Key events
The reserve umpire Sue Redfern is trudging round the outfield, umbrella in hand, which is another way of saying that there’s no immediate prospect of play. But I do think we’ll get a game of some description this afternoon.
On this day 22 years ago, the first Twenty20 Finals Day took place. Oh, the novelty! Here’s how we reported it at the time.
The stateliest home of English cricket opened its portals and the hordes flocked in. That in itself is a pretty good justification for Twenty20 cricket. There’s a lot to be said for giving the people what they want, though I should toss in the rider that public hangings were once a popular spectator sport.
We’ve started to lose overs, but the afternoon forecast has improved and it looks increasingly likely that there will be some cricket.
The forecast is less apocalyptic after lunch, so there’s still a decent chance of a reduced-overs game. Hard to see anything happening for at least another couple of hours though.
Weather update
It was raining, it’s now pouring.
Read Raf Nicholson’s report of the first ODI
India did their level best to mess up what should have been a relatively straightforward run chase: the lowlight was a horrendously casual piece of running by Harleen Deol which led to her dismissal purely because she couldn’t be bothered to ground her bat.
Start delayed
Lord’s is dank and steamy, so the toss has been delayed. I fear we’re dealing in hours, not minutes. There’s a chance of a shortened game this afternoon/evening, but you are strongly advised not to put the farm on it.
Preamble
Charlotte Edwards is the best women’s cricket coach in the world*. But even she can’t build Rome in a day. The scale of Edwards’ job has revealed itself in the last month, with her England side fighting tooth and nail just to stay in the India’s slipstream. They were flattered by a 3-2 defeat in the T20 series and were beaten with deceptive comfort in Thursday’s first ODI. If India win at Lord’s today, England will have lost two white-ball series at home in the space of 11 days.
Edwards will surely succeed in time, but there could be more short-term pain than we envisaged. The upcoming 50-over World Cup is in India and Sri Lanka; for a team who bat so awkwardly against spin, this is not entirely optimal.
It’s hard to see them beating the favourites at the World Cup, although New Zealand’s glorious T20 triumph last year was a reminder that you can achieve anything with Maureen Mentum on your side. First England need to built that momentum, ideally by winning this ODI series.
Or at least drawing it: it’s bucketing down at Lord’s, with a forecast for a whole lot more.
Toss** 10.30am
First ball** 11am
* Probably. This is a live blog, not a judicial review. If you have a different opinion, that’s fine. As Clint Eastwood said, opinions are like foibles; everyone’s got dozens.
** Not happening
