As somebody that spent yesterday’s glorious afternoon in London lying on the sofa watching Manchester United v Liverpool and the Carabao Cup final with the curtains drawn, I am counting this ODI as my outdoor time. I’ve got suncream and a hat on and am ready to take any of your email and tweets: [email protected] or @michaelbutler18.
Preamble
The English don’t wear the favourites tag particularly lightly. It’s much better to be the chaser, the underdog, to expect little and then revel in genuine surprise and joy if anything comes of it. Just look at Olivia Coleman, her rise from Numberwang and being buried in a ball-pit by Mark to global acclaim is exactly the sort of feel-good story that 2019 needs. If only her husband could cry. Please cry, husband!
Olivia Colman’s Oscars speech: ‘this is genuinely quite stressful!’ – video
The opening two lines of her Oscar acceptance speech was just about how every England cricket fan felt watching the second ODI on Friday. But whilst there were some poor performances for the best one-day side in the world, the overriding feeling was one of triumph for the West Indies. The atmosphere at the Kensington Oval in Barbados was electric, and few could argue that the Windies didn’t deserve the win.
The star of the show was Sheldon Cottrell and his 5-46 – his saluting celebration (a nod to his time as a private in the Jamaican Defence Force) and body-juddering joy a perfect mixture of choreographed timing and raw emotion and a good metaphor for the Windies’ performance in general.
If that was a raucous Friday night in Barbados, it is unlikely that we will see the same ambiance on a Monday morning in Grenada, but let’s hope the cricket is as good. We’ve got an earlier start time today on account of there being no floodlights at the Queen’s Parkground.
First ball at 1.30pm GMT or if you’re lucky enough to be in Grenada: 9.30am.
Updated