England expect Ecclestone to play through pain in Cricket World Cup semi-final

Nat Sciver-Brunt says she expects Sophie Ecclestone to play in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against South Africa, despite the shoulder injury sustained in their match against New Zealand on Sunday.A subsequent MRI scan on Ecclestone’s left shoulder revealed a minor injury to the joint next to her collar bone, but the left-arm spinner was due to train with England on Tuesday evening.Sciver-Brunt, the England captain, did acknowledge that Ecclestone might struggle to bowl her full allocation of 10 overs, but said the team were confident they had the options in their lineup to deal with that situation if it arose. Ecclestone bowled only four balls on Sunday, leaving England dependent on the part-time off-spin of Alice Capsey and the barely-ever-seen leg-spin of Sophia Dunkley to fill the void.“I’m pretty confident that she’ll be ready for tomorrow’s game,” Sciver-Brunt said “She [Ecclestone] might not be 100%

$54m to walk: getting fired as a college football coach is a booming industry

Brian Kelly’s departure from LSU is just the latest in a series of big money firings. It’s also a jarring state of affairs for many struggling fansAt a time when millions are at risk of going hungry and losing their medical insurance benefits, struggling Americans can at least take solace in knowing that the nation’s college football coaches are doing just fine – especially Brian Kelly.On Sunday LSU relieved Kelly of his coaching duties after his Tigers suffered a resounding home loss to Texas A&M that dropped them out of the AP’s ranking of college football’s top 25 teams. (This is after LSU was ranked as high as third in September and firmly in the top 10 for most of the season.) Kelly, who was in the fourth year of a decade-long contract worth about $100m, will be going home with more than just a box full of purple and gold office trinkets

‘Things are bigger than cricket’: Blair Tickner ready to enjoy New Zealand return

More than two years have passed since Blair Tickner last played for New Zealand, two years in which his life was thrown into chaos, his career into doubt, his family into crisis. “Obviously people haven’t seen me as much, but I feel like I’ve been doing all the right things for the last two years,” he said of his call-up, one game into the ODI series against England. “So nothing’s really changed. I’m still the same guy.” This is not true

The Breakdown | Farrell’s return boosts Ireland for Autumn Nations Series with plenty at stake

One minute we’re winding the clocks back an hour, the next we’re hurtling forwards into rugby union’s maddest month. Welcome to the whistle-stop world of the Autumn Nations Series, which, this year, has arrived as abruptly as a cat burglar in the Louvre. Sides that take time to settle into familiar old routines are about to experience a short, sharp shock.Of course there is the flip side: the main southern hemisphere powers have been smashing away at each other for weeks and certain individuals must be slightly weary. In terms of cohesion and collective readiness to pick up where they left off last time out, however, there is barely a comparison

‘Drugs quieted my inner loathing’: Todd Marinovich on the NFL, addiction and the power of art

Marcus Allen knew, and tried to help. So did Howie Long. But many of Todd Marinovich’s teammates on the Los Angeles Raiders of the early 1990s had no idea their young quarterback was using drugs.Marinovich had come to the Raiders from USC, where he had guided the Trojans to a Rose Bowl victory as a freshman. By that time, he had accumulated two nicknames: “Robo Quarterback,” after the legendarily demanding training regimen instilled by his father, former Raiders player and assistant coach Marv Marinovich, intended to foster excellence in athletes

Jannik Sinner calls out grand slams for delaying welfare and prize money talks

Jannik Sinner has criticised the grand slam tournaments for failing to engage with repeated requests from the world’s top stars to discuss prize money and welfare benefits for lower-ranked players.The Guardian has learned that detailed proposals from the world’s top 10 male and female players over alterations to prize money were rejected by the grand slam tournaments in August, while their request for a meeting to discuss their concerns at the US Open was also turned down.However, the grand slam tournaments are understood to have told the players that they cannot hold substantive talks until a separate legal case brought by the Professional Tennis Players Association has been resolved. They also referenced ongoing negotiations over the tennis calendar and plans for a so-called Premium Tour.Sinner expressed frustration at the refusal of grand slam tournaments to discuss welfare benefits in particular, as well as repeating the players’ call for greater prize money