Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature 37th over: England 199-7 (Malan 96, Willey 0) David Whaley can bowl, another left-hander. He defends his first ball and Zampa’s last one is over. England have put Australia at least 200, which was not a sure thing before 20 overs.
WIRELESS! Jordan lbw Zampa 14, England 199-7
We haven’t had many reviews today, but suddenly it’s the center of criticism. The Aussies are shocked: Jordan has dropped it on his backboard at a right angle and the third umpire literally sees a replay and overturns the appeal. Then Jordan tries to pull a ball that stays low, is hit in front and given out, and reviews it himself. Technology maintains the decision, reaching the top of the waist. A good partnership of 41 comes to an end. 36th over: England 197-6 (Malan 95, Jordan 13) Plenty of overs left. Malan takes a run, Jordan slices two at deep point, lands just short of the nearest fielder. Malan dabs two more. Within the stroke of a century. 35th over: England 193-6 (Malan 92, Jordan 12) Zamba replaces Green, double spin. Crosses to the Cathedral End from the River End. Jordan sweeps a couple and pushes one, doing his duty. Malan swings one down the leg side towards deep backward for four, then goes in front of square for another! He goes for 91, gets a single to keep the strike going. 34th over: England 181-6 (Malan 83, Jordan 9) Three more for Jordan. That is quite the feat in short form cricket. Another direction this time, from fine to deep third. Agar goes over the wicket to left-handed Malan, who doesn’t take it. 33rd over: England 176-6 (Malan 82, Jordan 5) Green continues, trying a slower ball on the on side that dips to Malan and takes a fake shot, slanting through covers for two. The tables turn on the last ball, a closer and Malan smashes the clipped shot for four, so clean. Jordan started the over with three down the ground. Another good dozen for England. 32nd over: England 164-6 (Malan 75, Jordan 1) Agar in his third over, repairing his economy, getting past it for just two runs. 31st over: England 162-6 (Malan 74, Jordan 0) Malan manages to take two wickets from Green’s over to follow the run out, but England were far from the score today except for Malan. Chris Jordan has the most T20 innings.
WIRELESS! Dawson run out (Agar) 11, England 158-6
Excellent fielding! Direct hit. Terrible run though. Dawson punches the ball to point and is just getting started. Malan, to his credit, responds immediately and thus gets safely to the striker’s end. But that ball was never likely to get past Agar, who stops it cleanly while on the move. Once the ball is in his hand, Dawson lets go, slowing down to see if the throw will hit or not. It does. No one on the stumps, Green followed too far. But agar is good enough. 30th over: England 157-5 (Malan 70, Dawson 11) Agar returns. He bowled one earlier, chipped once and was gone. Malan tries to play the first ball of the round but gets the toe of the bat and kills the ball. So he backs up and cuts the next one… and hits the sweeper! He was so close to Stoinis, but hit too hard just behind his place in the square. Malan plans a reverse sweep, but it’s the wrong ball: on the leg stump line, so he ends up cutting it off the bottom edge, past his off stump, for one. 29th over: England 151-5 (Malan 65, Dawson 10) Cameron Green bowled four overs earlier and is now back. He uses the short ball a lot, using his height on the theory that it will make him difficult to hit. Mostly it works. However, Malan, who usually plays small things well. Four from above. 28th over: England 147-5 (Malan 63, Dawson 8) Back to watch for the Zampa over, three singles from it as the afternoon sun thickens its colour. 27th over: England 144-5 (Malan 62, Dawson 6) Follow-up from Malan, who has decided he can field the Australian captain. He drives it through cover for four and then plays the pick-up over deep square leg for another six. Excellent shot. He backs it up with a swing of strikes this time, and a dozen from the over to become England’s best in the innings.
Half a century! Malan 50 off 64 balls
26th over: England 132-5 (Malan 51, Dawson 5) Underway for Dawson, sweeping Zampa very well for three slightly lucky runs. He could let it run over pads or logs. We have to hang on here for Malan – who takes a single and brings up his fifty. 25th over: England 126-5 (Malan 49, Dawson 1) Pongo! A ball after beating the outside edge, Cummins picks up a kid and Malan hits it over long on for a six. Hello. In typical Malan fashion though, it’s the only shot to score from the over. 24th over: England 120-5 (Malan 43, Dawson 1) It’s all about Malan now. Not even halfway, and he’ll have to do his job with Liam Dawson, whose batting at this level you’d call useful. And a chance for another wicket as Malan pokes the ball and into Carey’s body. Too fast for the goalkeeper to have reaction time.
WIRELESS! Buttler c Agar b Zampa 29, England 118-5
This is! If Agar were to take a catch today, he would want it to be from Buttler. A bit of a fly and loop from Zampa, but still at a decent pace. Buttler stays on the leg of the ball, opens the face of his bat and tries to cover deep. He takes it too straight though, and the long-swinger is able to reach deep extra and make the catch. England in real contention now. 23rd over: England 118-4 (Malan 42, Buttler 29) Cummins returns and takes an economical set. I still haven’t seen a proper long over. The longest so far went for 11 runs, and that was the one Billings was dismissed during. Stoinis returns to the field after receiving treatment on his hand – he was hit by a ball while bowling earlier and did some damage to his fingers. 22nd over: England 111-4 (Malan 40, Buttler 25) Zamba continues and Buttler wants to have a crack but can’t quite line him up. Drives hard down the ground but finds the boundary rider for one, goes through covers but Labuschagne saves for two. 21st over: England 105-4 (Malan 38, Buttler 21) Starc does it again. Buttler looks for full lengths and drive in, Starc goes back of a length and moves the ball away. He loses the tip of a moustache. A wide down the leg side, three singles over the top. 20th over: England 101-4 (Malan 37, Buttler 19) Legs at last, with Zamba. Malan hits his first ball so hard, but again straight to short cover. Warner is still wringing his hands a few balls later. Malan goes the opposite way off the next ball, over midwicket in the air for a risky couple. Two singles follow, Zamba bowling a tight line straight to the stumps to make the strokeplay difficult. Three numbers for England, plenty of work to do. 19th over: England 97-4 (Malan 34, Buttler 18) Agar in the air! He almost takes a crazy catch from Malan, who crushes Starc to the cut shot. Agar grabs his fingers but can’t hold on as he hits the ground. Malan gets the strike, Buttler glances at a couple, just three from the over. 18th over: England 94-4 (Malan 33, Buttler 16) Another free hit for England, Stoinis over the line. Buttler smashes it, but along the ground to the sweeper at deep backward square. So you rarely see free kicks go far. Only singles from the over. 17th over: England 88-4 (Malan 30, Buttler 14) Starc returns for his fifth over, and immediately the runs dry up. Two singles and a wide as the batsmen watch closely. It’s still too early in the innings to be down four. 16th over: England 85-4 (Malan 29, Buttler 13) Cruise control started by Buttler. He leads Stoinis through the covers to the fence, across the asphalt. Labuschagne does some chasing, diving and sliding, but can hit it more along the boundary pads. 15th over: England 79-4 (Malan 28, Buttler 8) Midway through the green over, Malan finally finds a pull shot and hits the fence. Still there, building. He has been a calming influence while the wickets have fallen. “Pity Aussies can’t watch their national team play on home soil for free to air,” writes Maureen Becquet. “Shame on TV chasing $$$$.” Hard to disagree. The main people we need to look at are the people at Cricket Australia who negotiated the 2018 broadcast deal, which was full of flaws. Also, paywalling these matches was against anti-siphoning legislation, but the Communications Minister at the time didn’t bother to enforce it. 14th over: England 73-4 (Malan 23, Buttler 7) They have drinks after the wicket as Jos Buttler comes into the middle. The most important wicket in this England team by far. Too much time to express today – perhaps too much time. But he has played well here in the past in various formats: he blasted India’s bowlers in the T20 World Cup semi-final and almost saved last season’s Ashes Test here by winning most of the fifth day. Shows what he can do first up here, lofting Stoinis loosely from a length over midwicket for four. Deep cover, deep third, deep backward, deep mid on square for Buttler.
WIRELESS! Billings b Stoinis 17, England 66-4
On the attack, in the game! Marcus Stoinis is driven down the ground for four first balls, but a beauty follows. Cutter, driven down the pitch, seaming at an angle, hitting the inside edge and crashing into the stumps. 13th over: England 57-3 (Malan 23, Billings 13) A half-shot from Malan, who pulls Green away for two runs inside mid-stump, then fiddles and misses outside off stump as Green bounces well on the line of the fourth stump. . Billings, undeterred, tries a pull shot of his own and mishits it to short mid off, but safely into the grass. 12th over: England 57-3 (Malan 20, Billings 11) Spinning into the attack, Agar looks to spear it and…
