The major job losses at Cricket Victoria caused by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic have claimed the Melbourne Renegades' WBBL head coach Tim Coyle who had been in the role three years.

Last week Cricket Victoria confirmed a significant restructuring of its organisation in the wake of cost-cutting measures with community cricket especially hard hit.

During Coyle's time the Renegades reached the finals in both the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 seasons.

"The challenges delivered by the current climate have forced us to reassess every area of our High Performance program and unfortunately this has led to the end of Tim's tenure with the Renegades," Cricket Victoria's general manager of cricket Shaun Graf said.

"This certainly takes nothing away from Tim's contribution to the Melbourne Renegades in his time as Head Coach. He's led the club to back-to-back finals campaigns and a number of players have graduated to the national team under his direction.

"We'd like to thank Tim for his hard work over the last three seasons and wish him well for the future."

Last year the Melbourne BBL teams, the Renegades and the Stars, were brought under the Cricket Victoria structure. They have both lost major sponsors in recent months.

Coyle's departure also means both teams are now searching for a new head coach after Leah Poulton quit her position with the Stars after less than a month to take up a job as head of female cricket with New South Wales.

Brendon McCullum has called for greater New Zealand involvement in the Big Bash League later this year if the availability of overseas players - and international cricket overall - remains restricted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are positive signs that the Australian season could take shape somewhat as scheduled - there even remains hope that the men's T20 World Cup could be played in October - with every effort being made to enable to the lucrative series against India to survive. Cricket Australia has started conversations with the federal government about what protocols would need to be in place to allow international teams to visit later in the year.

While there remain plenty of hurdles to cross before full-fledged international sport can take place, there has already been progress in links between Australia and New Zealand resuming with the Warriors rugby team arriving in Tamworth, New South Wales at the weekend to prepare for the resumption of the NRL later this month and there are talks at the government level about a travel "bubble" between the two countries.

"If there is a shortage of international cricket what an opportunity for the Big Bash, which if we are being honest has probably just tailed off a little bit of late, what a great opportunity to really morph that back into Australia sporting fans' eyes," McCullum, who had eight seasons with the Brisbane Heat, told SEN radio. "And I think what a great opportunity to maybe bring a New Zealand team into the Big Bash or use New Zealand players as local players because there may be a distinct lack of overseas players.

"A little bit of creative thinking. It may be just for one season but we have to prepare for the long-term if you are going to grow the game there may be some value."

However, if New Zealand's international players are not playing in December and January - they are due to have a visit by Pakistan - NZC would likely see it as a chance to have them available for the T20 Super Smash, which usually runs concurrently with the first part of the Big Bash from mid-December.

One of the contingency plans in place should next season be disrupted is the potential for Australia and New Zealand to play each other if movement between those two countries is more feasible than broader international travel. There are two ODIs left to play from the curtailed series in March plus three T20Is that were due to be hosted in New Zealand.

The Big Bash will mark its tenth anniversary in the 2020-21 season and, before the pandemic, had commissioned a review by David Barham, the television executive who was central to the BBL's rise while at Channel 10, into what could be done to revitalise the competition. The most intriguing suggestion out of the review was the prospect of four-innings T20 matches in an attempt to ensure contests are alive for longer.

Australian cricketers will need to be prepared to do more for themselves when the game returns in a world reshaped by the Covid-19 pandemic.

One fallout from the crisis could be a reduction in the support staff around the national teams as Cricket Australia continues to look to cut costs, following the recent dramatic measures that have seen 200 staff stood down on 20% pay, moves that are likely to filter down into the domestic system with states facing a 25% cut in their funding.

Justin Langer, the head coach who has become part-time until the end of the financial year on June 30, has called on players to be "self-resilient and self-reliant". Marnus Labuschagne was hopeful that any cuts to the resources around the team would not be too severe but said that players would need to help each other.

ALSO READ: Saliva and sweat to shine the ball restricted under Australian Covid-19 guidelines

"I think that's a real privilege of playing for Australia, the amount of coaches, but I think everyone that's in the system has gone through a period where you need to help each other out," Labuschagne said. "I think potentially, depending on how many coaches are about, that we are going to need to help each other out and do a few things ourselves. Hopefully the loss isn't too much and we retain those coaches because they've been doing a fantastic job which is shown being the No. 1 T20 and Test nation."

Queensland coach Wade Seccombe recently said he expected a reduction in support staff around the state team too. "We have to be more efficient in what we do. In Queensland, we are trying to get players who are more self-determining," he told News Corp. "That was our focus for the off-season. Let them manage their own programmes.

"That nature of the pandemic has made life that way because we are not going to have as many staff servicing them and they are going to have to stand on their own two feet a little more."

The annual leave period for CA contracted players ends on May 18, although it remains unclear what they will immediately be able to do, although some form of training could be possible if restrictions around the country continue to loosened later this week.

"We've got to make sure they're all in tip-top condition," Langer told ABC Grandstand. "I actually can't wait to see how they come back without all the bells and whistles ... it's going to be a really good indication of the hungry, self-resilient and self-reliant players."

Although this would have been a period of downtime for cricketers without the pandemic anyway, many Australian players would have been overseas in the IPL or county cricket. It is uncertain when squads will meet up again with the tour to Bangladesh in June and the limited-overs tour to England in July all-but certain to go the same way. There remains a chance the England trip could take place in September while Zimbabwe were due to make a short visit to Australia in August for a one-day series in the northern part of the country. State pre-season could look significantly different.

"I think state teams will have to get creative with their training and so many of the different things are going to have to be creative," Labuschagne said. "Hopefully by the time the pre-season starts there are a few relaxed regulations and we can potentially have 10 people training obviously maintaining social-distancing. We'll have to see how it all pans out. I really hope that we can get back to the nets soon. I'm itching to continue to hit some balls and hopefully move from the tennis ball to the real cricket ball."

Australia women's vice-captain Rachael Haynes also expected there to be challenges during pre-season but believed individual work on technical aspects of the game may not need to change too much.

"There's no doubt it will be different, judging by what's been released by the government it looks like smaller groups will be how the initial pre-season starts," she said. "To be honest that's probably not dissimilar to how training evolves this time of the year because generally people are working on something quite individual, whether it be a technical focus or something they want to add to their game. Getting into the gym and that sort of thing, there might be a few sessions players have to do away from the group."

Last week, the Australian Institute of Sport published a framework for the return of sport with a specific reference to not using sweat or saliva to shine the ball at training - regulations that could extend to competitive action - and also laid out the bio-security protocols that would need to be place.

Mashrafe Mortaza has asked Tamim Iqbal to trust his "gut feeling" when he leads Bangladesh out to the field as their new ODI captain, but also told his junior colleague to be patient when it comes to dealing with the noise around the team.

"You will hear a lot of advice as a captain - 'do this, do that'; but as long as you listen to your heart, you will be able to sleep at night even if you lose," Mashrafe told Tamim during a conversation on Facebook. "You will be unhappy if you had to do what other people told you. I have always believed in this.

"I won't tell you how to do your captaincy, but you should do what your heart desires. Of course, you will have Shakib [Al Hasan], Mushfiq [Rahim] and [Mahmudullah] Riyad around you, but if you listen to your gut feeling, you will be more successful."

ALSO READ: Life in the time of Mashrafe, by Tamim and Mahmudullah

Mashrafe, who resigned from the ODI captaincy in February, asked Tamim to back the younger players like Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman to move forward.

"Bangladesh's reality is a little different. You have to be patient. If you can make the players understand that you will do everything you can for them, they will give the best for you," Mashrafe said. "As long as I am confident in your ability, it doesn't matter what others are saying. You have match-winners in Soumya, Liton and Mustafiz, so if something is being said about them, you have to handle it.

"Everyone had a lot to say about Shakib batting at No. 3 in the [2019 50-over] World Cup. Shakib was confident that he could handle the pressure. My point of view was that if he failed in two matches, nobody would be more concerned than Shakib. He knows how to handle the pressure. I backed him fully because I felt he would have maximum impact at No. 3."

"I never really supported your view of being reluctant about captaincy. Why wouldn't you be the captain? You already have leadership qualities" Mashrafe to Tamim

Shakib had a standout tournament, hitting 606 runs in eight innings, with two hundreds and five fifties, scoring at an average of 86.57 and a strike rate of 96.03. Bangladesh, however, couldn't get into the final four.

As such, while Tamim has been a senior player in the Bangladesh side for long, he has been a bit of a reluctant captain, taking charge only in one Test and three ODIs over the years. But Mashrafe suggested that Tamim's leadership role off the field would be useful for him in his new position.

"I never really supported your view of being reluctant about captaincy. Why wouldn't you be the captain? You already have leadership qualities," Mashrafe said. "The BCB will give you the captaincy for a long time, but that's up to them. You have to accept it properly.

"You didn't accept it properly in Sri Lanka [when he led in ODIs last July] but seeing you now, I feel you are on the right track. Bangladesh cricket will take the next step very soon."

SEOUL, South Korea -- Cheerleaders danced beneath rows of empty seats and umpires wore protective masks as a new baseball season began in South Korea.

After a weeks-long delay because of the coronavirus pandemic, a hushed atmosphere allowed for sounds like the ball hitting the catcher's mitt and bats smacking the ball for a single or double to echo around the stadium.

There were faces in the stands at a game on Tuesday -- pictures placed in the seating -- because fans aren't allowed into the venues, at least for now.

Instead, it was easy to hear players cheering and shouting from dugouts. And it was a relief to fans watching from home in a country that's now attempting a slow return to pre-COVID-19 normalcy amid a waning caseload.

The country's professional soccer leagues will kick off Friday, also without spectators in the stadiums.

As one of the world's first major professional sports competitions to return to action amid the pandemic, the Korea Baseball Organization has employed various preventive measures aimed at creating safe playing environments.

Players and coaches will go through fever screenings before entering stadiums, while umpires and first- and third-base coaches must wear masks during games. Players are prohibited from high-fiving teammates or signing autographs. Chewing tobacco was banned to prevent spitting. Masks and latex gloves will be required at training facilities.

Fans will be barred from games until the KBO is convinced the risks of infections have been minimized. If any member of a team tests positive for the coronavirus at any point of the season, the league will be shut down for at least three weeks.

On Tuesday, teams tried to create a festive atmosphere in the empty stadiums.

In a game in the capital, Seoul-based LG Twins opened against crosstown rival and defending champion Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium, where the outfield seats were decked with huge banners of the Twins' cheering slogans.

At Incheon, SK Wyverns imitated a home crowd by covering their outfield seats with rows of horizontal banners showing faces of fans wearing Wyverns caps and masks as they hosted the Daejeon-based Hanwha Eagles.

In Daegu, the city worst hit by the virus, the home team Samsung Lions used their huge scoreboard to play video messages from players, celebrities and fans thanking doctors and medical staff fighting the outbreak, which overwhelmed the city's hospital capacities in late February and March before slowing in recent weeks. The Lions' game against the Changwon-based NC Dinos was scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN.

A full season of baseball seemed doubtful in early March when South Korea was reporting around 500 new virus infections a day, forcing the KBO to postpone its March 28 season openers.

But South Korea reported just three new cases on Tuesday, its lowest daily jump since infections surged in late February. Experts credit the downward trend to tightened border controls and active efforts to test and isolate virus carriers and trace their contacts, using medical, banking and immigration records and location information provided by police and telecommunications companies.

Officials have started relaxing social distancing guidelines and are preparing to reopen schools, starting with high-school seniors on May 13.

Barring any virus-related suspension, the KBO plans to maintain a 144-game regular season schedule. But it decided to scrap its all-star game and shorten the first round of the playoffs from a best-of-five to best-of-three series.

Free-agent running back Marshawn Lynch said his agent has been in discussions with the Seahawks about a potential return to Seattle.

"Well, it's almost on that 'expect the unexpected,'" Lynch told Scott Van Pelt on Monday when asked about his future. "But just as far as right now, what I do know is, Imma keep it solid. My agent [Doug Hendrickson] has been in talks with Seattle, so like I said, we'll see what happens. If it works out and I get back up there, it is what it is. And if not, s---, I'm lookin' good. So I ain't really trippin' too much."

Lynch, who turned 34 in April, unretired for the second time before Week 17 of last season to rejoin the Seahawks after injuries decimated their backfield. In three games -- the regular-season finale plus the wild-card and divisional rounds -- Lynch carried 30 times for 67 yards and scored four touchdowns. He hadn't played in 14 months prior to that.

The Seahawks are believed to be in search of another veteran running back, with starter Chris Carson and 2018 first-round pick Rashaad Penny coming off season-ending injuries. Carson (hip) is expected to be ready by Week 1, but general manager John Schneider reiterated recently that Penny's recovery from knee surgery might sideline him beyond the start of the season.

The other running backs on Seattle's roster are rookie fourth-round pick DeeJay Dallas, second-year pro Travis Homer and two undrafted rookies: Anthony Jones (Florida International) and Patrick Carr (Houston).

C.J. Prosise and Robert Turbin are also free agents from last year's Seahawks backfield. Alex Collins is another veteran running back the team has shown interest in.

Based on Lynch's time in the NFL, he would stand to make at least $1.05 million in base salary if he were to play in 2020.

Lynch recently handed out "Beast Mode" facemasks in his hometown of Oakland, California. Beginning last month, six Bay Area counties required residents to wear face coverings or masks in public to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

The San Jose Sharks signed goaltender Alexei Melnichuk to a two-year, entry-level contract on Monday, the team announced.

Melnichuk, 21, played with SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League this season. He went 8-5-1, posting a 1.68 goals-against average to go with a .930 save percentage before the season was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Melnichuk, who played for Russia in the 2018 World Junior Championship, gives San Jose options in net, as well as some youth, given that the Sharks' two current goaltenders, Martin Jones and Aaron Dell, are both 30.

"Alexei was being pursued by a number of teams, and we're pleased that he decided to join the Sharks," San Jose general manager Doug Wilson told the team's website. "He has a unique blend of athleticism and technical play and has impressed at each level he has advanced."

Wilson also noted the upside in Melnichuk working with Sharks goaltending development coach Evgeni Nabokov, who won 353 games in a 14-year NHL career.

San Jose also added some depth up front Monday, signing center Fredrik Handemark, 26, to an entry-level contract. Handemark has played the past five seasons in the Swedish Hockey League.

A short training clip of Mike Tyson recently went viral, and according to the man who was catching the former champ's punches, the iconic heavyweight still has some fight left in him at age 53.

"I didn't know what to expect," trainer Rafael Cordeiro told ESPN's Ariel Helwani on Monday. "He hasn't hit mitts for almost 10 years. So I didn't expect to see what I saw. I saw a guy with the same speed, same power as guys 21, 22 years old."

Cordeiro, best known for his work in mixed martial arts, added that anyone who gets in the ring with this 2020 version of Tyson ''has to be a good guy to spar with Mike."

Cordeiro said he got the opportunity to work with Tyson, the undisputed heavyweight champion in the late 1980s who then held heavyweight titles in 1996, through associates who contacted him about working with "Iron Mike."

He said he has been working with Tyson for ''three weeks in a row, cardio, mitts, bags. Like I said before, 53 years old but when he puts his mind to it, his body inside the ring -- he changes."

Their sessions range between 60 and 90 minutes, with Tyson doing his physical conditioning with another coach. At this stage they are between five and seven rounds on the mitts, with Tyson starting off slowly, then building momentum as he gets revved up.

Cordeiro said he believes that within six months Tyson could make a successful comeback as a boxer.

"It's not a joke," he insisted. Cordeiro said there is more footage that will be released that shows ''more power, more speed, everything."

Tyson might look impressive hitting objects that can't strike back, but he was stopped in five rounds by the lightly regarded Kevin McBride in his last professional outing in 2005.

"I believe Mike fought against himself for a long, long time," Cordeiro said. ''He's proud to be the Mike Tyson he is today."

Still, even if he could realistically make a return to the ring, does Tyson even want to?

"I don't know," Cordeiro said, "but what I can tell you is that if he wants to do something in the future, we'll be ready to do that, 100%."

Their next session is scheduled for Tuesday. Where this goes, nobody except Tyson himself has any idea.

"Could you imagine a third fight with Evander Holyfield?" Cordeiro said.

As he rehabilitates from offseason surgery, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is predicting big things in 2020.

"Right now what I'm trying to do is hit the reset button," Beckham said in a video posted to his YouTube channel Monday. "Being able to just get everything fixed. Shoulder, arms, back, everything aligned, functional, moving properly, so I can begin training to be ready for the season.

"I would honestly say this is probably going to be one of my best seasons. Bigger, stronger, faster -- this my time."

Beckham underwent surgery Jan. 21 to address a hip and groin injury that slowed him throughout one of his worst seasons last year. In his video, he went into detail about an injury that began in the summer and only worsened.

"So last year I was training in June and July and I was kind of just feeling stuff around the groin area, abs and stuff like that," he said. "My third week of training camp, I tear a little piece of my ab. So before the season, I kind of had the hernia thing going on. Sports hernia is what they call it. End up at the end of the season, torn abductor, torn rectus abdominis on the right.

"So pretty much, I was just f---ed up the whole year. I really didn't try and say anything about it. Probably one of the worst surgeries I've ever had. Recovery's going well. Guess I'm really just trying to put my body back together. I've been playing for 23 years, so for me, I'm trying to put it all back together in seven months."

While playing through those injuries, Beckham posted the worst statistical season of his career, save his injury-shortened one with the New York Giants in 2017. Beckham did go over 1,000 yards receiving, but he also struggled to develop a chemistry with quarterback Baker Mayfield and ended with only four touchdown grabs as the Browns went 6-10 to extend the NFL's longest playoff drought to 18 years.

Since the season ended, Beckham has been a constant subject of trade rumors, especially with the Browns overhauling their front office and coaching staff. But new Browns general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski have downplayed that possibility and continue to maintain Beckham is in Cleveland's plans for 2020 and beyond. Chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, one of the few holdovers from the previous regime in Cleveland, even called the Beckham rumors "frustrating" leading up to last month's draft.

"I think it's pretty clear we're trying to build at this point," he said. "We're really building around a core of players that we think have a chance to be a championship-caliber core, and the idea that we would take away from that core at this moment just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and really [is] not something we're exploring at all."

Few athletes have delivered as many signature performances as Derek Jeter has.

In celebration of the New York Yankees captain's Hall of Fame career, ESPN will be replaying a classic Jeter game as part of our MLB Encore Tuesdays series.

The twist? The game we broadcast is up to you.

Check out the five options below, then scroll to the bottom of the page or click here to cast your vote.

The winner will air May 12 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App.

1. The Jeffrey Maier Game (Oct. 9, 1996)

The Yankees are trailing the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS when Jeter's eighth-inning fly ball is snagged by a 12-year-old fan named Jeffrey Maier -- seemingly before it can land for an out in right fielder Tony Tarasco's glove. Instead, Jeter is credited with the game-tying home run, the Yankees go on to win in extra innings and the 22-year-old soon-to-be-named Rookie of the Year moves one step closer to winning his first World Series ring.

2. Mr. November (Oct. 31, 2001)

In Game 4 of an epic 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Yankees stage a dramatic, ninth-inning comeback to force extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th inning, not long after the clock strikes midnight -- marking the first Fall Classic game ever played in November -- Jeter launches a two-out, walk-off home run.

3. The Dive (July 1, 2004)

During one of the most intense times in the Yankees' rivalry with the Boston Red Sox, Jeter dives face-first into the stands as he catches a 12th-inning Trot Nixon pop fly with a pair of runners in scoring position. Jeter, bloodied, exits the game, and the Yankees win in 13 innings.

4. Hit No. 3,000 (July 9, 2011)

On a day when he'll go 5-for-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays, Jeter becomes just the second player in history to hit a home run for his 3,000th career hit, taking David Price deep in the third inning.

5. Jeter's Bronx Farewell (Sept. 25, 2014)

A season-long retirement tour across the majors reaches its climax in the captain's final home game. In front of nearly 50,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, Jeter smacks an RBI double in his first at-bat. But the transcendent moment comes later, in the bottom of the ninth, after the Orioles rally to tie the game in the top of the frame. With a runner on second, who comes to the plate but Jeter. On the first pitch he sees, Jeter singles in the winning run -- and bids farewell to the Bronx in a moment Yankees fans will remember forever.