IMHO, a shame the final isn’t at The Oval. I hope they don’t get a ‘pudding strip’ at Lord’s akin to the recent Test match.
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Couldn’t agree more.
Ian
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Credit to England, they have improved out of all expectations during this competition.
Knowing Kemp and Gibson down the order are power house hitters means whatever happens up top all is not necessarily lost. This allows our top order to play with greater freedom.
The other big difference is apart from Bell we have realised our strength lies in our spinners and selected accordingly.
They may lose to Australia but at least they will have made the best possible effort to beat them which never looked on at the beginning of the season.
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I read this morning that England women’s improved fitness was down to a bit of disco dancing. Shame it took so long to find an incentive.
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Sooryavanshi is playing today. Really looking forward to this. At his age I was getting ready to do my O’Levels, he’s on debut in international cricket.
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England 1 run for 2 wickets. Giving themselves a challenge I think. 
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Well. Bethell brilliance.
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England women making heavy weather of their big day at Lord’s (the usual suspects coming & going, save HK), with a strip that is nowhere near as consistent as The Oval. NSB is going to need to ‘go big’ to give England a shout here.
20 short I reckon.
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To stretch the Aussies, I think England needed >180, noting India got 170 and lost, but the strip looks modestly paced and often quite low (which has defined Lord’s of late), so who knows!
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OK, maybe 50 short.
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This is a display of pure class. Australia better in every discipline. Batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy, ‘keeping and even using reviews.
I heard an interview with NSB a day or so ago. Her whole manner was around being just delighted to reach the final, going out to enjoy it etc etc. At no point in that interview did she sound determined or convince me that she thought they could win and would be gutted if they did not. Maybe she is more inspirational in the changing room but I had the impression that losing would be OK because it was vs Australia, and they are just better. Might be true but it didn’t feel like the right attitude!
Anyway, England have progressed but there’s a way to go to compete with this fantastic Australian side.
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It’s been obvious throughout this tournament, and from previous Eng/Aussies games (across all formats), that the Aussies are so much better in all disciplines, especially batting. Bar perhaps NSB (and it is a perhaps), not one of the England side would get in to an Aussie side.
England did very well to make this final, primarily thanks to a weak NZ team, and SA self-destructing in the SF.
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There is no doubt the Australia were the best team in the tournament and deserved to win. However there is also no doubt that England are much improved compared with six months ago.
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I think England are steadily improving. Six months ago they would have struggled to make the semifinals.
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The best team won, there are about five or six players who could get into the Australian team, NSB, CD, DWH, LB, LS, but the balance are a little short
I think you’re being generous 
The Aussies bat well down to at least 9, and their not-playing bench is strewn with talent e.g. Alana King, who (IMHO) would walk in to the England side. It also helps that many of them are quality all-rounders.
England have been better in this tournament, helped by a favourable group draw, but most of the players are, in technical terms, years behind the Aussies (save perhaps Voll, who plays as a pinch-hitter).
England’s improvement has been from bowling lots of slow stuff, which weaker sides struggle to score from, and having a deeper batting order.
Lotty is going to earn her money over the next year, as changes need to be made to improve the side.
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I’m rapidly becoming a fan of Steven Finn as a TMS commentator and summariser, I think he manages the TMS balance of knowledgeable commentary and light hearted fun.
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Yes, I think he is good as well. He is often self-deprecating which comes across well, I think. I think he had only just started commentary as opposed to summarising
EDIT: ( sorry, too many “I thinks”.)
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He seems to be the sidekick for this T20, Norcross(?) is the lead commentator.
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