Cricket: England bowl first in Champions Trophy final; rain delays start

MS Dhoni (L) captain of India poses with the ICC Champions Trophy alongside Alastair Cook (R) captain of England at Edgbaston on June 22, 2013 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions against India in the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Rain has, however, delayed the start of the match.

England made one change from the team that beat South Africa by seven wickets in a semi-final at The Oval on Thursday with seam-bowling all-rounder Tim Bresnan, whose wife recently gave birth to their first child, returning in place of fast bowler Steven Finn.

Off-spinner James Tredwell kept his place, after coming in earlier in the tournament for injured first-choice spinner Graeme Swann.

World champions India, coached by former England boss Duncan Fletcher, stuck with the same side that had played every match of their unbeaten run to the final and saw off Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their semi-final.

The grey skies above Edgbaston were set to favour England’s swing bowlers, led by James Anderson.

Hosts England were bidding for their first major one-day international (ODI) title having previously lost three World Cup finals (1979, 1987 and 1992) and gone down at home to the West Indies in the 2004 Champions Trophy final at The Oval.

Rain had been forecast, with a minimum of 20 overs per side had to be bowled for a result to be declared.

There was also provision for a ‘super over’ if the game, set to be the last Champions Trophy final, ended in a tie.

But, as no reserve day had been scheduled, failure to bowl the minimum number of overs required would see the trophy shared, as happened in Colombo in 2002 when Sri Lanka and India were joint winners.

Teams

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, James Tredwell, James Anderson

India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt/wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Rod Tucker (AUS)

TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)