Stokes’ gloveless catch put baseball in the shade
TO be a sports fan in America the last couple of weeks, it was impossible to miss extended, breathless replays of an athletic backhanded catch by San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr, who leapt high to snare a line drive from the Tampa Bay Rays’ Jesus Aguilar. It was a fine catch.
There is no disputing that. And baseball produces many moments of breathtaking skill in the field, particularly with the speed and accuracy of throwing.
But when you have seen Ben Stokes leap just as high to dismiss South Africa’s Andile Phehlukwayo — without a glove — at The Oval in England’s first game of the World Cup earlier this summer, nothing a baseball player does with a leather basket on his hand can really come close.
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp asked what most of us have been thinking for a long time when he queried English football’s harebrained decision to close its transfer window a month before the rest of Europe. ‘Can somebody explain what is the benefit for the Premier League?’ said Klopp last week. It is a question that requires a very short answer and that answer is ‘no’.
WITH his business record, the EFL should have seen Steve Dale coming when he started the process of buying Bury. They should have seen him coming and they should have told him as politely or as bluntly as they wished to go to prey on another company. There is some hope now that, at the last minute, Bury have been saved from expulsion from the League but if the EFL do not heed the warning, it will not be long before another club take their place.