Key events
New Zealand win the toss and will bat first
Mitch Santner calls the coin correctly and has no hesitation in batting first. It’s a used surface and the chat is that it will spin big so it is a case of get runs on the board and then put the pressure on with the ball. Santner himself will be a handful on this surface.
Harry Brook confirms he would have done the same, he also confirms that he will bat at number three again today. Both captain’s look extremely UP for it. Confirmed teams incoming…
Preamble
James Wallace
Stick. Move. Drop?
England have qualified for the semi-finals of the T20 world cup but there is one thing nagging away at them – the form of Jos Buttler.
After four single figure scores in the tournament so far and more widely no white ball international fifty in sixteen innings and counting, England’s greatest ever white ball batter is stuck in a rut. Think Charlie Brown in Peanuts being followed by that grey raincloud. Of late Buttler has resembled the Sad Eyed Jossy of the Low Scores from the end of his unfulfilled Test career. He’s got to come good soon, surely?
The signs are that England will stick with their man, today’s match against New Zealand gives Buttler a chance to make a score and stop the chatter before the big business begins. The result in Colombo will determine whether New Zealand also qualify and also who England will play in the final four, they’ll do well to avoid a rampant looking South Africa. There are no unimportant innings and no small matches now.
Play begins at 1.30pm GMT, the toss and the teams are imminent…
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
