Key events
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome. The *Real* World Cup starts today!
With 33 matches across seven venues the next few weeks promises to be a feast of T20 cricket on English soil. It’s sixteen years since the tournament was hosted on these shores, that inaugural tournament was won by an England side captained by Charlotte Edwards, the Head Coach of the current outfit.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side are not favourites for this tournament, the white ball juggernauts of Australia and India are the teams to beat but in T20 cricket one player having a day out can make all the difference. England do have plenty of big game players in their squad and they will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of both the Lionesses and Red Roses by lifting the trophy in front of their own fans at Lord’s on July 5th.
The tournament will see twelve teams split into two groups of six. During the group stage each side will play each other in a round-robin with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals.
England and Sri Lanka get things started at a bright and blustery Edgbaston this evening. The captains are headed out for the toss as I type so let’s get this thing rolling, as ever please do get in touch if you are tuning in. Play begins at 6.30 BST.
