G'day sports fans,

Classic quote: "Lennox Lewis, I'm coming for you man. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!" - Mike Tyson (who is rumoured to be back in training, at the age of 53).

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🏏 Australian guns have contracts cancelled in the Hundred

🏌🏻‍♂️ Golf charity event goes ahead

🏀 Jordan would bet on 'anything'

🏏 Cricket

‘Nothing to do with me’: Clarke fires up over Katich accusation in heated radio exchange

The fact that Katich himself claims that selectors weren't the only one behind closing the doors has given more credence to the speculations.

Now, Clarke has again rejected the claims saying it was a call purely taken by Cricket Australia.

“The three they had to choose (for central contracts) from was Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich,” Clarke said on an Australian radio show Big Sports Breakfast. “They were going to give contracts to two of those three players and they went with Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey ahead of Simon Katich. So his contract selection had absolutely nothing to do with me.”

Michael Clarke has maintained his dressing room scuffle had nothing to do with former teammate Simon Katich finding himself out of an Australia contract soon after the former succeeded Ricky Ponting as the team captain.

Katich grabbed Clarke’s throat during a dressing room disagreement over when the team song should be played in 2009. (Cricketcountry)

Aussie guns lose $1.5m payday as England deals are torn up

Australian players drafted for The Hundred competition have had their contracts terminated along with the rest due to the cancellation of this year’s inaugural tournament.

It was announced last week the tournament had been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, David Warner, D’Arcy Short along with Glenn Maxwell were all snapped up on PS125,000 (AUD $236k) contracts for the new 100-ball cricket tournament to be played in England and Wales. Chris Lynn ($189,000), Nathan Coulter-Nile ($142,000), Dan Christian ($113,000) and Adam Zampa ($75,000) were picked in later rounds.

“We can confirm that a letter terminating current player contracts has been issued today to all involved,” an ECB statement said.

The new 100-ball competition, featuring eight city-based franchises rather than the traditional 18 counties, was due to begin on July 17.

🏌🏻‍♂️ Golf

Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson will play in Covid-19 charity skins game

Rory McIlroy will lead golf's return after a two-month hiatus in a televised charity match in Florida next week.

The world number one will play with Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Woolfe in a $4m skins game on 17 May in aid of Covid-19 charities.

With the backing of the PGA Tour this will be seen as a first tentative step since the coronavirus lockdown.

There has been no professional golf since the Players Championship was abandoned after one round on 12 March.

"It's been difficult to witness what so many are enduring over the last several weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said McIlroy, who is celebrating his 31st birthday on Monday and returned to the practice range last week.

"I hope we can provide some respite and entertainment for those tuning in across the globe. Dustin and I will have a lot of fun together and our games will fit well as we push to raise funds and awareness." (BBC)

🇦🇺 AFL

AFL fixture reportedly revamped as PM provides updates on sport state of play

The current 2020 AFL fixture will be torn up and a new schedule will be announced later this month, according to one report.

AFL Media is reporting the league expects most matches to be played in the “traditional” slots of Thursday through to Sunday, with only a select number of games to be played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The AFL will hold off on locking in its new fixture until all state governments are more closely aligned in plans on lifting restrictions forced by the coronavirus crisis.

Should the games resume in the traditional format, the push to increase team sizes from 22 to 24 for the remainder of the season could be nullified.

🏉 NRL

Players officially agree to 20 percent pay cut for 2020 season in new NRL pay deal

NRL players will resume group training on today after officially agreeing to a 20 per cent pay cut for the rest of the season.

Teams are limited to training in groups of 10 this week, but are expected to be given the green light to resume full squad training next week.

ARL Commission chair Peter V'landys remained bullish, declaring the competition on track to start in three weeks.

"It is full steam ahead for the resumption of the competition on May 28. All eyes will be on the NRL as the only live sport on television," V'landys said on Tuesday.

"There will never have been more interest in rugby league than on May 28." (nine)

What happened after Andrew Johns' infamous nap at Toowoomba Airport

Andrew Johns has still never seen one of the greatest grand finals of all time, thanks to an infamous airport incident that saw him punted from Nine's coverage.

🏀 Basketball

Michael Jordan’s shoe deal almost landed with an entirely different brand

At the end of the last financial year the famed Jordan Brand, under the Nike umbrella, was worth $3.14 billion, up 10 per cent from the year prior, according to Forbes.

But the biggest shoe deal on the planet almost never eventuated with Jordan not even wanting to meet with Nike ahead of his NBA career getting underway.

Back in 1984 Converse was the shoe of choice for NBA stars, the brand boasting Celtics icon Larry Bird and LA Lakers pin-up Magic Johnson among a host of others on their books.

“Converse had big players and told me, ‘We cannot envision you being put ahead of them’,” Jordan says on The Last Dance.

After the meeting with Converse fell through, it was on to Adidas, who Jordan ideally wanted to be associated with.

“Adidas was really dysfunctional by that time. They had just told me, ‘We’d love to have Jordan, we just can’t make a shoe work at this point in time’,” Falk (Jordan's Agent) says.

“I wanted Michael to go with Nike because they were the upstart.” (Continue story)

⚽️ Football

Premier League: Under 45-minute halves an option, says PFA chief

The Premier League is hopeful of a potential 8 June resumption. No set date has been given for the EFL, but Football League Chairman Rick Parry said the current season must be concluded by July 31.

Taylor was talking about how to combat player fatigue, with so many games expected to be played in a short period.

He told the BBC: "We don't know the future but we do know what propositions have been put, what ideas have been put - the possibility of having more substitutes, games possibly not being the full 45 minutes each way, talks of neutral stadiums.

"Ideally, you want to keep the integrity of the competition, and of course, that was about playing home and away and having the same squad of players as before it was suspended. (BBC)

🏉 Rugby

Foster names new All Blacks Captain

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has revealed that Chiefs loose forward Sam Cane will take over as the long-term replacement for Kieran Read as New Zealand captain.

“Sam is an experienced All Black with eight years in the team now and is a ‘follow me’ type of leader and a very good thinker in the game,” Foster said of his new captain.

“He has a natural ability to connect with everyone in the team and is straightforward and direct when he needs to be.

Former England captain Sir Bill Beaumont re-elected as World Rugby chairman

The 68-year-old defeated his former deputy, ex-Argentina skipper Agustin Pichot, by 28 votes to 23. Sir Bill Beaumont aims to make the sport "even better, simpler, safer and more accessible".

🏐 Bossa-ball

Bossaball is a ball game between two teams, combining elements of volleyball, football and gymnastics with music into a sport.

It is played on an inflatable court featuring a trampoline on each side of the net. (watch it on YouTube)

See you Friday!