England's next match in the T20 World Cup will be against Oman on Thursday (June 13), where they will need a win to stay in with a chance of qualifying for the Super Eights. However, rain could hamper their efforts.
The match, which will take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound Antigua, is set to get underway at 3pm local time. While the weather forecast for most of the day looks dry, there is a chance of scattered showers in the afternoon, and a small chance of thunder storms.
England must win the match in order to stay within touching distance of Scotland for the second qualification spot. Following their loss to Australia and washout against Scotland, they only have one point after two matches, and sit in fourth position in the group, also behind Namibia.
Assuming Australia beat Namibia, that will put them on six points and mathematically guaranteed qualification, with Scotland on five points ahead of their final game. A washout for England against Oman would mean the maximum number of points they could reach would be four, and mean they would be out of contention for catching up to Scotland and Australia, regardless of other results. Even if Australia lose to Namibia, a washout against Oman would mean England would only be able to match Australia's points. With Australia's far superior net run rate, even if they lost to Scotland and finished on four points alongside England, they would still likely go through.
Weather forecast for England v Oman
Accuweather predicts that there is a 64 per cent chance of rain during the afternoon of June 13, with a 38 per cent chance of thunderstorms. Like England's tournament opener against Scotland, this could result in breaks in play and DRS coming into contention.
The conditions will also likely be cloudy, with Accuweather also predicting 76 per cent cloud cover for North Sound during the afternoon.
A shortened game would also hamper England's efforts to improve their net run rate, because, with fewer overs bowled and faced, even a big win would have a smaller effect on the overall average.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
