Just a quick reminder that although the game is shrinking all the time, they won’t call it off till the tick has tocked past the latest start time 4:47pm (3.47GMT).
Seventh Horcrux writes: Hello Tanya. Is it worth staying up waiting for the cricket to start? There’s a certain footy game scheduled for later today, and this delay is testing my already frail nerves?”
Well…they’ve resorted to replays on Sky. On TMS, a gloomy Aggers has been looking at the satellite pictures so ….I guess it depends if you think you might need tiredness to dull the pain tomorrow afternoon. Red or blue?
It’s still raining by the way and grey and miserable.
David Gaskell writes: “John Starbuck is always a welcome correspondent, almost part of the OBO team. What I need to know, of the hundred novels, has he read “ Moby Dick” ?
Now, I’m hoping that wasn’t some kind of rude dig that I didn’t get… I think you two went to school together, no?
Ah, here’s John. “I I feel at a slight advantage because I did read a lot of them for A levels and degree, which just goes to show that the canon can change pretty quickly: no Ulysses or Moby-Dick, let alone War and Peace? I do feel that, like the first BBC2 programme, it’s slanted more towards ‘women’s novels’ but we are probably overdue a correction.”
Yes, I think you’re right, a definite feminine slant but, yes too, about time! I’m surprised Our Mutual Friend makes the cut, though studying it for A level is often enough to ruin a book.
John, John! Are you still there? if this was the list, it isn’t quite 100 best novels but “100 English language titles that have shaped their (the judges) world”. I’ve read a respectable-ish 34 of the 100 – but very much boosted by the August section . Loving the fact Ballet Shoes and Forever were on the list – essential reading for any school girl in the 1980s. No cricket there that I can see unless The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye is flanneled foolery?
Benjamin Macintyre has an idea “So, the first series between these two sides since a certain ODI last summer with the series tied at 2-2. According to my highly scientific calculations this can only mean one outcome. Scores tied with the only way to separate the two sides a Jimmy Neesham v Jofra Archer twitter battle. May the best man win.”
Genuis! Perhaps KSI v Logan Paul* should have thought of that before they settled on a boxing match.
*admission, I had never heard of these people until a few hours ago.
Oh dear, the brollies are up and there is a further delay, though it is frou-frou, not torrents.
While we wait, here are the teams:
England
1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Tom Banton, 3 James Vince, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings (wk), 6 Lewis Gregory, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Tom Curran, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood.
New Zealand
1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Tim Southee (capt), 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Scott Kuggeleijn.
Alex Webster is very much over the tie-thing “I play cricket in Southland and I get “it was a tie” pretty much every Saturday (and most Thursdays). As we were driving back from a victorious trip to Tapanui (two and a half hour local derby) I heard a few shouts about them winning a Super Over to take the series. I suggested they might want to make sure they score enough boundaries this time. This is now my stock response – seems to go down well.”
England win the toss and will bowl
“Hopefully we’ll get on top of the weather and know what we’ll be chasing,” says Morgan.
England bring back Vince, Rashid and Mahmood; Malan, Pat Brown and Parkinson are out. Harsh.
Right that’s it, I’m going to quickly attack the chocolate digestives.
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Oh John Starbuck, what would we do without you?
“Good morning, as I suppose one should say, though it feels like the middle of the night. Still, what with MOTD finishing late, and having watched the BBC2 100 best novels programme (I worked out I’d read 27 of the 100, but I expect plenty of OBO readers have read more) I felt up to tacking the final match of this series, especially as it’s now tied, though how long I last will depend on how much of the remaining Glenmorangie I can imbibe. Still, today is Sunday so I’m due another lie-in and let the world go hang. Up to now it’s been the Radio 3 weird krautrock-style soundtracks ( very 1970s) and I’m now going over to TMS for a bit of weather-related chat to support the OBO profundities. Over to you ….”
Oooh, 100 best novels – that’s a challenge. Is it this list?
So the latest is that there will be a toss at 2.10 NZ time ( 1.10am GMT) with play due to start, weather permitting, at 2.30pm ( 1.30am GMT).
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My brother Sam has delivered a Whatsapp from Auckland on the family cricket chat. He’s sitting in the damp stands and has sent me a photo of the tie he was given outside the ground…
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Ok, so Ian Ward has a jacket on but the rain seems to have stayed away. He, David Lloyd and Nasser chew the fat on Tom Banton, Matt Parkinson “he’s got the wood on New Zealand” and Dawid Malan. We see the ground – hmmm, nobody there yet. Ah, it’s been raining all morning apparently and the forecast is set squiffy. But do stick with me. Send me emails, go on.
Preamble
Good morning everyone, the sleepy-eyed and the bushy-tailed. We travel today to Auckland for the final IT20 of the series where, conveniently enough, a series-decider is waiting for us, the scoreline currently: England 2. New Zealand 2.
Only a week ago they were playing a rugby-league triple-header at Eden Park and England will be hoping for a better result than Great Britain managed – they do however have the buffer of a record-highest score in their victory at Napier to keep them jolly.
There are more short boundaries today at Eden Park, though this time in the diagonal over fine-leg. Dawid Malan, centurion in the last game, will be licking his lips – assuming he plays. Anyway, over to Eden Park to see if the weather gods are being kind.
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