2022 T20 World Cup thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

Marsh put down, Aus right on the edge

Might have been the turning point of this one

[dummy_half]

I don't think there's a favourite. These sides had a recent 4-3 series, with some blowouts in there. I don't buy into that being because Pakistan are mercurial, more the nature of T20. Also the narrative around Pakistan being favourites as they are cornered tigers again like 92 is tacky at best

To be fair, I don't think it's an either/or proposition. T20 is more about 'on the day' performance than longer formats, because there's less time to turn a performance around, but Pakistan can also go from world beaters to inept even within the course of a 20 over match, and moreso from match to match. Not that England are much better on the consistency side...

The final is probably the two teams who can reach the highest peaks of performance, but also who can throw is a few stinkers. Be interesting to see if both can play to a high level, and if so how competitive the game is .

[Duty281]

Weather still looks awful for tomorrow and Monday.

Does it count as coming home if it's just half the trophy? Do Buttler and Babar each have to lift the trophy at some ceremony?

[KP_fan]

Weather still looks awful for tomorrow and Monday.

Does it count as coming home if it's just half the trophy? Do Buttler and Babar each have to lift the trophy at some ceremony?

Yes  I think so if ICC hasn't changed this rule.

Gangly and Jaisurya lifted the ICC champions trophy jointly one time
When the reserve day for final was also washed off

[alfie]

Forecast indeed still rather grim. Supposed to be a lot of rain but to clear as Monday goes on...so I'd forget tomorrow and hope it clears enough for the reserve day to be a goer. As it started bucketing down here an hour or so ago I have some hopes that the nasty weather might move through a bit earlier than previously thought , so keeping fingers crossed...

[JDizzle]

Weather still looks awful for tomorrow and Monday.

Does it count as coming home if it's just half the trophy? Do Buttler and Babar each have to lift the trophy at some ceremony?

There is going to be a huge amount of salt on Twitter if the trophy is shared and England hold both white ball World Cups without scoring more runs than the opposition in either. I can’t wait.

[GSC]

Maybe we should have a reserve venue for the reserve day

[Duty281]

Expected teams for tomorrow, if the rain relents:

Pakistan (possible): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan, 3 Mohammad Haris, 4 Shan Masood, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Mohammad Nawaz, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Wasim, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Pakistan probably unchanged. The batting has been inconsistent, but the openers finally showed what they were about in the semi-final. Shaheen and Shadab are the match-winners in the bowling. Naseem Shah hasn't taken many wickets, but he's been very economical throughout. Rauf's had a poor tournament and England may target him, as well as Nawaz.

England (possible): 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan / Phil Salt, 4 Ben Stokes 5 Harry Brook, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Mark Wood / Chris Jordan / David Willey, 11 Adil Rashid.

Plenty of uncertainty about England in two spots. Malan got through training on Saturday, though Cricinfo reckon England will keep it risk-adverse and retain Salt. Whether England take the gamble on Wood's fitness and all the pace he brings is another matter. If they don't put it all on the Durham man, the question becomes whether they retain Jordan or back the swing of Willey.

Rain? Yes, and it currently looks favourite. If rain does win then perhaps the trophy should be awarded to Mother Nature, rather than sharing it. The final starts at 19:00 local time. The Met Office reckoning it'll be heavy rain throughout the day, night and into the early hours of Monday. The BBC's forecast a little more optimistic, reckoning the rain might ease between 20:00 and 21:00 for a few hours.

Remember it has to be ten overs minimum for a contest, and there's no extra, extra time for the Sunday - the cut off is 22:40 local time.

Monday? That forecast currently looks worse than Sunday! Can't they just move the final to Perth? The forecast is typically Australian over there.

If we do get a game I'd probably make England 55-45 favourites. They have a depth and explosive to their batting that Pakistan lack; plus the form of Woakes, Rashid and Curran is looking good. The omens aren't looking good though - Pakistan v England at the MCG in a world final again, plus the other negatives that happened to England in the rugby this weekend. It doesn't bode well.

[alfie]

Nearly 11 am here and so far no rain since the middle of the night - in fact the sun was out a little while ago , though it has since clouded over a bit. Weather bureau still going with the lots of rain forecast but at least we are getting some drying hours at present !

I really shouldn't get too hopeful , but at present the radar indicates rain bands missing the city over the next few hours at least. Could it be the Big Wet won't materialize ?

[alfie]

Don't know about Omens , Duty ... though there was a large black crow sitting on a neighbour's roof this morning

... but I agree England's batting does look to have more depth - and probably reliability - than that of Pakistan. Trouble is , this can sometimes count for little in t20 (especially in reduced over games) as it only takes one batsman to go nuts and a game can swing in a few balls...

The other apparent advantage for England might be fielding : theirs has been generally excellent all tournament ; but I have to admit Pakistan surprised me with how their own sometimes suspect fielding really lifted for that semi win over NZ. Reckon both sides have a good deal of quality in the bowling department - though I am sure England would be happier if Wood were to be found OK for the final. I am not overconfident of that I'm afraid : but perhaps if the game were delayed to Monday ?

[alfie]

After three now and still not a drop of the threatened rain...ironically if this were a day game we'd have started on time ...

Bit cloudy and breezy and my cat just came inside which might not be a good sign but at the moment all the (quite heavy looking ! ) rain bands are tracking well north or south-west of the city.

Remaining hopeful ; but not too hopeful because the cat is a better weather prophet than me

[Pal Joey]

Yes, it looks ok, alfie. Watching the WBBL from the Junction Oval on TV... so far so good.

Caught an uber home from a school reunion last night and noticed the driver had a similar first name to one of our opening test batsmen - Khawaja.
So we pretty much talked about the match all the way home. He seemed very confident that the weather would hold (he must have relatives in Melbourne, no?) and even more confident about his team in green. "Lightning (meaning Buttler and Hales) can't strike in the same place twice" was his theory...

Anyway, keep us in the frame with your cat barometer, alfie. That's the best indicator. What the hell would an uber driver know anyway?  

[alfie]

Hi PJ...

Still dry. Cat back outside napping. Just came back from a walk and noted breeze freshening and some cloud but no thunderheads -yet. Radar still indicating rain bands to north and south but none on target.

Still can't shake the nasty feeling the rain is just waiting for the toss...

[alfie]

As for lightning striking twice ... I do wonder if Hales and Buttler can blast away successfully again (if they fall early , the fact that the rest of England's bats have had very little play recently might count against them) ; but one might say the same of Pakistan's Babar and Rizwan , no ?

MCG is a bit different from Sydney or Adelaide - especially with all this rain around. Might be a bit more bowler-friendly than either ? Batting first team may not need quite such a large score - but if rain and DLS intervened the chaser could be advantaged...Honestly , game could go either way very easily - who knows ?

I'd ask the cat , but he only does weather reports.

[alfie]

Toss won by England ...bowling first. Both teams unchanged.

No rain. Can see some on radar which may or may not be on course but it is a fair way off. Action in twenty five minutes...

Cat still asleep

[Duty281]

Good toss to win. Good the rain has currently stayed away. Not so good that Wood can't play.

Come on, England!

[alfie]

Let battle commence !

[Duty281]

Oh dear, Stokes starting with a no-ball and a wide...but escapes the free hit.

Some obvious swing available early on.

[alfie]

Awful start from Stokes with an immediate no ball followed by a wide ...

Hope that's the nerves done with !

[alfie]

And a missed run out ! Nervous start from both sides...

[Duty281]

Would back Jordan to hit the stumps from there, more times than not.

Bit of a wild start. Let's see what Woakes can do.

[Duty281]

An astonishing six from Rizwan, amazing batting. Babar not quite timing them at the other end, but this is still becoming a very solid start for Pakistan.

Over-rate has been a bit slow from England to start, hope that doesn't cost them later on!

[alfie]

Pakistan starting to motor against Woakes. but the excellent Curran strikes !

That's one they wanted...

[Duty281]

The little break does it. Big wicket to get Rizwan who was looking the more dangerous of the two.

[alfie]

Two magnificent overs from Curran

[Duty281]

Yep, two excellent overs from Curran, not quite the same for Woakes, as his radar has been awry.

In the balance after the PowerPlay.

[alfie]

But Woakes is not really getting it right I'm afraid...I'd have hoped in these conditions he'd have been dangerous but so far he's just leaked runs with too much leg side stuff.

Not disastrous , 39/1. But Curran's overs were mainly responsible for keeping them to that.

[KP_fan]

back to my home base and watching on a proper TV screen
A few balls have jumped off a length....plus ball not coming on the bat
160 would be good to get and very defendable

Pak can play normally and if rain does come, DLS will appropriately amend the chase upwardly in Pak

I don't see the point in Eng sending Pak in.......I hope Eng are not overplaying for the rain that may never come

[Duty281]

Stokes' 2 overs have passed with little incident, which is good news for England. Time to see if Rashid can deliver in these middle-overs and give his side supremacy. Feels like England are in control, but one big over changes that.

Breakthrough! Haris, an innings of frustration for him.

[alfie]

Rashid

[alfie]

Was about to post that the Rashid spell will be the key to this innings ...but he was too quick for me

What a start for him ...a real danger man gone cheaply.

I tend to agree with KP_fan that they won't need such a monster score today ; but think England will be happy with this first eight overs.

[alfie]

I wonder if we will see Livingstone in this middle period ? Pakistan pair ran very well to score briskly against Jordan ; but Rashid not giving them much. 68/2 halfway...

[Duty281]

In the balance at halfway, still. Good running between the wickets keeping Pakistan going. 150+ eminently possible from here.

Would like to see Moeen get an over.

[Duty281]

Now that over gets Pakistan ahead. Explosive hitting from Masood. England need a wicket.

Rashid delivers!

[alfie]

Now that over gets Pakistan ahead. Explosive hitting from Masood. England need a wicket.

Rashid delivers!

Very timely ! Rashid bowling brilliantly

[Duty281]

Wicket maiden in a T20 World Cup final, after the previous over went for 16 - Adil Rashid, you are amazing.

[Duty281]

Surprised Stokes got the 13th, but he's delivered with a beautiful test match line and length to get the fourth wicket.

Pakistan suddenly on the ropes, England can knock them down here.

[alfie]

So Rashid is done with 2/22...Pakistan will be glad to see the back of him !

Stokes chipping in with that useful wicket so it is down to Jordan , Curran and presumably Woakes (or Stokes ?) to finish up. 98/4 ...Pakistan will want to go hard but don't have a lot of resources after these two...

[alfie]

I do fear Jordan may be the one they get after in this late period...even the other day , he was rather expensive , though he took important wickets.

More wickets now could be crucial...

[Duty281]

106/4, 5 to go. Back to in the balance. Shan Masood is striking the ball magnificently - if he bats through, Pakistan may get 160+.

Stokes is going to bowl out....a rarity.

[Duty281]

These two are both set now, dangerous times for England. It came apart in the last four v India, perhaps the same here?

There is prodigious turn out there, I would have liked to have seen what Moeen could have done v Shan Masood.

[alfie]

Shan and Shadab are keeping Pakistan afloat with some good batting here...That last Stokes over has gone for a few so the last four could still see them up to a very decent score.

Buttler has some flexibility now with Curran (2) Jordan (2) or Woakes to cover the last four. Sam surely bowls both his ; but the other end is a choice...

And Curran has the wicket of Shan Masood !

[alfie]

These two are both set now, dangerous times for England. It came apart in the last four v India, perhaps the same here?

There is prodigious turn out there, I would have liked to have seen what Moeen could have done v Shan Masood.

Think it's in Moeen's contract now : only bowls the first over in the PP

TBH I'm not sure I'd want to risk him , given the other options they have.

[Duty281]

Curran's figures simply outrageous and another big wicket. Need to hope Jordan backs him up at the other end.

He does, he does! England in a great position, just need to close it out and keep Pakistan below 150.

[alfie]

Smart bowling from Jordan ! Gets Shadab...Pakistan down to the tail now at 123/6.

That was another important wicket.

[alfie]

And comedy stuff now with a dropped catch and some rather silly buzzers... Calm down , England ...

[GSC]

England just have a habit of controlling the run rate with timely wickets today. Pakistan haven't gotten their foot on the accelerator at any point. Now have to close out the innings

[alfie]

Three for Curran ...what a fine performance from him - again.

Need Jordan to finish things off neatly now.

[Duty281]

Sam Curran - 3/12 in a World T20 final.

Player of the tournament. Hope he gets to hit the winning runs later...joke, I don't want that much drama!

[GSC]

Wasim finally connects with one and he's out

[alfie]

Livingstone the ball-magnet...yet another catch and it's 131/8. Jordan good against the tail...

Total of 137. Really should be chase able...

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