Key events
This is your ten-minute warning
Play will resume, all being well, at 1.40pm in Guyana, 6.40 BST.
“So,” says Damian Clarke, “yer men in pink have a feck-off great umbrella to shield themselves from the sun. Bless .”
The sun goes in, rather inconveniently. And the super-sopper comes out, presumably to attend to those wet patches.
The sun is out
As the umps stroll out for the next inspection, the sun is shining on their pink shirts – but they’re taking a long hard look at some wet patches near the fast bowlers’ run-ups. They may have to treat this pitch like bad light: sorry guys, slow bowlers only. Jasprit won’t object, will he?
“I think a fairer system,” says John Tagg in upstate New York, “would be that, in the event of the game being abandoned, the winner should be the country bringing in the most revenue to the ICC and that would mean … ah yes, it’s already happening.”
The umpires’ indecision is final
There’s just been an inspection, and the umpires’ decision is … to hold another inspection! At quarter-past.
“Anyone nervous yet, Tim?” says Guy Hornsby. “I very much am, but that’s just being an England fan, eh. Those early wickets were crucial, but this is the danger partnership. Both SKY and Rohit look really up for it but with the weather it’s not clear what par is (170-80?) or what we’d be happy chasing. With India you feel beyond their Top 6 they’re more brittle but it won’t matter if they’ve got to 150 before the likes of Jadeja is in. A greasy pitch isn’t going to aid spin either, but we’ll probably not know if fielding first was the right call until the end. Argh.”
“There’s blazing sunshine and dazzling blue skies here in St John’s Wood,” says Yacine Sommar. “Maybe a possible future venue for cricket matches in June.”
Rohit the star
The player of the match so far is Rohit, with 37 off 26 balls. He mistimed a few early on before finding his touch in ominous fashion. England’s left-arm seamers did well to get rid of Kohli and Pant, but that just brought in SKY, who has started better than anyone with 13 off seven. Advantage India, I’d say – their run rate, a little over 8, may not sound like much to write home about, but it could turn out to be formidable on this slow surface.
Rain stops play!
Just as Jos Buttler reaches for the Licorice Allsorts, also known as Liam Livingstone, the rain gets heavier and the umpires take the players off. No overs will be lost yet, though, because of the four-hour safety net that is in place just for this match.
8th over: India 65-2 (Rohit 37, Yadav 13) On comes England’s fifth bowler, Chris Jordan, fresh from his hat-trick against the USA. He starts steadily, with three singles, but then Yadav plays a ramp-flick for six! Ten off the over. “England started well,” says Harsha. Up to a point: they need a wicket. This partnership is 25 off 16 balls, which is good going on this slow surface.
7th over: India 55-2 (Rohit 35, Yadav 5) Here’s Adil Rashid, England’s trump card … but he’s up against Rohit, who greets him with a reverse sweep for four, then a conventional sweep for four more. Rashid manages a couple of dots and finishes by beating SKY’s inside edge. Buttler appeals for LBW, Rashid is not interested. It’s raining, but the umpires have narrowly decided to keep the players on.
6th over: India 46-2 (Rohit 26, Yadav 5) Pant flicked Curran off his toes, but the ball didn’t come on as he expected. Everyone has struggled to find their timing at first … except Suryakumar Yadav, who drives his second ball for a lovely straight four. At the end of the Powerplay, it’s game on! As long as it’s not covers on.
WICKET! Pant c Bairstow b Curran 4 (India 40-2)
Scrap that! Pant’s first attempt at a flourish ends up with a simple catch at midwicket.
5th over: India 40-1 (Rohit 25, Pant 4) Topley continues and Rohit plays his most commanding shot so far, a fierce pull that skims to the boundary at square leg. Then he steps outside leg to play an inside-out drive with lovely timing. After taking four overs to get used to this pitch, he is looking himself again – and allowing Rishabh Pant to settle in on second fiddle.
“Just starting to get a little darker,” says Harsha Bhogle. “Not sure you’ll want to hear me saying that.”
4th over: India 29-1 (Rohit 16, Pant 2) Rohit glides Archer past backward point for two, then gets a leading edge that loops over mid-off. Later in the over he does it again, over the covers. That’s the measure of this pitch: it has reduced Rohit to inelegance.
3rd over: India 21-1 (Rohit 9, Pant 1) Kohli did connect with one of those big shots, whipping Topley over midwicket. Then he got a leading edge to a full toss, picking up two back past the bowler. And he seemed to be on his way – but if he was, it was in a different sense, as he missed again and Topley hit the leg bail. So Kohli maintains his poor form (75 in seven innings) and his modest strike rate (a run a ball).
WICKET! Kohli b Topley 9 (India 19-1)
Bowled him! And Kohli had just hit Topley for six.
2nd over: India 11-0 (Rohit 9, Kohli 1) Jofra Archer starts with a back-of-a-length ball that keeps low and Kohli misses with another big shot. He takes a single to give the strike back to Rohit, who is tucked up by a shortish ball. When Archer drops shorter still, Rohit pulls and misses. Then he cuts and misses. Memo to Mike Atherton, great judge as he is: this does not seem to be a perfect pitch. Rohit connects with the last ball, playing a controlled cut, and Phil Salt at backward point doesn’t see it! Maybe because it was going too slowly.
1st over: India 6-0 (Rohit 5, Kohli 0) Topley starts with a dot, quite an achievement when tackling Rohit, who either plays at a wide one or lets it go, hard to tell. Then there’s an edge, but it’s a thick one, racing through the vacant gully for four. Rohit pushes for a single, Kohli pushes for another dot. Just when it seems there’s no swing, Topley curls one back through the gate as Kohli goes for a big shot and misses. Another single, to get Kohli up and running – hang on, it’s a leg-bye.
The sun is out, for now, and Reece Topley has the new ball. He has bowled pretty well without taking wickets – just one so far, from memory.
The anthems have been sung, and now Rohit and Virat are loitering with intent.
A reader writes … from Georgetown! “Striking a positive note here and speaking up for the herbal fortitude of the ground at Providence,” says Will Evans. “I’ve seen a couple of Caribbean Premier League matches there, and a couple of internationals. This is an excellent playing surface (very good drainage per the Hooghaudt equation to be precise) … all the more important in Guyana, the ‘Land of Many Waters’.
“If there’s a half chance of getting a full match or reduced overs, I’m confident the groundstaff will pull it off. Quick shout also for Akeal Hosein, who produced a magical 5-11 spell for WI against Uganda at Providence earlier in the tournament. A superb bowling performance. “
Strange but true
Jos Buttler and Rohit Sharma are both captains and both openers. They’ve faced the same number of balls in this World Cup – 120, the same as a complete T20 innings. And they’ve made the same number of runs – 191. In the league table of best strike rates for this tournament (min. 50 runs), they stand eighth equal. Kohli, by the way, is 66th.
“It’s incredibly dry,” says Mike Atherton in his pitch report. “It’s a perfect pitch. Quite cracked but the cracks are quite solid. I’d expect it to be a low skiddy surface for the spinners. The surrounds are incredibly dry, apart from one area where the faster bowlers come in – that’s a bit sawdust-y.”
So, says Ian Ward, the quicker bowlers should keep the stumps in play? “Yes,” says DK, “that’s what you do in Guyana.”
Sounds to me as if Virat Kohli might come good today. He has only 66 runs in six innings so far, but cometh the hour, cometh the star.
Teams: both unchanged
England 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Reece Topley.
India 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
Toss: England win and bowl first
“With the rain around,” Jos Buttler says. “We think it could be good to bowl first… Huge excitement, we’re playing a top team.”
Rohit Sharma says he would have batted first anyway. “Looks a little dry. As the game goes on, it tends to get slower and slower.”
Five minutes to the toss!
England v India set for an 1145am start local time, with a toss at 1120am
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) June 27, 2024
“Preaching to the converted I know,” says Rob Knap, “but out of curiosity I just googled ‘Georgetown rainfall. All returns presenting ‘June is the wettest month’ or something similar. 320ish mm of rain in June on average! Even to a layman that seems like an awful lot of rain.
“But I wonder, does anyone reading this blog really care *that* much about this game or how the tournament finishes? I mean, if you’re a South African fan I genuinely can understand the excitement. India have gone a while without winning what should be ‘their tournament’, so there’s that. Otherwise though, no worries – the next T20 quick fix will roll along soon enough for the cricket (and live-betting) junkies.
“There have been some wonderful and unique moments in this tournament, but they’ve already happened: Afghanistan, Nepal, US, etc. The moments involving the cricketers we see playing around the world in different colours every couple of months are becoming less and less unique and memorable. There is still the odd delight (like Rohit the other day), even if you’ve probably seen something similar before, quite recently. I wonder if other readers here share my numbed feelings around T20?
“Thanks for the updates!” It’s our pleasure. My guess, for what it’s worth, is that you may well be right about people not being too bothered. But I wouldn’t assume that the magic moments have all happened. This is top-class sport – the magic can rear its head at any moment. Even on a wet Thursday in Guyana.
“Is it cowardly,” asks Mark Hooper, “to pray for a rain-affected minimum-overs slogfest?” Good line.
The players are out there. Most of the England team are playing football (gentle keepy-uppy), but Jofra Archer and Sam Curran are doing a bit of bowling. “It is so humid,” Ian Ward says, “the ball has been hooping.”
There will be an inspection at 11.15am local time, which is 4.15pm BST. So the earliest we’ll get any play is in about 50 minutes – and only if the rain holds off.
Better news
A correction! And an interesting one. Can I hastily make out that I meant none of them had played a senior international here?
@TimdeLisle in your preamble to the England match, you said no England player had played an international at Providence stadium. Not true! Jofra archer played for WI U19s against Bangladesh, getting trounced in the process: https://t.co/9x1r4mC24k
— . (@hectorthebat) June 27, 2024
The umbrellas are up around the ground and the super-sopper is in action. In Cape Town, Wayne Murray is replying to my retort. “Thanks for the response,” he says, “and I’ll make an excuse for only scanning the Preamble … I’ve been up since 2am for the (wild) Proteas v Afghanistan semi-final. Now, at the end of my work-day, I’m flagging.” Fair enough!
“If only India had come second in the Super Eights,” says David Howell. “Then (assuming this match isn’t played) they’d have been eliminated by their own governance effectively running the ICC.
“Putting a semi-final with no reserve day in the Amazon rainforest in June? That is, in every sense, a thunderous lack of common sense.”
It’s raining again
As Dinesh Karthik stands there talking in a sunhat, rain starts falling around him. It’s going to be one of those days.
“Weathering expectations,” says Wayne Murray. “Greetings from a (very) unseasonably warm Cape Town. I’m in a T-shirt enjoying 25 degree weather when it should be closer to 11 and storming. I won’t complain about the weather.
“On that point, what does happen if the T20 World Cup semi-final match in Guyana is washed out today? Is tomorrow a reserve day? Or does the team with the highest NRR win by default?” No reserve day, India win – see the Preamble!
The groundstaff are out there now, perhaps stung by Ward’s comment. Meanwhile Eoin Morgan is being asked if it might suit England for the game to be reduced. Maybe, he reckons. It could be “more of a dogfight than a slugfest”.
On Sky, the weatherman is Ian Ward. “The covers are still on,” he reports, “and the groundstaff are not making any effort to take them off. They were very proactive … about an hour and a half ago.”
Toss delayed!
As threatened, the toss has been delayed … but it’s not raining at the moment, so it could be worse.
How green is your outfield?
The first email of the day comes from Victor Manley. “I would love to send the standard ‘if only they were playing in my back garden it would be fine’ email,” he says, “but I’m in Glasgow and it’s carting it down here as well.
“It’s hard to think of a worse place to play cricket in late June than Guyana… Maybe the Arctic? Or the Mariana trench? Looking forward to the OBO…if it ever comes.”
A glimmer
Preamble
Hello everyone and welcome to the biggest game of this World Cup so far. It’s the holders against the favourites. It’s Jos Buttler against Jasprit Bumrah. It’s Rohit Sharma against Jofra Archer. It’s the flashing blade against the turning ball. And it’s cricket against the weather.
The first semi-final was an absolute shower and the second threatens to be just one downpour after another. We are not in North America now, we’re not in the Caribbean either – we’re on the north coast of South America, close to the rainforest, in the rainy season.
The clue is in the name: Guyana is an indigenous word meaning the land of many waters. I went there once to cover a Test match and not a single ball was bowled, though, to be fair, the clouds did clear in time to allow an impromptu ODI.
England haven’t been to Guyana since the last World Cup in these parts, 14 years ago. None of their players has appeared in an international at Providence Stadium, not even Buttler with his vast experience. The pitch tends to offer meagre bounce as well as lavish turn. England have just the one specialist spinner, the red-hot Adil Rashid, plus two handy part-timers in Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, whereas India routinely pick three proper twirlers – Kuldeep Yadav for the wristy mysteries, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja for some solid slow left-arm. In this light, it’s even easier than usual to picture an England collapse.
India hold a few other aces. The weather gods are on their side: if the match is abandoned, they go through (because they topped their group in the Super Eights). And it will be abandoned if we don’t get ten overs a side, rather than the normal five. There is no reserve day, just an extra four hours. It’s as if the ICC have gone out of their way to add to their collection of scheduling abominations.
These are advantages, though, that India don’t need. They have the tools, the talent and the temperament to win any game fair and square. You can tell that this is quite a team when the weakest link is a man called Kohli. They should have a powerful motive too, as the last time they met England in a T20 World Cup semi-final, they lost by ten wickets.
England have staggered through to this stage largely by virtue of demolishing the smaller teams (not that that is to be sniffed at – their football counterparts could really do with it). Their only big performance against big opponents came when they dismantled West Indies. Can they do it against the biggest nation of all? I rather doubt it, but you never know.
Play starts, with a bit of luck, at 3.30pm (BST). I’ll be back soon with the toss and teams, or some exciting news about the weather.