Crystal ball: Raiders pick from CFP title game

After two days and three rounds of the 2019 NFL draft, three of the Raiders' four picks are from the College Football Playoff National Championship, which GM Mike Mayock was on hand for just a week into his new gig.

World number one Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semi-final against Anett Kontaveit with an abdominal injury.

The Japanese said she felt pain in her left abdomen during her victory over Donna Vekic in Stuttgart on Friday.

Osaka, 21, said she had to "roll out of bed" on Saturday morning and was unable to lift her upper body.

Estonian eighth seed Kontaveit will play either Petra Kvitova or Kiki Bertens in Sunday's final.

"It's an ab strain, something that I've had before," Osaka said.

"Thankfully, because I've had it so many times, I am able to tell what it is and I know what to do."

Florida-based Osaka will remain in Europe to have the injury assessed.

BROWNSBURG, Ind. – Rain throughout much of the day Friday mixed with more expected on Saturday has forced Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 and Wayne County Speedway officials with no choice but to cancel Saturday’s event.

The event will not be rescheduled.

Much like the case with Attica Raceway Park on Friday, the Wayne County Speedway grounds were left heavily saturated with very little drying time available.

“We did everything we could. Considering all the weather that the track already received, as well as the threat of more weather tonight, we were backed into a corner,” Eric Walls said, All Star Series Director. “This has not been an easy month for our Series. Hopefully things turn the corner when we enter the month of May.”

FREMONT, Ohio – With nearly two inches of rain having fallen Thursday through Friday and a forecast of more rain later Saturday afternoon, Fremont Speedway officials have cancelled racing for Saturday.

“We probably could have had the track ready to go. Unfortunately the forecast calls for a good chance of more rain from four o’clock on, leaving us with no choice,” said Ryan Schiets, Chair of the Fremont Speedway Committee.

Fremont Speedway will be back in action Saturday, May 4 as AmeriGas Propane Presents the Open Wheel Shootout.

It will be a Kistler Racing Products/All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Attica Fremont Championship Series presented by the Baumann Auto Group night for the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints paying $4,000 to the feature winner.

The K&L Ready Mix National Racing Alliance (NRA) Sprint Invaders will take on the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints and the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series non-wing sprints will be in action as well.

West Ham have delivered a blow to Tottenham's top four hopes, as Michail Antonio's second half strike gave them a 1-0 victory -- the first goal scored by a visiting team at the new stadium.

This was the fifth match in all competitions for Mauricio Pochettino's men at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and they had won the previous four without conceding a goal, but that run was ended after 67 minutes in this London derby in superb fashion.

Marko Arnautovic found Antonio with a fantastic ball over the top of the Spurs defence and the Englishman controlled the ball with his chest before firing past Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham, who are still without injury top goal-scorer Harry Kane, started the match with Son Heung-Min in attack as Fernando Llorente was on the bench -- while defender Jan Vertonghen was a surprise absentee.

The first 45 minutes saw few chances with West Ham's Felipe Anderson producing an impressive, surging run before shooting tamely straight at Lloris. Tottenham saw more of the ball but West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski did not have a save to make in the opening half.

Son had a penalty shout turned down early in the second half, while Christian Eriksen hit a free-kick from a good area straight into the wall before Antonio opened the scoring.

Tottenham came close to equalising with the last kick of the game when substitute Vincent Janssen saw a header cleared off the line, but West Ham held on to secure a huge victory.

"For us to come here and get the first win is a great achievement," Antonio told Sky Sports. "The fans are loving it and we've just got to keep it going."

Pochettino was dismayed by the result but urged his side to pick themselves up quickly for Tuesday's game.

"I think the first half was good for us, second half they were better," he told a news conference. "They had more energy.

"We conceded a lot of space to run... We lost a lot of ball we gave them the possibility to make the game.

"I'm disappointed; it's a setback. We wanted the three points, we wanted to arrive at the Champions League game in a good way but it was not (to be) but now we need to move on. It's about the recovery and get ready for Tuesday to play."

The defeat may not be too damaging for Spurs, as they remain three points clear of fourth-place Chelsea, who face sixth-place Manchester United on Sunday. West Ham, meanwhile, remain 11th.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

Big picture

When Rohit Sharma walks out at the toss at Eden Gardens on Sunday night, he'd be looking to extend Mumbai Indians' eight-match unbeaten run over Kolkata Knight Riders. But if there's ever a night for the hosts to change that statistic, it would be Sunday. Languishing at the sixth place with eight points, and needing victories in their last three matches to even dream of a playoff spot, Knight Riders can bid the season goodbye if they lose their seventh successive IPL game, and fifth successive at home.

After Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine found turn against Rajasthan Royals, Dinesh Karthik may consider bringing Kuldeep Yadav back after he has spent two games in the dugout. That their pacers have been poor in the Powerplay, taking only six wickets in the period, is an extra reason for Karthik to revert to Knight Riders' old formula of spin.

For Mumbai, just one victory in their final three games would be enough for the playoffs, but they'll be aiming a top-two finish, and a chance to play Qualifier 1 at the Chepauk - a ground where they haven't lost an IPL match since May 2011. Mumbai and India fans alike would've enjoyed Rohit's maiden half-century of the season in their convincing win over Chennai Super Kings, and both Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya could inflict damage on Knight Riders' pace bowlers at a ground where the ball travels far.

Lasith Malinga comes into the contest with a four-for in his last match and, in Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar, Mumbai have potent spin options to match Knight Riders player-for-player. Thus it's not much of a surprise that Mumbai start as clear favourites, but they'll remain wary of the chutzpah that Knight Riders will come in with, given they have nothing more to lose.

In the news

Left-arm fast bowler Beuran Hendricks, Mumbai's replacement for the injured Alzarri Joseph, has linked up with the team but is unlikely to get a look-in unless Malinga is rested. Mumbai left-arm spinner Anukul Roy made a promising IPL debut with 1 for 11 in Chennai and has impressed enough to merit another opportunity.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Andre Russell, 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Mumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Anukul Roy, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Strategy punt

• It's time for Knight Riders to go all in, so don't be surprised if Australian fast-bowler Matt Kelly comes into the side for Carlos Brathwaite. In his short T20 career, Kelly has picked up a wicket every 15.4 deliveries in the Powerplay and concedes only 7.20 runs per over; 52.8% of the 24-year-old's deliveries in Powerplays have been dots.
• Piyush Chawla, Knight Riders' regular new-ball bowler, may be held back for later in the innings. Hardik Pandya has scored only 100 runs in 98 deliveries against legspinners since IPL 2018 and has been out six times to them.
• Mumbai should aim to save two overs each of Bumrah and Malinga for the final five overs. When they bowl in tandem at the death, Mumbai concede only 8.50 runs an over at an average of 13.50. For any other bowling combination, Mumbai concede 11.40 runs per over.

Stats and trivia




• If Knight Riders lose to Mumbai on Sunday, it will be the worst streak for any IPL team. They enter the contest tied for the record at eight losses with Kings XI Punjab (against Knight Riders, 2014-17) and Delhi Daredevils (against Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2011-2015).
• It will be Rohit Sharma's 100th game as IPL captain.

Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

All four IPL play-off matches will begin half an hour early to avoid the matches spilling over past midnight. Traditionally, evening matches in the IPL begin at 8 pm IST, but the BCCI has decided to advance the start of the playoff matches this season to 7.30 pm, with the toss at 7 pm.

It is understood that the four Women's T20 Challenge matches, to be played in Jaipur next month, are also likely to start at 7.30 pm, and will be broadcast live.

The decision was taken on Saturday in Delhi. at a meeting of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), the supervisory authority until the BCCI conducts fresh elections.

Evening matches stretching well beyond the regulation window of 200 minutes as per the IPL's playing conditions has been a concern for a while now. Last season too, the CoA had deliberated over the issue, after the tournament broadcaster reportedly flagged it to the BCCI.

Slow over rates, constant delays in play caused by players calling for drinks or change of equipment, or captains taking too long to adjust fields, have been major factors behind matches going on past midnight.

As per the IPL's playing conditions, each innings is to last 90 minutes - which includes the two strategic timeouts - with a 20-minute break between innings.

Slow over rates attract monetary fines. This season, four captains - Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin - have copped fines of INR 12 lakh each. Whether fines have been enough of a deterrent has been a talking point, with a number of former players and coaches weighing in. Some have even suggested new approaches to tackling slow over rates; Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody, for instance, reckons that the IPL needs to emulate the Caribbean Premier League (NRR) and bring in a net-run-rate penalty.