PORTLAND, Ore. – Rookie Colton Herta has taken to the Portland Int’l Raceway like a veteran.

Perhaps that is because Portland is the site of his first test in an Indy car last year.

Herta was the fastest driver in Friday’s combined practice sessions for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. He lapped the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in 57.4293 for a fast lap at 123.115 mph in the No. 88 Honda.

Alexander Rossi, who trails Josef Newgarden by 46 points in the NTT IndyCar Series standings, was second quick at 57.5538 (122.849 mph) in the No. 27 NAPA Honda.

“We didn’t get a lap in on Reds, so I think our theoretical is being third quick,” Rossi said afterwards. “Overall, I’m super happy with the NAPA car. We’ll have to figure some things out overnight but overall I think the general pace is there and we just need to fine tune it.”

Scott Dixon, 70 points back, was third at 57.5538 (122.342 mph) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, followed by Newgarden at 57.8504 (122.219 mph) in the No. 2 Chevrolet.

Marco Andretti rounded out the top five with a fast lap at 57.9006 (122.113 mph) in the No. 98 Honda.

Earlier in the day, several of the championship contenders talked about their battle with two races to go in the NTT IndyCar Series championship.

Newgarden has a 38-point lead over Team Penske teammate and 2016 NTT IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud.

“I don’t think it’s a secure position, but it is the favorable one,” Newgarden said. “If we lose it, it probably would sting a bit more. If you are 38, 48 points back, I think it stings less. It sucks either way. But if you lose it with a bigger advantage, then yeah, I think it just stings a bit more.”

Pagenaud believes he has to look straight ahead and focus on his own car, rather than count the points or do the scenarios in his head.

“The only control over my destiny is to do the best I can,” Pagenaud said. “It doesn’t really matter what Josef or Alex, or Scott do. It really is about my own performance.

“I’m really focused on that, focused on being in the moment as much as possible. We’ll see what we can do. The car felt much, much better today. Step by step we’ll get the little details and get quicker and quicker as a team.

“I’m pretty excited about this weekend. It’s really awesome to be at in point of the season, last two races, four guys in the championship, it’s really exciting.”

Seeking a "continued, sustained period of labor peace," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Friday that the league will not exercise its option to reopen the collective bargaining agreement that's due to expire after the 2020-21 season.

The NHL had until Sept. 1 to decide whether to reopen the CBA, potentially ending its current term in September 2020. The NHL Players' Association has until Sept. 15 to exercise its own option to reopen negotiations. There have been concerns that if either side opted out, it could lead to the third work stoppage in the league since 2004. The NHLPA released a statement on Friday saying they will continue to discuss the matter with the players as the Sept. 15 deadline approaches.

"Based on the current state of the game and the business of the game, the NHL believes it is essential to continue building upon the momentum we have created with our Players and, therefore, will not exercise its option to reopen the CBA," Bettman said in a statement. "Rather, we are prepared to have the current CBA remain in effect for its full term -- three more seasons through the conclusion of the 2021-22 season."

The NHL's owners have been pleased with the current CBA, which was ratified in January 2013. Revenue has grown steadily for the league, and with it the salary cap. Revised rules on contracts and the "cost certainty" of the cap system have produced a strong decade of growth for the league.

The NHL's players have benefited from that CBA to a point. The escrow system, in which a percentage of a player's salary is withheld every season to cover potential shortfalls on the part of the owners -- with a portion refunded at the end of the season -- is much reviled by the players.

"We're paying so much on our checks every two weeks, it's like astronomical," New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall told ESPN last season.

Another point of contention for the players: international play, and in particular Olympic participation. The Beijing Winter Games are set for 2022. The NHL infamously skipped the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, refusing to allow its players to represent their countries after failing to cut a deal with the International Olympic Committee.

Are these issues, and others, enough to compel the players to reopen the CBA now?

"Of course the players are not looking for a fight," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr told ESPN in January, "The players' view is what it always has been. And what I expressed in the last go-around ad nauseam, is that from the players' standpoint a work stoppage is the last resort you come to. You only do it when that's a better option than the agreements that are on the table. That hasn't been the management practice in a number of sports in the last 35 or 40 years. But hopefully this time will be different. We'll see."

The NHL has had a work stoppage during every period of collective bargaining under Bettman.

"In any CBA, the parties can always identify issues they are unhappy with and would like to see changed. This is certainly true from the League's standpoint," Bettman said in Friday's statement. "However, our analysis makes clear that the benefits of continuing to operate under the terms of the current CBA -- while working with the Players' Association to address our respective concerns -- far outweigh the disruptive consequences of terminating it following the upcoming season.

The union's executive board is scheduled to meet in Chicago on Wednesday. The league and union have been meeting through the summer and those discussions are scheduled to continue. There are some ticking clocks ahead of the CBA's expiration: the Olympics and the expiration of the NHL's U.S. television contract, both in 2022.

Alexis Sanchez's failure to succeed at Manchester United was not entirely down to the player, according to Pep Guardiola.

The Manchester City manager tried to bring Sanchez to the Etihad Stadium but was pipped to his signature by their rivals, who signed him in the 2018 winter window.

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The Chilean scored just five goals in 45 games during a disastrous 18 months at Old Trafford and has now been loaned to Inter Milan but Guardiola believes the failed spell is not only down to Sanchez.

"You judge it was a failure for just Alexis, but there are many reasons," Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.

"Quality is there. It is always there. It is not only for one player that doesn't work with one team. They don't play alone, it's not tennis, it's not golf.

"You play with 10 players against one system, against opponents, against many many things are involved in one player performing well in the team.

"When one player I had in my 10 years as a manager it doesn't work, I don't say it's because of him."

Guardiola worked with Sanchez at Barcelona and came close to landing him from Arsenal in the summer of 2017.

The forward eventually joined United in January 2018 in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan after City baulked at the cost of the deal.

"I don't know [if it would have been different for Sanchez at City]," said Guardiola. "Maybe he would have been bad too. I don't know. The moment he decided to go to United was perfect.

"I wished him all the best here and personally and that's all. I don't know what happened, I was not there so that's why I cannot give my opinion, but I am not thinking it is just for one reason."

Sanchez will spend the next 10 months in Milan where he will be reunited with Romelu Lukaku, who left United for Inter in a £74 million deal.

The pair will work under Antonio Conte, who was appointed at the San Siro in the summer, and Guardiola believes the Italian is the right man to get Sanchez back to his best.

"We worked together in Barcelona I have a special affection as a player, of course, but especially as a human being," said Guardiola.

"He's an incredible, humble guy and a fighter. He decided to move Italy with one of the greatest teams in Europe with Inter right now, incredible manager with Antonio Conte and I'm pretty sure they are going to do well.

"Because the way I think Inter plays, it suits perfect for him. Play close to Lukaku and in this position I think he is going to have a good period in Milan."

Shortly after being named Massimiliano Allegri's successor at Juventus, Maurizio Sarri boarded a private jet to the Cote d'Azur. The 60-year-old former foreign exchange dealer was off to introduce himself to Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and most expensive signing in the history of Serie A. On the yacht Ronaldo had rented for his post-Nations League holiday, Sarri explained his plans for Juventus and the team's superstar.

He started at the bottom now he's here. From one Cristiano to another. Fifteen years ago, Cristiano Caleri, the captain of fourth division Sangiovannese received a phone call. It was the team's new coach: Maurizio Sarri. Sarri had only recently taken the decision to leave his job at the Banca Toscana and throw himself into full-time management.

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Caleri had already heard the name. Word of Sarri's achievements half an hour down the road in Monte San Savino had spread. "He was already a little bit famous in Tuscany," Caleri recalls fondly. "He'd won a couple of titles [taking non-league Sansovino from Italy's sixth tier to its fourth, lifting the Serie D cup along the way]."

Sangiovannese was Sarri's first gig in professional football. "I still remember the first day," Caleri says. "He called me and said: 'Capitano, I need to talk to you. Come over to my house.' It was the night before our preseason training camp. We went into this room set up for him to analyse games. There were all these VHS tapes." It became clear to Caleri that Sarri had watched a lot of Sangiovannese. He knew the midfielder's game inside and out. "He says this to me. These were his actual words. 'You are my captain. But if you carry on playing like this ... you ain't playing.'"

Caleri bursts out laughing in recollection. "I've always said, in private, he's a comedian," Caleri says. "He's super smart. Seeing him on TV, he can seem a bit dour and hard work, but he's amazing. He doesn't even think he's all that funny. I'm like: 'What do you mean you don't think you're funny. You're a comic.' And you know what Tuscans are like." After all, Roberto Benigni's sense of humour won him an Oscar for "Life is Beautiful."

But back to that night in Sarri's film room. Just imagine if he'd said the same thing to Ronaldo? In the event he did, Caleri is in no doubt that come the end of the conversation, Sarri would have succeeded in capturing the Portuguese's imagination.

"For me, seeing him at Juve, it makes me so proud," he says. "It's bellissimo. He's an extremely intelligent guy and he knows what he's talking about. If he talks football with Ronaldo, he'll spellbind him. He'll arouse his curiosity. Sarri knows what to say. Talking to him, he wins you over."

How exactly? Well, it's quite simply really. Part of it is language. Sarri has a way with words. Getting his message across has never been a problem. "He's a very good communicator," Caleri explains. "You saw how he went to England and how little time it took him to speak very good English. He gets into your head. He beguiles you. He made it easy for us to understand him. The mister was very good at the whiteboard. Very good at illustrating what he wanted."

At the end of the day, though, the answer is to be found in an appeal to the senses; it's the power of an idea, the attraction of an aesthetic. Caleri pauses. "James," he says, "his football was to die for." Even in the fourth tier, "The football we played was good to watch," he adds. "Maybe not as good as his teams play today. Now it's bello, bello, bello. Back then it was about aggression and intensity too. But the football was still good because that's what he wanted. It's what he worked towards. What he studied."

Sarrismo, as defined in the Italian dictionary, "is based on speed and a propensity for attacking football." This was Caleri's experience in 2003. "I played in midfield. I was a bit like the guy he took with him from Napoli to Chelsea ... Jorginho! Just not quite as good," Caleri says with self-deprecation.

"I'd take the ball off the centre-backs, play a pass, watch it, 'Niiiice' I'd think to myself ... But he said to me: 'No, Cristiano. You're the guy who has to set the tone for this team. You need to play with intensity. Be aggressive. Take the team by the scruff of the neck.' He made me understand that I had to give it my all, I had to be his condottiero. He transformed me. I owe him a lot. He taught me that football is intensity, aggression, desire, determination."

Sarri's association with the pursuit of beauty through football often has meant that the emphasis he puts on mentality and toughness gets overlooked. He is categorised as a purist, not a winner. Yet when Caleri worked under him, Sarri was delivering promotion after promotion -- three in four years to be exact -- taking teams to places they'd never been before. Success mattered to him and Sarri drove it into his players.

Caleri tells a story about training in winter. Sometimes the pitch would be frozen, but sessions were never abandoned. "He threw himself into it. He wanted us to never give up and train regardless of what the conditions were like. There were times when we turned to him and said: 'No, mister, it's dangerous'. But he'd find a way of getting us to train all the same. He'd never give up. He'd say: 'Come on, we can't let anything get in our way. We need to give it our all. He was so determined and managed to pass that determination and desire onto us."

For Sarri, Sangiovannese must stop at nothing to achieve the aim of promotion to Italy's third division. As such Caleri made his coach a wager. Famously superstitious to the extreme, Sarri was in his black tracksuit phase. "You know that colours never existed to him," Caleri says. "He only ever wore black [for good luck]. So I made him this bet. If we won the Serie C2 title and got into C1 with this little team from San Giovanni di Valdarno, a town with a population of 10,000, it would have caused a sensation. Everyone would go crazy. So I said if we win the league, you have to come to our final game of the season in one of my pink shirts. We won the league and he turned up in pink. He's an exceptional guy."

Watching Sarri's rise has brought Caleri tremendous satisfaction. "The beautiful thing is when he got to Serie B with Empoli and then Serie A, all the corner routines and other schemes he used to make us practice, he still did them! The same ones! The thing is it's different watching them on Sky than on local TV. They become even more beautiful. People would see them on Sky and go: 'Madonna, did you see that?' And he'd been doing these things for years just with players who weren't as good, guys who played with me in C. The higher he went, the more he found himself working with guys who could strike the ball better and put it close to or on the penalty spot, the exact place he wanted it. And his schemes started coming off even better."

Now that Caleri's playing days are over, he holds down two jobs. One in insurance, the other in football. He took his coaching badges five years ago, but you won't find him in a dugout like Sarri. He is the current sporting director of Sangiovannese, and when there's a chance to go and see his old coach, Caleri takes it. In fact, he was planning on driving up to Turin to watch Juventus train, only for Sarri to come down with pneumonia.

Continassa, the Italian champions' state of the art training ground, feels a long way from San Giovanni di Valdarno, but behind its walls reside elements of Sangiovannese. It's a source of immense pride to Caleri, and it goes beyond Sarri too. Loris Beoni used to coach Sangiovannese's youth team. Gianni Picchioni hails from San Giovanni di Valdarno. The pair of them now assist Sarri at Juventus. They train Ballon d'Or and World Cup winners on a daily basis. How about that?

"I definitely thought he'd do well," Caleri says of Sarri. "But picturing him coming this far ... all the way to Juve ... that's not easy. I expected him to do well. He was just so good at his job. A really cultured guy. Seeing him at Juve, well, it makes me emotional. I'm so happy for him. So happy. He deserves it."

Durham 171 for 8 (Steel 45) beat Nottinghamshire 124 (Rimmington 3-15) by 47 runs

Notts Outlaws needed outside help before securing home advantage in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast. With qualification for the knock-out stages already assured, the Outlaws slipped to an unexpected 47-run defeat to Durham at Trent Bridge but Worcestershire Rapids' defeat to Northants Steelbacks kept Notts in second place in the table.

The Outlaws faded dramatically in pursuit of a victory target of 172 and were bowled out for just 124 in only 17.2 overs in front of a disappointed crowd of 13,078. Tom Moores made 33 for the home side but lacked support, with Nathan Rimmington taking 3 for 15 for the visitors.

Earlier, Durham posted 171 for 8, after opting to bat first, with Scott Steel making 45 from only 24 balls, with five fours and three sixes. Dan Christian, the Outlaws' captain was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 26.

Durham wasted little time in peppering the Trent Bridge boundaries via any means possible. From only the second ball of the match Steel played an exquisite switch-hit high into the stand. The 20-year old dominated the strike as the visitors brought up their 50 in only 4.1 overs, with 18 coming from a single Harry Gurney over.

Notts struggled to stem the flow of big hits as 69 came from the Powerplay overs but only one more run was added before Christian broke the opening partnership in the seventh over, having Steel caught in the deep by Jake Libby.

D'Arcy Short clubbed Matt Carter away for another maximum and then did the same to Christian, before the Australian got the better of his countryman to dismiss him for 36. Carter had been hit for 25 from his first two overs but he responded to finish with 2 for 37 as the batting side slid to 131 for five after 15 overs.

Pakistan international Imad Wasim, playing his first match since a short break back to his homeland to get married, bowled Gareth Harte to further damage north-east aspirations. Graham Clark provided some late power-hitting, clearing the ropes three times in a 24-ball knock of 41, to set a challenging total.

The target seemed even further away as Durham struck twice through an unlikely source. Liam Trevaskis, with only 15 previous wickets in the format, celebrated as Joe Clarke drove to backward point and Ben Duckett - after clubbing two mighty sixes - hit to long-on for 17.

Rimmington reduced the hosts to 29 for 3, as Alex Hales chopped on, for only 8 but frustration followed his delight as Samit Patel was then dropped next ball, by Harry Adair. Notts' re-build was put on hold as Patel and Libby fell during the middle overs, leaving 96 still required from the final 10 overs.

Adair had his redemption, catching Christian off Matthew Potts and when Tom Moores fell the end came quickly. News filtered through of Worcestershire's defeat, closely followed by the confirmation that Middlesex - who have never played Notts in T20 cricket - will visit Trent Bridge next week.

Lancashire 143 for 5 (Davies 39) beat Leicestershire 142 for 9 (Parkinson 2-26)

Despite some persistent rain the good times rolled at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday evening when 15,196 spectators, a new ground record for a non-Roses T20 game, saw Lancashire Lightning defeat Leicestershire Foxes by five wickets, thereby securing top spot in the North Group.

Needing 143 to win, the home side got home with eight balls to spare, thanks largely to a well-judged innings by Glenn Maxwell, who added an unbeaten 29 off 31 balls to the wicket, catch and run-out he had collected in the first innings of the game. Maxwell partnered Keaton Jennings in the unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 22 which helped Lancashire to their eighth T20 win of this season's campaign.

Earlier in the evening, the Foxes innings had got off to a fine start as the Lightning seamers fed Mark Cosgrove the leg-side diet he craves and the Australian opener helped himself to 39 runs off 19 balls before being bowled by Steven Croft. Arron Lilley then cut his first ball to Josh Bohannon at cover point but the only result of this fine stroke was that Harry Swindells was run out by half the length of the pitch for 4 after a dreadful mix-up with Lilley.

Nevertheless, Leicestershire were 52 for 2 after their Powerplay and the following four overs were all bowled by spinners. The next blow of consequence was struck by Matt Parkinson who had Colin Ackermann caught at backward point by James Faulkner for 21 when the Foxes captain was attempting a reverse sweep and the visitors reached the midpoint of their innings modestly placed on 77 for 3.

Lilley gradually warmed to his task on his former home ground, ramping Richard Gleeson for four and smacking Parkinson over long-off for six but when he had made 28 the former Lancashire allrounder pulled James Faulkner straight to Maxwell at deep midwicket.

The remainder of the Foxes innings was something of an anti-climax as the home spinners strangled the scoring rate and three more batsmen were run out. Harry Dearden's 24 was the only score above 20 and after Cosgrove had found the boundary seven times in 19 balls, his colleagues struck only six fours in the rest of the innings. Parkinson took the bowling honours with 2 for 24 while Maxwell finished with one for 22.

Lancashire's pursuit of 143 began well as Liam Livingstone and Alex Davies put on 54 in 5.1 overs, both openers hitting sixes before Lilley held on to a steepler off Ben Mike to get rid of Livingstone for 28. Steven Croft followed soon after, caught at cover off Callum Parkinson for five, but Davies continued to take heavy toll of Dieter Klein, hitting the South African for a second six before he was bowled for 39 when attempting to cut Parkinson.

Lancashire skipper Dane Vilas was dismissed for 6 when he carelessly pulled Will Davis to deep square leg but Maxwell and Faulkner looked to be taking Lancashire home before Faulkner was leg before wicket to Lilley for 11. However, Maxwell and Jennings settled things with some well-judged strokes on a damp Mancunian evening.

Yorkshire 200 for 3 (Kohler-Cadmore 94*) beat Birmingham 181 for 5 (Hain 64*) by 19 runs

Tom Kohler-Cadmore was among the runs again as an unbeaten 94 earned Yorkshire Vikings a 19-run T20 Vitality Blast victory over Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston.

Opener Kohler-Cadmore made a half century in his previous game against Northamptonshire Steelbacks. And the Vikings captain kept that form going with nine fours and two sixes - ending six short of his century - as Yorkshire completed their T20 campaign with back-to-back wins after Birmingham replied with 181 for 5, including a 46-ball 64 from Sam Hain who hit five fours and two sixes.

The match may have been a dead rubber with neither side able to qualify from the North Group, but Kohler-Cadmore and Adam Lyth punished Birmingham yet again with a new best T20 stand against the Bears following on from their 88 stand at Headingley this season. This time they piled on 102 runs to set up a total of 200 for 3.

Birmingham won the toss but Yorkshire made a solid start and the opening 50 stand came inside six overs - off 32 balls - after some loose bowling from the Bears early on. Lyth brought up the half-century with a boundary as Vikings made the most of the Powerplay.

Vikings were 92 for no wicket after 10 overs and Kohler-Cadmore reached his 50 after hitting seven fours and a six, with the pair completing a century stand a in the 12th over. But Bears made the breakthrough when Lyth tried to pull a George Garrett ball and was caught on the boundary by Dom Sibley on the deep midwicket boundary.

Garrett, aged 19, earned his first wicket in T20 cricket as a result with the score on 102 - that follows his wicket on his first-class debut against Somerset this month.

But Yorkshire were still in a strong position and David Willey kit the Vikings' momentum going as he hit the first and third ball of his innings for six.

Willey continued to take the game to Birmingham and drove Chris Green for a huge straight six. But Bears picked up a second wicket as Willey tried one big shot too many and hit Green's full toss to long-off where he was caught by Will Rhodes after making a rapid 25 off 10 balls to leave Vikings 137 for 2.

Harry Brook came in and provided more valuable support for Kohler-Cadmore and the pair hauled in 24 runs from the 17th over. Vikings reached 200 off the last ball of the innings leaving Kohler-Cadmore not out after carrying his bat.

Bears made an encouraging start and Ed Pollock took the game to Yorkshire only to edge Tim Bresnan to wicket keeper Tattersall and depart for 22 hitting four boundaries and a six. But Green then went from his second delivery as Bresnan struck again in the same over with Will Fraine taking a fine catch as Bears were reduced to 35 for 2.

And it was 56 for 3 when Matt Pillans bowled Lamb for 11 - but Vikings took command when Lyth trapped opener Dom Sibley for 37 with the Bears score on 100.