NBA.

A day after saying he believed Morey "wasn't educated" on the ramifications and impact that sending out a tweet in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong would have, James was asked whether he had a sense of how his own comments would be felt in Hong Kong among protesters.

"No, I had a sense of what I said felt for me," James said after the Los Angeles Lakers' practice. "And like I said yesterday, when I speak upon things, I speak from a very logical standpoint on things that hit home for me. Yesterday, obviously, I gave thoughts on what I felt and how I saw things that transpired from that week that we were [in China]."

Saying this would be the last time he addressed the turmoil between China and the NBA that resulted from Morey's Oct. 4 tweet, James said he hopes tension between the parties will subside over time.

"I plan on being here and being a captain of this team and trying to figure out how we can win a championship," James said when asked whether he plans to learn more about the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. "That's my main goal right now. I feel like I talked about it yesterday. I tweeted out responses to people not understanding my knowledge and where it came from with my brain and learning from the situation. I'm talking about it now. I won't talk about it again.

"I'd be cheating my teammates by continuing to harp on something that won't benefit us. We're trying to win a championship. That's what we're here for. We're not politicians. It's a huge political thing. But we are leaders and we can step up at times. I'm not saying at this particular time, but if you don't feel like you should speak on things, you shouldn't have to."

On Tuesday in Hong Kong, fans gathered on courts to express frustration with James' comments the night before. James, who has not shied away from speaking out against social injustice issues here in the United States, said Monday that he felt Morey wasn't educated or was "misinformed" before sending out that tweet and how "so many people could have been harmed not only financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually."

After Morey's tweet created an international controversy between China and the NBA, the Rockets general manager deleted it and attempted to clarify his intent in subsequent tweets. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta denounced the original tweet and said the Rockets, who previously enjoyed immense popularity in China, were "not a political organization" and that Morey did not speak for the team.

Following his initial comments on Morey's tweet on Monday evening, James took to Twitter to clarify his comments and "clear up the confusion." He tweeted, "I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet. I'm not discussing the substance. Others can talk about that," before adding how tough a situation the Lakers found themselves in during their visit to China and saying that people need to understand "what a tweet or statement can do to others."

James reiterated Tuesday that he will address issues he is passionate and knowledgeable about.

"It's a tough situation we're all in right now with the association, us as athletes, GMs and owners and so forth," James said. "I also don't think every issue should be everybody's problem as well. When things come up, there's multiple things that we haven't talked about that have happened in our own country that we don't bring up. There's things that happen in my own community in trying to help my kids graduate high school and go off to college; that's been my main concern the last couple of years with my school [in Akron, Ohio]. Trying to make sure the inner-city kids that grow up in my hometown can have a brighter future and look at me as an inspiration to get out of the hellhole of the inner city.

"We don't talk about those stories enough. We want to talk about so many other things as well. There's issues all over the world. I think the best thing we can do is if you feel passionate about it, talk about it. If you don't have a lot of knowledge about it or quite understand it, I don't think you should talk about it because it puts you in a tough position."

James has often been the voice for the NBA and players. He understands people look to him on even the most complicated matters.

"For me personally, I felt that I've tried to heal things throughout my whole life by just being who I am," James said. "And playing the game that I love, playing it at a high level and that has brought a lot of people together, playing the game the right way with my teammates, being a model citizen in the community, being a respectful son, respectful husband, respectful dad and understanding that every time I leave the house, that it is so much bigger than just myself personally.

"Obviously, I'm not perfect; none of us are," he added. "But I I try to do things that make my family proud, make my fans proud every time I step out of the house, so that for me is what it is."

Asked whether he would have been more comfortable with Morey sending out that tweet a week later after the Lakers spent a tension-filled week in China and played two games against the Brooklyn Nets, James said, "Hindsight is 20/20 at this point."

"We don't know the landscape of the situation if a week would've went by and a tweet would've happened," James added. "It's easy to say. But we have no idea. It was a challenging trip for all of us that were in China. If you were not there, then you just can't relate.

"The best thing we can do is continue to play the game of basketball, and I believe the game of basketball and the word sport has always brought people together for the great of love and not the great of hate," James added. "And I think this is the greatest sport in the world. And obviously it is a small bump in the road, but I think time heals all."

The Los Angeles Angels could face significant sanctions if Major League Baseball determines that team employees were told of Tyler Skaggs' opioid use prior to his July 1 death and didn't inform the commissioner's office.

Eric Kay, currently on paid leave as the Angels' communications director, told federal drug enforcement agents last month that two team employees, including his former supervisor, Tim Mead, were informed of Skaggs' drug use but did not take action. Two sources familiar with the DEA investigation told Outside the Lines about Kay's statements to federal agents, which Kay's attorney, Michael Molfetta, then confirmed.

Under MLB policy, any team employee who isn't a player is obligated to inform the commissioner's office of "any evidence or reason to believe that a Player ... has used, possessed or distributed any substance prohibited" by MLB.

The policy says commissioner Rob Manfred could fine the club up to $2 million, and it gives him discretion to suspend an employee or ban him or her from MLB for life. An MLB source told Outside the Lines that Manfred's office never received such notification about Skaggs. MLB officials declined to comment.

Despite Kay's statements to federal agents, an Angels spokesperson said Saturday that the team was never aware of Skaggs' drug use.

"We have never heard that any employee was providing illegal narcotics to any player, or that any player was seeking narcotics from him," Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey said in a statement Tuesday. "The current and former employees that are being accused of knowing this behavior have categorically denied that assertion. The Angels maintain a strict, zero tolerance policy regarding the illicit use of drugs for both players and staff. Every one of our players must also abide by the MLB joint drug agreement."

When asked why the statement doesn't address that Kay, the team's communications director, was an employee who knew of Skaggs' use and didn't report it to the league, Garvey declined further comment.

In addition to a potential ban from baseball, Kay could face criminal charges after admitting to authorities that he provided Skaggs with oxycodone for years and sometimes snorted crushed pills with the pitcher.

Skaggs was found dead in his Southlake, Texas, hotel room July 1, having asphyxiated on vomit. He was 27. An autopsy found oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol in his system.

Kay's addiction is long-standing, his family and attorney have said. His mother, Sandy, told Outside the Lines that her son started abusing opioids a few years after his father died in 1998.

Kay told DEA agents that in 2015, the two men worked out an arrangement in which Skaggs would give Kay money to buy oxycodone for both of them, and Kay would obtain pills from a dealer.

Kay told agents that he told Mead in 2017 that Skaggs used opioids. In addition, Kay told investigators about a second Angels official who knew of Skaggs' use. Kay's mother and his wife, Camela, told Outside the Lines that on April 22, while Eric was in the hospital following an overdose, he received a text from Skaggs seeking drugs. Sandy was visiting her son in the hospital at the time, alongside his wife and Mead. Sandy told Outside the Lines she saw the texts and told Mead that the team needed to intervene.

Mead left the team in June to become the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He told Outside the Lines on Saturday that neither Eric Kay, his family nor anyone else ever told him that Skaggs used opioids.

A source familiar with MLB policy said that Manfred's office has only media accounts to go on right now and will have to make a judgment as to whether Mead or Kay and his family are telling the truth. The source would not speculate on how much the Angels could be fined, but said it would be "more serious" if someone high up in the organization had been told.

The source said MLB is not currently conducting its own investigation and is instead waiting for the DEA to finish. The source also said Angels officials and attorneys are not sharing information with Manfred's office because they are concerned that such communications could be subpoenaed by the government.

NEW YORK -- Plate umpire Jeff Nelson had to leave Game 3 of the ALCS after suffering a concussion when he was struck in the mask by a foul tip in the top of the fourth inning.

Nelson remained in the game through the bottom of the inning, but after the Yankees were retired in the fourth, the umpires gathered near home plate and Nelson was attended to by Steve Donohue, head athletic trainer for the New York Yankees. Nelson left the field shortly thereafter.

Nelson, the crew chief, was struck on the mask by a foul tip off the bat of Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado in the top of the fourth, one pitch before Maldonado doubled. He was replaced behind home plate by Kerwin Danley, who began the game at second base. The game was delayed for 15 minutes while Danley returned to the umpires' dressing room to change equipment.

Replacing Danley at second base was third-base umpire Mark Carlson, while left-field umpire Marvin Hudson moved to third. The game will be finished without a left-field umpire.

Nelson, 54, has umpired in the major leagues since 1999.

Saracens prop Josh Ibuanokpe has been banned for five weeks after accepting a charge of "striking with the head" against his former side Harlequins.

Saturday's incident involving ex-England captain Chris Robshaw came in the second half of Sarries' 28-21 Premiership Rugby Cup win on Saturday.

A Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel agreed contact was not deliberate and cut the maximum ban by 50%.

Ibuanokpe's "clear disciplinary record" was taken into account.

Chairperson Matthew Weaver added: "The player was remorseful for the impact of his action and apologised. The club spoke of the positive impression he had made on the club since joining."

Ibuanokpe is free to play from Tuesday, 19 November.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump honored the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, using the occasion to touch on the situation in Turkey and an agriculture deal with China.

Every returning member of the title-winning team went to the White House several months after a couple of 2018 Cup champion Washington Capitals players opted not to visit Trump. Alternate captain Alex Steen says the Blues do everything as a team on and off the ice and cited that as one reason they captured the first championship in franchise history.

The Blues have a heavy concentration of Canadian players and just one American still on the roster. They followed the lead of recent champions Washington and Pittsburgh that went to the White House rather than declining or not receiving an invitation from Trump like in the NBA.

LOS ANGELES -- The California State Athletic Commission has taken a major measure in attempting to combat extreme weight cutting.

CSAC, one of the largest combat sports regulatory bodies in the world, voted Tuesday to pass a rule that would cancel fights if a competitor weighed more than 15 percent above the contracted fight weight on the day of the event. The new rule passed by a vote of 5-0 during a meeting at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

Added language to the regulation passed Tuesday stated that promoters, managers, trainers and matchmakers are responsible for ensuring the combatants comply with the new rule.

The idea behind the rule is that it will deter fighters from cutting a large amount of water via severe dehydration in order to make weight, only to gain it back for competition a day later. It is not uncommon for MMA fighters to gain anywhere from 8 to 18 percent of their weight back from the weigh-ins to the fight. Extreme weight cutting is not as prominent in boxing.

In addition, the hope with this new rule is that it will stop large weight disparities between athletes inside the fighting surface.

"To me, that's a health and safety issue," CSAC executive officer Andy Foster said. "It's sanctioned cheating."

For example, under the new CSAC regulation, if a welterweight fighter (171-pound non-title limit) made weight and then weighed more than 195.4 pounds on fight day, the bout would be scrapped. If a bantamweight fighter (136-pound non-title limit) weighed more than 155.2 pounds on fight day, the contest would be canceled.

According to CSAC's data, 28 MMA fights from January 2019 to October 2019, out of a total of 285, had fighters weigh more than 15 percent above the contracted weight class. In boxing, it was only nine fights out of 570 this year with fighters above that mark. In total, there were 40 fights this year (MMA, boxing and kickboxing) out of 873 with competitors who came in more than 15 percent above the weight class.

If UFC 241 in Anaheim, California, back in August had been under this new rule, three fights would have been called off. Sodiq Yusuff, Manny Bermudez and Sabina Mazo all gained back more than 15 percent of their weight on fight day. Paulo Costa and Kyung Ho Kang were right on the borderline, so it's possible four or five bouts could have been yanked.

At UFC Sacramento in July, the main event would have been canceled. Aspen Ladd, who fought Germaine de Randamie, gained back 18 percent of her weight. Ladd made 135 pounds the day before the event but ballooned up to 159 pounds on fight day.

Critics of this new rule will say that every fighter's body is different and this could force some athletes to not fully rehydrate and replenish after making weight. Or worse, it could make some fighters go through another weight cut on fight day, just hours before competing, which would be more dangerous than anything regulators are trying to battle.

"People might cut [weight] twice," Foster said. "That's a concern."

But Foster said the goal is to get promoters and matchmakers to pair fighters together closer to their natural weight. The hope, Foster said, is that the threat of bouts being canceled will be a deterrent to matchmakers booking bouts with fighters who are too big for the contracted weight class.

"The only way we can get there is out of fear of a cancellation," Foster said. "I suspect the matchmakers will probably just move the fights up a little bit if they see weights increase just to prevent risks to their promotions."

Foster said he'd like to see promoters more open to catchweights rather than being strict to weight classes. He said no fans will be turned off from watching a fight because it's contested at a catchweight or a weight class up from where it was booked originally.

"This is a fixable issue," Foster said. "Pretending like we're bound to these weight classes like they're set in stone and fighters can't move up, frankly it's not healthy."

CSAC has been active in attempting to curb extreme weight cutting since it passed a package of regulations in 2016. One of those new rules was a morning weigh-in the day before fights, rather than a traditional afternoon weigh-in. The idea was to give fighters more time to rehydrate and replenish from their weight cuts. The morning weigh-in has been adopted across the world in MMA.

Another 2016 CSAC regulation stated that the commission could recommend a fighter move up to a new weight class if he or she came in more than 10 percent over the contracted weight on fight day. An issue with that rule is many fighters, promoters and other commissions have not completely honored those recommendations.

New England Patriots defensive end Michael Bennett, who wasn't present at Tuesday's practice, has been suspended for conduct detrimental to the team, according to league sources.

The suspension is a result of a disagreement between Bennett and defensive line coach Bret Bielema last Friday that was witnessed by some players, according to a source.

"On Friday, I had a philosophical disagreement with my position coach that has led to my suspension," Bennett told ESPN. "I apologize to my teammates for any distraction this may have caused."

Bennett's suspension was listed on the NFL's transactions wire.

Bennett played just 11 of 50 snaps in the Patriots' win over the New York Giants last Thursday. His first snaps came at the start of the second quarter.

Players reviewed that game with coaches on Friday before getting Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. They returned for practice Tuesday, but Bennett wasn't present. A game program and his belongings remained scattered around his locker Tuesday.

Bennett, 33, became one of the team's biggest offseason acquisitions when the club traded a fifth-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Bennett and a seventh-rounder. He was projected as a replacement for Trey Flowers, the team's sack leader from 2018 who had signed with the Detroit Lions as a free agent.

But after playing 39 snaps in the opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bennett has seen his playing time decrease as the defense altered its approach. Such changes in the game plan on a weekly basis are standard operating procedure for the Patriots.

Bennett played 25 snaps in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, then 19 vs. the New York Jets, 24 against the Buffalo Bills and 15 vs. the Washington Redskins.

Having primarily been a 4-3 defensive end over his career, Bennett has mostly been a situational pass-rusher with the Patriots. Part of that has been due to the emergence of linebacker Jamie Collins and nose tackle Danny Shelton, who are having career years as the defense has switched to more of a 3-4 scheme in base situations.