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Mbappé wins 4th French player of the year prize
Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé has been handed the French Footballer of the Year award by France Football for the 2023-24 campaign, his last at former club Paris Saint-Germain.
It is the fourth time the France captain has won the prize which is organised by magazine France Football. He won it for his performances in the 2022-23 season and for the years 2018 and 2019 before it became seasonally awarded.
Mbappé scored 52 goals in all competitions for PSG in his final term in the French capital, winning Ligue 1 for the sixth time as well as the Coupe de France. He also captained the national team to the semifinals of Euro 2024 before their elimination at the hands of Spain.
Arsenal defender William Saliba came second in the voting, with AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan in third. Mbappé's now teammates Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni finished fourth and fifth, respectively, after Madrid claimed the Champions League title.
Mbappé has scored 12 goals and contributed two assists in 22 games since joining Los Blancos on a free transfer.
He is set to miss Saturday's LaLiga clash with Rayo Vallecano after picking up a thigh injury in Madrid's 3-2 win over Atalanta in midweek, and is a doubt for the Intercontinental Cup final in Doha, Qatar on Dec. 18.
England wait on Kate Cross fitness as one-off Test match looms
"We'll have to wait and see," Knight said. "Obviously, she went down in that first ODI, and it's pretty rare to see Kate in that much pain. So we'll have to see how that reacts. She'll try and have a little bowl today, try and get a couple of spells in, and then we'll make a call based on what we think is best for the team.
"Obviously we've got a huge amount of cricket coming up as well, so that's going be at the forefront [of our thoughts]. Kate's such a key player for us in one-day cricket and Test cricket. We want to give her the biggest chance, because she's so desperate to play Test cricket, but we feel like our seam bowlers are going to be so important over the next month, so we want to really look after them.
"So, "I don't know" is the honest answer, but if she doesn't play, we'll obviously miss her."
The upcoming Test will be South Africa's first on home soil in 22 years, and Knight - who still considers the format to be her favourite despite the scarcity of opportunity - said her players were all excited at the prospect of "pulling the whites back on". The challenge of switching mindsets from white-ball to red-ball cricket, however, would be the biggest factor for the coming four days.
"From my own experiences, I absolutely love playing red-ball cricket," Knight said. "It's such a test, such a challenge, and something that I love doing the mental challenge, the repetition of skills, adapting to so many different situations that you might face. I absolutely love it.
"But honestly, in the build-up to the Test, everyone was like, 'right, what do I do, how do I learn? How to develop?' Picking a team is pretty hard, just because you're going on minimal information, from white-ball cricket or from a Test match that was maybe a year ago.
"So it's quite hard thing to prepare for. Mentally, it's about getting clarity around how you're going to play. I don't think that should differ hugely from your one-day mindset, it's just doing things for a little bit longer and managing situations that change in a game a little bit better.
"You have to be okay sometimes with not scoring, and having to soak up pressure for a little bit longer. But also I want the girls have that mindset that, when we get a chance to really put the pressure back on the opposition, can we move the game forward at a rate of knots?"
The two teams last faced each other in a Test match at Taunton in 2022, where Marizanne Kapp made a brilliant 150 to set her team up for a hard-fought draw.
"She's certainly high-class, she's a key player for them," Knight said. "We have our plans to try and get her out. Laura [Wolvaardt]'s got potential to bat long and score some big runs as well, so she's another key player. We want real clarity about how we want to go about it, then it's about adapting to how they're playing the game in the moment as well."
Despite the proximity of the Ashes, where the Test will be held for the first time at the vast MCG, Knight insisted England's focus was all in the "here-and-now".
"We're totally focused on this Test match. It's been in the calendar, and it's something that the girls have highlighted that they really want to play in and really want to do well. Any chance to play a Test match is really cool.
"We've had one eye on the Ashes throughout this series and trying to prep for that, whilst also not looking too far ahead and doing what we need to do to have some success. And obviously we've had huge success on this tour. It's been a brilliant trip for us, a really successful tour. We've had loads of learnings as well, and things we can fine tune before we go into the Ashes."
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
Sources: OU transfer QB Arnold picks Auburn
Oklahoma transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold has signed with Auburn, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel and Max Olson.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound sophomore has two more seasons of eligibility. He's making a move within the SEC to help lead a turnaround for the Tigers following a 5-7 season in Hugh Freeze's second year.
Freeze secured the commitment from his top target during an official visit that began Thursday, three days after Arnold entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal.
The Denton, Texas, native was the No. 3 overall recruit in the ESPN 300 for the class of 2023 and the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior. He's the No. 4 quarterback in ESPN's transfer rankings.
After backing up Dillon Gabriel during his freshman season, Arnold took over as Oklahoma's starting quarterback ahead of their Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona last December when Gabriel transferred to Oregon and started 10 games for the Sooners.
Arnold produced 1,421 passing yards, 444 rushing yards, 15 total touchdowns and three interceptions during a challenging season for Arnold and for the program. The preseason No. 16 ranked Sooners went 6-6 in their first year in the SEC and 2-6 in conference games.
During Oklahoma's first SEC conference home game against Tennessee, Arnold was benched by coach Brent Venables before halftime after three first-half turnovers. Freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. replaced him to finish the 25-15 loss, and Venables named him the starter with the hope that Hawkins "will give us a better chance moving forward."
Arnold did not play in the Sooners' 27-21 comeback road win at Auburn the following week, nor did he appear in their 34-3 loss to then-No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry. But when Hawkins turned it over three times in the first quarter the next week against South Carolina, Venables went back to Arnold as his starter.
Oklahoma dropped to 4-1 and 1-3 in SEC play following the 35-9 blowout loss to the Gamecocks. Venables responded by firing offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, the former North Carolina and North Texas head coach who'd been promoted from offensive analyst to OC ahead of the 2024 season. Co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley took over playcalling duties and Arnold remained the starter for the rest of the season.
Arnold had a difficult time playing up to expectations in an offense that struggled with injuries and inconsistency throughout the season.
Oklahoma relied on eight different starting lineup combinations along its offensive line over 12 games, and its projected top five wide receivers -- Deion Burks, Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, Andrel Anthony and Jayden Gibson -- missed significant time due to injuries. Anderson, Farooq and Anthony have since entered the transfer portal.
The Sooners averaged 21.2 points per game against FBS opponents, second-fewest among SEC teams, and finished among the bottom 10 in FBS in yards per play (4.8), yards per pass attempt (6.1) and sacks allowed (46).
Despite those problems, Oklahoma still managed to stun then-No. 7 Alabama in its home finale, a 24-3 rout that ended up knocking the Crimson Tide out of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
Arnold rushed for a career-high 131 yards on 25 carries and had 68 passing yards on 9-of-11 passing in the victory, which secured bowl eligibility for the Sooners. They'll play Navy in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27.
At Auburn, he gets an opportunity for a fresh start on a team that's determined to contend in the SEC in Freeze's third season. The Tigers will lose All-SEC running back Jarquez Hunter and leading receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith to the NFL but bring four blue-chip freshman wide receivers in Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Perry Thompson and Bryce Cain.
Freeze was in need of a No. 1 quarterback via the portal to help Auburn take the next big step forward after 22-game starter Payton Thorne graduated and backups Hank Brown and Holden Geriner opted to transfer. Brown has committed to Iowa.
The Tigers stumbled to a 2-5 start in 2024 with four consecutive SEC losses before fighting back to win three of their last five, including a 43-41 win over then-No. 15 Texas A&M in four overtimes. They came up short of bowl eligibility, losing 28-14 at Alabama in their finale. In their seven losses, the offense averaged a mere 13.3 points per game.
With Arnold now on board, Freeze and the Tigers are expected to be aggressive this month in their efforts to continue upgrading the roster with transfer portal additions.
Arnold's first SEC conference game with the Tigers in 2025 will be a return trip to Norman to face Oklahoma on Sept. 20.
Afghanistan bowl in decider with Farooqi in for Fareed
Toss Afghanistan chose to bowl vs Zimbabwe
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan won his third toss in a row, and opted to bowl in the final T20I against Zimbabwe after batting first in the previous two games.
Zimbabwe: 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 3 Dion Myers, 4 Wessly Madhevere, 5 Sikandar Raza (capt), 6 Tashinga Musekiwa, 7 Wellington Masakadza, 8 Faraz Akram, 9 Richard Ngarava, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Trevor Gwandu
Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Zubaid Akbari, 4 Darwish Rasooli, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Scorchers get Agar, Connolly boost with spin stocks in focus
In the last BBL game played at Optus Stadium, a low-scoring knockout final back in January, Adelaide Strikers successfully deployed a spin-heavy attack that flummoxed Perth Scorchers and ended their dreams of a hat-trick of titles.
It was a stunning turn, pardon the pun, of events and underlined that spin can have a major impact on a surface renowned for being fast and bouncy much like the nearby WACA.
Scorchers, the competition's most successful franchise, will be determined to bounce back but they could face challenges with their spin depth.
Left-arm wrist spinner Hamish McKenzie departed in the off-season after taking up a two-year deal with Stars having struggled to regularly crack into a Scorchers attack usually featuring Agar as their sole frontline spinner.
Agar has been a mainstay of Scorchers' attack for years, relied upon to dry the scoring in the middle overs although he was expensive late last season. He has not played since suffering a shoulder injury during the Sheffield Shield last month.
Having been blooded into Australia's white-ball teams, there was a lot of excitement heading into this season over Connolly whose x-factor allround ability has seen him likened to Travis Head.
But he's been on the sidelines for the past month with a fractured hand after being whacked by a short delivery from Pakistan quick Mohammad Hasnain in the third ODI at Optus Stadium.
It was a premature end to Connolly's first innings in international cricket, but he appears a chance to take his place against Stars after playing in Scorchers' intra-squad match on Thursday at the WACA.
"I'm going to try and put my best foot forward to play on Sunday. But it's up to the coaches to decide if I'm ready or not," Connolly told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. "It's obviously frustrating [the injury], it wasn't great timing. But it's a small bump in the road and I'm just looking to keep a positive mindset."
Connolly is still developing his left-arm orthodox bowling, but does boast a three-wicket haul among his 15 BBL games. The 21-year-old Connolly is set to assume more responsibility if Agar is absent, while his cavalier batting makes him a potential match-winner.
Connolly offers flexibility with the bat but failed to make an impact as an opener early last season. At this stage of his career, No. 6 is his preferred position and appears the best use of his ability to finish an innings as he memorably showed in the unforgettable final of BBL12 when he helped lift Scorchers to the title and became an instant cult hero.
"I like to be very versatile and I'm happy to bat anywhere from one to seven," Connolly said. "But at this point in time, I probably see myself at six and want to try to knuckle down in that role and finish off the innings."
Spoors, 25, was a highly touted top-order batter as a junior and received his first Western Australia contract while he was in high school. But he never played a senior game and was discarded in 2020 after three years on the list.
"I probably didn't know my game too well and chopped and changed my technique a lot," Spoors told ESPNcricinfo. "I listened to too many people when I was younger and probably couldn't say no to the advice."
With his cricket career in ruins, he tried his hand at Australian Rules Football, his other sporting passion, but the rough and tumble sport proved demanding for the diminutive Spoors.
He decided to give cricket another serious crack, with a particular focus on the T20 format amid the sport's shifting landscape to franchise leagues. But a reinvention was required if he was going to make a professional career out of it.
Having always been able to bowl a "quick leggie", Spoors focused on the craft of legspin and used Afghanistan talisman Rashid Khan as a blueprint.
"I could never really slow it up, that wasn't really my game," Spoors said about his legspin. "I've always been able to bowl a wrong'un and leggie, so being able to to do that fast...I've tried to utilise that and it's the type of bowling that suits T20 cricket."
He's also worked on his power-hitting in a bid to turn himself into a specialist finisher.
"Playing Associate cricket helped my confidence," he said. "I played on so many different pitches in different environments that it holds you in good stead. And meeting new people and being part of different cultures really expanded my horizons."
Spoors took that form into last season's local cricket competition in Perth where he shared the Olly Cooley Medal with Renegades batter Jono Wells for the top player in WA Premier Cricket.
He then impressed in August's Top End T20 Series in Darwin to seal a contract with Scorchers before making his List A debut for WA against Victoria at the MCG last month. He didn't get a chance to bowl and made just 4 off 12 balls at No. 6 in the rain-interrupted match, but more opportunities under brighter lights may be imminent.
Spoors already has an enthusiastic supporter in the Scorchers ranks with Connolly, his Scarborough team-mate in local cricket, a firm believer in his skill-set.
"I'm very close to him and we've had some good conversations about the game and being a spin allrounder," Connolly said about Spoors. "I think if he gets an opportunity, he'll be ready."
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth
Clear-minded Patidar leads MP to SMAT final with his sixes
Patidar arrived to bat at a troublesome 46 for 3 in MP's chase of 147 against Delhi, and he got going in no time despite the situation. Facing pace bowler Himanshu Chauhan, he slashed his fifth ball for four past point, before dispatching Chauhan for six over deep square leg to take 14 runs from the over.
The sixes kept flowing off Patidar's bat - he thumped six of them in total - with heaves over midwicket and long-on, and the pull over square leg earning him the big hits.
"I try to put my impact on the opposition for my team," he said on his consistency. "I've never paid attention to getting the big scores. My mantra is to play one ball at a time. So I try to do that. I've never thought that I'll get a big score. I focus on what I can do."
"I've learned much. I've enjoyed learning more tactically because I love seeing the players, and anticipate what they can do," he said of his captaincy stint with MP. "It's a great time [which] I spend with my coach Chandrakant Pandit about captaincy. So, yeah, I am learning a lot."
Bangladesh's first women's three-day competition to start in December
The Women's Bangladesh Cricket League (WBCL), the country's first three-day competition for women, will begin at two venues in Rajshahi on December 21. The BCB has organised the tournament to set in motion the process to build its first Test side, although the board is yet to put a timeline in place.
"It is a very good initiative from the BCB," Bashar said. "The challenge was to start it, so we got a bit of time this month. We have the West Indies tour coming up. We needed to start the tournament. We won't have time until June next year."
Bashar said that the plan was to give the Bangladesh players bound for the West Indies next month enough time, so four matches will be held in December. The rest of the tournament will be played in January.
Bangladesh received the Full Member status in women's cricket in 2021 alongside Afghanistan (which doesn't have a women's national team) and Zimbabwe, and this is the second edition of the WBCL, which was played in a two-day format in 2023. Of the countries that have women's multi-day cricket, there's the Senior Women's Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy in India, while Australia have recently begun three-day trial games for their red-ball team.
Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim go back to international retirement
It's really tough to see - Draper on grandma's Alzheimer's
British number one Jack Draper talks to BBC Sport's Laura Scott on a Memory Walk to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease.
Draper's grandmother has Alzheimer's - a condition that causes dementia and the gradual decline of cognitive functioning in the brain.
READ MORE: Draper raising awareness of disease after 'devastating' effect
CARY, N.C. -- Tarik Pannholzer scored in the opening minutes, Aleksa Janjic finished with five saves and an assist and Marshall beat No. 1 seed Ohio State 1-0 Friday night in the semifinals of the College Cup.
No. 13 seed Marshall (15-1-7) will play unseeded Vermont -- which beat Denver on penalty kicks in the other semifinal -- in the championship game Monday (8 p.m., ESPN2, ESPN+).
Pannholzer slipped behind the defense on the counterattack and ran onto a long goal kick played by Janjic. Ohio State goalkeeper Max Trejo came off his line and collided with teammate Siggi Magnusson at the edge of the penalty area, and Pannholzer walked it into the goal for a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.
Ohio State (16-2-4) had a great chance in the opening minutes, with David Ajagbe's header off a corner kick ricocheting off the crossbar.
Marshall has made six consecutive NCAA tournaments, winning the national championship in 2020.
Marshall's Takahiro Fujita was taken off the field on a stretcher in the second half and was replaced by Aleksandar Vukovic.
Ohio State's Donovan Williams came off with an apparent leg injury about five minutes into the game and was replaced by Nick McHenry.
The Buckeyes were without Nathan Demian, who was hit by an errant bullet from an off-campus shooting early Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio, just hours after helping the Buckeyes to a 3-0 win over Wake Forest in the quarterfinals. He remains hospitalized and cheered the team on from there Friday night.
Vermont 1, Denver 1
Max Murray scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 shootout after Vermont and Denver played to a 1-1 draw through extra time, and the Catamounts beat the No. 3 seed Pioneers to advance to their first men's College Cup final in program history.
Vermont (16-2-5), making its first appearance in the College Cup, became just the third team in the past decade to beat two top-four seeds in one tournament after also taking down No. 2 Pittsburgh last weekend. The Catamounts have won 10 NCAA tournament games over the past three years, the most of any program in the NCAA.
Denver (15-4-4) was making its second appearance in the national semifinals, with the previous coming in a 2016 loss to Wake Forest in extra time.
Vermont goalkeeper Niklas Herceg blocked Ben Smith's shot down the middle with his trail leg and Murray answered with his goal for a 3-2 lead in the shootout. Denver defender Trevor Wright had a left-footed shot glance off the crossbar to send Vermont into the championship match.
Both teams entered having not allowed a goal during the tournament, and neither allowed one in the opening half.
Denver attacking midfielder Sam Bassett scored from distance in the 69th minute for his ninth goal of the season. Teammate Ian Smith saved the ball from going out of bounds on the end line and passed it back to Bassett near the corner of the 18-yard box. Bassett calmly chipped it over Herceg and into the opposite side netting.
Yaniv Bazini tied it at 1 in the 84th minute with his 14th goal of the season. He got behind the defense, chested down a lofted pass from Nathan Siméon and calmly bounced it into the back of the net.
It was Vermont's 16th goal this season coming in the 83rd minute or later.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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