When England played Pakistan at the MCG in the 1992 World Cup final it was only the teams’ fourth encounter in nearly five years. When the same teams meet at the same venue on Sunday with the T20 World Cup on the line it will be their ninth game in a shade over seven weeks.
It may be true that cricketers, unlike footballers for much of that sport’s history, have always been familiar with the key players of other major nations at World Cups, but this is something else. As Alex Hales put it, “both teams know each other like the back of our hands”.
