3 hours ago
7
Key events
Harry Brook says he wanted to bat anyway, so happy days. Iyer says the wicket won’t change much, so presumably India want to know the task ahead of them with the bat.
India win the toss and will bowl
Shreyas Iyer calls heads correctly, and there’s a small bump in fortunes for India.
There we have it: the toss will be 45 minutes after the scheduled time, then a shortened break before play, which will start 30 minutes after the scheduled time.
Footage on the telly of India’s players arriving at the ground. We’re waiting on revised start times.
Also remarkable, considering the adventure that is travelling by road in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, that Indian teams still consistently reach the ground on time in all of those places, but had to come to England to get a bad enough traffic jam to keep them from playing.
Start delayed
This is a comical one. The start of this match will be delayed. Not because of rain, not because of lightning. Not because of bees. Not because of stray crossbow bolts. No, the start of this match will be delayed because of… traffic.
The Indian bus is stuck in traffic, and the players couldn’t get to the ground in time.
Who would have predicted that the cricket ground nestled between two motorways, miles outside of the nearest town, with no reasonable means of getting there by public transport, would have problems with traffic?
Ah well, good thing there’s an Ashes Test scheduled there next year, no doubt that will go swimmingly.
Preamble
Geoff will be here shortly.
