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On a chilly but raucous night in Cardiff, England relocated some of what they have mislaid in their white-ball cricket: a sense of fun. Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell – the second-oldest player in the side and a thrilling protege – combined with swagger, interspersed with calculation, to power England to a three-wicket victory.
The immediate significance is to set-up a winner-takes-all decider against Australia in Manchester on Sunday. The real significance will only be clear in the months to come. But as Livingstone and Bethell combined for a partnership of 90 off 47 balls, and then Livingstone soared to 87 to make sure of the win, there was just a hint of England recapturing the elan of their 2016-22 era in white-ball cricket.
These years were marked by England’s batsmen regarding daunting targets as merely a chance to make some history. At Sophia Gardens, England’s T20 side made a little history of their own. Their chase of 194 runs to win was the joint-highest in 134 games of T20 cricket at Sophia Gardens – and they got there with a full over to spare, despite late jitters against Matthew Short’s part-time off spin.
Livingstone had spoken before the game about his determination to finish off more run chases. The pernickety might say that Livingstone didn’t technically finish off this chase. But by the time that he succumbed to Short, the scores were already level, and Livingstone had provided a clinic in modern T20 batting.
Five sixes showcased Livingstone’s power and range. The quintet covered the full spectrum of the ground: square of the wicket on both sides, long on and even behind the wicketkeeper, when Livingstone unfurled a ramp against Cameron Green. It was a shot that fused audacity and shrewdness, targeting the ground’s small straight boundaries. Three balls earlier, Livingstone had played the same shot and earned four; with fine leg still left unguarded, he doubled down.
Once his flurry, combined with Bethell’s assault on Adam Zampa, had brought England on top of the required rate, he resolved to take England to victory. Livingstone withstood a streak of 16 deliveries without hitting a boundary, but then launched a final assault on Short, who rather incongruously finished with five for 22.
Livingstone hailed the innings as his finest yet for England. “Today probably ranks as the best,” he said. “That’s the thing that I enjoy, batting further up the order – there’s more time than you think.
“I do enjoy the responsibility. You can only play the hand you’ve been dealt – it’s not easy coming in six or seven.”
His performances this series, backed up by five wickets with leg spin across the two games, have come at a critical juncture in his career. Livingstone is 31, and has just been dropped from the one-day international side.
Bethell was a pulsating partner. When Adam Zampa returned at the start of the 14th over, Bethell greeted him by sauntering down the pitch and slamming him through the on side for four. Next delivery, Zampa fired the ball in quicker; Bethell gave him the charge again, and now cleared long on. Zampa dropped shorter the next two deliveries; Bethell crunched them both square of the wicket. His sparkling 44 underscores England’s belief that he is a rare talent.
After being put into bat, just like in Southampton two days earlier, Australia again enjoyed a blistering start, even if 67 for one after the Powerplay was 19 runs fewer than they had mustered two days earlier. Another similarity was that England were once again indebted to spin. Exploiting Sophia Gardens’ long square boundaries, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone shared combined figures of three for 51 from seven overs. Livingstone snared both Fraser-McGurk and Marcus Stoinis to neat catches at long on by Jamie Overton, though Overton later missed a regulation catch in the deep off Cameron Green.
Yet, for England, the spin success invited questions too. Phil Salt hasn’t bowled any spin in the Powerplay in either game, even though Adil Rashid has been effective when deployed in that phase before. The reluctance to bowl spin early means that Australia have been able to line-up England’s seamers early in both games. In Cardiff, the abundance of early seam ultimately meant that Livingstone was left with an over unused, even though he recorded two for 16 from his three overs. Bethell’s left-arm finger-spin was also unused.
The upshot was that Reece Topley, Saqib Mahmood and Sam Curran each bowled three overs apiece: for Australia, an invitation to plunder. The trio recorded chastening combined figures of one for 114 from nine overs.
Such brutal treatment at least had one positive effect for England. It emphasised how well Brydon Carse bowled, returning to the side for the first time since a three-month ban for making bets on cricket matches.
Carse needed just two deliveries to bowl the fastest ball of the series – quicker even than anything that Jofra Archer, rested here, managed in Southampton. Travis Head, after blitzing 31, attempted another characteristic slash through the off side; the difference was that he had a 91.1mph delivery to contend with, and picked out backward point.
The final ball of Carse’s spell showed his range: an 81mph cutter that Tim David was too early on. In between, Carse mostly stuck with the same template as Liam Plunkett at Cardiff: bowling short-of-a-length, compelling batsmen to hit him to the large square boundaries. When England’s turn to bat arrived, Carse’s performance would come to be elevated further.
England beat Australia by three wickets: as it happened
10:07 PM BST
Phil Salt speaks
Incredible performance, what Livi did was second to none. To see Beth come out and play the way he did, pace his innings and take their best bowler down, really impressed. I knew we would have to play well. We talked about extending those partnerships after Southampton, nice to do it straightaway. Bethell is a real talent, the way he took down Zampa, not many could do that in their second international game. Livi has played a lot of cricket, he’s no mug. He has started really well, five wickets and 100-plus runs in two games, hopefully he can take that to Old Trafford.
09:58 PM BST
Man of the match Liam Livingstone speaks
It’s been nice. I felt at the end of the Hundred that I was getting my body back to normal after a tough couple of years. I do enjoy the responsibility. It’s not easy playing six and seven, finding the rhythm. Moving up the order gives me time and I’m enjoying my cricket with a smile on my face after a tough couple of years and that’s the main thing. You can only play with the hand you’re dealt but coming in at seven sometimes you come in for three balls, then don’t bat in the next game and then you’re in at 50 for five. Jacob is an incredible talent, you’ve seen it in the Hundred. To be out there with him, he’s fearless this kid. It was pretty special.
09:55 PM BST
England win by three wickets
Liam Livingstone was magnificent tonight with bat and ball, Jacob Bethell showed his class, technique and temperament and Salt got the chase off to a good start.
Short ends with 3-0-22-5.
The series is tied at 1-1 and the decider is at Old Trafford, a day game at 2pm. The forecast isn’t promising but we live in hope.
09:51 PM BST
OVER 19: ENG 194/7 (Overton 4 Rashid 1) chasing 194
Overton does his job by bunting a single down to long off and gives Livingstone the strike and he absolutely mullers a drive over long on for six into the Taff. Short fires down a wide and next ball Livingstone levels the scores with a brutal drive down the ground. But he falls next ball, followed by Carse, leaving rashid to do the honours, driving a single to point.
England win by three wickets.
09:50 PM BST
Wicket!
Carse c David b Short 0 He’s on a hat-trick! Carse tries to end it with a six and gives the offspinner his five-for by clothing an on-drive straight up the chimney! FOW 193/7
09:47 PM BST
Wicket!
Livingstone b Short 87 Falls one ball short by yorking himself, walking down and playing all around it. But 87 off 47 is a matchwinning innings. But he can’t put the cherry on the cake. FOW 193/5
09:45 PM BST
OVER 18: ENG 181/5 (Livingstone 77 Overton 3) chasing 194
Livingstone flogs Abbott’s back of a length cutter to the midwicket boundary rider for a single and Overton, aiming for square leg, runs a single to point as the leg-cutter comes off the leading edge.
Short has been brilliant with the ball but shells a hard chance off Livingstone running in from deep midwicket. He seemed to be late picking it up and got there a second after eh shiuld nhave, having to dive and he grassed it in the gloom. They run two and calmly take singles and finish with a two that Livingstone heaves to long on, Overton diving to make his ground.
England need 13 off 12.
It will be Short again!
09:39 PM BST
OVER 17: ENG 173/5 (Livingstone 71 Overton 1) chasing 194
Short has had a golden arm tonight, breaking the Salt-Livingstone and Livingstone-Bethell partnerships. Now he bags Curran as well with an off-break. What a fine return this has been – 2-0-9-3.
09:36 PM BST
Wicket!
Curran c Connolly b Short 1 Comes down the pitch and the turn of the off-breaks takes it off the middle of the bat and he cloths it to cover. FOW 171/5
09:33 PM BST
Wicket!
Bethell b Short 44 Bowled off stump with a slider as Bethell went for a premeditated reverse sweep after a fine innings of 44 off 24 with four fours and three sixes. FOW 169/4
09:33 PM BST
OVER 16: ENG 169/3 (Livingstone 69 Bethell 44) chasing 194
Zampa, after his beating, comes back for his last over and cleverly keeps it out of both power hitters’ arcs. Livingstone adjusts to work the ball through cover from two yards down for two runs and whisks another of his pads for two more. Zampa goes even slower and wider and they take two singles off the final two balls.
09:29 PM BST
OVER 15: ENG 163/3 (Livingstone 64 Bethell 43) chasing 194
Abbott returns. He has two left and needs another couple of wickets to dent England’s charge. Bethell’s six in the previous over was the longest of them all, 100m. Needing seven an over, England go about their work diligently against the dangerman cuffing his cutters for three singles and a two off the first four balls until Bethell is given a short one at the top of his pads and he pirouettes on to it to pull it hard and flat for six! What a stroke! They have out on 84 off 40 balls. What a terrific partnership.
09:25 PM BST
OVER 14 ENG 152/3 (Livingstone 60 Bethell 36) chasing 194
Bethell is going to try to take on Zampa and starts brilliantly with a step hit, whipping him from two steps down for four and follows that with another little skip down to launch the great legspinner over long on for six!
Zampa tries the googly but Bethell picks it and scythes it for four through cover then swivels on to the drag-down and pulls it hard for four through midwicket. Green pulls it back from the rope but had touched it with his body. ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating, rings out. Ah, the golden oldies.
England need 42 off 36.
09:19 PM BST
OVER 13 ENG 132/3 (Livingstone 60 Bethell 16) chasing 194
Stoinis starts on a length and Livingstone smacks it out of the slot, pinging it over cow corner for six. The next ball is wider but still full so Livingstone flicks it squarer for six more to bring up his fifty off 27 balls.
The Australia all-rounder bangs it in on middle and Livingstone clobbers it on the pull for a single. The next ball is shorter, slower and wider and that restricts Livingstone to a single as he had to wait for it as it rose to chin height.
09:15 PM BST
OVER 12 ENG 114/3 (Livingstone 43 Bethell 15) chasing 194
Bethell gives Livingstone the strike with a poke into the offside but after getting it back launches into Connolly the left-arm spinner with a huge slog sweep for six. Connolly goes wider, too wide, with a yorker but nails the last two balls and keeps England down to nine off the over. They need 10 an over off the last eight.
Stoinis is coming back on as Head shuffles his bowlers.
09:12 PM BST
OVER 11 ENG 105/3 (Livingstone 42 Bethell 8) chasing 194
A touch of panache and a touch of Norman Wisdom from Livingstone as he falls on his tuchas when playing a scoop off Green over the keeper for four. He bounds to his feet like Del Boy after the wine bar incident. Green serves up a short, slow ball that drifts so far to leg that it is called wide and then Livingstone thumps a drive for two through cover, plays the ramp shot again, flipping it like a pancake for six and ends the over hit flush in the goolies and on the deck again. Ouch and yikes.
09:08 PM BST
OVER 10: ENG 90/3 (Livingstone 29 Bethell 7) chasing 194
Zampa ties Bethell down for two dot balls after going for three singles off the first three balls. Bethell is angsty, you can sense it by his dancing feet, but ends the over throwing his hands at a drive and edging it down to thord man for four. Drinks.
09:01 PM BST
OVER 9: ENG 83/3 (Livingstone 27 Bethell 2) chasing 194
Head brings on Matt Short, the off-spinner. ‘It must be a gut feeling,’ says Nick Knight. Give that git a medal as it comes off second ball. Short doesn’t turn it from round the wicket but slides it on. Bethell takes two singles with legside flicks, bottom hand to the fore and Livingstone works a couple into the onside, too.
08:57 PM BST
Wicket!
Salt c Abbott b Short 39 Holes out to long-off off the off-spinner. Lost the middle of his bat and plinked it off the outside half. FOW 79/3
08:56 PM BST
OVER 8: ENG 78/2 (Salt 39 Livingstone 24) chasing 194
Zampa uses skid and slide to start with three dot balls to Salt who finally gets the board moving again with a drive through point, opening the bottom wrist. Salt works the one fired into his pads for a single and Livingstone charges the leg-spinner who sees his feet approaching and fires it towards his boots. Livingstone adapts and pats it away for a single.
08:52 PM BST
OVER 7: ENG 74/2 (Salt 36 Livingstone 23) chasing 194
Oddly no Zampa yet. Green starts by restricting them to two singles before Salt picks the slower ball, leans inside the line and flips it to long leg for four. The captain bunts a quick full toss for a single and Livingstone gives him the strike back with a tip and run deflection to point off a slower, shorter one. Salt pulls the last for a single to midwicket.
Now Australia turn to Zampa. He has his light-enhancing specs on.
08:49 PM BST
OVER 6: ENG 65/2 (Salt 29 Livingstone 21) chasing 194
Inglis chases the ball all the way to the boundary, no easy feat in wicketkeeping pads, after Livingstone charged Abbott and dragged it off the bottom edge down to fine leg for four. He ends the over by slugging four off a good length with a big heave from outside off. Fraser-McGurk, who misfielded the previous ball and then twisted his ankle hustling to retrieve it, conceding three is jeered again when beaten by Livingstone’s swipe on the boundary.
One ball left, Abbott tries the slow bouncer and Livingstone waits for it and swats a pull for four more. Seventeen off the over.
08:43 PM BST
OVER 5: ENG 48/2 (Salt 25 Livingstone 8) chasing 194
Stoinis replaces Hardie and Salt opens the face to steer the ball fine of the point sweeper for four. The captain pulls the next ball for a single before Livingstone works two off his toes through midwicket then advances on the occasion of his 50th T20 cap and wallops him over cow corner for a towering six. Stoinis gets out of the over with a two dot balls, the first by virtue of good field placing at wide mid-off, the secondwith a slow bouncer that looped over Livingstone’s helicoptering blade.
08:39 PM BST
OVER 4: ENG 35/2 (Salt 20 Livingstone 0) chasing 194
Magnificent from Abbott whose years on the county circuit have made him a master of conditions. Two wickets and only a wide to give England any succour.
08:38 PM BST
NOT OUT
Missing the stumps by a good three inches.
08:37 PM BST
AUS review
Livingstone lbw b Abbott 0 Looks too high and angling down.
08:33 PM BST
Wicket!
Cox b Abbott 0 Two slower balls followed by one with pace on make Cox look as green as he is and bowls him middle and leg with a nip-backers as he was backing away to open up cover. FOW 34/2
08:31 PM BST
Wicket!
Jacks c Fraser-McGurk b Abbott 12 Jacks falls cheaply again, picking out the only man deep behind square on the legside with his pick-up flick off the cutter. He has flattered to deceive in international cricket and given that was the spit of his dismissal at Utilita Bowl, Nasser can be forgiven for shouting “Groundhog day!” Fow 34/1
08:30 PM BST
OVER 3: ENG 34/0 (Salt 20 Jacks 12) chasing 194
Despite the dew, the ball keeps swinging for Hardie and Salt swings and misses but connects with the next ball by opening the blade and carting it into the second tier at wide long on for six. Huge. Salt advances next ball and Hardie drags it down so Salt pulls it with a twist of the wrist over square leg for six more.
Hardie goes full and straight and Salt drives him out of the ground and towards the River Taff at long on. Eighteen off three deliveries. Head calls a conference, the outcome of which is a slower ball that Salt can only whip away for a single. After spraying one down the legside Hardie bangs the last ball in and Jacks works it off his midriff with a flick for a single.
08:24 PM BST
OVER 2: ENG 2/0 (Salt 1 Jacks 11) chasing 194
Jacks steps down to the first ball and thumps it over mid-off for four then, after a wide fired down the legside, whisks two through midwicket. He drags another ball for two through midwicket aiming for cover and then makes the bowler do his own fielding by scraping another across the line to midwicket and haring back for another two.
Jacks cannot beat the field with his last two offside punches having retreated to leg. The dew is already making rags necessary to dry the ball after every ball.
08:21 PM BST
OVER 1: ENG 2/0 (Salt 1 Jacks 1) chasing 194
Aaron Hardie opens the bowling with a slip and a short third man. Right arm over. Looks like he’s swinging it and bowls a heavy ball. He nips one away from Salt at 82mph and the England captain only gets away off the fourth ball, popping it over cover off a leading edge as he tries to work it to midwicket. As Nasser Hussain says, Australia immediately on the money with their lengths while England were all over the shop. Jacks opens the face to take a single through point and pinch the strike.
The left-arm spin of Cooper Connolly is coming on next. Bold.
08:05 PM BST
Australia 193/6
‘Us Australians are always pretty confident,’ says Jake Fraser-McGurk. Australia’s bowlers ought to be able to defend this with Zampa leading the way with his masterly leg-spin. They need to break the cycle of dominant Australian powerplays and take the opening bowlers down to have any chance I would hazard.
Feels like Australia are 20 above par. Adam Zampa will enjoy bowling here later.
08:03 PM BST
OVER 20: AUS 193/6 (Green 13 Hardie 20)
Hardie, all bottom hand power, clubs a full ball through midwicket for four then slices a drive over cover point for four more. Curran reverts to cutters having tried length and reverse swing and Hardie climbs into it, carting it into the long pasture for six at deep midwicket.
Curran aims for the wide line with the hope of painting it with the ball but drifts too wide. Hardie lamps the cutter on the pull for two and Curran sprays another offside wide. He goes for it again but Hardie reaches this eighth-stump yoker and poke sit to point for single.
Green ends the innings with a leg-bye and Curran walks away with 3-0-37-0. Mahmood went for 37 off his three and Topley 3-0-40-0. Carse’s genuine pace and the legspinners did the heavy lifting for England to keep Australia just within reach.
07:56 PM BST
OVER 19: AUS 173/6 (Green 13 Hardie 3)
Overton drops a goober at cow corner, running in and then sliding on his knees which may have caused him to lose his balance. Then Mahmood, instead of having Green’s wicket next to his name, is hammered next ball for six through square leg. He fights back with a brute of an inswinging yorker that Hardie chisels out but England send upstairs thinking it was toe before bat but the replay/review shows an inside edge. He hobbles a single.
Green has a swing and a miss at a fullish, reverse swinging delivery outside off and flaps the low full toss that completes the over through midwicket for two.
07:50 PM BST
OVER 17 and 18: AUS 161/6 (Green 2 Hardie 2)
Inglis has got his eye in and ramps Carse for four, more edge than meat but that’s the nature of the game. he shows his strengths and ripped biceps by pumping a fullish ball for four. But Carse has the last laugh to remove David with the last ball of his spell and Curran gulls Inglis the next ball with a slow cutter outside off that Inglis decided to flip but it stuck in the pitch, as it was designed to do, and he couldn’t get enough force on it to take it over the fielder.
07:46 PM BST
Wicket!
Inglis c Carse b Curran 42 Flicks the off-cutter round the corner and Carse runs in from deep backward-square to catch it. FOW 157/6
07:46 PM BST
Wicket!
David c Salt b Carse 1 Came off the bottom of the bat off the last ball of Carse’s spell, giving him figures of 4-0-26-2. No idea why he reviewed it. He knew it was out and was walking off before deciding to chance his arm. FOW 157/5
07:43 PM BST
AUS review
David c Salt b Carse Bat or trousers as he shaped to pull?
07:41 PM BST
OVER 16: AUS 148/4 (Inglis 33 David 1)
Finally Rashid takes some tap, Inglis taking him for 6-2-2-4. The ‘maximum’ comes when Rashid takes all the pace off and flights it up above the eyes but the line is too middle and leg and he flays it over mid-off for six. He punches two through cover and works two through midwicket before reverse sweeping off middle for the four.
07:36 PM BST
OVER 15: AUS 133/4 (Inglis 18 David 1)
Australia are lions against pace and mice against spin. Inglis reverse sweeps, a deft little lap, for four. Livingstone appeals, thinking it was pad first but it wasn’t. No matter, he lures Stoinis to his doom with tantalising flight. Stoinis falls for it and holes out.
07:33 PM BST
Wicket!
Stoinis c Overton b Livingstone 2 A replica of Fraser-McGurk’s dismissal. Livingstone slid it into leg-stump and toes his drive to long-on. FOW 131/4
07:32 PM BST
OVER 14: AUS 126/3 (Inglis 12 Stoinis 2)
Rashid comes back on for Stoinis’s arrival at the crease. The Yorkshireman has taken his wicket eight times in ODIs and T20Is. Another canny over of skid, turn and variations in flight protect the boundary and they flick and nudge five singles and a clumped two.
07:29 PM BST
OVER 13: AUS 119/3 (Inglis 7 Stoinis 0)
Fraser McGurk brings up a 29-ball half-century with a two, whisked into the legside but four fot balls and a wicket complete an excellent over for the versatile spinner.
07:27 PM BST
Wicket!
Fraser-McGurk c Overton b Livingstone 50 Another victory for an England leg-spinner with the googly. Fraser-McGurk aims for cow corner but imparts more vertical than horizontal distance on it and Overton runs in to grab it. FOW 119/3
07:25 PM BST
OVER 12: AUS 117/2 (Fraser-McGurk 48 Inglis 7)
Salt trusts Topley to come back and he deserves the responsibility given his fine contributions since overcoming that litany of injuries. But Fraser-McGurk attacks him with those cocked wrists, backing off to a short ball and thumping it with withering power over wide mid-off with a flat bat. Bethell backpedals and dives over the rope but couldn’t hang on. Fraser-McGurk works a single off middle and leg and Inglis hits his first boundary with pull fine for four as Topley finds the middle of the pitch once too often.
07:19 PM BST
OVER 11: AUS 103/2 (Fraser-McGurk 40 Inglis 2)
Livingstone replaces Rashid and starts with a drag down leg break that Fraser-McGurk cuffs on the pull for two. The next ball is fuller and flighted and Double-Banger plays a lovely hockey shot, pinging the ball with the power of his breaking wrists through cover for two more. Three singles follow as Livingstone gets away without a boundary off his first over, all of them leg-breaks.
07:15 PM BST
OVER 10: AUS 96/2 (Fraser-McGurk 34 Inglis 1)
Sensational stroke from Fraser-McGurk to shuffle to the legside to make some room before square driving Carse for four. The bowler fights back with pace on for the cost of only two singles from four balls until Fraser-McGurk backs off again and chips a drive over cover for a hard-run three. Drinks. Carse has 3-0-17-1.
Carse should be a good fit for this ground: bowling short-of-a-length, he is hard to hit straight – and Cardiff has particularly large square boundaries, as Liam Plunkett often exploited to good effect. So it is proving so far, combining 91mph bowling with some slower balls.
07:11 PM BST
OVER 9: AUS 87/2 (Fraser-McGurk 26 Inglis 0)
Fraser-McGurk is a dandy highwayman, all stand and deliver. When Rashid overpitches Fraser-McGurk levers a drive over mid-off for six. Rashid berates himself more next ball when he drops short and the right-hander pulls for two. But he befuddles Short two balls later and continues to prove why he has become irreplaceable.
07:08 PM BST
Wicket!
Short b Rashid 28 Diddles him with the googly. He didn’t read it and went for a massive swipe aiming for long on and is bowled middle stump. FOW 87/2
07:05 PM BST
OVER 8: AUS 77/1 (Short 27 Fraser-McGurk 17)
Change of ends for Carse and he varies his pace from 77 to 90mph in the over which stops the boundaries by playing with the batsmen’s timing. Short’s hesitancy in coming back for two after Harrow driving down to fine leg almost costs him his wicket but he beats the throw. Five singles off the over, cuffed, scuffed and heaved.
07:03 PM BST
OVER 7: AUS 70/1 (Short 22 Fraser-McGurk 15)
The sly old fox Rashid ties Fraser-McGurk in knots with variations in pace, pushing it up and getting it to drift and drop alarmingly. He finally gets off strike with a thick inside edge when driving and Short bookends the over with singles to cover and midwicket.
06:59 PM BST
OVER 6: AUS 67/1 (Short 20 Fraser-McGurk 14)
England trust Sam Curran with a powerplay over again and he starts with a cutter that Fraser-McGurk doesn’t pick and swings and misses as it nips away. But then he follows it with another and Fraser-McGurk shovels it over mid-off. No foot movement. Just a swinger, a proper slugger with a baseball stance. Curran tries a short ball and the right-hander swats it over mid-on for four and makes it a hat-trick of boundaries with as crisp an extra-cover drive as you would wish to see. He is all eyes and hand speed with tungsten wrists.
06:55 PM BST
OVER 5: AUS 53/1 (Short 19 Fraser-McGurk 1)
Excellent from Brydon Carse, manipulating line and length to cramp all three batsmen, Head, Short and the incoming Fraser-McGurk who gets off the mark in jammy fashion with an edge off a pull.
Brydon the brakeman.
06:52 PM BST
Wicket!
Head c Rashid b Carse 31 Spooned a drive to point. Ugly innings peppered with three glorious strokes. FOW 52/1
06:50 PM BST
OVER 4: AUS 51/0 (Short 19 Head 31)
Head short-arm pulls hard for four and pulls a single just out of reach of square leg. Short streakily nicks four over the slips and a single behind square on the offside when targeting midwicket. Head retreats to leg and uppercuts a short ball over vacant gully for four more.
06:46 PM BST
OVER 3: AUS 37/0 (Short 14 Head 22)
Head holds the pose when he straight drives Topley’s first, full ball on leg and middle for six. The sound off his bat was as sweet as a Stradivarius. England’s inability not only to take powerplay wickets but to prevent boundaries has been killing them since October 2022. Topley, abandons bowling into Head’s body, drops short and Head slaps it for four on the cut.
The left-arm quick finds some composure and consistency by targeting Head’s ribs and shaping it into Short’s off stump and leaks only a single from the next four balls.
06:40 PM BST
OVER 2: AUS 26/0 (Short 14 Head 11)
Saqib Mahmood is also entrusted with the new pill and starts with a dot ball, cramping him around middle and leg. A fast short ball outside off rises sharply on Head who commits to the pull and top-edges it over the keeper for four. Saqib gets one to nibble off the seam and beat the outside edge and then cramps him up for another dot ball. Unperturbed, Head lashes a full delivery over mid on for six. Outrageous power.
Another powerplay mauling here.
06:36 PM BST
OVER 1: AUS 15/0 (Short 14 Head 0)
Topley starts with a big inswinger, full and hooping in. It pinned Short on the top of the knee but did too much. Pitched outside leg too. The next ball arcs down legside and is rightly signalled wide. Topley strays back of a length and Short pulls it hard off the front foot and out of the ground for six. New ball, please.
Topley reverts to full and outside off and Short drives, nicking it over short third man for four. Short muscles the next full ball down the ground for four more but swishes at air when trying to replicate his pull for six. The left-armer ends the over with a full inswinger and Short can’t get it past mid-on.
Never a great sign when the captain/keeper has to run over to the bowler after only two balls. The next two balls went for boundaries too.
Reece Topley went for 15 in his only over last game; this time, he concedes 15 again.
06:31 PM BST
Reece Topley has the new ball
And Matt Short takes strike. Kumar Sangakkara wanted them to start with spin but they have not been so bold.
06:29 PM BST
England were marmalised in the powerplay in Southampton
Archer, who has been rested to manage his workload, opened the bowling but bowled too short though it was Sam Curran who was taken for three sixes and three fours by Travis Head in his opening over. Reece Topley was also tonked if not so damagingly. England have five pace bowling options in Carse, Curran, Overton, Topley and Saqib and Nasser Hussain urges them to try and hit the top of Head’s off stump rather than dragging it back as they did on Wednesday. Don’t try to buy a mistake by playing to his strength of cross-batted shots. Try to take a wicket rather than wait for him to give it to you in other words.
06:08 PM BST
The two XIs
England Phil Salt (capt and wk), Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Reece Topley.
Australia Travis Head (captain), Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Cam Green, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa.
06:05 PM BST
One change for England, three for Australia
Carse replaces the rested Archer; Fraser-McGurk, Hardie and Connolly in for Australia.
06:04 PM BST
England win the toss and bowl first
They want to chase again, as they failed to do successfully on Wednesday night.
06:02 PM BST
Mitchell Marsh is ill
So Travis Head will captain Australia tonight, we are told.
05:59 PM BST
Spanish archer for Archer?
Good evening from Cardiff – a lovely one here, though it is chilly. The Aussies certainly think so, wearing their beanie hats as they strolled from the city through Bute Park. Looks like Jofra Archer will be rested for England tonight.
04:10 PM BST
Preview: Stand up Jacks
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the second of three T20s between England and Australia, this one in Cardiff where the forecast is for no rain but autumnal chill of 10C once the sun sets on Sophia Gardens. England’s new white-ball side started the series badly in Australia’s batting powerplay, improved by virtue of the guile and nerve of Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and some canny, quick bowling at the death from Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood, dug themselves a hole with their flakiness in their own powerplay, a hole from which they could not escape despite a decent cameo from Livingstone, some signs of Sam Curran’s Hundred excellence and a dose of jaunty, meaty biffing from Jamie Overton.
None of that should come as a surprise given the quality of Australia’s Travis Head, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood, all of whom made significant contributions to the 28-run victory. Head has batted with such fearlessness and skill for the past 18 months that it makes Australia’s mockery of ‘Bazball’ ring hollow. Head has not been influenced by England’s approach, but he has fundamentally changed in similar ways in red- and white-ball cricket. I can understand why Brendon McCullum hates the reductive term because it’s just another label used to simplify something as ‘slogging’ that is really about changing a player’s state of mind, giving them the confidence to express themselves honestly, to free their thinking. Head is a purer example of the latter than anyone in the England team, Jonny Bairstow in the summer of 2022 before his horror injury apart.
Tonight, with an interim head coach, lack of experience and a line-up by design stuffed full of all-rounders, England have to show that they can make enough runs to beat Mitchell Marsh’s side. Will Jacks is 25 now and averaging 16.18 in 16 innings and a highest score of 40. This is a man who has made four T20 centuries in club/franchise cricket, one in the IPL, had a £300K contract with RCB this year and has a strike rate of 190 averaging 32 over two seasons in the SA20. Now would be a good time to come up with an international innings worthy of the great expectations English cricket has had for him over the past five years.
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