Jos Buttler and England will not let the fuss about the weather be a distraction ahead of the T20 World Cup final with Pakistan.
Buttler and Alex Hales combined to guide England to a 10-wicket win in their semi-final against India, the two openers’ highest stand of 170 for any wicket in the competition.
This set up an intriguing final with a Pakistani team beating New Zealand by seven wickets to qualify for the show at the MGC.
But a forecast of bad weather can significantly dampen the spectacle. Sunday could be washed out and rain is forecast for Monday’s spare day, meaning the trophy could be shared.
It would be a disappointing end for both sides, and Buttler believes his team can draw on the experience of their Super Over win against New Zealand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup 50-over final to help them they manage a potentially chaotic few days.
“I think any experiences that you can draw from now, good or bad, you’ll have learned from them and you’ll reflect on them so that you’re in situations of adversity or a bit of chaos, you know, these are all things that can happen.” Buttler said.
“And then the World Cup final has a good chance of things like that happening. So the more experience you have to be able to understand those feelings and how to react to them. I definitely see this as a benefit.
“I think whether it’s that World Cup final or whether it’s different finals in franchise cricket or any of the experiences we have as a group that we’re going to draw on will be a benefit.
“Of course, I think the weather is something we can’t control and whatever happens, we have to be ready to go in whatever sense that is.
“Obviously we’ll, fingers crossed, just get a normal game of T20 cricket and it won’t be affected. So, but I don’t want us to waste energy today and tomorrow morning thinking about the weather .”
Pakistan looked anything but likely finalists as a thrilling opening loss to India was followed by a stunning loss to Zimbabwe.
But they found form afterwards and will pose a major threat to England as Babar Azam’s side look to win the trophy for the first time since dominating England in 2009.
“Of course we lost our first two games, but the way our team has come back in the last four games, they have performed very well,” Babar said.
“We are playing good cricket in the last four games and we will try to continue that momentum in the final.”
KNOWN ENEMIES
Having played a seven-match T20I series before this tournament, England and Pakistan are very familiar with each other.
England won that series 4-3 and have won six of their last nine meetings in this format. Furthermore, England have won both their previous T20 World Cup matches with Pakistan, though they were back in 2009 and 2010.
“We have played against them a lot recently, but of course, in very different conditions. It will be a different game to the Pakistan series, so we know we will be up against a great team,” Buttler said.
“We’re expecting a really tough challenge. As I mentioned before, they’re a team we’ve seen a lot of in the recent past and we’ve had some great games against them, played in a fantastic spirit and I’m sure. tomorrow will be no different.”
MELBURNI MISERABLE
Neither Pakistan nor England have won a men’s T20I match at the MCG. Pakistan have lost their previous two matches at the venue, while England have lost all four matches completed at the famous ground.
Rain may mean no team ends that streak, but the winners – whether the trophy is shared or not – will join the West Indies as the only teams to have won the tournament twice.
