Top ten sports: Former Saints player Will Smith shot dead in New Orleans (Watch On-line )

Former NFL athlete Will Smith was killed and his wife injured by a gunman who shot the retired football player several times after ramming into his car in New Orleans, police and a local media report said on Sunday.

Suspected shooter Cardell Hayes, 30, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, the New Orleans Police Department said in a Tweet.

Smith, 34, a retired defensive end with the National Football League's New Orleans Saints, was traveling in a Mercedes in the city's Lower Garden District shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday when his car was rear-ended by a Hummer.

Smith exchanged words with the driver of the Hummer, who took out a handgun and shot him several times, New Orleans Police Department spokesman Juan Barnes said in a statement.

Smith played American football for the Saints for a decade, including in the team that won the Super Bowl in February 2010. His professional football career ended in 2014.

During the Saturday night incident, a 33-year-old woman who was with Smith was shot in the legs and taken to the hospital, the statement said. The Times-Picayune newspaper identified the woman as Smith's wife, but did not name her.

Police said the shooter stayed on the scene after the incident and that they recovered the weapon used.

Smith's family posted a brief statement on his Facebook page expressing thanks for the outpouring of support and asking for respect for their privacy.

Smith had three children and was married to Racquel Smith, according to the ex-player's official website.

Today:World T20 final: Joe Root the hero as England take three quick wickets against West Indies.

 
Listen to England v West Indies on talkSPORT 2 from 1pm on Sunday afternoon

England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has urged his players to be aggressive in the World Twenty20 final against the West Indies.
Stokes v Samuels round two. Once again the England man begins with a long-hop dirtier than a Louis CK joke, only this time Samuels misses out with the cut. And if that ball was Louis CK then the wide that follows is positively GG Allin. Stokes goes short, Bravo top-edges a big hook and Sam Billings, the 12th man running round from square-leg, misjudges the flight completely and drops it! Equally crucially, the ball skips away for four. Stokes looks to be badly dripping with sweat out there. Ah then another missed chance off the last ball! Bravo slaps to Root at mid-on, his throw is good but Stokes fails to complete the run-out with the batsman short! For good measure, Bravo bundles straight into Stokes when he does make his ground.
England lost their opening clash in the Super 10s to their opponents in Sunday's final, but their form has improved greatly since - aside from the wobble against Afghanistan.

And with it all to play for at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Farbrace - who led Sri Lanka to the short form, title in 2012 - wants his players to come flying out of the traps.

He told the ECB's website: "They've coped with that pressure, they've coped with people writing them off, saying they lack experience and lack knowledge of India.

"They just keep getting better and better and the one thing we've talked about a lot is not only being a team that's learning and developing but being a team that's winning because international sport is about winning.

"To keep not only learning but understanding the conditions, understanding the way cricket is played in this part of the world and how you have to think on your think but to win against proper opposition is fantastic.

"Our job between now and Sunday is just to keep the lads calm and talk to them about the fact it's a fantastic opportunity.

"Our focus will be all on us, it will be talking about reminding the players what they do well, reminding them how they practice and why they practice in the way they have and so that when they come to the game situation that will be as instinctive as possible and go and play your way – that's all we've ever said.

"Let's make sure we're aggressive with our intent and take the game to the opposition. Play the way you've played for your county and enjoy playing like that."


Read more at http://talksport.com/cricket/england-world-t20-news-paul-farbrace-urges-player-be-aggressive-160401190432#Bp1wWLsYWeeUVjU4.99

OVER 13: WI 76/3 (Samuels 48* Bravo 17*)
Oooh, big moment. Sam Billings, who is on as a sub fielder for Hales (?), has dropped one down at deep backward square. Stokes digs in a slower ball bouncer. Billings runs round to get it  and over-runs, his foot slips a bit, he has shelled it. Oh that could be a massive drop. Barvo reprieved. And a four to boot.
Excellent over from Rashid. Very full, and that big ripping leg-break in the previous over is playing on the mind of Samuels I think... He's not confident enough to play a big shot. And he's got his hands full with the googly in this over, that turns back into him a touch. Keeps it out. This is fine stuff from Adil, keeps them to singles, four off the over and England have their noses in front at the 3/4 point of the match.

Top Sports:Left for dead, Big East still alive and thriving thanks to Villanova's surprising run

HOUSTON – Over the last decade or so, the football-driven machinations of conference

realignment attempted to make impossible the following bit of reality: Villanova, of the Big East, is playing for the national title on Monday.

If College Sports Inc. couldn’t rewrite the rules of basketball so you received a couple extra baskets if you had an 80,000-seat stadium on campus, it could try to squeeze everyone out with money and TV contracts and bloated conference memberships. It could try to leave the Big East, where basketball matters most, as some relic of the past, a quaint but ultimately quiet old place.

Villanova 95, Oklahoma 51 – and, yes, you could hear that Big East roar here.

Try as it might, football couldn’t kill the basketball star.

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.Josh Hart scored 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead Villanova over Oklahoma. (Getty)
Josh Hart scored 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead Villanova over Oklahoma. (Getty)
“Well, the game was played in a football stadium,” John Paquette, the Big East's longtime associate commissioner, said with a smile in reference to the NFL’s cavernous NRG Stadium. You can’t fault the conference for enjoying every moment of this.

It was rocked by realignment that saw even bedrock programs leave for football reasons – even as most found more money but less actual competitive success. So in 2013, the Big East reinvented itself.

An awkward marriage with football was out. Back in was something akin to its roots, 10 teams, all private schools, mostly Catholic and big-city-based. Mostly it was filled with schools that unapologetically embraced hoops as their preferred sport.

You wouldn’t think loving basketball could possibly be seen as a negative in the sport of basketball, but college athletics employs plenty of inexplicable conventional wisdoms. This one said that private schools, especially without football money flooding in, were going to struggle.

The Big East has been a dominant conference in this sport since its inception in 1979 – league teams captured seven national titles. With Syracuse and Connecticut and Louisville and others gone though, it needed to reprove that this could still happen.

“A lot of pride,” Jay Wright, who has coached Villanova since 2001, said of reaching the title game. “We reinvented ourselves. That's what we did in a time when college athletics is really being run by football."

“I'm a huge college football fan,” Wright continued. “I love it. But there are a lot of great basketball schools. We all got together. That's just what we are. We're basketball schools. We make all our decisions athletically about basketball. That's our lead sport. We just wanted to get together and see where we fit in this world of football."


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.Villanova head coach Jay Wright reacts to a call during his team's blowout win over Oklahoma. (AP)
Villanova head coach Jay Wright reacts to a call during his team's blowout win over Oklahoma. (AP)
“We don't have a goal to be the greatest league in the world," Wright said. "We're authentic. We're all basketball schools. We're in metropolitan areas. It's the biggest sport.”
What Villanova showed Saturday in trouncing Oklahoma is what league schools have been showing all season. Whether it's tradition, or the fact hoops matters most, or facilities, or coaching, or proximity to talent, or major markets, or the league tournament still being played in Madison Square Garden, great players still want to play here.

Butler, Providence, Seton Hall and Xavier also made the tournament. The league feels like it has regained its footing and is on the upswing.

 “It's sort of a dream come true because when we went down this path a couple years ago, this was the ultimate goal,” commissioner Val Ackerman said. “Not just to compete for a national championship but to win one with this group of schools. It was to prove that the Big East could be good with this group of schools ... it’s surreal in many ways.”

It’s surreal because of how this is being done, via blunt force. Nova is deep and dominating and dangerous. Offensively, the Wildcats shot 71.4 percent on Saturday and had seven players reach double figures, unheard of numbers in college hoops. Defensively, they shut down Sooner star Buddy Hield, holding him to just nine points. About midway through the second half, if not earlier, a thoroughly humiliated OU effectively quit on the game.

The 44-point margin of victory was the biggest in Final Four history, yet sort of par for the tournament for the Wildcats. There was a thrilling five-point victory over the tournament's top seed, Kansas, in the Elite Eight. The other four victories thus far, however, are by an average of 29 points a game.

This is no underdog. This is one of those old Big East bullies, coming into Monday night brimming with well-earned confidence.

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.The Wildcats' bench reacts to a shot in the second half of their rout of Oklahoma. (AP)
The Wildcats' bench reacts to a shot in the second half of their rout of Oklahoma. (AP)
That the old days are still here again is not taken lightly. Everyone at a basketball school across the country knows how precarious things felt back in the churn of realignment, how schools were jumping for life rafts believing football is all that mattered.

It turns out the Titanic is still cruising along rather well.

“This event is bigger than the four-team football championship to our schools,” Wright said. “You can see by our fans out there. It's just what we are. We're just trying to be the best we can be.

“We know we have to prove ourselves because we're new. Not because we're not good, because we're reinvented. I'm really happy for our league, happy that our league is in the finals, as happy as I am for Villanova.”

Left if not for dead, but for mid-major mediocrity, the Big East is alive and fine and proudly playing on Monday ... in a football stadium in Texas. Kickoff is 9:19 p.m. ET.

India vs West Indies Live Score, T20 World Cup 2016

OUT! R Ashwin gets a wicket in his first over but wait, its a no-ball, a front-foot no-ball. Free hit! Dot ball. Bowls it full, bowls it wide to the off. WI 51/2 in 7 overs.

11 runs came from Ravindra Jadeja's first over. West Indies need a partnership here and they also need to score at a good pace also.
ALSO SEE Live Scorecard

Three dot balls followed by a single and a boundary. Good over from Nehra. West Indies 33/2 in 5 overs.

West Indies need 165 runs in 16 overs to win the match.
ALSO SEE INDvsWI: Key battles

After Virat Kohli's 47-ball 89 powered India to a big total in Mumbai, West Indies lost Chris Gayle (5) and Marlon Samuels cheaply to India seamers.

Johnson Charles hits consecutive fours off Jasprit Bumrah. WI 28/2 in 4 overs.
ALSO SEE India - road to semi-finals

Four runs. Charles plays Nehra straight down the ground. OUT! Here goes another one. Ashisn Nehra dismisses Marlon Samuels for 8. WI 19/1 in 3 overs.

OUT! Jasprit Bumrah gets rid of Chris Gayle on his first delivery. Chris Gayle bowled for 5. West Indies 6/1 in 1.1 overs.
ALSO SEE West Indies - road to semi-finals

Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles are opening the batting for West Indies. Ashish Nehra starts with four dot ball in a row. Four runs. Gayle pulls it to deep midwicket. ENd of over 1: WI 6/0

Rohit Sharma (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (40) gave India a flying start and then Virat Kohli played another brilliant innings to take the hosts to a big total in the 1st semi-final in Mumbai.

Bravo bowling 20th over. Single followed by a double. What a running. A tripple on a misfield. FOur runs. Kolhi again. What a shot. Single off the last ball. India 192/2 in 20 overs.

Andre Russell comes in to bowl. Single followed by a double. SIX! Kohli plays it over long on. Two fours in a row. What a player! India 180/2 in 19 overs.

Dwayne Bravo comes in to bowl the next over. Three singles from first three balls of the over. Four runs. Braithwaite misses a tough catch at the boundary and its a boundary. Four runs. Inside-out to deep extra cover from Kohli. India 161/2 in 18 overs.

Fifty up for Kohli. What an outstanding form is he is right now. Another brilliant over for India. 17 runs came from the over. India 150/2 in 17 overs.

OUT! Ajinkya Rahane falls to Andre Russel for 40. India 128/2 in 15.3 overs.

Another good over for India. 11 came from Benn's over. INDIA 120/1 in 14 overs.

Rohit Sharma (43) gave India a flying start before Samuel Badree broke the 62-run opening stand but Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane kept the momentum in India's favour.

Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kolhi have not put India in a strong position. They are scoring runs at a quick pace without taking much risk. Four runs. Kolhi plays Bravo to the leg side. 11 runs came from the over. India 109/1 in 13 overs.

Brathwaite comes in to bowl his second over. Single followed by a double. End of over 11: India 91/1 in 11 overs.

Samuel Badree comes in to bowl his last over. Wide balls followed by a double. Four runs. Short balls and Kohli hammers it to deep midwicket. 10 runs came from the over. India 86/1 in 10 overs.

No-ball and its a free hit! WOW! West Indies have missed a run out. Another run out missed and Kohli's outside edge goes to third man for four runs. India 76/1 in 9 overs.

End of over 8: India 66/1 vs West Indies.

Rohit Sharma (43) and Ajinkya Rahane gave India a quick start in the 1st semi-final in Mumbai before Samuel Badree broke the 62-run opening stand in the eighth over.

OUT! Rohit Sharma falls to Samuel Badree for 43. India 62/1 in 7.2 overs.

India innings:

SIX! Rohit hits a big one off Andre Russell for a big one. And its a no-ball. Free-hit! SIX! 92 metres. Straight down the ground. Four runs. This time to deep midwicket. End of over 6: India 55/0

Rahane hits back-to-back boundaries off Samuel Badree. Nine runs came from the over. IND 35/0 in 5 overs.

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane gave India a positive start after West Indies won the toss and opted to field in the first semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Sulieman Benn comes in to bowl the fourth over. Two runs off the first ball followed by two dots. Four runs. What a shot from Rohit! Perfect timing. Four more. This time to backward square leg. End of over 4: India 26/0.

Carlos Brathwaite comes in as the first bowling change and Rohit welcomes him with a boundary over long on boundary. Dot ball followed by two singles. Nine runs from the over. India 15/0 in 3 overs.

Samuel Badree comes in to bowl the next over. Two singles followed by two dot balls. Another good over for West Indies. Four runs came from it. India 6/0 in 2 overs.

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane are opening the batting for India. Andre Russell starts the first over. Three dot balls followed by a misfield that goes for a single. Good start from West Indies. India 2/0 after 1 over.

Playing XIs

West Indies: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin(wk), Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn

India: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(wk/c), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.

Manish Pandey comes in to replace injured Yuvraj Singh while Ajinkya Rahane gets a chance in the playing XI of India. For WI, Lendl Simmons has come in for Andre Fletcher.

Last-gasp Ramsay dashes N.Korean World Cup hopes

Manila (AFP) - Iain Ramsay's last-minute winner put paid to North Korea's World Cup hopes on Tuesday as the substitute clinched a shattering 3-2 upset victory for the Philippines in Manila.

Ramsay rounded off a flowing team move in the 90th minute as the hosts completed a comeback from a goal down and ended North Korea's qualifying campaign.

The visitors had been expected to easily beat the Philippines as they seek to return to the World Cup, after appearances in 1966 and 44 years later at South Africa in 2010.

But they let a place in the next round, as well as a berth at the 2019 Asian Cup, slip through their fingers as they failed to go through as one of the four best-performing group runners-up.

"If we had at least gotten a draw today we would still have been hopeful to qualify for the next stage. But we did not and I think there's hardly a hope of going to the final stage," North Korean coach Kim Chang Bok told reporters immediately after the game.

"The problem was, in the first half we lost two absolute chances of scoring and I think that became the turning point," he added.
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Iain Ramsay (C) of the Philippines celebrates a goal …
Iain Ramsay (C) of the Philippines celebrates a goal against North Korea during their 2018 World Cup …

Misagh Bahadoran put the Philippines in front in the 43rd minute, heading into an empty net after North Korean keeper and captain Ri Myong-Guk parried Javier Patino's stinging shot with his right foot.

The Koreans had been the better team until then, hitting a post and having another shot cleared off the line.

And the visitors were level in first-half injury time as So Kyong-Jin smashed home after the Philippine defence could only half-clear the midfielder's initial shot.

Within seconds of the restart North Korea were ahead after a free kick caused panic in the Philippine goalmouth, presenting midfielder Ri Hyok-Chol with a simple tap-in.

But the Philippines rallied and midfielder Manuel Ott levelled in the 84th minute.

And as the seconds ticked down, a sweet move highlighted by a back-heeled assist from forward Miguel Tanton put Ramsay through for the raucously celebrated winner.

Report: Lakers angry at D'Angelo Russell for taping convo with Nick Young

Teenagers have always done dumb things. And now that just about all of them are outfitted with cell phones featuring cameras, we’re reminded of as much just about daily.

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

And, because teenagers are capable of being good NBA players, they will (rightfully) earn employment in this league. As a result, the league and its older players will have to sit through the same sort of growing pains that come from having to mind a kid that is about to turn 19 into 20. A report from ESPN early on Wednesday reminded us of that.

Allegedly, newly-turned-20 Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell reportedly filmed a conversation with teammate Nick Young, who is famously engaged to rapper Iggy Azalea, without Young’s knowledge. The clip somehow found its way online recently, and as a result Russell has become a bit of a pariah inside the Lakers' locker room.

From Marc Stein and Baxter Holmes:

    "It's bad," one team source told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne. "It's about as bad as it can get. There were trust issues already. Now there's no trust."

    In the video, Russell asks Young at one point, "You was 30 and she was 19?" referencing Young's age and the age of another woman that Young said that he met in a nightclub.

    "What about Amber Rose?" Russell later says, mentioning another celebrity.

    "No, she knows my girl," Young is recorded as saying.

    Later in the conversation, while apparently still recording, Russell is heard telling Young, "I'm glad you told my video all that."

    "Huh?" Young says, turning his face toward Russell before the video cuts off.

All of this comes toward the end of the Lakers’ literal and figurative Worst Season Ever, the most recent example of such coming in the team’s embarrassing 48-point blowout loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday. A breach of Bro Trust doesn’t excuse the squad’s insistence on playing “wow, really … and you get paid for this?”-defense in Salt Lake City (Young sat out the game due to a stomach ailment), but our reaction to that malaise was truly telling.

It’s true that the one-sided scoreboard in Utah on Monday could have been expected – the Lakers are the worst team in the West, while the Jazz are a current playoff team just starting to turn into gear.

Outside of the lopsided score, though, nothing seemed all that shocking: Los Angeles does not care about defense, and in handing the reins over to a skinflint front office, coach Byron Scott, while making Kobe Bryant the NBA’s highest-paid player (to say nothing of employing Nick Young’s shot selection), little seemed awry. The saddest part is that the record-setting loss seemed so normal.

ICC Women’s World T20: England women’s sqaud spurred on by history, propped up by form

ENGLAND CAPTAIN Charlotte Edwards played a match-winning knock of 77 against Pakistan in their final league encounter in Chennai to steer her side through to the semifinals of the World T20. In doing so, she became the first player to go past 2,500 runs in the shortest format. That’s a mind boggling stat, considering women don’t play as frequently as their male counterparts. However, Edwards is a bit of a doyen in England women’s cricket. Since her international debut in July 1996, the 36-year-old has gone on to feature in 23 Tests, 191 ODIs and 94 T20s. In the interim, she would play key roles in her side winning two premier ICC events — the 50-over World Cup and the World T20 triumphs — both of which came seven years ago. (STATS || POINTS TABLE || FIXTURES)

For a player with such wealth of experience, Edwards found herself at the receiving end of the selectors’ wrath after England’s embarrassing loss to Australia in last summer’s Ashes. Questions were raised about her commitment to the team, and to women’s cricket in England. Sections in the British press questioned her viability in the team and sought her immediate sacking.

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Edwards survived the bad press, and she stayed on as England captain. However, all the negativity surrounding the Ashes debacle only strengthened her resolve to prove her detractors wrong, and help her in the team’s rebuilding process. Much has changed since last summer’s Ashes defeat. For starters, the appointment of Mark Robinson as the coach late last year proved to be the change Edwards and the team were looking for. Robinson injected positivity into the side and urged his team to play more aggressively.

Change in approach

“Robinson has always urged us to bat more aggressively and show a bit more intent, especially in the Powerplay. He wants us to bring out those T20 shots from our locker.” Edwards noted. There was ample proof of that aggression in this edition of World T20. In the game against Pakistan, England scored 55/0 in their 6 overs. This was incidentally the highest score in Powerplay in World T20 this year. England won four league games on the trot to seal their spot in the semis. And leading the team’s charge was their captain Edwards.

Opening the batting, she has scored 171 runs in four games to become the joint-leading scorer. She was ably supported by her opening partner Beaumont. Together, they have invariably given England good starts — one of the reasons why they have progressed so deep into the tournament.

Suddenly that Ashes debacle last summer appears to be a thing of the past. But Edwards is more measured. “The great thing about that loss last summer is that it has only increased our drive to improve and do well. The important thing is that as a side we are more relaxed and are not putting too much pressure on ourselves.”

In the semifinals, they are up against arch rivals Australia. Edwards and her team will be seeing this as the perfect platform to avenge their Ashes loss. However, she chose to quell such talk, and insisted Australia were the favourites. “We have been in the finals the last two editions. Let us hope its third time lucky for us. The good thing is that we have not put too much pressure on ourselves. It is a great rivalry, both teams know a lot about each other so there will be no secrets out tomorrow,” the captain said.

Both sides have a history at the World T20s. England won the opening edition in 2009, while Australia won the three subsequent editions. Interestingly, Australia had defeated England in the finals of the 2012 and 2014 editions. In many ways, this match is being billed as the repeat of the thrilling semifinal played between these teams during the 2009 edition at The Oval.

Fresh from their emphatic win in the 50-over format three months ago, England were the favourites at home. Batting first, Australia scored 163 in their 20 overs, just one run short of equalling their highest score. England then lost two early wickets, but Claire Taylor and Ben Morgan saw them through with their remarkable 122-run stand for the second wicket. It was a record chase in women’s cricket, and that match heightened the drama each time the two teams met in subsequent ICC events. “It’s a similar feel to 2009. We didn’t play that well in the group stage. We went into that game as not the favourites. Hopefully, we will have a similar result as well,” Edwards added with a smile.

Australia too had a smooth run in the tournament, and have lost just the game to New Zealand. Despite playing on the spin friendly tracks here, the Aussies have preferred to use their fast bowlers Megan Schutt and Lauren Cheatle. Going forward, captain Meg Lanning will be hoping her fast bowlers make early inroads and test the English middleorder.

“Their openers have been prolific. But, if our fast bowlers can get them out early, their middleorder will be tested,” Lanning said. Going by their current form and history, these are the two best teams in women’s cricket. The English batters will be up against the might of the Aussie bowlers. This will surely be a humdinger at the Feroz Shah Kotla.