How does scoring work in baseball?
What is Ask Me Anything?
Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.
More questions answered...
What are the rules about bad light in Test cricket?Which Premier League players could feature at Afcon?When are the Women's Rugby World Cup squads announced?What is the format for F1 sprint races in 2025?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Lionel Messi left 'extremely upset' after picking up bizarre MLS ban - as Inter Miami star and team-mate Jordi Alba hit with 'draconian' suspension
Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammate Jordi Alba have been left 'extremely upset' after being handed a one-match ban for missing this week's MLS All-Star game. The former Barcelona stars, who made the move to Florida together in the summer of 2023, had been expected to line-up for an MLS squad against Liga MX All-Stars in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday. They both however missed the fixture, in which the MLS side ran out 3-1 victors, with Inter Miami boss Javier Mascherano later revealing Messi was suffering with fatigue, while Alba had picked up a knock. But their absence was not approved by the league, leaving both stars liable to sanction. The MLS announced their one-match ban on Friday with a statement reading: 'Inter Miami CF defender Jordi Alba and forward Lionel Messi will be unavailable for the club's Matchday 27 game against FC Cincinatti on Saturday evening, due to their absence at the 2025 MLS All-Star game.' With Miami just seven points off league leaders Cincinatti, the league's decision leaves Mascherano's side without two of their most influential players for a crucial fixture. Messi and Alba have been left 'extremely upset' by the ban, said Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas in response to the announcement yesterday. 'The reaction was exactly as expected out of two competitive players who don't understand the decision, who don't understand why not attending an exhibition leads directly to a suspension. 'The rule is what it is, but they don't understand it. I think that the punishment for the role is frankly draconian. 'I'm hopeful that it doesn't have an impact long-term. Will it have an impact initially, in the players' perception of how the league rules work? Absolutely no doubt.' Despite admitting 'there's no one who's done more for the MLS than Messi,' the league's commissioner Dan Gorber said they had to 'enforce' the rules. 'I know Lionel Messi loves this league,' he said. 'I don't think there 's a player, or anyone, who has done for MLS than Messi. I fully understand, respect and admire his commitment to Inter Miami and I respect his decision. 'Unfortunately we have a long-standing policy regarding participation in the All-STar Game and we had to enforce it.' The All-Star game saw Sergio Ramos line-up for the Liga MX All-Stars in Texas The MLS All-Star XI, which was too missing stars such as Marco Reus and Sergio Busquets, beat the Liga MX All-Stars 3-1, with former Nottingham Forest striker Sam Surridge on the scoresheet for the American side. Ex-Napoli winger Hirving Lozano featured for the MLS XI, while former Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos - now plying his trade at Monterrey - played for the first-half for the Mexican XI. Messi, now 38, has taken the American league by storm since making the switch from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023. In 19 appearances in his first full season, he bagged 20 goals, providing 10 assists. While this season Messi has netted 19 goals in as many appearances, setting up a further seven. With his contract up this summer, rumours had been swirling of the superstar possibly making a surprise exit from the MLS, though he now looks set to .
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Lions braced for Wallabies backlash with Australian giant ready to set tone at MCG
Any British and Irish Lions and Australia players in need of inspiration in the final moments before kick off in Saturday's second Test need only glance up at the wall in front of them. While the dressing rooms of one of the world's great sporting colosseums will be bedecked in the iconography of both sides as they make the Melbourne Cricket Ground their temporary home, still adorning each will be the carved wooden honours boards that list the immortal achievements of the many cricketing greats who have captured this cathedral and made it their own. From Grimmett and O'Reilly through the Chappell brothers to Warne and McGrath, the greats have made an indelible mark on this sacred temple of Australian sport. For the Wallabies, they will hope to make their own imprint with victory a must. At 1-0 down, it is do or die for the home side as they bid to avoid being the first of the three southern hemisphere nations to be conquered in successive series by the touring Lions. Perhaps Joe Schmidt and his side can take something from a certain DG Bradman, commemorated with statues inside and out of a venue at which he averaged a mere 128.53. The antics of Adelaide are those best remembered from the famous Bodyline Ashes of 1932-33, but it was in Melbourne where Australia squared the series having been beaten and beaten up by England in Sydney. A returning Don, who had missed the opening game due to a contractual dispute, tonned up in the second innings after a golden duck in the first with typical brilliance and belligerence. Battered and bruised by the Lions in the opening encounter of this series, now the Wallabies hope to do some damage of their own. One might have foreseen a sluggish start from a side in only their second outing of the year, but few forecast the passivity with which Australia played. 'We don't want to be nice, and we don't want to be submissive,' head coach Schmidt stressed on Thursday. 'I just think that they played on the edge really well [last week], they got in amongst us, sometimes just beside us, which made it very hard to play. 'We're hopeful that we will be able to take that to them this week and keep them on the back foot a little bit more.' It helps, of course, to have a full complement of bruisers for what is shaping up to be a proper Melbourne melee on a wet night. Full fitness may still evade Rob Valetini and Will Skelton but the pair certainly give a more fearsome look to a Wallabies team short of weapons of destruction a week ago. The artillery each provides is clear, with Valetini's tireless carrying and Skelton's unique strengths such vital parts of the side that Schmidt is building. 'He is an unusually large human being,' Lions lock Ollie Chessum said of his opposite number Skelton, who stands at 6ft 7in tall and 145kg. 'I think he's going to bring the physical edge that we expect to see from the Wallabies this weekend.' The significance of playing at the MCG is not lost on the Lions, who intend to embrace the occasion and soak up the atmosphere. A series win is well within reach for a team that feels that, even in a brilliant 42 minutes in which they seized a match-winning lead, they did not hit the heights of which they are capable in the first Test. Throughout this tour, the talk has been of writing their own history; the MCG would be an apt place to do it. 'They're going to draw on every emotional aspect of this game that they can,' Chessum said. 'They are 1-0 down in the series but they are at the MCG, in front of their fans, on their home soil with the series on the line. We know they're going to throw the kitchen sink at us. 'We said right from the start that we want to lay down a marker and be the best Lions team there has ever been. If we are to do that, we've got to make ourselves part of that history and do the job at the weekend. This is everything that international rugby is all about. Physicality goes up through the roof, the intensity goes up through the roof, the speed of the game goes up through the roof – and you have to walk towards it because if you don't you'll get found out pretty quickly.' The disruption caused by Garry Ringrose 's courageous and correct withdrawal has been limited, it is claimed, by a squad tighter than those on past tours. It is at this point on a trip, with the last midweek game over and selection pecking orders becoming clear, that a group can fracture or fray – but all in Lions camp are clear that the bonds of the class of 2025 are strong. Perhaps that could be best seen in Ellis Genge and Finn Russell leaving their seats in the stands to comfort temporary tourist Darcy Graham after an injury in the win over the First Nations & Pasifika XV; in their different ways, both the England prop and Scotland fly half have been central leaders over the last few weeks. As, increasingly, has been Owen Farrell, whose presence in the matchday 23 in Melbourne comes as little surprise to most in rugby. The assumption always was that the 33-year-old would have some Test involvement once he accepted the call-up from his father, and a standard-driver will hope to ensure there is no drop off once he and the rest of the replacements are utilised. Melbourne has been full of Lions supporters this week, perhaps even more red-tinted than Brisbane a week ago with plenty of travelling fans ticking off Tests two and three. They will not much mind, one would guess, if next week's game becomes something of a dead rubber. Such talk, though, is premature. 'When you wear this jersey and represent the Lions you know it comes with huge honour and a sense of responsibility, and we know we are not playing a pub team,' captain Maro Itoje underscored. 'The Wallabies are a proper team, I played them last year in the autumn and we lost to them when we were supposed to win. They are a team that can punish you if you don't approach the game properly.'
Scotsman
40 minutes ago
- Scotsman
BBC Sports Personality odds: who is favourite to win?
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award will be handed out at the end of 2025 - but a frontrunner has emerged 👀 Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Frontrunner for BBC's Sports Personality award has been named. List includes darts favourite, golf star and F1 driver. But who is being backed to lift the end of year prize? The sunshine might have pulled another disappearing act but we are still in the heart of summer. Unbelievable as it might be but we are well past the midway point of the year and it will be 2026 before you know it. It has been quite the dramatic first half of 2025 in the sporting world - from Liverpool securing a 20th league title to the two Lukes crashing out of the darts World Cup. The Lionesses have taken us on one mighty rollercoaster during the 2025 Women's Euros this summer - and the men's U21s have also lifted the title in their own version of the competition. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A British driver remains in the hunt for the Formula One world title - but will Lando Norris be able to surpass his teammate and rival Oscar Piastri? It would be one hell of a story. In a little less than five months time, the BBC will gather to celebrate the best sporting achievements of the year - and hand out the much coveted SPOTY award. But who is in the running right now? Who are the early favourites for the 2025 Sports Personality? The presenters of this BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 | BBC/Paul Cooper Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson lifted the trophy last December following her incredible performance at the 2024 games in Paris. Sidenote: what an incredible few weeks that was, wish I could jump back and experience those highs once again. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The BBC will once again crown a winner at the end of the year - and attention has started to turn towards who are the runners and riders for 2025. has issued its odds, with one name jumping out as a clear favourite at this point. Rory McIlroy - 4/6 Lando Norris - 13/2 Luke Littler - 8/1 Ellie Kildunne - 28/1 Jack Draper - 40/1 Lauren Price - 40/1 Leah Williamson - 45/1 We obviously still have a long way to go in 2025 and the final of the Women's Euros on Sunday (July 27) could dramatically shake-up the odds. If the Lionesses manage to lift the trophy once again, someone like Leah Williamson could really jump up the list - for example. Beth Mead was named SPOTY in 2022, following England's triumph at the Euros that summer. Her international teammate Mary Earps won it the following year - for her role in the Lionesses' run to the World Cup final, so there is precedent. Ellie Kildunne is one to keep your eyes on as she is one of the star players for the Red Roses - England Women's rugby team. The team will be playing in the World Cup, on home soil none-the-less, starting in late August and triumph in the tournament could see her odds tumble. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Equally, if Lando Norris manages to surpass Piastri and secure the F1 World Drivers' Championship he could easily become one of the frontrunners. Drive to Survive remains a very popular show on Netflix and he is a known name. But if the award was to go the way of the current odds and Rory McIlroy capped off the year in which he finally won The Masters with a SPOTY award - it would be the first time since Lewis Hamilton in 2020 that a male athlete has lifted the trophy.
