{"id":763724,"date":"2026-06-27T12:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763724\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:55:08","slug":"strikeout-cricket-world-cup-winner-plunkett-makes-instant-impact-in-baseball-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763724\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Strikeout\u2019: Cricket World Cup winner Plunkett makes instant impact in baseball | Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former England cricketer Liam Plunkett swapped his cricket colours for a \u2060baseball glove, playing his first game for the Oakland Ballers and \u2060even claiming a \u2060strikeout.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old was part of England\u2019s 2019 World Cup-winning side<\/a> \u2013 his final international appearance \u2013 taking three \u2060wickets in the tied final against New Zealand as England emerged victorious by the narrowest of \u2060margins on boundary count. He moved to the United \u200bStates, where his wife \u200cis from, and has played Major League Cricket for the San Francisco Unicorns.<\/p>\n

His \u200clatest venture came with the Ballers, who are in the Pioneer Baseball<\/a> League (PBL), an independent competition and official Major League Baseball (MLB) Partner League. The seam bowler featured under the PBL\u2019s \u201cmarketing player\u201d exception, a clause that allows teams \u200cto temporarily sign high-profile cross-sport athletes.<\/p>\n

Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n

This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n

Facing the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds at Raimondi Park on Friday, Plunkett started on the mound \u200band recorded a strikeout. \u201cOriginally, I thought it\u2019s like the ceremonial open pitch, but it was the real thing. I was first on the mound, a little bit \u2060nervous, but the catcher was excellent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I \u200bgot that strikeout. I think the hitter \u200bdidn\u2019t know what \u200cwas coming. \u200bIt was a bit unusual, a mix between bowling and then pitching.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay first game, get a strikeout. What more could I ask for? Happy days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former England cricketer Liam Plunkett swapped his cricket colours for a \u2060baseball glove, playing his first game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-763724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}