Former Red Sox outfielder and 2018 World Series champion Jackie Bradley Jr. has not played in the major leagues since the 2023 season. But instead of retiring, Bradley is taking a different path in an effort to extend his playing career.

Bradley was drafted with the No. 1 pick by the Indianapolis Clowns in the inaugural Banana Ball League draft on Thursday night. The exhibition baseball league, made famous by the Savannah Bananas, will play a 60-game schedule in 2026 featuring six teams: the Bananas, Clowns, Party Animals, Firefighters, Loco Beach Coconuts and the Texas Tailgaters.

The opportunity for Bradley to join the Banana Ball league, specifically with the Clowns, was a meaningful one. The Clowns' addition to Banana Ball next season is a revival of the club from their days in the Negro Leagues. The Clowns were disbanded in 1989, but have now been brought back to play in 2026.

"I feel like this was another opportunity to not only the league, but to be able to help the people behind me to…hopefully, catapult other African-American ballplayers to want to play the game," Bradley told ESPN.

The 2016 American League All-Star is not ruling out a return to the major leagues, but is also happy with where things stand in regard to his professional career.

"If there's an opportunity to go back, I would obviously weigh that," Bradley added. "If that's for my family, then I'm not going to rule out any opportunities. But it's not something I'm striving for. I'm very content with how my career has unfolded. I've been truly blessed. I'm just enjoying the moment."

“The tour will soon become more of a cricket challenge than a health-related challenge”

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Jun-2020How significant is this tour?
I am pretty confident the players and management understand the historic aspect of this tour. They understand it’s a great opportunity for them to play some good cricket in an environment [playing in England] that several of them are not very familiar with. It is also giving players the opportunity to grow their game. I tend to look at these things from a cricket-first perspective, and when all is said and done, this tour will be about good cricket and about defending the Wisden Trophy, which we won in 2019.The world of cricket will be happy to see cricket restarting, but not at all costs. Covid-19 risk had to be addressed and we are confident that the key elements and protocols have been put in place. This is about two cricket boards doing the best they can to get international cricket happening. Is this of financial value to England? Everybody says it is, and I’m sure it must be. For Cricket West Indies it is of cricket value and reputational value.Are West Indies taking a bigger risk by travelling to England?
I don’t think we are taking a bigger risk. The way international cricket commerce is currently structured, we have much less to gain [financially] than England has, but the players [from both teams] will face the same risks. The English players and management are not going to be in a better position than we are under the protocols that have been set up. That is one thing which I made very, very clear as well – that those protocols must apply to all. We have been assured of that by highly qualified medical officials.It is also an opportunity for our major sponsor Sandals to get their brand exposed to the English market. But that’s not why we are going to England. We are going because we are convinced it is going to be safe to do so and because we are committed to make the future tours arrangements work, if possible.Look, just waking up every day is a risk. But the medical people on both sides of the Atlantic – in the UK and the Caribbean – have been engaged in several conferences on risks specific to Covid-19. We were assured that the risk would be minimal, and I believed it could be done. If not we wouldn’t be doing it. It does merit concern, but all of the concerns have been addressed.

“These are young, healthy cricketers. The normal risk with Covid-19 for that category is already relatively low. If you start from that point and then take the risk downwards, you will understand why we got the final approval.”

As the CWI president, what was the one thing you needed assurance of?
We had to have secure and safe travel unencumbered by other non-cricket participants, so the travel arrangements are by private charters. I thought the highest risk was going to be in the travel segments. Once they get into the protected bubble that’s been created, I’ve been assured the squad would be very, very safe.The key thing for me was our medical people saying, “Yes, it’s a go.” Once the medical people said that the risk was no greater than the normal risk living here in the Caribbean and that the environment that was being put together for our squad in the UK was safe… They assured me they had looked at it from all angles.These are young, healthy, enthusiastic cricketers. The normal risk with Covid-19 for that category of individuals is already relatively low. If you start from that point and then take the risk downwards everywhere you can, you will understand why we got to the final point of agreement and approval.The other thing, which was actually one of the first things that the CEO [Johnny Grave] and myself discussed was, in no way any player be arm-twisted into participating and in no way any player be punished for deciding not to go. I was manager of West Indies 18 years ago when there was a civil war in Sri Lanka. And there was a similar situation of assessing risk, but we went on the tour.West Indies cricket is about playing exciting cricket and entertaining fans all over the world. Obviously, safety and security are two pertinent and relevant ongoing issues that always need to be dealt with scientifically, pragmatically and thoroughly, and we think we have done so in this case.And hence it was easy for you to convince the CWI board?
The board discussed it thoroughly and agreed that we should go ahead. This was not a Ricky Skerritt decision. This was a Cricket West Indies decision based on the best possible advice and inputs that we could muster.Have you addressed the squad?
I addressed the 36 players and management who participated in a group call last week on Monday [before the final squad of 25 including reserves was picked]. I basically confirmed to them that the CWI board had only approved the tour once we had received the recommendations from the key medical people. I assured them that if we had felt in any way at all that there was a higher risk than reasonable, we would not have agreed. We saw this tour as a commitment because of the ICC Future Tours Programme and the World Test Championships that is ongoing.I encouraged all of the players to use this as an opportunity to grow their own game and to do what they do best: play positive and exciting cricket. Although the world of cricket is changing dramatically and they are facing an uncertain future because of Covid-19, I congratulated them for being part of history.This is an unprecedented tour in that it would be played in a bio-secure environment. Due to the many unknowns, the mental aspect for players becomes very important. What are the measures being taken to keep the players positive in this bubble that they will be in for seven weeks?
We have put together a management team made up mostly of the best West Indian professionals available to us. It includes a medical doctor accompanying the team, Dr Praimanand Singh, who is from Jamaica and has been on the frontline dealing with Covid-19. He also has a significant sports medicine background, having worked with cricketers for at least the last 20 years. We also have a mental coach in Donald La Guerre along with two physios and two massage therapists.So the management team has been beefed up to be the largest that it has ever been with a West Indies team. And it is not about size, it is about making sure that the players can get the kind of personal, physical, medical and emotional attention they may need. Also, the ECB has assured us that there will be a significant line-up of key medical people available if need be. We are confident that once the players get into the bio-secure environment and develop a sustainable preparation routine, the focus will be more and more on cricket.Do you reckon this tour is a good opportunity for West Indies to do something special?
Exactly. West Indies are defending champions of the Wisden Trophy. Players who are now travelling to England, for no doing of theirs and for no fault of theirs, will find themselves in the middle of history. To me, the psychological concerns about Covid-19 will lessen as the players get settled in. Their bigger pressures would be related to playing their best cricket and getting to a point, within just three weeks to be precise, to be ready to put out their best efforts, having not played any competitive cricket for three months. That is not easy for any cricketer, much less a young cricketer without vast experience. So it will soon become more of a cricket challenge than a health-related challenge, in my opinion. But I know our squad will rise to it.

It doesn’t look good, but it is possible. Here’s how.

Gaurav Sundararaman22-Oct-2020 How CSK can make the playoffs
Chennai Super Kings have qualified for the playoffs in every single season they have taken part. However, 2020 has other plans. They are in last position with a poor net run rate (NRR). Not all is lost though. They still can qualify if certain results go their way. We look at a couple of scenarios in which Super Kings can make the final four. Without NRR coming into play

For starters the Super Kings need to start winning. They need to win all the four games they have remaining. They also need to hope that the top three teams currently (Mumbai, Royal Challengers and Delhi Capitals) continue with their winning ways. The results of the matches between the top three teams do not really matter to the Super Kings.They can still get to the fourth spot if the top three teams keep winning, and the Knight Riders win just one of their next four games and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals don’t win more than two games.In such a scenario, Super Kings would finish with 14 points alongside Capitals, Mumbai and Royal Challengers. Net Run Rate would not come into play. With NRR coming into play
There is another scenario where Super Kings could be tied with multiple teams on 14 and go through on net run rate. In such a scenario Super Kings need to ensure they win a couple of matches by big margins to move to a positive net run rate since teams like Sunrisers are well placed with a positive run rate.
If Super Kings lose to Mumbai, they wouldn’t still be out of the competition. They can qualify with 12 points similar to Sunrisers last season. But, this scenario is very far-fetched. Knight Riders need to win just one match while Kings XI, Royals and Sunrisers should win at the most two matches. Since Super Kings’ net run rate is in the negative (-0.463) they will have to beat the other teams pretty heavily to go through in this scenario as their competing teams such as Sunrisers have a positive net run rate at 0.092. Mumbai’s chances
Mumbai are sitting pretty with 12 points. If they beat Super Kings, they would go to 14 points and top the table. If they lose, they still have four more matches to try and reach the top two positions.

The strengthened relationship between the ground and Cricket Australia has proved vital

Daniel Brettig28-Oct-2020A little less than two months ago the SCG Trust chairman, Tony Shepherd, discovered he had been thwarted in a quest to bring the AFL Grand Final to Sydney.Football’s decision to award the competition decider to Brisbane and the Gabba on September 1, left Shepherd looking towards Melbourne’s other iconic day of the year, the Boxing Day Test, as a chance to step in amid an Australian sporting calendar challenged by Covid-19.His first contact was Cricket Australia’s chairman Earl Eddings, who gave the approach short shrift. Eddings, a staunch Victorian, was still hoping that Melbourne’s coronavirus numbers would ease in enough time to allow the MCG to host a Test match, albeit with reduced capacity, a hope that has proven well founded. Equally, Brisbane seemed a more likely proposition to host India’s arrival for the start of their tour, with white-ball matches likely to be shared between the Gabba and the Gold Coast.In years gone by, this early September exchange between the Trust and cricket might have been a rare conversation amid a generally frosty link between the SCG’s custodians and their oldest tenants. But as a result of significant relationship building between Shepherd, Eddings and the Cricket New South Wales chairman John Knox over the past two years, the dialogue was jovial, and soon to evolve into much more mutually beneficial territory.ALSO READ: Brisbane’s loss is new host Sydney’s gain“I really started going on this a while ago when I put the proposal forward that if the MCG can’t host the Boxing Day Test then we would be happy to host it in their stead,” Shepherd told ESPNcricinfo. “That wasn’t an opportunity to knock out the MCG, we were just saying ‘look it’s a great tradition and they’re a sister club of ours we like a lot, but if it’s not possible to have it there then we could squeeze it into our schedule and host it at the SCG’.”I spoke to Earl at that time and he said ‘no, we’re confident it will be at the MCG, it may have reduced numbers’. Then we heard they were looking at how they’re going to handle the T20s and the one dayers with the Indian touring team, and I let Earl know we were very happy to help.”If you look at it logically, Sydney is a great location, we’ve got one of the lowest infection rates in the world, we’ve freed up attendance at arenas quicker and better than anybody else, we’ve got the best tracking and tracing system probably in the world, and it’s a lovely environment. The Indian diaspora in Sydney is bigger than any other city in Australia – whenever the Indians are playing a Test at the SCG, the whole ground’s on fire, they’re just wonderful spectators. I said ‘this is the logical place to be’.”Initially, Eddings kept his counsel, but by the weekend of October 17-18 it had become increasingly clear that previously fruitful conversations with Queensland state government – which saw Allan Border Field host the women’s series between Australia and New Zealand – had stumbled as the state’s election crept ever closer. On the Sunday, it was not Shepherd reaching out in search of extra content for the SCG, but Eddings seeking a port of entry for the Indian touring party, and with it the six white-ball matches to be played before the Tests.”Earl then rang me a couple of weeks ago and said ‘look, it could be on, would you guys be happy to host it’ and I said ‘absolutely mate, I don’t have to check with anybody, we’d be delighted to host it, it’d be a terrific opportunity for us, and we’ll do anything we can to help out, but you’ll obviously have to deal with the NSW government’, which he did,” Shepherd said. “I’ve got very close to Earl over the last few years, and I’d say our relationship with CA has never been as strong before as it is now.”Meg Lanning looks on as Australia wait to take the field•Getty ImagesThis hasn’t all simply been a matter of glad handing and amiable conversation in corporate boxes. The Trust’s standing in the eyes of cricket administration has risen in accordance with its performance. The dual triumphs of getting results on a pair of rain blighted nights for the BBL final and then the pivotal women’s T20 World Cup semi-final between Australia and South Africa (without which Meg Lanning’s team would’ve missed the March 8 MCG final), generated a level of respect that had been in need of reinforcement.”We’ve shown in those finals just exactly how good we can be,” Shepherd said. “What could have been a disaster turned out to be a terrific couple of finals, albeit with some reduced time. It shows we can deliver. We’ve been doing it for 150 years so we should be getting good at it.”We’ve struggled in the last year as you can imagine, we lose money with games played with reduced numbers, it actually costs us money. So this has been very hard for us financially in the last nine months, so we’re looking to cricket to help us get back financially on our feet. Not just from an emotional point of view but a financial point of view it’s important for us, and the role of this new merged sporting entity, is to grow events in NSW.”That shared entity to run all NSW stadiums, which has been nicknamed the “Super Trust”, took a significant hit when the Gabba claimed the AFL decider. “We were disappointed the Grand Final went to Brisbane, we understand why it went there but we think we could’ve done a really good job here in Sydney and everyone would’ve been safe, but that’s the AFL’s decision,” he said. “But that fired us up…we were going ‘now listen, we’ve got to make sure this doesn’t happen again’.”In some ways, the idea for an extra portion of India’s tour in New South Wales had sat in Shepherd’s mind well before Covid-19 hit, thanks to a chance meeting outside the SCG gates in February. “I was walking past the SCG just before the pandemic, eight or nine months ago and there was an Indian guy just standing at the gate, looking in at the ground. I said ‘you right mate’ and he said ‘oh look, I booked for the tour but I missed the start point and I’m going back to India tomorrow and I just wanted to see the SCG before I went home’.”I said ‘oh alright, come with me’ and I took him inside and walked around and we had a look and took him out onto the field and all that. He was knocked flat. It is just so special to them, they probably recognise the SCG and Lord’s as equivalent grounds around the world.”Boxing Day, then, will remain at the MCG. By then, however, Sydney will have already played an indelible part in getting international cricket played down under in the time of coronavirus.

Five takeaways from the inaugural edition of the five-team domestic tournament

Mohammad Isam19-Dec-2020Powerplay surprises
Arguably the biggest batting surprise in the tournament was Saif Hassan who had a powerplay strike rate of 134.14, which didn’t drop much in the middle overs either. The surprise element to Saif’s performance is down to his reputation as a Test opener, though he has scored heavily in most prior domestic limited-overs tournaments, too. Barishal coach Shohel Islam admitted at the end of the tournament that they were late in picking Saif, who ended up playing only five matches, averaging 30.40, with one half-century.There was a bit of surprise with powerplay bowling, too. New-ball bowling honours went to Robiul Islam Robi and Nahidul Islam, two unheralded offspinners playing their first domestic tournament since the pandemic. Nahidul bowled the most powerplay overs, giving away runs at 6.32 per over, and taking 10 wickets. Robi took six powerplay wickets, and also bagged a five-for, at 13.33 average, with half of his 66 deliveries being dot balls. Both Nahidul and Robi have built careers in domestic cricket as handy allrounders, but their performance in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup should help them get noticed for bigger opportunities.Cream rises to the top
Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman topped the batting and bowling charts respectively, taking Gazi Group Chattogram into the final. Liton scored 393 runs at 49.12 average, including three half-centuries. Mustafizur took 22 wickets at 11.04 average and a solid 6.25 economy rate. Seniors like Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim, too, had good outings in this tournament. Mashrafe Mortaza joined in late but still was among the wickets. Shakib Al Hasan, however, missed out on a big performance in his first tournament since coming out of the one-year ban.Muktar Ali impressed with his all-round skills and agile fielding•BCBFizz, Rabbi at the death
Mustafizur took 16 out of his 22 wickets in the last five overs, but a close second was Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who put his half-slingy action to good use for Fortune Barishal. Rabbi, who played the last of his seven Tests more than two years ago, took 11 wickets at the death, including a hat-trick in an important win over Minister Rajshahi. He, too, mostly kept the run rate down during the death overs. If the tournament set out to find T20 talents, Rabbi’s performance in the death overs has helped the BCB achieve a part of that goal.Allrounder teaser
Muktar Ali has given glimpses of last-ball sixes and his wicket-taking ability previously too in domestic competitions. After years of service to the Rajshahi Division side and various Dhaka league teams, he earned a T20I cap four years ago, but that was the end of the journey in national colours. Bangladesh found Mohammad Saifuddin, who now opens the bowling and bats at No 7 or 8 in the white-ball formats, so the search for the pace bowling allrounder seemed over.In this season, however, Muktar showcased some interesting facets to his skill-set. First, he showed can hit sixes, even under pressure. In addition, he is a good ground fielder and a safe catcher. But best of all, he can bowl at the back-end of a T20 innings, often changing his pace almost every ball. He has developed a good slower ball, and has the presence of mind of a cricketer who knows he has to contribute around the edges of more important players.A replenished pace battery
After a lull of a few years, there is an element of rejuvenation in Bangladesh’s pace bowling – there is now a promising group that has shown formidable fitness levels to go through two domestic tournaments. Left-arm quick Shoriful Islam, who had an impact in Bangladesh’s Under-19 World Cup win earlier in the year, used his steady action to rattle batsmen with pace and bounce. He finished with 16 wickets at an average of 19.00.Hasan Mahmud and Shohidul Islam eventually helped Khulna lift the trophy with crucial spells in the latter part of the competition. Sumon Khan, who took a five-wicket haul in the final of the BCB President’s Cup, had his moments in this tournament too. The likes of Mustafizur, Rubel Hossain and Taskin Ahmed bowled well with both the new and the old ball, though Rubel and Taskin would have hoped to be more consistent.

L Balaji and Varun Chakravarthy talk about bouncing back from Covid-19

Nagraj Gollapudi and Shashank Kishore 22-May-2021

Lakshmipathi Balaji – ‘Was I scared? I was worried’

As I was isolating on my own having tested positive for Covid-19, a thought crossed my mind: recovering from Covid-19, both physically and mentally, is like experiencing an episode of Man vs Wild.On May 2, I was feeling a bit of uneasiness. I had body ache and a mild nose block. I was tested the same day around mid-afternoon. By May 3 morning, I had tested positive. I was shocked. I had done nothing to breach the norms to endanger my and rest of the bubble’s safety.We had reached Delhi around April 26 from Mumbai. We were tested the next day followed by a match on April 28. The next day we had another test. On May 1, we played another match against Mumbai Indians. So I was confident that my immune system was strong enough and resistant to the coronavirus.Along with me, after the May 2 testing, two others including Kasi Viswanathan (Super Kings’ CEO) and a helping staff member had also tested positive. To ensure it was a false positive, we were tested again the same day. I tested positive for the second time. Promptly, I was moved to another floor at the team hotel, separate from the rest of the Super Kings squad.Was I scared? Initially I could not express my feelings. I knew people were dying outside. It took me another 24 hours to sink in the seriousness of issue once family and friends started to message. I started to get worried. From the second day in isolation I realised I had to monitor myself, recording all the health data. I was obviously anxious.I was also more worried about the others in my team who I was milling around with before I tested positive. Rajeev Kumar (CSK fielding coach), Robin [Uthappa] [Cheteshwar] Pujara, Deepak [Chahar] along with Kasi Sir were all around me. So my conscience was battling with the difficult question of what if any of these people tested positive, too? I was praying for their health.Then I came to know that Michael Hussey (Super Kings’ assistant coach), too, had tested positive. Till day we don’t know how or where we contracted the coronavirus. We had a very strict protocol within the bubble from first week of March when CSK’s preparatory camp started. After the experience in 2020 IPL when members of the CSK contingent tested positive, the franchise took maximum precautions even when we travelled from Chennai and Mumbai where we were based for the first leg of our IPL.Even in Delhi we followed the strict protocol. I don’t know where we might have caught the infection: was it at the ground? Was it at the training ground at the Roshanara Club? But that was secluded. And why should only two of us get it?With the situation very bad in Delhi which was in the firm grip of the pandemic, the CSK management was pro-active and flew both Hussey and myself in an air ambulance on May 6 to Chennai where we had round-the-clock medical care. It was a crucial and timely step. We were transported into the air ambulance wrapped separate oxygen pods. The pod itself takes a good few hours to build. The pod is like a transparent tunnel where you are enclosed. That is the safest way and the only way to fly a Covid-19 patient.Once in Chennai the anxiety that had gripped us in Delhi had been replaced by confidence. Mentally we became positive. I started to constantly exchanging messages with Hussey and we realised that many were dire situation outside. We were fortunate to be under better care. Eventually after spending about close to 12 days I returned home in Chennai on May 14.It is a journey of survival is how I look at it. Lakhs of people have been affected, and most of them recovered, but many were not lucky to survive due to different reasons. It has been an intense situation. In my career I have encountered several challenges, but it is different battle we are going through dealing with the pandemic.I realise now how lucky I was and that was because of the timely help of my franchise. It was huge effort to move get exemptions, clearances to shift us from Delhi to Chennai. But there are people out there who are waiting for hours and days on end to get help. We have to put in all our efforts to reach out and help out. Lives are at stake.Varun Chakravarthy has been struck down by post-covid symptoms•BCCIVarun Chakravarthy – ‘Still have weakness and dizziness’

Statistical highlights from the four-match Test series between India and England

Sampath Bandarupalli09-Mar-202181.54 Percentage of reviews struck down in this Test series, the second-highest percentage among the 26 Test series with at least 25 reviews since September 2017. Only 12 of the 65 DRS reviews by India and England got upheld across the four matches. Of the 65 DRS reviews in this series, 31 alone were against Nitin Menon, easily the most for an umpire during a Test series in the past four years.ESPNcricinfo LtdESPNcricinfo Ltd46.6 Bowling strike rate during this Test series, the best in a Test series of four-plus matches. The Indian bowlers bagged 80 wickets at a strike rate of 42, while the visitors took 58 wickets at 52.8.ESPNcricinfo Ltd0 Instances of a player being the lone centurion and the only player to claim five-plus wicket haul(s) for his team in a four-plus match Test series before Joe Root did it against India in this series. Root scored England’s only individual century of the series, and also accounted for the only five-wicket haul by the visitors.ESPNcricinfo Ltd104 Wickets taken by spin bowlers in this Test series are the third-most number of wickets claimed by spinners in a Test series. The five-match Test series between India and England in 1972-73 saw as many as 109 wickets claimed by spinners, while 108 wickets went to spin bowlers during the India and England series in 2016.67 Wickets for the Indian spinners during this series, the most for any team’s spinners in a four-match Test series. India surpassed their record of 65 wickets during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home in 2013.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 Number of fifty-plus partnerships for the first three wickets in this series, the second-fewest number of fifty-plus stands among the 220 Test series with 40-plus partnerships for the first three wickets . West Indies’ tour of New Zealand in 1955-56 had only three fifty-plus stands across 41 partnerships for the first three wickets.19.83 Average runs per wicket in this Test series for England, the third-lowest by them in a four-plus match Test series . The England team averaged only 19.11 in the four-match Test series during the West Indies tour in 1934-35, and only 19.1 in the five-match series in South Africa in 1905-06.31 Number of ducks across four matches in this series, the most ducks in a four-match Test series. The record was previously held by England vs Pakistan series in 2010 with 29 ducks.

A stunning Rohit Sharma hundred made him the toast of the Twitter world

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2021On the opening day of the second Test in Chennai, Rohit Sharma’s sublime 161 in tricky conditions earned praised from current and former players on Twitter.

What an amazing innings from the graceful and elegant @ImRo45 ! Such class, love watching him bat

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) February 13, 2021