Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

Read the BBC’s match preview here.

And, of course, there’d be an awful lot of satisfaction to be gained in beating Australia to get there.

This tournament has been brilliant. There are times when you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is no sport to equal cricket. But they almost always come during Tests.

Recent examples would include the failed Australian and South African run chases at Cardiff, Newlands and Centurion, all of which share the characteristic of seeing England fail to lose. If you want to talk about winning instead, there was that fantastic final day of the Ashes at The Oval.

It’s hard to come up with any sporting comparison that expresses the tension and emotion that accompanied these matches – partly because, as we all know very well, the five-day format of Test cricket is integral to it, and few if any other sports stage matches over five days.

Up until now Twenty20 has generally been capable of providing entertainment, spectacle or diversion – but not anything that comes close to the pleasures of Test Cricket. When Twenty20 is good it can be very, very good. But when it is bad, it is horrid.

Certainly the rewards of the IPL have been few for these particular cricket fans, with the experience akin to eating candyfloss under the the neon lights of a fairground. Confronted with a huge confection of pink spun sugar, you bite in to find almost nothing at the centre, and go home feeling somewhat sick and overstimulated.

This year’s ICC World Twenty20 has been quite different, and has only benefited from its proximity to the IPL3 soap opera. It has provided some wickedly entertaining matches for neutrals, not least the superb contest between India and the West Indies on May 9.

And, dare we say it, the tension and excitement of Pakistan’s fantastic, inspired innings in their semi-final, and Australia’s scarcely-believable feat of overturning a total of 191 on the second-from-last ball of the match, was right up there with the very best Test cricket we have seen recently.

This upcoming final is a no-lose situation for The Nurdler. Clearly our hearts are backing England passionately to win.

But, at the beginning of the tournament, our heads backed India, South Africa or Australia to be one of the victors while the odds were still long enough for the stakes on all three to be covered and made profitable by the return on any one.

Of course, South Africa and India have not paid out – slightly irritatingly, Australia were on the shortest odds of the three, but they still represent a small profit.

So we find ourselves in the amusing position of having backed Australia financially to beat England – not an outcome we actually want to see in any sporting sense, and especially not with the mind games for the next Ashes already under way. What a terrible admission.

However we’re certainly not apologising – betting on sentiment is (usually) one of the best ways ever discovered to turn £100 into £50, or even less. Of course, Jenson Button’s 2009 fans, or possibly anyone who stuck a few quid on England this time around, can make an excellent case for the opposite being true.

The Nurdler is still a little sore about the last time when sentiment and value appeared to be orbiting Planet Cricket at approximately the same speed. That was during the England Test squad’s trip to South Africa when we backed an outright win.

And it was all looking so good until the final Test in Johannesburg when England were beaten by an innings and 74 runs and held to a series draw.

So we’ll be hoping very hard that England can win today – but taking a small financial consolation away from the final if they don’t.

Bring it on.

Read his full thoughts here.

Read the full piece (and watch the video) here.