Big Picture

Zimbabwe are a cricket team in desperate need of context; Bangladesh, one that is aching for a return to normalcy and stability. Bangladesh's first T20I match of the year, against an opponent they have dominated at home in recent years, should give them just the sort of soft landing they need in this tri-series ahead of what will likely be sterner challenges against Afghanistan, who are probably the favourites at this stage.

Hot on the heels of the Test defeat to Afghanistan, further ructions are at play in Bangladesh's cricket system, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board set to take charge of the next edition of the BPL after a fallout with the team owners. Shakib Al Hasan has grown increasingly frustrated in his captaincy tenure, and the T20 World Cup is just a year away. A win over Zimbabwe will go some way towards calming everything down a little bit for Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe, of course, do not have any global tournament on the horizon to look forward to. They are still under suspension, and both the men's and women's sides lost their places at the T20 World Cup Qualifiers as a result. The suspension opened up divisions in their squad that are yet to fully heal.

Zimbabwe enter the series without one of their most accomplished players as Sikandar Raza has been left out for 'disciplinary reasons' - a curious catch-all phrase that is yet to be fully explained. Their head coach, Lalchand Rajput, admitted that Raza will undoubtedly be missed, but he also underscored that Zimbabwe are a team in transition, with their eyes on the future. What that means for Raza's future remains to be seen. And with only three members of the squad aged 25 or under, and nine aged 30 or above, Zimbabwe do not appear to be in a huge rush to usher in a new era.

And first, they will say goodbye to the past. This series will be Hamilton Masakadza's last in national colours. A long-time servant of the game, Masakadza has struggled a little of late, amid tumultuous times, and will be desperate for his last games as captain to be happy ones. So, surely, will Shakib.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)

Bangladesh: LWLWW

Zimbabwe: WLTLL

In the spotlight

Since his teenage Test hundred on debut 18 years ago, Hamilton Masakadza has summited several statistical peaks for his team, and he will go out playing a format in which he blazed a trail for his country, holding several Zimbabwean records. But the last year has been a lean one in all formats: he has passed fifty only once in internationals - during the Sylhet Test the last time Zimbabwe visited Bangladesh. Runs at the top of the order will provide a fitting finale, as well as vastly improving his team's chances of success.

Shakib Al Hasan is Bangladesh's leading wicket-taker in this format over the last year, and is only narrowly behind Liton Das as their leading T20I run-scorer over the same time period. Indeed, he is central to Bangladesh's fortunes no matter the format, and in a sense the spotlight is always on him. Perhaps that is why he has become an increasingly reluctant captain. But there will be no let-up for him just yet, and Bangladesh will continue to look to Shakib as a leader with bat and ball, even if he doesn't have the captain's hat on.

Team news

Tamim Iqbal is still on R & R leave, so Bangladesh will have to cobble together a new opening pair for this series. But plenty of experience remains in the core of the middle order. There could be some new faces lower down, however, and Afif Hossain's three quick wickets for the BCB XI on Wednesday could see him picked ahead of Mosaddek Hossain, while pace bowler Yeasin Arafat may be in line for a T20I debut.

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Liton Das, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Afif Hossain, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Yeasin Arafat

Brendan Taylor kept wicket in Zimbabwe's warm-up match, and will likely take the gloves again, despite Zimbabwe having, somewhat bizarrely, two specialist wicketkeepers in the squad in Regis Chakabva and Richmond Mutumbami. The absence of Raza leaves a hole in the middle order but Timycen Maruma's outing against the BCB XI in the tour opener means he should fill the vacant slot ahead of either of the wicketkeepers. Chris Mpofu, Zimbabwe's leading wicket-taker in T20Is over the last year, didn't get a bowl in the warm-up, so he may well be left out of the series opener.

Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza (capt), 2 Brendan Taylor (wk), 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Timycen Maruma, 6 Ryan Burl, 7 Tino Mutombodzi, 8 Neville Madziva, 9 Kyle Jarvis, 10 Ainsley Ndlovu, 11 Tendai Chatara

Pitch and conditions

The T20 strip at the Shere Bangla Stadium has built a reputation for big scores in recent times: Bangladesh breached 200 here for the first time during West Indies' visit in December last year. This should be a good track to bat on, while probably offering a little more to the spinners than it will the quicks.

While the track might be conducive to exciting cricket, the weather may not. Rain is forecast in Dhaka in the morning and the evening. This being an evening game, wet weather is likely to be around.

Stats that matter

• Hamilton Masakadza's 1529 runs in this format are the most by a Zimbabwean, and almost twice as many as the man below him on the list, Elton Chigumbura. He also holds the record for most fifties (10), and most runs in a series - the 222 he scored over four games in Bangladesh in 2015/16.

• Craig Ervine is Zimbabwe's leading run-scorer in this format over the last year, with 211 runs at an average of 70.33

• The last time these two teams met in a T20 here, allrounder Neville Madziva inspired Zimbabwe to a win when Bangladesh seemingly had the match in the bag, spanking two sixes and a four in the final over to pull off a memorable heist

• Bangladesh have won five of the nine T20Is between these two sides

• Shakib Al Hasan is Bangladesh's leading run-scorer and wicket-taker against Zimbabwe in this format, with 185 runs at 37.00 and 12 wickets at 17.50 against them

Tennessee Titans defensive back Logan Ryan expressed his appreciation Wednesday to the Cleveland Browns for acting swiftly in banning the fan who doused him with beer at FirstEnergy Stadium last Sunday.

Problem is, the Browns appear to have banned the wrong fan.

A man named Eric Smith claiming he was banned by the Browns told WKYC in Cleveland that he wasn't even at the stadium, and that he was DJing at a wedding on Sunday instead.

I legit just got a got from the @Browns telling me I've been banned from the stadium for throwing the beer in Logan Ryan's face Sunday. I'm fairly certain I haven't been to a game since 2010.

— Eric Smith (@TheBeardedDJ) September 11, 2019

.@Browns pic.twitter.com/bTDWZd4Lxa

— Eric Smith (@TheBeardedDJ) September 11, 2019

Cleveland Music Group vs the Browns

I love Cleveland so much! ??? pic.twitter.com/GjtFjdeH65

— Eric (@EricGebhardt06) September 11, 2019

The Browns released a statement Wednesday night:

"Our investigation of the fan incident on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium remains ongoing. While we are continuing to gather information and have been in contact with multiple people as part of that process, we have not explicitly identified the individual involved or taken any formal action of punishment at this time. We will have no further comment until the investigation is complete."

British athletes win six gold medals on day seven of the European Masters Championships

After Tuesday’s rest day, it was a quiet return on Wednesday at the European Masters Championships in Italy. There were no track finals but Britain still won six gold medals.

Two of these were for former Olympians Ian Richards and John Watts, while there were additional golds for Evaun Williams and Joanne Willoughby.

Olympic 50km walker Richards had already won a 5000m title on the track and here he added the 10km road walk. His time of 49:32 gave him a two-minute win over Italy’s Ettorino Formentin.

In third place Peter Boszko won his second medal of the Games with a time of 53:06.

Richards won his third gold with the M70 team defeating Italy by over six minutes to win the team contest.

World Masters bronze medallist Noel Blatchford won Britain’s other walking gold in the W70 category.

It was close though as Blatchford’s 61:37 gave her just a seven second margin over Ukraine’s Antonina Tyshko.

Cath Duhig won her second medal in Italy with a bronze in the W60s in 57:08 and she also won a team silver with assistance from Ann Wheeler in sixth and Judy Howard in 12th.

Britain’s W50 team also won a bronze.

The fastest walkers overall were Netherlands’ M40 Rick Liesting and German M35 Andreas Janker (both 41:26) and German W40 Blanca Schenker (48:00).

Richards was not the only British Olympian to win gold and another, Penny Forse, had won gold in the earlier cross-country.

Watts, who threw in the Munich Olympics 47 years ago and has a PB of 59.70m in finishing second in that year’s Olympic trials, won his third medal of the championships but first gold.

The discus is his speciality though and after a no throw, he then threw the five longest throws of the competition, peaking with a 39.25m fifth round throw to go very close to his British record and within two metres of the world record. Germany’s Roland Heiler won silver with 32.59m.

Williams won her fourth gold in the W80 category.

Already in possession of the shot, discus and hammer titles, she added the javelin with a 26.64m throw to go within a metre of her world record.

Her worst throw was 23.83m and the best the opposition mustered was a 11.64m.

Another multi champion is Willoughby as she added the W55 long jump title to her triple jump won earlier in the week.

She only won by nine centimetres but produced a superbly consistent series of 4.56m, 4.66m, 4.57m, 4.50m. 4.69m and 4.63m to defeat Birgit Burzlaff of Germany’s 4.60m.

Melanie Garland jumped 4.50m for third.

Dougie Graham went one place better than the World Masters to win a M40 bronze in the pole vault with a 4.20m leap.

Other top overseas performances included Sweden’s M45 pole vaulter Jonas Asplund (4.70m).

In the 200m heats M80 Anthony Treacher (33.14), M65 Steve Peters (25.83) and W65 Caroline Powell (30.77) qualified fastest.

Powell’s nearest opposition for the final is seemingly fellow Brits Joylyn Saunders-Mullin (32.62) and Caroline Marler (33.46).

M35 100m champion Jonathan Browne (22.13) was a whole second faster than the other seven who made the final.

Qualifying fastest for the semi-finals were M60 John Wright (25.68) and M55 Don Brown (24.51).

In the 800m, Britain had the three fastest M50 finalists led by David Matthew (2:07:26), Dominic Bokor-Ingram (2:07.79) and 1500m champion Mark Symes (2:08.47).

European Masters 1500m champion Mark Symes wins his 800m heat to qualify for Friday’s final @emacvenice2019 pic.twitter.com/o27jYPdYDv

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) September 11, 2019

M60 1500m and 10,000m champion Paul Fletcher was third fastest in his heat (2:18.70) though top ranked former 1:45 international Paul Forbes pulled up injured.

In the W55s 1500m, cross-country and 10,000m champion Clare Elms (2:43.10) and 400m champion Virginia Mitchell (2:47.28) were fastest.

W40 1500m champion Zoe Doyle qualified third fastest in 2:18.67 behind Ireland’s Denise Toner (2:17.89) and Annette Quaid (2:18.34).

Thanks largely to the team golds, Italy are back in front of the medal table with 64 gold, 51 silver and 49 bronze to Germany’s 60, 64 and 59, Britain’s 46, 34 and 46 and Finland’s 27, 15 and 11.

Britain’s gold medallists Days 1-7

Clare Elms: W55 1500m, 10,000m, XC, XC team
Evaun Williams: W80 shot, discus, hammer, javelin
Ian Richards: M70 5000m walk, 10km walk, 10km team walk
Paul Fletcher: M60 1500m, 10,000m
Steve Peters: M65 100m, 400m
John Wright: M60 100m, 400m
Caroline Powell: W65 100m, 400m
Joanne Willoughby: W55 long jump, triple jump
Matt Barnes: M40 1500m
Ed Betts: M45 400mH
Norel Blatchford: W70 10km walk
Guy Bracken: M55 1500m
Ian Broadhurst: M65 300mH
Don Brown: M55 100m
Jonathan Browne: M35 100m
Gintas Degutis: M45 shot
Nisha Desai: W35 400mH
Zoe Doyle: W40 1500m
Lucy Elliott: W50 XC, XC team
Jean Fail: W70 200mH
Iris Holder: W75 triple jump
Jane Horder: W60 300mH
Andrew Leach: M55 10,000m
Virginia Mitchell: W55 400m
Julie Rogers: W55 300mH
Victor Shirley: M75 1500m
Mark Symes: M50 1500m
Ros Tabor: W70 1500m
Anthony Treacher: M80 Triple jump
John Watts: M80 discus
Team gold medallists not included above
Karen Rushton/Sue Ridley: W50 XC
Christine Anthony/Jane Pidgeon: W55 XC
Peter Boszko/Roger Mitchell: M70 10km walk

See @emacvenice2019 on Twitter.

Jose Mourinho has said Cristiano Ronaldo's mental and physical form is worthy of a case study.

The Juventus forward scored four goals as Portugal beat Lithuania in a Euro 2020 qualifier on Tuesday to increase his tally to 93 international goals.

- Euro 2020 qualifying: All you need to know

Ronaldo, who achieved his eighth hat trick in international football against Lithuania, surpassed Robbie Keane to become the all-time record scorer in European qualifiers on 25 goals.

"It doesn't surprise me," Mourinho, who coached Ronaldo at Real Madrid for three seasons, told Portuguese TV.

"At 34, he is top in the world, in a top team, in top condition. I'm not surprised whatsoever because genetically and mentally he is a case study.

"He is someone that only thinks about winning, about beating records, achieving more and becoming better. He is truly a phenomenon and it really doesn't surprise me."

Only Iranian legend Ali Daei with 109 has scored more goals in international football than Ronaldo.

Mourinho joked the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will continue scoring even after he retires.

"When he is 50 years old he will be at home and FIFA will invite him to a game of legends," Mourinho said. "He will play the game and score a goal. I am sure it will be like that."

Doing a fair impersonation of invincibility, Manchester City resume their quest for a third successive Premier League title at Norwich on Saturday.

Surprisingly, they have been held to 0-0 draws at Carrow Road on their last two league visits. You could get rich putting money on a repeat of that scoreline this time around.

The newly-promoted Canaries, a bold bunch, are quoted at 20-1 by bookmakers to win this weekend and that is a realistic assessment of their chances given the lethal attack of City and their own porous and inexperienced defence.

Nothing we have seen suggests any club other than Liverpool can possibly keep pace with Pep Guardiola's smooth operators. The recent 2-2 draw between Arsenal and Spurs, while thrilling, highlighted the flaws in both teams. Chelsea are easy on the eye but suspect defensively, and Manchester United look short of a creative No. 10 and a prolific goal scorer.

- Luck Index 2019: City unlucky, United worse than sixth?
- Ogden: Solskjaer, Poch among managers facing the most pressure

But might there just be one nagging worry for City? Aymeric Laporte's nasty knee injury, which will rob them of their first-choice central defender for four months, restricts options in a key area. It leaves John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi holding the fort and neither were automatic selections last year; Stones played 24 and Otamendi appeared in only 18 of 38 league games. Those statistics suggests neither are totally trusted by Guardiola, though he must tell us he has unswerving devotion to both.

City fans must be wishing they still had their inspirational leader Vincent Kompany to call on, but he has left for Anderlecht. Other options include the immensely talented but untried youngster Eric Garcia or, more likely, pushing defensive midfielder Fernandinho back into the defence. Even left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko can play more centrally at a push.

But this is not an ideal situation for a team likely to be allowed few slip-ups by a Liverpool side that lost only once last season.

Guardiola will certainly be keeping his fingers crossed for no further injuries in this area. Having pointed out that issue, it is more than probable that even if City do concede a few more goals with Laporte out, they will usually still score enough at the other end to keep winning.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have made a 100% start and show signs of hitting even higher gears. The sideline tantrum by Sadio Mane at Burnley though was surprising. He was apparently fuming about Mohamed Salah's greedy refusal to set him up when far better placed to score.

Was the incident a storm in a teacup, a little creative tension between fired-up players? Or was it a sign that the relationship between these two excellent strikers is a little strained? Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, of course, insists all is "cool," to use his favourite word.

In any event, it need not be a big deal. When Manchester United won their Treble 20 years ago, strikers Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole famously never spoke to each other off the pitch. There is nothing in the players' contracts that says they have to like one another. But it helps if they do.

In truth, we might be reaching at straws to find holes in two title-chasing teams when none actually exist.

The second season of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has been postponed to 2020 after the Afghanistan Cricket Board terminated the league's Sanction and Commercial Rights Agreement with Snixer Sports over failure to pay the complete rights fees and "risks for the integrity of the league posed by people connected to Snixer Sports". The tournament had been scheduled for October this year.

"The failure by Snixer Sports to pay the complete rights fees of the first edition as per the fees and payment schedule of the agreement, and concerns about risks for integrity of the league posed by people connected to Snixer Sports are the reasons for termination that form material breaches of the agreement," the ACB said in a statement.

The board also said that it had written to the Attorney General's Office of the Government of Afghanistan to "fully investigate the administrative allegations of corruption in the league" and that it remained committed to "ensuring transparency in all its affairs and is accountable to all stakeholders."

A tender for sanction and commercial rights to the second season of the league will be issued in due course.

Following the signing of the tournament's MoU in January last year, the first edition of the league was held between October 5 and 21 in Sharjah, UAE and featured a host of international names. Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russell, Brendon McCullum and Rashid Khan were picked as icon players by the five franchises, representing Paktia, Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar

The Afghanistan league is the second T20 league to run into problems in as many months. In August, the inaugural season of the Euro T20 Slam was cancelled, only two weeks prior to its scheduled start. The Euro T20 Slam organisers, led by Gurmeet Singh's Bombay Sports Limited and Woods Entertainment, the same group in charge of the Global T20 Canada, had run into increasing financial difficulties. The Global T20 Canada, too, faced issues, with player protests over unpaid wages.

The Live Report will bring you all the analysis, stats, news and reaction from the final Ashes Test. You can follow our ball-by-ball commentary by clicking here. If the blog doesn't load, please refresh your page.

The British team for the IAAF World Championships will now be 73-strong

Britain will field four athletes in the women’s 100m at the IAAF World Championships for the first time following the addition of Imani-Lara Lansiquot for the individual event in Doha, while Jazmin Sawyers has been selected for the long jump.

The team changes come after British Athletics accepted an IAAF invite for Sawyers based on her world ranking, while Lansiquot has been added to the 100m field as a result of the GB squad being granted a fourth spot following the already-selected Dina Asher-Smith’s Diamond League win in Brussels.

Diamond League winners receive a wildcard entry, meaning a fourth athlete could be picked and Lansiquot, who reached the European 100m final on her senior individual GB debut last summer and also won 4x100m gold, has been called up.

A previous team change sees Harry Aikines-Aryeetey replace CJ Ujah in the men’s 4x100m squad after world relay gold medallist Ujah was forced to withdraw with a back injury.

BRITISH TEAM SELECTED FOR THE IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS DOHA 2019

MEN
100m: Ojie Edoburun, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes
200m: Miguel Francis, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes
400m: Matthew Hudson-Smith, Rabah Yousif
800m: Elliot Giles, Kyle Langford, Jamie Webb
1500m: Neil Gourley, Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman
5000m: Andrew Butchart, Ben Connor, Marc Scott
3000m steeplechase: Zak Seddon
110m hurdles: Andrew Pozzi
400m hurdles: Chris McAlister
Pole vault: Harry Coppell
Triple jump: Ben Williams
Hammer: Nick Miller
Decathlon: Tim Duckworth
Marathon: Callum Hawkins
20km race walk: Tom Bosworth, Callum Wilkinson
50km race walk: Cameron Corbishley, Dominic King
4x100m:Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Ojie Edoburun, Miguel Francis, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
4x400m: Cameron Chalmers, Dwayne Cowan, Toby Harries, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Martyn Rooney, Lee Thompson, Rabah Yousif

WOMEN
100m: Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Daryll Neita, Asha Philip
200m: Dina Asher-Smith, Beth Dobbin, Jodie Williams
400m: Emily Diamond, Laviai Nielsen
800m: Alexandra Bell, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Lynsey Sharp
1500m: Sarah McDonald, Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie
5000m: Jessica Judd, Eilish McColgan, Laura Weightman
10,000m: Eilish McColgan, Steph Twell
3000m steeplechase: Elizabeth Bird, Rosie Clarke, Aimee Pratt
100m hurdles: Cindy Ofili
400m hurdles: Meghan Beesley, Jessica Turner
High jump: Morgan Lake
Pole vault: Holly Bradshaw
Long jump: Abigail Irozuru, Shara Proctor, Jazmin Sawyers
Shot put: Sophie McKinna
Heptathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Marathon: Tish Jones, Charlotte Purdue
4x100m: Dina Asher-Smith, Kristal Awuah, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Daryll Neita, Ashleigh Nelson, Asha Philip
4x400m: Finette Agyapong, Amy Allcock, Zoey Clark, Emily Diamond, Beth Dobbin, Laviai Nielsen, Jessica Turner, Jodie Williams

Move to attract more female coaches
By DONNA HELMER – Squash Mad Correspondent

Women’s Squash Week returns from September 23-29 to raise the profile of women’s squash across England and the world.

The week-long campaign will celebrate and showcase women’s squash at every level from playing to coaching and highlight the contribution women make to the sport.

England Squash, US Squash and the PSA Foundation have collaborated on this year’s campaign to encourage squash federations and players from around the world to get involved and engage more females.

England Squash is calling on everyone in squash and beyond to use this occasion to organise events and show their support to help women reach their full potential, whatever their involvement in the sport.

Building on the success of the Squash Girls Can campaign which has seen thousands of women and girls step on court, the week marks the launch of England Squash’s female coach development initiative, Squash Girls Can Coach which aims to advance and empower aspiring and existing female coaches.

In squash, women are under-represented in coaching with one in four being female. Squash Girls Can Coach is a 12-month structured initiative which will enable women to develop and excel in coaching, and benefit from the knowledge, experience and wisdom gained by some of England’s leading coaches, headed up by High Performance Coach Tania Bailey, the former World No.4.

To find out more about Women’s Squash Week, visit englandsquash.com/womenssquashweek 

Report by DONNA HELMER (England Squash). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of England Squash

Australia women 182 for 2 (Healy 61, Lanning 58*) beat West Indies women 180 (Knight 40, Schutt 3-24) by eight wickets

The final ODI of the three-match series between West Indies women and Australia women in Antigua played out in the much same way as the previous two games, with a dominant Australian performance sweeping aside the hosts, this time by eight wickets. Megan Schutt made history, becoming the first Australian to take an ODI hat-trick in women's cricket, before opener Alyssa Healy's blitz decisively shut West Indies out of the match. The 3-0 result helped Australia women surge past England women on the ICC Women's Championship table, and open up a four-point lead.

West Indies opted to bat, but their innings was defined by the batting slumps that usually followed promising partnerships. Kyshona Knight anchored the top order with a knock of 40, helping the side rebuild after the early loss of opener Reniece Boyce. But once she fell, West Indies lurched from 73 for 2 to 104 for 6 in the middle overs. A 64-run seventh-wicket partnership between Chinelle Henry and Sheneta Grimmond lifted them past 150 but only to lose their last four wickets in 12 runs. That slump included Schutt's last-over hat-trick, where she claimed the wickets of Henry, Karishma Ramharack and Afy Fletcher. Schutt, incidentally, was also the first Australia bowler to claim a women's T20I hat-trick.

Healy, coming into the match with scores of 122 and 58 in her last two innings, played another match-defining knock, smacking 11 fours and a six in a 32-ball 61. By the time she fell in the eighth over, Australia were scoring at nine an over and the experienced Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry then took charge of the chase and saw the side through with more than 18 overs to spare. Lanning, who had scored 121 in the first ODI, compiled an unbeaten 58 off 70 balls while Perry contributed 33 in their unbroken stand of 85. Earlier, Perry had dismissed Boyce to become only the third bowler to take 150 wickets in women's ODIs.

This was only the third time in 16 years that West Indies women failed to win a single match in a home ODI series: they had been swept 6-0 by Sri Lanka in 2003 and lost a three-match series 2-0 to England in 2013 when one game was washed out. It also followed a 3-0 loss they suffered on the tour of England in June, and the two whitewashes have kept them at the seventh place on the ODI Championship table.