Hello and welcome to England’s next assignment in a challenging World Cup. Today they may have to take on two opponents at once: Namibia and the rain.
The latest forecast I’ve seen for Antigua’s airport, about three miles from the ground as the crow flies, is for “thundery showers and a gentle breeze”. If that leads to a no-result, England will crash out of the tournament. They’ll be stranded on four points, still one behind Scotland, who will sail through to the Super Eights before they even meet Australia.
The good news is that at least we won’t all be spending the rest of the day banging on about net run rate. The bad news is that we may well be droning on about Duckworth-Lewis-Stern instead.
Namibia are already out, even though they registered the first win in this group by beating Oman in a Super Over. For them, it’s a chance to meet England for the first time in T20. The only previous meeting between the two sides was a 50-over game in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, when England won but Namibia emerged with their heads held high. Andrew Flintoff, now a member of England’s coaching team, played in that match, as did Jimmy Anderson.
Play starts, in theory, at 6pm BST (1pm in Antigua), so I hope to be back soon after 5.30pm BST with news of the toss and teams.