Just when you thought Melbourne’s La Nina weather had done all the damage it could to the Twenty20 World Cup, a grim forecast for Sunday’s final and even Monday’s reserve day threatens to end a vibrant tournament on a drab note.
And the preferences of global broadcasters have effectively ruled out any chance of World Cup organisers resorting to the time-honoured tactic of professional golf to shift a tournament round to the best weather of that particular day.
MCG curator Matt Page confers with umpires at the MCG during the washed out game between Australia and England.Credit:Getty Images
Bureau of Meteorology forecasts suggest a 95% chance of rain on Sunday, with the predicted showers ominously increasing over the course of the afternoon and evening. The final is scheduled to start at 7pm.
Should the game be washed out, play is slated to begin at 3pm on the reserve day on Monday, affording a little more time for the competing teams to get a game to completion.
Senior cricket sources told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald these timings were inflexible due to broadcast agreements – with the possible exception of a scenario where India does not progress to the final.
Whatever the outcome, both India and England have claims to call themselves the pre-eminent white ball team in the world should they win through to and take out the decider.
It was in Adelaide, venue for their semi-final on Thursday, where England’s white ball approach was forced into a complete rethink after elimination from the 2015 ODI World Cup at the hands of Bangladesh – captain Jos Buttler is one of five survivors of that team, alongside Moeen Ali, Alex Hales, Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan.
“Anytime you go back to certain grounds there are some moments or memories that are not always good ones unfortunately,” Buttler said. “But absolutely it’s been clear to see the change in mindset in English cricket towards the white ball game since then and the way we play.
“The way we’ve played has given us better results, so there’s a lot of trust in that process that it works. So it’s been a fantastic journey to be involved in and it was a real line in the sand, that moment in English white ball cricket.”
Buttler acknowledged that defeat, meaning England had been unable to lift the T20 trophy in 2016, 2021 or 2022, would be a poor outcome relative to the broader success of the team over that period, having also lifted the 2019 50-over trophy at Lord’s.
“We don’t want to just be a team that says we played a great style of cricket, we want to have tangible things that you’ve achieved as well,” Buttler said.
“So getting to semi-finals and finals, the big prizes is standing there with the trophy at the end of the game is what we want to achieve, but we know that the way we play is going to give us the best chance. We stick to that and have full faith.“
England have most likely lost Dawid Malan to a groin injury, with his place expected to be taken by Phil Salt. India’s captain Rohit Sharma has recovered from a blow to the hand in the nets, and said he too was eyeing a garland to demonstrate India’s T20 prowess – they have not won the event since its very first edition in 2007.
“We do understand when you play this kind of tournament, you have to break it into parts,” Rohit said. “We’ve done one part of it really well. There are two more parts to go.“
Two parts to go – if the Melbourne weather relents.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
