India are favourites by a long way but England are on form approaching tournament already hit by controversy

In the immortal words of Brenda from Bristol, not another one. Between 17 October 2021, the start of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates, and 8 March 2026, the date of this year’s final, four T20 World Cups will have been squeezed into four years, four months and 19 days.

If they come along more regularly even than British general elections – to which Brenda produced her timeless reaction in 2017 – they at least have more interesting results: the past five have had five different winners and the past three six different finalists. What’s more, though not much time has passed since the last one ended with India beating South Africa in Barbados, it seems to have been long enough for the game to shift into a fresh and exhilarating new gear.