Aiden Markram enjoyed a tremendous return to Test cricket on the first day of the opener against West Indies with a century that ensured South Africa's subsequent minor collapse was not too drastic.

The Proteas began a new era at Centurion Park with Temba Bavuma as captain and Shukri Conrad as head coach, and it initially looked to be starting in style as Markram and former skipper Dean Elgar combined impressively.

But after that pair helped the hosts to 221-2, South Africa endured a difficult third session, eventually reaching 314-8 at stumps.

Elgar paid the price for the crushing defeat by Australia but benefited from early luck on Tuesday when his outside edge was dropped by Roston Chase.

He eventually fell to Alzarri Joseph (3-60), caught by Jermaine Blackwood – who did well to readjust himself – after ramping it too short.

Markram then took over.

He survived a scare on 99, the ball only hitting his shoulder before being caught and slapped the next delivery for four to bring up his century.

Yet Markram was also sent packing by Joseph, a devastating yorker at the base of off stump indicative of the Windies' gradual improvement.

Markram departed with South Africa on 236-4 – Tony de Zorzi's (28) inconspicuous run out began something of a collapse a little earlier, before Bavuma went for a duck thanks to another excellent Joseph delivery snaring him lbw.

Keegan Petersen (14), Heinrich Klaasen (20), Senuran Muthusamy (3) and Kagiso Rabada (8) all went back to the pavilion without making much of an impact.

Marco Jansen (17 not out) and Gerald Coetzee (11 not out) at least ensured South Africa passed 300.

Markram back from the wilderness

Markram was left out of the series with Australia in December and January amid what interim coach Malibongwe Maketa at the time called a "dip" in form.

It is fair to say he responded emphatically here, with 115 off 174 to give South Africa a real foothold. Ultimately, most of the rest of the team did not do his efforts justice, but either way this was a big moment for Markram, who looked quite emotional when confirming his sixth Test ton.

Joseph the Windies' inspiration

It took a while for the tourists to get to grips with South Africa, but there is little doubt Joseph played a vital role in turning the tide somewhat.

He claimed the scalps of both Elgar and Markram, as well as captain Bavuma, who barely knew what hit him when Joseph's ferocious delivery slapped straight into his shin.

Zlatko Dalic accused FIFA of showing "a lack of respect" for Croatia's World Cup heroes and revealed he refused to vote in the world body's The Best awards.

Croatia playmaker Luka Modric was a nominee in the men's player category, but Dalic did not make the five-man list for coach of the year.

In a fiery blast to Gianni Infantino's FIFA, Dalic argued Mateo Kovacic, Josko Gvardiol and Dominic Livakovic deserved recognition, suggesting all would have been in the frame for nominations if they belonged to a more fashionable footballing nation.

Dalic's team beat Brazil in the Qatar 2022 quarter-finals before falling to Argentina in the semi-finals. They then rebounded to beat Morocco in the third-place play-off, following their runner-up finish at the 2018 World Cup.

Scornful of Croatian players being left off voting lists, Dalic said: "If English, Brazilian, Spanish, German or Italian players and coaches had the kind of results that we do, they'd be on the shortlist for every possible football award.

"I want more respect for us, for our national team, for our players, and for myself, because with two medals, we more than deserve it. FIFA should promote the fact that a tiny country such as Croatia can play against the biggest nations in the world because that's the most beautiful message for the whole football world."

In a contemptuous statement issued through the Croatian FA, Dalic said: "I am disappointed with FIFA's attitude towards the Croatian national team because I strongly maintain that, based on everything we've achieved as a national team, we deserve more respect from the head governing body of world football than we have received.

"We are the only national team that was among the top four teams at both the World Cup in Qatar and in the current UEFA Nations League cycle.

"We made the front pages worldwide by winning a match against the world's greatest team Brazil, and along with France, we are the only team to have won two medals at the two most recent World Cups.

"This year, we beat France in Paris and Denmark in Copenhagen, we took Brazil and Belgium out of the World Cup. In the 23 matches we've played since Euro 2020, we've only lost twice. And yet even after all of that, look at the list of the 14 candidates for The Best FIFA Men's player – aside from the great Luka Modric, where are other Croatian players?"

He asked: "Was there really no place for Mateo Kovacic on that list, even though he's won the FIFA Club World Cup and played a brilliant World Cup in Qatar? Where is Josko Gvardiol's name? After all, he was listed among the Top 11 for both the World Cup and for the Bundesliga by most sources. And did Dominik Livakovic not deserve to be one of the five finalists for the Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper after everything he did in Qatar?"

Contenders for the coach award were Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti, France boss Didier Deschamps, Pep Guardiola of Manchester City, Morocco's Walid Regragui and Lionel Scaloni, whose Argentina won the World Cup. Scaloni took the honour.

Dalic said: "With all due respect for Morocco's head coach and their success at the World Cup, in the two matches we played against them, we tied once and Croatia won the bronze medal the second time."

The 56-year-old Dalic claimed this was not the first instance of feeling a lack of recognition.

He said: "I feel that we have not been extended the respect we deserve, and both the time slots of our matches at the World Cup and the quality of refereeing – especially at the semi-final match – made me feel that there was a lack of respect towards the Croatian team. I fully believe that our national team's performance on the pitch and conduct off of it has made us deserving of the very same respect that we show our opponents at every match."

The Philadelphia Eagles are making Brian Johnson, the quarterbacks coach behind Jalen Hurts' progress, their new offensive coordinator.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Johnson's imminent promotion on Tuesday.

The Eagles needed a new OC after Shane Steichen landed the Indianapolis Colts head coach job.

Johnson was coached by Averion Hurts at high school and has remained close with Jalen, Averion's son and the Eagles' quarterback.

Hurts, working with Johnson and Steichen, led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in the 2022 season.

He threw for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns in the regular season, adding another 13 scores on the ground. The Eagles were 14-1 with Hurts starting.

Marcus Mariota was released by the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday as Arthur Smith cut the quarterback from his roster after just one season.

The move seemingly boosts the prospects of Desmond Ridder, a third-round pick who played four times in his rookie season, becoming the regular starting QB for Atlanta.

The Falcons may still elect to bring in a more experienced starting signal caller, but the Mariota dalliance is over.

Recruited to take the place of Matt Ryan, who joined the Indianapolis Colts, Mariota ranked 27th among NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage (61.3 per cent), registering 2,219 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions, also rushing for 438 yards.

The Hawaii-born 29-year-old had joined on a two-year contract last March and his release frees up salary cap space.

Falcons head coach Smith had previously worked with Mariota at the Tennessee Titans, where the quarterback had a four-and-a-half-season stint as a starter, eventually losing his place to Ryan Tannehill.

A subsequent spell with the Las Vegas Raiders saw Mariota serve as back-up to Derek Carr, before the Falcons swooped for him.

Although Ridder lost out to Mariota for the start initially in the 2022 season, the 23-year-old usurped his senior colleague towards the end of the campaign. Mariota finished with a 5-8 record in a 7-10 season for the Falcons, with Ridder 2-2 over the closing four-game stretch.

Smith, quoted on the team's web page, praised Ridder but offered no assurances over who would be his starting QB, saying: "As always, all options are on the table."

The Buffalo Bills will be without defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier in 2023 as he plans to take a year out of coaching before returning in 2024.

Frazier has been the Bills' DC since 2017, in which time he has overseen one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Indeed, across six seasons, Buffalo have given up only 314.9 total yards per game to lead the league over that period.

A statement on Tuesday revealed Frazier was stepping away for a year, however, dealing the Bills a big blow.

Frazier would then return to coaching in 2024, although the statement did not clarify whether that would be with the Bills, who will now have to recruit a replacement for the 2023 season.

Jurgen Klopp has told his Liverpool stars to "squeeze everything" they can out of this season as they head into a rematch with the Wolves team who left them at their lowest ebb.

A 3-0 thumping at Molineux on February 4 followed a month that contained two defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and a loss at Brentford, with Liverpool leaving the West Midlands in a state of disarray.

Results have picked up since from that low point, with Liverpool beating Everton and Newcastle United in the Premier League and drawing at Crystal Palace. They have kept three successive clean sheets for the first time in the domestic league, but the elephant in the room is the 5-2 stuffing Liverpool suffered at the hands of Real Madrid amid that improvement.

As it stands, Liverpool are up to seventh in the league, still in the hunt for a Champions League place with 45 points up for grabs before the season ends, and manager Klopp says this is "a super-important week".

With Wolves their visitors on Wednesday, and Manchester United coming to Anfield on Sunday, the chance is there for Liverpool to take big strides towards the top four.

Considering Liverpool came from mid-table to snatch fourth in the 2020-21 season, after winning eight of their last 10 games, Klopp knows it can be done.

"It helps because it was us and I don't have to tell them the story from another team," Klopp said on Tuesday. "History is not allowed to hinder you, but you cannot constantly rely on doing it again, so we have to make sure.

"I really see we have the right mindset, and we are ready to go, but now we have to do it as well because a game is different. You have an opponent who wants the points as well. We have to create, we have to attack, we have to defend, we have to protect. I know the boys can do that, so let's give it a try.

"We have to force it as well, but we have to play and enjoy what we are doing, that's really important. I really think we are ready. If there's a club that can do it, I really think it's us, because all the things we've achieved, we've achieved together.

"We have a future together. The immediate future, but there's a bigger picture as well. We will strike back in general, but now we have to make sure we really squeeze everything out of this season that we can squeeze out of this season.

"I don't know in this moment what it will be, but the obvious spots are not too far away from us, and we will see which one we can pick up, but there's no alternative to results, so we need results and for results we need performances."

Liverpool have won 18 of their last 20 home league games against Wolves, with the exceptions being 1-0 defeats in January 1984 and December 2010.

Klopp's Reds also beat Wolves after a replay in the FA Cup in January, so victory over the men in black and gold is not an alien concept, despite the recent woeful league result. Klopp labelled that 3-0 loss as "not a cool day" and urged Liverpool to take advantage of being at home this time.

Wolves will be looking to complete a league double over Liverpool for the first time since the 1950-51 season, and they need the points too, given they hover just above the relegation zone.

"It's a super-important week," Klopp said. "We can't ignore that and why would I? We have two home games.

"I would love to give the season a little push this week. I know we all understand, so we have to give a proper, proper, proper go against a team we played more often than any other team this season.

"We know a lot about each other. We know it will not be easy, so we have to make sure we are ready. I know Anfield will be, and we have to do our part."

Marcus Rashford's remarkable resurgence on the pitch is completely unrelated to the Manchester United departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, according to club great Andrew Cole.

Rashford scored United's second in Sunday's 2-0 EFL Cup final win over Newcastle United, as the Red Devils ended a trophy drought that stretched back almost six years.

That was his 25th goal of the season across all competitions, already three more than his previous best return for a full campaign, and United still have at least 17 matches to play in 2022-23.

Rashford has looked more confident and threatening all season, but his form has hit new heights since the World Cup – in that time, his 17 goals (all competitions) is five more than any other player from the top five leagues, and he is one of only two (Victor Osimhen, 11) to reach double figures for non-penalty (np) goals (16).

Those come from a np-xG (expected goals) of just 8.0, meaning he is scoring twice as many goals as the average player would expect given the quality of his chances.

Rashford's positive 8.0 np-xG differential since the World Cup considerably exceeds that of every other player from the top five leagues, with James Ward Prowse second on 4.3 (six np goals, 1.7 np-xG).

This is a far cry from Rashford's form last season when his goals frequency of 0.27 per 90 minutes was the worst of his United career – the 0.78 goals every 90 minutes this term is comfortably his best such return.

Given the biggest upturn in Rashford's form has come since the World Cup, some have speculated whether Ronaldo's exit – which was confirmed during Qatar 2022 – has had something to do with it.

But Cole, a treble winner with United in 1999, refuses to accept that, convinced there is a simpler explanation.

He told Stats Perform: "I'm an individual. I'm not going to get involved in the Ronaldo thing because he left. Ronaldo wasn't there 18 months ago when Marcus Rashford was struggling.

"So, because Ronaldo's left now, all of a sudden [there's a perception] it's because he's left. It doesn't make sense for me. When Ronaldo wasn't at the club, Marcus found himself in a bit of form that he couldn't get himself out of, so I'm not having that.

"The [Erik] Ten Hag effect, I think. No doubt, the manager will be believing in him, telling him how good he is. But ultimately, as individuals, he could have taken his eye off the ball a little bit with what he was doing off the field.

"It could have been a little bit of that as well, but to see him in this really fit form now, the way he's playing, I think it's testament to him. For me, personally, it doesn't really matter what anyone else does with you.

"Monday to Friday, once you cross the white line, it's you as an individual, and also Monday to Friday, someone's telling you how great you are.

"If you don't believe how great you are, once you cross the white line, it makes no difference what anyone else tells you because you've got to tell yourself that.

"I'm looking at him now, he seems to be telling himself, 'I'm at that level that I want to be at'. That's why he's playing so well."

But with spells of such form from one individual come questions of dependency, or over reliance.

Since the World Cup, no team across the top five leagues has scored more than United (43), while their average of 2.3 every game sees them rank sixth, which again is commendable given the top five have all played at least six games less than Ten Hag's side.

However, no other United player has scored more than seven goals (all competitions) this season. While Ten Hag has received due praise for inspiring a huge improvement around the club, it is difficult to imagine them being on their current trajectory without Rashford's form.

And Rashford's numbers since the World Cup represent something of an anomaly – relying on him to score double his xG for the rest of the season would be unfair and unlikely.

This concern is not lost on Cole, who during the 1998-99 treble-winning season was one of five United players to score at least 10 goals.

"Do we need that depth? Of course we do, if we look at all the top teams in Europe, they have that depth," he continued.

"And yeah, I would say if [Rashford] did pick up an injury, which naturally I don't want, you're going to turn around say, 'where are the goals going to come from?'

"Because they're not really being spread around the team. Marcus has got a majority of them. Yeah, you might get sporadic [contributions]: Antony might get one in four games or whatever; Casemiro scored [on Sunday]; [Jadon] Sancho is getting himself back and is getting a goal every now and then.

"But if you're going to be challenging for major honours, you've got to have goals coming from all areas, and at this moment time Manchester United are relying on Marcus because he's in that form.

"No doubt they'll look to address that problem [a lack of goals elsewhere] in the summer."

Erik ten Hag's message to Manchester United players after winning the EFL Cup was "back to work" as they look to build on that success in the coming months.

United beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Wembley to lift the trophy, ending a silverware drought that stretched back almost six years.

Sunday's victory was also momentous because it made Ten Hag's promising start at the club tangible, and there are more prizes up for grabs before the end of the season.

The Red Devils are arguably still in the Premier League title race despite being eight points behind leaders Arsenal; they eliminated Barcelona to reach the last 16 of the Europa League; they remain alive in the FA Cup as well.

It is the latter that they turn their attention towards next, with West Ham visiting Old Trafford in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday.

Kick-off will be only about 72 hours after the conclusion of the EFL Cup final, and with such a tight turnaround, Ten Hag is eager to impress on the players a need for focus rather than basking in former glories.

Asked if there were any additional celebrations after United got back to Manchester on Sunday, Ten Hag told reporters: "No. Nothing beyond. Get back to work."

He added: "Of course, [on Monday] the players were still enthusiastic and they had to celebrate this moment.

"But after we settled down, we got back to work and did what we had to do, which was recovery. The ones who played less [minutes in the final] did a good training session."

Despite Tuesday's press conference being a preview to Wednesday, there was understandably very little focus on West Ham, rather the defeat of Newcastle.

One element of his management that Ten Hag has received a lot of praise for this season has been his squad rotation, with the Dutchman clearly comfortable dropping underperforming players and seemingly always ready to look to his bench to change matches.

And in that respect he was keen to pay tribute to the whole squad for the EFL Cup success.

"Let's make myself clear: we didn't win with 11 players, we did win with a squad and I think the squad the whole season is so important and every time players come in, if it's for a whole game, minutes, a couple of games – also during games when we can change the dynamics – we do it with many more than 11 players," he said.

"So I count on them and I know they will be ready, because every time they play they take responsibility and it's about that, but you also have to fight for your position.

"There can be great months ahead of us and great games and everyone wants to play games. The players who form the best teams will play, so it's also [the case] for [Harry] Maguire. When he plays well, he can come into the team.

"It was not my perspective from the celebrations [that it was about a few individuals]. I think everyone was involved, everyone was happy, and everyone had the idea we did it collectively, not individual or one, two, three players did this. It was the performance of the whole team, the whole squad."

Steve Smith will tell Australia to learn from their Delhi mistakes and play at their own pace as they battle for pride in the third Test against India.

From 85-2 in their second innings last time out, Australia crumbled to 113 all out, and India rolled to a six-wicket win that allowed them to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The best Australia can do is draw the series, and stand-in captain Smith wants to see more resilience from the batters, including himself among those that fluffed their lines last time out.

In fact, he was the lowest scorer of all Australia's specialist batters last time out, with nought followed by nine, and Smith being pinned lbw by Ravichandran Ashwin when sweeping was the trigger for the tourists' implosion.

Smith said on Tuesday: "I don't think there's been too many times I've walked off the field and I've gone, 'What the hell am I doing?'."

He was left "bedazzled" and "pretty angry" with his own blunder, adding: "It wasn't my finest moment.

"We probably just rushed things a little bit, and it's something we'll talk about. We don't have to play at such a high tempo and risky tempo."

Smith, who says Australia must "learn to adapt a little bit better", has not managed a half-century in his last five Test innings in India, his longest such barren stretch in the country.

He has never gone six successive Test innings in any country without making at least a fifty, so he has one last chance to avoid this being the first time.

India's 2-0 series lead means they have won their last three men's Tests against Australia, having also tasted victory in Brisbane in January 2021. Their longest winning streak in Tests against Australia is four matches.

Australia are without regular skipper Pat Cummins, who has returned home for personal reasons, but Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc are poised to return from injury.

The tussle in Indore could see Virat Kohli become just the fifth man to reach 4,000 runs in Tests played in India, as he stands 77 runs short of that milestone.

India captain Rohit Sharma will aim to close out a series victory at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, and there is the tantalising prospect of these teams meeting again in the World Test Championship final at the Oval in June.

That is in the back of minds for now, but will come to the forefront soon enough, possibly if India secure the series before the fourth match at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.

The prospect of India asking for a green pitch for that game, rather than the spinner-friendly surfaces they have been playing on so far, has been teased already.

Rohit wants India to be smart about their preparation for a likely trip to London, and while they would not be able exactly replicate English conditions, a green pitch would at least to some extent simulate what likely awaits them.

The India skipper said it was "definitely a possibility", adding: "If we do what we do here and we get the result we want, we might kick off doing something different in Ahmedabad."

He pointed to India and Australia having plenty of prior experience of performing in England that could stand them in good stead.

"It's not going to be alien conditions as such for both teams," Rohit said, "so it will be a good contest between the teams, whoever the two teams are."

Mikel Arteta claims the death of the traditional post-match glass of wine between rival managers is denying Premier League bosses a chance to bond.

Arteta's Arsenal mentor Arsene Wenger was not a fan of the indulgence and the Frenchman faced criticism at one stage from long-time foe Alex Ferguson for not joining him for a drink after games.

Eventually Wenger relented, and he insisted on joining wine connoisseur Ferguson for a tipple at Old Trafford following his final game against Manchester United in April 2018.

According to Arteta, the routine ended when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and it means rival bosses no longer go over a game in private, or share conversations on other matters, after the final whistle.

"I haven't had the opportunity because after I joined in two or three months we had COVID," said Arteta, who was appointed in December 2019.

"Probably COVID was the catalyst of losing that tradition, which is a shame because I think it was something special and generated a certain bond between managers."

Arteta might instigate its return, if enough fellow bosses want to join him. His table-topping Arsenal team face Sean Dyche's Everton on Wednesday, and Arteta says colleagues might see it as something worth reviving.

He added: "Maybe we can talk about it between us and get it back."

David Alaba has offered an explanation for his vote at the FIFA Best awards after he listed Lionel Messi ahead of his Real Madrid team-mate Karim Benzema.

Alaba was subjected to online abuse, including racist remarks, after his choice was made public with Madrid fans starting a hashtag of #AlabaOut after he voted for Messi first, Benzema second and Kylian Mbappe third.

The Austria captain took to Twitter to explain that the vote was not his alone, but that of his entire national team.

"Regarding FIFA The Best Award: The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone," he wrote. "Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that's how it's decided.

"Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances and I have often said that for me he is the best striker in the world, and that is still the case. Without doubt."

Messi claimed the men's prize at an awards ceremony in Paris on Monday after leading Argentina to glory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Kylian Mbappe congratulated Lionel Messi after his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate beat him to the FIFA Best Men's Player award.

Superstar Messi earned the prestigious individual accolade for the second time in his career, with the announcement made at Monday's ceremony in Paris.

The award spanned from the start of the 2021-22 season through to the end of the World Cup in Qatar, where Messi captained Argentina to victory over Mbappe's France in a memorable final in December.

Messi scored seven goals and provided three assists at the tournament to scoop the Golden Ball prize, while Mbappe also had 10 goal involvements and finished as top scorer.

Additionally, Messi scored 11 goals and claimed three assists from 18 games for PSG at the start of this campaign.

Mbappe was second in the voting ahead of Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.

Posting on Instagram after the ceremony, Mbappe wrote: "Another trophy at home. Big congratulations to @leomessi you are #TheBest."

Messi and Mbappe combined for all three goals as PSG defeated Marseille 3-0 in Ligue 1 last time out. The duo now have 10 goal combinations this season, the most in Europe's top-five leagues.

PSG, who are eight points clear at the top of Ligue 1, host Nantes next before travelling to Bayern Munich for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie where they are aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva has suffered damage to his knee ligaments, the club have confirmed.

Silva was substituted after just 19 minutes in Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Tottenham.

The Blues did not commit to a timeframe of recovery, though reports have suggested the 38-year-old Brazilian could be absent for up to six weeks.

"Having sustained a knee injury during the first half of Sunday's match against Tottenham Hotspur, Thiago underwent further assessment and a scan on his return to the training centre on Monday," a club statement read.

"Scan results from those assessments have confirmed damage to Thiago's knee ligaments and he will now work closely with the club's medical department during his rehabilitation to return to action as soon as possible."

It is the latest blow in a difficult period for Graham Potter's side, who sit 10th in the Premier League having lost their last three games, not won in six and only triumphed in two of their last 15 outings.

Silva – who has made 109 appearances for Chelsea since arriving in 2020 – signed a new deal with the club earlier this month until the end of the 2023-24 season.