The weather It’s beautiful at Edgbaston this morning, although the Met Office are forecasting thunderstorms for early evening. That means DLS could be a factor in this match. There is a reserve day scheduled, but I think the match will finish today as long as 20 overs have been bowled in the second innings. There’s a strong whiff of potential farce and controversy there. But the playing conditions have a level of clarity usually reserved for mudheaps, so I might be wrong.
Preamble
Hello again. Glad you’ve logged on – you’ve obviously heard there’s a cricket match today. It’s Australia v England, for the right to play New Zealand in the World Cup final on Sunday. This game is almost too big to function. It’s England most important since September 2005, Australia’s since March 2015. For both countries, defeat is so unthinkable that it hurts trying not to think about it.
There’s a rare old Royal Rumble of feeling and emotions this morning/evening: hope, fear, nervousness, anticipation, fear, curiosity, fear, fear, greed, nostalgia, pride – and I suppose, if I’m being brutally honest, there’s also a soupçon of fear. But most of all, as Eoin Morgan said yesterday, there is excitement about what might be achieved. In one hemisphere or another, a lot of grandchildren are going to hear about the events of 11 July 2019.
There was no way England – England – were going to be allowed to win a World Cup without beating Australia en route. Only one side, West Indies in 1979, has ever done so. This is England’s World Cup but it’s also Australia’s trophy, which they have lifted in four of the last five tournaments. And one of them has got to go. Deep down, we always knew it would be like this.
The match starts at 10.30am BST, 7.30pm ACT.
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