North Zone vs West Zone Live Score: Pacer Tushar Deshpande and off-spinner Tanish Kotian headlined a fine bowling performance with four wickets apiece as West Zone bowled out North for a lowly 251 on the opening day of their Duleep Trophy match at the Centre of Excellence.

Deshpande (4/57) and Tanush Kotian (4/72) shared the spoils equally as North, who were placed comfortably at 117 for 2 at one stage, were left gasping for breath at 220 for 9 before Anshul Kamboj’s audacious 60 off 52 balls with five fours and equal number of maximums took them past 250-run mark.

North also made a mini comeback of sorts as left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq bowled a peach of a delivery to castle opener Prithvi Shaw while other opener Harvik Desai was snapped up by India’s T20 specialist Arshdeep Singh. West Zone ended the day’s play at 31 for 2.

Tayler-Woolston grew up watching Newport with his father, Andrew, and was treated to a side that featured South Africa internationals Gary Tiechmann and Percy Montgomery in the pre-regional era.

After captaining Cardiff Met and Wales Students then playing for Newbridge, he got the chance to pull on a black and amber jersey for the first time against Cardiff on permit in October 2015.

A permanent move followed, but the flanker was unable to be at his best.

Tayler-Woolston came out to his family in his late teens – “I couldn’t have asked for a better reaction from my parents, they weren’t bothered at all” – but kept secrets in rugby settings.

“I was sort of living a double life, and then you are lying to yourself,” he said.

“My biggest worry was that I would be judged based on my sexuality rather than my rugby skill.

“I think it was my second year with Newport that I started to think that I had to tell people, that I couldn’t bottle things up any more.

“It was mentally draining and I was constantly on guard. I wanted to go to dinner with my partner, I wanted to hold their hand without constantly looking over my shoulder.”

Relatively new in the squad, Tayler-Woolston’s biggest fear was being rejected.

He wondered how the coaching staff react, and whether they would continue to pick him?

“All those ideas were building in my head because you read horror stories online,” he added.

“I felt that I was lying to my team-mates because I couldn’t be my true, authentic self around them.

“It is tiring being on guard all of the time, wondering what people would think, whether I would be isolated and rejected.

“I love pulling on the black and amber jersey, I never take it for granted and it means so much.

“It would have been devastating to be rejected by my club and city, but thankfully I’ve never faced that.”

A slumping star player is the last thing a team wants with the MLB postseason just around the corner. And yet, everyone from the World Series favorites to the Wild Card hopefuls is dealing with it in some capacity.

The question now is whether it’s too late for those players to turn things around or if there’s still time for them to build enough momentum for a postseason peak. FOX Sports MLB writers Rowan Kanver and Deesha Thosar dive into that and more in this week’s MLB Roundtable:

What is the most important thing or player for L.A. to fix over the next few weeks, as rosters expand and the postseason looms?

Kavner: Kyle Tucker. Edwin Díaz is a close second, but even if Díaz never threw another pitch this year, the Dodgers demonstrated last season when Tanner Scott struggled in the first year of his four-year, $72 million deal (and then didn’t appear in the postseason) that they can withstand the loss of a high-leverage reliever and make up for it in other ways. Some of their starting pitchers will likely again find their way in the bullpen once October arrives.

There aren’t as many ways to mask Tucker’s struggles, which show up on both offense and defense. He has the lowest OPS at home of any qualified MLB player, and he has dropped catchable fly balls in each of the Dodgers’ last two series. His frustrations at home got to the point last Saturday that Dave Roberts gave him a mental day off. Last year, when Michael Conforto struggled in L.A. on his one-year, $17 million deal, the Dodgers gave Conforto all year to try to get right before ultimately holding him off the postseason roster. That’s a lot harder to do with a player making $60 million a year, so they need to try to find a way to get Tucker’s confidence back to a place where he can at least be an additive supporting piece. He doesn’t have to be an All-Star caliber player, like he was the last four years. He just can’t be this.

Thosar: As much as I want to say fixing Kyle Tucker’s season-long slump is the biggest priority, I actually think Mookie Betts getting hot at the plate is exactly what the Dodgers need down the stretch run. He’s the stabilizing force in the lineup, and we’ve seen Betts carry the offense when he’s hitting well. Plus, the Dodgers seem to go as Betts goes. He’s batting .315 with an .888 OPS, three home runs and eight RBI over the past two weeks, and Los Angeles went 8-6 over that span. The Dodgers seem to find their footing and reclaim their momentum when Betts is right in the middle of their production.

Is Pete Crow-Armstrong just this good of a player, where he’s a genuine MVP candidate who could lead a team to a World Series, or is there concern that another shoe will eventually fall?

Kavner: Can I say both? Right now, this version of PCA looks like a player capable of carrying a team to a championship. He is providing value in every way imaginable, and this is no longer a small sample of elite production. At the same time, with any player who has a history of chasing and is prone to swing and miss, there’s always concern about a slump at some point. (It’s easy to forget now, considering how he has played since, that Crow-Armstrong had a .669 OPS at the end of April and a .713 mark at the end of May.)

To his credit, PCA has followed his slow start to the year with three extraordinary months, during which he has registered an OPS over 1.000 in each of June (1.249), July (1.011) and August (1.002 entering Thursday). That’s a long stretch without any dramatic dips, and it’s not a coincidence that both his whiff and chase rates have been down considerably over that time. If he can keep those close to league average, he should remain a superstar and could be headed toward a 40-40 season. This looks like an MVP player right now.

Thosar: The evidence from this season, in particular, points to he’s really just this good. Even if this exact level of production comes down a little, the underlying metrics and the player he is suggest this is all real. He’s only 24, and he’s already reached his second consecutive 30-30 season, doing it all while playing an elite center field. Beyond the stats on the back of his baseball card, the biggest reason to believe PCA is maturing as a hitter is the incredible jump in his walk rate. He went from a 4.5% walk rate last season to a 11.9% rate this season, which coincides with the huge uptick in his on-base percentage. Plate discipline paired with his ability to adapt to pitchers figuring him out has really increased his ceiling in ways that suggest he’ll be a star in the league throughout his prime.

With Adley Rustchman now behind the plate and Roman Anthony due back relatively soon, does Boston have enough for a deep postseason run?

Kavner: This is definitely a team capable of making a deep October run, but it will all come down to how their bats perform. Their pitching is without question good enough to make a deep October run, especially if Garrett Crochet and Garrett Whitlock are back contributing by then. The offense has come and gone, though, and even after their spectacular month of July and terrific start to the second half, the lineup has been exactly league-average overall this season. I trust the bats of Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu in the postseason, and with Caleb Durbin heating up, it’s worth pointing out he was the Brewers’ best hitter in the NLCS against the Dodgers last year. But getting Rutschman and Roman Anthony going could be the difference between a nice season and a championship one.

Thosar: If Anthony returns looking remotely like the player he was last season, the lineup gets substantially deeper. Especially with Rutschman behind the plate, suddenly the Red Sox look like they can run out a playoff lineup with multiple high-end offensive threats rather than asking one or two guys to carry the entire offense. So, yes, the combination of those two bats makes them a legitimate October threat. But I’m not convinced that, even with Rutschman and Anthony slugging, the Sox are a World Series contender. They would have to be overwhelmingly dominant to get there. Thanks to their quality pitching, they can make opponents uncomfortable in a short series. It all goes back to how effective Anthony will be, and how soon he will get there. Expecting him to instantly become an MVP-caliber hitter after being out since May is a touch unrealistic.

Paul Skenes has seen his ERA jump nearly two full runs, and Pittsburgh trails four teams for the last NL wild-card. Can the Pirates realistically make a run at the postseason with Skenes unable to get further than the fifth inning?

Kavner: Maybe if they found a way to switch to the American League? No, realistically, I can’t see a world in which the Pirates reach the postseason if this is the version of Skenes they have for the rest of the year. The signs lately have not been promising. He hasn’t gone more than five innings in any of his last four starts, his fastball velocity is down and fluctuating, he has a 5.67 ERA since the start of July, and he still labored through 4.1 innings his last time out even after extra rest. The Pirates have to win the games he starts, and they have done that just once in his last five outings.

Given the hole they’ve dug themselves to start the second half, it would be difficult at this point for the Pirates to reach the playoffs even if Skenes suddenly found a way to tap back into his Cy Young form. As of Thursday night, FanGraphs gives the Pirates a 4.9% chance to make the playoffs. Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler are doing everything they can to try to lift the rotation, and the return of Oneil Cruz provides some needed upside for an offense that has struggled to produce since the break. But they need their ace to get on track if they want any shot at ending their 10-year playoff drought.

Thosar: Absolutely not. Skenes’ performance this season is the biggest reason Pittsburgh’s margin for error has completely disappeared. It would be one thing if he was showing signs of getting back on track around now, but things are still going downhill. He’s allowed 17 earned runs in his last 23 ⅔ innings pitched, good for a 6.46 ERA over five starts. The Bucs went 1-4 in those outings. Things have been so bad for so long that it’s fair to wonder whether he’s dealing with an underlying injury. And then there’s the issue with Pittsburgh’s offense, which is fifth-worst in the league since the All-Star break. When the lineup isn’t carrying the team, as it did in the first half of the season, and the pitching staff overall has taken a turn for the worse, it would be a mistake to think the Pirates could realistically make a run for the postseason.

Man United suffered a chastening opening-day defeat at Hull City and Michael Carrick will have some big selection decisions to make against Ipswich Town this weekend.

It was always expected to be something of a rollercoaster campaign with a new midfield, a new permanent manager and Champions League football back on the agenda. Manchester United will hope they have already endured their 2026/27 nadir.

The announcement that trains from Hull to Manchester had been cancelled only served to rub salt into already stinging wounds for the travelling army of United fans. There have been lower lows for United over the past few years, but Saturday was as seismic as they come in terms of reality checks.

Momentum has been slowly building at Old Trafford since Carrick’s return to the dugout. A patient approach to the transfer window has threatened to pour cold water on soaring expectations, but the business United have done has been solid and a flurry of activity is possible in the final week of the window. It would take a very special arrival for fans to forget about Saturday’s mauling.

United were both out-thought and outfought on Humberside. Hull’s set-piece planning worked a treat and in Oli McBurnie they had the focal point that United were lacking. When Bruno Fernandes is taking pot shots from 30 yards out and Harry Maguire is embarking on marauding runs to try and add some urgency to your play, you know something has gone wrong.

For all Michael Carrick was keen to stress he saw “a lot of good things” from his team, it was difficult to pick out too many positives. But Marcus Rashford’s return to competitive United action did offer a slight glimmer of light.

The former Barcelona loanee was introduced at half-time after a lethargic first-half showing from United. Carrick defended his call to hook Patrick Dorgu in place of Rashford, explaining he was “trying to do something a little bit different”, but Rashford undoubtedly added more impetus to United’s play.

Not only did Rashford look more threatening than Dorgu had, his link-up play with Luke Shaw represented United’s best opportunity of getting back into the game.

The two struck up an excellent partnership on the left before Rashford was axed from the squad by Ruben Amorim, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting they hadn’t played together in a competitive game for 20 months on Saturday’s showing. Of course Rashford can bring a different type of threat to United’s front line, but his ability to bring the best out of Shaw in an attacking sense shouldn’t be overlooked.

There is still a chance Rashford could be playing his football away from Old Trafford by the time the transfer window closes, but you get the sense nobody in the dressing room, including Carrick, wants that to happen. With the iconic No.9 shirt on his back, Rashford looks ready to make his mark back at his boyhood club.

One of the buzzwords of Carrick’s time in charge has been ‘consistency’ – whether that be in relation to United’s performances or his approach to dealing with media commitments – and consistency is something Rashford has sadly lacked throughout his career. But under Carrick there is a very real hope he can return to his best and continue to produce performances that everyone at the club knows he can.

The clash with Ipswich this weekend represents a real test for Carrick in just United’s second game of the season. Nobody is reaching for the panic button just yet, but Carrick knows better than most that you’re never more than a couple of games away from a crisis at United, and defeat on Sunday would be a dreadful look when so many tipped United to take maximum points from their first two outings.

Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez will be in contention to start with another week of training under their belt following their delayed return post-World Cup. Rashford has now played more minutes since his return than both Mainoo and Martinez. It’s time for Carrick to throw him into the starting XI.

United need a fast start on Sunday in front of their own fans after the dire defeat at Hull. If the reception Rashford received from the away fans on Saturday is anything to go by, he will be welcomed back to Old Trafford with open arms against Ipswich and that could be the fillip United need in a game they dare not lose.

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Thirteen months on from his move to Barcelona and with his No.10 jersey passed on to Matheus Cunha, the only chance of Rashford ever lining up at Old Trafford again looked to be in the colours of an opposition team. On Sunday he will return to Old Trafford in the red of United wearing the No.9, and he might just be in the starting XI.

Now that’s a rollercoaster ride.

NEW YORK — Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz will have to wait a little longer to learn their first opponent in the US Open mixed doubles championship.

Williams and Alcaraz were drawn Sunday to face one of the teams that advances from the eight-team qualifying tournament that will be played Monday.

Williams will be returning to the US Open for the first time since 2022. The six-time singles champion and Alcaraz, who has won the men’s title twice, were awarded a wild card into the 16-team tournament Saturday.

READ: Serena Williams joins Carlos Alcaraz for US Open mixed doubles

The first round and quarterfinals of the mixed doubles are Tuesday, with the semifinals and final on Wednesday. The winning team shares $1 million.

Facing one of the qualifiers will be a tough assignment, because most of the players in the qualifying tournament are doubles specialists. The qualifying tournament was added this year to give those types of players a chance to compete after they were almost entirely shut out last year when the U.S. Tennis Association, seeking more star power, revamped the mixed doubles and based direct entry on the players’ rankings in singles.

Two-time defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic earned the No. 1 seed after having the lowest combined singles ranking among the teams. They will face the pair of Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe in their first match.

READ: Alex Eala, Auger-Aliassime get US Open mixed doubles wild card

Americans Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz are seeded No. 2 and will open against Diana Shnaider and Casper Ruud. Ruud was scheduled to play again with Iga Swiatek, after they reached the final in 2025. But Swiatek withdrew and Schnaider needed a partner after Daniil Medvedev pulled out.

The other first-round matches: Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, who are married, vs. Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime; Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli vs. Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev; Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik vs. the other team from the qualifying tournament; Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul vs. Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien; Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev vs. two-time defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori; and Shnaider and Ruud vs. Pegula and Fritz.

An ambitious strategy has paid dividends for connections of Prima Bella, the in-form mare who claimed the Toy Show Quality at Randwick by overcoming two notable rivals.

Trainer Matthew Smith elected to step up the six-year-old to Group 3 company after she had strung together consecutive benchmark wins at Flemington and Randwick, uncertain if the mare was ready for the challenge.

Prima Bella ($5.50) proved her worth, sitting just off the pace and finding the necessary determination in the straight to secure victory by a long head over Stardom ($16). The Flight Stakes winner, Apocalyptic ($2.50 favourite), put in a late effort to finish third, another three-quarters of a length behind. Observers noting the best horse racing betting sites witnessed Prima Bella defy the short-priced favourite.

Smith lauded jockey Kerrin McEvoy’s positive ride, highlighting how the mare’s substantial weight advantage over Group 1 performers Apocalyptic and Savvy Hallie, the latter finishing last and proving the race’s disappointment, was expertly used.

“Kerrin took the initiative and took luck out of it,” McEvoy said.

“You just had to make it run so the better horses were vulnerable with the weight. That’s how you had to run it, and Kerrin rode it beautifully.”

This was Prima Bella’s sixth start of a campaign that began in May, but Smith has employed a strategy of interspersed short spells in the paddock and plans to continue this approach.

While not looking beyond Saturday’s Toy Show Quality (1100m), he is keen for the mare to maintain her racing career while she is performing so strongly.

“No. That was it. I didn’t go any further. This was her grand final so it’s bloody great it has worked out,” Smith said.

“She will go up to the farm on Monday, she’ll be out in a paddock and work on a sand track up there for a week like she did this time. Nothing special, just keep her ticking over.

“Until she puts her flag up and says, I’ve had enough, we’ll keep going.”

Nash Rawiller commented that Savvy Hallie did not display her typical fighting qualities and suggested there would be a genuine reason for her below-par performance.

“Just concerning she was the first horse beaten,” Rawiller said.

“The first thing that came to my mind was that it might be atrial fibrillation.”

Tommy Berry advised punters not to discount Apocalyptic, explaining that the fast sectional times recorded by the on-pace runners made it exceptionally difficult for those from behind to make up ground.

“They ran home in 33.7 (seconds) so it is very hard to catch them when they’re doing that. She’s done a good job,” Berry said.

Compare racing odds at online bookmakers.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have found their starting quarterback: Nebraska has named quarterback Anthony Colandrea as its starter for Week 1 against Ohio, head coach Matt Rhule announced Saturday. 

Colandrea transferred to Nebraska after one season with UNLV and two with Virginia. Colandrea led the Rebels to a 10-4 overall and 6-2 Mountain West record and finished the year with 3,459 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. He also finished the year as Mountain West Player of the Year. 

The Cornhuskers finished the year 7-6 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Now, the Cornhuskers look to bounce back with Colandrea and key transfers like wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer from UCLA, who led the Bruins in receiving with 50 receptions, 535 receiving yards and four touchdowns. 

For the Cornhuskers, the addition of Colandrea was a massive benefit to Rhule, who lost quarterback starting Dylan Raiola to the Oregon Ducks. While Colandrea competed against quarterbacks TJ Lateef and Daniel Kaelin in the offseason, Rhule made it clear that he was the clear choice as Nebraska’s QB1. 

“Anthony would play for us right now,” Rhule told reporters on Saturday. “All the quarterbacks have done a nice job. Anthony, I think the biggest thing is he’s very competitive, very fiery. He expects to win every play. He does a nice job disciplining himself to also take what’s there and makes nice checks in the run/pass game, and can throw the ball deep.”

Lateef took over for Raiola after he suffered a season-ending injury in week 9 against USC, and finished 1-3 as starting quarterback.

What Rhule also gets in Colandrea is a dual-threat quarterback, as he put up 649 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Especially as the Cornhuskers lose Emmett Johnson to the NFL Draft, Colandrea’s talent on the ground will make up for Johnson’s production last season. 

Colandrea will lead the Cornhuskers starting Week 1 against Ohio at home on Saturday, Sept. 5.

FIFA banned three Argentina players on Friday, including a 10-match suspension for midfielder Leandro Paredes, for striking Spain opponents after losing the World Cup final.

The ban for Paredes – who grabbed Spain’s Eric Garcia by the throat and pushed Gavi to the ground – ranks with the FIFA sanctions for Uruguay forward Luis Suarez in 2014 as among the most severe in World Cup history.

Argentina defender Nahuel Molina was handed a seven-game ban while Thiago Almada was given a one-game suspension. FIFA imposed fines of $90,000 on Paredes and Molina, and $30,000 for Almada.

The ban for Paredes is effectively a one-year expulsion from the Argentina team as the FIFA calendar for national team schedules includes 10 games through June 2027.

 

All of those games could be friendlies with no competitive games currently scheduled.

Spain’s Gavi also banned for game vs England 
Gavi also was banned for one game, which is a Nations League match for Spain against England at Wembley on Sept. 26.

An Argentina coach, Roberto Ayala, also got a three-game ban and $30,000 fine.

The Argentine Football Association was fined $110,000 for a range of incidents during the World Cup including players carrying a political banner about the Falkland Islands after the semifinal win against England, and discriminatory chants by fans.

AFA also was ordered by FIFA to spend $100,000 on anti-racism projects. Argentina received $34 million in World Cup prize money from FIFA.

Argentina expected to appeal 
AFA can appeal the longer sanctions and fines to FIFA, and likely after at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“The AFA legal department will, in a timely manner, request from FIFA the grounds for the reviewable rulings in order to file appeals with the governing body’s appeal committee, while retaining the future option of appealing to the CAS as a final recourse,” the federation said in a statement.

Suarez and Simunic cases 
In 2014, Suarez was banned from all soccer for four months, including for his new club Barcelona, and eight more competition games for Uruguay for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in a World Cup group stage game in Brazil.

Paredes’ 10-game ban equals that in 2013 for Josip Simunic of Croatia after winning a World Cup qualifying playoff. Simunic used a megaphone to lead fans chanting a slogan used by the country’s pro-Nazi regime during World War II.

The on-field clashes at last month’s final in East Rutherford, New Jersey – which were charged by FIFA as assault cases – came after Argentina lost a testy final to Spain where it was mostly outplayed and barely created a scoring chance.

Spain forward Ferran Torres scored the only goal in the second period of extra time, after Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off.

FIFA disciplinary judges also ordered Argentina to play its next home game in a stadium limited to 50% of capacity. FIFA deferred a second stadium sanction and a $100,000 for probationary periods.

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai insisted that his side “should have won” against Newcastle United despite needing a 99th-minute penalty to salvage a draw.

The Reds began a new era in the Premier League under manager Andoni Iraola, though they found themselves a goal behind within five minutes after Anthony Elanga raced clear and slid past Alisson.

It was an end-to-end game at St James’ Park and neither side was able to wrestle control, though Liverpool found themselves level after a speculative drive from Cody Gakpo found the far corner.

The visitors weren’t level for long though, Yoane Wissa playing it to Joe Willock before the midfielder curled a superb finish past Alisson for 2-1.

And though Newcastle looked for a while like they might earn a superb three points in Matthias Jaissle’s first game in charge, there was a late mistake from Lewis Hall as he clipped Victor Munoz in the area with almost the final action of the game.

Szoboszlai stepped up to rifle a brilliant penalty into the top corner with the final kick of the game, with Newcastle deflated and Liverpool having snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat.

“If I am honest, we should have won. But that’s football,” said Szoboszlai after full-time.

“You don’t win easy in the Premier League – doesn’t matter who you play against. We have to be aware of that and we need to take care in the next game. We will never give up. I can guarantee you that. We have to fight every time – all day long for 90 minutes.

“Everybody who came off the bench also made an impact as well today. We need the whole squad and we need to be ready,” he added.

New Liverpool boss Iraola agreed that his side deserved more, saying that it was “difficult to express the feeling”.

“It’s probably not the result you want when you come in before the game but we definitely deserve this point and even more,” said the Spaniard.

“The team has never given up and we’ve recovered one point and probably the taste is better because we score in the last minute. I think it has been a difficult game in terms of starting to lose the game with this atmosphere and I think we have done enough,” he added.

The result takes Liverpool into ninth in the league after the first round of games, with the Reds’ second game of the new season coming next week as they face Nottingham Forest in Saturday’s early kick-off.