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Facing the Highlanders yet again is something to get excited about, Crusaders assistant coach Leon MacDonald says.

The sides have met four times already this season - two friendlies and two competition games - and the Crusaders have won three of the matches.

MacDonald told media in Christchurch yesterday the familiarity of the opponent did have some advantages.

``It helps the coaches as we do not have to come up with a thousand new clips,'' he joked.

``But we know the players, we knows their traits. We know about getting ready for the battle, what to expect.

``I'm not sure knowing them helps; we know it is going to be tough.

``We just have to prepare accordingly The small things matter, the scrum, the lineout accuracy matters, the backline defence and attack matters. It is about getting it right.

``We have won two from two [the two competitions games] so we know we are good enough. It is a knockout game so it is important to us. It is just about delivering now.

``We didn't do it right last time out so we have got to get it right.''

Macdonald said the side was excited to be playing a playoff match back at home and the game would go up to another level.

``We are excited to be home again and going up against the Highlanders.

``Any game is going to be hard at this stage of the season.

``We know their game, we know our game. It is about who executes better.

`In the end it might come down to a special play.''

The Crusaders were on the wrong end of referee Glen Jackson against the Hurricanes last Saturday night and MacDonald said that came from a lack of accuracy. That had to improve this week.

``You can't do that in a big game. That just shows how important discipline is.''

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It's about delivering now: MacDonald - Otago Daily Times

ICC WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2017

Cricbuzz StaffLast updated on Mon, 17 Jul, 2017, 02:16 PM

"Given that they've played well [against New Zealand] they'll come in with a bit of momentum and I expect them to be really tough" - Perry Getty

Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who is having a stunning ICC Women's World Cup, having scored five consecutive fifties and also excelling with the ball, feels that India will be a different team when Australia face them in the semifinal in Derby. India are coming into the big game after crushing New Zealand by 186 runs - in a virtual quarterfinal knockout game - on the same ground in Derby.

India started their campaign with a 35-run win over England and have won all their four games they have played in Derby. While Australia is yet to play at the County ground. On the back of that winning run and with momentum behind them, Perry believes India will be tough to beat.

"Given that they've played well [against New Zealand] they'll come in with a bit of momentum and I expect them to be really tough," Perry said on Monday (July 17).

"They probably left a few things unattended against us the other day that we know they're really dangerous, they've got a great couple of batters and some really dangerous bowlers. They'll be good," she noted.

Though Australia comfortably beat the Asian nation in Bristol in the league phase, with Perry shining with the bat, she feels that India may be peaking at the right time.

"We maybe didn't come up against them at their strongest on the day," she said. "I'm sure they'll be really keen to rectify that. It's a great test for us and we are really looking forward to it."

Even though Perry has scored five successive fifties in the ongoing tournament, she hasn't still compiled her maiden ODI ton - which continues to remain out of her reach - but that isn't bothering her one bit.

"It's got no consequence for me at the minute," she observed. "We've got an important match in the semi-final and I think that all of us are really keen to contribute and win that game and give us a chance to play in the final.

"Whatever role I play is important. If that means that I need to go on and score big then ... I'd like to do that. But [a maiden century] is no consequence at the moment," she added.

Perry's brilliant form with the bat has seen her rise to third place in the latest ICC player rankings for batters. She also went to the top of the rankings for all-rounders, replacing Windies' Stafanie Taylor.

Meanwhile, Perry is placed ninth in the bowling rankings - a list headed by Marizanne Kapp of South Africa.

Cricbuzz

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Australia geared up for India challenge: Mooney

WWC17 Weekly Wrap: Of unprecedented records and heartbreaks

A story of disparity for T20 giants Windies

Hunger for runs never dies: Mithali Raj

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Perry expecting 'stiff test' in semifinal - Cricbuzz

Janusz Michallik reviews the United States' group stage performance in the Gold Cup and notes the key performers.

PHILADELPHIA -- From the outset of this Gold Cup, it was the plan of U.S men's national team manager Bruce Arena to add six players to his roster at the conclusion of the group stage. The tournament rules allow it, and Arena took full advantage.

All of which seems kind of a shame.

The U.S. manager has brought in the Toronto FC duo of Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore. He's also added Portland Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe, Seattle Sounders forward Clint Dempsey, Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard and FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez.

The infusion of experience is considerable. Out of those six, four of them -- Bradley, Altidore, Dempsey and Howard -- have more than 100 caps apiece. Nagbe has been a steady presence for the U.S. throughout 2017. Only Gonzalez, who just recently had his one-time switch of affiliation from Mexico to the U.S. approved by FIFA, can be considered a prospect.

The unlucky six who were sent back to their clubs were really an unlucky three. Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya and his wife Beatrice are expecting their second child this week, so his departure was long planned. It was also understood that goalkeepers Brad Guzan and Sean Johnson would be sent back to Atlanta United and New York City FC, respectively. That left Kelyn Rowe, Cristian Roldan and Dom Dwyer to be sent home.

It's peculiar in that Rowe and Dwyer have shown well over the course of the past three weeks, with each player scoring a goal and contributing to the attack in other ways. Roldan's situation is easier to understand, as he had his moments of struggle against Martinique, though he did take good care of the ball. But for these three players, it's clear that their playing time would have been severely limited going forward, considering who was called up. That is true especially for Dwyer given that Dempsey and Altidore will chew up the bulk of the forward minutes, while Juan Agudelo and Jordan Morris have the ability to play out wide if needed.

"All of [the decisions] are difficult because all of the players did well," Arena told reporters. "I thought Dom, Cristian and Kelyn did very well, and I told them that. They're players that we're obviously going to continue to keep an eye on, and continue to obviously have them in the program."

He added, "It's a difficult tournament, and when you play so many less experienced and younger players together, it's difficult. It's not easy. Probably the perfect way to do that is to mix in more veteran players. But we wanted to give everyone an opportunity, and that's the way we decided to do it, and I think they came through with passing grades, all of them."

It's an odd rule to be sure, one that I can't recall being replicated anywhere else in the world. Given how crowded the international calendar tends to get in the summer, as well as the fact that MLS shuts down for only the group stage, it's understandable that CONCACAF would want to allow some flexibility to teams in order to get the best players on display. But at the same time, it seems to undermine the integrity of the competition by allowing such drastic changes.

To be clear, the U.S. isn't doing anything wrong here, but it still seems unfortunate, in a way, for Arena to bring in reinforcements, and not just for the players sent home. With essentially five starters added, it's almost as if a different team will take the field for Wednesday's quarterfinal, and playing time will be much harder to come by for those group-stage players who remain.

Without question, the U.S. looked far from convincing during the group stage. It played poorly in a 1-1 draw with Panama and was given a fright by unheralded Martinique in a 3-2 win, before looking more like its old self in a 3-0 victory over Nicaragua.

But the whole point of this tournament, for the U.S. at any rate, was to give some playing time to some heretofore bit-part -- and, in some cases, no-part -- players. During the group stage, Arena did that and then some, giving starts to 22 out of the 23 players on the roster. So why not let them finish the job? Why not see how these players can do in a knockout game possessing a very different kind of pressure from the group stage?

Granted, the winner of this Gold Cup gets one foot in the door toward qualifying for the Confederations Cup, but that assumes there will be a Confederations Cup in four years' time. Considering Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup in the winter, holding the tournament in December 2021 is a no-go with the game's power brokers in Europe. Ditto for holding it in the searing summer heat. There is talk of using the 2021 Club World Cup as a dry run for the World Cup instead.

So what does the U.S. really gain by bringing in five new starters? Arena highlighted the quintet's experience, and it obviously gives the U.S. a much better chance of winning the tournament. The competition for places will certainly heat up. But it also seems unlikely that Arena will acquire more data about his player pool as opposed to if he had kept his roster the same.

That is precisely the approach Mexico has taken. Certainly, it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison given that El Tri's participation in this year's Confederations Cup added an extra competition to their calendar. But manager Juan Carlos Osorio is giving his inexperienced side -- which had a stumble of its own in tying Jamaica 0-0 -- the chance to win the tournament, as opposed to making changes.

"I think this group deserves the opportunity to continue [in the Gold Cup] and experience this tournament and the great responsibility that representing Mexico is," said Osorio.

He added, "[I feel] happy, very optimistic about the group. We're continuing to consolidate a very good group of talented, young players that are the future of Mexican football. That factor, for me personally, is the most gratifying and what I enjoy most in life."

As it stands now, a hypothetical U.S. lineup for Wednesday's quarterfinal could consist entirely of players who were on the roster for the World Cup qualifiers last June. So it looks like for Arena, the search for that kind of gratification Osorio referred to has been put on hold.

Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreyCarlisle.

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Arena won't learn more about US player pool by calling in reinforcements - ESPN FC (blog)

The ACC started their 2017 ACC Football Kickoff on Thursday, and commissioner John Swofford held his annual press conference in which he discussed various subjects about the conference.

Swofford answered a question about ACC division realignment and cross-rivalries such as Duke and North Carolina State that will only play each other now once every six years.

"I don't know," Swofford said. "I don't have an answer to that really. I think that's probably one of the -- one of those challenges that any league that gets to 14 has. I mean, there's no easy solution to that. And what's right for one conference might not be right for another conference. But it's pretty much -- it's very similar in every league of our size. I think that's one of the -- you know, in an ideal world you'd love for everybody to play everybody. The next thing you love is for everybody to play everybody as often as they can, since it can't be every year. And then beyond that, you just keep, I think, turning over, is there a better way to do this? If you ever get to the point where you just say, you know, there's not a better way to do it, that's not a good place to be. I don't care how well things are going, you need to be looking at is there a better way to do it? So far we haven't come up with one that's better than what we're doing in the minds of the majority of our schools, and that's how that works is a majority vote. Same thing with divisions."

Swofford believes that the two ACC divisions are very balanced right now.

"We haven't really talked about divisions in several years now," Swofford said. "There for a while, we talked about it and how to schedule every meeting. So I think right now where we are, things have settled in both in terms of how we schedule and in terms of the divisions, and you know, divisions can change. We all know that. Right now -- and if you look at -- surprisingly, to some, if you look at over the years the head-to-head competition with the Atlantic and Coastal, it's very close to 500. It's not imbalanced. But you know, we'll keep looking at it, but I wouldn't anticipate any change in the near future."

Honestly, with all due respect to Mr. Swofford, you got this one wrong as there is a severe imbalance in the ACC Atlantic with Clemson and Florida State. These two teams are top five type teams moving forward in the next decade and beyond and should be playing in the ACC Championship yearly in a must-see marquee national matchup, not in a knockout game in the middle of the regular season. College Football fans are smart and will turn the channel for better games if a 7-4 coastal team is playing in the ACC Championship.

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Swofford on ACC division realignment - TigerNet

Former Wake Forest star John Collins scored 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds in a losing effort for the Atlanta Hawks' summer league team Wednesday

The New Orleans Pelicans went winless during the three-game pool play portion of the NBAs Las Vegas Summer League this week.

Thanks to Quinn Cook, though, the Pelicans are advancing into the second round of the tournaments knockout round.

The former Duke star went 11 of 16 from the floor, made both his 3-pointers and led both teams with 26 points Wednesday to lead New Orleans to a 105-95 win against the Atlanta Hawks. He also added seven assists and five rebounds in helping his team advance to a second-round matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.

Cook, the captain of the Blue Devils 2015 national championship team, has scored 20 or more points in each of his last three games in Vegas.

Wake Forests John Collins also had an impressive performance in the game, scoring 25 points and pulling down nine rebounds in a losing effort for the Hawks. The recent first round draft choice completed a successful week, in which he averaged a double-double while showing NBA-ready skills on both ends of the court.

Veteran Ryan Kelly of Duke, auditioning to earn a spot on a team for the regular season, had 11 points and four rebounds for Atlanta.

Also Wednesday the Minnesota Timberwolves and their four North Carolina college players were eliminated by the Golden State Warriors 77-69. The result was a reversal of their pool play meeting one night earlier, when NC States C.J. Williams hit the winning basket in double overtime.

Williams had another big game in the rematch, scoring 19 points and pulling down four rebounds, but it wasnt enough for the win this time. UNCs Marcus Paige had eight points and six assists for the Timberwolves, while Davidsons Jack Gibbs scored 12 points and Dukes Amile Jefferson chipped in with three points and four rebounds.

Campbells Eric Griffin left a positive final impression in his effort to earn a spot on an NBA roster by recording 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and four blocked shots for the Utah Jazz in its 97-81 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

First round pick Tony Bradley of UNC, however, struggled in his final two games after posting two strong performances to start the Vegas event. He was held to just four points Wednesday, although he did grab eight rebounds and block a shot.

In the only other first round knockout game involving a player with state college ties Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings advanced to a second-round matchup against Dallas with a 69-65 win against the Milwaukee Bucks despite a 2-14 (0-5) shooting performance from UNCs Justin Jackson.

Last years ACC Player of the Year scored eight points in the game to go along with five rebounds and five assists.

Here are the cumulative stats for all state players participating in Las Vegas:

Brandon Ingram, Duke (Lakers): 1 game, 26.0 ppg, 9-17 FG, 1-4 3PT, 7-8 FT, 3.0 apg, 3.0 spg

Quinn Cook, Duke (Pelicans): 4 G, 21.8 ppg, 37-61 FG, 6-12 3PT, 7-8 FT, 4.0 rpg, 4.3 apg

Dennis Smith, NC State (Mavs) 3 G, 18.3 ppg, 17-36 FG, 5-14 3PT, 16-22 FT, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 apg

Jayson Tatum, Duke (Celtics): 3 G, 17.7 ppg, 19-45 FG, 2-3 3PT, 13-15 FT, 8.0 rpg

John Collins, Wake Forest (Hawks): 4 G, 17.5 ppg, 29-45 FG, 1-1 3PT, 12-16 FT, 10.3 rpg

Marcus Paige, UNC (T-wolves): 3 G, 14.3 ppg, 15-39 FG, 8-20 3PT, 5-5 FT, 2.3 rpg, 4.7 apg

Brice Johnson, UNC (Clippers): 3 G, 14.0 ppg, 16-28 FG, 10-13 FT, 5.0 rpg, 1.7 bpg

Kennedy Meeks, UNC (Raptors): 2 G, 13.5 ppg, 12-20 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-4 FT, 6.5 rpg

Justin Jackson, UNC (Kings): 4 G, 11.5 ppg, 18-54 FG, 4-22 3PT, 6-7 FT, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 apg

C.J. Williams, NC State (T-wolves): 4 G, 11.3 ppg, 15-38 FG, 4-18 3PT, 11-14 FT, 3.3 rpg

Ryan Kelly Duke (Hawks): 3 G, 10.7 ppg, 9-28 FG, 3-12 3PT, 11-13 FT, 4.0 rpg

Eric Griffin, Campbell (Jazz): 3 G, 10.7 ppg, 11-25 FG, 1-3 3PT, 5-9 FT, 7.0 rpg, 4.0 bpg

Jack Gibbs, Davidson (T-wolves): 4 G, 9.8 ppg, 15-40 FG, 7-20 3PT, 2-4 FT, 2.3 apg

Tony Bradley, UNC (Jazz): 4 G, 8.5 ppg, 17-38 FG, 6.3 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Matt Jones, Duke (Rockets): 1 G, 7.0 ppg, 1-4 FG, 1-3 3PT, 4-5 FT, 2.0 rpg

Isaiah Hicks, UNC (Clippers): 3 G, 6.3 ppg, 7-11 FG, 5-8 FT, 2.0 rpg, 1.7 bpg

Kendall Marshall, UNC (Clippers): 2 G, 5.5 ppg, 2-5 FG, 1-1 3PT, 6-7 FT, 1.5 rpg, 8.0 apg

Amile Jefferson, Duke (T-wolves): 3 G, 2.8 ppg, 4-10 FG, 3-6 FT, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 spg

J.P. Tokoto, UNC (Jazz): 2 G, 2.5 ppg, 2-9 FG, 1-6 3PT, 2.0 rpg

Nate Britt, UNC (Hawks): 2 G, 1.5 ppg, 1-4 FG, 0-2 3PT, 1-2 FT, 1.5 apg

Scott Wood, NC State (Celtics): 2 G, 0.0 ppg, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3PT

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Former Duke star 'Cook-ing' in Las Vegas NBA Summer League - North State Journal (subscription)