The summer of cricket 2020

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A very strong position for England with runs on the board and a series lead in hand.

Pakistan going to have to produce something special from here to rescue the series

Three ball duck for Warner as Archer starts off brilliantly.

Carey up at 3? Surprised.

Excellent first over from Archer ...good pace ; but the line to Warner was perfect.
He's always a big threat to the left handers with a new ball so not sure sending Carey in at three is a great idea...

And now Wood does for Carey !

Fantastic start for England...

Wood does for Carey who feels the pressure of few runs on the board and plays a terrible shot. 3/2 and Aussies in the mire. Brilliant start from Wood and Archer.

And well done to Rashid for the excellent bit of fielding that ensured Carey was on strike.

Smith in at four. I guess their two best players in this format are at the crease now with plenty of overs to spare , if they're looking for a positive aspect to take...

But with the long tail they really don't want to lose another one now. Glad to see Morgan persist with the two speed men for a second over each...might not get a wicket , but nothing lost by having a real go at them.

Sensational couple of overs from Archer, with serious pace generated and a total outclassing of the Aussie batsmen with an exceptional line and length. Would have loved to have seen Morgan give him a third consecutive over. And think he should have done.

Now Morgan runs out Smith with a sharp bit of fielding.

What a lovely start.

Bit of life in this pitch ! That one from Curran took off too...

Finch had some luck in Wood's last over.. But now Smith has run himself out ! With some help from a great bit of fielding from Morgan

Chaos out there

39/3 off the first six. Not what Finch had planned.

Now how do England play this ? Rashid coming on as expected ; but will he use Moeen or keep the pace men going ? Only Maxwell and the bowlers to come ...

That is the worst review for lbw I've ever seen

Even worse than Warner's review, that one!

60/3 at halfway. Not really going anywhere at the moment, Australia, and a couple more wickets puts them in peril...but they've got to attack at some point.

60/3 off ten. Arrested the collapse ; but badly need acceleration.

Finch going after Rashid now...

Jordan with the big wicket of Finch...

I'd give Archer an over at Maxwell right now.

Very clever ball from Jordan, cramped Finch for room and that's the key wicket.

One more and it's Agar.

Well done Rashid. Bowled an intelligent spell and really deserved a wicket at the end. Morgan, again, rewarded for a positive, attacking field setting.

89/5. One eye, surely, on bowling the Aussies out. Certainly should be keeping them below 145 from this position.

Rashid becoming a last ball specialist

Gets Stoinis this time...good catch Malan , 89/5 and into the bowlers...seven overs left.

It's Wood , not Archer into the attack...but wouldn't be surprised to see both of them on now...

Moeen on.

This will be interesting. Not strictly necessary ; but gives some flexibility.  Hope he doesn't leak runs...

Just 8 . .. that's fine. 101/5 and thirty balls left.

117 after 17. Maxwell will go nuts now...

It's been a bit of a recovery, but they need a big finish.

Maxwell nicks behind just as he was looking to go berserk. Should ensure the Aussies stay below 150.

Jordan a good choice for over 19...gets Maxwell ; might save a couple of death boundaries...

132/6. Ten balls to get...what , 145 ?

Agar has done a good job here... 23 off 18 balls. Jordan has gone for a few but took the two good wickets.

Could still get 150 ; which would be a good recovery

Couple of wides rather messed up Archer's last over...pretty expensive in fact.

Australia have actually finished very well. Over 150 now ...this might yet be competitive .

157. Think England might be slightly disappointed with that after the early wreckage but should fancy chasing it down.

157/7. Think Australia will be delighted to make that amount having been 89/5. It was a dominant first 15 overs from England, with a sensational start from Archer and Wood backed up by the guile of Rashid, but it just came apart a little towards the end.

England certainly favourites, but the Australian bowlers do have something meaningful to defend.

Good first over from Starc. But another wasted review...no one seems to be judging very well today

Cummins and Starc opening spell very important with the modest total to defend. Get a couple early and England might struggle...

Rather freakish wicket ...YJB has somehow clipped his bails off with his bat...

Lucky for Australia , but they'll take it. They've bowled pretty well anyway.

Much better tactics from Australia today...none of this nonsense of bowling the spinner at the start. 27/1 from 4.

Starc to have a third over...

Very good PP for England. Saw off some good, aggressive Aussie bowling, three Starc overs and the new ball for the loss of only one wicket. And that wicket was an absolute freak! Reminded me of Pietersen getting his helmet knocked off + on to the stumps against the West Indies in 2007.

44/1. Should be a pretty comfortable win from this platform.

44/1 in the power play. Reasonable , chasing just 157.

Here come the spinners now...think England just need to work them around for a bit. No huge rush.

Maxwell first is a slight surprise ?

alfie wrote:Agar has done a good job here... 23 off 18 balls.  Jordan has gone for a few but took the two good wickets.

Could still get 150 ; which would be a good recovery

I was surprised to read that Jordan's close to being England's leading wicket taker in t20s. Now on 63, just 2 behind Broad.

guildfordbat wrote:

alfie wrote:Agar has done a good job here... 23 off 18 balls.  Jordan has gone for a few but took the two good wickets.

Could still get 150 ; which would be a good recovery

I was surprised to read that Jordan's close to being England's leading wicket taker in t20s. Now on 63, just 2 behind Broad.

I saw that as well and was quite surprised. It's an odd-looking list with Dernbach at 5.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/bowling/most_wickets_career.html?class=3;id=1;type=team

Duty281 wrote:Very good PP for England. Saw off some good, aggressive Aussie bowling, three Starc overs and the new ball for the loss of only one wicket. And that wicket was an absolute freak! Reminded me of Pietersen getting his helmet knocked off + on to the stumps against the West Indies in 2007.

44/1. Should be a pretty comfortable win from this platform.

Out until recently and so missed Australia's innings but, as Duty says, currently looking fairly comfortable for England. That's despite my men Cummins and Starc showing again that they're not total rabbits and combined scoring an undefeated 15 off 6 to up what had obviously been a very low scoring rate.

Late to the party on this one...improved bowling performance from England or just Aus being poor? Either way early wickets is what England have lacked so good on the strike bowlers for delivering.

Can we all now accept that Malan is in Englands first choice XI? "Slow start"

75/1 at halfway. Australia have generally bowled quite well , but served up a few loose balls at the end of overs. England haven't got away yet.

Should run it down from here ; but as we saw the other night , a couple of wickets can cause havoc.

Gooseberry wrote:Late to the party on this one...improved bowling performance from England or just Aus being poor? Either way early wickets is what England have lacked so good on the strike bowlers for delivering.

Can we all now accept that Malan is in Englands first choice XI? "Slow start"

Are you disputing this, or trying to make a different point?

I am not sure of anyone who wants Malan dropped; but you do appear to have taken umbrage to Olly's perfectly-reasoned point the other day.

These two have played the spinners well. Haven't gone silly...they don't have to really...but haven't missed a chance to collect runs.

Just eight per over needed off the last eight. Cummins back now as Finch can see this slipping away from him...

This is about where Australia collapsed the other night...

and Malan has holed out deep on the leg side. Good 42 off 32 but he might feel he's rather thrown it away.

Fifty for Buttler

Malan opens the door a touch, but Buttler quickly closes it again with two consecutive boundaries, both from quite thrilling strokes.

Gooseberry wrote:Late to the party on this one...improved bowling performance from England or just Aus being poor? Either way early wickets is what England have lacked so good on the strike bowlers for delivering.

Can we all now accept that Malan is in Englands first choice XI? "Slow start"

Both actually , goose. England did bowl very well but the Aussies didn't help themselves : Smith carelessly getting run out after they were already two down for practically nothing.
The opening burst from Archer and Wood was pretty good !

I'd agree Malan has made his point

Banton gone now...

Still need 36 ; but surely England won't b....r it up the way Australia did on Friday ? Morgan to the crease...

Poor shot from Banton, probably looking to get it done in double quick time.

Down to the 20s now with Morgan and Buttler finding the rope. We won't see two heroic escapes from the fielding side in succession...so relax!

Pray 4 Mo

Aussies with a desperation (wasted) review ...but now Morgan gets caught at cover.

Making a bit of a meal of finishing this but with Buttler in this form should still be no problem. Moeen will hopefully not do anything silly...

Morgan now too but with 23 needed from 3 overs England will surely get there.

Buttler has shown what he can do as an opener but England are still needing someone to take that finisher role. I really like Morgan lower down at 5 as he can 'go' from ball one but that was a poor shot it must be said.

Morgan trying to make it interesting!

But just singles and a couple of boundaries needed from here.

Duty281 wrote:Poor shot from Banton, probably looking to get it done in double quick time.

Down to the 20s now with Morgan and Buttler finding the rope. We won't see two heroic escapes from the fielding side in succession...so relax!

Yeah I'm not expecting lightning to strike twice

England are just making it a bit interesting for the crowd...err ...

Need 18 off the last two. Zampa and Cummins ?

Moeen settling it nicely...there's six of them....and four more. Easy from here.

Moeen hits a glorious six to relax everyone...then follows it with a beautifully placed boundary.

That's the game and series.

Duty281 wrote:Poor shot from Banton, probably looking to get it done in double quick time.

Down to the 20s now with Morgan and Buttler finding the rope. We won't see two heroic escapes from the fielding side in succession...so relax!

Feels similar to the last game and why its just odd to stick him at 4. With more fielders on the boundary and a softer ball his natural game is higher risk and not really suited to the situation. He wouldve got away with that in the power play, but seems to struggle to pick the ones/twos . Its understandable, but something he will need to get better at if hes going to bat down the order or play long innings from a spot as an opener. The alternative is to push him down a place and have him there for big hitting at the death, but I do wonder if he is going to make a first choice XI when Stokes is back. Buttler looks to have one openers spot sewn up (Zaltman quoted some stats that show hes arguably the most effective opener in the history of T20is) , so Bantons really in competition with Bairstow for that spot other openers spot. I'd defiantly have Banton ahead of Roy now, but that still might not be enough to get him into a first XI unless he can widen his game.

In other news Mo seems to be in a good mood again thank god. Now slow starts

When Moeen's stars are aligned, he's very fine attacking player against spin.

And a nice way to finish ! Lovely strike from Buttler to finish 77 not out