Key events
6th over: Australia 46-1 (Head 24, Smith 8) Smith clips Potts off the pads and over midwicket for six. That’s a cracking shot, especially as it’s only the second ball he’s faced. Head follows up with successive boundaries: one nailed, one edged.
“Why is Travis Head morphing slowly into David Boon?” asks Charlie Tinsley. “Has he been sinking [pejorative word for Australian beer] on the red-eye? Can you do your job and start asking some hard questions?”
Arf. My favourite detail from that Boon story is that, upon arrival, a sozzled Merv Hughes broke off from an official function to ring a radio station (I think) in Australia and announce: “The big news is that Boonie’s cracked the first fifty of the tour!”
5th over: Australia 30-1 (Head 15, Smith 1) This is an entertaining contest between Archer and Head. Of course it is: it’s Jofra Archer bowling to Travis Head FFS. An outswinger beats the edge; a half-volley is rifled for four; an utter jaffa squares Head up and bounces over middle stump; and then a poor ball is clipped past short fine leg for four more.
4th over: Australia 22-1 (Head 7, Smith 1) Travis Head is dropped! He slashed a very wide ball from Potts towards deepish backward point, where Carse – maybe 15 yards in from the boundary – leapt but couldn’t hold on to a very difficult one-handed chance. That was a weird fusion of Ben Stokes’s catch v South Africa at the 2019 World Cup and his drop at Edgbaston last year.
WICKET! Australia 20-1 (Marsh c Carse b Potts 10)
Matthew Potts takes the important wicket of Mitchell Marsh, who mistimes a one-handed pull straight to Brydon Carse at deep square leg. That’s a fine comeback from Potts, who had been launched slightly ominously over mid-off two balls earlier.
3rd over: Australia 16-0 (Marsh 6, Head 6) A mixed second over from Archer includes three wides and a short delivery that is butchered through the covers by Marsh. Head also fiddles an edge not far wide of second slip, although it would have bounced just short. Bethell does superbly to save the boundary, then hits the stumps with his throw from third man. Head was home but it was an eye-catching piece of fielding.
Archer ends the over with a gorgeous outswinger that beats Head’s awkward grope.
“Well that felt about 40-50 runs light to me, notwithstanding the slightly tiring pitch,” says Brian Withington. “Could be a fascinating chase though, as Australia aren’t forced to adopt turbo nutter ba$tard mode from the off. That’s not to say they won’t consider it, mind.”
Travis Head has another mode?
2nd over: Australia 6-0 (Marsh 1, Head 4) Marsh is beaten by two of Matthew Potts’ first three deliveries. Both moved off the seam, with the first a particularly seedy seed. Marsh mistimes a pull onto the body before flicking through midwicket for a single to get off the mark. This is a good start from England.
1st over: Australia 5-0 (Marsh 0, Head 4) Archer’s first ball jags back sharply to hit Marsh on the pad. He enquires for LBW but it would have missed leg stump. Marsh gets the scoreboard going with a leg-bye, then Head edges a big drive over the slips for four. Head is the poster boy for living dangerously, which makes his assaults even more thrilling.
That was a very good over from Archer, with nothing loose and a couple of false strokes.
Jofra Archer, playing his first ODI since March 2023, will open the bowling to Mitch Marsh and Travis Head.
Thanks Daniel, hello everyone. Travis Head, the destroyer next door, feels like the key to this runchase. Australia will want to get ahead of the rate on a required slightly tired pitch, and nobody in the world – not even Rohit Sharma – is as dangerous as Head in the first 10 overs.
Still, 316 will still take some getting, and this looks like being a really fun match and series: the teams look well-matched and keen to entertain. But my watch is over, so thanks all for your company – here’s Rob Smyth to coax you through the Aussie dig. Peace out people.
The good news for England is that, like Australia, they’ve plenty part-time spin of their own, and having seen what works, have no need to allow their quicks to get pasted all over before deploying it. The question, then, is how early Harry Brook deploys it, and whether the tourists have worked out a way of playing it – not holing out to midwicket or long-on, for example.
England set Australia 316 to win
The tourists will fancy that. England perhaps lacked a bowler able to bat, but they kept playing the same kind of shot to the same kinds of balls and, in a real turn-up for the books, the same thing kept happening.
WICKET! Rashid c Labuschagne b Head 0 (England 315 all out)
From 213-2 in the 32nd over to 315 all out in the 50th, this has been so England. Rashid comes down the track, takes an almighty swing, and picks out the man at long-on.
WICKET! Bethell c Labuschagne b Head 35 (England 315-9)
Bethell opens stance to go over long off, doesn’t get enough of it, and Marnus, one of those you imagine never dropping anything, doesn’t drop this.
40th over: England 315-8 (Bethell 35, Potts 11) It’s Head given the final over and he lands his second ball outside off, giving Bethell plenty of time to get down on one knee, off balance, and punish six via slog-sweep. And when an edge for four follows, you wonder if England are about to redeem the silliness of the last hour…
49th over: England 304-8 (Bethell 25, Potts 11) England have struggled to hit anything properly in the second powerplay, but Potts unloads everything at the final ball of Zampa’s spell, clearing the front pad and cleansing a floaty one over that same long-on/midwicket fence that has so vexed his teammates.
REVIEW! NOT OUT!
No bat, going over the top of leg-stump … just.
49th over: England 298-8 (Bethell 25, Potts 5) Now Zampa hits Potts’ pad, which sounds like a children’s book, and when the call is again not out, again Marsh signals a review.
REVIEW! NOT OUT!
There was no glove.
49th over: England 298-8 (Bethell 25, Potts 5) Zampa will now complete a spell that begun badly but is now of its usual high standard and, after a single to Bethell, Potts misses with an attempted reverse. Care removes the bails but Australia also think there was a glove – me too – and review the not-out call.
48th over: England 297-8 (Bethell 24, Potts 5) Do England go for it or take whatever they can get? It looks like the latter, the first four balls of the over yielding two twos and a one; another one follows, and you can only admire the resilience and skill of the Aussie tweakers – while applauding Marsh’s astute captaincy. It might’ve taken him longer that it should’ve done to schlep his quicks off, but his frequent bowling changes have prevented the batters from settling.
47th over: England 291-8 (Bethell 21, Potts 2) Potts needs to get Bethell on strike and does so immediately, driving to cover for one. But when the youngster takes a single himself off the penultimate delivery of the over, they can’t complete the second run off the last, so he’’s stuck at the non-striker’s as Head returns.
WICKET! Archer c sub (Connolly) b Labuschagne 4 (England 288-8)
They can’t handle him! Archer is the latest to underestimate this spin devil, swatting to backward point and Marnus has three!
47th over: England 288-7 (Bethell 20, Archer 4) Labuschagne replaces Zampa to clean up the tail, Bethell taking one down the ground.
46th over: England 287-7 (Bethell 19, Archer 4) Oh this is lovely, Bethell stepping down the track and inside the line to flow four over extra; he’s a player and, like his skipper, you can tell he knows it. He gets down the other end with a single, then Archer sweeps hard for four more before missing with a reverse. A better over for England, nine from it.
45th over: England 278-7 (Bethell 14, Archer 0) Three more dots from Zampa, who now has 3-42 off nine. He took some tap at the start but figured out a method, and against the spin, England just have’t been able to marry hitting with common sense.
WICKET! Carse c Green b Zampa 2 (England 278-7)
Another swat towards the short midwicket fence and another catch to Green, this one much easier than the last. England are subsiding like, well … England.
45th over: England 278-6 (Bethell 14, Carse 2) Bethell gave Zampa a tousing just the other day, but all he can manage off the first ball of this latest over is a single.
44th over: England 277-6 (Bethell 13, Carse 2) Head returns and we learn that Dwarhsuis has strained a pec chucking in from the boundary; you feel for him, because that might be his tour. England, though, have work to do, a single coming from each ball of the over bar the last, a dot, and the sense now is that they’ll do well to make many more than 300.
43rd over: England 272-6 (Bethell 10, Carse 0) Suddenly, England are in danger of falling well below-par, and I’m a little surprised Livingstone attacked like that; I expected the others to swing around him. Zampa, meanwhile, will love this, a new batter needing to score and Carse cannot, his wicket-maiden is also the first maiden of the match.
WICKET! Livingstone c Green b Zampa 13 (England 272-5)
Zampa returns to the attack and Livingstone goes for him immediately, skipping down and slapping high into the air, Green running in off the fence and holding low to the ground.
42nd over: England 272-5 (Livingstone 13, Bethell 10) We see Dwarshuis with a heavily strapped shoulder and neck; what a shame for that to happen on his debut, though at least ill fortune left him alone long enough for him to get his maiden ODI wicket. Meantime, back in the middle, Short rushes through another cheap over, just three from it.
41st over: England 269-5 (Livingstone 11, Bethell 9) The problem England have currently is that they don’t have that much batting to come. Carse can whack it but they won’t want him to bat a long time, and Livingstone, who I’m certain is desperate to assault Labuschagne, knows he needs to be there at the end if possible. So it is that another over of mysterious spin is taken for just four, and I’d expect Bethell to have a go at it soon/
40th over: England 265-5 (Livingstone 10, Bethell 6) Adil Rashid will be watching this and fancying himself, because Australia’s spinners have put a brake on England’s scoring. This latest Short over goes for four, all of them singles, and with 10 to go a total of around 340 looks likely; decent, but not definitive.
39th over: England 261-5 (Livingstone 8, Bethell 4) Labuschagne continues and, after a single to Livingstone, Bethell waits for one, opening the face as ball passes bat to guide four between point and short third. Gosh, but the next delivery keeps very low, the batter going back and unable to get close enough to play a shot; he’ll be relived to see his off-stump intact.
38th over: England 256-5 (Livingstone 7, Bethell 0) Out comes the 20-year-old for his debut knock and England are wobbling a little; they’ll still post something challenging, but it no longer looks likely to be a monster.
WICKET! Smith c sub (Connolly) b Short 23 (England 256-5)
Smith was given one life but when he tries the same shot again he picks out the man at long-on. Wickets are coming regularly now.
38th over: England 256-4 (Smith 23, Livingstone 7) The thing about Labuschagne’s bowling is that he’s almost crouching at the point of delivery and the arm goes round rather than high, so doesn’t offer batters the bounce they need to hit over the top, rushing and crowding them at the same time. I guess there’s also a mental thing: the sense that he’s not good enough to hurt quality batters, never mind set quality batters, but back to the now, Smith hammers shorts’ first ball over the top for four, then takes to towards point. And have a look! The next delivery is hoiked high around the corner and Hardie is there! But when he takes the catch – and it’s a beauty, leaping high, hands above head – he realises that momentum is taking him over the rope, so he throws the ball away; smart work, because he’ll have been buzzing at the grab.