Nichols and Diakite against the Spartans.I think we

England batsman Alex Hales hopes that a return to white-ball cricket will have a rejuvenating effect on his game, as it did following a tough Test debut in South Africa at the start of the year.Hales is one of a number of England players cleared to play in NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day, with his county, Nottinghamshire, contesting the first semi-final against Northamptonshire. Hales said it would be nice to free the arms again after four Tests against Pakistan in which he averaged 18.12 with one fifty.Those numbers are remarkably similar to his first experience of Test cricket, when he averaged 17.00 with a high score of 60 over four appearances against South Africa. He followed that up by scoring 383 runs in five ODI innings - his breakthrough 50-over series for England - and is keen to mount a similar comeback, initially in T20 for Notts and then in the Pakistan ODIs. Its going to be nice come back to what is a big day for the club and be able to free the arms, he told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Finals Day at Edgbaston. The last couple of training sessions have been nice to hit a white ball and put the disappointment of the Test series behind me.Its a big day for the club but its also nice, when you have a tough time, to step out of the international arena and come back to a county you love.Its a similar situation to South Africa, I had a really poor Test series and then bounced back pretty well in the 50-over stuff. So its a situation Im pretty familiar with, I know Ive been in it before and dealt with it well, so hopefully I can find some form in whats going to be an exciting ODI series.Hales made strides in his second Test engagement, with scores of 86, 83 and 94 in five innings against Sri Lanka, but was then given a working over by Pakistans seam attack. His place in the Test side for tours of Bangladesh and India will therefore be up for debate but could be bolstered by heavy one-day scoring.Stuart Broad has also been made available for Notts on Finals Day, while Yorkshire have Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance back from England duty and Durham include Ben Stokes and Mark Wood in their ranks, but Hales was refusing to take Northamptonshire - the only side to have previously won the tournament - lightly.All four teams are strong on paper… If you look down through Northants batting line-up, its incredibly dangerous, he said. I guess thats the beauty of Finals Day, whichever team turns up has a chance of winning it.Lining up against Nottinghamshire will be one of the most in-form limited-overs batsmen in the county game. Last month, Ben Duckett scored 448 runs at an average of 224.00 during England Lions tri-series with Pakistan A and Sri Lanka A and he also led the T20 scoring for Northamptonshire as the 2013 champions qualified for a third Finals Day in four years.Duckett has been tipped for a place in Englands white-ball teams and, although he missed out on selection for the Pakistan series, he has been encouraged to keep pushing for a place after speaking to the national selector, James Whitaker. He also said he believes he can fulfil his ambitions of playing for England while at Northamptonshire.The reason I got picked for the Lions was the form Ive had for Northants, he told ESPNcricinfo. People look at us as a small side but we do it every year… as a one-day side, were very strong. The way you get seen for England is playing on the big stage like this, moving to another club they might not get to Finals Days and weve had three in four years. So for me personally, in one-day cricket, Im at a great county.Ive spoken to selectors, before and during the Lions, just trying to score runs. The one-day side at the moment is unbelievable for England, and they have been for the last 12 months, which is why its going to be so difficult to get into that side. But I saw James Whitaker yesterday and he said, keep doing what youre doing, try and score runs and there might be a chance in the winter.If you get a match-winning score on a big stage like this, its going to be noticed and that can only be good. Custom Belgium Soccer Jerseys . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Dries Mertens Belgium Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. http://www.belgiumsoccerpro.com/Kevin-De-Bruyne-Belgium-Jersey/ . 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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- For the third time in five years, Virginia will open the season with a true road game, a rarity for top-10 teams over the recent years.The Cavaliers are fortified as one of the top programs in the country under head coach Tony Bennett and travel to UNC Greensboro Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.Virginia is coming off a 2015-16 campaign that ended one win shy of the Elite Eight and a 30-win season, which would have been their second in as many years. While the Cavaliers graduated four seniors from last years squad including ACC Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, they return plenty of talent, which earned them their No. 8 preseason ranking.Bennett, who is entering his eighth season at the helm in Charlottesville, will once again look to be one of the best defenses in the country while also improving on the offensive side of the ball. Virginia allowed just 63 points per game last season which ranked 16th in the country, but also put up an average of 76 points per game on offense.There are a lot of unknowns this season and that will be challenging, Bennett said. (London Perrantes) supporting cast isnt as proven as it has been and we are going to find out fairly soon how the other guys can step up.Perrantes, a senior point guard, is coming off of a junior campaign in which he averaged 11.0 points and 4.4 assists per game. The Cavaliers will be without two key pieces to open the season, as highly touted forward Austin Nichols, who transferred from Memphis, will miss Fridays game due to a violation of tteam rules.dddddddddddd Redshirt freshman Mamadi Diakite will also miss Friday nights game as he will have to sit out due to an ongoing investigation into his amateur status by the NCAA.Virginia will look for early contributions from freshmen guard Kyle Guy, who was Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana last year, and forwards Jay Huff and DeAndre Hunter who may need to fill the void missed from Nichols and Diakite against the Spartans.I think we have the best freshman class in the country, its as simple as that, Guy said. We have so much skill here. Everyone is phenomenal.The Spartans won 15 games last season and made an appearance in the CBI tournament where they advanced to the second round before losing to Ohio in the quarterfinals. UNC Greensboro was picked to finish fifth in the Southern Conferences preseason poll but will face their stiffest test of their 2016-17 season when they host the Cavaliers.The Spartans lose three of their top four scorers from last years team. Center R.J. White averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per game last season.UNC Greensboro will likely bring a defensive mindset to the game as well as they are coming off of a season where they gave up just 68 points per game -- easily ranking them in the top 40 in the country. White will need to continue to be a force on the glass against the Cavaliers where he may have the advantage against a diminished Virginia frontcourt. ' ' '