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Key events
The covers are back on, though it may just be a precaution. I don’t know as TV coverage in the UK at the moment consists of an advert for Smug Blended Oat & Dairy Milk.
My word, what a performance from Scotland’s opening games. Michael Jones did most of the work before the rain break; after him George Muncie smashed 23 off 12 balls.
“What’s up with this DLS?” says Felix Wood. “Scotland get 90 in 10 overs, six of which are Powerplay, and the target becomes 109 with only two Powerplay overs? That strikes me as a bit of a disadvantage for England.”
I guess the fact that they didn’t lose a wicket when the rain stopped play was a factor, although it’s too complex for my brain.
10th over: Scotland 90-0 (Muncy 41, Jones 45) A very good last over from Rashid, full of changes of pace and line. He conceded just four singles off the first five balls, but then Jones hit a four to end the innings on a high note. England need 109 from 10 overs to win.
9th over: Scotland 82-0 (Muncy 39, Jones 39) Munsey bowls a seasoned yorker from Jordan over backward square leg for six. However, Jordan is doing really well, conceding just four of the remaining five deliveries. There was a recommended break from the last ball when Archer hit the stumps directly over long-on. Jones’ bat stuck, but his feet were over the line.
It’s raining again, although the game continues for now. Rashid will bowl the last one.
If Scotland get 90, England’s target will be 109 in 10 overs. ike chris jordan will beat the ninth.
8th over: Scotland 72-0 (Muncy 30, Jones 39) Great batting from George Muncy! He just edged Rashid for a four and a six, the latter an 84-metre beast.
Rashid’s first over goes for 18. Is something genius happening?
7.3 overs: Scotland 61-0 (Muncy 19, Jones 39) Michael Jones hits Rashid’s first ball for a flat hit straight sixthen Review of England failed for trailing against Muncie. He misdirected the shot and the ball spun into Butler’s gloves.
Rashid thought there might have been a touch along the way; there was none. It’s a dot ball after all, and now they’re valuable.
7th over: Scotland 54-0 (Muncy 19, Jones 32) Moeen is doing very well, conceding just three off the last four balls and one of those came from Munsey’s uppercut.
Now it’s time for Adil Rashid.
The football players are back on the field. And England, against all expectations, is in the game. Scotland would continue at 51 for 0 after 6.2 overs with Moeen Ali completing the seventh over.
Play resumes at 19:10 BST (14:10 local)!
There will be 10 overs per side, with England chasing a revised target. Each player will be allowed a maximum of two overs, meaning Archer and Wood have finished their spells. Moeen Ali will complete the seventh over, then you can imagine Adil Rashid (two) and Chris Jordan (one) will bowl the last three.
If Rashid can’t catch the ball, the only other option is Harry Brook. I do not think so.
Check out at 18:50 (13:50 local time) Looks promising folks.
In the other match, Nepal are 106 for seven with eight balls remaining in the innings. Young Dutch left-arm spinner Tim Pringle took 3 for 20 in his four overs.
Netherlands are currently superior to Nepal in their first match but the support for @CricketNep it’s 🔥🔥 at the stadium, so nice to watch 👏. #NEDvNEP #T20WorldCup
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) June 4, 2024
“Instead of a real victory for Scotland, we can just pretend can’t we?” Simon McMahon asks. “Rishi Sunak, can you hear me? We beat England at cricket! Lord Nelson, Jos Buttler, Winston Churchill, Jude Bellingham, Keir Starmer, Luke Littler, your boys took a hell of a beating, hell of a beating.”
Loooooooooke Litttttttttttttler will sound great in Bjørge Lillelien’s voice.
“Looks like a DLS runchase for England,” writes Rick Foote. “The offer is 77 from 6 overs or 66 from 5, both of which look very difficult; but credit to Scotland for the excellent start and if Salt gets off to a flyer as he is wont to do then England’s top six could make short work.’
You’d still fancy England, but there’s not much room for error if the DLS calculation is correct. And Scotland’s strength is their bowling.
“I have been very fortunate to see a lot of cricket at the Oval in the 1970s and 1980s when the cream of the crop of West Indies fast bowlers played on the county circuit,” says Ian Birch. “Undoubtedly the most feared bowler was Sylvester Clarke. In the international wilderness, he uses his time to rattle the helmets and ribs of batsmen around the country.
“He always seemed to up his pace when bowling to his fellow West Indies, just to remind them what he could do. He was quick and mean, no wonder every batsman wanted to get off the other end and face Robin Jackman instead. I will never understand how tailenders found the courage to come out and face him. Absolutely terrifying.”
This obituary, written after his shocking death at the age of 44, gives an insight into what he wanted to face.
West Indies named their team for the Test series in England this summer. There are some serious fast bowlers in the list.
Relegation would not be the end of the world for either team. But if England then lose against Australia on Saturday, they could be another washout (never mind another defeat) from elimination.
we* i think the cut-off for the five-over run chase is 2.48pm local time, 7.48pm BST. Test Match Special’s Henry Moeran reckons England’s target will be 66. This could all be academic as it is clearly still downhill.
* I say “we”; Ali Martin did 99.94 percent of the work.
Nepal reached 53 for 4 after 10 overs against Netherlands. It sounds like the pitch is a bit uncomfortable and Nepal will look to their captain Rohit Paudel (15 not out) to take them to a competitive total.
No news is bad news
It’s crashing right now, so it might be a while before the game resumes. England look to DLS runchase.
Netherlands vs Nepal last
“Many more Nepalis in Dallas than Dutch as Holland wins first,” wrote Romeo. “Nepal are 17 for 2 after 3.2 overs. “The Nepal team is very young, a few teenagers, the captain is only 21, but they have a veteran from their last (only previous) World Cup appearance in 2014 in Sompal Kami. The field folds and rotates.”
I hope Andrew Leonard will comment; he spoke so well of Nepal on the Atters and Nasser World Cup Preview Podcast.
The covers are coming back. Great.
The DJ plays I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash, which may give some of you a broken mirror, black cat, Friday the 13th feeling.
The covers are off The rain blew out pretty quickly so the players should be back in the next 5-10 minutes.
The Scotland Live Blog is not a Scotland Live Blog until we hear from Simon McMahon and that’s it.
I was thinking 150 myself, Rob. If we do, permission to sing wildly? Damn you, hope.
They have a chance here. There are obvious parallels with Ireland’s victory over England in the last World Cup.
“Everybody’s Evening” writes Mark Dixon. “I enjoy watching England, Scotland in Barbados from Zimbabwe. Re: The Barbadian XI – one of the problems with having so many great players is not having enough real estate around the field for all the deserving names. I notice that in Barbados they put two names on each stand.’
It helps that so many of the greats have had famous partnerships. Greenidge and Haynes; the three W’s; Hall and Griffith. In contrast, the stance of the nurse and garner would look a bit odd.
Rain stops play
6.2 overs: Scotland 51-0 (Muncy 18, Jones 30) And they are off. The break came at a good time for England, whose start was not the most auspicious. There were a couple of misfields in the covers – not shocking, but still misfields – and a wicket after a no-ball.
6th over: Scotland 49-0 (Muncy 17, Jones 29) Chris Jordan’s second ball is monstrously pulled six by Michael Jones, on the roof with solar panels and off the ground. Welcome home. This shot produced one of John Davison’s sixes when he went ballistic against New Zealand in 2003.
Jones is playing great here. He makes it 14 off three balls with back-to-back boundaries through the covers and mid-wicket. That wraps up a great Powerplay for Scotland.
“Holland v Nepal (my cousins’ clash) is also being postponed but should start at 5pm UK time,” Romeo wrote. “One surprise (to me) is that Sagar Dhakal was selected for Nepal and not the more experienced SLA Lalit Rajbanshi.”
5th over: Scotland 34-0 (Muncy 17, Jones 13) Wood dismissed the LBW appeal against Munsey. It was a sharp pitch, just over 94 mph, but missing leg.
Oh my God, Wood took a wicket off a no-ball. Muncy threw the ball miles in the air and was caught by Buttler running back to the boundary, but England soon heard the siren of fate.
Munsey misses the resulting free-kick, the ball staying very low. If Scotland get 140 here…
4th over: Scotland 28-0 (Muncy 14, Jones 13) Narrower second over from Archer, both in line and runs conceded. Jones is beaten by a good off-cutter and hit in the glove (I think) by a beautiful hitter.
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