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Australia v England: second men’s T20 cricket international – live | Cricket

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Key events

5th over: England 34-2 (Malan 11, Stokes 2) England, just as they were looking to accelerate, will now need to be a little bit careful; regular wickets have killed many an enormo-total. I’m not sure Ben Stokes will wait too long before throwing hands, but he gets away with two singles, sandwiching another to Malan.

WICKET! Hales c Warner b Stoinis 4 (England 31-2)

Stoinis strikes with his loosener! It’s a genuine half-volley is this, this, and Hales’ eyes light up like a metaphor I’m not going to deploy. But he picks out Warner at mid off, who eases right to take a decent tumbling grab.

Stoinis into the attack…

4th over: England 31-1 (Hales 4, Malan 10) Malan has a look at two, then waits for the third and times it through cover to the fence. AND HAVE A LOOK! Another single, then he yanks the final ball of the over from outside off over square for six!

WICKET! Buttler c Zampa b Cummins 17 (England 21-1)

This is a brilliant catch, invention the mother of necessity. Buttler gives himself room, shuffling leg side, chucks everything as he looks to go over the on side, but a top edge sends the ball steepling to short third man, where Zampa misjudges then, at the last second, dives full-length and forward to hold just off the ground!

Adam Zampa dives to catch Jos Buttler. Photograph: Mark Evans/Getty Images

3rd over: England 21-0 (Buttler 17, Hales 4) In the studio, Jonny Bairstow comes in to note that, as we discussed, Australia’s openers will be looking to hit their Test lines and lengths. That’s a nasty proposition, though if batters know what’s coming, they might find it easier to free their arms – especially in Australia, where the bounce is true. And, as I type that, Buttler trusts it, picking a cross-seamer and turning over mid on for four. He doesn’t actually get all of it nor does he the next one, a sweep/leading-edge mash-up that bursts through the hand of the diving Marsh for four more! A single follows, then Hales stands and delivers, slicing inside-out over for the four that sees him away! Thirteen off the over, and England are away!

2nd over: England 8-0 (Buttler 8, Hales 0) Buttler forces a drive past mid on for three, the only runs from the over. Good start from Cummins.

NOT OUT!

Great review from Buttler – that was actually tighter than I thought, hitting punkt in front. But though it was a terrific delivery, the swing took it away.

WICKET! Buttler lbw b Cummins 5 (England 5-1)

Buttler looks to turn into the on side, misses, and wears it on the pad. I’m not sure that wasn’t going down, and England review…

2nd over: England 5-0 (Buttler 5, Hales 0) It’s Cummins not Starc to open from t’other end, which makes sense, I think: Starc, perhaps, has more to offer in the middle overs, and is more likely to offer width with the field up, while Cummins’ is more likely to cramp batters at that point. He starts with two dots…

1st over: England 5-0 (Buttler 5, Hales 0) Oooh yeah! Hazlewood goes full to begin, and Buttler flows him on the up and for four through cover! That’s a terrific shot, hands absolutely speeding through the ball, and after a dot a shove into the off side earns a single which brings Hales ono strike. And he’s beaten first up, nip off the pitch defeating his outside edge, which is what you can get when you deploy a Test opener in this format.

Hazlewood has the ball, Buttler will face, and here we go!

Both teams are wearing black armbands to mark the 20-year anniversary of the Bali bombings. Long life to all affected.

Here come the teams…

I said below that neither side’s attack is quite as good as once; I think I might be revising that hot take already, never mind in a few weeks. Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins, in Australian conditions, could go, but could just as easily devastate, while for England, Wood and Topley is the same kind of thing. I think, though, that England’s success will depend significantly on how well their spinners do. If Adil Rashid is on the money, they’re in business, but if not, they might find the’ve to fiddle overs.

Buttler, meanwhile, would also have fielded, and confirms Wood is absent because he’s being “wrapped in cotton wool” to ensure he’s fit for the World Cup. I can’t say I’m not disappointed, as I was looking forward to enjoying him, but it’s an investment.

We’re finally allowed to see the toss and Finch, back at the top, says his team did well to restrict England in the first match – a big total might’ve been a monster – and they then got into position to win, just couldn’t finish off.

Chris Jordan is back from injury, saying fielding is the discipline of which he’s most trepidatious – that’s how he hurt his finger so there’s a mental leap to be made. He’s expecting to bowl at the death, and England will be delighted to have him back.

Teams!

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (c), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

England: 1 Jos Buttler (c/wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley.

Back to those Australia changes, out go Cameron Green, Daniel Sams, Nathan Ellis, Kane Richardson and Mitchell Swepson; in come Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood. So it’s a Test attack, which I’m excited to see – that pace is nasty, but also, that pace can fly without a bunch of catchers behind the wicket.

Mark Butcher reckons there are loads of runs out there, and Aaron Finch says the quality of the track is why his team are chasing.

Australia make five changes, details to follow, while England replace Mark Wood – gah! But yeah! – and Chris Woakes with Chris Jordan and David Willey.

It’s a bit overcast in Canberra. But it’s sunny in north Lahndan; you pays yer money etc.

Australia win the toss and will field

We’ve not actually been allowed to watch that as yet, but it remains true.

More from Cricinfo, who report that David Willey is out with the paint, so probably playing.

Preamble

Elite-level sport is all very well – and a contest like this, at this kind of hour whether in Australia or in England feels like a ridiculous bonus – but what elevates things onto a different plain is the sacred state of needle. And, thanks to Matthew Wade’s intervention in Sunday’s series opener, we might be on our way to establishing a fresh aspect in a rivalry that is already one of sport’s most historically needleacious.

Let’s hope so, but even if not, the standard of competition we’re seeing at the moment augurs extremely well for the World Cup. England’s series in Pakistan was an absolute classic, Australia’s in India’s wasn’t far off either, and the first match between these two advised us that there’s plenty more in store.

Arguably. neither side’s attack is quite as tasty as has previously been the case. But the batters are every bit as outrageous as we’d like, and the nature of the tracks we’ll see over the next month will extract from them every last bit of dynamite. So gird yourselves well: this is going to be great.

Play: 7.10pm local, 9.10am BST

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