Key occasions
fifth over: England 34-0 (Salt 27, Duckett 7) After going a full 5 balls with no boundary, Salt is turning into impatient. He prices at Starc, swings the bat, slices the ball and will get six over first slip. Atherton produces one other factoid: Salt performs and misses 16pc of the time, which is greater than some other top-five batter in males’s ODIs, apparently. He doesn’t give a timespan however nonetheless, that’s fairly a stat. And, in its means, fairly a ability.
4th over: England 24-0 (Salt 18, Duckett 6) Hazlewood places the plug in as this over goes for only a single. He even persuades Duckett to go away one.
third over: England 23-0 (Salt 17, Duckett 6) Starc manages three dots and two singles, one of them a vanguard from Duckett that wasn’t removed from being a caught-and-bowled. But then Starc strays onto the pads and Duckett involves the get together with a lofted flick for 4. On a chilly day, dotted with beanie hats, it’s been a breezy begin.
“Do you know if there is an overseas TMS link for today?” asks Matt Dale. “I can’t seem to find it on the BBC website.” Hoping the hive thoughts will help.
2nd over: England 17-0 (Salt 16, Duckett 1) Ben Duckett will get off the mark much less flamboyantly, with a nudge to leg for a single off Hazlewood. Salt is crushed once more, perilously near the off bail, as Hazlewood finds a basic size and some motion off the seam. But Salt hits again with a lofted sq. drive. He already has 4 fours, which is yet one more than ten of the Aussies managed at Lord’s between them (Head 4, the relaxation three).
1st over: England 12-0 (Salt 12, Duckett 0) Well, nicely. Salt performs one other cracking cowl drive off the final ball, and in the center he guides the ball previous the slips. So this over appears to be like like a triumph for England. But the information was jammy – Salt gave the impression to be pulling the bat away – and he additionally performed and missed, twice. So honours have been really even, no matter the scoreboard has to say.
1st ball: England 4-0 (Salt 4, Duckett 0) In comes Mitch Starc, curls the ball again in in direction of off stump – and sees it fly via the covers for 4 as Phil Salt finds the center of the bat. An opening gambit from the Zak Crawley handbook.
An electronic mail! “Factoid,” says Mark Hooper. Do I detect some scepticism in the air? “The newest as in the most up-to-date? Amazing! (I do know, and many others)“ Ha.
A pair of factoids for you. One from Mike Atherton, so good at including info to all the opinions on Sky: that is the newest international recreation ever performed in England. And one from me: it’s Steve Smith’s first outing as Australia’s captain since … February 2024, when he led them in three ODIs towards West Indies.
Teams in full
England 1 Phil Salt, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Harry Brook (capt), 5 Jamie Smith (wkt), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Jacob Bethell, 8 Brydon Carse, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Olly Stone.
Australia 1 Travis Head, 2 Matthew Short, 3 Steve Smith (capt), 4 Josh Inglis (wkt), 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Cooper Connolly, 9 Mitch Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
Teams in short: no Jofra, no Carey
Jofra Archer, so good at Lord’s the different evening, is overdue for a breather, so Olly Stone is available in to affix Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts.
For Australia, Alex Carey and Sean Abbott be a part of Mitch Marsh on the sidelines. Aaron Hardie and Cooper Connolly are available, so Hardie shall be the third seamer, behind Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood, and Connolly will be a part of Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head in the queue to fiddle via a couple of overs.
Australia win the toss and bowl
A gray morning, with rain round later: no captain would bat first right now. It’s a giant toss to win … and the Australian captain calls proper. Hang on, he appears to be like acquainted – it’s Steve Smith!
It’s additionally the final day of the County Championship. Do preserve a window open in your browser for Tanya Aldred, the queen of the county scene. Start at the backside with a publish so succinct that it could someday be held up as a mannequin at preamble college.
Preamble
Morning everybody and welcome to the final cease on an extended and winding street. It’s the finish of the dwelling international cricket season, the closing act of the drama, the fifth set of the match. It could possibly be something from a cliffhanger to a moist squib.
England must beat Australia for the third time in every week to finish a barnstorming comeback. Australia have to recollect how skilled they're and put these upstarts of their place. And either side must beat the climate, which is wanting dodgy all day and downright dismal from mid-afternoon.
The captains ought to actually meet in the center now and comply with play a T25. But that may require a greater relationship between cricket and widespread sense.
All being nicely, the toss is at 10.30am BST.
