The umpires are wandering around the middle in their fetching pink cagoules. It looks blustery so hopefully the rain blows on through. 4.08pm local time is the cut off to get a game in.

Apt for the scene in Wellington right now.

“Sdeah reiht edih dna nur yeht. Semoc niar eht fi”

If you’re out there and have any thoughts, theories or something to get off your chest (preferably cricket related) then do drop me an Email or tweet @Jimbo_Cricket. In the meantime there’s plenty of straws here for me to clutch.

Decent facial hair but not a single international hundred in sight.

Still awaiting further updates from the ground btw, as if you hadn’t guessed.

Incidentally I remember feeling more of a sense of failure than usual when I turned 27 – ever since I read that was Paul McCartney’s age when The Beatles broke up.

I hadn’t got any ODI hundreds by age thirty either.

There is rain around and the covers are well and truly on at the moment but there is hope things will clear up in the next hour so fingers crossed we’ll get a game in.

Hello and welcome to the

latest chapter of Australia’s World Cup domination
OBO of Australia vs Bangladesh in Wellington.

We’ve reached the 25^th match of this World Cup, a stage in proceedings where an Aussie win is as sure as the rising and setting of the sun, as certain as death and taxes.

Meg Lanning’s side have conquered all comers so far in this tournament – it’s played six, won six for them. They’ve pulled off record run chases, blown sides away with the ball and hung on to some gravity defying catches. A berth safely booked in the semi-finals they will be looking to continue their unbeaten run and carry that buzz word ‘momentum’ into the sharp end of the tournament. Ellyse Perry is out of this game after suffering (horrible phrase) back spasms during the defeat of South Africa. The word around the traps is that she’ll be ok in time for the semis. The Aussies may well throw in a few changes in this their final trot out of the group stages.

Bangladesh? Well, they had their historic day in Hamilton, chalking up a first ever World Cup win in beating Pakistan by nine runs. They’ve been mercurial but perhaps deserve to be higher in the table than second bottom. Fielding and bowling are their strongest suits and they’ve already pushed West Indies to the wire and given India a fright.

Can they take some of the sheen off Australia’s golden run? Probably not. But you just never know, which is why we’re all here, I guess.

Play is due to get underway in Wellington at 11am local time/9am AEDT/10pm GMT – but there is due to be some rain around.

I’ll bring news of toss, teams and possible precipitation shortly.