- Cricket World Cup updates from the opening game at the Oval
- Datablog: each team’s World Cup chances analysed
- And feel free to email Adam or tweet @collinsadam
37th over: England 217-4 (Stokes 51, Buttler 0) Stokes defends the final delivery, giving Buttler the strike. That’s how I’m seeing it, anyway.
A quick catch-all to the emails noting the women’s football World Cup. Absolutely. My initial point was about the end of the club season this weekend, so that’s where my head was at in addressing that topic, pushing cricket chat. Having two World Cups on at the same time will, of course, be brilliant watching. Can’t wait.
A big wicket for #ProteaFire!
Morgan departs for 57 after a superbly judged catch by Markram at long on!
Watch England v South Africa live on SkyWorldCup (404) now or follow it here: https://t.co/Ee6tlCZDI6#CWC19pic.twitter.com/9SoUYlzY6y
Tahir brings Morgan down the track but he can’t get him into the crowd, miscuing down to Markram who takes a fine diving catch 20 metres in from the rope. But, as Vish notes below, not the worst time for Buttler to walk out.
All told, that's the perfect time for a wicket as far as England are concerned. 217-4 in the 37th over...
Enter Jos #CWC19
36th over: England 213-3 (Morgan 54, Stokes 50) Stokes needed to go up the gears and that’s exactly what he’s done with three boundaries in this Pretorious over. The first wasn’t pretty but the next two were: a Don’t Argue over midwicket then, by contrast, the most delicate little reverse paddle to raise his bat in 46 balls.
35th over: England 200-3 (Morgan 53, Stokes 38) Phehlukwayo is not far away from claiming Stokes’ scalp, an edge thick moving just enough to pass through the cordon rather than going to hand, a boundary added instead. The impressive all-rounder finishes with a yorker that nearly castles the left-hander, just missing the off-stump. We can’t be far away from Jos time.
I missed this earlier from Paul Macinnes, who was following the story of patrons who couldn’t get into the ground before play. He reported the following.
Complaints on social media had suggested a to-do was in the offing at the Oval this morning after fans said they had failed to receive their tickets by post. World Cup organisers had contacted some supporters and told them to collect their tickets from the box office instead, prompting expectations of massive queues.
Outside the ground this morning however the Guardian found only modest lines and a typically stoic attitude from cricket fans, generally sanguine about waiting their turn. Organisers expected 400 tickets to be collected on the day, but many of those had been last minute sales for the sold out match. The one grumpy fan we were able to find, James from Ealing in West London, bemoaned being unable to sit down and have a beer before the match.
34th over: England 192-3 (Morgan 52, Stokes 31) Pretorious is back for his sixth over and it’s another good one for the visitors, five singles a win for them at this stage of the innings. The all-rounders have been more than useful for South Africa today with seven bowlers sharing the load.
The second drinks break heralds the return of the man with the cricket bat guitar. I wonder who had the idea? My cue to remind everyone of this piece of magic.
33rd over: England 187-3 (Morgan 50, Stokes 28) The captain reaches his half-century with a pull shot to the boundary behind square off Phehlukwayo. They are very much up and about in the England dressing room, backing in Morgan to unleash through happy hour if he’s still there in about four overs from now.
“Who needs free to air when you’ve got OBO and TMS?” asks Andrew Benton. Bless you, mate. “I don’t even have a Television!! The past is the future.”
32nd over: England 182-3 (Morgan 46, Stokes 27) Stokes lucky there, not getting all of Markram down the ground and nearly giving a catch to Rabada. Instead, he gets a boundary for his efforts. Morgan goes one better, finally breaking out of the straitjacket the part-timer has him him in, bombing him over midwicket and waaaaay into the crowd. They like that. His third six making 11 from the over.
31st over: England 171-3 (Morgan 40, Stokes 22) Phehlukwayo was important earlier with his breakthrough and surely will be again in the back end of the innings, where he has been quite effective so far in his career. And once again a bowling change has worked nicely for Faf, the only run from this set a wide down the legside. For about three overs Morgan looked ready to explore but he’s really wound it back in the last four or five. With 19 overs left, they’ll need to do plenty right to get around that 320-330 mark.
30th over: England 170-3 (Morgan 40, Stokes 22) Markram through another very useful over of off-breaks, doing a fine job of keeping Morgan under control. He’s pinning him back with more pace than you would normally see from a tweaker. Have another, young man.
29th over: England 167-3 (Morgan 38, Stokes 21) Tahir has been spun around to the Pavilion End to replace Duminy. He starts well before dropping short to Stokes, who crunches the long hop through extra cover for his first boundary. He’s a very different player nowadays, far more an accumulator than a plunderer. I’m asked by Jon Howard why he is in ahead of Buttler, and that’s why. Buttler is most dangerous once the base is laid, Stokes the man you want putting it into place.
28th over: England 160-3 (Morgan 36, Stokes 16) Well, that worked nicely. Markram, who was no sure thing to play today, has been given as go as South Africa’s seventh bowler and got through his first set giving up just a single to start and another to end. Between times, Morgan was kept quiet. Not a bad effort at all.
Last one on this TV topic (for now at least) from Peter Salmon.
27th over: England 158-3 (Morgan 35, Stokes 15) Duminy goes again, four singles taken from his first ball balls around the sweepers. But he doesn’t get away with that when dropping short at Morgan, the captain rocking back and helping the poor delivery on its way to the fine leg boundary. With a couple more via a reverse sweep to finish, he is 35 from 26 balls.
“Without wanting to add to the general grumbling about the lack of free-to-air TV cricket (a worse decision than Brexit, if you ask me), it’s galling to find that even the Channel 4 highlights are not on until 11pm, at least tonight,” notes Timothy Muller. “So evening channel-surfers won’t necessary chance upon it. I’m sure Tom Harrison would give us his usual line, which is a peculiar insistence that the iPad wasn’t invented until 2008. Bizarre.”
26th over: England 148-3 (Morgan 27, Stokes 13) BOOM! BOOM! Morgan has pulled the trigger a fraction earlier than I anticipated, launching Ngidi over the rope at long-off then hooking him just about into the second deck of the OCS Stand next ball! All the more impressive, it came the delivery after he was beaten. It just shows that the positive attitude these England batsman have cannot be denied for long. England run rate is back to 5.7 with 13 taken from the overall up.
25th over: England 131-3 (Morgan 14, Stokes 13) Duminy is on for a quick go as South Africa’s sixth bowler. It works well enough, getting through his 90 second set giving away just four runs. If Faf can get three overs out of him for 15 or so, he’ll take it.
24th over: England 131-3 (Morgan 13, Stokes 10) With so many wonderful hitters in his side it can be easy to forget just how powerful Morgan is with the blade. He smacks a straight drive off Ngidi here that’s imposing as they come with gorgeous timing too, putting him into double figures. But in keeping with the theme of the last few overs, he’s equally comfortable defending the rest of the over. Despite not going at quite the pace they have of late, there is no panic or anything like that.
“With all due apologies, here is the match so far in puns,” writes Tom Bowtell. Okay, I’ll allow it...
“And here’s Jonny Bairst-oh”
“If he wants to keep the shine on the ball, we need to see Kagiso Rub-harder”
“Do-many people have safer hands than JP?”
23rd over: England 126-3 (Morgan 9, Stokes 9) Tahir is mixing up his pace from that distinctive, bouncy approach of his. He’s making them work hard for the singles but with the field spread, they are find the gaps well enough to pick up six from it. Perhaps one more from him here, keeping four up his sleeve.
“I’m just glad to see that Simon McMahon can hang on to his optimism, despite Dundee United’s disappointing end to the play-offs,” says Matt Dony. “We can forget that other sport for now, though, (or, at least, after Saturday), and focus on what should be a FANTASTIC World Cup. 6 weeks. 6 whole weeks. Brilliant.”
22nd over: England 120-3 (Morgan 7, Stokes 5) Rabada starts with a sprayed wide down the legside to Stokes but is back on the mark after that. One, two, three, four singles the last of those in the ring with Morgan running hard. With two such experiened players, they know the drill here. Don’t expect anything remotely daft over the next five or so overs as they get themselves set to really launch.
“I’m excited but England seem to be scoring too slowly, I’m concerned it’ll be easy for S.Africa to chase against our lesser bowlers,” writes David Murray. I wouldn’t worry too much about that quite yet. They just need to lay this base, is all. “Also, surprised Phillander isn’t in the team on, he’s so dangerous on English pitches. Is he injured or did he retire?”
21st over: England 115-3 (Morgan 5, Stokes 3) Faf is such a skilled tactician, knowing that this is the perfect time to bring back Tahir for a quick spurt. Both left-handers play him with the respect he has earned over a long time in the international game, taking just three careful singles to the sweepers.
20th over: England 112-3 (Morgan 4, Stokes 1) We’re into the England engine room now with Morgan and Stokes. Rabada gets through his over giving away just a single, which gets the big all rounder off the mark. Game on here, isn’t it?
The demise of Roy and Root via Sky’s twitter feed, who have digital rights to the tournament if you want to see some clipped highlights as they happen. BBC have a similar arrangement on their website.
England have lost both of their set men in the space of a few minutes and four deliveries, Rabada in the book with the first ball of his fresh spell. There’s not much in the delivery but Root doesn’t make full contact with his sliced drive, landing in the experiened hands of JP Duminy at backward point. Now they have some work to do.
19th over: England 111-2 (Root 51, Morgan 4) Morgan is off the mark second ball with a lavish cover drive but I have to keep this short, because... (you know what is coming next)
Phehlukwayo has broken up the stand of 101 with a zippy bit of bowling, taking on Roy with a short ball that reached its destination a bit quicker than the England opener anticipated. Not quite fully through his pull shot, it went high off the end of the bat, the Proteas’ skipper taking the straightforward chance at mid-off.
18th over: England 102-1 (Roy 50, Root 50) Only two singles from the Pretorious over but both give the packed Oval crowd a chance to rise to their feet with Roy then Root raising their bat for half centuries. The former got there with a push down the ground, the latter with a clip. Roooooot they roar with approval.
17th over: England 100-1 (Roy 49, Root 49) England’s 100 is up on the stroke of drinks. It comes after a moment of confusion, Root having to dive at the non-strikers’ end - and a good thing he did; Rabada’s throw was accurate. The decision was sent upstairs, confirming that he was safely home. There was a bit of confusion at the interval too as the crowd (and a lot of websites) assumed that Roy moved to 50 with a glance from the final ball but it was (belatedly) given as a leg bye. He’ll be there soon enough, I’m sure. As will his mate up the other end.
16th over: England 96-1 (Roy 48, Root 47) Shot. Roy waits on the Pretorious slower ball and punches it over mid-off where the man is up inside the circle. With four other balls scored off in the smaller money, the board is ticking over nicely in this accumulation period.
15th over: England 87-1 (Roy 43, Root 43) Phehlukwayo, the man who has generated a lot of excitement in the lead up to this competition, is on for his first twist of World Cup 2019. And it’s a good one, his slightly-quicker-than-medium-fast taken for four singles to the sweepers but nothing else. Nice start.
14th over: England 83-1 (Roy 41, Root 41) Enjoying how often these two are on the same score at the end of an over. Just the four singles from the Pretorious set, who is maintaining a consistent stump-to-stump line in the best tradition of seaming all-rounders who don’t have a lot of pace at their disposal.
Good news from Peter (Com, from an earlier missive): his Mum, Rita, is okay. “She is 90 delighted with good wishes from you and will be okay with some drugs and her feet up. A lesson for us all perhaps.” Great news. Enjoy the cricket.
13th over: England 79-1 (Roy 39, Root 39) Rabada is having a better time of it against Roy, whacking him on the back leg with one that has a bit of spice. But by the end of the over the opener is back on top, deciding to pull through midwicket off one foot despite the line of the delivery being outside the off-stump. As you do. Four more for England.
TMS update! And a good one (and thanks for those who brought this to my attention, including Nick Wiltsher in Belgium). Evidently, the TMS feed is the one on the ICC website. Good result, as the alternative global call is being recorded off the TV in India, I am told. Draw your own conclusions there.
12th over: England 72-1 (Roy 33, Root 38) Pretorious once more, now with the field spread. He keeps Roy quiet with his tall seam and accuracy until the penultimate delivery when dropping short, the England opener never missing out on an opportunity to pull a boundary through midwicket.
“Morning Adam.” G’day, Simon McMahon. “In the best tradition of the OBO and English cricket, I truly believe that YJB getting out to the first ball of the World Cup is a sign that England are going to win the whole damn thing. It’s coming home!”
11th over: England 68-1 (Roy 29, Root 38) Rabada isn’t bothering Root at all here, the England No3 meeting a full ball with a glorious straight blade, his on-drive crashing into the advertising boards in front of the photographers. Shot of the day so far. He backs it up with a couple to midwicket before giving Roy a go. Gosh, he’s nearly chopped on a full toss! The England opener would normally put one of those on the Moon but instead, the inside edge nearly floors him off his pad.
I kid you not, between overs there is a guy under the Bedser Stand playing an electric guitar shaped as a cricket bat. The ICC love having a frolic with this stuff at their global events. If this fella is a feature throughout the touranment across the country, he’ll be a cult hero in six weeks time. I’ll make damn sure of it.
10th over: England 60-1 (Roy 28, Root 31) Pretorious got the nod as the all-rounder in this South African XI today and he’s on for the final over of the power play. The set England pair take five from it, all in 1s and 2s. Roy tries to load up at one stage but can’t make contact. After losing YJB first ball, they’d be happy with an even 60 from 60 out of the first ten. Now to see if they can keep the tempo up through the middle overs with the field back, something they’ve made a habit of late.
9th over: England 55-1 (Roy 27, Root 27) Rabada is the fastest bowler on the planet on his day but that doesn’t deter Root, who rocks back and hooks an accurate bouncer with perfect technique, the shot into the gap and away to the boundary. He keeps the strike with a hard-run single to midwicket. Intent, and all that.
“All ready, four years of waiting,” begins Com. “Came to terms with brother talking my tickets to the England match Vs India and...suddenly sat in doctors with Mum. Adam, I am in your hands only, for the next few.”
8th over: England 49-1 (Roy 26, Root 22) Ngidi once more, which I’m a touch surprised to see given he took some tap the last time around. Root gives the strike to Roy, who creams a slower ball of sorts through extra cover at the top of the bounce. A harder shot than it looks, that. Whisper it: I think he’s away.
“The occasion is getting to me,” writes Henry Demaria. “I just feel moved to share. Have a lovely World Cup everyone.”
7th over: England 43-1 (Roy 21, Root 21) Kagiso Rabada to replace Tahir, the man we fully expected to bowl the first ball of the World Cup now coming on first change. Roy enjoys the extra pace, immediately pushing him back down the ground well enough to just make the rope. With those runs in the can, the opener plays the remainder of the over respectfully as the South Africa No 1 finds his groove. Of course, this was the ground where he bowled some electrifying spells in the Test against England a couple of summers back, albeit in a losing effort.
“I am really looking forward to this World Cup,” emails Geraint Morgan. “It is going to be just like reading someone’s write up of their 2001/2002 Championship Manager campaign: all text no pics.”
6th over: England 39-1 (Roy 17, Root 21) Two good overs on the trot, Jason Roy now into his groove, taking Ngidi off his hip for four with the crisp timing that he’s made his name for. Roy comes down the track next ball to press home the advantage and the visiting quick misses his mark down the legside. Rotating the strike, Root pushes a couple more risk-free runs through cover. It has taken six overs, but the hosts are back in their happy place: above a run-a-ball.
“Morning Collo, how did Joffra look in the sunshine this morning?” asked Nick Toovey before play. “Will be interesting to see how he aims up this tournament. He’s blitzed T20 comps around the world, but Chris Lynn’s underwhelming step up to International Cricket suggests there’s a pretty big gulf.”
5th over: England 29-1 (Roy 10, Root 19) The Tahir Experiment has absolutely worked but Faf will regret not quitting while he was well ahead, his leggie’s third over going for 13. To begin, Roy put away a long hop through cover to pick up his first boundary of the touranment. That’ll help any residual nerves. Root, feeling and looking good here, reverse paddled a couple with ease before sweeping conventionally past square leg for another four. He’s down the track to finish, chipping over the man on the circle at midwicket for a couple. Excellent batting.
4th over: England 16-1 (Roy 5, Root 11) Ngidi locates Roy’s edge to start, but away from the catching slips to third man. He then beats Root with a ball that does plenty off the seam. What a threat the big man is when the ball is hard. But the Yorkshireman responds well, getting inside the line of a slightly shorter delivery to pull behind square for his second boundary. Shot. Going again at the quick to finish the set, this time at a cover drive, he doesn’t make full contact and is lucky not to be taken in the circle. Phew. Something happening every damn ball.
3rd over: England 11-1 (Roy 4, Root 7) Tahir goes again, understandably so. He was the first spinner, I am told, to bowl the first ball of a Men’s World Cup. Brilliant our game, innit? Another tidy over, attacking the stumps with his range of toppies and wrong’uns. What a story his career has been. Roy made good contact straight at one stage of the over, but Tahir did the job in his follow through to prevent a boundary. We couldn’t ask for much more than this. Don’t miss a moment.
Sadly, some people are missing this outside the ground. This isn’t good.
#CWC19 shambolic start to the World Cup. Waiting to collect tickets having been told three days ago they weren’t being sent in the post. Will miss opening ceremony and start of match! pic.twitter.com/lWk9W7xbsn
2nd over: England 7-1 (Roy 2, Root 5) Shot, Joe. It’s Ngidi rather than Rabada from the Pavilion End, just to keep England guessing. But the Test captain is up to the task, crushing a perfect cover drive through the gap and to the rope in front of the Bedser Stand. I’m mindful that you’ve enthusiastically responsed to my call out for emails but we might have to wait a few overs while the cricket demands my full attention.
1st over: England 1-1 (Roy 1, Root 0) Tahir was used, I have no doubt, to try and get into Roy’s head. And first ball of the comp he was running to the danger end with a nervous prod. And we already know what happened next. Sure enough, Root gets right over the top of the rest of the wonderful Tahir set. We’ll be talking about that Bairstow wicket and Tahir celebration for a very long time.
- Nightmare start for @englandcricket!
It's a first ball duck for Bairstow as Tahir delivers the first wicket of the #CWC19!
Watch England v South Africa live on Sky Sports Cricket now or follow: https://t.co/Ee6tlCZDI6pic.twitter.com/KLpXxWtmcb
Bairstow gone first ball! Faf’s stunt has paid off BIG TIME! A lovely little leg break, drawing the right hander into a defensive prod, ticking through to the ‘keeper. BLIMEY - Tahir has ran 50 metres to celebrate like he’s won Olympic gold. Senational scenes at The Oval!
Here come Jason Roy and the OBO’s own, Young Jonny Bairstow. And Rabada is bowling from the... oh, scrap that! IMRAN TAHIR is taking the new ball from the Vauxhall End. Cue a million tweets about 1992 and Dipal Patel. PLAY!!!!!!
The Players. Are On. The Field. Imagine that said in Christopher Walken’s voice. Straight into the national anthems at the pavilion end. South Africa’s first, surely the best there is. Faf’s side have absolutely BELTED it out, too. Good on them. Love that stuff. Now GSTQ - less good, I’m sure we can all agree. But this will be of interest to those who have read the 74 features written about the England captain over the last month: Eoin Morgan did sing it. There you go. That’s anthem chat done for the day. Much more of it as we work our way through the tournament.
A piece on crazy World Cup moments in England? Yep, I’ll have some of that. To chew over as we wait for the teams.
Prince Harry is opening the tournament. “I’m deighted that the UK will once again play host to this wonderful global sporting event, featuring ten incredible teams. Who, thanks to the UK’s wonderful cultural diversity will all feel at home.” Nicely said, H. “Here’s to a brilliant six weeks. I now declare the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, in England and Wales... open.”
They should have rolled him out at the opening party last night out the front of the Palace. It was bloody freezing and fairly naff. However, PAT CASH did represent Australia in some street cricket on The Mall, so I was happy enough.
Thanks, Rob. Oh my, it is here.At last it, it is here. As am I, seated in the front row of the outside press box - my favourite seat at my favourite ground. The sun is burning through the clouds from earlier. In summary, it’s a smashing day and I’m thrilled to be with you to kick off what will be a massive six weeks on the OBO.
A few moments ago, Jonathan Agnew was on the big screen explaining the rules of cricket. With one-third of the tickets sold to this tournament going to first time attendees, that’s quite reasonable. More on that later. Currently, there is what you might call an opening ceremony of sorts with giant, inflatable balls being walked around The Oval, decorated in the flags of the ten competing nations. It’s not quite Tony Blair, Caprice, a broken mic and dodgy fireworks... but it is something.
My work here is done. The brilliant Adam Collins is at the Oval, ready to talk you through the first innings of the 2019 World Cup. Email him at adam.collins.casual@theguardian.com or tweet @collinsadam. Rabada and Ngidi v Bairstow and Roy? This should be pulsating stuff.
Liam Plunkett is preferred to Mark Wood and Tom Curran. South Africa have left out David Miller, which is a surprise, while Dale Steyn is injured.
England Roy, Bairstow, Root, Morgan (c), Stokes, Buttler (wk), Ali, Woakes, Rashid, Archer, Plunkett.
Ach. That’s a very good toss to win.
Today’s match involves England and South Africa, which is as good a reason as any to plug Robin Smith’s autobiography. I had the not inconsiderable privilege of working on it with him. I’m proud of the book, and even more proud of him for talking so honestly about everything from his mental health problems to the best fast bowler he faced.
“Morning Rob,” says Sandile Xaso in Pretoria. “Finally, the games begin and boy do they look tasty! I think England are a stronger team, with your batting just too powerful for ours. I feel we’ll have a decent tournament though, because unlike every other nation, our strength is our bowling line-up. Besides Rabada and Tahir who you’ve already mentioned and the all-timer that is Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi is a serious business. Dhoni spent pretty much every post-match interview in the IPL bemoaning the fact that he wasn’t available and how his team had built their bowling attack around his beefy shoulders. Hope we have a good game today and a great World Cup that we can all enjoy!”
Yes, I can’t wait to see more of Ngidi – he looked so good in that Test series against India last year.
Never forget...
Related: County cricket: Yorkshire v Hampshire final day and more – live!
“Hello Rob,” says Andrew Benton. “Are you keeping an open mind on the likely victors? (You’re not here.) What are your thoughts?”
I think England are the likeliest winners, but Australia scare me. As do India, New Zealand, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. But Australia really scare me.
The first email of the World Cup! “Morning Rob,” says David Horn. “Now, listen. You and I, we go way back. Back to the times when the now editor of Wisden was a lowly OBO reporter. Back to when people contributing to the OBO during the 2005 Ashes were JCLs if they weren’t there the year before. Way back. We can level with each other, so lets. We’re going to win the World Cup, right? Right?”
What did I say about singing Cricket’s Coming Home in Wetherspoons at this hour? Some of us lowly OBO writers are trying to enjoy their full English in peace!
The Oval pitch is greener than expected. Nick Hoult of the Telegraph says England aren’t too happy about that. When England faced Kagiso Rabada on a greentop at Lord’s two years ago, they were 20-6 after five overs. This is a big toss to win (and bowl first).
Hell of a competition prize.
I imagine he's a decent housemate. Organised, tidy. Probably does the washing-up 100 per cent of the time because he thinks you do a half-arsed job. https://t.co/YhCXw5IKYd
World Cup historians might describe this opening game as chokers vs jokers. But just as England have a new identity, so South Africa come into this tournament with nobody really talking about them. They have quietly won their last five ODI series and the spine of their team – de Kock, du Plessis, Rabada, Tahir – is extremely strong. They will be dangerous opponents for England.
Breakfast reading
There’s all kinds of content on our dedicated World Cup site: team guides predictions, history, news, all the old favourites. I shan’t go through every article, as it would take around 45 days, but here’s a peedie selection of our coverage.
England, then. They are aiming to boldly go where no Englishmen have been before, and they could not be in better shape going into the tournament. They are a never-ending statgasm. Since the last World Cup, they have won the most games and have the best win percentage. They’ve scored the most runs and hit the most sixes, an absurd 508.
There’s more. They’ve been the fastest scorers in the world, scoring at an even more absurd 6.29 per over. Their win percentage since the last World Cup is 65; their win percentage since the Champions Trophy is 78. What we’re dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the history and traditions of English cricket.
Hello everyone. Or, to put it another way, aaaaaaahhhh! Yep, after four years of ever-increasing excitement, the World Cup is finally about to begin. As any tournament veteran knows, you don’t watch World Cups so much as live them, so for the next 45 days we will be in cricket mode. Meal times, household chores, professional productivity, twitter frequency, liver compromise: all will be determined by what’s going on in the crickYOU’VE MISSED THE BLOODY RUBBISH COLLECTION, HAVEN’T YOU?! I GIVE YOU ONE JOB FOR THE DAY AND YOU SIT WATCHING BLOODY CRICKET AGAIN! I WOULDN’T MIND IF IT WAS THE WORLD CUP FINAL BUT THIS IS BANGLADESH V AFGHANISTAN! AND IT WAS RAINED OFF THREE HOURS AGO!et
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been this excited about a World Cup since the last time I tried to remember when I was so excited about a World Cup. But seriously, this does feel different. The main reason for that, certainly if you are English, is the joyful cognitive dissonance of a superb England ODI team. They begin the tournament against South Africa at the Oval today, and we’ll discuss their unnerving excellence anon. But there’s a reason God provides two eyes per person, and that reason is cricket. One for loving your team, one for loving everything about this sport. You’ll need both in this tournament.
Continue reading...