Leicestershire288 (Klein 87, Cosgrove 70, Gleeson 4-58) and 5 for 1 trail Lancashire 449 by 156 runs

Countrymen are wont to refer to a skulk of foxes but you will never find a side coached by Paul Nixon hiding itself away. Defeat is one thing; gutless capitulation another. So on an afternoon when Glamorgan went top of Division Two it was heartening to see another less fancied side taking to the barricades against the very warm title favourites.

Everywhere you looked in the final two sessions of this day you found foxes whose courage would have inspired John Masefield. Desperately placed on 82 for 5 at lunch, a score which had some home fans pondering a three-day finish, Leicestershire's lower order scrapped for every run and sold their wickets so dear that George Soros might have baulked at the price. The resistance was led by Dieter Klein, who was ninth out for 87, seven short of his career-best score, at the very point when his team had become favourites to save the follow-on. Klein was uncontroversially leg before to Richard Gleeson, and Leicestershire still needed another dozen runs to avoid one of cricket's most unpalatable invitations when Mohammed Abbas was caught behind by Dane Vilas without scoring.

Rather worse was to follow in the day's very last knockings as nightwatchman-opener Chris Wright was bowled by Graham Onions, playing no shot, for nought. All the same, if Paul Horton's men bat with the similar courage on the final day of this fine game they will collect five points for the draw and they will deserve them. We are set for another fine finish and another excellent advertisement for four-day cricket.

Yet such a prospect seemed distant indeed at lunch after a morning session in which the visitors had lost five wickets and may even have been comforted by the notion that things could have been so much worse for them. Both openers and Neil Dexter were removed by Onions and Tom Bailey with the new ball in little more than the first half hour of the day and suddenly the game became an 11 v 1 contest. Every shot, however secure, was accompanied by a cacophony from the slips, whose comments rang out across the bitterly cold air.

This was a session for the game's devotees but they needed to be properly insulated. Those at the River End huddled together like long-tailed tits on a branch in winter. It looked as though each spectator was giving his fierce attention to the game; well, either that or rigor mortis had claimed another scalp. Gradually Mark Cosgrove and Colin Ackermann began to make something of the innings, both batsmen punching fours through midwicket when the seamers searched too eagerly for an attacking length.

It remained cold. One fellow was seen unpacking a picnic and was generally judged to have lost his wits. This was a rug and Bovril day. After an hour's resistance Ackermann drove at Gleeson but only edged a catch to Vilas. Bury-born Harry Dearden lasted half an hour for his two runs but edged Liam Livingstone's final ball before lunch to Keaton Jennings at slip. The players went in and the sun came out. Aigburth became cricket's answer to the weather house.

Lancashire made further breakthroughs in the afternoon session but never as frequently as their supporters expected. The visitors' determination was epitomised by a 20-year-old debutant, Harry Swindells, who put on 50 for the sixth wicket with Mark Cosgrove. Swindells is slim, innocent and athletic, three adjectives which are rarely used in connection with Cosgrove. Yet the pair combined well and repulsed every Lancastrian challenge. The youngster's first runs were edgy in both respects but he soon warmed to his new environment and seemed unfazed by the yakking of Lancashire's close fielders. Indeed, Cosgrove was the first to depart when Onions brought one back off the pitch and had him lbw for 70. Swindells' first innings in his new surroundings lasted another half hour and he had accumulated a very respectable 37 when the ball ballooned off bat and pad and Keaton Jennings plunged forward from short leg to grab the catch which gave Livingstone his second wicket.

At that point Leicestershire were 150 for 7 and Lancashire had re-established their ascendancy. But the main battle had yet to be joined. It was led by Klein but he was ably assisted by Callum Parkinson, the twin brother of Lancashire's Matthew. For while Matt may be the better spinner, Callum has clearly secured a monopoly of the family's batting genes. In company with Klein, he added 119 for his team's eighth wicket. Neither the tea interval nor the taking of the new ball disturbed the pair; indeed it required a slightly generous leg before decision in favour of Gleeson to get rid of the other Parky for 37 when Leicestershire still needed 31 to avoid batting again tonight.

Lancashire's bowlers had become frustrated in the afternoon; perhaps they, too, were considering the attractions of a day off. But Gleeson recovered his discipline sufficiently to finish with 4 for 58 and set us up for a tense battle tomorrow. That is, if frostbite doesn't get us all first; but fingers are overrated anyway.

Rohit Sharma's century against South Africa in Southampton was the slowest of his ODI career. Yet, the timing, the composure and the manner in which he scored his runs prompted his captain Virat Kohli to label the century Rohit's "best ODI innings".

It is a significant statement by Kohli. Rohit has scored several centuries, including three double-tons, so what makes this one so special?

First up, Kohli said, there was the pressure of playing in the World Cup, and then the pressure of India needing to win their tournament-opener, in a format where each of their nine league matches will carry equal significance. "In my opinion this is by far his best ODI innings because of the kind of pressure the first game brings from a World Cup point of view," Kohli said at his post-match media briefing.

According to Kohli the goal set for the top order, comprising Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and himself, was for one of the three batsmen to anchor the innings, bat deep, and build partnerships. After Dhawan and Kohli fell early, Rohit had to carry that responsibility.

The target was not steep, but the bounce was. South Africa fast bowler Chris Morris said there was "something in the pitch", which India's quicks, led by Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, exploited well. Even Hardik Pandya got one of his hard-length deliveries to climb awkwardly and hit Faf du Plessis' gloves.

"He [du Plessis] said it was like facing the first hour of a Test match," Morris said.

Kagiso Rabada and Morris attacked India's top order, bowling tight lines and pushing them on the back foot with good hard lengths. Rohit was lucky more than once to get away with balls pinging off his edge and gloves and landing away from the reach of the fielders.

Keeping the mounting challenge in mind, Rohit still managed to keep his head. "As a batsman when you go in and a few balls bounce like that, it is not easy to gather yourself again and play in a calm manner." Kohli said. "A lot of times batsmen tend to hit their way out of the situation. But he was very composed, he was very - he's played so many games, we expect a lot of maturity and a lot of responsibility from someone like him."

Even Rohit agreed that it was an atypical batting performance. "I couldn't play my natural game," Rohit said to the host broadcaster. "Certain shots that I love to play, I had to cut down and make sure that I play close to the body. I had to try and leave as many balls as possible in the initial spell. It was not a typical Rohit Sharma innings."

Rohit now is joint fourth among ODI centurions in chases. Kohli, who tops that list, said Rohit played the "perfect" innings. "In my opinion, of all the brilliant innings I have seen him play, I think this, for me, was the top of the pile because of the way he compiled his innings, and at no stage did we feel like, or he felt like he is going to throw it away.

"I think controlling the game so beautifully from one end and allowing the others to display themselves and string in small little partnerships, looking at the fact that they were only chasing 228, he played the perfect innings for that kind of a situation, on that kind of a wicket, against a bowling attack that was threatening to pick up wickets at any stage. So, yeah, in my opinion, by far his best knock."

"Stranger things have happened," allrounder Chris Morris said. Following three defeats to begin the 2019 World Cup, this is what South Africa have to cling to, if they are to progress to the semi-finals.

ALSO READ - Bumrah, Rohit and Chahal give India winning start

Having arrived in the UK with the aim of winning at least six of their round-robin matches, they are now faced with winning six in a row to make that a reality. It is possible that even five wins could be enough to make it into the knockouts, or in an absolute best-case scenario, four. But although they've got the two favourites out of the way, they've still got to get past Australia, New Zealand, a possibly resurgent Pakistan (who is to tell if their upswing lasts), and West Indies.

"The guys are very disappointed and a bit angry, which they are allowed to be," Morris said after the loss to India. "We will sort that out in our heads tonight and when the sun comes up tomorrow we will go back to the drawing board and take on our next opponent. It's pretty simple - win the next six and crack on. Maybe we need a bit of luck to go our way."

Captain Faf du Plessis, who before the the match, spoke of his team as being one that already needed a psychological lift, has a tougher road ahead than practically any other captain in the competition presently. He blamed his batting order for the defeat.

"It's a change-room that is hurting," du Plessis said. "We're trying to make sure that we keep fighting, but we're still making mistakes all the time. Today was once again a great example of someone not batting through. That's what you need in England. You need one guy batting through. And then if you can get a total, your bowlers can try and put some pressure on. But to have so many 30s and 40s is not acceptable."

The only period of the game in which South Africa seemed to have a glimmer of a chance was the early overs of India's chase, as Kagiso Rabada delivered a furious spell of quick bowling. Twice he could have had Rohit Sharma - the eventual centurion - out, when short balls ballooned in the air off the batsman's bat and glove. One of those balls fell into space, however, and the other was spilled by a diving du Plessis, to reprieve Rohit on 1.

"He was a champion today," du Plessis said of Rabada. "He was extremely unlucky. I've never seen so many balls just fall in different areas. But sometimes, that's how the game goes. When you're not playing your best cricket, little 50-50 things go against you. We've got to try and make sure we turn those 50-50 chances towards us. But he was unbelievable today."

DeMarcus Cousins was devastated after tearing his quad in the first round of the playoffs, saying he was "just ready to quit." Luckily for the Golden State Warriors, he didn't.

Cousins, instead, has fought back to become a crucial piece for the Warriors as they enter Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET, ABC) against the Toronto Raptors tied at one game apiece.

"I know the feeling of like, you know, this might be it. You know?" Cousins told ESPN's Rachel Nichols in an interview on The Jump on Wednesday. "So every chance I get to be on the floor, I'm gonna leave it on the floor. Because, you know, this is a game I've played my entire life and I've grown to love since I was a kid.

"And, you know, as much as I loved it then, I love it now. And I know how fast it can be taken away. It can be gone with the snap of a finger."

Cousins suffered what many within the organization feared was a season-ending quad tear in Game 2 of the Warriors' first-round series against the LA Clippers on April 15. And that was after he didn't play his first game of the season until Jan. 18 after spending almost an entire year rehabbing from an Achilles injury.

"I would be lying to say I didn't really have to [fight to get back so soon]," Cousins said of the quad tear. "Like, I had to dig deep. I had to do some soul-searching and, you know, throughout both injuries, it was times where I just -- you know, like, 'Forget it.' Like, I'll just take my time with it and whatever happens, happens. And f---, I just couldn't go out that way."

Cousins said he struggled to get into the right frame of mind to get back on the court.

"I was just ready to quit," Cousins said. "Like, throw the towel in. ... Human nature is the first thing. It's like, 'Why? Why me? Why now? What did I do wrong? Why do I deserve this?' And that's not always the case. It's usually [that] it's repaying you for the next moment.

"This is you putting your armor on. Slowly but surely. Because your next moment's gonna be even tougher."

After playing just eight minutes in Game 1 against the Raptors, Cousins started Game 2 on Sunday night and was a force, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes during a 109-104 victory.

"That's what it's about," Cousins said. "Leaving it all on the floor and trying to make the best play and the right play every possession. And I think we, as a team, did that in Game 2 and we were the better team that night."

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

What does Kawhi want?

This is the essential question that has occupied the Toronto Raptors since their bold trade for Kawhi Leonard last July. Leonard is one of the NBA's most inscrutable superstars, a man of few words and little subtext.

He's not uncommunicative, but he is quite literal. When he was asked after the Raptors' Game 2 blowout road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, "Where do you go from here?" Leonard replied, "To Toronto for Game 3." This isn't a player interested in disseminating messages in the media to convey his feelings or leverage his power.

For NBA teams, trafficking in superstars is a two-part process -- acquisition, then retention -- and it's that latter stage that presents the greatest challenge. Any front office with the requisite assets can trade for a superstar, but only one skilled at the art of persuasion can keep him. Tied 1-1 with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals (Game 3, 9 p.m. ET on ABC), the Raptors will soon shift their attention to the retention project they've been planning for nearly a year -- signing Leonard to a long-term contract in free agency to remain in Toronto.

How do you sell someone not easily sold? How do you sculpt a pitch about external factors when the target of that pitch is someone so internally focused? What can you really offer that other leading NBA organizations can't? How can the Raptors compensate for their geographic disadvantage to a team like the LA Clippers in recruiting a Southern Californian whose preference for temperate climes is well-known?

The Raptors executed the trade last summer with the belief that, when it came time to make their sale to Leonard, they'd be a strong incumbent with a track record of competence and achievement. This is the case Toronto can make to Leonard with confidence.

Kawhi:

When we started crafting our pitch to you to make the Raptors your long-term home, we realized that the most important considerations aren't necessarily the things we think we do well as an NBA franchise, but the things you believe are most important as an NBA superstar. This decision is about both your professional and personal lives, and it's the first real opportunity you've had to choose a home with no restrictions.

Your honesty is one of the qualities we most admire in you, so in identifying the factors we feel at work in this decision, we'd be smart to take you at your word. We think about your introductory news conference from last September, when you were asked what you want most to accomplish in your NBA career.

You responded, "Just be able to be healthy. That's my No. 1 goal -- play a long, healthy career, be able to be dominant wherever I land. That's about it. I want to win championships and get in those record books."

You're a rare breed -- a player who is well-aware of his greatness, but who also appreciates the limitations of a human body against the grueling NBA schedule. That's why when you arrived in Toronto, you clearly articulated your expectations: A commitment to your physical health was what you wanted from our organization this season, above all else. That meant a coordinated effort in which every stakeholder -- you, our front office, our coaching staff, our medical team, those you trust to advise you -- would work toward that common goal.

It's fair to say that, over the past year, Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors together created a new template for the NBA. You know as we do that what was referred to casually -- and often dismissively -- in the media as "load management" was so much more than your finding rest on back-to-back stretches. It was a collaborative and thoughtful process befitting of an athlete who plays with uncommon magnitude and force, whose every movement on the court is a portrait of intention.

You teamed up with our director of sports science Alex McKechnie, physiotherapist Amanda Joaquim, as well as others in our organization, and methodically navigated your output to perfection. When you said in March that the NBA's regular season was "82 practices," we fully embraced that characterization, just as we endorsed your larger approach. McKechnie, for years, has been at the forefront of this performance movement, and we consider your partnership with him an achievement.

We're a forward-thinking NBA franchise that understands that there are many reasons you've been the MVP of the 2019 playoffs -- your talent, preparation, temperament. But there's also your devotion to best practices. We look at an otherworldly superstar like James Harden and wonder had he not crossed the 3,000 minute threshold sometime during Game 4 of the Rockets' first-round series -- a multiyear pattern for him -- whether we'd be facing Houston and not Golden State in the Finals.

There are stars, front offices and coaches who reject this thinking, who reside in an old-world sensibility where toughing it out in a "man's league" is the dominant worldview. Not us. Like you, we appreciate that every small decision is part of a much larger whole. There's no one game, single practice or individual workout that stands apart from the greater goal of winning a championship; every choice impacts the greater outcome.

Watching you go about your business on a daily basis has been a revelation to us. From the moment you arrive at the facility, it's an exercise in machine-like efficiency: weights, shots, medical, film, practice, ice, and whatever else your preparation demands. Not a moment or movement wasted. And it's not simply that we admire how you put in a day's work -- we've learned from it. You made us aware early on that you're a player accustomed to structure, and we listened. As a result, we're a better basketball operation today than when you arrived, something that has been borne out this spring.

Our head coach, Nick Nurse, has won at every level throughout his career -- but more importantly, he's a listener. When you asked questions about defensive rotations or coverage schemes, we explained that our principles of ball pressure and getting in gaps were less specific in their directives, but over the course of the regular season and playoffs, we melded our approaches. In doing so, we extinguished the East's top-ranked offense, rendering it impotent in a six-game series.

On the other end, we installed an offense that both maximizes the collective intelligence and inherent unselfishness of our unit, but also empowers your exceptional individual skill set. We've worked with you to put you in the best position to succeed on a given possession by furnishing you with the brightest teammates who intuitively understand where, when and how you like the ball. While we respect that you'll survey the field for other franchises with talent, we are steadfast in our belief that you will not find another roster with more professionalism, experience and unselfishness. Nor will you find a collection of teammates with a willingness to defer to your dominance at the biggest moments, while doing all the little things required for you to succeed in those moments.

We have veteran players who still have productive seasons ahead, and young players who are only going to get better, including Pascal Siakam, who is projected to walk away with the league's Most Improved Player award in a landslide. We selected him with the 27th pick, just as we have overperformed with so many of our younger players: We stole Norman Powell from Milwaukee by sending out Greivis Vasquez, found OG Anunoby with the 23rd pick, and picked up off the scrap heap an undrafted Fred VanVleet, who has been crucial in helping you win the biggest games in Raptors franchise history.

We could tell you why we think Toronto is the greatest basketball city on the continent, how being the face of a truly national franchise is a privilege, but we also know that you might value the strengths of our market differently than others. We appreciate that peripherals aren't as important to you, but we know that a professional workplace devoid of external noise is. And we present the events of the last 10 months as evidence that, in this respect, the Toronto Raptors are a perfect fit for Kawhi Leonard.

An NBA team with a pending free-agent superstar can be beset by intrigue and disruption, but despite the uncertainty about your future, our season together was devoid of high drama. That's a testament both to your character and our commitment to doing things the right way: We didn't succumb to distractions because, together, we simply wouldn't allow it. If there's an organization that has produced a more harmonious season of basketball in recent years with such uncertainty, we haven't seen it. This wasn't a fluke; we believe it is -- and will be -- a fundamental feature of the Toronto Raptors in a Kawhi Leonard Era.

But more than anything, our boldest selling point is you -- specifically, our decision last summer to change the course of our franchise in an effort to make you a Toronto Raptor. Our rivals in the Eastern Conference had greater resources and assets necessary to acquire you. We can't say why they didn't. Perhaps they didn't believe you could restore yourself to full health, or you weren't worth their best prospects. Maybe they didn't have sufficient faith that the overall quality of their organization would be enough to convince you to stay.

We took the risk they didn't, not only because we were confident you'd find the conditions for both health and on-court success to be present in Toronto, but because we also understood that you would make us a better NBA franchise -- you would make us the kind of organization that would be the best long-term home for Kawhi Leonard.

Coming soon: The case for the Clippers

NEW YORK -- The Mets have activated All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano from the injured list.

Cano was set to bat third for New York against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. He has been out since May 22 with a strained left quadriceps.

He said Sunday that he hoped to be active for the series opener Tuesday, but he was held back an extra day.

Acquired last offseason from Seattle, Cano is hitting .241 with three homers and 13 RBIs for New York. He has been criticized for failing to hustle on a few groundouts this season then was injured running one out.

Outfielder Aaron Altherr was designated for assignment to open a roster spot.

Cleveland Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco has been diagnosed with a blood condition and "is stepping away from baseball activities to explore the optimal treatment and recovery options," the team announced Wednesday.

The team said that Carrasco had been feeling lethargic for several weeks and that details of Carrasco's illness "will be conveyed at Carlos and his family's discretion."

It is not known when he might rejoin the club, but the team did say it expects him to return "at some point this season."

We have placed RHP Carlos Carrasco on the Injured List due to a non-baseball, medical condition.

Please keep Cookie and his family in your thoughts during this challenging time.#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/rA5tCyX2DL

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) June 5, 2019

"At this time, our primary concern is Carlos' health and we will respect his wishes to keep this a private matter," the team said.

Carrasco, 32, was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to June 2. He is 4-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts this season and has played his entire 10-season big league career in Cleveland with an 83-68 record in 219 appearances (183 starts).

Carrasco, who went 17-10 in 2018 after posting an 18-6 mark in 2017, signed a $47 million, four-year contract in December.

The Indians, who are 10 1/2 games behind Minnesota in the AL Central entering Wednesday's games, also optioned outfielder Greg Allen to Triple-A Columbus and recalled right-handers Jon Edwards and Nick Goody from Triple-A.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

British number two Katie Boulter will miss the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham but hopes to recover from a back injury in time for Wimbledon.

The tournament begins on Monday, three weeks before the start of Wimbledon.

Boulter, 22, was named in the French Open draw before withdrawing, despite not having not played since Britain's Fed Cup win over Kazakhstan in April.

"Been getting stronger every day but unfortunately Nottingham is going to be too soon," she said on social media.

"I'm so gutted, especially as this tournament is so close to my heart. Nothing beats playing back where it all started!

"However, I'm still really hopeful to be back for the grass-court season."