[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

No Hundred to grace our screens in 2020, but it wouldn't be summer (or, indeed, early autumn) without some televised county cricket, and to that end, the T20 Blast commences tonight with the lights shining on many an empty ground. With Worcestershire champions in 2018 and narrow runners-up in 2019, there's a chance to make it a hat-trick of final appearances when the cream of English cricket convenes at Edgbaston on the latest-ever season closing date of 3rd October. Leading the Pears on that charge, Ed Barnard gets his first taste of county captaincy, and will have overseas opener Hamish Rutherford at his disposal. It's a weakened team overall, with Moeen Ali and Pat Brown on England duty, but there's still plenty of experience for Barney to draw on over the next five weeks.

The only question is, how much cricket are we actually likely to see? Today's fixtures will be heavily affected by a huge band of rain sweeping in from the southwest, with Worcestershire's opener against Glamorgan in Cardiff under particular threat. Autumn weather is an even bigger lottery than spring and summer, and if September and October are unkind, the Blast could well be more of a damp squib this year. But nevertheless, the effort to try and stage the competition is a welcome initiative, all the more so if the government pilot scheme to get fans back in the venues goes ahead. This evening may not bring us any action, but sooner or later it'll be good to see the sixes fly.

Probable Worcestershire XI: Rutherford, Wessels, Libby, D'Oliveira, Cox (wk), Whiteley, Barnard ©, Mitchell, Morris, Pennington, Finch