The Lord's warm-up row has hit a six as England and Australia will be allowed to take to the main playing surface for their pre-match preparations ahead of Sunday's T20 World Cup final. It's been a tense exchange, with initial plans to keep teams off the outfield until after pop star Rita Ora's performance sparking concerns from players - particularly bowlers who prefer to get their eyes in on one of the practice wickets adjacent to the match surface.
But in a late change of heart, the schedule has been tweaked to allow bowlers to utilise the main ground for their preparations before Ora takes centre stage. The pop star's set is still scheduled to commence at 14:30 BST, but teams will now be able to start their warm-ups on the outfield rather than being relegated to the nursery grounds as previously planned.
It's not uncommon for World Cup events to feature pre-match entertainment, with Ricky Martin's performance at the men's T20 final in India earlier this year serving as a precedent. But England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt had been vocal about the potential disruption, admitting that her players were initially gutted by the prospect of warming up on the nursery grounds.
"There's a few moving parts with the pre-game stuff tomorrow," Sciver-Brunt said before the change was announced. "Some of the girls' faces when we were warming up on the Nursery Ground - people like to bowl before the game on one of the bowl-through wickets. We had a few chins down. But I guess that's what you get when you're playing in a final and there's lots of other moving parts."
This is England's first appearance in an ICC final since the 50-over World Cup in 2022, where they were defeated by Australia. Sciver-Brunt, alongside former captain Heather Knight and batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge, is one of three players from that victorious squad - and she knows just how far the women's game has come. "Where the game was in 2017 compared to where it is now, is a huge leap," she said.
Sciver-Brunt downplayed the historical rivalry with Australia, but admitted there's no love lost between the teams - particularly after England's 16-0 Ashes defeat earlier this year. But for her and her teammates, Sunday's final at Lord's is about one thing: winning the World Cup in front of their home crowd.
Source: UKPulse Media research