Key events
Preamble
The road to the World Cup starts here*. In 76 days’ time, India will begin the competition – their competition – against the co-hosts Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. England meet South Africa on the same ground three days later.
Both teams should enter the World Cup in a battle-hardened state. England have this three-match series against India, then warm-ups against India and Australia just before the competition starts. India’s preparation is even tougher: ODI series against England and Australia, who between them have won 11 of the 12 World Cups, followed by warm-ups against England and the reigning T20 champions, New Zealand.
These warm-up series are usually about performances, workloads, T-crossing and I-dotting as much as results. But on this occasion England could do with a series in to boost their fragile confidence going into the World Cup. They were beaten 3-2 by India in the T20 series, a scoreline that probably flattered them. And while England’s overall record since the last 50-over World Cup is terrific, it looks different when you put on the reading glasses and start squinting.
This is a quickfire series, with three games in seven days at Southampton, Lord’s and Chester-le-Street. By next Wednesday, we should have a better idea of both teams’ chances of winning the games that really matter.
Toss 12.30pm
First ball 1pm
* Okay, okay, strictly speaking it continues here, having started as soon as the last one ended, but what kind of sales pitch is that?
