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Pucovski consulted the team management on Tuesday while playing the first tour match for Australia A against Pakistan. Pucovski scored five runs in 14 deliveries in the first innings and was one of Imran Khan’s five victims. Pucovski joined fellow Australian players Glenn Maxwell and Nic Maddinson to opt out due to mental health issues. This is the second time the youngster has been excused for mental health reasons after having opted out of the Canberra Test against Sri Lanka due to a similar issue....

Both teams will now head to Adelaide Oval to play the day-night Test with a pink ball. Ahead of the all-important encounter, Pakistan will look to employ a few strategic changes to ensure a turn of fortunes for them in the must-win clash. Australia has won all their pink-ball Tests so far and Pakistan need to play out of their skins to challenge the star-studded Australian team. With the 2nd Test slated to be played from 29 November, let us have a look at the three strategic changes that Pakistan can make in the 2nd Test....

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Australia put on 139/3 from their 20 overs which the visitors failed to chase down, finishing at 119/6. Meg Lanning was named player-of-the-match for her unbeaten knock of 46 while Elyse Villani was named player of the series for finishing as the leading run-scorer with 181 runs at an average of 60.33. Openers Villani (42) and Delissa Kimmince (28) got their side off to a solid start, putting on a 64-run partnership before Villani was bowled by Anam Amin (1/18)....

The crafty 5-foot-5 Australian mixes backhand slices and drop shots with a deceptively strong serve and a knack for attacking, which is how she won the Miami Open. Barty had a career-high 15 aces and became the newest 2019 titlist on the ATP and WTA circuits by beating Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (1), 6-3 Saturday. That means there still has not been a repeat champion this year among the men or women....

World No.1 Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Brisbane International as he is still struggling with a knee injury and which has cast doubts over his chances at the Australian Open which commences on January 15. He will find it difficult as the hard court doesn’t suit his knees. Notwithstanding he is hoping to compete at the event in which he finished runner-up last year. “I am sorry to announce I won’t be coming to Brisbane this year....

Djokovic continues his bid for a fourth consecutive Open title when he takes on Uzbek Denis Istomin. MORE: Hot images from sweltering Open | Sharapova survives | Federer’s march | Del Potro out Awaiting Stosur is a likely encounter with Serena Williams, who faces 31st seed Daniela Hantuchova first up at Rod Laver Arena. Stosur, the 17th seed, reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 2006 and 2010 and could reach the same stage with a win over Serbian Ana Ivanovic....

Wozniacki, the No. 2 seed in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, edged top seed Halep 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted 2 hours, 49 minutes and included a controversial injury delay as trainers worked on Wozniacki’s left knee. The victory also vaulted Wozniacki into the No. 1 spot in the Women’s Tennis Association world rankings. After the match, Wozniacki, 27, addressed Halep, who is still looking for her first Grand Slam title....

The 54-year-old Portuguese has won everything the game has to offer but said he was going to be around for the long haul. “I think I’m going to be in football 15 years more minimum,” Mourinho said when quizzed about his future on Tuesday ahead of United’s away Champions League clash with Benfica. Ferguson ended his glittering managerial career aged 71 after 26 years in charge of United for whom he won 38 major trophies....

Spurs’ loss at the Emirates on Saturday dropped them to fourth in the table, 11 points behind league leaders Manchester City, and extended their woeful away record against fellow top-six teams to one win in 17 games. Tottenham, who are top of their Champions League group, have already sealed progression to the knockout stages and Pochettino believes their penultimate group match against a struggling Dortmund is the perfect opportunity to get a much-needed win....

Tottenham were expected struggle in a tough Group H that contained holders Real Madrid and 2013 finalists Dortmund but the London side have progressed to the knockout stages unbeaten with four wins and a draw after five of six fixtures. “The group we had, a lot of people doubted us and we wanted to prove them wrong,” Kane, who scored the equaliser in Tuesday’s game, told reporters after the match....

The U.S. are currently third in the six-team group from the CONCACAF region of North, Central America and the Caribbean, two points clear of their rivals Honduras and Panama. The top three qualify automatically and the fourth-placed side go into a playoff with a team from the Asian conference. A win would guarantee the U.S. a place at next year’s finals in Russia and a point could be enough against a Trinidad & Tobago team already out of the running for a World Cup spot....

LA UNION, Colombia/CHAPECO, Brazil (Reuters) - Doctors treated survivors of an air crash in Colombia that killed 71 people and wiped out Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team en route to a cup final in Colombia as an investigation got underway on Wednesday. Only six people - three players, a journalist and two crew members - survived the crash on Monday night when Chapecoense’s charter plane, a BAe 146 made by BAE Systems Plc, hit a mountain en route to their Copa Sudamericana showdown in Medellin....

They are the cruellest method for ending tournament dreams. Some say shootout victories are too dependent on luck, and even that deadlocked matches should be decided by something fairer. But surely it’s impossible to imagine anything more dramatic than penalties. Neutrals can’t look away; partisans can’t bare to watch. But how will shootouts be staged at the 2022 World Cup? The Sporting News has you covered. MORE: Why is the World Cup being played in November, not in Qatar’s summer?...

The Syrians haven’t played a match in their country since 2010 and have previously hosted their third-round AFC qualifiers for Russia at Hang Jebat Stadium in Malaysia. Australia initially believed the October 5 first leg was likely to be hosted in the Malaysian stadium, which is 140km south of Kuala Lumpur. But it has since emerged the Syrians are keen for the match to be played in the Middle East - with the UAE, Jordan and Qatar contenders to host according to reports....

As the vapor trail hung in the air, the young squad leader opened fire with his semiautomatic, stitching 30 rounds in the direction of the shot. For the next hour, Ronneburg and his troops patrolled the dark streets of the town of Husayba primed for a fight, but the shooters had fled. “It’s going to get exciting,” he said later that night, smiling. “You got people firing RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]....

Person, a former player at Auburn, accepted $91,500 in bribes from a financial adviser to steer prospective players Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy to the school, the NCAA panel found. The players or their families also received more than $10,000 from Person. “The associate head coach violated the trust of his student-athletes and their families,” the panel wrote in its decision. “Rather than protect them, he intentionally brought opportunists into the Auburn men’s basketball program and, using his influence, introduced them to the student-athletes and their families....

According to Macon, Ga., TV station WGXA, C.J. Harris, a senior safety from Warner Robins, Ga., received an offer of a preferred walk-on at Auburn shortly after helping lead Warner Robins High School to a state championship appearance. A few weeks ago, after Auburn had reviewed his medical records, they told Harris’ father, Curtis, he couldn’t play. The reason? He wouldn’t pass NCAA-mandated drug tests with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in his system....

The Tigers have won three of their last four games. The Bulldogs also enter the game on a winning streak, winning six of seven games. Many will cast aside the Bulldogs, though, as they have not entered into SEC competition yet. The competition stiffens from here. The Bulldogs appear to have the athletes to step up to the challenge. Who will be victorious in his early season SEC clash - the visiting Tigers or the fired-up Bulldogs?...

Just one point and a position separates the two teams in the table right now. Augsburg managed to climb above Sunday’s opponents after beating FC Koln in their last game. Stuttgart, on the other hand, had a tough outing against title-contenders RB Leipzig and were narrowly beaten 1-0. Stuttgart have done exceedingly well in their first season since promotion to the top-flight, but their recent form hasn’t been great....

American University of Malta have won just one game so far, and with three points in their kitty, they are currently at the bottom of the ECS points table. They need to win both their games to stand a chance of reaching the top four. Msida Warriors CC losing both their games might help in this regard, as American University of Malta’s net run rate isn’t great, and the latter will need to win by significant margins as well....