some guidance to a freshman class loaded with talent an

Match factsOct 29-Nov 2, 2016, Harare Start time 9.30 am (0730 GMT)Big pictureThe last time Sri Lanka played Tests against Zimbabwe was in 2004, when Marvan Atapattu was in his first full series as captain. Kumar Sangakkara made 270 in that Bulawayo Test, his second double-hundred. Between then and now Sangakkara improved his high score twice and retired with only one less double-hundred than Don Bradmans twelve. No Sri Lankans from that tour are on this one.Elton Chigumbura and Tinashe Panyangara made their debuts during that series and remain Zimbabwes only active cricketers from that tour. Unlike several of those Sri Lankans, who had storied careers, Chigumbura played only 14 Tests and Panyangara nine. The Harare Test beginning this Saturday will only be Zimbabwes 25th since then, and neither player will feature in it.Between 2004 and 2016, cricket in Zimbabwe has suffered because of the boards financial trouble and a talent exodus as players and coaches sought better opportunities with other teams. Both issues fed off each other.There is a sense of optimism now, though. Heath Streak, one of Zimbabwes finest cricketers, is back - this time as coach - and has a plan that puts players first. With Tatenda Taibu, who is now a selector and development officer, Streak aims to create a structure that nurtures budding cricketers. And thats whom this match will be about for Zimbabwe.Their next Test series is a return tour to Sri Lanka in June 2017, but Streak has vowed to have plenty of cricket before then, which might mean these fixtures are not make or break for players like the uncapped youngsters Tarisai Musakanda and Carl Mumba, and the returning Malcolm Waller, who hasnt played a Test since 2014. That breathing space could facilitate a positive approach from Zimbabwe instead of being wary of embarrassment, a theme that had crept into their cricket according to Streak.Sri Lanka have a young side of their own. A combination of injuries and player management issues have deprived them of their captain Angelo Mathews, vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal, and fast bowlers Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera. However, the stand-in captain Rangana Herath was not worried, especially after the recent 3-0 whitewash of Australia.Herath, at the age of 38, was at the forefront of that victory with 28 wickets, and he was supported by fellow spinners Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan. However, Sri Lanka were able to play three spinners because Mathews provided a medium-pace option, which they will now be without. Their batting is also inexperienced, with only Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga, a late inclusion in the squad, having played more than five away Tests.Heraths story of leading Sri Lanka for the first time 17 years after making his debut adds to the significance of this fixture. It is also Zimbabwes 100th Test, and they will hope to end their winless record against Sri Lanka.Form guideZimbabwe LLLLL (completed matches, most recent first) Sri LankaWWWDLIn the spotlightBrian Chari and Peter Moor scored centuries in the games against Pakistan A earlier this month. Its likely they will feature in this game to strengthen the Zimbabwe batting. Malcom Waller will also be hoping to claim his spot after returning to the Test squad; he made four fifties across formats against Pakistan A recently.Sri Lanka have persisted with Dimuth Karunaratne, despite the general feeling back home that he doesnt belong at the highest level. Hes coming off a series against West Indies A in which he made 131, 39 not out, 68 and 3. As the most senior batsman in this side, he has a point to prove, especially with eight of his 12 most recent Test innings ending in single digits.Team newsZimbabwes strength is their batting. Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine will form the core, and Peter Moor is certain to play. Moor has occasional back issues, and Regis Chakabva keeping wicket could mean no place in the team for Sikandar Raza. Carl Mumba is likely to make debut, but Musakanda might have to wait.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Tino Mawoyo, 2 Brian Chari, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Peter Moor, 7 Regis Chakabva/Sikandar Raza, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Donald Tiripano, 10 Carl Mumba, 11 Chris MpofuUpul Tharanga and the uncapped Asela Gunaratne are likely to replace Mathews and Chandimal in Sri Lankas line-up. Teenage fast bowler Lahiru Kumara could also make a debut depending on Sri Lankas combination.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Upul Tharanga, 6 Niroshan Dickwella, 7 Dananjaya de Silva, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Lahiru GamagePitch and conditionsThe pitch looked like a typical Harare Sports Club surface, with a consistent layer of grass that should hold the surface together over five days without offering huge assistance to the seamers. October is the hottest month in Zimbabwe and no rain is forecast.Stats and triviaAll of Zimbabwes 11 Test wins have come against subcontinent teams, but have never beaten Sri Lanka in 15 encountersHerath needs 24 wickets to pass Chaminda Vaas 355 and become Sri Lankas second highest wicket-takerHamilton Masakadza needs 269 more to become the fifth Zimbabwean to score 2000 runs. He needs 259 to overtake Heath Streak, who has 1990 runs.QuotesWere still the underdogs, but with them having a few debutants and missing Angelo Mathews - who gives them a lot of balance and is a serious player - they will be weaker by their standards.Zimbabwe head coach Heath StreakWe learnt a little bit from playing Australia, when they came as the No 1 Test nation and we were well down the rankings list, yet we were able to outplay them. So I dont think you can look at an opposition in Test cricket and think it will be an easy ride. Zimbabwe have played quite a bit of good cricket recently so theyre sharp and have probably worked out their best combinations, so were expecting them to be a really good team.Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford Ryan Brasier Red Sox Jersey . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Roger Clemens Red Sox Jersey . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. https://www.cheapredsox.com/2841z-brock-holt-jersey-red-sox.html . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Chris Owings Jersey . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Rod Beck Red Sox Jersey . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. DURHAM, N.C. -- As she waited for her son to emerge from the Duke locker room, Sherry Allen should have been giddy. The Blue Devils had just beaten Florida State, their sixth win in seven games, and her son, Grayson, again had led his team in scoring with 18 points.Instead, Sherry stood silently, trying to identify the feeling gnawing at her insides. Finally, it hit her. She felt helpless. And the recognition that she couldnt stop what was about to happen to her son and, worse, couldnt prepare him for it practically paralyzed her.I realized that this was going to change him forever, Sherry said recently, recalling that February evening. I also knew he didnt know that. He wasnt going to know until it was too late, until he had the reality of it.What does it feel like to be caught in the social media storm known as going viral? To the Allens, it was like being swept up in a tidal wave. In a matter of 17 days, Grayson Allen went from a mild-mannered, Bible verse-tweeting potential All-American to the biggest villain in college basketball.He did this to himself, purposefully tripping two opponents. First it was Louisvilles Ray Spalding on Feb. 8, then Florida States Xavier Rathan-Mayes on Feb. 25. The first incident was surprising; the second incomprehensible, a pattern of dirty behavior that no longer could be written off as a Did he or didnt he do it intentionally? debate. No, he did it, with his right foot out, left heel up. It turned Grayson Allen into a trending topic on Twitter, an ignominious YouTube sensation and the topic of conversation around the country.I cant blame people for saying what they did, Grayson said. I probably would have said the exact same thing.Now, with a new college basketball season around the corner, the Allens are waiting with trepidation to learn the statute of limitations on 2016 basketball crimes. When does last years viral video disappear?It is time, Sherry said, to put it to rest.Of course, she knows better. Sherry knows neither she nor anyone in her family gets to call a moratorium on the Grayson Allen tripping conversation. Her son now knows that, too. He understands he cannot undo what has already been done. He also knows some opinions of him will never change.I know theres never completely a blank slate, Grayson said. Thats going to be replayed and not forgotten about. But for me, every opportunity I get to step on the court is an opportunity to play the game again and play the game the right way.And, if after all of that, people choose to like him or loathe him, Grayson Allen isnt terribly concerned. He just hopes they will come to know who he really is.Instead of who they think he is.SO IMAGINE you live your entire life doing the right thing. You make good grades and star on the basketball court to earn a scholarship to Duke. You parlay that into?spots on the All-American team and the Academic All-American team.Youve been on the planet for 20 years, or the equivalent of 630,000,000-plus seconds, and despite all that good, all of those achievements, the two worst nanoseconds of your life have come to define you.This is what haunts Grayson Allen and his family.He is ashamed of himself. Not in that fake, must-give mea cupla kind of way, in which he simply says, Im sorry. I made a mistake. I take responsibility. Of course hes sorry and knows what he did was wrong. Thats the easy part. Dealing with the embarrassment? Thats what causes him to twist his fingers into pretzels and choose each word carefully and deliberately as he sits with ESPN for on- and off-camera interviews earlier this month. Its the enormity of it all thats still causing him so much distress.His teammates tried to brush it off. Freshman Frank Jackson cracked a joke about Allens little tripping problem. Senior Amile Jefferson said it was all merely because people are going to talk, adding that, when youre one of the best players in the country, any story they can have on you, especially when its negative, theyre going to put it out there.But they werent him. They werent the one caught in the crosshairs. He was. Allen spent a lifetime building a reputation as a person of high character, only to see it all disintegrate with two kicks of his feet. It wasnt his teammates, either, who put Mike Krzyzewskis own scruples under the microscope, with people questioning how a man of such high moral standards refused to even suspend his star player. No, Allen had to deal with that.And his teammates didnt have to face their parents after that Florida State game. He did. He had to come face to face with the reality that he hadnt just embarrassed himself; he disappointed them.It was a lot, Grayson said, letting the simple words hang before continuing. That was an emotional moment, an emotional night for me after that game.Allen holed up in his room for days. His parents called repeatedly telling him theyd get through it, to let it go and move forward.But thats so hard to do when its on every sports channel, even in our local newspaper here (in Jacksonville, Florida), Sherry said.Following the first kicking inccident, an ESPN.ddddddddddddcom story?examined?if Allen would be the next hated white player from Duke. The story linked Allen to Christian Laettner and J.J. Redick, two villains who, unlike Allen, came before him and embraced the hate.I didnt exactly help my own cause, Allen said.The fervor trailed him through the rest of the season, chasing him like a recurring nightmare. Away games were awful, neutral-court NCAA crowds only marginally better. Social media was especially cruel.Most of the time when things like this happen, youre watching someone else on TV or seeing something on Twitter about someone else, he said. Theres always something going on with Twitter, and youre watching it like, Oh its this person. And then all of a sudden its you, and it feels completely different.He avoided all of his accounts as best he could, but hes a college student, drawn to the social flame like a helpless moth. He couldnt avoid the media scrutiny, foregoing the no comment route and instead answering the same questions over and over. He offered no excuses because he really didnt have one.Even now, months later, Allen doesnt have an explanation for his behavior. He likens it to a moment in middle school when an opposing mom hissed miss it during his free throws. After he made his free throws, he couldnt help himself -- he stuck his tongue out at her as he ran back down court.Except then he was 12.On a much larger scale, this was exactly the same thing, Allen said. Its definitely the same feeling, the Did I really just do that? Like, youve got to be kidding me. You are so much smarter than that.HIS HOPE NOW is that maybe, in some twisted way, this will help him.Hes a master at challenging himself. Always has been. His mother recalls a kindergarten-aged boy who would frantically write, erase and rewrite his numbers and letters until they perfectly matched up with the dots on the paper provided. Today, thanks to doubling down on courses, Allen will be within enough credits of earning his degree that he will be permitted to walk at graduation, a full year early.As a kid, a shoeless -- and occasionally sockless -- Allen would spend hours alone on his Florida driveway shooting baskets, perfecting his shot until the net barely moved when the ball slashed through it. Now he enters his third season just 68 points shy of 1,000 at Duke.While hes driven, Allen is not one to naturally court attention. Hes more a natural-born introvert who describes his off-court personality as timid. When the ebullient Duke freshman Harry Giles walked in for his interviews last month, everyone knew hed arrived in the room. Allen almost snuck in. Thats how he likes it. His teammates say he is one of the best at video games. Yet when given the chance to boast about his skills, the best Allen can come up with?is: Id like to take the top claim on that.Its only on the basketball court that he truly comes out of his shell. The same person who sneaks into a room happily unnoticed is impossible to ignore once he crosses the lines. He plays with a recklessness that borders on foolishness, a self-assuredness that could be misconstrued as cockiness.But that fire only burns internally, fueling him to play harder and work harder but not necessarily inspiring others to do the same. Krzyzewski, in fact, challenged Allen at the start of last season to stop being so selfish with his passion and use it instead to challenge his teammates. Allen became better, but leadership remained an uncomfortable, unnatural fit. Given his druthers, Allen would somehow be the best and let someone else be in charge.The harsh glare of the spotlight forced him out of his comfort zone.?Our boy is definitely growing up, William Allen said of his son.And now, given all that he has been through in his relatively short time at Duke, Grayson can lend some guidance to a freshman class loaded with talent and the burden of expectation.It wasnt a smooth ride to get here to my junior year, he said. I couldnt really tell those guys, teach them about adversity or anything like that if its something I didnt go through. I think now I can talk to them a lot more.THEY WANT to move on. Not just the Allens. Ray Spalding and Xavier Rathan-Meyes would like to as well. When asked to talk about their individual encounters, Allens victims both declined. Each said through athletics department officials that they harbored no ill will toward Allen. As far as they were concerned, the whole thing was in the past.What will it take for everyone else to feel the same? A season without incident??If Grayson Allen cant get that blank slate, what then can he do to at least get a second chance?His mother knows the answer, only this time its not making her feel helpless.Weve moved forward because we know what kind of player he is and what kind of person he is, she said. Now he just needs the chance to show everyone else.A little dose of the real Grayson Allen. Not just the viral one. ' ' '