The MCG game was washed out due to rain. (BCCI)Australia vs England T20 World Cup 2022: The Ashes rivalry takes centre stage at the T20 World Cup as familiar foes Australia lock horns with England at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Both teams have had a stop and start campaign thus far with England winning against Afghanistan in their opening encounter and narrowly losing to Ireland in a rain affected match while the reigning World champions after eating defeat against New Zealand in the opening encounter, bounced back against Sri Lanka.
Australia have a Covid problem in their ranks with Adam Zampa and ,Matthew Wade both infected with the virus but are expected to take part in the England clash. England, meanwhile, will look up to the heavens and pray that rain does play spoilsport again.
Follow AUS vs ENG updates from Melbourne below.
Australia vs England T20 World Cup 2022 Match Live Streaming: AUS vs ENG in Melbourne.
It has gotten trickier for the 2010 and the 2021 champions with their meeting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground called off due to rain. Here are their next two fixtures.
Australia: vs Ireland (October 31) & vs Afghanistan (November 4)
England: vs New Zealand (November 1) & vs Sri Lanka (November 5)
Both the teams will need to win their next two games to have the best possibility to qualify for the semifinals. While England sit second in the points table with a +0.239 NRR, Australia are fourth and will need to register wins with big margin to better their NRR (-1.555) The defending champions however, have relatively comfortable opponents than England. The sequence that needs to be kept in mind is points, number of matches won (to count out the rain advantage) and Net Run Rate (NRR).
The officials had scheduled another pitch inspection at 20:50 Local Time. But with 15 minutes left, it started pouring again at the MCG. A second game in a row has been called off.
Next inspection scheduled for 20:50 Local Time. Umpires still unsure if the surface is fit for play.
Even as the wait for the rains to clear continues, a member of crowd has raised other worries. Like the F Bomb. "was enjoying the music out the front of the ground until the DJ dropped a very loud F bomb. Poor Form for a supposed family atmosphere....." And the official twitter handle of MCG has responded with:
At about 19:00, the rain had stopped and the covers pulled off at the MCG. The outfield however, is still considered unsafe for play.
Umpires conducted a pitch inspection at 19:30 but deemed conditions unsuitable for play. Another inspectio is supposed to happen at 20:15.
Incessant showers have casted a shadow on the much-anticipated T20 World Cup clash between Australia and England as covers remain on the outfield, delaying the toss at the MCG.
The first match of the Friday double-header at the venue between Ireland and Afghanistan earlier in the day was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
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Nop, the rain hasn't moved an inch away from the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The umpires have walked out to inspect the conditions and boy, it does not looking pleasant for cricket right now at the Big G. Both England and Australia have two points from two appearances in Super 12 so far and for both this was a crucial fixture.
"Rain rain go away."
As of now it seems like the answer is a clear no. MCG has had a bad start to what would've been a crucial Group 1 action. Afghanistan vs Ireland had the makings of an exciting contest. Australia vs England does as well. As of now though, there's a question mark looming over it. Stay tuned for all the updates.