Brandon King led the way as West Indies enjoyed a 28-run victory in the opening match of their T20I series with South Africa.
In his first T20I as captain, King top-scored with 79 from 45 balls during the first international at Sabina Park in nearly two years.
The 29-year-old set the forthcoming T20 World Cup co-hosts on their way with a 79-run partnership with Kyle Mayers helping them to 109/1 after 10 overs.
However, they struggled to build on that momentum and were 66/7 thereon to finish on 175/8 with Ottneil Baartman and Andile Phehlukwayo both taking three wickets apiece.
South Africa were slow out of the blocks with Quinton de Kock failing to reach double figures as they were reduced to 35/3 in the fifth over, and required 99 runs to win at the halfway point in their innings.
Reeza Hendricks - the only visiting player to score more than 20 - put on an impressive late surge of 87 off 51 balls, but it proved academic with the Proteas bowled out for 147.
Data debrief
Becoming the 14th different player to captain West Indies in men's T20Is, King will have been pleased to start his reign against South Africa - the nation against whom he boasted his best T20I batting strike in the format (171.4).
He certainly continued in that vein, reaching 50 off just 26 balls for his fastest T20I half-century. It proved crucial as the hosts went on to record their biggest margin of victory over the Proteas when batting first.
Olivier Giroud has confirmed he will retire from international duty after Euro 2024.
Giroud is France's record goalscorer, having netted 57 goals in 131 appearances for Les Bleus.
The 37-year-old has featured for France at Euro 2012, 2016 and 2020, as well as winning the World Cup with Didier Deschamps' team in 2018 and helping them reach the final in 2022.
Euro 2024 will mark his final appearances for the national team, though, with Giroud - who is leaving Milan to join Los Angeles FC in MLS - revealing he is stepping aside.
In an interview with L'Equipe, Giroud said: "Obviously I'm going to miss it a lot, but I think my time with the French team will be over after the Euros. I need to cede my place for the young players."
France are among the favourites heading to Germany, and Giroud is set on going out on a high note.
!There is a bit of nostalgia for all those years gone by," he added.
"Obviously, there will be a lot of emotions, a lot of details, and memories that will resurface, but we have to put that aside and enjoy every moment once again. Emotion must not take over. There is still a competition to win, even if it will be special for me."
France will face Austria, the Netherlands and Poland in their group-stage matches at Euro 2024.
Connor McDavid scored 32 seconds into double overtime and the Edmonton Oilers topped the Dallas Stars 3-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
Evan Bouchard centered a pass into the low slot from the right boards and McDavid deflected it past Jake Oettinger for his third goal of the playoffs.
Game 2 is Saturday night in Dallas.
The Stars went scoreless on three power plays in regulation and failed to capitalize on four minutes with the man advantage after a high-stick penalty against McDavid early in the first overtime.
Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman scored in the second period to stake the Oilers to a 2-0 lead before Tyler Seguin drew the Stars within one les than two minutes later.
Edmonton held the slim lead until Seguin scored again with 3:23 left in regulation.
McDavid nearly won it with about 5:20 left in the first overtime, but his shot was blocked by Oettinger and defenseman Chris Tanev both putting their sticks down to keep the puck out of the net.
Dallas got 35 saves from Oettinger but lost it seventh straight playoff series opener.
Jaylen Brown scored 10 of his career playoff high 40 points during a first-half surge and the Boston Celtics pulled away for a 126-110 victory over the Indiana Pacers to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night.
After his 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left in regulation forced overtime in Game 1, Brown helped Boston turn a five-point deficit in the first quarter into a 15-point second-quarter lead.
The Celtics led 42-27 after that 20-0 run and never relinquished the lead.
Indiana missed nine straight shots and committed four turnovers during the drought that lasted more than six minutes. Brown had 10 points during the run and had 24 by halftime.
Jayson Tatum and Derrick White each scored 23 points and Jrue Holiday had 15 with 10 assists for the top-seeded Celtics, who lost Game 2 in both of their previous series this postseason.
The series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 on Saturday night.
Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton had 10 points and eight assists before leaving in the third quarter with a sore left leg.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 28 points and Andrew Nembhard added 16.
The Pacers got as close as 68-66 on Siakam’s 3 with 7:55 left in the third quarter, but Derrick White and Tatum dunked and White made a 3 a minute later to give the Celtics a 75-68 advantage.
Brown’s 3 with 4:32 to go in the third extended the lead to 80-71 and Indiana would get no closer.
The Philadelphia Phillies matched the best 35-game span in franchise history with a 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday behind seven strong innings from Zach Wheeler.
The major league-leading Phillies have won seven straight and are 29-6 over their past 35 games, a stretch the franchise hadn’t accomplished since 1892.
Philadelphia completed its seventh series sweep of the season and improved to 17-3 in May. The Phillies either split or won each of their last 15 series, the longest span since a 19-series stretch in 1984.
Wheeler allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts to win his sixth consecutive decision.
Phillies starters have gone at least seven innings in 18 starts this year, the most in baseball.
J.T. Realmuto homered for the second straight day and Nick Castellanos also went deep as the Phillies moved to 15-3 since they lost two-time All-Star shortstop Trea Turner to a left hamstring injury.
Defending World Series champion Texas has lost four straight and 10 of 12 to drop a season-high three games under .500.
Athletics stun Rockies with five-run 11th
Tyler Soderstrom walked with the bases loaded to cap a five-run 11th inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied for a stunning 10-9 win over the Colorado Rockies.
After the Rockies scored four in the top of the 11th, Oakland opened the bottom half with a double, single and two-run homer by JJ Bleday to tie it at 9. Colorado loaded the bases on an intentional walk to Kyle McCann before Peter Lambert walked Soderstrom to force in the winning run.
J.D. Davis and Daz Cameron homered for the A’s, who trailed 4-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Oakland won its fourth game when trailing after eight innings, tied with Miami for most in the majors.
Giants rally past Pirates again
Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer during an eighth-inning rally and the San Francisco Giants spoiled a solid start by rookie Paul Skenes in a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Giants overcame a five-run deficit in Wednesday’s extra-inning win and trailed 6-2 after seven innings in this one before getting going against Pittsburgh’s struggling bullpen.
Chapman homered for the third straight game after LaMonte Wade Jr. and Thairo Estrada opened the eighth with singles. After Jorge Soler doubled and scored on pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores’ single, Brett Wisely delivered a go-ahead hit off Aroldis Chapman later in the inning to put the Giants on top 7-6.
San Francisco won consecutive games in which it trailed by at least four runs for the first time since 1998.
Joey Bart staked Pittsburgh to a 5-1 lead with his fourth career grand slam in the fourth. He also doubled before being ejected by first base umpire Alex Tossi after grounding out to end the eighth.
Skenes was excellent for the second straight start, allowing one run and six hits in six innings.
It was a welcome return of international cricket to Sabina Park, even moreso for stand-in captain Brandon King, who led from the front as West Indies downed South Africa by 28 runs in the first of their three Twenty20 (T20) warm-up encounters on Thursday.
King, who is leading the team for the first time on his home soil, gave the decent size crowd much to cheer about with a well-played 79 off 45 balls, which assisted the Caribbean side to 175-8 from their allotment, before Matthew Forde (3-27), Gudakesh Motie (3-25) and Obed McCoy (2-15), restricted South Africa to 147 in 19.5 overs.
Despite the absence of the main scoreboard –which has been out for almost four years now –as well as an underprepared tabled press area, King and company ensured that the first international game at the venue since 2022, was a successful one.
The 29-year-old, who is deputizing for compatriot Rovman Powell, attributed his Player-of-the-Match knock, which included six fours and six maximums, to the familiar conditions.
“Obviously it is leading up to the World Cup so we want to be playing good cricket and we got the win today, so we are happy with that and I think we played well all around,” King said in a post-game interview.
“I had the advantage of knowing the conditions well and I know that it is easiest to bat when it’s the new ball so I had to try and get a good start and I executed well. At the mid-way point I think we had 200-220 in mind as we had wickets in hand but it is a difficult wicket to bat on when the ball gets older, but we still managed to get a competitive total on this wicket,” he added.
After being asked to take first strike, King started positively, but lost opening partner Johnson Charles (one) in the fourth over with the score at 36.
However, he found another useful ally in Kyle Mayers, and the added a further 79 runs for the second wicket, with King, the aggressor raising his 10th international half-century off 27 balls in the sixth over when he drove a length delivery from Lungi Ngidi to the midwicket boundary.
The skipper continued to take the South African bowlers to task, before he eventually went, reaching for one of Andile Phehlukwayo that came off the toe of the bat and was caught by his opposite number Rassie van der Dussen.
Still, at 115-2 after 11 overs, West Indies remained on course for a massive total, but then came the familiar collapse as they lost three wickets in quick succession. Mayers was first to go for a 25-ball 34, including three sixes and a solitary four, with Andre Fletcher (one) and Fabian Allen (one) following.
In fact, apart from vice-captain Roston Chase, who made a measured unbeaten 32 off 30 balls, which had two fours and a six, none of the batsmen got into double figures.
Phehlukwayo (3-28) and Ottneil Baartman (3-26) did the damage for South Africa.
In reply, South Africa started with Quinton De Cock driving Matthew Forde’s first ball, a full length delivery, straight down the ground. However, the 22-year-old Barbadian responded immediately as he served up another full length delivery, just around off stump, which forced de Kock into another drive, but the left-hander got a slight edge and Andre Fletcher made no mistakes behind the stumps.
Debutant Ryan Rickelton (six) also had a brief stay in the middle, and from there, the visitors laboured, despite Reeza Hendricks making his 15th T20 international half-century. Hendricks, who was ninth man out with just two balls left of the innings, made a career-best 87 off 51 balls with six sixes and six fours.
Captain Rassie van der Dussen (17) and Matthew Breetzke (19) were the only other South African batsmen to reach double figures.
The second and third games of the series are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, at the same venue, ahead of the much-anticipated June-1-29 T20 World Cup hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
Girona are hoping to round off their most successful campaign in LaLiga with victory against Granada on Friday, while Artem Dovbyk is in the hunt to finish as the league's top scorer.
Michel's team, the surprise package of the season, already know they will finish third in the standings behind champions Real Madrid and runners-up Barcelona.
Girona, whose previous best finish was 10th in 2017-18 and 2022-23, have clinched their place in next season's Champions League and simply want to enjoy their outing on Friday.
"Tomorrow the stadium will be full and afterwards we want to celebrate with our fans," Michel said on Thursday.
"The best way to end the season is to win and make the fans proud, that's what we're playing for. We have to end the season in the best way possible, which is to win.
"If we do it with two goals from Dovbyk, that's even better. We have a chance for him to finish as top scorer and for us to surpass 80 points. We will try to win for him."
Dovbyk, who has netted 21 times this season, is two goals behind Villareal's Alexander Sorloth and two ahead of Madrid's Jude Bellingham.
After enjoying such highs this season, their 24 league wins including thumping home and away victories over Barcelona, Michel has already turned his attention to the future.
"It worries me because we need to build a competitive squad for the big year ahead. I would like to keep a lot of people, but I know there are players who are not ours and who have to go back to their teams," he said.
"However, I think we will do things right and I am convinced that we will have a top squad that will be able to compete in all three competitions."
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire will miss Saturday's FA Cup final clash with Manchester City, Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag has confirmed.
Maguire has been sidelined since suffering a muscle injury in training earlier in May, with the timeframe for his recovery estimated at around three weeks.
That meant he always faced an uphill battle to make Saturday's showpiece game at Wembley Stadium, though he was included in England's preliminary Euro 2024 squad on Tuesday.
At Thursday's pre-match press conference, Ten Hag confirmed Maguire will not be available but said Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount and Anthony Martial are in contention after being pictured in training.
"Harry Maguire is unavailable but the rest, all the players you mentioned, I think they are available," the Dutchman said when asked for a team news update.
"We have our final training tomorrow and then we have final decisions to make. But, as I oversee it now, it looks good."
Asked if Maguire's chances of featuring at the Euros were in doubt, Ten Hag said: "I don't think so. It's just he doesn't make it [the final]. It didn't heal as we expected."
Fellow centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane are expected to be available, with the latter set to leave United on a free transfer after the final.
United have lost 19 games and conceded 84 goals in all competitions this season. They last lost 20 in a campaign in 1973-74 (22) and last conceded more than 84 goals in 1963-64 (89).
Ten Hag's position has been called into question throughout their miserable campaign, with reports on Thursday suggesting Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna was a target for the Jim Ratcliffe regime.
Ten Hag, however, says the opportunity to win a second major trophy in as many seasons is his only focus.
"It's all about trophies," he said. "We have a huge opportunity to win a trophy.
"In the last 10 years, there were not many trophies in this club but we have an opportunity to win two trophies in two years."
Novak Djokovic beat Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets in the Geneva Open quarter-finals on Thursday, teeing up a last-four meeting with Tomas Machac.
Djokovic was pushed all the way in an intriguing opener, Griekspoor generating three set points only to fail to convert any of them.
The world number one immediately punished Griekspoor's wastefulness by breaking at the end of a back-and-forth service game, then proceeded to serve the first set out in comfort.
Griekspoor would not get a second chance to make a contest of it as Djokovic took full advantage of an early break in the second set, serving at 81 per cent and winning 92 per cent of points behind his first serve from there as he cruised to a 7-5 6-1 win.
Data Debrief: Age just a number for Djokovic
Having turned 37 on Wednesday, Djokovic is the oldest semi-finalist in Geneva Open history.
Now 14-5 for the year, he is the strong favourite to claim his first title of 2024. Flavio Cobolli will face Sebastian Baez or Casper Ruud in the other semi-final.
Lucas Paqueta has been charged by the Football Association (FA) over alleged breaches of betting rules, with the West Ham midfielder accused of intentionally seeking to receive a card in four different games.
Last August, it was reported that the FA had opened an investigation into suspicious betting activity surrounding Paqueta.
In March, the Brazil international said he was cooperating with the FA's probe and was "happy to be helping".
On Thursday, the FA brought charges against Paqueta, who is accused of attempting to get himself carded in four different Premier League fixtures, three in the 2022-23 season and one on the opening matchday of 2023-24.
An FA spokesperson said: "West Ham United's Lucas Paqueta has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of FA Rules E5 and F3.
"The player has been charged with four breaches of FA Rule E5.1 in relation to his conduct in the club's Premier League fixtures against Leicester City on 12 November 2022; Aston Villa on 12 March 2023; Leeds United on 21 May 2023; and AFC Bournemouth on 12 August 2023.
"It's alleged that he directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting."
Paqueta, who has until June 3 to respond to the charges, immediately addressed them on social media, vowing to clear his name.
He wrote on Instagram: "I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA has decided to charge me. For nine months, I have cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can.
"I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name."
The news comes after Brentford striker Ivan Toney served an eight-month ban following his admission of 232 breaches of betting rules between 2017 and 2021.
Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali, meanwhile, is midway through a 10-month suspension for breaking the Italian Football Federation's gambling rules and was recently given a suspended two-month sanction over 50 breaches investigated by the FA.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won their first play-off series in six years earlier this month.
That wasn't enough, however, for J.B. Bickerstaff to keep his job as the team's coach.
The Cavaliers decided to dismiss Bickerstaff from his position on Thursday, according to a statement made by the team.
Since taking over for John Beilein in 2020, Bickerstaff went 170-159 in five seasons with Cleveland and led the franchise to the play-offs each of the last two years.
In 2023-24, Bickerstaff helped direct Cleveland to a 48-34 record and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference play-offs.
The Cavs then beat the Orlando Magic in the first round for the franchise's first play-off series win since the team lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals. It also marked Cleveland's first trip to the conference semi-finals without LeBron James on the roster since 1992-93.
The Cavs' season ended in the conference semis, where they lost to the NBA-best Boston Celtics in five games.
Bickerstaff's team, however, was significantly undermanned with five-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell missing the final two games against the Celtics with a left calf strain and fellow All-Star Jarrett Allen missing the last eight play-off games due to a right rib contusion.
"J.B. is a well-respected NBA coach and an incredible human-being," Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman said in a statement. "Over the past four years, he helped establish a culture that progressively drove players to become the best versions of themselves. Decisions like these are never easy, particularly when you look back at where this franchise rebuild started under his leadership. The NBA is a unique business that sometimes requires aggressive risk-taking to move a franchise forward and ultimately compete for championships. We owe a ton of gratitude for everything J.B. has contributed to the Cavaliers and his engagement in the Cleveland community. We wish J.B., his wife Nikki and their three children the best in their future endeavours."
Bologna have confirmed head coach Thiago Motta will leave the club at the end of the season, with the former midfielder expected to take over at Juventus.
Motta has overseen an incredible season for the Rossoblu, who have clinched a top-five Serie A finish and Champions League qualification with one game remaining.
He has been touted as a leading contender to succeed Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus, after he parted company with the Bianconeri in the aftermath of last week's Coppa Italia triumph.
Motta's move to Turin now appears imminent after Bologna announced he would not be extending his contract on Thursday.
"In the past two years, I have got to know a well-prepared and winning coach," club president Joey Saputo said in a statement.
"He has instilled a brilliant style of play in this time. Reaching the Champions League means he and all these players will go down in our club’s history.
"I would have liked him to stay at Bologna but I can only ever thank him and his staff for these amazing two seasons and I wish him the best for the future."
Bologna face Genoa – with whom Motta started his senior managerial career – in their final game of the season on Friday, knowing a victory will guarantee a top-four finish.
Ciro Immobile, Manuel Locatelli and Marco Verratti are among the big names to miss out on Italy's provisional squad for Euro 2024.
Just 10 players who helped the Azzurri win the delayed Euro 2020 three years ago have been included in Luciano Spalletti's 30-man group, which will be trimmed down to 26 names after friendlies against Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina in early June.
Immobile made Spalletti's first Italy squad last September but has missed out on a trip to Germany after scoring just seven Serie A goals this season.
Verratti joined Immobile in starting Italy's Euro 2020 final victory over England, but he always looked unlikely to be included this year after swapping Paris Saint-Germain for Qatari side Al-Arabi.
Last September, it was reported that Verratti turned down a call-up for Italy's first two Euro 2024 qualifiers under Spalletti to complete his move to Qatar.
Locatelli is also excluded, having seen his international role diminished since the last Euros, but Juventus team-mate Nicolo Fagioli is included after serving a seven-month ban for breaching Italian gambling rules.
Italy begin their Euro 2024 campaign against Albania on June 15, before taking on Spain and Croatia in their remaining Group B fixtures.
They have the chance to replicate La Roja's feat of winning back-to-back editions of the Euros in 2008 and 2012, something no other team has ever accomplished.
Full 30-man squad: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham), Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).
The University of the West Indies (UWI) Sports & Physical Education Centre (SPEC) at the St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad is poised for an exhilarating weekend of volleyball. From Friday, May 24, to Sunday, May 26, 2024, the UWI Intercampus Volleyball Tournament will bring together some of the best clubs in the region, including Glamorgan, Big SEPOS, and West Side Stars.
The tournament kicks off on Friday with games starting at 12:00 noon, while matches on Saturday and Sunday will commence at 9:00 am. The event promises to showcase high-calibre volleyball, reflecting the skill of the participating teams.
The UWI Mona Club/Intercollegiate male and female teams, hailing from Jamaica, will depart from Norman Manley International Airport on Thursday, May 23, at 2:55 pm on Caribbean Airlines.
The UWI Mona volleyball team has a storied history of success. Over the years, both the male and female teams have dominated intercollegiate competitions, national club championships, and international club championships. With an impressive tally of over 100 championships, they are the most successful team at the Mona campus and the leading volleyball team in Jamaica.
This success is not just in numbers but also in influence. The team has been a critical source of national players for both indoor and outdoor volleyball. Their involvement in diverse leagues and tournaments, along with the variety of nationalities represented, offers players significant exposure and opportunities, attracting many prospective students from across the Caribbean region.
The resilience of the UWI Mona volleyball team has been particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many other clubs ceased activities, the Mona team continued to engage its members through ongoing training programs and off-court activities, adhering to health protocols. This proactive approach led to their selection to spearhead a pilot program for the return of the sport, demonstrating their leadership and dedication.
Currently, the UWI Mona Volleyball program boasts 70 active students and 30 alumni. Their commitment to the sport and each other highlights the strong community and support system within the team. This spirit of unity and perseverance will be on full display at the upcoming tournament.
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