Ex-England bowler Plunkett makes pro baseball debut
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- Liam Plunkett, the 41-year-old former England fast bowler, made his professional baseball debut for the Oakland Ballers against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds in the Pioneer Baseball League on Friday night
- Plunkett threw five pitches and struck out the Freebirds' Josh Duarte in front of 1,878 fans at Raimondi Park, though he could not prevent an 18-11 home defeat
- Plunkett signed under the Pioneer Baseball League's marketing player exception, which lets clubs add one non-prospect or notable veteran to their 25-man active roster
- The left-arm seamer emigrated to the US five years ago and is part of the San Francisco Unicorns squad for Major League Cricket's T20 tournament
- Plunkett played 13 Tests, 89 ODIs, and 22 T20s for England, taking 201 wickets across formats, and was part of the 2019 50-over World Cup winning side
- Plunkett told BBC Sport he believes he is the first English cricketer to ever play a professional game of baseball, calling it 'a few rungs below Major League Baseball but still pretty cool'
Why it matters: Plunkett's debut — a 2019 Cricket World Cup winner crossing into professional baseball at age 41 — marks what he calls a first for English cricket, executed under a minor-league rule specifically designed to market teams through marquee crossover signings rather than to develop baseball talent.
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