France won the deciding doubles rubber to claim a first Fed Cup title since 2003 in Perth, Australia.

Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia beat Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-3 to seal a 3-2 victory, denying Australia a first Fed Cup in 45 years.

Earlier, Mladenovic defeated Barty in the singles but Ajla Tomljanovic to beat Pauline Parmentier and level.

"I'm the proudest man on the planet. I am going to have a lot of beers," said French captain Julien Benneteau.

"I'm so proud of my girls and my team. They deserve it because they fought for a long time for this title."

Mladenovic and Garcia embraced on the floor on the baseline after the winning point, with their team racing to pile on top of them as France won the Fed Cup for a third time.

"I'm not sure I've completely realised, because it's been a crazy weekend for everyone," Garcia said. "The doubles went very fast, but we played every point so focused, and we played a great match and it was very tense."

Australia have now lost the last nine Fed Cup finals they have played in.

The final marked the last Fed Cup played under the current format, with an overhaul next year seeing 12 nations compete in a six-day event in Budapest.

That will mean an end to home ties and the atmosphere they bring, with the 26,951 fans turning up over two days in Perth the second-highest Fed Cup attendance on record after Roland Garros (30,000) in 2005.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Jesse Love, Grant Duinkerken and Kalib Montgomery won their respective feature events at the George Snider Classic at the Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway on Saturday night.

Love bested 12 other POWRi-BCRA midgets in a 25-lap grind around the third-mile track. He started in the third spot in the Morris Racing No. 47m and passed early leader Robert Dalby. Love would finish ahead of Shannon McQueen and Terry Nichols.

Duinkerken led all 20 laps from the pole in the IMCA Western RaceSaver 305 feature. He would finish ahead of Grant Champlin and Monty Ferreria and would lap up to the sixth-place finisher Michael Pombo.

Montgomery would take the 30-lap wingless feature and finish in front of T.J. Smith and Ricky Kerkbride. Thirteen cars would take the green with added starters Pombo and Duinkerken who removed their wings from the preceding race and tagged the rear of the field.

Pombo would finish fifth while Duinkerken would take a seventh-place finish in cars which were prepared to run without their normal wings.

A standing-room-only crowd watched the event having come over at the conclusion of King of the Wing event at the adjoining half-mile paved track.

PERRIS, Calif. — Making his eighth start in the Budweiser Oval Nationals, C.J. Leary led the final 24 laps to win the 24^thannual event for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway.

It was a much-needed win for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship point leader and the crew of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Foxco Chevy in a myriad of ways.

It had been nearly nine months and 29 races since his most recent USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory. Ironically, Leary’s first win of the season came in the third race of the year in Ocala, Fla. Saturday’s victory at Perris came in the third race from the conclusion of the series campaign.

Secondly, it provided a boon to a team in the midst of a close championship battle where every position means everything.  Leary took care of that, earning max points with the win and gained 12 points on second-place Tyler Courtney in the title pursuit, 44 up, with two races remaining on the docket.

“Man, this is awesome,” Leary exclaimed. “This race, I feel like, has escaped me three or four times in the past. I got the 360 Oval Nationals deal done a long time ago, but this definitely takes the cake. The white eagle is my favorite trophy to win.”

Leary captured victory in the six lap, six-car Super Six dash to claim the pole position for the 40-lap main event. However, outside front row occupant Chase Stockon ripped the top of turns one and two to take the lead on the opening circuit where he’d remain for the first 16 trips around the half-mile until Leary utilized a drive off the bottom of turn two to grab the lead from Stockon on lap 17.

Leary opened up a three-car-length advantage over Stockon who was now involved in a tussle for second with Courtney, Brady Bacon and Chris Windom all under a proverbial blanket.  Courtney dipped into turn three underneath Stockon to gain the second spot on the 23rd go-around and set forth toward Leary.

Leary and Courtney, who swapped the lead between them four times in last year’s Oval Nationals final night feature, resumed their wrestling match in traffic for the top spot.

On the 26th lap, Courtney almost parked it as he closed abruptly on Leary’s tail tank at the entrance of turn three.  Courtney slid sideways above the cushion, losing second and third in the ensuing two laps to Stockon, then Bacon.

Thursday and Friday Perris winner Bacon was suddenly the man on the move as he began to track down Stockon for the second position until lap 29 when, unrelatedly, Max Adams came to a stop in turn two, necessitating a yellow flag.

As Stockon slowed for the yellow, the trailing Bacon ramped over Stockon’s left rear wheel and slid backwards to a stop without making wall contact. However, his bid for an Oval Nationals sweep was denied.

Down the stretch, several cautions wreaked havoc on Leary’s flow with a flat right rear on teammate Logan Seavey’s ride on lap 31, an Austin Liggett turn four flip on the 35th lap, a Justin Grant turn four spin on lap 37 and a debris caution for the exodus of bodywork on the nose of Damion Gardner’s silver bullet.

However, each time a stoppage occurred, Leary was superb on the restart, jaunting out to a three to four-car-length advantage each time, which no other seemed to have an answer for.

Chris Windom had worked his way underneath Stockon on the 33rd lap to get into contention with Leary, yet had to contend with preserving his second spot from the onslaught of attacks from both Stockon and Gardner in the waning laps, which went all to Leary’s benefit as he closed out his ninth career series victory with a 1.624-second interval over Windom, Gardner, Stockon and Courtney.

“I never really thought we would’ve just run the bottom the whole time, but figured we’d make the switch to the top and I just kept pulling away. Davey was giving some good hand signals from the trailer,” Leary recalled. “He and I put a lot of time into these racecars and to come out here and win this one is (sweet).”

Windom finished second.

“We’re definitely happy, but it’s a little frustrating,” Windom admitted. “I feel like we run second or third every year and have some sort of issue that puts us starting in the fourth or fifth row. Overall, we’ve overcame a lot in the last 24 hours. Everybody on this team has done a phenomenal job all weekend to get us here.”

Three-time Oval Nationals victor Damion Gardner came away with a third-place run, continuing his streak of top-10 finishes on Saturday night of the event to 11 years.

“It’s points, it’s winning the Oval Nationals, all the cautions and running out of fuel is always a concern, then the hood blew off.  I was really worried that would be the two laps I needed to finish the race,” Gardner said. “Last year, we literally sputtered to the checkered and that was a lot of drama there, so I was worried about that.”

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Sophie Devine's unbeaten 56-ball 85, featuring five sixes in the 20th over of the Adelaide Strikers,/b> innings, helped set up their 17-run win over Melbourne Stars at the Karen Rolton Oval.

The 31-run last over, bowled by legspinner Madeline Penna, took Strikers to 164 for 4 after Devine - who became only the second player to achieve the WBBL career double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets - and compatriot Suzie Bates added 54 runs for the opening wicket.

Devine's onslaught not only spoiled Penna's figures - until then, she had conceded only 19 in three overs - but also ensured Stars were set a target that would warrant substantial contributions from their batters. However, save for a 41-ball 52 and 51-ball 70 from the South African pair of Lizelle Lee and Mignon du Preez respectively, no Stars batter was able to get into double-digits.

After Devine struck second ball of her opening spell, removing captain Ellyse Vilani for 1 in the second over, Lee and du Preez put on 112 runs for the second wicket. But Lee's dismissal by Bates in the final ball of the 15th over triggered a collapse, during which the visitors lost seven wickets for 32 runs. Devine and Bates took two wickets apiece, while Amanda-Jade Wellington returned 3 for 31 to help Strikers climb to the top of the table as Stars remained stuck at the bottom.

Melbourne Renegades completed a double against Hobart Hurricanes at Junction Oval, a day after Renegades captain Jess Duffin had guided them to a win in a last-ball thriller against the same opponents.

Renegades' victory on Sunday, though, was starkly different: they beat Hurricanes by eight wickets with 26 balls to spare, thanks to a 62-run second-wicket stand between Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt in a 109-run chase.

Wyatt struck the winning single in the 16th over to complete an unbeaten 44-ball 54, in the company of Duffin, who finished on 6. Medium-pacer Belinda Vakarewa, who returned figures of 2 for 16 from her four overs, was the only Hurricanes bowler to be among the wickets, removing opener Sophie Molineux and then Beaumont for a 32-ball 37.

With the bat, too, Hurricanes showed little spark. After being sent in, they lost their openers inside the first two overs, and only Heather Knight reached the 20-run mark. Five other batters got into double figures, but failed to convert them into substantial scores as Player of the Match Molly Strano returned her season best 3 for 19, ably supported by Molineux and Maitlan Brown, who gave away 24 and 19 runs respectively for two wickets apiece.

Perth Scorchers, too, accomplished their second straight victory after Sydney Thunder fell short of a 152 chase by seven runs at the Karen Rolton Oval.

That, despite losing the toss, Scorchers were able to post 151 for 5 was down, in part, to batters Georgia Redmayne, Natalie Sciver and Heather Graham, all of whom made 30-plus scores. The trio's contribution came in the wake of openers Amy Jones and Meg Lanning falling to the fast-bowling tandem of Shabnim Ismail and Rene Farrell inside the powerplay.

Redmayne (35 off 35) and Sciver (37 off 22) put on a 59-run third-wicket stand, but fell within five balls of each other. From 88 for 4, Graham lifted Scorchers past 150 with a 20-ball 33, which included two fours and as many sixes, aided by Nicole Bolton's run-a-ball 16 and Jemma Barsby's 7-ball 11.

Solid contributions from the top four, including a 20-ball 30 from opener Naomi Stalenberg and a 27-ball 29 from No. 4 Alex Blackwell, meant Thunder needed 51 off 32. However, after Blackwell was dismissed by Kim Garth, Player of the Match Graham took the next threeThunder wickets in only eight balls across two overs, the slide leaving No. 3 batter Tahlia Wilson stranded on an unbeaten 39-ball 47, Scorchers clinching the game by seven runs.

England's fringe players have "raised the benchmark" for those rested from the T20I series in New Zealand, according to captain Eoin Morgan.

At least five first-choice players were rested from the T20 leg of the tour, with Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer all likely to be in England's first-choice XI come the T20 World Cup in Australia next year.

With Mark Wood, David Willey and Joe Root also missing out, there were opportunities for six debutants in the T20 series, as well as those who have been in and out of the national team over the past four years, like James Vince, Sam Billings and Dawid Malan.

And Morgan said that the new faces in the side had created a selection headache ahead of the three-match series in South Africa in February.

"It creates a really good headache for us when it comes to selection," Morgan said.

"We are further ahead than we thought and the guys on this tour who will probably miss out on South Africa have raised that benchmark for guys who come back in.

"They are now almost expected to score runs and expected to do well because of opportunities given and taken by these guys."

Morgan had the opportunity to see one of those fringe players up close in the fourth T20I, when he shared a 182-run partnership with former Middlesex team-mate Dawid Malan.

ALSO READ: Will England dare to leave Malan out again?

Malan struck an unbeaten 103 off 51 balls, meaning he has passed fifty in six of his nine T20I innings. That knock took his average in the format to 57.25, but he came in for thinly-veiled criticism in Morgan's post-match press conference for failing to attempt to steal a bye off the final ball of the innings.

Malan had been at the non-striker's end for the last ball of the 20th over in Napier - a bouncer which Sam Billings missed - but decided against scrambling through for a run with wicketkeeper Tim Seifert stood back.

"I think giving guys that common goal and watching them strive towards it is the biggest indicator," Morgan said. "If we get guys that are not running off the last ball of the game because they want to get a not out, there's something to address."

The debutant who pressed his case best in the series was Sam Curran, who took six wickets and bowled with control across all three phases of the game, while chipping in with the bat in the rain-reduced game in Auckland.

The three new faces with the ball - Pat Brown, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood - had a mixed time. Brown's slower balls was punished in Wellington, where he conceded 32 in his two overs, but his economy rate overall (9.84) was only just over the average runs-per-over for the series (9.49).

Parkinson took five wickets in his six overs, though conceded 61 runs, and would have hoped for more of an opportunity to prove himself. Mahmood had a chastening time, leaking 115 runs in 10 overs, though was England's tightest bowler at Eden Park.

And with the bat, Tom Banton showed flashes of brilliance in his top-order cameos, while Lewis Gregory faced 19 balls and bowled four overs across his five games.

Jonny Bairstow was a T10 record-breaker last year, as he hit what was at the time the format's highest-ever score with a 24-ball 84, and he suggested that the experience of playing an abbreviated version of T20 helped England's chances in the rain-reduced fifth T20I at Auckland.

Six of England's playing XI appeared at the tournament last year, and Bairstow suggested that the adjustments they had made for that competition stood his team-mates in good stead for an 11-overs-a-side game.

"It was pretty imposing to try and chase down 150 [147]," he told Sky Sports, "but a lot of the guys played in the T10 last year and said, 'look, we're not far off here - if we can within striking distance with the small boundaries, we've got a chance'."

"The shorter the game the harder the side can go," agreed New Zealand captain Tim Southee. "They just kept coming hard and it would have been nice to have one more run there somewhere but it wasn't to be."

Bairstow himself struck five sixes and two fours in a belligerent innings of 47 off 18 balls, and said that he was aware his contributions to date in the series hadn't matched the high standards he sets himself.

"I don't feel like I've potentially scored as many as I wanted during the series," he said. "So to contribute in a shortened game - obviously the pitch here is quite favourable for the batters [but] to get some runs was pleasing."

As they were in the 50-over World Cup final in July, New Zealand and England were impossible to separate after their innings, and found themselves playing another Super Over to decide the series.

"We don't want to keep this happening, I don't think," Bairstow said. "I don't think anyone wants to keep that going but it just shows how close the sides are and how close it's been throughout the series and it sets up what's going to be a fantastic Test series as well."

England captain Eoin Morgan, who hit 17 off 7 balls in the game itself before adding nine from three balls in the Super Over, said that it was a useful learning experience for his side to play in high-pressure scenarios.

"I don't think both sides mind a bit of extra time or a Super Over," he said. "It makes for great entertainment.

"It's obviously brilliant to play in big-pressure situations, but we're glad we came out the other side of it.

"I'm surprised we got any sort of a game in today with the weather that was around, but it's always nice to play here. We chopped and changed a little bit, and the guys coming in did a really good job.

"The Black Caps played well again, bowled really well, and there was nothing between the sides for the 11-over game. And then, the Super Over - I thought the standout was Chris Jordan [who bowled England's over and conceded only eight], a guy who's extremely calm under pressure and delivers."

HICKORY, N.C. – Burt Myers made sure the North-South Shootout trophy stayed in the south with a victory in the annual event for tour-type modifieds Saturday at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Myers spent most of the race dueling with Jon McKennedy for the race lead. Both men spent time at the front of the field before they both hit the pits for fresh tires late in the race.

That gave the top spot to Anthony Nocella, but he was no match for Myers and his fresh tires as the North Carolina drive raced to his third North-South Shootout triumph and first since 2009, when the event was held at Concord Speedway.

Andy Seuss overcame a 22nd-place starting position to finish second in the 150-lap race, followed by McKennedy, Andy Jankowiak and Austin Kochenash.

In the companion PRA Tours Super Late Model Series event, late model stock car veteran Josh Berry collected his first victory in a super late model after overcoming a transmission issue that dropped him off the lead lap early in the race.

Once the issue was resolved, Berry got back on the lead lap and was able to race back through the field to win the race ahead of Nolan Pope, Brandon Setzer, Tate Fogleman and Cory Casagrande.

This was the first year the North-South Shootout has been held at Hickory Motor Speedway. It was most recently held at Concord (N.C.) Speedway in 2018.

The finish:

Burt Myers, Andy Seuss, Jon McKennedy, Andy Jankowiak, Austin Kochenash, Patrick Emerling, Jason Myers, Chase Dowling, Matt Hirschman, Tim Brown, John Smith, Cameron Sontag, Calvin Carroll, James Civali, Todd Owen, Tyler Truex, Anthony Nocella, Johnny Sutton, Les Hinckley, Danny Propst, Tom Buzze, Andrew Krause, Chris Finnocchario, Jeremy Gerstner, Mike Norman, Timmy Solomito, Randall Richard, Zane Zeiner.