So it’s a no-result and South Africa keep their 1-0 lead. England can’t win the series, but they can level it in the third and final ODI at Jo’burg on Sunday (10am local, 8am in the UK). England leave Durban empty-handed, apart from one tiny moral victory: their wily old captain, Eoin Morgan, outwitted his brand-new counterpart, Quinton de Kock, by bringing on Joe Root’s non-turning off-breaks for the sixth over. But the South Africans can be satisfied with the way Reeza Hendricks played, timing and placing the ball beautifully, come rain or shine.
Thanks for your correspondence and your company. It’s been a non-event on the field, but a red-letter day for the OBO: the day we were asked for relationship advice (16:07). Sarah and John, we dedicate this soggy, stop-start OBO to you, and hope that, even in the gloom, sparks fly.
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It's all over
Match abandoned, alas.
The cut-off is in half an hour
If they’re not back on by 7.22pm local time (5.22 in the UK), it’s game over. In the unlikely event that they are on by then, it’ll be a T20, which will be tough on South Africa, who spent the first half an hour of their innings, many moons ago, playing 50-over cricket.
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The England players are still out there. Chris Woakes is giving autographs, presumably scribbling “Liam Plunkett”.
It's raining heavily now
This could be curtains.
“Anonymous (’s friend) is emailing the OBO for dating advice?” says Robin Hazlehurst. “Wow! No really, wow, having met several OBO followers on OBOccasionals tours, I can safely say she doesn’t want to be doing that! Or at least she doesn’t want to be following any resulting advice.”
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Rain stops play! (SA 71-2)
As Bavuma departs, so does everyone else – except the England players, who are lingering out there in light drizzle with their “what’s the problem?” face on.
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Wicket! Bavuma lbw b Jordan 21 (SA 71-2)
Chris Jordan comes on, pins Bavuma in front, the appeal is turned down but Jonny Bairstow persuades Morgan to review.... And it’s hitting leg!
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11th over: South Africa 70-1 (Hendricks 35, Bavuma 21) Bavuma is so good at this that you wonder how on earth he is only playing his fourth ODI at the age of 29. He uses his feet to dance down the track and chip Parkinson for four, before dancing back to late-cut for a single that was worth four more. He has 21 off only 16 balls.
10th over: South Africa 61-1 (Hendricks 32, Bavuma 15) Bavuma tries to launch Tom Curran again, but he hasn’t spotted the back-of-the-hand slower ball, so it’s three rather than six.
9th over: South Africa 54-1 (Hendricks 29, Bavuma 11) Eoin Morgan, who is never fazed, brings on Matt Parkinson, whose legspin didn’t go well on debut the other day. His first over goes for six, which is respectable. And it’s raining, raining in my heart.
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8th over: South Africa 48-1 (Hendricks 25, Bavuma 10) Temba Bavuma answers my question: slap in the middle of this over. After three dots, Bavuma goes big, whipping Tom Curran over square leg for the first six of the day. Curran, unfazed, recovers well with two more dots and an LBW shout, but it’s going down.
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7th over: South Africa 42-1 (Hendricks 25, Bavuma 4) SA just carry on where they left off, Hendricks timing it, Bavuma being busy. It’ll be interesting to see when they start slogging.
Play! Again
Chris Woakes has an over to finish. His beard, grown for the Test series, now looks like a tribute to Liam Plunkett, who was harshly ditched by England after helping to win the World Cup.
“Sarah’s problem? [16:07] Easy,” says John Starbuck. “They both agree to ‘follow’ the cricket and see what kind of issues they can come up with to while away the rainy times. Assign points for inventiveness and irrelevance. If the OBO can do it, why not them?”
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“Toto,” says Robin Hazlehurst. “Rob Allen blames David Attenborough for this, but I blame the rains down in Africa. We’re not in Kansas any more.”
We have a game!
Play will start in... FOUR MINUTES. It will be a 26-over game, not T20. Aleem Dar must be an optimist. “It’s actually not that wet,” says Rob Key. “We’ve got quite an exciting game here, if the rain stays away.”
Here’s an intriguing email (not that the rest weren’t). “So,” writes Anonymous, “there’s a girl – let’s just call her Sarah, who has been ‘chatting’ (a la Love Island) to a boy – we can call him John. Things were going well, but were moving into ‘pen pal’ territory even though they both lived in the same city and John had initially mentioned meeting up, but had never really followed up with anything concrete.
“Sarah read between the lines, so threw out a ‘let’s take the pressure off and try being friends’ vibe and they agreed this was a good plan, and he suggested an afternoon watching the cricket would be a good way to kick off the friendship as they both really love the sport – and met through it.
“That afternoon was today. And there’s no cricket. Soooo…. do we assume that no cricket = no ‘mate date’? Or is there still grounds for a catch-up, even if the bonding element isn’t there? Sarah started the chat last time, so won’t initiate this time – annoying, but Sarah has standards (so she tells me…). What are we saying? Abandon match or give the partnership time to develop in another session?” Give it time! And don’t worry about any lack of action.
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“About S Sub,” says Rob Lewis. “Raman Subba Row? Still alive and kicking and living in Streatham, aged 88.” They don’t make careers like that any more: retired at 29, with a Test average of 46, to become a PR man, of all things. Though he reappeared later as a match referee, which may have been a hint that he rather missed it all.
“If Reeza Hendricks continues as he’s started,” says Romeo, “he could go on to have as successful a career as an almost-namesake musical legend. Eddie Kendricks. Or it could be just my imagination running away with me.”
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“I blame David Attenborough for this disappointment,” says Rob Allen. “According to every African wildlife documentary of his I watched as a kid, there was a rule. It only rains right at the end of the programme, when the animals have stared mournfully at a muddy pool for a good 15 minutes. But no, here it is just falling out the sky willy-nilly, with no sense of drama or timing. Tsk.” Ha. Does it count if there are reporters staring mournfully at a soggy pitch for 215 minutes?
The umpires are out there, resplendent in red. But the outfield is “pretty wet”, Nick Knight reports, and there will be another inspection at 6pm local time, 4pm in the UK. Which makes you wonder how much will change in 15 minutes.
“One for Bob O’Hara,” says Adam Giles, carrying on the conversation from 14:53. “The size of the airborne cover would obviously depend on a number of factors. Firstly, the water would have to drain outside of the ground, else you’d just have a sodden shape on the pitch that would map the shape of the cover above. Secondly, the lift that the blimp provides would have to offset the mass of the covers AND the mass of the rain landing on them. This in turn would be relative to ambient air pressure…there would be a noticeable difference in lift between Centurion and Newlands, for example.” I’ll take your word for it.
“I personally envisage something akin to the roof of a circus tent, with the central anchor point attached to the blimp, and the tether lines then attached to protrusions extending beyond the floodlights or roof of the stands, which in turn would then have waterproof webbing between them. However, this does not alleviate the safety/practicality issues pointed out by John Starbuck [14:17]. Nor does it account for possible difficulties in high winds!”
I’ve just looked up England’s record in ODIs at Kingsmead, Durban. Four matches before today. The first two, they lost, comprehensively. The next two, in 2005 and 2009, were washed out. It never rains, but...
What we need, apart from sunshine in Durban, is an email from somewhere completely unexpected. “I see you are asking for correspondence on this washed-out cricket day,” says Steven Kelk. “I am a computer scientist working at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. I have a cricket bat in my office, because there’s nothing like an air-guitar cover drive or leg glide to relieve stress. In the Netherlands a cricket bat is a little-known and apparently highly exotic object. Literally everybody who enters my office comments on it. I have discovered that there are only three comments: ‘What on earth is that? Do you use that for disciplining students?’ (40%), ‘Is that a baseball bat?’ (50%) and ‘Do you play cricket?’ (10%).
“I’m sure this tells us something profound about the interplay between cricket, the Netherlands and computer science, but I’ll leave that to the market research boys and girls at the ICC to find out. I’ll be waiting for their call!”
Word from an eyewitness at the scene. “Good day Tim.” Good day to you too, Thamsanqa Ndlovu. “Being at the ground, I doubt there would be any play again today. It’s depressing, I was really looking forward to a Bavuma ton.” Me too – though he might have his work cut out catching up with Reeza Hendricks, who’s been timing the ball like a superstar.
“Charity sale,” says David Gibson. “Are there any jumpers? Size large. I was a bit disappointed at Christmas. Many people think blue suits me. Thanks mate.”
Cometh the hour, cometh the email. “In rainy OBO fashion of finding the tiniest tangents,” says Dan Silk, “I’m wondering about the first name of the ‘S Sub’ who’s currently completing the England lineup on your scoreboard link... Spare Sub? Surplus Sub? Sub Sub? Or something more leftfield, like Septimus Sub?” I like the sound of him – a children’s book waiting to happen.
“Sadly I can’t find any player actually called Sub, but someone must have been tempted to change their name just to confuse and annoy umpire and scorers?” I think you’ll find that S Sub is actually M Ali, resorting to a change of name in a desperate bid to get onto the field. Eoin Morgan wanted an offspinner so badly that he brought Joe Root on for the sixth over (with instant success), yet he didn’t want one badly enough to pick Mo.
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Weather latest: wet wet wet
“It’s still raining out there,” says Nick Knight.
To get a game here, we’re going to need another 33 and a half overs, to make a Twenty20. If I’ve read the rules right, play would have to resume by 7pm local time (5pm in the UK) and go straight through to about 10 (8). It feels like a faint hope.
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If you’re an OBO reader who’s never got round to sending in an email, now would be a good time to start. The only item in my inbox is an announcement from Guardian Labs about this afternoon’s charity clothes sale. Very Guardian, but not very OBO.
Afternoon everyone, thanks Adam and best of luck with the birth. Hope it goes painlessly for your other half and blissfully for you. If that baby is anything like its dad, it’s going to be a bundle of energy.
Now, back to the cricket. There isn’t any.
The time has come. Everyone, thanks for your company. Five hours and 6.3 overs later, it’s time for Tim de Lisle to take the OBO baton. To a reduced game further reduced? A washout? Time will tell. I’ll be back with you during the T20s, quite possibly with a baby sitting next to me by then. Have nice weekends! Bye!
The covers are back on
I’m sorry to report, Sky Cricket’s pictures have confirmed the bad news.
“Adam Giles’s idea is interesting,” writes Bob O’Hara, “but can you ask him (or someone else) to calculate how wide they would have to be.”
I suspect we’re down a wormhole now! Embrace it. Indeed, this conversation will be Tim’s to embrace when he takes over at 3pm.
“Hi Adam.” Howdy, Robin Hazlehurst. Howdy? I’ve never said that greeting before and certainly never written it. It’s been a long morning, I guess. Hello. Howdy.
“Some mates invited me to nick off work this afternoon and watch the cricket, but I declined as I only get one pass per weekend to ‘watch sport’ in the pub and I’m saving it for the rugby tomorrow. Looks like I’ve made the right call. I agree that rain is just part of life and cricket and we should (and generally do) just accept it, but it can be a nuisance if you’ve made a special effort for a game. Just imagine, I’d have had to actually talk to people while drinking today instead of just shouting at a screen. Dodged a bullet there!”
Good shopping. I’m running the gauntlet tomorrow for the rugby too, despite being raised in Melburnian and, therefore, not understanding it. I say gauntlet as we’re well into week 40 of pregnancy - first baby. But I won’t venture too far.
Yep, the covers are off. The umpires have been out there taking a look. We must be close to some formal information about a resumption time. Hurrah!
Covers coming back off... umpires out inspecting... https://t.co/8Dfnldodoi #bbccricket #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/5E8Z40t45N
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) February 7, 2020
No news, bad news? We saw pictures of some covers coming off about quarter of an hour ago, but nothing further. News as it comes to hand I see stuff on twitter.
“Hello Adam.” Hello, Austin Baird. “Talking about blimps, drones and a roof is a well-trod path on the OBO when rain intervenes. But I’m curious as to why we can’t come to terms with ‘rain stopped play’? Stuff happens. Yes we would like a day’s play but it’s ok to shrug one’s shoulders and just accept ‘rain stopped play.’
It’s not the end of the world. Yours, in a state of zen.”
Good take! This might be the former club player (and current freelancer) in me, but I don’t mind the occasional weather delay. It’s part of what makes cricket weird.
Anyone else watching this Stokes doco on Sky? It’s really good. Ian Ward going through his two 2019 miracles, asking him what he was thinking clip by clip.
Some covers are being taken off at Durban
True story.
“Just a reminder that they play cricket under a roof at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne,” says Bruce in Australia. “Several times this season they have had big hitters like Chris Lynn and Phil Salt in the Big Bash whacking the ball - and no one has hit the roof. It’s definitely well worth exploring the potential at other venues.”
Good point. I reckon Aaron Finch is the only player to hit the Docklands roof in an actual game? Possibly a Black Caps player too, around 2005? None of that comes close to comparing with the greatest moment at that stadium, of course. “You can’t wear number 23 at Hawthorn and not be a showman!” WHAT A DAY.
John Starbuck also wants to talk blimps. “All very well, but a blimp-based cover as described would itself need very long tether lines, therefore dangerous. Also, the longer it has to function, the more likely an upset will be. Across an entire day of a Test, you’d need two more blimps ready as back-up. If used only for rain periods, the setting up and taking down actions will introduce a lag of at least one hour each, given that winds are likely too. Perhaps a giant teepee on legs, or just use the gasholder facility at the Oval instead?” I’m telling you... drones and a shadecloth!
Adam Giles is with us, tapping into some well-worn OBO territory!
“Rather than spend my Friday afternoon catching up on paperwork, I decided to deal with the conundrum of rain stopping play, and came to the thought of playing under a roof. Of course, with a sport like cricket, there is always an issue that the roof wouldn’t be high enough to prevent the ball hitting it, which would impact the game.”
Before he goes on, if you want about 500 takes on this, I’ll point you to our OBO from the rained out India v New Zealand fixture during the World Cup. Also, there’s our Final Word daily pod from one of those sodden afternoons... after a lot of consideration, we landed on a shadecloth in space held up by drones.
Back to Adam...
“So, I crunched the numbers. The fastest ball ever bowled (by one Mr. Akhtar) was clocked at 161km/h, which roughly equates to 45m/s. Assuming that the impact of bat on ball (considering energy lost through sound, heat, kinetic energy dissipated through the bat etc) can add at most at 50% of the incident velocity to the ball, this gives us 67.5m/s as a maximum ball speed off the willow. Using the equations for Kinetic Energy and Gravitational Potential Energy, and assuming 20% of energy lost to air resistance, this would give the ball a maximum possible height off the bat of 181m if it went straight up. Adding a safety factor to balance out the assumptions made, if a blimp were to hang a large cover 200m above the pitch, rain delays would be a thing of the past, and the height of the cover above the pitch would prevent it obstructing the floodlights, thus enabling the continuation of the spectacle that is a day/night match.”
A blimp! Yes! This is important work and our game thanks you for it.
“Me again, soz.” Not at all, Peter Salmon - your thoughts are welcome here. “Re bands what came and went - ever since Barney Ronay described Matthew Wade as looking like a Tugboat Captain, I’ve had Galaxie 500 on my mind... The lyrics seem so apt to Wade too.”
Just spat my water out at that perfect Barney comparison. Let’s give your song a spin as the rain gets heavier at Durban; the bigger covers now on too. Oh well.
The square and the pitch are covered. They look to be bringing out the run up tarps as well. So, even if/when this stops, we might have to wait a while. Sorry.
“Morning Adam.” Afternoon, Dave Langlois. “This is certainly a good opportunity to try out a new set of bowlers, and good on em for that. But they do look a bit toothless, especially on flat slow pitches. Good news that Jimmy’s fit but the news about Jofra is bad. Someone who ambles up and generates almost all his searing pace with his arm action cannot afford to carry any elbow problems. Maybe the poor guy is going to be a false dawn.”
Don’t worry, Jof is going to be just fine. He bowled 400 overs last year despite missing five of the Tests England played while he was eligible for service. Needs a good breather, which he gets now. The injury isn’t a major one, we’re told.
“That’s it,” declares Mark Nicholas off-mic, but we can still hear him. “They won’t play again.” Thanks mate! Way to stay upbeat! Let’s see how this plays out.
I’ll boil the kettle. Back to the inbox after that. See you there.
Rain stops play
6.3 overs: South Africa 38-1 (Hendricks 24, Bavuma 2) Another tasty drive from Hendricks, off Woakes this time, lashing him through cover. But I’m afraid to say that’s his lot for now because rain has returned. Here come the covers. URRRRGH.
6th over: South Africa 33-1 (Hendricks 20, Bavuma 1) Bavuma has one ball to look at and flicks it to midwicket to get off the mark. Until Root struck, Mark Nicholas was more interested in his clear-cut appearance, the bearded period now over: “He’s gone from being a Glastonbury regular to an accountant.” Of course, he was in the wickets in England’s win at PE just a few weeks ago. Great captaincy.
WICKET! 🇿🇦🏴
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) February 7, 2020
De Kock bowled by Root again! 💥
This time the SA skipper falls for 1️⃣1️⃣ and not 1️⃣0️⃣7️⃣
📺 Watch #SAvENG live: https://t.co/oINFYttQbc
📰 Live blog: https://t.co/UUY26grOpM pic.twitter.com/CuvO0gJBJo
WICKET! de Kock b Root 11 (South Africa 32-1)
Masterstroke from Morgan! He gets Root into the attack early in the innings and he gets through de Kock with one that skids on! He made room for himself to slap through cover but misread the bounce and paid the price. Fantastic captaincy to get his part-timer on, skittling the South African captain and talisman.
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5th over: South Africa 29-0 (de Kock 10, Hendricks 18) With the game reduced to 45 overs, the power plays are tweaked - this first period, with only two fielders permitted outside the circle, runs for nine overs not ten. Ooh, if England had a second catcher in the cordon he might have been in the game here when Woakes finds a genuine outside edge from the dangerman de Kock. That’s the second time he’s hit the seam and found considerable movement. They come back for a couple after the false stroke, the captain only back in time after a full-length dive. After settling through the middle part of the over, he finds a gap at cover for two more.
4th over: South Africa 25-0 (de Kock 6, Hendricks 18) Shot. Hendricks gets on the front foot and times a cover drive to perfection; the slow outfield isn’t denying a boundary on this occasion, South Africa’s first for the day. He makes it two in the over, hammering Curran’s non-threatening short ball through midwicket - it makes a glorious sound off his blade. Two to finish, past point, makes 11 off it.
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3rd over: South Africa 14-0 (de Kock 5, Hendricks 8) de Kock tucks one to begin, Hendricks pushing another single to cover, his captain then doing likewise. Woakes closes out the second half of the over well, sending down three tidy dots.
2nd over: South Africa 11-0 (de Kock 3, Hendricks 7) Sam Curran’s first ball slips down the legside, his second is quite full at Hendricks, driven for two through cover - another shot that would have earned him four on a quicker field. He’s on a better length after that, shaping back into the right hander then angling away. Two more to finish, clipped off middle stump, but all told, a steady start from Curran.
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1st over: South Africa 6-0 (de Kock 3, Hendricks 3) I jumped the gun a little bit posting that they were playing as the ground staff were asked to race out to repair some turf but they’ve made it to the first ball of the day, which beats de Kock outside the off stump. Lovely delivery from Woakes. The Proteas captain is off the mark with a tuck second ball, Hendricks then also away with a couple through cover thanks to a misfield on the circle by Honest Joe Denly. Woakes is straight back on his length, finding Hendricks’ edge, through fourth slip for a further single. de Kock once more, who times a lovely push through cover but only gets two for it. “That shows how much rain we’ve had,” notes Mark Nicholas.
The players are on the field!
We have lost 105 minutes so the game will be played over 45 overs. Reeze Hendricks joins his skipper, Quinton de Kock. For England, Chris Woakes has the ball in his hand. He’ll be bowling at the South African captain to begin. PLAY!
A pearler from Pete Salmon! “With the addition of Bjorn Fortuin to Andile Phehlukwayo, Beuran Hendricks, Jon-jon Smuts, Lutho Sipamla and Tabraiz Shamsi, is this the best named bowling attack in the history of cricket?”
Yes! Let’s lay all our love on newcomer Bjorn “BJORN AGAIN” Fortuin today.
“Afternoon Adam.” Hi there, Tom Hopkins. “On the really important issue raised, we park our cars in the same garage re The Like. Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? still gets a regular run out, but it looks as if you’re classing Release Me as their one proper album?” I guess I am. The one that cut through. I still return to their cover of Why When Love is Gone often. Hidden track on Release Me!
Must be a little sub-genre for bands who arrived and were brilliant before leaving just as quickly. Another of mine is [me], who I followed and adored - one and done. Not even on Spotify anymore and their website hasn’t been renewed. Sad.
To get through my inbox before we start. “Don’t forget,” writes Bill Bevan, “Great Britain have won the men’s World Cup Rugby League World Cup three times. Does that count?” It might, I’m afraid, have the tree falling in the woods issue?
“Hello Adam.” Hi, Andy Shaw. “Why not a three-year cycle of World Cups – a T20 one, an ODI one, and a Test one? The 12-team Test tournament would be organised into two round-robin groups of six, with semi-finals and a final. The finalists would therefore play seven matches, which is easily doable within the seven-week span of the 2019 World Cup. That way everyone can play as much or as little bilateral cricket as they like, with a world championship of some sort to fight for every year.”
In reality, the WTC is isn’t going to shift far from what we have at the moment. But I’m increasingly persuaded by white-ball World Cups every other year argument.
Smylers on email informs me that England haven’t yet formally made the women tri-series final. Either way, it’s the perfect prep and a benefit of being Big Three.
On women’s cricket too is Frank Morrish. “We hear a lot about Women’s T20 games, which is undoubtedly a good thing. I’ve always wondered, though, why don’t women play test matches/so few test matches? In my opinion it’s the superior game format - would like to see women play it too.”
A long and complicated story! Summed up in a sentence: scarce funds across the women’s cricket world, so only a few countries can afford the investment. Also, a lack of red-ball/multiday action at domestic level. I can’t see it changing, sadly.
And one final email on 1966 (and all that) before I politely close the book on the topic, coming in from Steven Larcombe. “When I lived in Germany, if the ball hit the bar, friends would turn to me and say, ‘ah, in England, that’s a goal, isn’t it?’”
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Quinton de Kock would have bowled too. The home skipper believes the wicket will be slow after the time under covers. There’s one change to the South African side, Lungi Ngidi rested in favour of Bjorn Fortuin, the left-arm tweaker.
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Joe Denly, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Matt Parkinson
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, JJ Smuts, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla, Tabraiz Shamsi, Bjorn Fortuin.
England are bowling
Eoin Morgan won the toss and has popped the home side in. He says the pitch looks “really good” after all the rain. They have retained the same XI as Tuesday.
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“In response to Phil Russell,” adds Adam Giles “Surely England’s prowess in extra time/overs stands testament to that everlasting quality of British stiff-upper-lip-esque grit, and for all those that consistently claim that Stokes isn’t truly English, his strong inclination towards such an attitude (whether with bat or ball) is clearly a large part of what has given him such a heroic status among those of us from Good Ol’ Blighty. Secondly, loving the response to the continued complaints about the manner in which the world cup is won. Clearly my father was right in his old adage that it’s far easier to win an argument when you have L. Everage, despite me misinterpreting him as requiring bargaining chips rather than the notable OBO pundit.”
I’m staying out of this one! Mark Gillespie has a bit more on World Cup ‘66, though: “As we’re getting into full on pedantry, Graeme Thorn isn’t completely correct on the idea that VAR would have ruled out the German equaliser. As he’s talking about the ball “hitting the German attackers arm”, the rule change on the ball only needing to hit an arm before the assist or goal only came in this season. It’s been associated with VAR because it often gets checked in that way and came in at the same time in this country, but it’s a separate rule. So in ‘66, VAR would only have been checking for
deliberate handball, which probably wouldn’t have been given.”
I wonder if 1966 will still get referenced on the OBO in 2066? I do hope so!
It's all happening quickly! Toss 12:15pm (UK time), start 12:45pm.
It will be reduced to a 45-over fixture. So there we have it.
The covers are off!
Positive pictures from the ground. Might we be heading towards a toss? Stand by.
“So, Sir James Anderson is commentating on Sky,” notes Alistair Connor while we wait. “Nice to see he’s preparing a post-player career, but aren’t there any rules covering conflict of interest for active cricketers? Mind games?”
Not that I’m aware of. I’m sure permission would need to be sought from his employer given he has a central contract, but it isn’t that novel for players to commentate before they retire. In fact, I think this came up the other week on the OBO... Colin Cowdrey the first, was it? Jimmy’s been very good on TMS.
Good news for the England Women who have secured their place in the tri-series final in Australia, beating India by four wickets in Melbourne. Anya Shrubsole picked up three wickets in restricting Harmanpreet Kaur’s side to 123/6. Nat Sciver struck 50 in 38 balls in the successful chase. They’re going nicely ahead of the T20 World Cup, running from 21st of this month through to the 8th of March.
“Hi Adam.” Good morning, Graeme Thorn. “Re World Cup 1966 - England would have won that in normal time had VAR existed then - the ball definitely hit a German attacker’s arm before their last-minute equaliser (rendering whether Hurst’s second crossed the line moot).”
Any return of serve from our German OBO readers? No? That’s settled, then!
This is, as Vish says, lovely. Worth a look while it continues to rain at Durban.
Well this is lovely: Thando Ntini interviewed with his old man, Makhaya, who had just been commentating on his son's 4/36 for Cape Cobras ❤️pic.twitter.com/wQOlCFmIeN
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) February 7, 2020
“Hello there.” And to you, John Starbuck. “If we decide to hold a T20I World Cup every other year (11:24 suggestion), why not every year? It should be possible to devise a meaningful T20 sequence between countries all year round, with either points or straight knockouts, to allow quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in October or November. This would have the added benefit of giving more meaning to all the current 3-match series going on already. There could be a three-series minimum to qualify. OK, now and again the finals could be in September to give GB the chance to host them, but it’s a better prospect than a Test World Championship, don’t you think?”
I think it is mostly to do with concentrated tournament play. Even take the dearly departed Champions Trophy: when it was on, we are cared quite a bit. Remember too that T20 World Cups were held every other year until the current cycle and worked reasonably well given how infrequently T20Is were being played. Of course, that’s why the women have stuck with that pattern and it works well.
I don’t want to bring the WTC into this necessarily but I would say that it is very fashionable to beat up on it now that we have it, however insufficient/quirky in this initial iteration. Until now, the stronger complaints were that bilateral series alone - without a central organising structure - were leaving Test cricket short.
For mine, there’s a good fix for the WTC when they revamp in 2023 for cycle three. In short: make every series three Tests and permit four-day fixtures to be played if it means getting to that minimum of three. This wouldn’t preclude the Big Three playing longer series or five-day Tests; the Ashes won’t be diminished by having two Tests that don’t count for points. But it would make all WTC Tests equal. I’d also insist on every country playing each other. Yes, that requires a compromise between India and Pakistan, but if we were in a perfect cricketing world.
“Hi Adam.” G’day, Phil Russell. “‘Fun’ fact - England are the only country to have won a men’s World Cup Final in Football, Rugby and Cricket, and every time they needed extra time to do it!” Okay, there’s an essay in this as well!
We are in for "one of those days" in Durban where the "hardworking groundstaff's best efforts" will be the star in any match reports that actually get filed.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) February 7, 2020
The covers are back on
Sorry, I tempted fate talking about toss times and so on, didn’t I? The shots on Sky then suggest a fair bit of rain over the last ten minutes. We’re back to square one.
Years later, I’m still gutted The Like gave it away after one proper album.
A lovely return of serve here from Lev Everage. “Can all the people still whinging about England’s World Cup win confirm that they also believe Australia didn’t win in 1999? They progressed from their tied semi with South Africa because of a superior net run rate in the preceding round, which might even be lamer than most boundaries scored.”
Oh, my sweet spot! I spent two months researching the 1999 World Cup last year (an essay that lives in The Nightwatchman) and NRR, I strongly agree, is a dreadful way to sort out a tournament where points are skewed to end up level. They actually fixed this for the 2003 comp - by far the best format yet. Sigh!
As a (proud) Australian living in London covering the game around the world, my assessment is that there’s no doubt that Aussie fans were far angrier about the 2019 tie-breaker than New Zealanders. There’s probably an essay in that, too.
Ground inspection coming up in 15 minutes. We are seeing pictures of the outfield covers coming off the ground with the pitch now clear (very green!). Nick Knight says they understand it will be at least an hour before we’re ready to roll. Progress!
The Sky coverage is turning into an excellent chat with Jimmy, specifically about maintaining fitness over his marathon career. He really is in absurd nick.
How do England get the best out of @jimmy9 going forward? 🤔
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) February 7, 2020
The man himself says he does not need resting with enough breaks between Test series to keep himself fit 👊
📺 Watch #SAvENG live: https://t.co/oINFYttQbc
📰 Live blog: https://t.co/UUY26grOpM pic.twitter.com/yrPQfC6cBM
“Gidday Adam.” Good morning, Ailstair Connor. “As a dual French-NZ national, may I the first to draw the obvious analogy between the Cape Town ODI and the Six Nations game in Paris? World champions fail to turn up in Cape Town, vice world champions absent in Paris? (Though England are only co-world-champions really : match drawn, super over drawn, end of story).”
Despite coming from Melbourne, even this rugby chat I can (vaguely) understand. It’s a tough little period of ODI cricket for England given all their white-ball focus on the T20 World Cup in October. This is a point Andy Zaltzman made on the BBC Cricket Social when I was on there the other week: why don’t we have more World Cups? His argment is that short-form cricket is defined by tournaments, so hold them every other year. We don’t need to follow the Olympics/football/rugby. Fair?
If you’re looking for something to listen to while we wait... Geoff Lemon and I had England World Cup champion Ebony Rainford-Brent on The Final Word this week. She is one of the most impressive people in cricket and her message one of the most inspiring. At Surrey, the work they are doing to integrate black cricketers back into the club is quite outstanding. Well worth a listen, if I do say so myself.
Aleem Dar is talking to the ground staff... and he’s looking at his watch. That’s the best sign yet that we might have some toss/start times coming our way shortly.
Make of this what you will, but they are moving the car tyres off the covers at Kingsmead. This suggests they might come off soon. Or they’ll trolling us.
Jimmy Anderson is on Sky Cricket’s coverage and it will be of interest to many of you that he has declared himself fit for England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka in March.
“Steady rain” overnight according to TV. “Better news,” though, says Ian Ward. “It is looking a lot brighter and more encouraging.” The shortest game would need to be a T20 starting by 6:30pm local. That’s six (count ‘em) six hours from now.
The ground as it looked half an hour ago.
Plenty of rain in Durban ☔️😞
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 7, 2020
Our journey to the ground has been delayed as we wait for it to clear up 🤞#SAvENG pic.twitter.com/kiewbZcJYu
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to the second ODI from Kingsmead. The bad news off the top: it is raining in Durban. With the TV coverage yet to start, I’m not sure what we are talking about exactly, but twitter is hinting at a delayed start. The forecast isn’t crash hot either, to level with you. But don’t let than dampen your enthusiasm for the OBO - we all know that our rain chats are some of the best.
If they play, the task ahead of England is levelling the series after losing the opener on Tuesday. We learned more about the home side in victory than the visitors in defeat, racing away to a comfortable victory with Quinton de Kock saluting for a century at the first time of asking since taking over as skipper.
It was the first limited-overs international for the world champions since they held the trophy aloft on that famous day at Lord’s last July, although the XI that played that day barely resembles the side out there this week. Plenty of those frontline white-ball stars (not least a couple of handy blokes called Stokes and Buttler) are having a breather while Archer’s elbow - we have learned since the previous fixture - requires plenty of rehab before he bowls again.
Righto, I’m looking forward to your company throughout, rain or otherwise!
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