Cricket News: The Oval London weather forecast for WTC 2023 Final | Weather forecast at The Oval: Will it rain during the WTC 2023 Final?
The weather is often a hot talking point when it comes to cricket in England. The 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) Final, eventually won by New Zealand, was affected by rain, with days one and four washed out.
With arch-rivals Australia and India doing battle for the coveted mace in 2023, millions of sets of eyes are on weather forecasts for The Oval in London. In encouraging news, the forecast looks promising for most of the Test at least after a prolonged period of dry weather in recent times.
WTC Final 2023 weather forecast: Conditions look promising at The Oval
According to metoffice.gov.uk, June 7 and 8 will be mostly sunny, with less than a 5% chance of precipitation. Friday, day three, is forecast to have a cloudy morning before clearing up, which may aid swing. Again, rain is not expected.
Saturday is expected to be the warmest of the days, with mostly sunny conditions and a top of 26 degrees. Sunday, day five, is similar. However, according to worldweatheronline, there may be some patchy rain on both days. Monday 12th June is pencilled in as the reserve day, with a chance of patchy rain as well.
So, will India pick Ravichandran Ashwin given the lack of rain expected in the first three or four days? Also, a drier surface may be on offer from day one due to the dry conditions in London recently. Australian batting stalwart Steve Smith said he expects the pitch to take turn, so it will be interesting to see which way India go.
In 2021, India played both Ashwin and Jadeja in the WTC Final. The move backfired in mostly gloomy conditions with seam and swing on offer right throughout. This time, conditions are much more promising.
Australia are more settled with regards to their bowling despite Josh Hazlewood’s absence due to injury. Cameron Green as the seam-bowling all-rounder enables them to play Nathan Lyon with confidence. For India, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and R Ashwin are fighting it out for two spots with Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj certainties.
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