VERNON, N.Y. — Mat Williamson took home the $4,000 top prize in the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series Pre-Game 100 Tuesday night at Utica-Rome Speedway.

Williamson had a lucky redraw and led the 30-car field to the initial green flag. Jordan McCreadie hung with Williamson for the first couple laps before Williamson pulled away, beginning his dominant drive.

Eighth-starting Erick Rudolph was the early mover of the redraw cars, cracking the top five by lap-15. Much of the field was running on the outside of the track, but Rudolph and Mike Mahaney were running the inside line with success.

On lap 25, Williamson had a half back stretch lead, but the battle for second between McCreadie and Alan Therrien was back and forth. The two drivers traded positions until a lap 29 yellow flag flew for Lance Willix’s rear end issue.

The race resumed with a lap-33 restart where Mahaney and Larry Wight went four-wide, splitting Rudolph and Ryan Arbuthnot in turn two. The group raced four-wide down the back stretch, before Arbuthnot and Rudolph backed out of the four-wide affair entering turn three.

Mahaney’s car was stout in the middle stages of the race and as he worked around Therrien on lap 52 to take the second spot away. A lap 59 yellow flag setup a restart with Williamson and Mahaney. Williamson elected to start from the outside and brought the line with him. Wight shot from the fourth spot up to second and challenged Williamson off the second turn. Williamson would maintain the lead through the third and fourth turns.

Wight began cutting down his deficit with 25-laps remaining, but off of turn four on lap 81, a trail of smoke ended Wight’s rally. Mahaney inherited the second spot, with Rudolph close behind.

Williamson ran upon heavy lapped traffic on lap 93, but effectively worked his way through to go on to a comfortable margin of victory.

“I have to thank my guys for giving me a fast hot rod all night,” Williamson said. “We hope to keep things rolling with the 358 series races at Weedsport and Brewerton this week.”

Rudolph came on strong late to finish in the second position, while Mahaney completed the podium. Arbuthnot and Therrien finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The finish:

Feature: 1. Mat Williamson ($4,000), 2. Erick Rudolph, 3. Mike Mahaney, 4. Ryan Arbuthnot, 5. Alan Therrien, 6. Dave Marcuccilli, 7. Rocky Warner, 8. Chad Brachmann, 9. Rusty Smith, 10. Yan Bussiere, 11. Kyle Dingwall, 12. Greg Martin, 13. Ryan Bartlett, 14. Michael Parent,  15. AJ Miller, 16. Gary Lindberg, 17. Larry Wight, 18. Alex Therrien, 19. Bobby Varin, 20. Jordan McCreadie, 21. LJ Lombardo, 22. Kyle Inman, 23. Matt Janczuk, 24. Ronnie Johnson, 25. Ronnie Davis III, 26. Pat Ward, 27. Lance Willix, 28. Corey Wheeler, 29. Billy Whittaker, 30. Fred Carleton.

Mo Bobat, the man whose analytical approach helped to change the way that England's squads are selected, has been named as the ECB's new Performance Director for men's cricket.

Bobat, who is currently the board's Player Identification Lead, will take charge from David Parsons, who left the post in July. He will work closely alongside Chris Silverwood, the newly appointed head coach, and Ed Smith, the national selector, to support the delivery of performance plans and selection strategy.

A 36-year-old former PE teacher from Leicester, Bobat studied sports science and management and is also in the process of completing a Masters in sporting directorship. Prior to joining the ECB in 2011, he worked as a lecturer and teacher in Leicester, augmenting his experience as a Level 4 certified cricket coach.

"I am delighted and honoured to be appointed Performance Director, at what is an exciting time for English cricket," said Bobat.

"I am looking forward to working closely with both Chris Silverwood and Ed Smith, and in doing so, supporting the performance needs of our England teams and moving us closer to achieving our aim of being the most respected team in the world.

"Developing strong relationships with our counties to enhance the size and quality of our talent pool will be paramount. I aim to ensure that our highest potential players receive individualised support and international-specific experiences.

"It is a hugely exciting role and the vision is that the strength of our counties and our high-performance system delivers deliberate and sustained success across all formats."

Commenting on the appointment, Ashley Giles, the managing director of England's Men's Cricket, added: "The position of Performance Director is a critical post in the development of our long-term strategy for elite performance. Mo demonstrated through his knowledge and experience that he has the attributes to take us forward in this area.

"He will be responsible for identifying our highest potential players and leading programmes that will bridge the gap between county and international cricket helping us to deliver successful, respected and inspiring England players and teams.

"The Performance Director will work closely with our network of counties to enhance the size and quality of our talent pool and ensuring that we're jointly making decisions in each player's best long-term interests.

"We have to develop a long-term strategy that identifies the best players in the country that can step up and excel in the international cricket arena. We will expose them to learn and perform in all conditions around the world."

Australia women's nine-wicket win in the final ODI over Sri Lanka women at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Wednesday was a world record - their 18th win in a row in the format, surpassing the run by the team led by Belinda Clark between 1997 and 1999. Meg Lanning, the captain of the record-setting team, was modest at the post-match press interaction, but conceded that it was a "very special" achievement.

"It's a special group to be a part of, especially over the last couple of years, probably since that 2017 World Cup [they lost in the semi-final to India] - it was a turning point for our group and we really did change a few things around, and we needed to, to be in the position we are now," Lanning said. "Everyone's put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and to be able to get the record off the Belinda Clark team is certainly very special because there have been some amazing cricketers who have come before us.

"We speak a lot about making sure we look back at the past and understand what has come before us, because they certainly laid the foundation for where we are today. It's important that we recognise that."

The latest win was as commanding as you'd expect from this team. First, Nicola Carey and Jess Jonassen kept things tight and Georgia Wareham and Megan Schutt picked up a couple of wickets each to keep Sri Lanka to 8 for 195 despite Chamari Atapattu's 103. Then Alyssa Healy came out to bash an unbeaten 76-ball 112 and, with Rachael Haynes hitting 63 and Lanning 20 not out in 11 balls, the target was crossed in 26.5 overs. The series was wrapped up 3-0, and the lead at the top of the Women's Championship table over England has now stretched to eight points (from one fewer game).

"The WBBL prepares you extremely well for international cricket, it gets you in front of crowds, on TV, and the style of cricket is great as well. I've got no doubt that that's lifted the ability within our team" Alyssa Healy

"It's something we have made a bit of a habit of, of finishing off series really well," Lanning said. "I know there's been a lot of talk in the media about the record, but I can honestly say that within our group, we haven't really spoken about it. We go into every game to try to win it. So it was no different today. So to finish it off in style was a great effort. We spoke about making sure we do that because we do sort of split up now as a group [for the Women's Big Bash League]. I thought everyone did a great job, the bowlers especially, and Midge [Healy] and Rach with the bat."

Adding a bit of flavour to the record-breaking win was Clark's presence at the Field. Healy joked, "She just turns up at the opportune times! It's the end of the series, and hey, there's Belinda!" Lanning, meanwhile, pointed out that Clark had set yet another target for the team: "She sent me a message saying that her team only lost two games out of 33, so we need to keep going. So we've got one record, but we need to make sure we keep going. So we're under strict instructions."

Not just that, there's one more record up for the Australians to target: the most ODI wins in a row, irrespective of gender, which currently stands at 21 in the name of the Australia men's team, achieved between January and May 2003 under Ricky Ponting. That has to wait, though, because of the WBBL, as Australia next play ODI cricket in March in South Africa. "We'll give it a crack," Lanning promised.

It's over to the WBBL then. And Healy, for one, is sure that the tournament will give the Australians the perfect way to prepare for the 2020 T20 World Cup, to be played at home in February-March next year.

"World Cups are extremely difficult to win, and we've experienced the highs and lows of World Cups over the last four-five years, so we've obviously got a bit of a chance to go into a different environment and keep improving our games and adding things to our game and that sort of thing," she said. "Our group is hungry as ever to keep improving, and keep being successful. Once we get back together as a group [after the WBBL], hopefully [we will] continue to be successful.

"I think the WBBL prepares you extremely well for international cricket, it gets you on the big stage in front of crowds, on TV, and the style of cricket is great as well; the world's best players from overseas and Australia playing, and it's a great standard. I've got no doubt that that's lifted the ability within our team and, as we have seen over the last two tours, we have brought players in who have been playing state cricket for a while and WBBL, and they have fitted in seamlessly and have looked at home on the international stage."

And Healy has built up nicely to the WBBL, doing one of the things in the last game she hasn't always managed to despite her staggering form: finish an ODI chase.

"I guess a little bit of a mental thing [getting out]," she said in response to a question. "I was saying to Meg today, often when I get to 60-odd I hit one in the air, so it's all a bit weird. But to be able to be clinical and finish off the series really well, and be not out, is probably not something I have done a lot. So to do it today was obviously pleasing."

Jason Gillespie will remain as Sussex head coach at least until the end of the 2022 season, after agreeing a contract extension.

Gillespie, who won the County Championship with Yorkshire in consecutive seasons in 2014 and 2015, moved to Hove at the start of the 2018 season but has so far been unable to oversee the side's return to Division One.

However, Sussex have enjoyed more success in one-day cricket, reaching the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast in both of his seasons in charge, including to the final in 2018.

His stature as a coach, including his links to the BBL franchise Adelaide Strikers, has also been helpful in attracting a high calibre of overseas players, including Alex Carey, Mir Hamza, Travis Head, Rashid Khan and Ishant Sharma.

"I'm absolutely delighted to extend my time at Sussex," said Gillespie. "I absolutely love the place and everyone at the club has been fantastic since I joined.

"I really feel we're moving in the right direction, which is really pleasing. I can't fault the efforts of all our players and coaches. We're all on the same page; everyone wants what's best for the club, and I feel we're progressing in reaching those aims.

"We've had some really good times together, and we've had some challenging times, but we're all clear about what we're setting out to achieve and focussed on improving and developing to keep us moving forward.

"That's a pretty special thing to be part of. I want to thank the club for the opportunity to carry on being part of that and for showing faith in me. I'm determined to repay that faith by keeping things moving in the right direction and hopefully having some success down the track."

Rob Andrew, Sussex Cricket's chief executive added: "We are delighted to announce that Dizzy [Gillespie] has extended his contract through to 2022. There is going to be a lot of change in cricket over the next couple of years and we wanted some continuity through this period.

"We still have a lot of work to do to improve the men's side and we were disappointed not to achieve promotion to division one of the County Championship this season. It is where the club aspires to be.

"We have been more consistent in our performances in T20 and 50-over cricket in the last couple of years but need to find that consistency in Championship cricket as well. Dizzy and his coaching team will be working hard to move the club forward and we are delighted he has chosen to help us on this journey."

Britain's Heather Watson and Harriet Dart have been knocked out of the Tianjin Open women's doubles.

The pair were beaten 6-4 4-6 2-10 by China's Zhu Lin and Han Xinyun.

The British pair took the first set but were forced into a tie break after losing the second and struggled to find momentum, handing the Chinese duo victory.

Watson, 27, is in singles action on Thursday 10 October as she plays second seed Wang Qiang in the second round.

Dart, 23, was knocked out by qualifier Kurumi Nara on Tuesday.

On Sunday Chris Wyatt will watch his final game in Japan. His 43rd World Cup match since 2011.

Forty three games in three men's tournaments. His favourite one to date?

"The one that I really enjoyed the absolute most was between Georgia and Namibia in Exeter [in 2015]," says Wyatt.

"Namibia nearly got their first World Cup victory, it was 17-16 to Georgia.

"That one kind of stands out for me, it was a great crowd and a great day."

For Wyatt, a Baltimore native who last month concluded 36 and a half years of active duty with the United States Army, the joy of the World Cup is found primarily in experiencing what every team, and their fans, bring to the party.

By the time he leaves Japan he will have seen 18 of the 20 teams at this tournament.

"I only do the pool stage because to me that's much more fascinating," he says.

"You see the minnows, and you never get to see them otherwise. I mean when do I get to see Georgia play?"

Eighteen games in 29 days

Wyatt cuts a restless figure when we meet on platform four of Shin-Yokohama station on the fourth day of the tournament.

Having undertaken the mission of watching 18 games in 29 days, there is little margin for error when it comes to travelling around a country the size of Japan.

It's early afternoon but Wyatt needs everything to run like clockwork if he is to make kick-off between Wales and Georgia some 300km away in Toyota city.

Luckily for him, this is Japan. The train says it's arriving at 14:19, so it does.

Even with the help of a ruthlessly efficient rail network, Wyatt's trip needs to be planned with military precision.

No problem for a man who has spent the best part of four decades planning things to that end.

In a career that saw him travel the globe several times over, Wyatt spent much of his time in Africa as a Foreign Area Officer and served as the Director of African Studies for the US Army War College.

Although his love affair with rugby union began as a college freshman in 1982, it was not until a conversation with an Australian colleague in Liberia 25 years later that the idea of travelling to a World Cup began to take shape.

When watching South Africa defeat England in the 2007 showpiece, a plan to meet at the tournament in New Zealand in four years' time was agreed.

Maximising the World Cup experience

And so to 2011, where fortuitous circumstances allowed Wyatt to take the short notice leave required to turn his World Cup pipe dream into a reality.

Upon arrival and with no tickets, Wyatt used the situation as a blank canvas to formulate the process that he still uses when working out his World Cup roadmap.

"I drove into Auckland and looked at where I could go," he explained.

"There was one in Hamilton, Wales against Samoa, so I drove down there and wound up buying a ticket from a guy. Six rows up, centre of the pitch.

"That night I got a hotel room. I didn't have any other matches booked so I went online and I made a plan."

The plan was based not on the best rugby, but on the best experience.

"What's feasible, what can I do to see the country and learn something about it?" Wyatt said.

"Springboks games are a priority, then USA games and then any other team I can see."

The fans make the tournament

Since 2011 there have been five World Cups, three men's and two women's, Wyatt has been to every one with each trip becoming more ambitious than the last.

His 18-game trip to Japan is his most ambitious yet and by the close of Sunday's group stage he will have travelled to nine of the 12 venues and watched every team barring the hosts and Argentina.

Missing out on seeing Japan in front of their own fans is a shame. The Brave Blossoms have so far lit up the tournament with their exhilarating brand of rugby matching the atmosphere created by the home fans.

Thankfully though, the presence of local fans has been a fixture of every game so far, something that Wyatt argues is the key to a successful World Cup.

"The most important thing to a World Cup is the fans," he says.

"Japanese fans are top drawer. You can't have empty stadiums, and you can't have people that are just there to be drunk or people who are clueless."

True to form, the stand-out moments for Wyatt have so far arrived not on the biggest stages in Yokohama or Tokyo, but in some of Japan's lesser known areas that have risen to the challenge of opening their doors to the world's rugby fans.

"When I got to Kumagaya, from the moment I got off the train there were volunteers everywhere.

"You walk down the street and there are people offering you high-fives and pointing you towards the stadium.

"There were school groups all over the stadium and it really added a nice touch.

"When it comes to a World Cup it comes down to the organisers and the quality of the volunteers."

Wyatt's tournament ends on Sunday with the USA v Tonga.

Perhaps not the encounter that most onlookers are focusing on as the pool stage reaches its crescendo.

But, for Chris Wyatt, game number 43 is exactly the type of fixture that will see him travelling the globe to attend more World Cups for many years to come.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson is undertaking extra training sessions at Melwood as he pushes for a return to action against Manchester United on Oct. 20.

Players not on international duty have been given the week off by manager Jurgen Klopp, but the 27-year-old, who sustained a calf injury during the Premier League opener against Norwich City, has remained at the training complex to improve his sharpness.

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Goalkeeping coach John Achterberg has been working chiefly on Alisson's speed, reactions, distribution and power having spent the September break getting Brazil's No. 1 out on the pitches again to do catching, footwork and small passing drills.

The Premier League's Golden Glove winner for 2018-19 has progressed well through his recovery stages and has upped his strength with rehabilitation fitness coach Dave Rydings in the gym.

Liverpool had earmarked Alisson to be available after the October interval, but there is no longer such a strong need for him to return against struggling United if he is not yet at 100% given the performances of his understudy, Adrian.

The 32-year-old has been an excellent stand-in as Liverpool have recorded a perfect start to the league season, with eight wins from eight.

Adrian's form has allowed Liverpool to ease Alisson through the different phases of his rehab with no time constraints or pressure to be in line for contention.

Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, meanwhile, have voluntarily ceded time off to do additional training at Melwood.

Both midfielders have been informed they will have bigger roles to play as the games continue to come thick and fast for Liverpool.