Champions Trophy - England and Wales 2013

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Jayawardene does bugger all but scratch around for 18 balls looking horribly out of form, then comes down the track and smacks the bowler straight over his head for a six. Class!

Ball again. Jesus umpires, get on with it

The umpires are having a look...

Rain stopped for now, and the umpires are doing and inspection, says cricinfo. Ray of hope at last?

Inspection at 3:10

How gutted would you be if england lose badly today and tommorow is washed out?

If no more rain creeps in, there is a good chance for the game to go ahead. Things look just a little bit better, fingers pretty much crossed.......

Just been thinking about it, will Cook turn to Broad more on a tactics front in this with Broad being the T20 captain. Would he be foolish not too? Considering Cook doesn't do a great deal of 20 over cricket internationally.

Latest update from cricinfo is that they are trying to fit in a 24 over per side match with a start time of 3-45 UK time.

Yeah it's a 3:45 start, 24 overs per side

Wonder what will happen with England's batting lineup

Gonna need Morgan/Buttler to come to the party today

So this match has just turned into the best format of the game 

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!

It hasn't turned into a test match Nick...

Cook and Bell to open. This pitch could have a lot in it for the bowlers, which bodes well for our lot

20/20 is so much better than test cricket! 

Cook and Trott will either lose us or win us the game IMO.

NickisBHAFC wrote:20/20 is so much better than test cricket! 

Each to their own I guess. I personally prefer Tests

I suppose its a matter of opinion tbh mate! 

Like i say Cook or Trott need to bat at a fast pace today and not take a long time to get going.

Really wish we were bowling first on this wicket. Anderson would be lethal

And if we're gonna win this we're gonna need Morgan/Buttler/Bopara to come off. They cannot fail today

That was sloppy cricket all round there. Poor shot and dreadful fielding.

Good intent from Bell however

Pete's love for James Franklin grows

ffs bell great catch though tbf.

How on earth has he caught that

Well held by McCullum. Bell an expert at picking out a fielder as ever.

Great reaction catch, one of Bell or Cook was going to try and have to be an aggressor in that pair, will be interesting to see what happens now

would have liked to have seen Buttler in now.

Why CF?

Trotty used to be T20 don. Time for him to recapture that form

too early for Buttler, don't want him under pressure to do something.

Well Morgan/Buttler/Bopara will have to turn up today, as Mr Dependable Jonathan Trott fails for once

Boy wonder Joe Root up next

T24 eh ?

This should be fun...especially if Trott is in for a while  :devil:No doubt he will be blamed for any failure to reach 190

...and he's out ...8 from 6.

Ah well , plenty of time for the middle order then ...

England 25-2 and Joe Root walks in and he starts with a first ball boundary.

Poor shot from Trott. But i still think were doing ok. Hitting a fair amount of boundaries. I recon we will be fine.

Second ball msp if I'm being pedantic, which I am

At least Trott/Bell won't clog it up today eh

To be fair Bell/Trott have creamed both of those shots, just straight at the fielder

Seriously , this sort of game is the one type in which it doesn't matter too much if you lose a couple early. Particularly if they aren't your main hitting options.
Obviously England decided their best option was to play their normal order , but with Bell and Trott going for everything...probably as good a method as any , though I suppose they could have tried one of the explosive types to take advantage of the field restrictions. But then you almost wouldn't bat those two at all...

Advantage NZ perhaps with the make up of these sides ?  A few England t20 specialists missing.

How will they manage without Dernbach 

Just a little nip in the pitch, 160 odd would be very defendable, especially considering NZ's troubles with the bat in the tournament so far

alfie wrote:Seriously , this sort of game is the one type in which it doesn't matter too much if you lose a couple early. Particularly if they aren't your main hitting options.
Obviously England decided their best option was to play their normal order , but with Bell and Trott going for everything...probably as good a method as any , though I suppose they could have tried one of the explosive types to take advantage of the field restrictions. But then you almost wouldn't bat those two at all...

Advantage NZ perhaps with the make up of these sides ?  A few England t20 specialists missing.

How will they manage without Dernbach 

Indeed alfie. Perhaps they could have considered promoting Bopara up to 3. But then as you said, Trott would have become unbattable. And New Zealand would seriously miss Dernbach!!.
Nathan McCullum has put Cook down.

Dernbach's speciality - being dispatched

Should hopefully do alright 

Someone suggested earlier teams should be changeable after such a significant change in the match structure...which of course they can't do as the toss has been made.
From a strict fairness point of view there is maybe some logic to the idea (though re-selecting from a squad designed for 50 over games would not perhaps make too much difference) , but it is the same for both teams , and in many ways not too different from a sudden shortening of a match already in progress...you just have to go with what you've got.

Plenty of movement for the bowlers , but that presumably will still be on offer later , after all this rain...

Joe Root hits a six 

Root whacks Vettori into the crowd for 6.

Cracking Shot from Root, its huuuuuge

10 overs gone 64-2. Ill take that. Would feel a bit more comfortable if we had another 20 runs on the board.

much needed 6!

we need to get a wriggle on!!

England are going to get spanked here. Steadfast refusal to switch the batting line up is going to come back to haunt them. They deserve to go out in the group stages, as their tactics have been thoroughly inept throughout the tournament.

Wheelie bin out. Get someone in whose tactics aren't stuck in 2004. Get in someone like errrrrmmm...... Andy Flower?

We'll see where we are after 24 before we get stuck into Giles.

Cook 4, England beginning to get on with it.

A run rate of over 6.5 Cook and Root looking to kick on now with Morgan, Buttler and Bopara to come.... Not bad tbh.

That looked plumb

This looks like a game where you need the big hitters.

NZ having two spinners and power hitters and England making a mess of it early on means this is totally set up for an easy kiwi win today.

Slight nick on it. Root survives

The end of Root...or is it ?

Is there a edge ? Looks like it on hotspot...saved !

Inside edge

Root you lucky git! 

Didn't realise Root had faced that many, really not good enough tbh

160/170 will be good on here. The pitch will suit Bresnan's style of bowling, with a little bit of swing/seam movement