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There will be a major change in the New Zealand broadcast landscape next year after NZC entered into a six-year deal with streaming service Spark Sport to show all home cricket ending a relationship with Sky that dates back to 1995.

Spark is showing the current rugby World Cup and will add New Zealand's men's and women's internationals as well as the T20 Super Smash competition and the domestic one-day final after the current deal with Sky ends in April 2020.

There will also be a small amount of cricket on free-to-air with TVNZ to show the first T20I of each men's and women's series along with a collection of Super Smash matches.

"This is a deal which future-proofs the whole of cricket in New Zealand," David White, the NZC CEO, said. "Live streaming is the future. It allows viewers to free themselves from fixed linear schedules to watch live, delayed, highlighted or clipped content when and where they choose, and on a wide range of devices.

"Together with the free-to-air component provided by TVNZ, this accord means more cricket games than ever before will be broadcast live. It's timely that we make this move now, at a time when more New Zealanders than ever - and especially young Kiwis, consume their sports content through digital devices."

There have been some challenges for Spark during the rugby World Cup with users complaining about the quality of the streaming while there are rural areas of New Zealand that do not have the internet connectivity available to access the service.

Sky currently retain the rights to New Zealand's overseas tours.

Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake lavished praise on Pakistan upon the conclusion of his side's tour, calling the hospitality Sri Lanka had received "a privilege to be appreciated". Speaking to the media after the visitors beat Pakistan by 13 runs to complete a 3-0 T20I series whitewash, Ratnayake said the tour had gone very smoothly, and made him confident his side soon wouldn't be the only ones to have visited Pakistan.

"This tour is a message for the whole world, and especially a message for future Sri Lankans," Ratnayake said. "This has gone very smoothly. Us playing here will encourage so many other countries to also to be here.

"To experience the hospitality of Pakistan is a great thing; I've experienced it after a long, long time, and if anything, it's got even better. It was a lot of hard work for the whole system to have us here.

"You've done a great job in having us here and the security has been impeccable. I've enjoyed every moment of it even though some of us came in doubt. But the doubt has been taken out now so I would like to thank you all for making it happen."

Sri Lanka were originally scheduled to visit Pakistan for a two-match Test series, but with several first-team players opting against travelling, the PCB and the SLC agreed to have Sri Lanka over for a limited-overs tour. The Test series the sides are drafted to play against each other will form part of the World Test Championship, with wins and losses particularly significant in smaller series like this one. That is understood to be one of the major stumbling blocks for the series taking place in Pakistan, as Sri Lanka would not have their full-strength side to choose from.

However, with Sri Lanka cleaning up the T20I series in surprisingly comfortable fashion with the players available to them, and the general sense of safety Ratnayake said they felt over the fortnight, he sensed the prospect of his side playing Test cricket in Pakistan had increased. While admitting the board couldn't force anyone to come who wasn't willing, he suggested those watching at home would have seen "it is safe to be here".

"We'll certainly explain that to them and they'll have seen it as well. We'll try and convince them as much as we can, but we cannot enforce anything. Hopefully, they've changed by seeing this series be so successful.

"The crowd has been the same as 30 years ago; it hasn't changed," Ratnayake, who played seven Tests and 16 ODIs in Pakistan over the course of his career, said. "It was very touching when they were holding up signs saying 'Welcome Sri Lanka' and it was very moving to see that affection from the people."

"If you remember the first press conference I did here, I said we'll be playing against giants. We were the midgets then, so to speak, but now these boys are on par with anybody." Rumesh Ratnayake

But while the words off the pitch were friendly enough from the visitors, Sri Lanka haven't exactly been apprehensive guests, especially since they arrived in Lahore. A 2-0 ODI series win for Pakistan in Karachi suggested this might be the sort of tour on which Sri Lanka gained experience rather than having results go their way. But Lahore saw a remarkable turnaround, with the supposedly weakened hosts putting Pakistan to the sword in all three games, and sealing their first-ever 3-0 T20I whitewash in the process. Ratnayake said calling them a weak unit would be inaccurate.

"It was not the weakest team. We chose the best team. In Sri Lanka we have about 30-40 good players, so whichever we chose we were most confident of. We believed they could do something at the highest level. We emphasised being fearless and having that belief and also the confidence to take good decisions. Good decisions give you the chance of winning a match. They were fearless and they executed our game plans brilliantly.

"This performance will bring about a huge effect on the spectators, on our supporters, and on the players themselves. Our school system is a very good system. And those [young] players who are watching, the future players will certainly take heart from this and take courage and you'll see a huge impetus in the growth of the game in the future.

"What we were looking for is consistency. We won here, but as a coach what I'd like to see is do we have consistency in the future? This is just T20, there are two other formats, and we should not be over-awed by this. But certainly, we need to take a leaf from this and that should help us take it to another level in all aspects of the game."

It wasn't just that Sri Lanka didn't have their full quota to choose from. By the third T20I, they got downright funky with team selections. Having stuck with the same XI for the first two games, they decided to give the entire bench a run out for the final contest, making five changes. That, as some noted, effectively made the playing XI a third-choice side, but it wouldn't prevent the visitors from beating Pakistan by 13 runs. Indeed, the Players-of-the-Match in the second and third T20I were two Sri Lankan batsmen who had never played a single T20I game before this series.

"Some of them [the players] we wouldn't have seen if Asantha de Mel [chairman of selectors] hadn't taken the bold decision of playing the five players who hadn't been part of the side today. We weren't even sure what combinations we would play, but you saw Oshada Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa in this series because of that."

West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor and legspinner Afy Fletcher have been named captains of NLCB Revellers and Courts Gladiators respectively, the two sides that will contest women's T10 exhibition matches in the lead-up to the final two CPL games of the season on October 10 and 12 in Trinidad.

Taylor is set to captain the Revellers, which will feature players from Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Leeward Islands, which has internationals Anisa Mohammad, Stacy-Ann King and Britney Cooper in the mix. Fletcher will lead the Gladiators, which will have players from Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands and features Hayley Mathews, Kycia Knight and Kyshona Knight among others. The notable absentee from the squads is allrounder Deandra Dottin, who had been missing from West Indies' T20I squad to face Australia in September as she was still recovering from an injury.

"It is very pleasing to have an initiative such as this that the CPL has done for Women's cricket in the Caribbean," Taylor said. "It's a long time coming to potentially have a women's T20 franchise tournament here in the West Indies, bringing international players here to our conditions and pitches, just as we go to their leagues. No doubt this will aid Cricket West Indies in growing women's cricket in the region."

The two matches will take place before the second qualifier and final of this season's CPL, and ticket holders for those matches will be able to attend the women's games at no extra cost at the Brian Lara Stadium, according to a media release.

"Women's cricket is rapidly growing so kudos to the persons for taking the initiative to find different avenues to expose the talent of the ladies of the Caribbean," Fletcher said. "Knowing that we have a small pool of female cricketers, I strongly believe that this is a stepping stone to move forward and also a way of attracting the eyes of the young girls across the region."

NLCB Revellers squad: Stafanie Taylor (capt), Anisa Mohammed, Chinelle Henry, Natasha McLean, Chedean Nation, Jodian Morgan, Stacy-Ann King, Reniece Boyce, Britney Cooper, Felicia Walters, Karishma Ramharack, Caneisha Isaac, Shawnisha Hector

Courts Gladiators squad: Afy Fletcher (capt), Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Aaliyah Alleyne, Qiana Joseph, Akeira Peters, Erva Giddings, Shabika Gajnabi, Kaysia Schultz, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Sheneta Grimmond, Shakera Selman.

CHICAGO -- It was a step forward for New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls. It was also a step back for the Pelicans' defense.

Despite a game-high 29 points for Williamson through the 3:54 mark of the third quarter, New Orleans trailed by as many as 23 points early in the fourth quarter.

Even though neither Williamson nor any of the other Pelicans starters checked back in, New Orleans stormed back to take a 127-125 preseason victory over the Bulls.

It was clear from the start that the Pelicans were going to try to get Williamson involved often and early.

"We have to get him moving," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "We want him in space. We want to play him in space. The way you can do that is you have to get him on the move. I thought we did a good job, and he did a good job and being able to finish."

Williamson had 16 points at halftime and put up 13 more in the third quarter while shooting a combined 12-of-13 from the field.

In his preseason debut on Monday in Atlanta, Williamson was 6-of-13 from the floor while missing all three of his 3-point attempts. Against the Bulls, he lived at the rim.

All 13 of his shot attempts came from within 5 feet of the basket. Williamson said he wants to attack the rim by nature, and he was doing that against Chicago. But it also helped that he was getting going more.

"It was not trying to stay still," Williamson said. "Sometimes I find myself standing still. If I feel like I'm standing, I circle around and try to find an open spot."

Count Bulls coach Jim Boylen and guard Zach LaVine among those who were impressed by Williamson's showing.

"I was amazed at his body control for a guy that big," Boylen said of the 285-pound Williamson. "I was amazed where it looked like moments where he wasn't going to get to the rim, but he did.

"It's the first time I've seen him in person. I saw him in the summer league for the five minutes he played or whatever it was, so it's amazing for a guy that big to kind of be able to slither through and snake through things and get to the rim, even though people are in front of him. It's a heckuva skill."

LaVine smirked when he talked about Williamson after the game.

"I wanted to see what it was like firsthand," he said. "I'm a competitive guy, and he's the truth."

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Williamson's 29 points were the most by a rookie in the preseason in the past three seasons and the most by a No. 1 pick in the preseason since Derrick Rose had 30 points in 2008.

Even with Williamson's scoring, the Pelicans found themselves trialing 107-86 entering the final frame.

Chicago was shooting 53.7%, and Gentry wasn't pleased with what he saw. But the veteran coach rolled with Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Frank Jackson, Kenrich Williams and Jahlil Okafor for the entire fourth quarter, and there was marked improvement.

The Bulls were just 5-of-22 from the field in the fourth quarter as New Orleans outscored Chicago 41-18.

"I think it speaks loudly about the depth that we have," Gentry said.

Three of those players -- Hart, Alexander-Walker and Williams -- were not among the 10 Pelicans to play in the first half.

Alexander-Walker showed his resolve when he missed a pair of free throws late in the fourth but turned around with a game-tying 3-pointer and the go-ahead free throws with 57.9 to play.

His play didn't surprise Williamson at all.

"I know Nickeil. I know what he can do," Williamson said. "I was happy he got to go out there and show the world he could do that."

ESPN's Eric Woodyard contributed to this report.

In a video that surfaced online Wednesday night, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt can be seen giving a fiery, expletive-filled speech to his team in the locker room following a win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

"The [Braves] started some s---. We finished the s---," Shildt says in the video, which outfielder Randy Arozarena later acknowledged he streamed live on Instagram. "And that's how we roll. No one f---s with us ever. Now, I don't give a f--- who we play. We're gonna f--- them up. We're gonna take it right to them the whole f---ing way. We're gonna kick their f---ing ass."

The video is no longer available on Arozarena's Instagram account, but it gained traction and spread on social media. Arozarena, 24, said in a statement that he was sorry for the release of the video.

"I want to apologize to my teammates, manager, the Cardinals organization and baseball fans for the video I posted tonight after our victory in Atlanta," Arozarena said. "It was a moment meant to be private. I made a rookie mistake by sharing it on my social media account."

It's unclear exactly what Shildt was insinuating the Braves started. There doesn't appear to be media present as he talked to his players.

The Cardinals defeated the Braves 13-1 after scoring 10 runs in the first inning of Wednesday's game. They'll play in the National League Championship Series against the Washington Nationals, who beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3 in 10 innings.

Arozarena made three appearances in the series against the Braves, including as a pinch hitter Wednesday. He went 0-for-3 in the series with two strikeouts.

Arozarena made his major league debut in mid-August but saw inconsistent playing time. He finished the regular season 6-for-20 from the plate with one homer, two RBIs, four runs scored and two stolen bases in 19 games.

LOS ANGELES -- Howie Kendrick hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the 10th inning, and the Washington Nationals, boosted by a stunning rally against Clayton Kershaw, beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3 on Wednesday to advance to the NL Championship Series against St. Louis.

Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto homered on consecutive pitches to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the eighth against Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner. Soto started the comeback from a 3-0 hole with an RBI single in the sixth off starter Walker Buehler, then hit a 449-foot drive off Kershaw.

Adam Eaton walked against Joe Kelly to lead off the 10th, Rendon doubled on a drive that lodged in the left-field wall, and Soto was intentionally walked.

Kendrick, 4-for-19 with one RBI in the series, fouled off a pitch and then hit a 97 mph fastball over the wall in dead center for his second career grand slam. The other was a game-ending, 11th-inning drive against San Francisco in August 2017. Center fielder Cody Bellinger chased the ball all the way to the wall, putting his arms up against the fence as he ran out of room.

England's Rugby World Cup Pool C match against France on Saturday has been called off because of Typhoon Hagibis.

World Rugby is expected to provide official confirmation of the cancellation at 04:00 BST on Thursday.

Hagibis is moving towards Japan and expected to make landfall on Saturday.

England were due to meet France in Yokohama. There is no news yet on Scotland's Pool A match against Japan, which is scheduled to take place in the same stadium on Sunday.

If the Scotland-Japan match was to be cancelled, under tournament rules Gregor Townsend's side are likely be knocked out of the World Cup.

Cancelled matches are declared a draw with both sides awarded two points each.

England and France have already qualified for the quarter-finals and their match was due to decide top spot in Pool C.

The cancellation means Eddie Jones' side, who lead the French by two points, will progress as winners and face a probable quarter-final against Australia, with Wales expected to top Pool D and therefore play France.

Scotland are third in Pool A on 10 points with leaders Japan on 14 and need to beat the hosts to go through, potentially relying on bonus points.

If second-placed Ireland beat Samoa in Fukuoka on Saturday, a weather-enforced two-point haul would mean Scotland finish third in Pool A and go out.

It has been suggested Scotland's match with Japan could delayed by 24 hours, even though that would be against tournament rules.

BBC weather presenter and meteorologist Simon King said Hagibis is "one of the most powerful tropical cyclones this year".

World Rugby tournament director Alan Gilpin and Akira Shimazu, chief executive of Japan Rugby 2019, are due to attend Thursday's 04:00 news conference.

What is the forecast?

A Met Office spokesperson said on Wednesday that Typhoon Hagibis was in the western North Pacific and on track to hit Japan this weekend.

It was located around 900 miles south of Tokyo with estimated wind speeds of around 120mph and gusts of 170mph.

The Met Office says strong and severe winds, very heavy rain and large waves mean a risk of flash flooding in the Tokyo region.

Yokohama is approximately 17 miles south of Tokyo.

King explained: "It is equivalent to a category five hurricane, making it one of the most powerful tropical cyclones around the world this year.

"The typhoon will start to weaken as it continues its track northward. However, forecasts from the Joint Typhoon Warning centre and the Japanese Meteorological Service suggest it will make landfall in southern Honshu, around the Tokyo area on Saturday lunchtime UK time.

"By this point, it'll still be categorised as a 'very strong typhoon' with wind gusts in excess of 100mph and bring between 200-500mm of rain.

"This will be significant in a built-up area such as Tokyo with damage and flooding expected."

Could it change before the weekend?

"Yes, it could," added King.

"Forecasting the path of a typhoon is a tricky one and while there is growing confidence of a landfall near to Tokyo, it still could shift path slightly, even up to 24 hours before time.

"However, Typhoon Hagibis is huge, covering a diameter of around 500 miles.

"On landfall, the most powerful winds are expected to extend out 60 miles from its centre. Therefore, even if the location of direct landfall changes, the winds, flooding rain and impacts will still be felt over a large area."

Veteran flat track motorcycle racer and multi-time champion Jared Mees slows down for a few minutes to join The Ralph Sheheen Show presented by Lucas Oil. The Indian Motorcycle competitor has had an incredible career and shares some of his passion for the sport in this long-form conversation.

Catch this week’s full episode on SPEEDSPORT.com or download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, or Spotify.