Zimbabwe V England ICCCT match

[Richard Jenkins]

Well the ICCCT conmpetition gets underway with this 'contraversial' match.
Play starts at soonish, and the weather sems overcast, with the chance of showers.

Will play be interupted by demonstration?

Who knows. Anyway, despite all my reservations about the event, it is happening, so I will record bits here. Add your comments/ideas/suggestions if you like.

[Occasional Fan]

Seem to have rain delayed starts in both locations. And only two days ago the BBC weather site was showing sunshine for days in both Birmingham and London! Are they still employing Michael Fish?

[Occasional Fan]

No immediate prospect of play, according to R4 update at midday BST. I see they are playing at the Oval, however, although I can't find an audio feed anywhere on the web. Text commentary on Cricinfo for the truly desperate! NZ put in and are 14/0 off 4.2.

[Occasional Fan]

Play should start at 1400. Zimbabwe won the toss and will bat (according to Cricinfo) or bowl (according to the BBC). And I don't bloody believe it! I've been listening to Radio4 all morning on the web, including the non-cricket commentary by Blowers and Aggers earlier on but now, with play about to start, I'm getting an announcement that "Due to rights restrictions we are unable to bring you this programme". It seems the web-feed is only available in the UK. Well, that's it folks: enjoy the competition. Seems like I'm not going to be getting it.

[Rachael]

Well.. so much for the festival of cricket to polularise the game. Have you checked to see if live feeds from elsewhere are similrly restricted?

I suspect there are ways of hiding your location so that the live-feed will work. What are those web-based portals called that supposedly allow you to do that? I've never used one but I believe they do exist. Even if they don't, it seems to me that some hacker somewhere really ought to be able to get you around this ridiculous obstacle.

[Richard Jenkins]

Well its halfway through the third over of this match and its very dark, a horrible day. The first over was 13 deliveries, obviously a nervous start by Zimbabwe. In the other Match, USA V NZ, USA took 2 eary wickets, but Styris has formed a good partnership with Oram I think.
Bear in mind the oldest player is 25 for Zimbabwe, they've never played in English conditions ( with one or two exeptions) and they are nervous.
90 overs max, play until 5.30 England' s inning and then play will finish at 6.00 , and tommorow will see the rest of the play
trescothic is out, Hondo has bowled him, England are 21/1 inthe 4th Over

[Richard Jenkins]

Rainsford has Vaughan caught for 17 , his first wicket in ODI. Caught at slip.
Strauss comes out and England are 54/2
England put into bat, trescothic out for 10,
Flintoff plays today. Strauss off the mark.
56/2
Slight drizzle now, looking grim.
England 58/2 after 9 overs

[Milo]

McMillan and Astle just put on 136 in 7 overs against USA with 12 sixes.

[Rachael]

At what point does the decision to reduce the number of overs per side get made? Or do England just attempt the full 50 overs.. and bear in mind the liklihood of Zimbabwe chasing a Duckworth Lewis target?

IF today doesn't see a result... do we start again tomorrow.. or is the match just continued.

[Richard Jenkins]

The match is just continued. D/L doesn't apply until the second day.(click http://www.world-a-team.com/calendar...=2004-9-10&c=3)
At the Oval, The highest ODI score at the oval has just been posted,347-4 and the highest ODI score of 145 not out for astle. When do Australia play the USA?

94/2 after 15 overs for England.