Jos Buttler and England will not allow noise around the weather to be a distraction ahead of the T20 World Cup final with Pakistan.
Buttler and Alex Hales combined to steer England to a 10-wicket win in their semi-final against India, the two openers' stand of 170 the highest for any wicket in the competition.
That set up an intriguing final with a Pakistan team that beat New Zealand by seven wickets to qualify for the showpiece at the MGC.
But a forecast of inclement weather could significantly dampen the spectacle. Sunday could be washed out and there is rain forecast for Monday's reserve day, meaning the trophy could be shared.
That would be an unsatisfying end for both sides, and Buttler believes his side can draw on the experience of the Super Over win against New Zealand in the 2019 50-over Cricket World Cup final to help them manage a potentially chaotic couple of days.
"I think any experiences that you can draw on now, good or bad, you will have learned from those and reflect on those to be in situations of adversity or a bit of chaos, you know, those are all things that can happen," Buttler said.
"And then the World Cup final there's a good chance of things like that happening. So the more experience you've got of being able to understand those feelings and how to react to them. I definitely see that as a benefit.
"I think whether it's that World Cup final or whether it's different finals in franchise cricket or and any of the experiences that we have as a group that we will draw on will be a benefit.
"Certainly, I think, the weather is something we cannot control and whatever does happen, we must be ready to go in whatever sort of sense that is.
"Obviously, we will, fingers crossed, we will just get a normal game of T20 cricket and that won't be affected. So but I don't want us to waste energy today and tomorrow morning thinking about the weather."
Pakistan looked anything but potential finalists after a thrilling opening loss to India was followed by a stunning defeat to Zimbabwe.
But they found form thereafter and will pose significant danger to England as Babar Azam's side look to win this trophy for the first time since prevailing in England in 2009.
"Of course we lost our first two matches, but the way our team has come back the last four matches, they have performed very well," Babar said.
"We are playing good cricket in the last four matches and we will try and continue that momentum in the final."
FAMILIAR FOES
Having played a seven-game T20I series before this tournament, England and Pakistan are very familiar with each other.
England edged that series 4-3 and have won six of the last nine meetings in this format. Additionally, England have won both of their previous T20 World Cup matches with Pakistan, though those were back in 2009 and 2010.
"We've played against them a lot recently, but of course, in very different conditions. It's going to be a different game to the series in Pakistan so we know that we're up against an excellent team," said Buttler.
"We expect a really tough challenge. As I mentioned before, they're a team we've seen lots of in in the recent past and we've had some brilliant matches against them, played in a fantastic spirit and I'm sure tomorrow will be no different."
MELBOURNE MISERY
Neither Pakistan nor England have won a men’s T20I fixture at the MCG. Pakistan have lost their two previous games at the venue while England have lost all four of their completed games at the famous ground.
Rain could mean neither team gets to end that streak, but the victors - whether the trophy is shared or not - will join West Indies as the only teams to have won this tournament twice.
Edwards to defend UFC Welterweight title in rematch against second-ranked Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester
Jamaican-born British Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards now has a date and an opponent for his next title defense.
The 32-year-old will try to fend off number two-ranked Belal Muhammad in the main event at UFC 304 set for July 27 at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Edwards will enter the fight in the midst of a 12-fight unbeaten streak while Muhammad is unbeaten in his last 10 contests.
The pair fought previously at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad on March 13, 2021 in Las Vegas. That bout ended in a no contest after an accidental eye-poke by Edwards in the second of five rounds rendered Muhammad unable to continue.
After than unfortunate fight, Edwards went on to defeat fan favorite Nate Diaz by unanimous decision in the main event at UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona on June 12, 2021.
His next fight proved to be his crowning moment as he secured a spectacular head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman to claim the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City on August 20, 2022.
Heading into that fight, Usman was on a 20-fight win streak and was the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. The Nigerian also had a win over Edwards back in 2015.
Edwards then went on to defeat Usman again, this time via unanimous decision, in their trilogy fight at UFC 286 in London on March 18, 2023 before defending his belt for the second time with another unanimous decision win over Colby Covington at UFC 296 on December 16 last year.
Muhammad has also been on a tear since that eye-poke.The 35-year-old recorded unanimous decision victories over legends Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson at UFC 263 and UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Daukas, respectively, to close out 2021.
He then secured a third consecutive unanimous decision win, this time beating Vicente Luque in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2 on April 16, 2022.
At UFC 280 on October 22, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, Muhammad won performance of the night for his knockout win over Sean Brady and in his last fight, he defeated former title challenger Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC 288 on May 6, 2023 in New Jersey.
New England Revolution v Philadelphia Union: Porter urges players to cut out errors
Caleb Porter accepts New England Revolution must cut out the individual errors if they are to return to winning ways against Philadelphia Union.
The Revs went down 4-2 to New York Red Bulls last time out to make it four defeats in their last five games, and eight losses in 11 overall this season in MLS.
New England are bottom of the Eastern Conference, but Porter hopes lessons have been learned ahead of hosting Philadelphia on Saturday.
"Three of the four [goals NYRB scored] were individual mistakes that are easily correctable," Porter told The Blazing Musket. "We've gone to the training ground and corrected a few of those situation.
"But it's just individuals in those moments have to be better. It wasn't a bad team-defending performance, but three of the four goals we gave up were routine."
The Union have double the number of points compared to their opponents, having played one game more, as they occupy ninth place in the East.
The Us are themselves not in great form, though, as they lost 2-1 at home to New York City FC in their most recent game - a contest overshadowed by a raccoon that entered the field.
They have just two points from the past 18 on offer, meanwhile, and head coach Jim Curtin admits it is on him and his players to turn things around.
"The guys fight until the end, and we have to find a way to get out of this," Curtin said. "We're the only people that are going to get us out of it.
"The people in that locker room, the coaches, the players, they recognise that. They've shown they can beat anybody, and we're the only ones that can dig us out of this now."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution - Carles Gil
Gil got the Revs temporarily on level terms against New York Red Bulls, with that his 100th regular-season goal contribution in MLS. That makes the Revs' attacking midfielder the seventh European player to reach that milestone, and the second Spaniard after David Villa.
Philadelphia Union - Julian Carranza
Carranza was on target for the Union in their midweek loss to New York City, coming from one of nine attempts he had on target. The former Argentina age-grade international has now registered four-or-more shots in four MLS career matches.
To put that in perspective, the two other players to have done so in the club's history - Conor Casey and Andrew Wenger - have done so in a combined two games (one each).
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Philadelphia have won 12 matches against the Revs across all MLS competitions, which includes MLS is Back, since 2018 - their best return against any single opponent across that period.
New England's tally of seven points from their opening 11 games is their worst-such return at this stage of a campaign in club history, with only two out of 17 teams in the post-shootout era (since 2000) managing to reach the playoffs from this position.
However, there is some hope for them this weekend as the Union's one point across their past five matches is their fewest across any five-game span within a single season since April 2017.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution - 36.1%
Draw - 28.8%
Philadelphia Union - 35.1%
Sri Lanka Women to host West Indies for three ODIs and three T20Is next month
Sri Lanka will host West Indies for three ODIs and three T20Is from June 15-28, Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Thursday.
The tour will primarily serve as preparation for the T20 Asia Cup, which will also take place in Sri Lanka, for the hosts. That tournament starts on July 20.
As for the West Indies, they just concluded a month-long tour of Pakistan where they dominated both ODI and T20I series.
This will be the regional side’s last competitive action before the ICC Women's T20 World Cup set for October 3-20 in Bangladesh.
The last time these two sides squared off in a bilateral series was back in 2017, where West Indies swept Sri Lanka across both T20Is and ODIs.
The West Indians have dominated Sri Lanka in T20Is with a head-to-head record of 18-4 whereas in ODIs, the contest has been much closer with West Indies leading 18-14.
The ODI series will be played from June 15-21 in Galle and is part of the ICC Women's Championship, which serves as a pathway to the 2025 ODI World Cup.
West Indies are currently seventh on the Women's Championship points table and Sri Lanka eighth. Top four teams, apart from hosts India, will get a direct qualification.
The T20Is will be held in Hambantota from June 24-28.
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