Nathan Lyon threw out the first pitch for a Major League Baseball game ... in London

London: Gazball got the better of Bazball in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston, but hostilities were suspended on Sunday as Nathan Lyon and James Anderson threw out the first pitch for Major League Baseball’s London sojourn.

The Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals are playing two games at the former London Olympic Stadium, in an echo of the season opening series played at the SCG in March 2014 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lyon was clad in Cardinals gear; Anderson dressed up as a Cub for a day. For what it’s worth, the Cubs (third in the National League Central) soundly beat the Cards (fifth in the division) by a 9-1 margin.

Anderson’s links to MLB come through his part in the BBC’s popular Tailenders podcast, with his partner in crime, the former Macabees guitarist Felix White, working as a commentator on baseball in the UK.

Lyon and numerous members of the Australian coaching staff made the trip from their Regents Park headquarters to the game in recognition of a sport that many follow closely – head coach Andrew McDonald is a devotee of the Boston Red Sox due to the memorable Carlton Fisk scene in the film Good Will Hunting.

Australian cricket has drawn much from baseball, as recently as August 2018 conducting a study tour of the United States that featured an immersive day touring the Cubs’ iconic home at Wrigley Field.

That group included former captain Tim Paine and ex-coach Justin Langer, alongside former chief executive James Sutherland and head of performance Pat Howard. Paine, who bonded with then Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, commented at the time on what was shared between the two sports.

“It was awesome. Any time you get to cross over sports and see how other world-class athletes go about things and how they prepare, you’d be silly not to try and learn as much as you can,” Paine said. “To see someone like that, who’s an All-Star, and a lot of the skill he has is catching and hitting - so, similar sort of stuff to what I do.

“They’re super-professional in the way they recover and the way they prepare for each game, and it’s impressive to watch when you think they’re doing it over 100 times without much rest in 110 or 112 days. They’re highly skilled but the one-percenter type stuff they take to a new level, and I think you’ve got to, to be able to turn up and play day in, day out like they do.”

Paine left that day with a bat signed by Contreras, an integral part of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series winning group, who has since crossed from Wrigley to St Louis and the Cardinals. Lyon’s sleight of hand against England’s batters in Birmingham was another reflection of the kinds of skills showcased by MLB pitchers – something the highly skilful Anderson can also relate to.

After an underwhelming game at Edgbaston, Anderson will be hoping for some inspiration from the Cubs versus Cardinals match-up, which also echoes a long history of crossover between cricket and its American offshoot.

The Chicago White Sox were among the clubs part of a 1913-14 world tour that took baseball to Australia, at a time when many prominent cricketers played the American national pastime as a winter sport.

They included the likes of Bill Ponsford, who it is said was scouted for a possible move from a then amateur cricket system to professional baseball in the US when still a young cricketer. Though the move did not ultimately take place, it is tantalising to think of MLB as an alternative path in the same way that the IPL and other franchise Twenty20 leagues have attracted the attention of players in 2023.

Famously, Sir Donald Bradman’s early flush of fame following the 1930 tour of England also featured a visit to the US and a baseball meeting with the great Babe Ruth, meaning that the two player still regarded as the greatest of their respective sports got the chance to exchange greetings and perhaps a few ideas.

In more recent years, the skills of MLB fielding have been brought to bear in cricket, namely through the long association of the American fielding coach and mentor Mike Young with Australian cricket. Young was an integral member of the support staff for numerous international assignments, including the 2003 World Cup, where his motivational methods were captured on camera by the team’s head coach John Buchanan.

The second Ashes Test between England and Australia starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.

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