Marnus Labuschagne will be one of three Glamorgan batsmen sent to play a 2nd XI county match to try and find form after a poor start to the Royal London Cup.

He has made 3, 15 and 1 in his first three one-day innings for Glamorgan with the team losing their opening three matches of the competition to leave them a tough ask to qualify for the knockouts.

Labuschagne will join fellow Queensland batsman Charlie Hemphrey and Kiran Carlson in playing against Somerset on Tuesday ahead of Glamorgan's next Royal London Cup match against Kent on Thursday.

"It's far better than netting and a great opportunity on a very good wicket," Glamorgan coach Matthew Maynard told BBC Sport Wales. "It'll give them [Labuschagne, Hemphrey and Carlson] an opportunity to score runs. You can play as well as anything in the nets, it doesn't always translate to the middle.

"Steve Waugh talked about how his mental resilience was developed by going back and playing grade cricket because he was expected to succeed and if the he failed, the opposition could take the micky for a long time.

"The three lads want to play. Four of our top seven batsmen are short of runs, hopefully they'll get an opportunity to score those runs and give them some confidence ahead of Thursday."

Labuschagne made a promising start to his Glamorgan spell, having signed as cover for Shaun Marsh, with a century on Championship debut against Northamptonshire, but in the one-day game he has enjoyed more success with ball than bat, collecting four wickets in three matches including 3 for 46 against Somerset.

He was one of the players left out of the Australia A squads to tour England with the selectors opting for most of those with county deals to continue them while the A-team one-day and four-day matches take place. Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said that county form would be considered equally along with how the A side performs.

"We have Joe Burns, Cameron Bancroft, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw, Peter Siddle and Daniel Worrall in our sights but they have not been included in the squad and will continue to play through this period with their county teams," Hohns said. "However, we have made it clear that strong form with their county teams will be taken into account for selection in the Ashes squad or the Australia v Australia A tour match."

Labuschagne is an incumbent member of the Test side having been recalled to face India in Sydney in January then played the two Tests against Sri Lanka, where he scored a maiden half-century in Brisbane, but he will face a challenge to retain his place in the squad for the Ashes with the return of David Warner and Steven Smith.

Soumya Sarkar's record-breaking unbeaten 208 propelled Abahani Limited to their 20th Dhaka Premier League title on the last day of action in Bangladesh's domestic season.

Thanks to Soumya's blazing innings, Abahani topped Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club's 317 for 9 easily, winning by nine wickets and getting there with 17 balls in hand. In the process, Soumya became the first Bangladesh batsman to score a double-century in a List A game.

The 20th title, meanwhile, helped Abahani stretch their lead over Mohammedan Sporting Club in the overall DPL trophy-winners' list: they now have 12 more than their old rivals' 12.

Soumya struck 14 fours and 16 sixes in his 153-ball knock, mostly peppering the long-on, long-off and midwicket boundaries at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) No. 3 Ground, where he struck 106 in the previous game as well.

Chasing a big target in the List A game, Soumya and Jahurul Islam put up 312 for the first wicket, now a record for any wicket in the format in Bangladesh, to put their team within a stroke of victory.

Jahurul's 100 off 128 balls included seven fours and three sixes, but he was largely a support act for Soumya, who finished the game with his seventh six off Taijul Islam. He also struck legspinner Minhajul Abedin Afridi for four sixes, Nasir Hossain and Elias Sunny for two each, and Mehrab Hossain for one.

The win put Abahani on 26 points from 16 games, the same as Legends of Rupganj, who beat Prime Bank Cricket Club by 88 runs in their final game, which was played simultaneously. But Abahani's superior net run-rate (0.866 to 0.517) helped them to the top of the table. Had Rupganj beaten Abahani in their previous game, they would have lifted the trophy for the first time.

In the other Super League encounter of the day, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club beat Mohammedan by three runs to finish third on the table.

Uttara Sporting Club and BKSP have been demoted, while Brothers Union survived the playoffs. They will now play in the Dhaka First Division Cricket League, from which Old DOHS Sports club and Partex Sporting Club earned promotion to the 2019-20 Dhaka Premier League.

Quarterback Russell Wilson, fresh off signing a four-year, $140 million contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks, is thanking each of his offensive linemen with $12,000 in Amazon stock, ESPN confirmed on Monday.

TMZ was first to report the gifts.

In a letter to all 13 of Wilson's linemen, the highest-paid player in the NFL expressed his gratitude toward the men who protect him on Sundays.

"You sacrifice your physical and mental well-being to protect me, which in turn allows me to provide and care for my family," Wilson wrote. "This does not go unnoticed and it is never forgotten."

Wilson went on to write that he wanted to give his linemen something that would have a lasting impact on their families' lives.

"You have invested in my life," Wilson wrote, "this is my investment into yours."

The 30-year-old Wilson reached an extension with the Seahawks that made him the highest-paid player in the league last week.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Houston Rockets center Clint Capela, who had perhaps his worst performance of the season in the Rockets' 107-91 Game 4 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday, told ESPN that he has been battling two respiratory illnesses during the series.

Capela, who missed a practice due to illness days before the series started, said he was diagnosed with adenovirus and a klebsiella infection during a Sunday visit to a Salt Lake City doctor, who prescribed medication and eye drops.

Capela, whose eyes were extremely bloodshot, was told it would be another four or five days before he would be fully recovered.

"It's tough, man," Capela told ESPN after being held to four points on 1-of-6 shooting and seven rebounds in the loss. "Especially when I try to breathe, it's hard. I'm just going to fight it the best that I can."

It was a season-worst scoring total for Capela, who averaged 16.6 points and 12.7 rebounds during the regular season. He grabbed fewer than seven rebounds only twice this season.

The Rockets were outscored by 20 points in Capela's Game 4 minutes. It was his second worst plus-minus of the season behind a minus-22 in a Dec. 6 loss in Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY -- "Determination over negativity" isn't just a marketing slogan for Donovan Mitchell's Adidas signature shoe. It's a mantra for the young Utah Jazz star.

So Mitchell wasn't thinking about how much he had struggled during this Western Conference playoff series when the fourth quarter of Game 4 began with the Houston Rockets leading by four points. He just wanted to make sure the Jazz got to board a flight to Houston the next afternoon.

"I'm not trying to go home," Mitchell told ESPN after scoring 19 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter of the Jazz's series-extending 107-91 win Monday night. "I'm not trying to watch the rest of these games from the couch."

Mitchell made sure the Jazz's season didn't end by single-handedly outscoring the Rockets 19-12 in the final quarter. He had a flurry of 13 points during a 15-1 run in the first few minutes of the frame that gave Utah the lead for good.

Mitchell struggled mightily as the Rockets put the Jazz in jeopardy of being swept, shooting 32.8 percent from the floor in the first few games of the series, including missing a wide-open 3-pointer that would have tied the score in Game 3 with eight seconds remaining. Mitchell's misery continued for most of Game 4, as he missed nine of his first 12 shots from the floor.

Mitchell started to warm up when he made a couple of driving layups in the third quarter, just before he got a breather for a few minutes at the end of the period.

"That's when I realized that I had to continue to be aggressive," Mitchell said. "I thought they were fouls, and they weren't, and I've got to be able to fight through contact. I said, 'All right, you're not getting nothing. You've got to be able to be even more aggressive.'"

Mitchell came out firing to start the fourth quarter, with Rockets guard Eric Gordon, his nemesis all series, resting to begin the period. Mitchell swished a 3-pointer from the left wing off a feed from Ricky Rubio on the first possession. After a Rubio floater gave the Jazz a lead, Mitchell scored 11 consecutive points -- hitting a pretty turnaround jumper after a spin move in the lane, knocking down a pair of free throws, getting a shooter's roll on a 30-footer in transition and punctuating the run with a pull-up 3.

"The confidence level goes from zero to 100," Mitchell said. "Well, I wouldn't say zero, but it just goes up crazy. For me, the biggest thing is maintaining your composure. Not just going to shoot because you can, but being able to make the right plays. I think what I was most happy with was that I didn't settle. I kept getting into the paint.

"My teammates obviously just having my back is huge, continuing to fight, fight, fight and just [encouraging me] to take the same shots I've been taking, not shying away because of my struggles."

The Jazz had been outscored by 11 with Mitchell on the floor through the first three quarters. He was plus-19 in the fourth quarter, when he was 6-of-12 from the floor, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

"We made some mistakes," said Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team was 4-of-20 from the floor and 0-of-13 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter. "Left him one time on a penetration and he hits a 3. We didn't square up on another penetration, it's a layup. Just, it's us. I mean, it's him, too. I mean, he's good. He's gonna get rolling, so I'm mot worried about that if we do what we're supposed to do, but we didn't."

Mitchell scored more points in Monday's fourth quarter than he had in the final frames of the Jazz's three losses in the series. He had 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the first quarter of the previous three games.

"We know he's a winner," said Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who along with Derrick Favors anchored a dominant defensive performance. "It was hurting him a lot, too, after those bad games. I knew that he was gonna come out ready tonight, and he did."

Jazz reserve guard Kyle Korver felt so strongly about Mitchell after Game 3 that he made a lengthy statement without prompting in support of the second-year guard, saying he'd never seen anyone as young as the 22-year-old take ownership of a team with such charisma and class. Korver said then that the missed 3 that would have tied the game would just be part of Mitchell's journey.

Now, so is a spectacular scoring flurry in the fourth quarter to help the Jazz avoid a sweep.

"Anyone who's spent any significant amount of time with him knows that his character is as high as his talent level," Korver told ESPN. "Things happen in playoff series. We're all on this learning curve. He's early in his postseason career. It's only his second year, but this is who he is. Tough night the other night, right? It was a hard one, but we all knew that he was going to bounce back.

"And he didn't start off this game well. He didn't really get going until the fourth quarter, but every single person in our locker room had confidence that when the game was on the line, he was going to take the shots and he was going to make them."

DETROIT -- The last time the Milwaukee Bucks danced out of the first round of the playoffs, Giannis Antetokounmpo had yet to pick up a basketball.

It was 2001, Ray Allen was lighting up the court against the Philadelphia 76ers. Antetokounmpo was 7 years old and half a world away.

Fast forward 18 years.

The Bucks, led by playoff career-high 41 points from Antetokounmpo, defeated the Detroit Pistons 127-104. With the win, the Bucks completed a first-round sweep of Detroit. Milwaukee won the first game of the series 121-86, the second 120-99 and the third 119-103. Before Monday night, the Bucks had lost eight straight first-round playoff series.

"It's a good night for Milwaukee," coach Mike Budenholzer said. "It's a good night for the Bucks."

The celebrations were not overwhelming. A crowd of Bucks fans -- some holding up a Greek flag -- lollygagged, screaming "MVP" in Antetokounmpo's direction. As he exited the court, Antetokounmpo high-fived Milwaukee's general manager, Jon Horst, and the team owners.

In their postgame interviews, Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe vowed to celebrate over cards on the plane back to Milwaukee.

"Hopefully I'll win a poker game and take some of Giannis' money," Bledsoe said, giggling. "We know Bud will come with a great game plan, so we will leave it up to Bud to stress over."

The Pistons didn't relent easily. Coach Dwane Casey swapped Luke Kennard out of the starting line up in place of Bruce Brown, giving Detroit's second unit a shooting boost. The Pistons built a double-digit lead early in the first quarter. But by the end of the period, their lead had been slashed to two. The two teams exchanged points in the second quarter -- the lead bobbling back and forth.

At the half, the Pistons led by six. The Bucks found their stride in the middle of the third quarter. The Pistons were plagued by foul trouble and sent the Bucks to the free throw line 16 times in the third quarter alone. By the end of the third, Detroit's advantage had disappeared. Less than one minute into the fourth, the Bucks had built a 15-point lead.

From there, Blake Griffin fouled out and the Bucks never looked back.

"We just had to weather the storm," Bledsoe said. "At the end of the day, they didn't want to get swept. We knew they was going to come out aggressive."

While players were clearly excited to have won, there was also a feeling of inevitability that hung in the locker room. The Bucks had, after all, swept the Pistons in the regular season and beat them by double digits in every game. With the Game 4 win, the Bucks tied the 1986 Lakers for the second-highest point differential in a series sweep in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Milwaukee was also the second team in postseason history to win their first four playoff games by at least 15 points, joining the 1980 Celtics.

The Bucks have said all the right things this series: that they are determined not to get ahead of themselves. Players said they are taking the playoffs one game at a time. Budenholzer said he found no solace in the fact that his team swept the Pistons in the regular season, and that they are not focused on what will happen in the second round because they needed to take care of business against the Pistons first. Now business is taken care of and it's on to the next one.

The Boston Celtics loom ahead.

Last year, the Celtics were the Bucks' playoff death knell. Milwaukee fell to Boston in a seven-game series -- the last of which took place at TD Garden. Bledsoe struggled in that series, shooting just 44 percent from the field.

This year's Boston/Milwaukee series will have some new faces. The Bucks added Brook Lopez to their starting lineup and signed veteran depth with George Hill and Nikola Mirotic. Last year, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving were sidelined with injuries for the Celtics.

At least for one night, the Bucks say they will try to put off worrying about their future opponent.

"We're going to enjoy this win tonight," Bledsoe said. "And worry about them tomorrow."

After only one season on the job, Igor Kokoskov was fired as coach of the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.

The timing on the dismissal of Kokoskov, the first European-born NBA head coach, was partly rooted in a desire to compete against the Los Angeles Lakers in pursuit of Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams, league sources told ESPN.

"After extensive evaluation, I determined it is best to move in a different direction with our head coaching position," Suns general manager James Jones said in a news release. "I want to thank Igor for his work this past season and wish him the best with his future endeavors."

The Lakers are planning on a second meeting with Williams later this week, assuming the Sixers defeat the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday to end their first-round series. The Lakers are also planning a second interview with Tyronn Lue.

The Suns have a stable of young talent that could grow to include the possible selection of Duke forward Zion Williamson or Murray State guard Ja Morant in the upcoming NBA draft. Also, Jones played under Williams in his time as a Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach, and new senior VP of basketball operations Jeff Bower hired Williams as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans in 2010.

Kokoskov is considered a superior offensive teacher of the game but fell victim to a roster devoid of point guards and organizational dysfunction that has turned the franchise into a coaching graveyard. Kokoskov started three rookies in 36 games this season, with the Atlanta Hawks the next-highest team in games starting three rookies, with four.

The Suns' next coach will be their seventh in an eight-season span.

The Suns finished tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second-worst record in the NBA at 19-63. The New York Knicks were 17-65. Phoenix was an NBA-worst 21-61 a year ago.

Since 2012-13, the Suns are 199-375, tied with the Orlando Magic for the worst record in the NBA in that span.

Information from ESPN's Stats & Information was used in this report.

A new lawsuit alleges that new Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton sexually assaulted a woman sometime before being named coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in April 2016.

The civil lawsuit, first reported by TMZ and confirmed by ESPN, alleges that Kelli Tennant, a former host on Spectrum SportsNet LA -- the Lakers' regional sports network -- received an unwanted physical advance by Walton at a Santa Monica, California, hotel room.

The suit alleges that Tennant, who had a working relationship with Walton stemming from his time as a guest analyst on Spectrum, met with him at the Casa Del Mar Hotel to drop off a copy of her book, for which he provided the foreword, when he was in town on a road trip as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.

According to the legal documents obtained by ESPN, Walton allegedly invited Tennant to his room so they wouldn't be seen together by any Warriors players. He then allegedly pinned Tennant to the hotel bed and forcibly kissed and groped her.

The suit also alleges that in May 2017, sometime after the hotel incident occurred, Walton "forced an aggressive hug" and made a lewd remark about Tennant's outfit at a charity event the two attended.

The Lakers said they were never told of the allegations when Walton was their coach and had no additional comment because he now works for another team.

"At no time before or during his employment here was this allegation reported to the Lakers," the statement read. "If it had been, we would have immediately commenced an investigation and notified the NBA. Since Luke Walton is now under contract to another team, we will have no further comment."

The Kings released a statement on Monday night regarding the alleged incident.

"We are aware of the report and are gathering additional information," the statement said. "We have no further comment at this time."

The Warriors said they were also "aware of the alleged incident" and gathering additional information. The team had no other comment.

The NBA has opened an investigation of its own, sources told ESPN.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Tennant's lawyer declined to say whether she reported the alleged assault to police.

Walton "mutually parted ways" with the Lakers earlier this month, according to the team, and was hired by the Kings the next day.

Team sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that the alleged incident occurred well before Walton joined the Lakers. "No one ever reported it to the team," a source said. "And that is not why the team parted ways with him."

BALTIMORE -- For catcher Jesus Sucre, less was more.

Pitching in the ninth inning of the Baltimore Orioles' 12-2 loss on Monday night, Sucre relied exclusively on soft stuff to retire the top of the Chicago White Sox's lineup in order. The 30-year-old backstop needed just nine pitches to set down Leury Garcia, Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu, who had combined to go 5-for-13 with a home run and five RBIs through the first eight innings. Sucre induced infield grounders from Garcia and Moncada, then got Abreu on a fly out to right field to end the frame.

MLB Statcast classified all of Sucre's pitches as breaking balls, presumably due to their velocity (or lack thereof). But after the game, the veteran catcher revealed that eight of the nine pitches he threw were fastballs.

"It's more easy for the hitters if you throw harder," said Sucre, whose mound appearance on Monday was the sixth of his career. Previously, his fastball had been clocked as fast as 90.3 mph.

"If you don't throw hard, it's going to be hard for the hitters," he said.

Against the White Sox, Sucre's hardest pitch checked in at 69.3 mph. His softest offering was his only curveball, a 53.6-mph spinner that he threw to Moncada.

Sucre became the ninth position player to pitch in the majors this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. He joins Dodgers catcher Russell Martin and Indians backstop Kevin Plawecki as the only non-hurlers to record 1-2-3 innings.

The Orioles, who have already sent utility man Hanser Alberto and first baseman Chris Davis to the hill this year, are the only team that has used multiple position players to pitch. Davis took the mound on Saturday in the finale of a doubleheader sweep in which the Orioles lost 16-7 to the Minnesota Twins.

"We've been having tough games the last couple days," said Sucre, whose team has lost five of its past six contests, and 14 of its past 18. "I'm here to help my guys."

Prior to this season, the O's had used emergency hurlers a total of nine times in 65 seasons since coming to Baltimore. After Monday's loss to Chicago, the last-place Orioles have a 6.37 team ERA that ranks last in the majors.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- For the first time in his professional career, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos played the infield.

It didn't take long for him to look like he had already been there before.

Bourjos pulled off web-gem wizardry in the top of the 13th inning Monday night of a 4-3, 14-inning loss when, while playing second base for the first time in his career, he dove to his left to stop a hard-hit ground ball from speedy New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner.

Upon recording the out, Bourjos got his share of sarcastic cheers and claps from teammates in the home dugout.

Even his opponents were impressed.

"First of all, to get to it, knock it down, and I thought for sure like, 'How is he going to be able to know how to make that touch throw?' And he did," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, a former major league infielder himself. "Tough play."

Bourjos' infield appearance was but one of a litany of strange occurrences late in the extra-innings game. As the clock raced past 2 a.m. back on the East Coast, things got wacky.

In addition to Bourjos playing out of position, the Angels -- out of position players when Bourjos entered the game in the 12th as a pinch hitter replacing designated hitter Kevan Smith -- were forced into trotting out a relief pitcher to serve as a pinch runner.

Ultimately, it didn't matter that righty reliever Felix Pena came in as a 12th-inning baserunner. One batter after he entered, the Yankees got out of a possible trouble with an inning-ending ground ball.

Pena made the rare basepath appearance in an American League game because third baseman Zack Cozart was forced to leave after injuring his neck running the bases. Cozart had just taken his turn around second when his teammate, Brian Goodwin, drove in another baserunner with a game-tying single.

As Cozart raced back to second base, where the Yankees threw behind him, he dove awkwardly into the bag. His helmet appeared to come off and hit him in the face just before his head smacked into Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu's shin. After a rather lengthy injury delay, Cozart came out of the game, replaced by Pena.

When it was time for the Angels to head to the field the next half inning, Pena's spot in the order was replaced by relief pitcher Luke Bard, who came on for the 13th. As a result, Bourjos' time as the DH was burned, meaning he had to enter the game on defense. Second base was where he was placed.

Pena wasn't the only Angels pitcher to enter late in a non-traditional role. In the 14th inning, with Los Angeles trailing by a run, starting pitcher Trevor Cahill came out to pinch-hit for Bard. It marked the first time an Angels pitcher had pinch-hit in an American League game since the DH was adopted in 1973.

Cahill, who fouled two pitches off Yankees reliever Jonathan Holder, struck out swinging to end the game.

"He put some good swings together," Holder said of Cahill. "It was definitely different seeing a pitcher up there."