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England’s players got their Timmy Chalamet on for their commute to the ground. Begs the question, do they have a joint ECB account with associated perks or do they all have to do the Lime bike dance individually? Park properly, take the photo, upload the photo.
My money is on Joe Root parking very precisely and neatly in a designated bay and maybe Brydon Carse leaving his back wheel in the way of pedestrians. What’s in his basket*?
*A pair of boots? A couple of energy drinks? Gwyneth Paltrow’s head?
England win the toss and will BOWL first
Harry Brook inserts the visitors upon getting the call of the coin. No surprises there with grey clouds lingering in South London.
“If this was in our village league, West Indies would be conceding the toss and losing one over of batting per 3.5 minutes after the start time that they weren’t ready to play. Presumably it’s similar in ODIs?” Phil Russell takes no prisoners. Terrifying.
“I’m not superstitious but I’d be worried if I were an Australian cricket fan.” Writes Charlie Tinsley.
“Given how their batsmen react to a bail being rotated at the end of an over, this must be sending shockwaves through the home dressing room...”
That is some sardine. Creepy. We’ll take anything to help us out Down Under this winter I reckon – A maiden Joe Root Test ton in Australia, Jofra Archer fit and raring, a MASSIVE apocalyptic fish…
Go on then, sling us your tales of when you’ve been woefully late for an important occasion. I don’t want any wedding jilters, ideally, but everything else is fair game.
Toss at 1pm - the match is due to start at 1.30pm
That’s if the rain stays away, it’s greyer than Gandalf on a hangover at The Oval at the minute.
Meanwhile… Ashes fever building Down Under:
England’s players are doing their keepy-uppies on the outfield, it is gloomy but crucially not raining at the moment.
You’ve got to feel for West Indies, we’ve all been there - arriving sweaty, harangued and late to an important date. Word is that they’ve now arrived at the ground. A quick check of Google maps suggests there were some snarl ups around central London, Kensington looked particularly nasty or maybe Shai Hope left his Oyster card in his hotel room?
Play delayed by... traffic
It isn’t the weather that is delaying the start here at The Oval but good old London traffic. It looks like West Indies didn’t do what any Londoner worth their salt does, the old ‘give yourself an hour at least to get anywhere’.
An ECB note pings around the press box:
“Due to a delayed arrival of one of the playing teams, who are stuck in heavy traffic north of the river, the scheduled start of play will be delayed.
Once all members of the playing teams arrive, the match officials will coordinate updated timings and discuss any impact on the schedule of play.
We will update spectators with the schedule of play as soon as we are able to.”
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the third and final ODI of the series between England and West Indies from The Oval.
Harry Brook’s England side are sitting pretty having secured the series already, largely thanks to one of the most sublime fifty over centuries you are ever likely to see courtesy of Joseph Edward Root.
Sophia Gardens shimmered under Root’s batting spell on Sunday, 166 runs of the highest order as England chased down 308 runs without really getting a bead on. Don’t just take my word for it, Jonny Liew felt compelled to dip his quill about what he calls Root’s “greatest white ball innings.”
The winning moment is perfect. Perfect in concept, in balance, in execution, in placement, in flourish. The ball disappears through mid-on, and before it has even reached the boundary the lid is off and the smile is unsheathed, and for some reason it matters a great deal that the stroke to complete a towering one-day chase of 309 is not a wallop or a swipe, but an artful on-drive for four.”
The series may be in the bag but Captain Brook has spoken a lot about wanting his side to be ‘ruthless’, he’ll want his side to make it a clean sweep in the ODI series before the T20 portion of West Indies’ tour gets underway in Durham on Friday.
Also – whisper it - but England’s fielding also left a lot to be desired on Sunday, dropped catches, fluffed run outs and mis-fields in the deep showed they still have plenty of work to do before they become slicker than a Brylcreem’d BP salesman and transform into a well drilled winning machine.
Shai Hope’s side put up a much better display in Wales than the first game capitulation in Birmingham, Keacy Carty continued his excellent form to rack up his fourth ODI century and they’ll be desperate to get a win under their belts on this tour.
Play is due to get underway at 1pm but there is some weather around here at The Oval, fingers crossed the grey clouds lift and we get a game in. As ever, drop us a line if you are tuning in.
