Vital ranking points that could be crucial in deciding who qualifies for the women's ODI World Cup in 2021 are up for grabs as Pakistan's tour of South Africa kicks off with the first of three one-day internationals at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Monday.

Hard-hitting opener Lizelle Lee is delighted with the consistent improvement of the team, and particularly the batting unit, and is cautiously optimistic of their chances against the visitors.

"There is no better teacher in cricket than game time against good opposition," Lee said. "We're really fortunate to be getting more and more time out on the field. It really helps teams grow and ups the competitiveness of women's cricket around the world.

"When we go into game one on Monday, we're going to go hard because we understand the importance of the World Cup and the points needed for World Cup qualification," added Lee. "The way we are batting and bowling now and even fielding gives me confidence that we can do well in this series. We're definitely going out to get those six points, we're not going to hold back.

"Right now, because we've played so much cricket we have a team that's more confident in themselves and their abilities because we've been in enough match situations that we don't panic when things don't go our way - it's the healthiest and most competitive that we've ever been as a national team."

Hosts South Africa are currently ranked fifth and visitors Pakistan sixth in the women's championship, with just a single point separating the two teams. The eight-team championship provides the path for direct qualification for the World Cup for four teams, alongside hosts New Zealand.

South Africa, on 13 points from 12 matches, would look to improve their points position in home conditions after their recent 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka, while Pakistan would be hoping to keep up the tempo after a 2-1 series win over the West Indies. They are also without captain Dane van Niekerk, who picked up a leg injury during Sri Lanka's tour earlier this year, with Sune Luus standing in as skipper.

Australia have assured themselves of a place in the World Cup as they are at the top of the table with 22 points from 12 matches while England, who have 18 points from 15 games, will get the chance to do so in a home series against the West Indies next month. India and New Zealand are second and third on the table with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

There are also personal milestones at stake in the series for both sides. Seamer Marizanne Kapp is South Africa's top-ranked bowler in sixth position, with an eye on a move into the top five. She is only 10 points behind India's Shikha Pandey with 678 points. Just behind Kapp with 663 points is Shabnim Ismail in seventh position. For Pakistan, former captain Sana Mir could challenge for the top position among bowlers as she goes into this series in third position, just 12 points adrift of the top-ranked Jhulan Goswami of India.

The hosts' squad also includes a couple of fresh faces looking to make a strong impression. Wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta, who is back in the national set-up for the first time in two years, said she is both nervous and excited about her re-call.

"I actually thought I got called to be told that I've missed out on the call-up, until he [Clinton du Preez, national convenor of selectors] told me that I've made it for the tour," Jafta siad. "I thought it was just for the ODIs because previously, I only ever played ODIs so when he said I was in for the whole tour, inside I was like 'finally all this hard work has brought me back here.' It's taken two years but I'm finally back. It was emotional.

"This time around, yes there are nerves, which is good. If I wasn't nervous I think I would be wasting my time, but at the same time, it's not overshadowing my confidence."

After a promising spell in the national academy, 23-year-old Nondumiso Shangase could be in line for an international debut against Pakistan. Shangase was the first black African woman to score a hundred for KwaZulu-Natal, a team she also captains, achieving the feat against Mpumalanga in a provincial match last year. Success at provincial level saw her included in the academy intake - alongside the likes of Robyn Searle, Tumi Sekhukhune and Lara Goodall - and she could now be tested in one of the allrounder slots against Pakistan.

"I was at Kingsmead practising (with the KZN women's provincial team) when Clinton (du Preez) called me and told me that I'm gonna be part of the squad in both formats," said Shangase. "I was so speechless. I froze, I didn't say anything to him, I kept quiet. I was so excited and emotional. I even cried."

"I didn't think it was gonna happen so fast. I was aiming for maybe after this year's national academy but I'm grateful," Shangase added. "By the end of this tour, I'm hoping to be a better player than before. To learn a lot about my batting and bowling because I'm an allrounder and I want to take in as much as I can so that I can get another call-up."

With the World Cup less than a month away, Kedar Jadhav has presented India with a worry, picking a shoulder injury while fielding during Chennai Super Kings' game against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL on Sunday. Jadhav is unlikely to play in Super Kings' remaining matches in the competition.

"Kedar Jadhav's getting an x-ray and a scan tomorrow," Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said after the match. "We're hopeful for him. I don't think we'll see him again in this tournament for us. So now his attention will turn to what it looks like for the World Cup.

"He's in some discomfort but we just need to be accurate with our assessments tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it's nothing too serious but it didn't look that good."

Jadhav was fielding on the leg-side boundary when he injured his left shoulder while diving to stop a ball. It was the 14th over, bowled by Dwayne Bravo, and Jadhav dived to his left while trying to stop an overthrow from Ravindra Jadeja. Jadhav stopped the ball, but immediately clutched his arm, and walked out to be attended to by Super Kings physio Tommy Simsek.

Jadhav did not take the field for the rest of the innings with M Vijay coming in as the substitute. To add to Super Kings' woes, Vijay spilled a straightforward catch at point from Nicholas Pooran the very next delivery.

The Indian team management and selectors will hope the injury is not too serious, considering that the squad will leave for the UK on May 22 with India playing their first group match on June 5 against South Africa. In case Jadhav's injury rules him out of the World Cup, the selectors will look at the back-up pool of Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.

Jadhav had picked up an injury during the IPL last year too. He had sustained a hamstring tear in the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians and was then ruled out of the remainder of the tournament. This time, the injury will make him miss the playoffs for Super Kings.

As such, Jadhav has had an unimpressive IPL, scoring only 162 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 96 and average of 18, with one half-century. And he hasn't bowled at all.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Sachin Tendulkar has rejected the BCCI's observation that the conflict of interest charges against him fall in the "tractable category', holding it "responsible for the situation" that has arisen because of his dual role as member of the board's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and an icon with Mumbai Indians.

In his 13-point response to BCCI ombudsman and ethics officer Justice (Retd) DK Jain, a copy of which is in PTI's possession, Tendulkar has requested for Vinod Rai, the chief of the BCCI's Committee of Administrators, and Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO, to be asked to "clarify their position" on the matter.

According to clause 38 (3) (a) of the BCCI's constitution: "Tractable conflicts are those that are resolvable or permissible or excusable through recusal of the individual concerned and - or - with full disclosure of the interest involved."

All three CAC members - Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman - have been served notices by Jain for alleged conflicts of interest, and all three have denied the charges in their initial affidavits.

ALSO READ: Allegations 'baseless' as CAC not permanent body - Laxman

What seems to have angered Tendulkar is Johri's letter (in consultation with CoA) to Jain where - as with Ganguly - the issue has been termed as a case of "tractable Conflict of Interest".

The key areas where Tendulkar has provided strong rebuttals are Points 10, 11 and 12.

"Without prejudice to the aforesaid, the Noticee submits that it is surprising that the BCCI, being the very authority responsible for the Noticee's empanelment to the Cricket Advisory Committee ("CAC"), is presently taking a position that the Noticee is exposed to an alleged conflict of interest," he said in his reply.

"It is reiterated that, the Noticee was declared as the Mumbai Indians 'ICON' post his retirement in 2013, which was much prior to his appointment to the CAC in 2015."

Like Laxman, Tendulkar stated that neither the CEO nor the CoA had ever clarified the terms of reference vis-à-vis his appointment in the CAC: "The Noticee (Tendulkar) has time and again sought clarification from the BCCI on the scope of his role in the CAC - but has not received a response from BCCI till date. BCCI is aware that the CAC merely performs an advisory / recommendatory role - and therefore, the Noticee's role as a Mumbai Indians Icon (which in fact has always been in the public domain) cannot, in any practical way, conflict with his involvement in the CAC."

In Point No. 12, Tendulkar writes: "The Noticee fails to understand how the BCCI (after having appointed him to the CAC) can now maintain its current stand that he is in a position of 'tractable' conflict of interest. The BCCI Response does not clarify this variance in its stance and the Noticee requests the Hon'ble Ethics Officer to call upon BCCI Officials, Mr. Rahul Johri and Mr. Vinod Rai to clarify this position."

Tendulkar also pointed out how he had recused himself from the recruitment process of the national Under-19 selection committee as his son Arjun was a contender in the team.

"It is critical to note that the Noticee had specifically written to the BCCI in respect of the potential conflict of interest that could have arisen in the aforesaid scenario," he wrote.

"The Noticee has served the Indian cricket team for more than 2 decades and accepted empanelment with the CAC to help and contribute towards the growth of Indian cricket. It is unfortunate that the Noticee has to clarify the questions raised in the Complaint and BCCI Response.

"The Noticee repeats that BCCI is responsible for the situation created in terms of the Noticee's honorary empanelment to the CAC even though he was a Mumbai Indians Icon at the relevant time. The BCCI shall be called upon to clarify the issue."

WEST LIBERTY, Iowa — For the second time in three days, Bobby Pierce showed his toughness as he dominated the Lucas Oil MLRA main event at the West Liberty Raceway.

Pierce’s win netted him a $5,000 pay day, and makes it his third on the season with the MLRA.

Heavy rains early in the week provided for a challenging track as a softer than normal racing surface left drivers searching for the smoothest line around the super-fast half-mile speedway in the twenty-five lap A-Main. For the second time this season Chad Simpson locked up the pole after a dominating heat race win after starting in the eighth position.

Pierce rolled off alongside of Simpson with both drivers making a deep run into turn one at the drop of the green flag. Side-by-side through the corner both drivers showed a sense of urgency to assume the lead and it was Pierce using the top side momentum to seize control down the back stretch. Simpson would stay within striking distance until the events first caution on lap six for a slowing Jeremy Grady.

As he would do all night, Pierce showed his strength on the restart to again distance himself from the field. A red flag would slow the pace two laps later as contact down the front stretch between Jordan Yaggy and Dave Wada would see Yaggy barrel rolling down the frontstretch multiple times.

The event would also see its fair share of drama among the leaders. Fourth-running Billy Moyer would exit the track during the red flag, while a hard charging Hudson O’Neal suffered a flat right rear tire after climbing into the runner-up spot on the 17th lap.

In the end, Pierce showed the way for the entire 25 laps and giving him back-to-back wins with the series. In the closing laps, series point leader Will Vaught was able to sneak past Chad Simpson for second, while Jason Rauen and Sunoco Rookie candidate Jake Neal completed the top five.

“I’ve got to give a big thanks to my crew, I guess all the nuts and bolts stayed tight on this thing. It was a little choppy out there, so just glad we hung onto it. Besides the track being a little rough it was a pretty fun place,” Pierce said. “There was actually a cushion on the inside of the track right next to the tires and if you hit it right you could sail through there pretty good. “It definitely had a lot of characteristic in this race track tonight that’s for sure, and you can’t complain about that.”

Chris Zogg won the modified feature.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1.Bobby Pierce 2.Will Vaught 3.Chad Simpson 4.Jason Rauen 5.Jake Neal 6.Rich Bell 7.Logan Martin 8.Hudson O’Neal 9.Chad Holladay 10.Mitch McGrath 11.Dave Eckrich 12.Joseph Gorby 13.Billy Moyer 14.Jordan Yaggy 15.Dave Wada 16.Chris Simpson 17.Nick Marlof 18.Ray Guss Jr. 19.Jeremy Grady 20.Jay Johnson 21.Tim Simpson 22.Skip Frey 23.Jonathan Brauns

LAS VEGAS — A dramatic and emotional night of racing capped off the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship with the crowning of three first-time champions in Las Vegas at the Monster Energy Supercross Finals.

The Sam Boyd Stadium sold-out crowd of 39,509 packed the seats to witness Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb bring home the title with a third-place finish, giving him the championship by 18 points over event winner Eli Tomac.

The Western Regional and Eastern Regional 250SX Classes faced off for the same set of championship points in the second 250SX East/West Showdown of the year. Going into the night’s event only eight points separated the top two Western Regional riders and just nine separated the Eastern Regional riders. Western Regional athlete Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis won the main event and also his first Monster Energy Supercross title. For the Eastern Region, a fourth-place finish was more than enough to give GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton his first Monster Energy Supercross title.

After winning his first 450SX class event during round three, then backing it up with six more victories, Cooper Webb needed only to qualify into the Main Event and finish 20th out of 22 riders to ensure his first ever Monster Energy Supercross Championship. Twenty-three points back, and the only rider still with a shot at the title, Eli Tomac, could only win and then hope for a disastrous finish for Webb.

Tomac did his part, holeshotting the race and steadily pulling out a lead that reached over eleven seconds by the end; he was untouchable and other than a few close calls on the hardpack track had no challenges to his lead. Cooper Webb was second off the start but was passed in the opening corners by his Red Bull KTM teammate Marvin Musquin.

Webb settled into third with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne on his rear fender for the first few laps. Webb pulled out some breathing room, but five minutes into the 20-minute plus one lap race, Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen blitzed past Osborne and set his sights on Webb.

At the midpoint of the race Roczen was within a half second of Webb, but Webb kept his composure, as he has all season, and found a little additional speed, as he has also done all season, and within a few laps he put three seconds on Roczen. The riders closed up again at the checkers but Webb held his podium position and earned his first 450SX Monster Energy title, in his third season of racing in the premiere class.

“It’s been an incredible journey, I mean, just the changes here,” Webb said. “I was a washed up tenth place guy last year and this KTM team believed in me and this group of guys took me in and transformed me and got me back to what I knew I could always be. And I really just can’t believe it; this year was not expected at all but, man, I just can’t thank those guys enough for giving me this opportunity to get back to this level and to do it this way. It’s unreal. It’s a dream come true since I was a little kid. Never thought I’d be a 450 champion, that’s for sure, but you just gotta dream at something, and this is what we did, and now we did it… It’s an incredible feeling.”

Tomac won the night, but not the title; he earned second overall in points.

“That’s all I could do tonight was control my destiny, getting out there, out front early,” Tomac said. “Just got out front with that holeshot and really rode a clean race that time, better than that heat race, more mistake-free. Great way to cap it off. Congrats to Cooper on the championship. It’s just, gosh, I gave it my all today so it’s a good way to end it.”

WHEATLAND, MO. — Winning his 11th-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League main event, Logan Seavey drove by his Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Jesse Colwell on lap 23 to snag the win at Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday night.

The 30-lap POWRi National/West Midgets main event was quickly lit up by some opening lap fireworks, as front row starters Tucker Klaasmeyer and Jesse Colwell made contact in turn three, resulting in a flat left-rear tire for Klaasmeyer. Colwell recovered and led the field back to green, while Klaasmeyer tagged the tail.

Colwell checked out in the early running as Tyler Thomas, Cannon McIntosh and Logan Seavey fought for the runner-up spot. A bobble from McIntosh sent Seavey into second just shy of halfway and lapped traffic allowed them to reel in Colwell for the lead as well.

With 10 laps left, Seavey had approached Colwell and was set to challenge for the lead, even throwing a lap 21 slider at the young gun, but to no avail as Colwell crossed him up and held on. However, a lap 23 caution bunched the field back up and put Seavey on Colwell’s bumper.

Making his move right away, Seavey powered off the bottom of turn two and drove underneath Colwell to steal the lead and command the 24th lap. McIntosh quickly followed Seavey and fired his own slider on Colwell to take second.

McIntosh put forth a valiant effort in tracking Seavey down, but he was unable to close in, as Logan Seavey of Sutter, California parked the Keith Kunz Motorsports, Mobil 1, Bullet/Toyota No. 67 in victory lane at Lucas Oil Speedway for his third win of 2019 and the 11th of his POWRi National Midget career.

The 16-year old Bixby, Oklahoma sensation, Cannon McIntosh, snagged a career-best finish of second aboard his Dave Mac Motorsports, Drive WFX, Toyota Racing No. 08.

Jesse Colwell, who led 23 laps in pursuit of his first-career triumph, came home with a solid podium finish of third. Rounding out the top five was the No. 5d Zach Daum in fourth and the No. 3n Jake Neuman.

The finish:

Feature (30 laps): 1. 67-Logan Seavey (5); 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh (7); 3. 71-Jesse Colwell (2); 4. 5D-Zach Daum (12); 5. 3N-Jake Neuman (17); 6. 21KS-Jason McDougal (6); 7. 67K-Holley Hollan (8); 8. 7M-Chance Morton (13); 9. 71K-Tanner Carrick (14); 10. 9-Daison Pursley (18); 11. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (1); 12. 28-Ace McCarthy (9); 13. 3B-Shelby Bosie (4); 14. 19S-Korey Weyant (22); 15. 91T-Tyler Thomas (3); 16. 5T-Presley Truedson (21); 17. 8M-Kade Morton (23); 18. 42-Hank Davis (15); 19. 44-Wesley Smith (10); 20. 20G-Noah Gass (19); 21. 32-Trey Marcham (11); 22. 7S-Pat Schudy (20); 23. 41-Brad Wyatt (16); 24. 44S-Andrew Felker (24).

VENTURA, Calif. — Reclaiming the lead from Jake Swanson on lap 27, Troy Rutherford won Saturday night’s AMSOIL USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series feature at Ventura Raceway.

Racing his No. 11 Trench Shoring / Grimes Rock Maxim with an iron block 360 cubic-inch engine, Rutherford started 11th and earned his second career AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car triumph.

Hard charger Austin Williams, Swanson, A.J. Bender and point leader Brody Roa followed Troy to the checkered flags.

Williams earned the Specialty Fasteners Hard Charger Award with a 22nd to second-place run.

Damion Gardner scored his 84th Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Award over the 23-car field by posting a time of 12.454 seconds.

The finish:

Feature (30 laps): 1. Troy Rutherford (11), 2. Austin Williams (22), 3. Jake Swanson (5), 4. A.J. Bender (8), 5. Brody Roa (10), 6. Austin Liggett (3), 7. Chris Gansen (19), 8. Damion Gardner (6), 9. Rick Hendrix (12), 10. Steve Hix (21), 11. Matt McCarthy (23), 12. Trent Williams (7), 13. Verne Sweeney (16), 14. Ryan Timmons (13), 15. Jeremy Ellertson (1), 16. Ricky Lewis (15), 17. Joel Rayborne (9), 18. Brent Owens (17), 19. Jeff Dyer (20), 20. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (14), 21. Austin Ervine (18), 22. Matt Mitchell (2), 23. Tommy Malcolm (4).

The San Jose Sharks won a tightly played game against the Colorado Avalanche. It looked like the Boston Bruins were going to win the same way, and then things got wild in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Here's what happened in the NHL last night (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to watch for tonight, in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily:

Jump ahead: Last night's games | Three stars
Play of the night | Today's games | Social post of the day

About last night ...

Game 5: Boston Bruins 4, Columbus Blue Jackets 3 (Bruins lead series 3-2)

Boy, did this game ever get interesting in a hurry in the third period. The Bruins had a 2-0 lead and appeared ready to roll to victory with Tuukka Rask stopping everything in sight. Then a Seth Jones shot appeared to sneak through Rask, and a laborious video review confirmed it was a goal at 10:33 of the third. David Pastrnak looked like he snuffed out any rally with a goal 43 seconds later on a 4-on-1 break, but Ryan Dzingel answered it 51 seconds later to make it 3-2. The Blue Jackets' Dean Kukan then scored his first career goal to tie the game at 3-3.

Was this going to be yet another miraculous rally in a postseason full of them? Nope. Pastrnak scored again at 18:32 -- after Artemi Panarin turned the puck over in the attacking zone and then couldn't get back defensively in time -- to give Boston a wild Game 5 win and leave John Tortorella vowing there will be a Game 7.

Game 5: San Jose Sharks 2, Colorado Avalanche 1 (Sharks lead series, 3-2)

Sharks coach Pete DeBoer put it this way after his team's win: The team that has "deserved" to earn a victory has won the game when that's happened. It's hard to argue with that, or with the notion that the Sharks were the better team in Game 5. Tomas Hertl provided the offense. Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- in a superlative effort -- and Martin Jones provided the defense. And, most importantly, the Nathan MacKinnon line was held off the score sheet.

Three Stars

1. Tomas Hertl, C, San Jose Sharks. Hertl hadn't scored a goal since Game 7 of the previous round, but he netted both the Sharks' goals in Game 5 with a presence around the Colorado net that was lacking in Game 4. "He was a horse tonight," DeBoer said. (But not, like, the kind that wins but then gets disqualified, we assume.)

2. Tuukka Rask, G, Boston Bruins. The score got a little wild in the third period, and he probably wants that Seth Jones goal back, but Rask was superb for most of Game 5 with 33 saves and came up big as the Blue Jackets pressed to tie the game again late in the third period. (Full marks to defenseman Charlie McAvoy in that effort, too, with a painful blocked shot late in the game.)

3. Philipp Grubauer, G, Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche can take solace in the fact that their goalie followed up his 32-save shutout with a stellar 37-save effort that included 28 saves in the first two periods. The Sharks were circling around his net all night, but Grubauer was solid. (And feisty, as he mixed it up with Joe Thornton at one point.)

Play of the Night

Seth Jones gets the @BlueJacketsNHL>https://t.co/TMToFGqgcC>pic.twitter.com/HKytZBU4m4 - #StanleyCup on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) May 5, 2019

It was one of the longest video reviews of the season, and a critical one: Did a shot from Seth Jones sneak through between Tuukka Rask and the goal post? Was that dark blob between the pad and the netting the puck, and was it clear of the goal line? The NHL situation room, in consultation with the officials, ruled "Seth Jones' original shot completely crossed the Boston goal line. Good goal Columbus." The Blue Jackets got new life, although not enough to overcome Boston in Game 5.

Dud of the Night

Don Cherry vs. the Hurricanes is the best rivalry of the playoffs �� pic.twitter.com/kC6UzbF7mx - Gino Hard (@Ginohard_) May 5, 2019

It's another round of "Don Cherry vs. the Carolina Hurricanes." This time, Cherry once again said that the team's "Storm Surge" regular-season celebrations don't belong in professional hockey and added that the Hurricanes fans that have helped the team go undefeated in Raleigh during the playoffs with their incredible passion and volume are "frontrunners." One would think Cherry would just move on after the Hurricanes turned his "Bunch of Jerks" taunt into a rallying cry that propelled them to the conference final, thus owning him. One would be wrong.

On the schedule

St. Louis Blues at Dallas Stars, Game 6, 3 p.m. ET (Stars lead series, 3-2)

Where are the Blues in this series? The eye test says the Stars owned Game 5. The stats test says there wasn't a period where St. Louis didn't have a shot attempt advantage. Where the Stars have been better: preventing the Blues from getting too many dangerous chances inside against Ben Bishop. "We just have to get inside more," forward Jaden Schwartz said. "Pucks were laying there. We just have to find a way to get inside, get body position, and get a little more traffic." They better, or their season is over.

Social post of the day

Hey, Maximum Security. Sometimes it be like that ��

Not sure if you're reading this though because you're a horse ��#KentuckyDerby2019 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 4, 2019

The Vegas Golden Knights' attempt to find kinship with a horse that had the officials take a victory away from him. The different of course being that Maximum Security didn't still have a chance to win the Kentucky Derby in overtime.

Quotable

"You know the answer. Don't ask stupid questions right now, guys. Ask me some questions that mean something, not that you have the answer to." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, when asked what kind of lift Columbus got from their first goal.

Chelsea captain Gary Cahill has launched a stinging attack on Maurizio Sarri, saying he struggles to show any respect for the manager who has sidelined him at Stamford Bridge.

Sarri has publicly said that Cahill is not technically good enough to play a possession-based style of football, leading to the defender not making a single competitive appearance since November and being in the matchday squad on only four occasions since then.

Cahill, 33, has now told the Daily Telegraph Sarri's treatment of him has left a sour taste, after the Italian did not discuss the situation directly with him.

"It's been really terrible for me personally," Cahill said of his final season at Chelsea, with his contract expiring in the summer. "It will just be erased out of my head when I leave Chelsea. My last memory will be last season's FA Cup final [1-0 win vs. Manchester United].

"It's been very difficult. I have played on a regular basis over the previous six seasons and I've won everything with Chelsea, so to be watching from the stands is something I didn't expect. I know how the whole club works, I've got a big relationship with all the players and staff, and yet none of that has been utilised.

"If you are not playing a player, any player, for two, three, four games, then you don't have to give a reason for that. But if it gets to eight or nine games, then you have to explain the situation. What's going on? But the manager hasn't done that.

"I see some of the situations with players who won the title with Chelsea, not just myself, and it just hasn't been right. It makes it very hard for me to have respect for someone who has not respected what some of us have won with the club."

On the subject of Sarri's claim that he is not good enough technically to play possession football, Cahill added: "I've adapted to the different tactics, formations and philosophies of all the managers I've played under and will continue to learn from my next coach. Every experience, good or bad, is a learning process."

Cahill chose to see out his Chelsea contract rather than take the option of a move away during the January transfer window, and he has refrained from talking publicly about Sarri's treatment of him until now.

"I'm quite proud with how I have dealt with it," he said. "I've not been disruptive and I've trained hard every single day.

"I've got a respect for all the other people at the club, the players and the staff and the people who helped to give me a chance, so it's been important to me to conduct myself in the right way. And when you see an Ethan Ampadu, or another young player coming through, he can see how you behave every day, so you have to set the right example."

Cahill will look for a new club in the summer, and insists he leaves the Bridge "with my head held high."