The Luck Index will judge how fortune has affected the Premier League each month through this season.
The table shows how many points teams would have gained, or lost, if luck were not a factor -- and how that then plugs into the Premier League table. The bigger the positive number, the more unlucky you are. A negative figure, and you've been very lucky so far.
Manchester City were one of the unluckiest teams last season, and should have finished on more than 100 points. It's started off in the same vain for Pep Guardiola's side this term.
City are two points worse off than they should be, with the Luck Index calculating they would have won the home game against Tottenham had referee Michael Oliver given the champions a penalty after Rodri was bundled over in the box by Erik Lamela.
It means the first Luck Index table of 2019-20 has City on top on goal difference ahead of Liverpool, with both teams boasting a 100% record.
Any other unlucky teams? Man United, for one. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace, but Gary Cahill was lucky not to be sent off for a professional foul with the score at 1-0 to the south Londoners. The Luck Index concludes that United would have come back to gain a point against 10 men.
Aston Villa and Watford should all be a point better off.
On the flipside, Palace fans are laughing right now as they are the luckiest team, sitting four points better off than they should be. When you consider the luckiest team last season, Brighton, only gained eight additional points through good fortune across the whole campaign, Palace have been given a significant lift.
Palace are fourth, but once you strip out the huge slices of luck, they slump down to 15th. They should also have conceded a late equaliser at home to Aston Villa.
Two other clubs have seen their results changed by luck. Newcastle should be on one point, rather than three, with their victory at Tottenham turned into a draw after Harry Kane was denied a penalty.
Then we have Brighton, whose luck was well and truly in as they avoided conceding a penalty at Watford when 1-0 up. That means the win becomes a draw -- and leaves the Seagulls rock bottom.
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VAR is ruining my life
The Exploding Heads are back with this hilarious rendition of why VAR is not only ruining the game of football, but life outside of the pitch too.
Anti-VAR Index
VAR, VAR, VAR, VAR, VAR ... That's all we seem to talk about these days. Despite the endless column inches that have been taken up by the subject, so far only six goals have been overturned. So how much has everybody's favourite new toy (OK, that might not be completely serious) really influenced the league table? Very little.
The table is still in its formative stages, but yet again we see that Man City should sit top of the table with Gabriel Jesus' late disallowed goal against Tottenham worth an extra two points.
The most affected team so far is Brighton, with VAR costing them two points after they had Leandro Trossard's goal against West Ham disallowed for offside. That would have resulted in a victory, lifting them from 16th to seventh.
Wolves would also climb six places to 11th, with an extra two points from Leander Dendoncker's disallowed goal in a 0-0 draw at Leicester.
Leicester, West Ham and Tottenham are the only teams that have a net gain of points thanks to VAR so far this season.
Here, we run through all the overturned decisions. The bigger the positive number, the more points VAR has cost you. The biggest the negative number, then VAR has come to a team's aid.
What will the VAR review?
- Goal/no goal
- Penalty/no penalty
- Direct red card (not second yellow card/caution)
- Mistaken identity (when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player)
What will it not review?
- Any yellow card (including second yellow card leading to red)
- Any free kick offence outside the box (other than red card offence)
Leicester City +1 goal
Game: Wolves (H; Aug. 11) Incident: Wolves goal for Leander Dendoncker disallowed for handball in build-up by Willy Boly, 51st minute
Norwich City +1
Game: Chelsea (H; Aug. 24) Incident: Chelsea goal for Kurt Zouma disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper by Olivier Giroud, 77th minute
Tottenham Hotspur +1
Game: Man City (A; Aug. 17) Incident: City goal for Gabriel Jesus ruled out for handball in build-up by Aymeric Laporte, 90th minute
West Ham +1
Three decisions Game: Man City (H; Aug. 11) Incident: City goal for Gabriel Jesus ruled out for an offside against Raheem Sterling earlier in the move, 53rd minute Incident: Missed City penalty retaken due to encroachment by Declan Rice. Retake scored by Sergio Aguero, 86th minute
Game: Brighton (A; Aug. 17) Incident: Brighton goal for Leandro Trossard ruled out for offside by Dan Burn, who created the goal, 27th minute
Brighton & Hove Albion -1
Game: West Ham (H; Aug. 17) Incident: Brighton goal for Leandro Trossard ruled out for offside by Dan Burn, who created the goal, 27th minute
Chelsea -1
Game: Norwich (A; Aug. 24) Incident: Chelsea goal for Kurt Zouma disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper by Olivier Giroud, 77th minute
Manchester City -1
Three decisions Game: West Ham (A; Aug. 11) Incident: City goal for Gabriel Jesus ruled out for an offside against Raheem Sterling earlier in the move, 53rd minute Incident: Missed City penalty retaken due to encroachment by Declan Rice. Retake scored by Sergio Aguero, 86th minute
Game: Tottenham (A; Aug. 17) Incident: City goal for Gabriel Jesus ruled out for handball in build-up by Aymeric Laporte, 90th minute
Wolves -1
Game: Leicester (A; Aug. 11) Incident: Wolves goal for Leander Dendoncker disallowed for handball in build-up by Willy Boly, 51st minute
In the midst of a gruelling Ashes series and the wake of a World Cup semi-final exit, Australia have already begun preliminary planning for next year's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Aaron Finch, Australia's T20 and ODI captain who is back in Australia preparing for the start of Victoria's domestic season, revealed he has had recent discussions with coach Justin Langer and the team hierarchy, about which group of players will likely be needed in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup next October.
Australia have never won the men's T20 World Cup, or even hosted it. They finished runners-up to England in 2010. They are scheduled to played six T20 internationals at home in October and November against Sri Lanka and Pakistan followed by three more on a tour of South Africa in February and three in New Zealand in late March.
There will be no domestic T20 between now and the matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan although a number of players not involved in the Ashes have been playing in the T20 Blast in England, and Australia's revamped 50-over domestic competition starts on September 21. Finch said that the team hierarchy, now coordinated under Australia's new general manager of national teams Ben Oliver, has a rough idea of which players will be set for the T20 World Cup, based on informal chats he's had with the selectors recently. But form in the Marsh One-Day Cup, he added, could play a part.
"[I've had] some pretty brief chats over the last couple of weeks, pretty much just trying to nut out a squad that we think can take us through to the World T20 in October and November," Finch said.
"Whether there are 24 or 25 players that we think can play a role in different scenarios, it's just about making sure that we're on the same page in our thinking in terms of selection and stuff like that. Of course, there's always curve balls, guys who turn up and play well and start the season will really push.
"There's a lot of T20s coming up over the next 8-10 months, so the fact that guys have got more, and I suppose, longer exposure to limited-overs cricket, whether it be one-day or T20 I think it's a really good thing. No doubt there'll some guys who jump out of box and really put their hand up for those sides."
ESPNcricinfo understands some players have already been told they are in calculations for the T20 internationals in October and the T20 World Cup next year.
Australia began long-term plans for the 2020 T20 World Cup in early 2017 when Ricky Ponting took over as assistant coach to Darren Lehmann in a bid to build towards the tournament. Ponting helped the squad, captained by David Warner, to a T20 tri-series win over New Zealand and England in March 2018, just prior to the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Ponting then stepped back from the T20 role in the wake of the scandal citing that new coach Langer should take charge of the team in all three formats for continuity, as Australia tried to rebuild its culture within the men's team. Ponting returned to the coaching group for the 2019 World Cup.
Finch took over as captain and had a tough initiation losing four straight series before leading the side to a share of the series against India at home and an impressive 2-0 success in India in January. Intriguingly though, that side did not feature Australia's vice-captain Alex Carey, who subsequently had an outstanding 50-over World Cup, as Peter Handscomb kept wicket and Glenn Maxwell starred with the bat.
The revamped domestic 50-over competition is another key plank of Australia's planning. The tournament is no longer played in a single month-long block on suburban club grounds in September-October prior to the Sheffield Shield season starting. It will now run deep into November with some games played in between Shield fixtures.
"I think it is a really good thing," Finch said. "In the past having it as a full block, for a lot of players, with there not being any one-day cricket from the end of the one-day comp through to mid-January, it can be tough to really select guys and guys to put their name forward who did have a good one-day comp because it's so far apart. So this year I think the balance is as good as it's been for a long time now.
Cricket Australia also made a concerted effort to schedule domestic 50-over games back on international venues to give players more exposure to those venues. Finch said this was crucial to prepare players for international cricket.
"I think it's huge," he said. "To turn up for Australia and having guys not having played a game at international venues it's surprising at times but it's also part of the scheduling. So I think that is a great addition, that there will be more one-day games.
"Guys will have more access to playing one-day cricket on the main venues, which at the end of the day when you're pushing for selection for Australia and you finally get the call up to come to a ground where you've played before and you feel comfortable is really important. There's a lot of nerves that go around when you're lining up for Australia for the first time so as comfortable as you can make it around the environment is really important."
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton said his surgically repaired shoulder and recently injured foot were not to blame for his poor performance Thursday night, but he did take the blame for his team's 20-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"Through my lens, it's hard to look defensive guys in the eyes after a game like this," said Newton, who completed 25 of 51 pass attempts for 333 yards and no touchdowns as the Panthers fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2013. "Offensively, we didn't hold up our end of the bargain.
"All fingers are just pointing back to me specifically on offense.''
Newton had 15 off-target throws -- 10 that were overthrown, five underthrown -- the most since Chicago's Mitchell Trubisky in Week 7 last season and the second most in a game for the 2015 NFL MVP's career, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
In two games, Newton has completed only 61% of his passes to receivers with 3-plus yards of separation, the second-worst percentage in the NFL and down from his 86% last season.
Newton in particular against the Bucs was bad with pressure. He was 0-for-10 when under duress, with three sacks. That was the most such passes he has had in his career without a completion.
"I have to be better," Newton said. "No matter what physical condition I'm in. No matter what foot, shoulder ... I didn't get the job done, and it's frustrating. I wish I could say something other than that, but that's the fact. I'm a brutally honest person with people, and I'm a brutally honest person with myself. And it's time for me to look myself in the mirror and do some real soul-searching, because I had opportunities tonight, and I didn't get it done."
Newton in January underwent shoulder surgery for the second time in three offseasons. He didn't throw most of this offseason, but he wasn't limited in training camp other than planned time off.
Still, Newton's arm strength came under scrutiny after the opener, a 30-27 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams, because Newton had only one pass attempt longer than 20 yards and didn't have a completion longer than 17.
He vowed earlier in the week that the deep ball remained a part of his arsenal, and he seemingly proved it early Thursday night, completing a 44-yard pass to Curtis Samuel that traveled 38 yards in the air.
That was Newton's longest completion by yards in the air since the last game of the 2017 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
But on throws of 15 yards down field this season, Newton is 4-for-15 (27%) with no touchdowns. He has five interceptions on those balls in his past eight starts, all of which were losses -- six straight losses before being shut down the final two games last season and two consecutive defeats to open this season.
"We're making something that seems to be simple harder than it is,'' Newton said. "I don't know what it is. I haven't tasted a win in so long, and I'm not going to make it personal about me.
"It's time for us to accept responsibility, which I am, and move forward.''
It's not just his throwing that has been an issue. Newton, who has more rushing yards than any quarterback in the league since he was drafted No. 1 in 2011, hasn't been a threat out of the read-option that he has run most of his career.
In two games, he has five carries for minus-2 yards. He had two carries for no yards against Tampa Bay.
On two fourth-and-1 plays on which Newton used to be close to automatic with the quarterback sneak, he threw an incompletion and was a decoy for running back Christian McCaffrey in the Wildcat formation with the game on the line at the Tampa Bay 2-yard line with 1:21 left.
With Newton not a threat to run, the Bucs stacked the front to stop McCaffrey, who was limited to 53 total yards after having 209 in the opener.
"I don't know," Newton said when asked why his number is not being called in those situations. "I can't answer that question."
Newton didn't blame offensive coordinator Norv Turner for the playcalling, insisting it's up to him to execute whatever is called.
"I say it all the time," Newton said. "Sometimes, you find yourself in a blender, and the only person that can get yourself out is yourself."
It was a day full of action even though the main draw in the women’s singles event does not start until Friday 13th September.
Men’s Singles: Round One
…………Zhang Kai of the United States, who had gained the one available “Lucky Loser” spot, beat Japan’s Koki Niwa, the top seed (11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 2-11, 11-8).
…………Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy ended the hopes of the host nation; he accounted for Marcelo Aguirre, the no.9 seed (7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4).
…………Returning to international action, Brazil’s Cazuo Matsumoto ousted Belgium’s Florent Lambiet, the no.15 seed (11-8, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8)
…………Adding to Brazilian success, Gustavo Tsuboi, the no.2 seed, overcame Argentina’s Nicolas Galvano (11-8, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8).
…………Austria’s Robert Gardos, the no.3 seed, imposed his authority on proceedings; he defeated Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez (15-17, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7).
…………Masataka Morizono, the no.4 seed, flew the flag for Japan; he beat Argentina’s Alexis Orencel (11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5).
…………Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador impressed; the no.13 seed, he ended the hopes of Romania’s in-form Cristian Pletea (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9).
…………Eric Jouti emulated his Brazilian colleague, he won the closest match of the round; he accounted for Chile’s Juan Lamadrid (9-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 14-12).
Men’s Doubles: Round One
…………Ecuador’s Alberto Miño and Emiliano Riofrio caused the biggest shock; they beat Belgium’s Martin Allegro and Florent Lambiet, the no.2 seeds (13-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6).
…………Brazil’s Cazuo Matsumoto and Gustavo Yokota upset the order of merit; they overcame Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Angel Naranjo, the no.6 seeds (11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8).
…………The combination of Japan’s Masataka Morizono and Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej, the top seeds, emerged successful but they were tested; they came perilously close to defeat in the fourth game against Italy’s Leonardo Mutti and Niagol Stoyanov (10-12, 11-2, 10-12, 15-13, 11-6).
Women’s Doubles: Round One
…………Argentina’s Agustina Iwasa and Mexico’s Yadira Silva caused the only upset; they accounted for Chile’s Judith Morales and Valentina Rios, the no.8 seeds (11-7, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11, 13-11).
…………It was farewell for the host nation; Melina Hermosilla and Fatima Martinez experienced defeat at the hands of Argentina’s Camila Arguelles and Ana Codina, the no.3 seeds (12-10, 11-1, 11-5).
…………The top three seeded pairs were not called to action; each received a direct entry to the quarter-finals.
Mixed Doubles: Quarter-Finals
…………Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy and Caroline Kumahara, the no.8 seeds, beat Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej and Barbora Balazova, the top seeds (8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6) to book their place in the semi-final. They meet Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Camila Arguelles, the no.4 seeds.
…………In the opposite half of the draw, Chile’s Juan Lamadrid and Paulina Vega, the no.7 seeds, recorded a quarter-final success against Mexico’s Marcos Madrid and Yadira Silva, the no.2 seeds (7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8); they now face Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador and Adriana Diaz, the no.2 seeds.
Under 21 Men’s Singles: Semi-Finals
…………Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes, the no.3 seed and Belgium’s Florian Cnudde, the no.2 seed, meet in the final.
…………Horacio Cifuentes beat Romania’s Cristian Pletea, the top seed (11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9); by the narrowest of margins Florian Cnudde overcame Martin Bentancor, the no.15 seed and also from Argentina (3-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11).
Under 21 Women’s Singles: Semi-Finals
…………Japan’s Maki Shiomi and Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi, the respective top two seeds, booked places in the final.
…………In the penultimate round Maki Shiomi beat Argentina’s Camila Kaizoji, the no.9 seed (11-5, 11-7, 11-6). Bruna Takahashi ousted Chile’s Daniela Ortega, the no.4 seed (12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9).
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has more weapons around him than at any point in his career. The 2015 NFL MVP and the offense won’t be limited because of Newton’s offseason shoulder surgery and a preseason ankle injury. The offense will be explosive.
These were things written and said coming out of training camp.
None have come to fruition, and because of that the Panthers’ season is on the brink of disaster after 20-14 prime-time loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and an 0-2 start.
The Bucs came out with a defensive formula other teams are sure to follow. Pressure Newton with blitzes, don’t worry about him as a threat to run out of the zone-read and gang up on running back Christian McCaffrey.
It worked beautifully. Newton was 0-for-10 under duress with three sacks and at one point in the fourth quarter the offense had a total of 30 yards on 19 plays inside Buccaneers territory, with 13 of those plays going for zero or negative yards.
"A lack of execution offensively," Newton said when asked what went wrong. "Through my lens, it’s hard to look defensive guys in the eyes after a game like this. Offensively, we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain."
McCaffrey, who had 53 total yards, was stopped a fourth-and-1 from the 2-yard line with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining, ending the Panthers' hopes. A week after looking like the best back in the league, he was a non-factor.
"That’s the things that’s most frustrating, having the talent and skill set we have and not putting up one touchdown," Newton said. “That’s just unfortunate. It starts with me. I’ve got to be better man. I’ve got to be better."
If this trend continues the Panthers won’t be a factor as a playoff contender.
Buy breakout performance: Kicker Joey Slye, nicknamed "Swole Tweeter" by Newton, was supposed to be a warm body to give Graham Gano’s sore plant leg a rest in training camp. He’s now the starting kicker and proving to be a good one. He had two field goals in the opener and connected on four against Tampa Bay, including a 54-yarder to end the first half. That the kicker is being written about here says a lot.
Troubling trend: Slow starts. The Panthers haven’t scored a touchdown in the first half of either game and have trailed in both. They have four field goals in the first two quarters and have been outscored 23-12. They’re fortunate it’s not worse.
QB breakdown: Newton said the deep ball was in his arsenal after attempting one pass (a 26-yard incompletion) and having no completions of longer than 17 yards in the opener. He proved that with a 44-yard completion to Curtis Samuel in the first quarter in which the ball traveled 38 yard. That was his longest since a completion to Devin Funchess in the last game of the 2017 season went 42 yards. But Newton, who finished 25-of-51 for 333 yards with no TDs and no INTs, wasn’t a part of the running game in the read-option, carrying twice for no yards a week after having a career-low minus two yards on three carries. Dreadful for the quarterback with more rushing yards than any other since 2011. This left McCaffrey a sitting duck and rendered the offense defenseless.
Silver lining: The last time the Panthers started 0-2 was 2013. They went on to a 1-3 start before reeling off eight straight wins to finish the regular season 12-4 and NFC South champs.
SEATTLE -- Mariners rookie Kyle Lewis has tied a major league record by hitting a home run in his first three games.
Lewis joined Trevor Story as the only players to accomplish the feat. Story connected in his first four games -- totaling six homers in that span -- for Colorado in 2016.
Lewis hit a solo drive in the fifth inning Thursday night against Cincinnati. He doubled and singled earlier in the game.
Called up Tuesday from Double-A Arkansas, Lewis got his first career hit that night when he homered in the fifth inning for Seattle's first hit against the Reds' Trevor Bauer. On Wednesday, he homered in the seventh to end Sonny Gray's no-hit bid.
They said they were in "active discussion" to find a later date for the tournament.
The announcement comes as Hong Kong braces itself for another weekend of protests.
Hong Kong police have not given permission for a rally scheduled for Sunday, but it is expected to take place anyway.
The protests first started in June, after the Hong Kong parliament proposed a new law that would have enabled suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to China.
Many in Hong Kong saw this as a sign of increasing mainland interference in the city's affairs.
City leader Carrie Lam has now withdrawn the bill but demonstrations have continued and have developed to include demands for full democracy and an inquiry into police actions.
All the background you need on the Hong Kong protests
Premier League referees' chief Mike Riley has accepted that there have been four clear errors with VAR since it was introduced at the start of the season.
Riley, who is the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and responsible for the implementation of VAR in England, told a Premier League stakeholders' meeting on Thursday that the system had enjoyed a positive start over the first four rounds of games -- but there was room for improvement.
Three decisions should have been changed by the VAR, while a fourth was missed completely by the official at the Stockley Park hub.
Bournemouth vs. Manchester City
City should have been awarded a penalty when David Silva was caught in the area by Jefferson Lerma.
Leicester vs. Bournemouth Youri Tielemans should have been shown a red card for a studs-up challenge on Callum Wilson.
Newcastle vs. Watford Fabian Schar's equaliser for Newcastle against Watford should have been disallowed, with VAR official Craig Pawson missing an Isaac Hayden handball.
West Ham vs. Norwich Tom Trybull's foul on Sebastian Haller should have been penalised and a penalty awarded to West Ham.
Other high-profile decisions not considered as mistakes were Harry Kane's penalty appeal for Tottenham against Newcastle, and Erik Lamela's alleged foul on Rodri in the area in Man City vs. Spurs.
VAR was not able to intervene and award Aston Villa a goal at Crystal Palace as referee Kevin Friend had already blown his whistle for a dive by Jack Grealish before the ball crossed the line, and as such play was already dead.
"Out of the four match rounds there's been some really good examples of where we've intervened," Riley told Sky Sports. "Six incidents where the VAR has advised the referee and we've got a better decision.
"What we've talked about this morning is the four instances where actually the VAR didn't intervene, and had we done I think it would have been a better understanding of the role the VAR plays in the game.
"They [the decisions] are all about the judgement of the VAR, the process we adopt, and us then discussing those with the clubs, with the players, with the managers to make sure that these are really examples where the VAR could have added benefit and intervened and helped the referee on the day."
Riley added that while the Premier League wants to ensure a "high bar so that we don't disrupt the flow of the game," there was a "clear and obvious error" in each of the cases. He insisted VAR remains a learning curve and that referees should have a better understanding over where the "high bar" is set in the future.
St Lucia Zouks 171 for 5 (Cornwall 75, Fletcher 47) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 170 for 5 (Phillips 58, Powell 44, Fawad 2-28) by five wickets
Chris Gayle and Andre Russell with the local side, Jamaica Tallawahs. What was the probability of St Lucia Zouks making a match of this in an away game? The odds may have been stacked against them, but Sabina Park rose to celebrate Rahkeem Cornwall's making as a T20 cricketer. The 28-year old biffed the season's second-fastest half-century, off 19 balls, that he converted to a 30-ball 75 as Zouks recorded their first win of the season on Thursday night, after a brief wobble.
Gayle zero, Phillips fifty
Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy struggled with no-ball issues, but managed to strike gold early when he had Gayle fending a lifter to the wicketkeeper off the fourth ball of the match to set the tone early. But the Zouks were under fire as Glenn Phillips, the New Zealand wicketkeeper, and Rovman Powell set the stage on fire with some exhilarating hitting.
Phillips likes to stay leg side and get besides the line, not behind. His stance resembles that of a baseball slogger, the bat moving behind his back in little arcs as he meets the ball with tremendous bat speed. His batting can at times border on the unorthodox, but when they come off, it looks mighty impressive like it did on Thursday. His 34-ball 58 courtesy eight fours and a six and a third-wicket stand of 87 with Powell that took just 43 balls set Tallawahs up for a mammoth total.
The Russell blow that tilted the scales
At the halfway mark, Tallawahs were superbly placed at 108 for 2. Zouks looked out of depth until the quick wickets of Powell and Phillips got them back into the game. Credit for that should go to Australia legspinner Fawad Ahmed, who cleverly varied his lengths and used his gentle drift to build pressure with dot balls that led to both of them falling to big strokes.
It also helped that the catching was top notch. Powell was out to a screamer when Colin de Grandhomme stuck his right hand upwards to get his hands on the ball at long-off and then lobbed it up as momentum took him beyond the ropes. Then he regained composure to nonchalantly come back into the field of play to complete the catch.
When they made 242 two nights ago against Patriots, Tallawahs raised their hundred in just 12 overs. Here, they got there in the 10th over. The stage was set for the Russell show, but it looked like Zouks had a plan, and that was to target him with short balls on the body, a tactic many IPL sides have tried with a fair degree of success. Hardus Viljoen bowled a heavy ball - back of length and into the body - as Russell looked to hook. In doing so, he took his eyes off the ball and was hit right below the right ear. A dazed Russell took a while to stand up and was stretchered off the field to hospital for CT scans, which later cleared him of serious injury.
This blow robbed the Tallawahs of momentum that came to grinding halt, as George Worker and Shamar Springer only managed a run-a-ball 33. They only managed 38 off the last six overs to give Zouks the momentum at the halfway mark.
Tallawahs' fielding shocker
The hosts didn't cover themselves in glory on the field. In the space of three deliveries, they dropped Cornwall and Andre Fletcher. First, Springer dropped a steepler running back from square leg to reprieve Cornwall on 18 after he mishit a Jerome Taylor slower delivery. Two balls later, in the fourth over, Oshane Thomas made a royal mess of a straightforward catch at third man with Fletcher on 15. In the next over, Chadwick Walton dropped a sitter at backward point to reprieve Cornwall for a second time, and then watched Fletcher club 10 off his next two deliveries in the over as the strike turned. By then, Zouks had raced to 64 for 0 in five overs.
Cornwall's game isn't conventional by any means. But it also isn't true that his game is only about wild slogging. Amid the occasional backing away to biff the ball, there's plenty of cricket sense and an air of disdain about his batting. The leg-side boundary was his favoured area as he cleared the ropes quite comfortably playing the pull shot. Up early against late swing, he struggled a touch but Taylor erred in length by trying to bowl into his body, only to see Cornwall back away and flick or pull. Against Worker's left-arm spin, Cornwall used his reach to hit straight and clear the ground, a sequence of 6,6,1 getting him to his third CPL fifty.
At the other end, Fletcher was in the mood for destruction. The flicks for six over deep square off Taylor having an air of disdain - looking straight on, head down and simply allowing his hand-eye coordination to twirl his wrists and pick the ball for six. He started like a bullet train, but quickly slipped into the role of a second fiddle as Cornwall unleashed himself in the 111-run opening stand off just 8.4 overs.
Zouks collapse but Fletcher sees them home
Thomas returned after his shocker in the field to pick up three quick wickets after a blazing start - Zouks slipped from 146 for 2 to 157 for 5, but the early damage that skyrocketed their run rate meant there was little hassle in getting home despite the wobble. Fletcher remained unbeaten on 47 when Thisara Perera muscled a six and four in his 5-ball 11 to hit the winning runs and give them their first win.
Georgia's school colors might be red and black, but many fans cheering for the No. 3 Bulldogs in Saturday's game against Arkansas State at Sanford Stadium are planning to wear pink.
A "pink out" is scheduled for Saturday's game (12 p.m. ET, ESPN2) to bring awareness to breast cancer research and to honor Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson's late wife, Wendy, who died Aug. 19 after a two-year battle with the disease.
Anderson thanked the Georgia fans for their support earlier this week.
"It's a completely genuine, classy gesture from people that don't know you. Very surprising and obviously very much appreciated," Anderson told reporters in Jonesboro, Arkansas. "Just caught me off guard, to be honest with you. Teared me up. I wasn't expecting it, and extremely flattered and thankful for those folks and so many others that have stepped up in so many different ways."
After taking a leave of absence following his wife's death, Anderson unexpectedly returned to the sideline for the Red Wolves' 43-17 win at UNLV last week.
A group called Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer, which was founded by Jay and Teresa Abbott of Douglasville, Georgia, is planning the "pink out." Their son, Chris, was playing football at Georgia when Teresa was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer in October 2003.
"After Teresa's clean bill of health, the entire Abbott family decided they wanted to do something to help fight this horrible disease and give back for all the blessing and support they received during the previous 18 months," the group's website says.
The charity has raised more than $750,000 for breast health imaging programs at local hospitals, according to its website.
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