Lancashire bowled out Somerset for just 77 to tie a remarkable County Championship contest at Taunton.

The hosts were 37-6 chasing 78 to win, and were nine wickets down with the scores level when Dom Bess was stumped off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj.

Maharaj (7-37) then had last man Jack Leach, who earlier returned career-best bowling figures, caught at deep mid-wicket to complete a thrilling climax.

It was the first Championship match to end in a tie for 15 years.

The result also appeared to end Somerset’s lingering title hopes.

Leaders Surrey asked Essex to follow-on in their ongoing match at Chelmsford and they seem certain to extend an advantage over Somerset that now stands at 21 points, with both sides having three games left to play at the end of this round of fixtures.

Meanwhile, further questions are sure to be asked of the Taunton pitch after 22 wickets fell on day one and then Somerset collapsed so spectacularly on the second afternoon.

An incredible second day’s play had started with home spinner Leach taking 7-74 as Lancashire were bowled out for 170 in their second innings.

He appeared have put the hosts on the brink of victory by registering career-best match figures of 12-102, but nobody foresaw the drama that followed.

Veteran seamer Onions (3-28) dismissed Marcus Trescothick and Azhar Ali with successive balls, taking him past the milestone of 50 Championship wickets this season, and three wickets before tea for South Africa spinner Maharaj made Lancashire slight favourites.

England Test all-rounder Bess appeared to be guiding Somerset home but, with one run required for victory, failed to connect when coming down the pitch to Maharaj and was stumped by Dane Vilas.

Onions bowled a maiden over to Jamie Overton to prolong a gripping finale, before Leach picked out Tom Bailey on the boundary, giving Maharaj match figures of 11-102.

Pitch ‘verging on poor’ – Allott at start of day two

At the end of day one, Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said he did not envisage any punishment relating to the condition of the pitch at Taunton, blaming instead “some very poor batting from both sides” for the number of wickets that fell.

However, speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire before play began on day two, Lancashire cricket director Paul Allott described the surface as “below average, verging on poor”.

He said: “There was some indifferent batting and I thought Somerset edged us on performance.

“It looks like a fifth-day Test match pitch. It’s worn, it’s pitted and some areas in it are hugely conducive for spin bowling.

“I’ve got no issue with what Jason says. It’s not my prerogative to agree or disagree with him. All I can say is, in my view, that pitch is not the best that could have been prepared.

“It’s disappointing to come all the way to Taunton and be confronted with those conditions in such an important game.”

An Emirates airline Airbus A380 superjumbo jet was briefly quarantined at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after numerous passengers fell ill on a flight arriving from Dubai early Wednesday.

Initial reports from NBC New York said up to 100 passengers fell ill, but a subsequent statement from Emirates put that number at just “about” 10. The discrepancy was not immediately clear.    

Emirates Flight 203 landed in New York around 9:15 a.m. ET before it was sent to a staging area to be inspected by Port Authority and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials. It appeared as though passengers had been sent on their ways by 10:45 a.m. ET. 

In its statement, Emirates said: 

“Emirates can confirm that about 10 passengers on #EK203 from Dubai to New York were taken ill. On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities. All others will disembark shortly. The safety & care of our customers is our first priority.”

It was not immediately clear what caused the passengers to become ill. 

One apparent passenger on the flight took to Twitter with a description from the plane.

“All we have been told is that some passengers have fallen ill and we should remain in our seats,” said a Twitter user going by the name of Larry Coben.

Coben posted an image of a “row of ambulances” that met the plane at JFK. He followed with another tweet showing flight crew deplaning and walking across the tarmac toward the lineup of emergency vehicles.

Coben then added that passengers still on the plane were being asked to fill out a form from the CDC that was titled “Passenger Locator Information Page.” 

But by 10:45 a.m. ET, Coben added via Twitter that he was making his way toward passport control. At 11:03 a.m., he added: “Happy to report that I am through customs and on my way home. Others as well.”

 

The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest commercial passenger aircraft.

Emirates is by far the top operator of the model, with more than 100 in its fleet. The seating capacity on the planes vary, but Emirates has three configurations that seat 489, 517 or 615 passengers. The models Emirates flies to New York typically seat either 489 or 517.

 

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“Athletes are often defined by what we do on the pitch, but there’s so much more to us.”

Dani Alves was one of the best defenders in the world and his achievements are well documented. A three-time Champions League winner, who has won league titles in three countries with Barcelona, Juventus and current club Paris St-Germain, plus 107 caps for Brazil.

In his 17 years as a professional footballer, Alves says he never really felt he could tell his life story, the one beyond the public image, until he took matters into his own hands.

He is one of more than 2,000 athletes to contribute to the The Players’ Tribune (TPT) website.

You may have seen Romelu Lukaku and Raheem Sterling do the same during the World Cup. They addressed controversies in their life, hit back at critics and gave raw, honest accounts of their upbringings.

The articles helped change some of the public’s perception and attitude towards them.

It’s a new form of journalism that is becoming more and more prevalent, from social media posts and retirement announcements to Manchester City’s ‘All or Nothing’ documentary. Players are “taking control” of the narrative.

How do they come about?

“It is as if you have dropped in on a conversation”, says TPT’s New York-based executive editor Sean Conboy. “How they would talk with their friends or family.”

Written in the first person and in their own words, including their mannerisms and colloquialisms – each article is sealed with the player’s signature.

Athletes are treated like writers and are involved in the whole editorial process, right up until publication and Conboy dismisses the notion that the articles are ghost written. They are a collaboration and athletes need to be contactable at all times as they take a “considerable amount of time”.

Alves has written two articles. His first, called The Secret, told his life story and he contacted TPT about it. The second, From My Soul, covered the knee injury that ended his World Cup hopes in Russia and allowed him to “get a message” to his Brazilian fans.

“I was very involved, from the very beginning, till the moment we published,” Alves told BBC Sport.

“My editor came to where I was playing at the time, in Turin. We spent hours together, talking about my life and this piece. We were in constant contact throughout the entire process, right up until we published.

“Not until I knew it was perfect did we post. It was a great process, even cathartic for me. A piece I am very proud of.”

TPT contacted Sterling for his story, but in America some athletes have pitched their own stories and essays, while NFL and NBA stars have announced big transfers on the site.

Some athletes are so invested in the process they are constantly jumping into the shared Google document to make changes and alterations.

Conboy flew over to Manchester and spent hours working with Sterling before the 23-year-old England forward left for the World Cup.

Sterling wanted his story to inspire children from a similar background and the player worked with an editor all the way up to the publication date.

He addressed criticism of his lifestyle and the media “picking on him” because of a perceived love of “bling”. It came after criticism of a gun tattoo, purchasing clothes at high-street chain Primark, and even for buying his mother a house.

Sterling also opened up about his father’s murder and life growing up in London with his mother and sister.

“You just stay out of the way and listen, let them talk through their life experiences,” says Conboy. “We do not want this to be something polished, but be raw.”

“These are not made-up stories, not fluff or to sell something,” says TPT chief executive Jeff Levick. “Sterling was not PR, that was his story. It is hard to argue when someone puts themselves out there, lets people see their own trials and adversities.”

Why do they write them?

TPT was founded by US baseball legend Derek Jeter and backed by athlete investors including NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who announced his retirement with a poem on the site.

Alves is an ambassador, as is Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, who has helped grow the business in Europe.

One reason Alves decided to publish his stories was the chance to show a side to him that fans don’t see on the pitch.

“My life story, growing up, had never been told, not in my words,” he continued.

“Fans are limited to what they consume from traditional media or social media – I wanted to go deeper and take fans on my journey.

“As footballers, we are more than just athletes. We are people, we have families, we have stories, we come from somewhere. It’s being able to show that side. It’s about what you don’t see on the pitch, or hear in a news conference.”

Levick says the site removes the “intermediary” between fans and an athlete and lets them speak in an “unfiltered way, telling the stories they want to tell”.

Conboy adds: “You find they go through so many things in life you can’t capture on Wikipedia or Twitter.

“We are trying to provide a level of empathy and curiosity about their superheroes, for them to be seen as human beings and not just the guy you see on TV. There are only so many things they can say about football.”

Another reason Alves got involved was “control and trust”.

“I was able to be completely honest, to be myself and not worry about anything being taken out of context,” he adds.

“It’s a nice change when you can control the story and make sure the truth and facts are actually what people will read.”

Conboy expands further, saying the players find it a “safe environment” to tell their story.

“For some of these players, English is not their first language,” he says. “It is their second or third language and they feel vulnerable and worried their words will be taken out of context.”

“What we do is help the athlete not let the press control their persona,” adds Levick. “We remove the click-bait headlines and spin.”

What does it mean for journalism?

Levick was the former chief revenue officer at Spotify and he sees parallels between TPT and the music streaming service. He says the site is a “disruptor” to the news industry, adding: “Traditional journalism covers sports, we cover athletes.”

But Conboy says it complements traditional media rather than replaces it and is “authentic storytelling”, while Alves says journalists are “important to the game of football”.

“Sometimes you want to speak directly to your fans, versus telling your story through a third party,” he adds.

“We speak to the media every day, too, so it’s not like TPT is a replacement for that. But it’s a great platform because it allows us the freedom to be transparent and to not let the message be taken in a way that wasn’t intended.”

“When the stories come out they are genuinely happy,” concludes Conboy. “They feel they have made a connection and created something their kids or grandkids will read.”

The fate of the last remaining stronghold of the Syrian opposition in Idlib will likely be decided in the coming few days. The international media has been speculating about an imminent battle for the province, which has been the focus of hectic diplomatic activity. 

On September 7, the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran will meet and decide the future of Idlib and with it the fate of Syria’s seven-year conflict.

The illusion of de-escalation

Idlib is the last unconquered de-escalation zone of the four that were agreed to by the Astana trio (Russia, Iran, and Turkey) following the fall of the opposition-held eastern Aleppo in December 2016. The idea of de-escalation was designed – or at least that was the general perception at the time – to freeze the conflict, decrease human suffering, and pave the way for a political solution.

That proved to be a mere illusion. Lacking adequate manpower to fight at different fronts, the Russians threw their weight behind the de-esclation zones idea, originally proposed by the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura in 2014.

In addition, following the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) in Mosul, the Russians started to realise that while they were busy fighting the opposition along the western belt of Syrian territories between Aleppo and Damascus, the US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) was quickly retrieving ISIL territories in the oil and gas-rich east.

For that reason, Moscow decided to freeze the conflict with the Syrian opposition and entered into a race with the US-led coalition to regain as much territory from retreating ISIL as possible. The Euphrates River acted as a natural borderline between the Russian and the American spheres of influence.

As the war with ISIL was approaching its end, Russia reverted back to its strategy of crushing the armed opposition before any political solution can be negotiated. It attacked and took over the de-escalation zone in Eastern Ghouta, near the capital, Damascus.

Russia and regime forces then moved onto the province of Homs in the north before going after Daraa and Quneitra in the southwest, near the borders with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hundreds of thousands of opposition fighters have been relocated to the northwest under evacuation agreements. Idlib was turned into a gathering place for all opposition factions, along with some two million refugees, preparing for a final showdown.

Idlib is no Deraa or Eastern Ghouta

Shortly after the armed opposition groups were forced to evacuate from the southwest, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad indicated that Idlib would be his next target.

The Syrian army started to amass troops and drop leaflets over the province, urging people to return to “state rule” and demanding the surrender of the armed factions. However, Idlib looks like a much more complicated case to deal with in political, military and humanitarian terms than the other three de-escalation zones.

With an area of 6,000sq km, Idlib houses around three million people. The UN has warned that an offensive in the area could force 2.5 million of them towards the Turkish border and precipitate a massive humanitarian crisis.

Idlib is also home to more than 60,000 well-armed opposition fighters. The presence of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’et Tahrir al–Sham (HTS) further complicates the situation. With more than 12,000 fighters, HTS controls a great part of Idlib and has vowed to fight to the end.

Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime use this as a pretext to attack, citing UNSC resolutions, which have designated HTC a terror group. With nowhere else to go, it is expected that, in the eventuality of war, these opposition groups will put a very stiff resistance.

In addition, Turkey has troops at 12 observation posts in the Idlib province to monitor the Astana truce. Without prior agreement, any Russian-backed offensive could well lead to greater tension between the three.

Turkey has already warned that an attack on Idlib could put the last nail in the coffin of the Astana process. Right now, Turkey and Russia are engaged in extensive diplomatic talks to prevent this from happening.

Three scenarios

Turkey and Russia have both announced that the leaders of the two countries will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Tehran summit to discuss the future of Idlib. Three scenarios can be discussed here.

The first one is that Turkey and Russia would agree to uphold the de-escalation zone in Idlib, providing that Turkey deal with the HTS problem. Over the past several months, Turkey has been trying to persuade the HTS to dissolve itself and melt within the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army factions.

The HTS foreign fighters have been offered a safe exit to relocate somewhere else. These efforts have not yielded the desired results, however. Last week, as a sign of frustration, Turkey listed the HTS as a terror group, signalling a possible military action against it.

If Turkey agrees to take action against the HTS, this could avert a Russian attack on Idlib until a lasting peace is achieved in Syria.

If Turkey fails to deal with the HTS, the second scenario becomes very probable. It would allow for a limited Russian-led military action in Idlib to take out the HTS and other “radical” groups. Given the high population density in the area, Russia and even the Syrian regime seem to be trying to avoid a massive military attack – something that Iran would like to undertake. 

At this stage, Russia seems to be mainly seeking to secure its Hmeimim airbase in Latakia from drone attacks by pushing the opposition factions in Idlib further north. The Syrian regime, on the other hand, seems to be mainly interested in regaining control of the M5 highway, the country’s main trade road, which passes through parts of Idlib.

For the past two years, the regime’s offensive strategy has traced the M5’s 470km from Aleppo in the north to Hama, Homs, Damascus and more recently Daraa in the south. The only remaining part of the M5 outside regime control lies now in parts of Idlib.

Indeed, the regime would want to regain every inch of Idlib but simply does not have the manpower to do so, especially against tens of thousands of die-hard opposition elements, with nowhere else to go.

The third and the most feared scenario is an all-out offensive in Idlib. This scenario is unlikely at this stage because it is very costly both politically and militarily. It would also lead to a humanitarian disaster, a massive refugee crisis and destruction at a large scale. It would destroy the evolving partnership between Russia and Turkey and lead to the collapse of the Astana process.

It will put more pressure on the already strained Russian-European relations as it would lead to a new wave of refugees. The US has also warned against a massive attack in Idlib and stated that it would intervene in case chemical weapons are used.

Lastly, an all-out attack in Idlib runs counter to the new Russian strategy, aiming at returning the Syrian refugees back home and starting the reconstruction process with aid from Europe and the Gulf states.

The Tehran summit will, however, show which of these three scenarios will prevail and whether the future of Idlib will be decided by war or by diplomacy.

There is, in fact, some room for cautious optimism here but that is mainly because of war fatigue, not because we have some great diplomats handling the Syrian conflict.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. 

WASHINGTON – Brett Kavanaugh began two days of intense questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday in an effort to allay concerns that he would steer the Supreme Court sharply to the right.

Democrats opposed to his nomination will attempt to draw out his views on abortion, civil rights, health care, gay rights, gun control and a host of other issues that could reach the court in the decades he could serve there.

And with President Donald Trump implicated in campaign finance violations and special counsel Robert Mueller probing Russian influence in the 2016 election, Kavanaugh will be grilled on his view that presidents should not be subject to criminal investigations.

The 53-year-old’s confirmation hearing opened in dramatic fashion Tuesday as Democrats demanded documents withheld from his years working in the White House under President George W. Bush. Dozens of protesters interrupted the proceedings and were arrested for disorderly conduct.

More protesters were back on Wednesday. As the hearing began, six people stood to shout complaints about health care, the environment and other issues and were pulled out of the hearing room by Capitol Police.

Kavanaugh sought to prove his independence in the early moments of Wednesday’s hearing despite continued protests. “That takes some backbone. It takes some judicial fortitude,” he said.

Twice he brought up United States v. Nixon, when the court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over tapes that implicated him in the Watergate coverup, and indicated he would not back down to the president or Congress in the future.

“No one is above the law in our constitutional system,” he said. “No matter who you are in our system … it’s all equal justice under law.”

 

Kavanaugh was nominated July 9 to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, the high court’s swing vote for much of his 30-year tenure. Democrats and liberal advocacy groups fear Kavanaugh would produce a five-vote conservative majority for years to come. That could jeopardize longtime precedents such as abortion rights, upheld by the court in 1973, as well as recent statutes such as the Affordable Care Act.

The 21-member judiciary committee has at its fingertips more information about Kavanaugh than any previous nominee – some 500,000 pages. But it also is missing more from his career than any other nominee – particularly his three-year stint as Bush’s staff secretary from 2003-06, deemed irrelevant by the Republican majority.

The incomplete record prompted several Democrats to urge that the hearing be postponed Tuesday, but committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, refused to back down. He and the panel’s other 10 Republicans fully support Kavanaugh’s nomination.

More: Brett Kavanaugh: Top takeaways from first day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings

More: Brett Kavanaugh: Supreme Court confirmation hearing marred by public protests and charge of ‘mob rule’

More: Trump administration withholds 100K Kavanaugh pages

Kavanaugh’s 307 opinions as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – stepping-stone to the Supreme Court for three current and many former justices – will be the subject of questioning, as well as hundreds of speeches and articles in which he expounded on his judicial philosophy.

Kavanaugh dissented from his court’s ruling last year that allowed an undocumented teenager in federal custody to get an abortion. He dissented in 2011 from a ruling that upheld a District of Columbia ban on semiautomatic rifles. And he dissented that same year from a ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act, but only on procedural grounds.

“A good judge must be an umpire – a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy,” he said Tuesday in his opening statement. “Over the past 12 years, I have ruled sometimes for the prosecution and sometimes for criminal defendants, sometimes for workers and sometimes for businesses, sometimes for environmentalists and sometimes for coal miners. In each case, I have followed the law.”

 

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The stick shift is choking.

The popularity of cars and trucks with manual transmissions is falling sharply as fewer Americans learn how to drive them and automakers avoid making them.

On top of that, the long-held arguments in favor of driving a stick — that they make cars more fuel efficient and cheaper to buy — aren’t always true anymore because automatic transmissions have greatly improved, erasing the practical reasons why some drivers preferred manuals.  

So while the stick shift isn’t dead yet, its future is grim.

Sticking with manual? Tell us on Twitter or Facebook what you think is so special about driving a stick shift.

Once the only kind of transmission available, manuals became an essential part of a car’s design, from nondescript, utilitarian sticks and silver wands to elegantly smooth cue balls. These pieces of jewelry were mounted between seats or next to the steering wheel. Now they’ve become almost irrelevant.

The market for sticks is at a point “where it’s not a necessity or even much of an option,” said Mike Fiske, senior analyst at IHS Markit, who studies automotive powertrain issues.

Look no further than Audi. The luxury automotive brand, part of Volkswagen Group, confirmed that it will no longer offer any manual-transmission vehicles in the U.S. beginning with the 2019 model year.

The final Audi models offered with a stick-shift variant were the 2018 A4 sedan and A5 coupe, Audi spokeswoman Amanda Koons said.

From now on in the U.S., it’s nothing but automatic transmissions for the German brand.

Transmission advancements

After a range of technological advancements in recent years, automatic transmissions now come in various high-tech forms, such as dual-clutch versions that mimic a manual’s gear-changing function. Bottom line: They all do the work for you. No more fumbling with the clutch pedal to switch gears.

 

“Unfortunately,” Koons said in an email, “the customer demand for manuals is quite low.”

Sales of manual transmissions have been falling for decades — but their drop-off has accelerated in recent years.

Stick-shifts represented 6.8 percent of U.S. vehicle sales in 2012, according to IHS Markit. But that figure has tumbled to an estimated 3.5 percent in 2018.

Take the Subaru BRZ. The popular sports car was once sold only with a manual transmission, but sales are now 90 percent automatic, Fiske estimated.

IHS projects that the percentage of cars sold with a manual transmission will fall to 2.6 percent in 2023. And Fiske said recent indicators may require IHS to update its forecast.

“We’re seeing it go even lower,” he said.

But not all hope is lost for stick-shift aficionados. For one thing, they’re still selling in many foreign markets. In fact, Fiske said the 5-speed manual is the most popular transmission in the world.

“They’re low-cost and easy to make,” he said.

And true believers aren’t giving up.

Darryl Hayden, a machine operator from Hampton, Virginia, was committed to buying a manual-transmission car a few years ago but the dealer had only one option on the lot — and it was bare bones. So he had the dealer search high and low for the 2014 Ford Focus he ended up buying.

“That was a very difficult thing” to find, he said. The car “was in South Carolina, and they drove it up to Virginia for me since they’re not making so many now.”

Hayden said he feels more connected to the road with a manual, which he said also helps him stay awake.

“You’ve got more control over the car because you’re shifting your own gears instead of waiting for the car to shift for you,” he said.

While Audi is ending manuals, many major auto brands still offer stick-shift options on certain vehicles. The top five best-selling manuals through July, according to IHS, were the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

Teaching the next generation

While Hayden loves driving a stick, his ability to do it is simply harder to find than ever.

That’s why Traverse City, Michigan-based classic-car insurer Hagerty is teaching auto engineers how to drive a manual — because many never learned how to drive a stick growing up.

And since 2011, the company has also taught the skill to some 2,500 high school-age kids.

One perk of the lessons: The students learn to shift gears and use a clutch in a retro ride, like a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS or a 1965 Ford Mustang convertible.

“Out of all those students, there were only two I think may never get it,” said Tabetha Hammer, a communication specialist with Hagerty. 

Automatic future

Perhaps the main reason why the manual transmission is an anachronism is because of the automatic transmission’s vast improvements.

“The best manual drivers cannot match the shift speeds of our latest automatics,” said Mark Kielczewski, assistant chief engineer for General Motors’ new 10-speed automatic transmissions. “The transmission detects if the vehicle is going up or down a hill, if the driver is on a curvy road and is driving aggressively or just driving smoothly, it makes the proper adjustments to keep the transmission in the right gear, at the right time, all the time.”

But while the manual transmission may be on its way out, the automatic transmission shouldn’t get too comfortable. In fact, its days could be numbered, too.

That’s because electric vehicles, which enthusiasts believe could eventually overtake gasoline powered cars, don’t have transmissions at all.

Contributing: Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

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Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson have been given Ryder Cup wildcards by Europe captain Thomas Bjorn.

They join automatic qualifiers Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen.

The three-day event starts on 28 September at Le Golf National in Paris.

Defending champions the United States have not won in Europe since 1993.

Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson had all qualified automatically for the United States team.

They were joined on Tuesday by wildcard picks Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, with captain Jim Furyk naming his final player on Monday, 10 September after the BMW Championship.

‘Poulter is the man for the occasion’

Englishman Poulter, 42, has helped Europe win the event four times, but was injured and missed the 17-11 defeat in 2016.

“When he gets confident, he hits that European badge hard. He is a man for the occasion and he is a special person,” said Dane Bjorn.

World number 33 Poulter told Sky Sports: “I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

“This feels extra special to be part of and for Thomas to give me the call yesterday means absolutely everything.”

BBC readers chose Poulter as their top pick for a wildcard in an online poll.

‘Garcia is the heartbeat of the team’

Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, has played in eight Ryder Cups, winning five times.

The 38-year-old Spaniard has struggled for form this year, missing the cut at all four majors and failing to qualify for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs for the first time.

“You have to look at Sergio in certain ways – he is the heartbeat of the team,” Bjorn said. “It’s like a football team going without their captain. He makes everybody around him better. He is everything that the European Ryder Cup team is about.”

Garcia added: “It’s been a tough year, but I’ve been working hard and I feel like my game is coming along.”

Casey ‘back where he belongs’

England’s Casey is eligible for selection again after ruling himself out in 2016 by declining to rejoin the European Tour. He missed out on a wildcard in 2010 despite being seventh in the world, but was part of victories in 2004 and 2006 before contributing just a half point at Valhalla 10 years ago.

“He’s really shown he’s missed this part of his life,” said Bjorn. “It was a no-brainer to bring him back. He brings world-class golf back to the team.”

Casey, 41, rejoined the European Tour this season and is the world number 16.

“I made this a very big goal,” said Casey, who has played in three Ryder Cups.

“I rejoined the European Tour and I’m playing some of the best golf I’ve ever played. I’m so excited to get back to somewhere I feel like I belong.”

‘Stenson injury is not a problem’

Swedish former Open champion Stenson has played in four Ryder Cups and holed the winning putt on his debut at The K Club in 2006.

The 42-year-old has registered top-six finishes at both the Masters and US Open in 2018, but has slipped out of the world’s top 10 and struggled with an elbow injury over recent months.

“We had long conversations about his elbow injury but he’s focused from his personal achievement to being ready for the Ryder Cup,” said Bjorn.

“As soon as I knew that, it wasn’t a problem to pick him.”