Rob Smyth's Blog, page 156

England v South Africa: rain delays hosts extending lead – as it happened

England extended their lead to 252 for the loss of Alastair Cook before heavy rain forced play to be abandoned at the Oval

5.18pm BST

The umpires have accepted the inevitable: there will be no more play today. Vish and Adam Collins will be with you for day four. Cheers for your company and emails today. Night!

5.14pm BST

“Some of my date films - going back a bit, of course,” says John Starbuck.

5.09pm BST

Breaking news: WG Grace lives

The only cricket being played at The Oval is in the bowels of the ground... #EngvSA pic.twitter.com/nOypUW9XZ3

5.01pm BST

Unsurprisingly, this KP masterclass brilliant https://t.co/GK2tHRgrZH

5.00pm BST

Sky Sports are showing a terrific video on how the PCA has helped so many cricketers, particularly those with mental health problems like Marcus Trescothick, Simon Cusden and Andrew Flintoff. There’s still a long way to go in a world that is nowhere near as liberal as it purports to be, but a lot of people in cricket are doing admirable work to help people understand the severity and indiscriminate nature of mental illness.

In fact, here’s the same video. And if you want to read more about the PCA Benevolent Fund, click here.

4.49pm BST

“Hi,” says Damian Clarke. “Took my first ever proper date to see Clint Eastwood’s Firefox, way back in the day. A film longer than a Test match, and as dull as baseball. How did it go? I’ve no idea. When I woke up she’d already left. “

That sounds the great lost Peep Show episode.

4.45pm BST

The umpires will inspect again at 5.30pm. So there’s that.

4.43pm BST

Just when I thought I was out...

Arsenal v Benfica: Emirates Cup friendly – live! https://t.co/ihaysirIg1 via @guardian_sport

4.41pm BST

True Detective waits “Just following up on the first-date theme,” says Richard Williams. “On my first date with my last girlfriend after a few drinks I became somewhat aggrieved that she’d not yet seen the first season of True Detective. To be fair to her once I’d described it she insisted we left the bar immediately and went to mine where we watched all eight episodes in a row. Not sure what the point of this email is other than to assure other oddball OBOers they are not alone in the world.”

So, you told her about a show in which an oddball loner kills young women at his rancid abode, and she asked to go back to yours?

4.26pm BST

Hello folks, Rob here. Vish is just working on something for the paper, so I’m your weatherman for the next hour or so. Nothing has changed, except that it’s now officially tea, so let’s proceed straight to the latest Mac Millings XI!

“For some reason,” says Mac, “here is a mixed football/cricket All-Time Psychology XI.”

4.02pm BST

On Manchester and rain, from Paul Fields: “Regarding that tweet - rain at Old Trafford IS typical. It’s no coincidence that Lancashire had a gap of 77 years between County Championships, only breaking the run when OT was being redeveloped in 2011 and they were mostly playing at Liverpool.”

3.51pm BST

Robert Wilson has a reply for me: “Not all questions have answers. American Psycho on a first date seems a flawed gambit? Well, he was a gentle and gifted soul but was born in Belfast all the same. More proof, I would suggest, that there is nothing Yiddish about the words putz and schmuck. Those are strictly Northern Irish terms. And an ever-present ethno-biological reality.”

3.45pm BST

Spot on:

Just a reminder to commentators that today's rain at The Oval is 'really unfortunate' while next week's in Manchester will be 'typical'.

3.34pm BST

Robert Wilson says I’m smooth. Thankfully, the Guardian’s email server has a sarcasm filter (can you imagine?) so I’m assuming he’s a straight-up fan of my ways.

“I knew a guy who took a girl to see American Psycho on a first date but he was a mere John the Baptist to you, not fit to tie your sandals.” What a film. So many questions. Firstly - did he know what the film was about before suggesting it? Reeling, here. Even the one scene without sex or violence is unsettling:

3.21pm BST

Quick update: Some extra covers have come on. This may well be the rain that was expected to keep us off until stumps.

“My version of predictive text insists your name is Wish,” writes John Starbuck. “The genie lurking in the bottle?” I got that on a cup off coffee once – you know, when they ask for your name, just to make the whole thing seem, you know, *normal*.

3.01pm BST

“Always strikes me as more of a telly tubby than a dweller of Middle Earth.” Really? He’s definitely got Orc-ish qualities. “Morne morkel, AB, Amla, (de)kock?” In other news, his name is a bugger to type with predictive text.”

I’ll be the judge of that,

Simon Sully-Homer


Simon Scully-Mulder
Simon Scully-Horner.

2.59pm BST

Hasn’t been pretty from England – Westley drives aside – but it’s tough as boots out there. This Tweet sums things up neatly:

England have missed or edged 31 deliveries this innings - almost one in four balls, illustrating how hard it’s been. #EngvSA

2.58pm BST

**Paging Keiran Betteley and the rest**

“So according to a thing I found on the ICC website,” starts Michael Morris....

‘In reviewing a dismissal, if the third umpire believes that the batsman may instead be out by any other mode of dismissal, he shall advise the on-field umpire accordingly. The process of consultation described in this paragraph in respect of such other mode of dismissal shall then be conducted as if the batsman has been given not out.’

2.51pm BST

“Wow, Tom Maingay has hit a whole cluster of nerves,” replies Robert Wilson (see Over 15 then 18 for context). “I LOVE the idea of Nazgul-hosting cities (those dudes were party animals). We could have festivals and fetes. The Witch-King of Angmar could DJ. We could have orc-pits for the more committed clubbers. Gollum-throwing competitions, Gondorian techno and scratch dwarf-cricket on the smouldering lawns. Rohirrim donkey-rides on the beach? Morne Morklel would headline. It’s money in the bank. I feel a musical coming on.”

2.48pm BST

Kieran Betteley, here’s another answer to your query from Over 20, from William Hargreaves:

“That is a good question. On the assumption that a team have to appeal for an umpire to be able to make a decision, presumably the umpire might have to qualify the nature of the appeal? At which point a fielding captain might say, ‘caught, LBW, stumped, two hits, handled ball...’”

2.46pm BST

[Sad emoji face that I don’t think works on our Composer tool]

If the forecast is correct, that might be the last #cricket we see today. Light drizzle and plenty more coming. #ENGvSA

2.45pm BST

21.2 overs: England 74-1 (Jennings 34, Westley 28) During the drinks break, the players look above to see the rains pick up. Lee, the Oval groundsman, looks tetchy and, after two balls, we’re off!

2.41pm BST

21st over: England 74-1 (Jennings 34, Westley 28) “At the risk of, you know ...” go on, Ian Copestake, “how must the other bowlers be feeling about Morris, watching him undo all the Morkel pressure? Someone should send Stoneman out there to have a word with him.” Ha! Stoneman’s at the Oval, as it happens, albeit on a Surrey jolly.

This is what the kids call “gd bntz”

.@David215Gower in @McCannbespoke's Cricket United blazer... Remind you of anyone??? pic.twitter.com/igfUuUYdxu

2.38pm BST

20th over: England 73-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 28) Third maiden for Rabada, including a jaffa that has Westley driving at air. Keiran Betteley has a question for the OBO hivemind: “That review just then for Jennings was after, assumedly, the umpire gave him out caught behind.” Correct.

“The third umpire then went on to check the LBW decision.What would have happened in the case of an umpire’s call? Could the bowling team get a wicket on the basis of the umpire’s call, despite the fact the umpire didn’t give it out LBW? I’m not a fan of umpire’s call in any case, especially the commentators congratulating the umpire on a ‘good decision’ after it’s upheld on umpire’s call (and would have been either way), but this one seems to be a genuine weird one. Does anyone know?”

2.33pm BST

19th over: England 73-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 28) Chris Morris in, car packed full of chips, and Westley immediately drives him through the covers. Then, when he pulls his length back. Westley thrashes him behind point for four more. Luckily, Morris feels nothing because he’s made of string.

2.30pm BST

18th over: England 64-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 19) A maiden from Rabada but one that Jennings was happy to take. Tom Maingay emails in: “Thought it might be worth mentioning that I’m struck, whenever I hear Morne Morkel’s name, by it’s similarity to Nazgul-hosting Middle Earthian city, Minas Morgul. Although I’m sure this has occurred before to Mr Wilson.”

2.27pm BST

17th over: England 64-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 19) This is Westley’s quality. He gets bowlers to bowl to him. Even having been beaten a few times outside off stump, Morkel goes full to entice something more. So Westley leans into another fine on drive. Not quite timed, though, so he’ll only get two for it. But good batting nonetheless.

2.22pm BST

16th over: England 62-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 17) Jennings is given out for... well caught behind. The South Africans – and umpire Joel Wilson – reckon it’s bad and pad before being caught by Quinton de Kock. Westley tells Jennings to review, so he does... not only is there no bat, but the check for the LBW shows that the ball had pitched outside leg.

2.18pm BST

15th over: England 62-1 (Jennings 33, Westley 17) “Oof; ouch and ow; talk about Jaffa-time.” Good to have you with us, Robert Wilson. “For more than a decade, I’ve been whispering awed tales about a ball Brett Lee bowled to Flintoff in 2005. Like a flashbacking Gandalf, I would say that not if staunch Freddie had 100 tries could he have laid wood upon it, so demonic and otherwordly was this fast nip-backer. That Morkel ball is a new contender for my hobbit-frightening fireside routine. Admittedly, if you got 50 or 60 goes at it; you might just nick it, but on the other hand, Morkel is a much scarier name. You feel me?”

Definitely. A “Lee” might steal your girlfriend, but a “Morkel” will haunt you for life. It’s quite onomatopoeic – like a ghoul who didn’t quite make the cut for Beowulf. Westley’s not scared, mind – finishes the over with a lovely straight drive for four.

2.13pm BST

14th over: England 53-1 (Jennings 28, Westley 13) Philander off and now Jennings cuts loose. If you looked up “loosener” in the dictionary – yes, my dictionary has pictures in it – you’ll see that over from Rabada. Short, wide and two balls gleefully swatted away through point and then cover for a couple of boundaries.

Meanwhile, this is a fantastic initiative that does so much good. If you fancy helping them out, link in the Tweet...

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please RT! We're looking for volunteers who want to do something amazing in 2018! Apply now: https://t.co/T6ghLVzbEr pic.twitter.com/Zho7OpXtNL

2.08pm BST

13th over: England 44-1 (Jennings 19, Westley 13) Not for the first time, Vernon Philander has had to leave the field. Morkel’s bowling this one, mind, but the tension of the situation seems to have dissipated after the runs of the previous over and the sight of Big Vern trudging off. Just one from this over. Kagiso Rabada’s on next...

2.04pm BST

12th over: England 43-1 (Jennings 18, Westley 13) Class from Westley. Swing, away from him, yet he just leans into an on-drive glorious, ensuring he’s got the silences on those deadly wrists. He takes them off for the next boundary, working Philander off his hip to beat fine leg to the sponge.

“Morkel is virtually unplayable at the moment,” says Brian Withington. “As Atherton says, the only way to face that sort of bowling is from the other end!” 100%. Nothing wrong with being yellow-bellied, here. In fact, it’s a fundamental part of batting, especially opening. Quite often you’ll hear a seasoned opener say that the best way to play yourself in is watching from the nonstriker’s end.

2.00pm BST

11th over: England 35-1 (Jennings 18, Westley 5) Morkel is on one, right now. Makes a fool of Jennings with one that just bounces over off stump. Incredible stuff. Jennings just laughs. Who knows, it could well be his day...

1.57pm BST

10th over: England 35-1 (Jennings 18. Westley 5) Gorgeous from Westley. Follows an outswinger from Philander and drives him through extra cover for four. A handful of leaves, a couple of feels and a stunner that pulls Westley’s pants down finish the over.

From an earlier thread, Mark Press emails in this: “Here’re a couple of Australian players who played in Holding’s Lancs league debut. Ian Callen was the only other pro who played in that game, and has a brilliant bat making business in Australia today. They replied when I asked them if they remember that game.”

I was told Henry Hall hooking Wes Hall for some sixes and Henry did play that game against Michael @rammylad1 would know

1.51pm BST

9th over: England 31-1 (Jennings 18, Westley 1) Turns out he’s got a similar delivery for righties, does Morkel. Tom Westley walks out at number three and is beaten by one that holds its line. Gets off the mark with an easy single to square leg.

Now then: take the phone off the hook, close the curtains and watch this on repeat:

WICKET Cook bowled by a beauty from Morkel

30/1 #ENGvSA

Match centre: https://t.co/a0qhO1p3jy pic.twitter.com/ovzIQTPFNq

1.47pm BST

Right. Remember that delivery a couple of overs back – the un-nickable one from Morkel to Cook? OK, so the point stands. You’re not nicking that. Which is just as well because it’s clipped the top of off stump. Video imminent (well worth the wait). Ball of the series, I think. Rabada’s doozy to Malan bumped to second.

1.45pm BST

8th over: England 30-0 (Cook 7, Jennings 18) Jennings up against Philander again. He’s gagging to rotate the strike but seems to have this very un-leftie blind spot on his pads. When he can go at a ball on the off side, he edges it just behind gully for four. Bavuma steps on the ball to keep it in play but not only misses but nearly duffs his ankle. Bit dim, that. Four more to Jennings.

1.41pm BST

7th over: England 26-0 (Cook 7, Jennings 14) Eeeeesh what a delivery from Morkel! Around the wicket to Cook – of course – his giant piston of a right arm sends the ball down off stump before pitching and leading Cook for dead. Can have all the Test runs and all the form in the world – you’re just not nicking those.

Good arvo to John Starbuck: “How many does it take before we see ‘Jennings makes a score’ of sufficient number to ensure he’ll be in the team next Friday?” Excellent question. I’d say a hundred: one where others fall away and he almost single-handedly drags England to a lead of 400. Or a double. Or, he does a word-and-note-perfect rendition of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”. Bayliss might not have seen much county cricket, but surely he’s watched Top Gun?

1.36pm BST

6th over: England 26-0 (Cook 7, Jennings 14) “It feels like Jennings is batting with a round bat,” says Nasser. Love it. The middle of Jennings’ bat certainly seems a lot smaller, to us and him. Squirts an four through fine leg off his inside edge, just past his leg stump. England lead by 204

1.31pm BST

Good afternoon all. Vish here, picking up where Rob left off – in the rain, wondering if we’ll start again on time. How about TRJ? Isn’t he nice? Middlesex fans will bore you with stories of “yeah, but he’s been ready since 2012 etc etc”. And the truth is, yeah, he’s probably been Test quality for a few years now. Though he’s had a few dips that you’d expect with any player and, crucially, he’s had them in county cricket, where you’re not judged as harshly for going a couple of months without a five-for. Anyway, glory to him and to us, as it looks like we’ll be recommencing on time! South Africa do their huddle, Keaton Jennings has a few awkward skips on the spot. Alastair Cook is Alastair Cook.

Before play gets underway, Sky did a bit about South Africa’s tour over here in the 2012: text-gate etc. They showed a few shots of KP’s 149 at Headingley, which was followed by a couple of brilliantly surly media stints with Ian Ward and then the written media. That took the headlines but the innings itself, my word. I think it’s the best I’ve seen him play. That might be blasphemy while OBO-ing an Oval Test. But, seriously - look at the state of it...

12.52pm BST

A bit of lunchtime reading, and viewing

Related: The Recap: sign up for the best of the Guardian's sport coverage

12.46pm BST

That’s it from me. Vish will be your weatherman for the afternoon session. See you after tea!

12.46pm BST

“Hello Rob!” says Phil West. “If TRJ is too difficult to say easily/quickly then why not just use ‘Trudge’? The real quickies will all say that he’s just trudging in on his run-up so it seems good to me.”

Oh I like that. It also sets up some great opportunities for a theatre tour with Robin Smith.

12.45pm BST

Yep, we’re going off for an early lunch. It might be a few hours before they return. England lead by 198 runs.

12.44pm BST

5th over: England 20-0 (Cook 6, Jennings 10) Cook softens his hands to edge Morkel all along the ground for four. These are not easy batting conditions at all, and England won’t be crestfallen if the umpires deem the rain to be too heavy.

“I am in Budapest between sessions of the swimming,” says Adam Roberts. “It’s a gorgeous day and I should get out and see more of the city. But I’m full of cold so following the cricket on TMS and OBO is quite tempting. Can you advise me?”

12.40pm BST

4th over: England 16-0 (Cook 2, Jennings 9) It’s starting to rain. This would be a dreadful time for the under-pressure Jennings to get out - and he should have gone in that over. First he inside edged a fraction wide of the slips for four; then he edged Philander through the hands of Elgar at third slip. It was a hot one, but Elgar will probably feel he should have taken it. Philander runs off the field at the end of the over, presumably because of an urgent manifestation of his stomach upset.

“Do me a favour and remind John Wright not to get too pissed,” sniffs Rob Wright. “He’s supposed to be going out with me after the match.”

12.32pm BST

2nd over: England 1-0 (Cook 0, Jennings 1) Jennings has copied Ben Stokes’ plan of batting outside his crease to Philander. His head-to-head record is grisly: two runs, three wickets. Make that three runs, three wickets, by virtue of an overthrow. Who says chivalry is dead? Philander is bowling with considerable menace for a man who spent yesterday in hospital, and only an inside edge saves Cook from being LBW.

“Possibly premature question,” says Robert Taylor. “How do we work Woakes back in? Do we think that his batting prowess alongside TRJ and Broad’s lower order biffing means we can drop a batsman again and push Mo back to 7? Or do we drop Roland-Jones? Surely we can’t leave out Woakes? ARRGH?!?!”

12.28pm BST

1st over: England 0-0 (Cook 0, Jennings 0) They say it changes when the sun goes down around here, and that’s precisely what’s happened at the Oval. It’s suddenly pretty gloomy, and Morkel’s first ball of the innings is a nasty lifter that rams into Cook’s body. An excellent first over also includes a strangled shout for LBW. It was going down, just like that lovely sun we had this morning.

#TobyRolandJones takes 5-57 on debut. Surely the best figures ever recorded by someone with an accountancy degree from @UniversityLeeds

12.22pm BST

Bad news for Keaton Jennings. Vernon Philander is on the field

12.21pm BST

Roland-Jones’ figures, I should have given you those: 16.4-4-57-5. Well played youngish man.

12.15pm BST

England lead by 178 runs. Roland-Jones leaads the team off a little sheepishly. In the future, his grandkids will be able to give you chapter and verse on the events of 28-29 July 2017.

12.14pm BST

Well done Toby Roland-Jones! He completes a debut five-for with the wicket of Bavuma, caught behind by Bairstow. It was a fine delivery: full enough to invite the drive, seaming enough to find the edge. Bairstow took a nice low catch to his right. Tremendous stuff from Roland-Jones. He’s the first Englishman to take a five-for on debut since Graham Onions. Not only that, all five wickets were specialist batsmen. He’s seems a thoroughly likeable, modest guy, and you’d have to be an eejit or a South African to not be thrilled for him.

12.10pm BST

58th over: South Africa 170-9 (Bavuma 52, Philander 5) Philander laces Anderson through the covers for four; then Bavuma is beaten by some pronounced seam movement.

“You open an interesting topic about watching a game again that you have just seen live,” says Jon Saunders. “I did this exact thing recently after the second Lions test match. I live in Wellington and was lucky enough to be there but when I got home I still couldn’t quite believe we’d won so had to watch it again. What other sporting events were so memorable (or frankly unbelievable) that people who have actually witnessed them live have then needed to watch them again immediately upon arriving home (other than Edgbaston 2005)?”

12.03pm BST

57th over: South Africa 165-9 (Bavuma 52, Philander 0) Bavuma edges the new bowler Roland-Jones along the ground for four to reach a very good half-century, full of pride and ability. He’s got something, this chap. And now he’s going to get a drink.

“Hi Rob,” says Ben Parker. “Found that Michael Holding scorecard using some ninja-level googling skills.”

12.00pm BST

56th over: South Africa 161-9 (Bavuma 48, Philander 0) Vern walks out to bat, one of the better No11s we’ve seen for a while, and gets straight into line. I don’t suppose bowlers can target a dodgy stomach in the same way you can work over a batsman with, say, a broken hand. Maybe England could shove a rancid fry up at silly point to get in his head.

“Following the blog from a desk in the Seychelles (nice),” says Gareth Heal. “I had a ticket for today but had to give it up to come and work out here for three weeks (tough). Finding it hard to concentrate as they’re setting up a massive sound system for a wedding in the room next door. Having said all of that, sitting in the stands at the Oval today would have been a tidy place to be.”

11.55am BST

That’ll do! Jimmy Anderson is too good for Morne Morkel, snapping one off the seam to take the outside edge. Cook tumbles to his right at first slip to take the catch. That was the first delivery Anderson has bowled to Morkel today. Yes, yes, I did tell you so.

11.54am BST

55th over: South Africa 161-8 (Bavuma 48, Morkel 17) South Africa were 61 for seven, so this is a fine recovery. They are still miles behind in the game, and it’s hard to say a way back. A draw might be achievable but a victory looks beyond the realms.

“The weather seems to be a major taking point in this Test match,” says Matthew Doherty. “What odds that the crowd will end up helping the grounds that clear the pitch a la Oval 1968.”

11.50am BST

54th over: South Africa 160-8 (Bavuma 48, Morkel 16) Anderson replaces Broad. It’s all the same to Bavuma, who launches another lovely drive through extra cover for four. Anderson’s response is predictably stern, a snarling lifter that beats the outside edge. Excellent stuff.

“To be fair,” says William Hargreaves, “Bobby Bacala did have a valid point about the Quarterback of Notre Dame that could have been developed in later episodes.”

11.46am BST

53rd over: South Africa 156-8 (Bavuma 44, Morkel 16) Roland-Jones is replaced by ... Moeen Ali. That’s fair enough, with a left-handed tailender like Morkel at the crease, but I bet Anderson has an affronted coupon right now. The first ball skids on to hit the pad and prompt a huge LBW appeal. Aleem Dar says no, England decide not to review, replays show it was missing leg.

Morkel looks much less comfortable against Moeen: he almost drags onto the stumps and then survives a lone appeal from Bairstow for a catch down the leg side. Nobody else appealed at all and so they don’t consider a review. UltraEdge shows it hit the pad.

11.43am BST

52nd over: South Africa 156-8 (Bavuma 44, Morkel 16) A flowing cover-driven four from Bavuma off Broad takes South Africa past the follow-on target.

“Just to clarify,” says Laurent Baldoni, “I’m well aware that others have followed this trend, I was more referring to the huge proportion involved in that match in that seven of the ten main bowlers involved had this particular quirk, not just the few names you’ve mentioned over a couple of decades. I wondered if it had anything to with lefty kids being forced to write right-handed in the old days. This happened to me in France as a nipper before I came to England aged 6...”

11.38am BST

51st over: South Africa 152-8 (Bavuma 40, Morkel 16) Morkel mows a short ball from Roland-Jones through midwicket for four. It’s fair to say this is a much better day for batting, and so far South Africa have done it excellently.

“Good morning Rob,” says Stephen Cooper. “Michael Holding’s first game in the Lancashire League was played for Rushton (v. Ramsbottom) on 19th April 1981. Hopefully someone has a Cricket Archive subscription and can see the scorecard.”

11.34am BST

50th over: South Africa 148-8 (Bavuma 40, Morkel 12) Broad decides it’s time to bounce Morkel from around the wicket. Four byes. He almost gets a wicket later in the over, when Stokes drops Bavuma. It would have been a blinding catch, a mirror image of the Adam Voges catch at Trent Bridge, but he couldn’t hold on as he dived backwards to his left at gully.

“Perhaps Root wants TRJ to get a five-for, hence no Jimmy?” says Paddy Sturdee. “I don’t really hold with putting individual stats before the game - the one that really springs to mind is Cook delaying a declaration at Lord’s for Ballance to get to 3 figures (amazing though that now sounds!). Twenty-four hours later, at stumps on day 5, Sri Lanka were nine down and hanging on for dear life. Is it churlish of me that I never really liked Ballance after that?”

11.29am BST

49th over: South Africa 143-8 (Bavuma 40, Morkel 12) Bavuma ignores a series of deliveries in the corridor from Roland-Jones, so it’s a maiden. All series Bavuma has looked like a very good batsman: calm, organised, intelligent, patient and, when he allows himself to attack, pretty darn stylish.

“Was it me or did Michael Vaughan refer to Toblerone E Jones yesterday?” says Tom Levesley. “I’d had a glass of wine by the time I watched the highlights so it made me giggle.”

11.25am BST

48th over: South Africa 143-8 (Bavuma 40, Morkel 12) Broad looks a little flat at the moment, and Morkel drags him through mid-on for another boundary. South Africa are 11 runs away from taking the follow-on out of the discussion. Or the equation, if you prefer.

11.19am BST

47th over: South Africa 137-8 (Bavuma 40, Morkel 6) A classical on-drive from Bavuma off Roland-Jones brings him his first boundary of the day. After a delay from some bat repairs, he is beaten chasing the kind of trampolining legcutter that dismissed Hashim Amla yesterday. He wasn’t good enough to nick it. I must say, I find it weird that Jimmy Anderson isn’t bowling.

“Good day to you from sunny Barcelona,” says Laurent Baldoni. “I’m actually an exiled member of the MCC and I flew home to watch the Lord’s test. I proceeded to bore my step-brother to death with my fascinating insight, namely that Mo, Stokes, Broad and Jimmy all bowl right and bat left, and for good measure Dawson bowled left and ‘batted’ right for his pair. I then spotted that Morkel and Rabada also bowl right and bat left, a huge proportion of ‘switching’ (yes I just made that up) that I don’t recall from my younger days watching cricket. Can anyone shed any light on this phenomenon or is it just a bizarre coincidence?”

11.13am BST

46th over: South Africa 133-8 (Bavuma 36, Morkel 6) It’s all very quiet at the Oval, with the game in that tedious limbo you sometimes get when a top-order batsman and a tailender are together: singles are turned down, the bowling side are only trying to get one batsman out, so not much happens. Bavuma takes a single from the penultimate delivery of Broad’s over - and then Morkel enlivens the tedium with a hearty clout through extra cover for four. Shot, Morne!

“I’m following your comments from a windswept & stormy wet Perth, Australia - more like Cardiff on current weather,” says Allan Trench. “I just googled Toby Roland-Jones in the hope he was Welsh - given it is the England & Wales team after all. We used to have a good history teacher with the surname Roland-Jones back in Wales - who played cricket too..... but this Toby guy is born in Surrey. Damn disappointment.”

11.10am BST

45th over: South Africa 128-8 (Bavuma 35, Morkel 2) Toby Roland-Jones opens the bowling at the other end to Temba Bavuma, whose series average of 37 does not quite do justice to some impressive, resourceful batting. Wot no Jimmy? Is it me or is Joe Root asserting his authority over Anderson quite a lot in this series?

Bavuma declines a single from the first ball and accepts one from the last. That’s your lot.

11.03am BST

44th over: South Africa 127-8 (Bavuma 34, Morkel 2) Stuart Broad starts the day with a no-ball to Morne Morkel, who then clunks one just short of Moeen at backward point. Vernon Philander is padded up, ready to go. Morkel almost brings him to the crease with the windiest of woofs at a wide floater from Broad.

“It might not be sporting, but surely there is benefit in not enforcing the follow on,” says Richard. “Philander is surely not fit to bowl today, but he might be by day five, and his absence significantly weakens, well, any attack really.”

10.50am BST

Which one of you hooked Michael Holding for four sixes?

I meant to publish this yesterday and lost track of time. Can anyone help?

10.41am BST

The Vernundrum

“Hi Rob,” says Chris Browne. “According to the SA sports website it looks like Philander will be fit to bat...”

10.20am BST

The first email of the day

“I think you mean Nostradamus,” says David Manby. “Quasimodo was the hunchback at Notre Dame (the bells the bells).”

10.19am BST

It’s a nice sunny day at the Oval, so it should be a better day for batting. I suspect England will bat again even if they have the chance to enforce the follow-on.

2.50pm BST

Morning. Not even Quasimodo predicted yesterday’s play, when England dramatically took control of the match and series thanks to the humble excellence of Toby Roland-Jones. That feelgood spell either side of tea, in which he took the first four South African wickets, was the most significant by an England bowler on debut since James Kirtley torpedoed South Africa at Trent Bridge in 2003.

South Africa will resume on 126 for eight, needing a further 28 to avoid the follow-on. We don’t yet know whether Vernon Philander will bat at No11. Teams don’t enforce the follow-on so much in a Post Kolkata world but England probably will today if they get the chance, certainly if conditions are anything like as bowler-friendly as they were yesterday.

Continue reading...

England 2-0 Spain: Euro 2017 – as it happened

Cool finishes from Fran Kirby and Jodie Taylor gave England a smash-and-grab victory over a Spain side who dominated throughout but created little

9.34pm BST

That’s an excellent win for England, who will savour the feeling of virtuous tiredness in the dressing-room. They were outpassed throughout, yet defended admirably and ensured that Karen Bardsley had little to do. The timing of the goals from Fran Kirby (2nd minute) and Jodie Taylor (85th) was perfect. Barring a shocker against Portugal on Thursday, England will be doing through to the quarter-finals. Thanks for your company, goodnight.

9.30pm BST

89 min England bring on Josanne Potter for the goalscorer Jodie Taylor, and Spain make two changes: Barbara Latorre and Virginia Torrecilla replace Sampedro and Ouahabi.

9.28pm BST

87 min I think I’m right in saying that, if it stays like this, England will go through unless they are well beaten by Portugal in their final match.

9.27pm BST

Smash y grab. Spain tried to play out from the back and lost the ball. Stokes fed a crisp pass into Nobbs, whose attempted flick to Taylor deflected off the defender Paredes on the edge of the box. It fell nicely for Taylor, who had continued her run and dinked the ball classily over Panos.

9.25pm BST

Jodie Taylor seals victory with her fourth goal of the tournament!

9.24pm BST

85 min ““Well there’s timing for you,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “I was about to write a cranky note that England haven’t got one call tonight. One huge and bizarre call = two dozen niggly calls. Still waiting curiously for the thinking behind that drop ball.”

9.23pm BST

83 min This is the kind of game after which both sides can take the moral high ground. Spain can say they played all the football and should have had a penalty; England can argue they restricted Spain to no clear chances and had a second goal dubiously disallowed.

9.22pm BST

81 min “Cheers for that Twin Peaks clip,” says Stephen Dorrity. “One of the moments in the series which still genuinely gives me goose bumps when I think of it now. The other being Bob climbing over the sofa. Just go around it Bob. Just go around it.”

I don’t think I’ll ever not be haunted by ‘This is the water and this is the well.’

9.19pm BST

79 min Ellen White, who conceded the penalty that wasn’t, is replaced by the Barcelona-bound Toni Duggan.

9.17pm BST

77 min That was bizarre. The referee gave the penalty and then, maybe 15 seconds later, dropped the ball in front of the England keeper Karen Bardsley.

9.16pm BST

76 min Hang on, the referee has changed her mind and given a drop ball. What’s happened here?

9.15pm BST

This is pretty harsh. Ellen White slipped, and kicked the ball onto her own arm.

9.13pm BST

73 min It’s very unusual to see a team have this much possession and create so little. Spain are making a change in an attempt to do something about it: Olga Garcia replaces Vicky Losada.

9.09pm BST

69 min A bit of respite for England, as Pereira foulds Taylor and is booked. England make their first change, with Izzy Christiansen replacing the goalscorer Fran Kirby.

9.06pm BST

65 min Paredes, just past the halfway line, spots the late run of Putellas and curls a superb pass over the defence. The last defender Bright strains every sinew and gets the merest headed touch that takes the ball away from Putellas and behind for a corner.

9.05pm BST

64 min These are probably the worst conditions in which to chase the ball, with the pitch wet and heavy. That’s what England have been doing for most of the game, and you’d expect it to catch up with them in the last quarter unless they start to keep possession for more than a few seconds.

9.03pm BST

63 min Meseguer scoops a return pass towards Hermoso in the area. Bardsley flies from her line, misjudges the sharp bounce and flaps it behind for a corner before following through to flatten Hermoso. Nothing comes of the corner.

9.00pm BST

60 min Bronze puts England in trouble with a loose square pass straight to Losada. She finds Sanpedro, who tees up Putellas, and her long-range shot hits Bright.

8.58pm BST

57 min It is happening again. After an even start to the half, Spain are now starting to dominate and move England around the pitch.

8.54pm BST

54 min England win a free-kick on the right wing. Nobbs drills it flat towards Bright, who is penalised for fouling Losada.

8.53pm BST

52 min Kirby almost picks up a loose ball in the Spain area, with Panos charging from her goal to hack it out for a throw-in.

8.52pm BST

51 min The superb Hermoso guides a lovely through pass behind Houghton and towards Sampedro. The keeper Bardsley slides a long way from her line to claim. Hermoso is a seriously good player, quite reminiscent of Rivaldo in the way she passes the ball.

8.49pm BST

48 min England have started the second half better than they finished the first, with an even share of possession.

8.45pm BST

46 min Peep peep! England begin the second half.

8.45pm BST

A bit of half-time reading

Related: Cricket World Cup win seals trailblazing summer of women's sport

8.30pm BST

Peep peep! What a strange half. Spain outpassed England to an almost embarrassing degree, yet they created little of note and trail to Fran Kirby’s excellent second-minute goal. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.

8.28pm BST

43 min There are only so many ways you can say ‘Spain are having all of the ball’. They really are though. England’s centre-forward Jodie Taylor has, through no fault of her own, become a recluse.

8.25pm BST

41 min England need half-time here. They’ve needed it since about the 20th minute. Spain have had so much possession, yet Bardsley still hasn’t had a significant save to make.

8.25pm BST

40 min The rain continues to pelt down, and there are puddles everywhere now. You don’t need to be sent off in this game to have an early bath.

8.23pm BST

38 min A good couple of minutes for England, who keep the ball and allow their defenders a breather.

8.20pm BST

35 min Hermoso is starting to influence the game, dropping deep to wave passes left and right with her left foot. England are really struggling to get out of their half.

8.17pm BST

33 min I’m surprised we haven’t seen any long-range shooting, given the conditions. Spain have passed the ball superbly but almost all of it has been in front of the England defence.

8.15pm BST

31 min Paredes is booked for a sliding foul on Taylor.

8.15pm BST

30 min This is verging on farce, with the ball starting to hold up because of the water on the pitch.

8.13pm BST

29 min The rain is getting even heavier. It’s John Cusack weather in Breda, and it can’t be much fun to play in. Spain have had 76 per cent of the possession in this game.

8.11pm BST

26 min It’s pouring down in Breda, and the pitch is starting to cut up. That makes Spain’s passing even more impressive; for the last 15 minutes England have barely had a kick.

8.10pm BST

24 min Corredera’s angled cross is won superbly in the air by Hermoso. She heads it down to Sampedro, who miscontrols it and then appeals for a handball against Bright. I think it hit her chest but even if it did come off her hand, there was nothing she could do.

8.05pm BST

21 min Tiki taka tiki taka tiki taki tiki taka Houghton clears.

8.04pm BST

19 min These are slightly ominous signs for England, with Spain moving the ball around very smoothly.

8.01pm BST

16 min After a long spell of possession, Corredera wins a corner for Spain. Scott heads it clear. England haven’t seen much of the ball in the last few minutes.

7.58pm BST

13 min A Spain free-kick isn’t cleared properly and falls nicely for Putellas, who shoots straight at Bardsley from 18 yards. That was a decent chance as well.

7.57pm BST

11 min What a chance for Houghton! Kirby took a short corner, nutmegged Corredera and crossed dangerously across the face of goal. The ball was half cleared to Houghton, who smashed it high over the bar from 15 yards. She was under pressure; even so, that was a chance.

7.53pm BST

8 min Sampedro plays a neat one-two and breaks into the box, forcing Houghton to hoof desperately clear. The ball hits one of her team-mates and rebounds for a Spain corner. Nothing comes of it. It’s been a cracking start to this game, with Spain in particular putting in some zesty tackles.

7.52pm BST

7 min Mark Sampson is furious about that disallowed goal. The more I see it, the more think Bright may have been a millimetre or two offside. It was so tight.

7.51pm BST

6 min Bright has a goal disallowed for a debatable offside. It was an immense looping header from Nobbs’s driven free-kick, and would have been Bright’s first goal for England. It was very tight but I think she was onside.

7.48pm BST

It was a fine goal from England. White picked up a loose ball in the Spain half, strode forward and slipped an excellent through pass to put Kirby clear in the inside-left channel. She faced up to the keeper Panos, shaped to go across goal and then dragged the ball inside the near post. That was a lovely disguised finish.

7.47pm BST

England take the lead!

7.46pm BST

1 min Peep peep! Spain kick off from right to left. They are in red; England are wearing navy blue. And Spain almost score in the first minute, with Losada thrashing just wide from 15 yards after a slip by Houghton. She probably should have scored.

7.43pm BST

Portugal beat Scotland 2-1 in the early match, which means England can’t mathematically qualify tonight. Spain can, if they take all three points.

7.41pm BST

Here come the players. It’s a cold night in Breda, with moody clouds overhead.

7.18pm BST

An email “Rob!” says Hubert O’Hearn. “Well I guess there are Guardian MBMs for the women’s footy eh? Good to see that you’re doing it this evening. I’d say it’s like watching the match with a friend down at the local, except I’ve managed to move to the one town in Norn Iron that has no pub (Ballyhalbert). So it’s pizza and Tin on the sofa for me.

“That said, the Lionesses are truly my favourite football team in the world. Yes, even more than my Anfield residents. It’s been a joy watching this team mature together and grow together over the last six or so years. Mark Sampson’s a top-level manager to me, a great game strategist. Mostly though it’s the sheer team spirit the English women freely show that I truly love. In that way they’re like a throwback to how the boys were before the gigantic transfers and the billionaire owners made organically nurturing a team vanish at the top levels.”

6.57pm BST

After thrashing Scotland 6-0 in their opening game, England are unchanged for the first time since Mark Sampson took over in 2013. Spain make one change from the team that beat Portugal 2-0, with the right wing-back Marta Corredera replacing Mariona Caldenty.

England (4-2-3-1) Bardsley; Bronze, Houghton, Bright, Stokes; Moore, Scott; Nobbs, Kirby, White; Taylor.

2.57pm BST

Hello there. It’s already been a landmark day for women’s sport in this country, with England’s cricketers winning a sensational World Cup final against India at Lord’s. BREAKING NEWS: ENGLAND ARE WORLD BLOODY CHAMPIONS!

Now it’s time for the footballers to take on Spain at Euro 2017. Both sides won their opening games in Group D and will probably qualify for the quarter-finals regardless of what happens tonight. But beating a fellow contender in the group stages never hurt anyone’s morale.

Related: Toni Duggan: ‘I’m not thinking about Barcelona. Hopefully we’ll smash Spain’

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Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea: pre-season friendly – as it happened

Michy Batshuayi scored two fine goals to help Chelsea to a comfortable win over an under-strength Arsenal

5.31pm BST

Related: Antonio Conte praises Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi after double in Arsenal win

2.39pm BST

Peep peep! That’s a good win for Chelsea, with Willian and Cesc Fabregas looking really sharp and Michy Batshuayi scoring two cracking goals. Arsenal were rusty, and Arsene Wenger is a lucky man if he survives this defeat. Thanks for your company, bye!

2.39pm BST

90+4 min Baker’s free-kick is ostentatiously saved by the flying Martinez, and that’s it.

2.38pm BST

90+3 min Koscielny compounds his own error by hoofing Baker up in the air on the edge of the box. A free-kick for Chelsea, 20 yards from goal, and it’ll probably be the final kick of the game...

2.36pm BST

90 min “As an Arsenal fan, I’m quite happy to see how well Chelsea’s young ones are doing,” says Anmol Soin. “This is the only football they get to play outside of Vitesse. Very proud.”

2.36pm BST

88 min This is Arsenal’s best spell of the match. Yes, I am conscious of how ridiculous that statement sounds when they are 3-0 down in a pre-season friendly.

2.33pm BST

86 min Malen smashes a shot off the outside of the post after a very good run from Nelson.

2.31pm BST

84 min Giroud has looked pretty sharp for Arsenal, more so than Lacazette, though he received nothing resembling decent service.

2.26pm BST

81 min “Hey Rob,” says JR in Illinois. “You should just stick around and MBM the Liverpool-Leicester game which has just gone to halftime. Alberto Moreno came on a few minutes ago. I hadn’t realised how much I missed his absurd, massive thigh tattoo of a monkey wearing a suit and headphones and holding a gun until just now.”

I had no idea Alberto Moreno was still a thing.

2.26pm BST

80 min The game is petering out. Chelsea have a lot of youngsters on now.

2.25pm BST

77 min “Geese,” says Matt Emerson. “They’re all geese.”

2.21pm BST

75 min Baker hares away from Kolasinac, who throws him to the ground and is booked. He’ll pick up a few cards this season. There’s an endearingly oafish element to his defending.

2.20pm BST

73 min Fabregas has had a fine game. He drills another lovely crossfield pass, left to right, that is taken beautifully in his stride by Tomori. He surges away from Iwobi drives a low shot that is kicked away by Ospina.

2.15pm BST

68 min Substitutions galore. No, I’m not going to list them all, because I can’t keep track of them all. I do know that the Man of the Match Willian has gone off. He has looked so sharp today; it’s nice to see after a difficult 2016-17 season.

2.13pm BST

66 min Alonso’s cross reaches the other wing-back Moses, who chests it down and hits a shot that is blocked by Kolasinac. Crikey, he’s a unit.

2.08pm BST

63 min David Luiz drives another brilliant ball from back to front, down the inside-right channel. Willian beats Elneny to it and rattles a fierce half-volley that is excellently saved by the diving Ospina.

2.06pm BST

62 min Ozil plays another beautiful, insouciant pass to put Giroud clear of the defence. He faffs and is crowded out.

2.06pm BST

61 min Giroud stabs a cross too close to the substitute keeper Willy Caballero.

2.05pm BST

60 min Here’s Charles Antaki. “The good thing about the officials letting on Olivier Giroud, even though he’s not on the team sheet, is that it sets a precedent for Wenger to also send on Vic Akers, Steve Bould, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and three Chinese ballboys. That will explain away the upcoming 8-0 debâcle.”

2.04pm BST

58 min After all kinds of faffing over whether the wall is 10 yards, Giroud smashes a low free-kick into that wall. Arsenal keep the ball alive and Ramsey fresh-airs a decent chance from Ozil’s precise square pass; Giroud stabs the ball back to Coquelin, who slashes a first-time shot just over the bar from 20 yards.

2.01pm BST

55 min Welbeck is fouled by David Luiz a couple of millimetres outside the box. Arsenal have a free-kick in the D...

2.00pm BST

54 min Batshuayi fouls the substitute Elneny, who waves an imaginary card at the referee. That’s the pre-season spirit!

1.56pm BST

50 min “I’m sure you’re right about Chelsea having more desire (most Arsenal players only really want more followers on “Insta” these days) but are they not fielding more like a 1st team?” says Brendan O’Sullivan.

Yes, that’s true, although six or seven of Arsenal’s best XI – if such a thing exists any more - started the game.

1.55pm BST

This is another cracking goal from Batshuayi. Fabregas drove a superb crossfield pass to Alonso, who beat Oxlade-Chamberlain with ease and clipped the ball back to the edge of the area. It was perfectly weighted for Bathshuayi to hit first time, and he crashed it into the roof of the net with his left foot.

1.54pm BST

48 min Ramsey curls a fine pass over the defence for Giroud, who just fails to connect with an attempted volley on the stretch. As Matthew Upson says on ITV, he should probably have gone for a Keith Houchen rather than an acrobatic volley.

1.52pm BST

47 min “I take it that spoons are the only cutlery available in the ironic pie shop,” says David Wall, “when all you need is a knife.”

No cutlery. All you’re allowed to use is your face.

1.51pm BST

46 min Eventually Olivier Giroud is allowed to come on and Arsenal begin the second half. There have been a load of substitutions, and I’ve lost track of them already. Sorry.

1.50pm BST

Friendly farce Arsenal want to bring on Olivier Giroud. He’s not on the official teamsheet, however, so the officials won’t allow him onto the pitch. This is hilarious. Arsene Wenger is about to pay tribute to Jack Charlton and John Aldridge at USA 94.

1.31pm BST

That’s half time. Chelsea have wanted it a lot more than Arsenal, which is a slightly confusing thing to say about a pre-season game, and the result reflects that. See both of you in 10 minutes for the second half.

1.30pm BST

45+3 min Courtois makes an excellent save from Ramsey, who chested down an imaginative curling pass from Oxlade-Chamberlain and blasted a half-volley at goal from a tight angle. Courtois reacted smartly to push it behind.

1.26pm BST

44 min Some of Arsenal’s defending today has been on the inadequate side of crap. Sad to say, a lot of the poor play has been from the young kids Bramall and Maitland-Niles.

1.26pm BST

43 min “Hi Rob,” says Ravi Raman. “What’s an ironic pie shop? Is it an ironic shop selling pies or are the pies themselves ironic? Would be great if you can clear that up.”

The lovely thing about the ironic pie revolution is that it really is whatever you want it to be.

1.25pm BST

Two goals in 90 seconds for Chelsea. Kante plays a short pass to Batshuayi just outside the area; he loses the wrongfooted Mertesacker and curls an emphatic left-footed shot into the far corner. That was a great finish.

1.24pm BST

Chelsea deserve to be ahead, and now they are. Batshuayi does well to find Willian, who makes a good angled run from right to left. He gets into the box, comes back inside Monreal onto his right foot and curls a low shot into the net off the far post.

1.22pm BST

39 min Batshuayi drags an optimistic long-range shot well wide. You can feel his desperation to score.

1.21pm BST

36 min “Re: 23 minutes, can a side that switches between three- and four-man defences ever be as reliable, and successful, as one that picks an approach and sticks with it, backing their own ability and challenging the opposition to deal with the problems they are setting, rather than the other way round?” says David Wall. “As with haircuts, long or short, you’ve got to make a decision.”

I think you need more flexibility when you are working with such a big squad. My rule with this stuff is: what did Fergie do? He rotated more than anyone in the game, though he stuck to a back four almost all of the time. He also neutralised the opposition where necessary – for eg Park marking Pirlo so effectively in 2009-10. I agree that regularly switching from three to four isn’t ideal but it’s not as big a deal as it would have been in the days before rotation.

1.18pm BST

35 min Batshuayi has a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. Chelsea took a short corner, with Fabregas’s cross volleyed in from close range by Batshuayi. I think it was Fabregas who was given offside when the corner was returned to him. Either way, it was the wrong decision. They’ll be talking about that one for minutes.

1.17pm BST

34 min Ospina makes a good double save from Willian and Moses. Willian ran straight through the defence, nutmegging Monreal in the process, and rattled a shot that was beaten away. Moses - who last stopped running in June 2016 - follows up with a fierce rising drive that is superbly tipped over the bar.

1.15pm BST

31 min “Good to see a showroom car being displayed at the side of the pitch,” says Charles Antaki. “Always a clear sign that nothing important is happening. Also, there is that anticipation that a wayward shot will hit it and send a windscreen wiper flying. As Alex Iwobi is playing, the chances aren’t bad.”

You jest, but I give it five years – tops – before one of the big clubs move to a new stadium that includes a car showroom, a pop-up Gucci shop and an ironic pie shop.

1.10pm BST

28 min Pedro is taken off, presumably because of concussion, with Jeremie Boga replacing him.

1.09pm BST

25 min David Luiz drills a flat long pass over the defence for Pedro. Ospina comes to the edge of his area to clear with a flying punch, and clatters Pedro in the process. The referee gives a free-kick against Pedro, presumably for standing in the way of Ospina’s fist. That looked really nasty, especially as Pedro then landed on his face. Pedro seems okay, if extremely groggy.

1.06pm BST

23 min Most of this season’s title contenders will play three at the back at some stage, if not regularly. It’s interesting how cyclical tactics are. Three at the back is the mullet of football formations; just when you think you’ve finally seen the last of the bugger, some smartarse brings it back into fashion.

1.04pm BST

22 min Ozil plays a brilliant disguised pass to meet the late run of Ramsey, who stabs the ball wide on the stretch. That was beautiful from Ozil, such a gentle thrust of the dagger that Chelsea didn’t feel a thing.

1.01pm BST

20 min Batshuayi saunters forward from the halfway line and drills a decent low shot from 25 yards that is comfortably saved by

Cech
Ospina.

1.00pm BST

18 min Chelsea continue to play with greater intensity, though whether that’s a good thing is open to debate. It’s a long season ahead and all that. I suppose Antonio Conte teams don’t really have a first gear.

12.58pm BST

15 min “This pitch is laughably awful,” laughs David Wall, “with big chunks flying out of it after only five minutes, but is there any sensible reason why it is like that (and why it’s often similar when matches are played in what are normally athletics stadiums)? Isn’t the Birds’ Nest still used for athletics, so it would have a grass infield most of the time for the throwing events? I can’t imagine they need to relay the turf just to repair a few divots from the shot put, so why can’t they just put the football markings on the settled field?”

I have very little idea, though it was an issue a year ago as well when the cancelled the Manchester derby.

12.54pm BST

12 min Lacazette watch: he hasn’t seen much of the ball.

12.52pm BST

10 min Moses curls a superb cross in between the keeper and defenders; alas, Batshuayi was having a daydream and didn’t react.

12.50pm BST

8 min Chelsea look much hungrier at the moment, whatever that means. These two, as you probably know, meet again in the Community Shield in two weeks’ time.

12.49pm BST

7 min Willian pounces on a sloppy touch from Maitland-Niles, scoots towards goal and drives just wide of the far post. He should have scored.

12.48pm BST

6 min The pitch is living down to expectations. It’s bobbly and awkward, as shown when Bramall runs the ball out of play.

12.47pm BST

5 min “Wycliffe,” is the subject of Martin McKeefry’s email. “I can’t help feeling that a meaningless pre-season friendly in China counts as a murder somehow. The cold dead body of football is discovered...”

And the police have already whittled the list of suspects down to 921,541 people who were found with blood on their hands.

12.45pm BST

3 min An early chance for Chelsea, with Moses running through on goal from Fabregas’s excellent pass. There is nobody close enough for him to dive, so he shoots instead. It’s a fairly tame effort and Ospina saves.

12.43pm BST

3 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Matt Emerson. “We’re in Ko Samui and I’ll soon be heading out to the nearest sports bar with The Lad to watch the match. That’s somewhat irrelevant detail, but I just wanted to make people jealous. I used to have a share in a flat racehorse and we went to the stables in early Spring to see how it was developing prior to its maiden race. As the string of two-year-olds went up the gallops the trainer turned and said ‘I love this time of year, all our geese are swans right now.’ And that is pre-season as a football supporter in a sentence.”

That’s nice, and particularly of our relationship with new signings. I’ll never forget how good Bebe was in my head.

12.43pm BST

2 min A fast start from Chelsea, with a couple of corners. Willian makes a mess of the second, curling it out of play.

12.41pm BST

1 min Peep peep! Chelsea kick off from left to right. They are in blue; Arsenal are in red.

12.34pm BST

“Wot?” sniffs Mike. “No Leicester v Liverpool MBM? At least that’s for an actually tin pot cup.”

Erm, dunno. I’m not passing the buck, it was somebody else’s decision!

12.21pm BST

When we write the Joy of Six: pre-season friendly moments, this will be entry No1. I mean really, look at the nonchalant state of this.

12.16pm BST

Pre-match nostalgia

Related: The Joy of Six: Arsenal and Chelsea showdowns | Scott Murray

Related: Aaron Ramsey fires Arsenal to FA Cup final win over 10-man Chelsea

12.06pm BST

Arsenal (3-4-2-1) Ospina; Maitland-Niles, Mertesacker, Monreal; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Xhaka, Bramall; Ozil, Iwobi; Lacazette.

Chelsea (3-4-2-1) Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Pedro; Batshuayi.

11.10am BST

Hello madam, hello sir. July is the happiest month to be a football supporter. There’s no real football, but that’s kind of the point. Your team’s record signing is yet to banjax a penalty into Row FFS; nobody has stomped down the tunnel after a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to West Brom; no one on TV is using the phrase “on social media” as if they are about to discuss the grave findings of a year-long judicial review into historic corruption.

It’s the time when hope and optimism replace mope and cynicism. Today, Arsenal and Chelsea both continuing preparations for their title-winning 2017-18 campaigns, and whatever happens in the next few hours won’t change that. The best and worst thing about this match is that it means absolutely nothing. Enjoy it, because soon things will get very, very, very, very important - and not just when we look at what people are saying on social media.

A dark family secret comes to light when a girl deliberately runs over a woman on a pedestrian crossing, and the result of an internal inquiry board is revealed.

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England thrash South Africa by 211 runs: first Test, day four – as it happened

Moeen Ali took the first ten-for of his Test career as England romped to victory in Joe Root’s first game as captain

5.38pm BST

That’s about it for our coverage of this Test. It’s been an idyllic start for Joe Root, and South Africa will surely make a few changes for the second Test at Trent Bridge on Friday. Thanks for your company. Bye!

Related: Joe Root’s England reign starts royally as Moeen Ali tears through South Africa

Related: Joe Root lauds England aggression and names unchanged side for second Test

5.36pm BST

Moeen leads the team off, his body language as modest as ever. He is a pretty adorable bloke, and a fine cricketer who has finally found the perfect role in this side. He ends with career-best figures in both the innings and the match: six for 59 and 10 for 112. And he cracked a crucial 87 in the first innings.

5.32pm BST

WICKET! South Africa 119 all out (Morkel c Jennings b Dawson 14) After hitting two sixes in three balls, Morkel drags Dawson to deep midwicket, where Jennings takes a fine catch. England have thrashed South Africa to go 1-0 up in the series!

5.30pm BST

England have beaten Australia by three runs in a World Cup classic at Bristol. Read all about it.

5.29pm BST

36th over: South Africa 107-9 (Philander 19, Morkel 2) Philander brings up the hundred - the team hundred - with a six, launching Moeen over wide long-on.

5.25pm BST

35th over: South Africa 94-9 (Philander 12, Morkel 0) A maiden from Dawson, who is a little unlucky to have only one wicket to Moeen’s six.

5.24pm BST

34th over: South Africa 94-9 (Philander 12, Morkel 0) If Moeen wants to complete the perfect all-round performance, he needs to get the last wicket with a run-out like Graham Gooch on this ground in 1990. That week he was asking himself ‘Who writes your scripts?’

5.20pm BST

Moeen completes the first ten-for of his Test career! Rabada top-edges a cut and is smartly held by Bairstow, and England are one wicket away. Moeen has six for 44 in the innings and ten for 103 in the match!

5.19pm BST

Never mind this game, there is a storming finish in the World Cup match between England and Australia at Bristol. Get on it this instant.

Related: England v Australia: Women's Cricket World Cup – live!

5.17pm BST

33rd over: South Africa 90-8 (Philander 12, Rabada 0) A full toss from Dawson receives an appropriate clonk from Philander, with the ball flying over deep midwicket for a one-bounce four.

In other news, here’s a slightly weird, essentially meaningless yet somehow thrilling statgasm: when England win this game, it will be the first time since 1999-2000 that the home side has led in an England/South Africa series.

5.14pm BST

32nd over: South Africa 84-8 (Philander 4, Rabada 0) “An interesting question arises as to whether Moeen would have bowled as well as this without Liam Dawson in the side,” says GARY NAYLOR. “As the only spinner, would he have forced the issue and, as seen so often on a helpful pitch, gone looking for the magic ball and been picked off? Alternatively, with Adil Rashid picked instead of Dawson, would Moeen have considered himself the junior partner and bowled with that status in mind? Conjecture of course, but there is a bit of Flintoff and Jones about how these two have complemented each other.”

I think you’re reaching, though I can see the point and only Moeen will know. I suspect the biggest factor is the coaching of Saqlain Mushtaq. Don’t forget Dawson was used first in the first innings, so maybe Moeen was the junior partner at the start of the game. One thing’s for sure: he’s not the junior partner now. He’s had an outstanding match.

5.10pm BST

Five wickets for Moeen! Maharaj belted a couple of boundaries down the ground before dragging an off-break back onto his stumps. That’s a lovely moment for one of the most likeable cricketers around, and there is real warmth in the applause of his teammates and those on the England balcony.

5.07pm BST

31st over: South Africa 74-7 (Philander 4, Maharaj 2) Dawson’s turns a peach past Philander’s outside edge. He has bowled beautifully this evening, albeit on a helpful surface, and deserves another wicket or two.

5.04pm BST

30th over: South Africa 74-7 (Philander 4, Maharaj 2) The last England spinner to take a ten-for at Lord’s was ‘Deadly’ Derek Underwood in 1974. Moeen needs two more.

5.00pm BST

Moeen’s magical match continues. That’s his eighth wicket, equalling his biggest haul in a Test match. It was a lovely bit of bowling. Theunis de Bruyn was surprised by some extra bounce and could only fend the ball straight to Stokes at slip.

4.59pm BST

29th over: South Africa 72-6 (de Bruyn 1, Philander 4) Dawson gets some extra bounce to hit Philander on his injured hand. He takes his hand off the bat quicksmart and wrings it in pain. The next Test starts at Trent Bridge on Friday.

“What another glorious advert this is for Test cricket, Rob,” says Guy Hornsby. “A pitch - TAKE NOTE CHAIRMEN - that does a bit for both bat and ball, plus a mixture of excellent bowling and daft batting meaning this could be over tonight, courtesy of our new demon spin duo*. Adil must be grinding his teeth. South Africa are doing a 90s England, collapsing like a beer snake after tea. Where’s Phil DeFreitas?

4.54pm BST

28th over: South Africa 71-6 (de Bruyn 0, Philander 4) Bavuma shapes to pull a short ball from Dawson and then aborts the shot as it get“Hi Rob,” says Niall Mullen. “I’m at Lord’s but have a train to catch from Kings X at 7pm. What do you think my chances are of seeing a result this evening?”

Yes, yes you will. You have my word.

4.52pm BST

Moeen Ali gets his seventh wicket of the match. Bavuma misses an almighty heave across the line, almost knocking himself off his feet, and the ball turns enough to clip the off bail. Bavuma played well, and should be the top scorer with 21, but deep down he knew it was a lost cause.

4.49pm BST

27th over: South Africa 65-5 (Bavuma 19, de Bruyn 0) Bavuma shapes to pull a short ball from Dawson and then aborts the shot as it gets extremely big on him. This pitch isn’t just turning square; it’s bouncing vertically. South Africa have no chance. As has been said already, they lost this game on the first day.

4.45pm BST

26th over: South Africa 64-5 (Bavuma 17, de Bruyn 0) That was the last ball of the over.

4.44pm BST

Wisden 2018 will say de Kock was bowled by Moeen Ali, and that’s all you need to know. It could have pitched middle and hit off, a jaffa to beat all jaffas. Or it might have been a long hop that de Kock smashed onto his right leg, from where it rebounded onto the stumps. A bonus wicket for Moeen. He won’t care.

4.41pm BST

There’s a cracking game going on at Bristol, where Australia need 91 from 61 balls to beat England in the Women’s World Cup. You can follow it with Adam Collins.

Related: England v Australia: Women's Cricket World Cup – live!

4.40pm BST

25th over: South Africa 63-4 (de Kock 18, Bavuma 17) de Kock inside-edges consecutive turners from Dawson, the first onto the pad and the second wide of leg stump, and then reverse-sweeps a couple.

4.37pm BST

24th over: South Africa 61-4 (de Kock 15, Bavuma 17) Bavuma, who has been really impressive in this match, sweeps Moeen decisively through square leg for four. South Africa look relatively comfortable for the first time since the dismissal of Kuhn.

4.33pm BST

23rd over: South Africa 54-4 (de Kock 15, Bavuma 11) Bavuma is beaten by another sharp turner from Dawson. That missed the bat by a mile, so extravagant was the spin.

4.30pm BST

22nd over: South Africa 54-4 (de Kock 15, Bavuma 11) That’s nice batting from de Kock, who cuts two short balls from Moeen for four with the minimum of fuss. He won’t die wondering; not in this innings, not in any innings. Moeen, having conceded four from his first seven overs, goes for 12 in his eighth.

4.27pm BST

21st over: South Africa 42-4 (de Kock 6, Bavuma 8) Bavuma puts a poor ball from Dawson away for four and then thick-edges a peach that drifts in and spits away off the pitch. It lands safely on the off side, well wide of Stokes at slip.

4.24pm BST

20th over: South Africa 38-4 (de Kock 6, Bavuma 4) Bavuma pulls his bat away from another nasty delivery that kicks to hit him on the elbow. Both de Kock and Bavuma look busy, and they are doing all the right things in terms of trying to counter-attack; it feels like an exercise in futility.

4.21pm BST

19th over: South Africa 37-4 (de Kock 6, Bavuma 3) Dawson is getting some lovely drift, which played a part in the wicket of Amla. In the Sky commentary box, Shane Warne sounds pretty impressed. de Kock continues to try to use his feet, yet all he can do when he gets to the ball is defend.

4.18pm BST

18th over: South Africa 34-4 (de Kock 6, Bavuma 0) Moeen skids a good delivery past de Kock’s outside edge. He responds by dancing down the track to consecutive deliveries; the first time he has to defend, the second he works for a single. Bavuma then misses an attempted sweep, with the ball beating Bairstow on its way for three byes. Batting is fiendishly difficult against the spinners. Imagine Murali on here!

4.14pm BST

17th over: South Africa 30-4 (de Kock 5, Bavuma 0) Bavuma mishits a nasty delivery from Dawson a few yards short of midwicket. This pitch is misbehaving a lot; with 34 overs remaining, the match will probably finish today. It’s a helluva chance for Liam Dawson to launch his Test career with a cheap four- or five-for.

4.10pm BST

16th over: South Africa 30-4 (de Kock 5, Bavuma 0) “Another smart catch from Ali to get of Duminy,” says Dean Kinsella. “Playing a true all-rounder’s role! Man of the Match performance in the making.”

He’s been great but I would give it to Root (or de Kock). His innings was the most important factor in the result.

4.08pm BST

15th over: South Africa 28-4 (de Kock 3, Bavuma 0) That was the last ball of the over.

Moeen and Dawson tripping off the tongue like Laker and Lock #ENGvSA

4.06pm BST

Liam Dawson strikes in his first over! I suspect he was brought on with de Kock in mind but it’s Amla he has dismissed. England won’t mind that one iota. It was a jaffa, drifting in from around the wicket and straightening sharply to hit the pad. Amla reviewed the decision but I think he knew he was out. Hawkeye showed it was hitting middle halfway up.

4.01pm BST

14th over: South Africa 25-3 (Amla 11, de Kock 0) Quinton de Kock has been promoted to No5. This is the big partnership, between the aforementioned geniuses. Surely the only way South Africa can win this is if de Kock homages Adam Gilchrist at Hobart in 1999. He has to counter-attack. First it’s Moeen to Amla, a testing over in which three deliveries go past the outside or inside edge.

3.58pm BST

Two odd batting line-ups.
England: 3 blockers, 3 dashers; only Root = both.
SA: 3 walking wickets in top 4; 2 geniuses; lower order pips top

3.40pm BST

The wicket means that’s the last ball before tea. England are well on top, with South Africa needing a further 306 to win.

3.39pm BST

Mark Wood comes into the attack. Duminy isn’t seeing it like a football, he’s timing it like one. He finally gets off the mark from his 15th delivery - and then falls to his 16th, clonking a pull straight to Moeen at midwicket. That’s a pretty poor shot, especially as it comes on the stroke of tea.

3.34pm BST

12th over: South Africa 22-2 (Amla 10, Duminy 0) Moeen skids one onto Duminy, who drags his bat down approximately 0.001 seconds before the ball hits him on the pad in front of off stump. This is excellent from Moeen, who is varying his flight and toying with Duminy. Another maiden, his third in a row.

3.31pm BST

11th over: South Africa 22-2 (Amla 10, Duminy 0) Amla drives Anderson just wide of the diving Stokes, placed deliberately at short cover. It goes for four but could easily have been another wicket. He gets another boundary later in the over with a bottom-handed flick off the pads.

3.26pm BST

10th over: South Africa 12-2 (Amla 0, Duminy 0) The new batsman is JP Duminy, to whom offspin is Kryptonite. He survives his first five deliveries comfortably enough.

3.24pm BST

Gone! Elgar skips down the track and drives straight back to Moeen Ali, who reacts smartly to take an excellent two-handed catch in front of his beard.

3.23pm BST

9th over: South Africa 12-1 (Elgar 2, Amla 0) Amla’s first delivery is a villainous lifter from Anderson that rams into his left wrist and lands safely on the off side. Amla did extremely well to ensure the ball went down rather than up. That’s not the first nasty delivery Jimmy has bowled in this match. At the age of 34, he’s turned into Patrick Patterson! Amla receives treatment, and is suitably unsettled that when he resumes his innings he almost drags a leaden-footed defensive stroke back onto the stumps. Terrific stuff from Anderson, who has figures of 5-2-6-1.

3.16pm BST

8th over: South Africa 12-1 (Elgar 2, Amla 0) Moeen Ali replaces Stuart Broad. He dismissed both these batsmen in the first innings, and his fifth delivery turns just enough to beat Elgar’s cautious poke. A good maiden from Moeen.

“Where Zen clashes with cricket,” begins Ian Copestake, “is that the sport is defined by having so many rules and it is thus within those tramlines that the student of Zen must work to find his special transmission outside the scriptures, as Bodihidarma might have said once or twice between deliveries.”

3.15pm BST

7th over: South Africa 12-1 (Elgar 2, Amla 0) That was a seriously good take from Bairstow, his second great catch of the match. You can see why he is so reluctant to give up the gloves, because he has worked like a dog to turn himself into a very good keeper.

3.13pm BST

Kuhn is strangled down the leg side. It was a beautiful low catch by Jonny Bairstow, diving a long way to his left, when Kuhn flicked at leg-stump delivery from Anderson.

3.11pm BST

6th over: South Africa 12-0 (Kuhn 9, Elgar 2) Broad is attacking the stumps, though we haven’t seen any uneven bounce and South Africa looked reasonably secure. I suspect Moeen Ali will be the first bowling change, maybe 20 minutes before tea.

3.04pm BST

5th over: South Africa 11-0 (Kuhn 8, Elgar 2) Elgar is seduced by a brilliant outswinger by Anderson. He knew he shouldn’t have been playing at it, but it was too late for his brain to inform his body and it zipped past the outside edge.

“Interesting stat,” says Gary Naylor. “I could have sworn Glenn McGrath had taken 289 wickets at Lord’s alone.”

3.00pm BST

4th over: South Africa 8-0 (Kuhn 7, Elgar 1) A good over from Broad, who made Elgar play at almost every delivery.

“A Zen approach is well-suited to some sports,” says John Starbuck. “Cricket, snooker, darts and perhaps tennis can make use of it in many respects, where being in the moment and extremely accurate are equally important.”

2.58pm BST

Dean Elgar has an LBW dismissal overturned on review. It was a strange one, in that Broad seemed to be strangling his appeal when S Ravi raised the finger. Elgar played around a straight one that hit him on the pad, but Hawkeye showed it would have bounced over the stumps.

2.53pm BST

3rd over: South Africa 8-0 (Kuhn 7, Elgar 1) Jimmy Anderson has taken 298 Test wickets in England. You won’t be surprised to hear nobody has taken 300; you might be surprised to hear that no fast bowler has taken 300 Test wickets in any country. The next best is Glenn McGrath with 289.

This has been a decent start for South Africa - nothing epiphany-inducing, but they have looked solid and comfortable against the new ball. Saying which, Kuhn tries to turn the last delivery to leg and gets a leading edge along the ground to backward point.

2.50pm BST

2nd over: South Africa 7-0 (Kuhn 7, Elgar 0) Stuart Broad should be a huge threat on this pitch, especially if he bowls full and straight like he did against Australia on a not dissimilar pitch at the Oval in 2009. Kuhn thick-edges a drive to third man for four in an otherwise uneventful over.

“Why was Mats (Philander) out there?” says Adam Roberts. “I am convinced the injury contributed to the drop, if only subconsciously. He was leading with his left hand as if protecting his right. Would it have affected his right to bat? Surely not.”

2.44pm BST

1st over: South Africa 3-0 (Kuhn 3, Elgar 0) Jimmy Anderson is about to bowl his first delivery when he realises he doesn’t like the ball, so he persuades the umpires to change it. Sometimes the great workmen blame their tools too. This might be the first time in Test history that the first over has been bowled with the second new ball. It looks a good one, from an England perspective, because it’s swinging. Heino Kuhn is beaten by a gorgeous outswinger and then times a nice drive through extra cover for three.

“There is something Zen about Jimmy’s approach to bowling,” says Ian Copestake. “The way he was feeling up those balls especially. Made me love him a bit more.”

2.38pm BST

Hello folks. South Africa were pretty brilliant with the ball this morning; they’ll need to be even better with the bat to win the game. Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock are the key wickets for England.

2.34pm BST

Anyhow, Rob Smyth will be here presently to guide you through their successful chase; email him at rob.smyth@theguardian.com.

2.32pm BST

South Africa were brilliant this morning, but it wasn’t enough; they they weren’t perfect and they needed to be. Philander catches Bairstow, they’re right in this; they’re still in this, but 331 on this pitch will take monumentally good batting and outstandingly bad bowling. Really, this Test went with the missed chances on day 1, ground in by tail-end runs on day 2.

2.30pm BST

Bairstow tries another slog-sweep, misses, and pretty much walks when the bails fall. South Africa need 331 to win!

2.29pm BST

86th over: England 233-9 (Bairstow 51, Anderson 0) A short pull to square-leg or so sees Bairstow jazz through for two; that’s his fifty, and a valuable one it’s been; for this, he earns a handshake from Jimmy Anderson. Meanwhile, on the balcony, Joe Root is giggling; Vernon Philander probably isn’t.

2.24pm BST

85th over: England 230-9 (Bairstow 48, Anderson 0) After three dots, Bairstow tries a slog-sweep at Maharaj; the spin takes the ball past his off stump. Then, before the final ball, Elgar brings everyone in to make sure Anderson has strike; again, Bairstow sweeps, and only goes and gets three. That is very funny indeed.

2.20pm BST

84th over: England 227-9 (Bairstow 45, Anderson 0) The way Wood just loves being out there is such a pleasure to watch; it’s as though anything that happens in the match, good or bad, is brilliant because Look! I’m literally playing a Test match! Isn’t that the best! Yes it is! Anyway, the Burnley Lara is good to go and he faces down four dot balls.

2.16pm BST

Isaac Vivian Alexander Wood tires a pull but the ball’s too full for that and clatter his off peg. He might just have sealed the match for England, but.

2.13pm BST

84th over: England 227-8 (Bairstow 45, Wood 28) Rabada is warming up, so presumably the new ball is imminent. Wood, meanwhile, is curating an expert’s innings, making room to hit through cover and then driving to long-off; each gains two.

2.11pm BST

83rd over: England 220-8 (Bairstow 43, Wood 23) Are tail-end runs even more amusing than a player being hit in the dress circle? Same thing really and there are four more of them, Wood helping another on its way around the corner to Morne’s chagrin. And he’s no more amused when two more are miscued over the infield, then a single played down into the off side. Eight off the over, 317 the lead, and England haver found another use for that carrot they offered South Africa in the morning session.

2.05pm BST

82nd over: England 212-8 (Bairstow 42, Wood 16) Wood is enjoying this, and tonks Maharaj for four through midwicket. I doubt Philander is feeling good right now; if he’d caught Bairstow this would already be done.

2.03pm BST

81st over: England 208-8 (Bairstow 42, Wood 12) New ball is due, but South Africa don’t take it for now; they could finish the innings, or they could leak runs. Bairstow isn’t arsed either way, using the pace from Morkel’s final delivery to ramp four.

1.58pm BST

80th over: England 200-8 (Bairstow 35, Wood 11) Wood plays out a maiden, until he doesn’t; Maharaj’s last ball is wide, and he has a good look at it then wallops a square-drive for four. Lovely shot.

1.55pm BST

79th over: England 196-8 (Bairstow 35, Wood 7) Some patter between Morkel and Bairstow, perhaps because the latter is running over the pitch, perhaps because the former was in the road. Naturally, Bairstow finds it hilarious, all the more so when he goes to cut and bottom-edges, just missing his stumps in favour of adding four instead.

1.51pm BST

78th over: England 190-7 (Bairstow 30, Wood 6) Bairstow knocks to long off and they amble a single, then Wood mows one over the top of midwicket ... Duminy is in pursuit and hurls himself at it as the ball drops, but finishes just short.

“Please remind us why Rashid was dropped for Dawson,” emails Dean Kinsella. “Would love to have seen Rash bowl in this 4th innings. Still think England have this in the bag though!”

1.47pm BST

77th over: England 187-8 (Bairstow 29, Wood 4) Bairstow takes a single, and then Wood enjoys one sliding across his pads; he helps it around the corner to finest leg, thereby getting off the mark with a four. Morkel gets a modicum of revenge last ball, firing one in at the toes that makes Wood dance like an unfortunate cowboy; naturally, he find sit all very funny.

“Yesterday’s tea-time OBO was kind enough to indulge (nay welcome) some shameless fraternal promotion of my cricket-loving brother’s previously-neglected back-garden cocktail shack-themed blog,” emails Brian Withington hyphenetically.” To commemorate the Guardian’s generosity, a glorious Lord’s Test against SA, and his hit score now exceeding 10,000 (and catching Cook fast), John has crafted a cocktail of the day, the “Basil Dolly”. It is described as a “fruity, herbal simple return catch of a recipe for a warm Summer’s afternoon”. The method culminates fittingly with the coaching of “stir like a wristy late cut and add a tiny flourish of a leg-glance with a strawberry and some basil”.

1.42pm BST

Morne Morkel, who led this morning’s rout, has the ball...

1.41pm BST

Here they come...

1.37pm BST

Right then, beat that.

1.06pm BST

What a morning that was! In particular, Morkel and Maharaj were superb, taking full advantage of the doubt etched in the batsmen’s minds as soon as the second ball of the day shot off a crack. The afternoon session is set to be another belter, and potentially definitive; see you in roundabout 35.

1.02pm BST

76th over: England 182-7 (Bairstow 28, Wood 0) 25 overs this morning, 63 runs, seven wickets; lovely, lovely stuff. England lead by 279, and whatever happens, this is not going to be a draw. WinViz has England overwhelming favourites, 82% chance of winning, but one serious knock is all it’ll take to make that look silly. Lunch, 279 the lead.

1.00pm BST

What a catch this is! It’s golden duck for Broad! He turns Maharaj around the corner with the full face, only for De Bruyn, at short-leg, to snatch a fantastic snaffle! For the third year in a row, England have collapsed at Lord’s on day 4.

12.58pm BST

76th over: England 182-7 (Bairstow 28, Broad 0) This has been such a Test, and one set-up, to significant extent, by Stuart Broad’s fifty in the first innings. Er...

12.54pm BST

It’s a pair! Of second-ballers! Rabada tanks in and humps a full-toss that bowls Dawson all over the show! There’s a brief break while the unpires check it was below waist-height; it was, and what a morning this has been!

12.53pm BST

75th over: England 181-6 (Bairstow 27, Dawson 0) Dawson is on a pair here and Rabada will fancy the cut of his jib. But he’s got Bairstow on strike for four balls, before a inside-edge cannons the pads and they run one.

12.48pm BST

Maharaj diddles Ali in the flight here, bowling a little slower such that when the batsman skips down, he can’t react when the ball spins, nipping dips and between bat and pad to rattle the timber. England have lost five for 61 today.

12.47pm BST

74th over: England 180-5 (Bairstow 26, Ali 7) Bairstow leans away as Maharaj drops a tad short, opening up the off side and pounding the ball through it; four. And then, after a dot, he wallops over mid on for four more, then sweeps to square leg as the camera picks out a miffed-looking Vern; he then fields successfully and the crowd cheer him ironically.

12.43pm BST

73rd over: England 167-5 (Bairstow 13, Ali 7) South Africa have been sloppy this Test; wicket-taking no-balls and vital dropped catches are going to cost them the match by the look of things. Four singles, and England are starting to up the rate again.

DROPPED! Philander shells Bairstow on seven, at wide long off. Ball goes for four. #EngvSA https://t.co/gbyDT4AlQu pic.twitter.com/mTeQRpHnY8

12.40pm BST

72nd over: England 163-5 (Bairstow 11, Ali 5) Oh mate! Ohhhhhh maaaaaaate! Ohhhhhh! Mate! Maharaj spins one away from Bairstow who chucks hands anyway, looking to go over extra cover. But Philander, underneath it at long off, watches the ball all the way into his hands, then lets it pass through them before making a Frankie Howerd face and blaming something in the sky, whether spidercam, cloud or deity, and definitely not himself. Four to the total, five off the over.

12.36pm BST

71st over: England 158-5 (Bairstow 7, Ali 4) Moeen takes one into the off side and then Bairstow forces away to backward point; they run two. The pressure has eased slightly these last few overs but then Rabada rushes one low past Bairstow; so low that he grins, bug-eyed, after following-through. The leads is 255.

Highest winning 4th innings chases at Lord's:
WI 344-1 v Eng, 1984
Eng 282-3 v NZ, 2004
Eng 218-3 v NZ, 1965
Eng 193-5 v WI, 2012

12.31pm BST

70th over: England 155-5 (Bairstow 5, Ali 3) Single to Moeen, via the increasingly popular sweep, and then Bairstow gets down on one knee to do likewise; he misses entirely. One off the over.

12.27pm BST

69th over: England 154-5 (Bairstow 5, Ali 2) I wonder if Elgar is thinking about a quick turn for Morkel against Moeen before he gets comfy. In the meantime, Rabada, from around, beats him with one that pitches and moves away off the seam. But in general, the bowlers are keeping more balls on the stumps than earlier in the match, as you’d expect given those cracks.

12.23pm BST

68th over: England 149-5 ( Bairstow 4, Ali 1) What a ridiculous pleasure it is to watch cricket of this ilk; great bowling, a sporting pitch, and runs hard to come by. Nothing; nothing; can compare to this. Three singles from Maharaj’s latest over and I literally cannot wait for the next one.

12.20pm BST

67th over: England 149-5 (Bairstow 2, Ali 0) 39 deliveries, four wickets, ten runs; this morning, South Africa were thinking about keeping Cook and Ballance in to ensure a slow scoring rate; now, they’re thinking victory. This has been a great morning of “Test-match cricket”TM.

12.18pm BST

This is going to finish today isn’t it? Rabada comes around and his first ball keeps low, scuttling on; Stokes walks, more or less, while Elgar clamps a hand over the bowler’s mouth and he puts a finger to his lips. Ungentlemanly conduct, in my opinion; BAN BAN BAN.

12.16pm BST

66th over: England 149-4 (Bairstow 2, Stokes 1) Rabada on for Morkel, who has taken two wickets in seven overs for not many runs. Rabada is just so beautiful to watch, floating in with malice aforethought.

12.13pm BST

65th over: England 148-4 (Bairstow 1, Stokes 1) Tight from Maharaj, giving Stokes very little space in which to play. He manages a single, and Bairstow does likewise.

“Excellent decision to go with the astroturf option,” says Brian Withington of my mid-life crisis. “However, be prepared for some derision. The precocious youngest (9 year old) of visiting friends described it in appalled terms as a ‘travesty of grass’. He went on to win University Challenge for Peterhouse last year, so I guess he knew what he was on about.

12.09pm BST

64th over: England 146-4 (Bairstow 0, Stokes 0) So South Africa are still in this, even if it’d take a monumental effort to win from here simply chasing the deficit of 243. Another maiden from Morkel.

“I’ve heard that it takes you back to being held as a baby so it’s a comfort reflex,” Robert Taylor says of the head in hands thing. “Never double-checked that so don’t quote me on that”; sorry.

12.04pm BST

South Africa are on a roll! Feart of the cracks and accordant spin, Root is late on one that goes with arm, shuffling back and dangling rather than presenting the bat. The ball runs off the face, into the stumps, and that’s three wickets for seven runs in four overs.

12.02pm BST

64th over: England 146-3 (Root 5, Bairstow 0) Maharaj hits one of Morkel’s footholes, sending the ball to slip; so Root clump-sweeps the next one hard to square-leg. Immediately Elgar, whose fields have been excellent this morning - men in front of the wicket - sends the man who was short onto the fence.

11.59am BST

63rd over: England 142-3 (Root 1, Bairstow 0) So, two new batsmen and two right-handers; Maharaj will fancy that. But in the meantime, Morkel is in rhythm, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Related: The Recap: sign up for the best of the Guardian's sport coverage

11.57am BST

A terrific ball to cap a terrific spell. Jagging one in from around the wicket, Morkel persuades Ballance that he needs to play, and he duly fences to guide the ball behind.

11.55am BST

63rd over: England 142-2 (Ballance 34, Root 1) Morne has his head in his hands as Root edges a drive; vis-a-vis that, a question: why do we put our heads in our hands when bad stuff happens? Is it instinct or learned? Who was the first person to do it, and why? Anyway, good though this bowling is, when might England step on it? And how many runs do they actually need? Another 30?

11.51am BST

62nd over: England 141-2 (Ballance 34, Root 0) Maharaj into the attack, and with the field ad line telling Ballance he can’t drive, he shuffles down and shovels one from outside off over the top towards midwicket; it’s stopped on the fence and nabs him two, the only runs from the over.

WATCH! Cook drives to Bavuma at cover! Live on Sky Sports 2 - Brought to you by @FostersUK. https://t.co/gSOieoCidr https://t.co/v3YJ0uWyaB

11.47am BST

61st over: England 139-2 (Ballance 32, Root 0) Rich reward for Morkel; Root is on strike and charges at his first ball before leaving it. In commentary, meanwhile, Warne gives Atherton a dig for saying an unsuspecting bloke in the crowd, upon whom the camera lingered, looked like him. That’s nice of them. Excellent over.

11.44am BST

Cook drives hard but leaning back a tad, and it’s enough; Bavuma, at wide mid-off, tumbles to make a smart catch look routine.

11.43am BST

61st over: England 138-1 (Cook 69, Ballance 32) David Gower points out that Morkel coming around the wicket is preparing rough for England’s spinner. Anyway...

11.41am BST

60th over: England 138-1 (Cook 69, Ballance 31) Cook flicks Philander off his pads for a single; Philander is bowling straighter now, effectively at the cracks, with an extra man on the on side. Ballance finds the one at deep square, and they jog another single.

“If Mr Salmon moved with the times he could forget about mowing the lawn for ever,” advises John Starbuck, “either by turning it into a wildlife meadow or by ripping out all the grass and using colourful gravels instead. One of my major life decisions was deciding to do the latter and it’s saved me no end of bother and perspiration.”

11.35am BST

59th over: England 136-1 (Cook 68, Ballance 30) Morkel still going and Ballance eases into a drive towards long off that gets three then, full of beans, swings and misses at another.

“How many runs does Ballance need to score today to start changing peoples minds about him?” tweets Matt Potter.

11.32am BST

58th over: England 132-1 (Cook 67, Ballance 27) Philander is also around to Cook now, and he’s tight enough. The problem is that he’ll tire, so will Morkel, and if England have wickets in hand, South Africa are in allsorts. Maiden.

“As this game keeps moving towards the inevitable, I’m having some trouble justifying to myself and others spending the whole of a beautiful Sunday following it,” beseeches Peter Salmon. “It would really help if there were any personal milestones coming up that I can’t afford to miss – Moeen becoming the second fastest to the 2000/100 double would have worked a treat. I’ll take anything – Cook moving up to third most runs at Lords; Ballance, Root and Bairstow scoring most runs in a test by Yorkshiremen against South Africa etc. At the moment all I’ve got is Vernon Philander needing seven wickets to overtake Toey Tayfield and move to seventh on the table of South African wicket-takers, and it just doesn’t seem enough to get me out of mowing the lawn.”

11.27am BST

57th over: England 132-1 (Cook 67, Ballance 27) Morkel persuades Ballance to waft at one outside off; it holds up and seams away past the edge. So Ballance has another go, dragging into the ground, and that’s the end of another tight over, one from it.

11.23am BST

56th over: England 131-1 (Cook 66, Ballance 27) Warne wants a bat-pad man, given the up-and-down bounce, and that such a man might make the batsman think about what might go wrong; “best way to stop the runs is take wickets”. In the meantime, Cook is down the pitch to Philander and presents the full face, but whoever is at mid-on saves a boundary with a diving stop. One from the over, and South Africa badly need some wickets.

11.19am BST

55th over: England 130-1 (Cook 65, Ballance 27) Morne - is it Mornay or Morknee, please? - comes around to Cook. I guess the trepidation is that the angle might feed yerman’s array of square-cuts, square-cuts and square-cuts.

On Steyn, Chris Weston says: “If comparing with Curtly and Wasim, then Hadlee has to be in the picture. But were any of them really contemporaries of his?’

11.13am BST

54th over: England 129-1 (Cook 64, Ballance 27) Philander strays straight to Ballance, who helps it around the corner; Morkel does his best, lanking around the boundary and diving like collapsed deckchair, but it’s still four. They’re the only runs from the over.

11.09am BST

53rd over: England 125-1 (Cook 64, Ballance 23) If Morne can find the cracks, things could get very unpleasant; but first he gets a grubber, and immediately Beefy is advising him to come around to Cook. That sounds like a pleasant Sunday’s morning’s choiristering. Instead, he gives Cook a short, wide one, and out comes that square-cut; first boundary of the morning.

“Dale Steyn? Given his record in India, just behind Glenn McGrath, on a level with Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose,” tweets Gary Naylor.

11.05am BST

52nd over: England 121-1 (Cook 60, Ballance 23) Beefy reckons the pitch is a) a proper cricket wicket and b) so dry and cracked that something has to happen, and Philander is on the money immediately; Ballance crouches and gets it away for one to leg. Two balls later, the prophecy comes true - a crack is contacted and the ball shoots off pass leg stump. Get that off a straight one, and it’s goodnight. Anyway, Cook then turns away a single before Philander persuades one to leap off a length; another crack. England’s bowlers will be rubbing their hands.

10.59am BST

Vernon has the ball...

...good.

10.59am BST

Out come the players...

10.59am BST

Back to Dale Steyn, where are we ranking him in our list of contemporary bowlers? Better than Anderson, not quite as good as Asif?

10.55am BST

Hurray! Good news! Luke Fletcher is set to be released from hospital.

Related: Luke Fletcher set to be released from hospital after sickening T20 head injury

10.54am BST

Naylor is back: “The one they’re missing today is Imran Tahir,” he reckons.

I can see that, but if you gave me a choice I’d take Steyn every time.

10.52am BST

“Quinton de Kock must bat at 4 asap,” tweets Gary Naylon, “where he could be an all-time great - he really is that talented. Surely someone else can keep?”

I wonder. He’s got an amazing eye and and amazing power, that’s for sure, but I’d want to be certain he had the dexterity and consistency before using a less good keeper. I’d also want to be confident in the balance of my team before relieving myself of an all-rounder.

10.49am BST

Email! “This test has been entertaining so far,” emails Robert Taylor, “but it is a crying shame that in this series South Africa may be missing, for various reasons and at various times, De Villiers, Du Plessis, Steyn, Philander, Abbott, Harmer, Roussouw, Rabada, Van Zyl and Viljoen.

As has been highlighted in the media, this series has in the last 20 years been fiercely competitive and dramatic and so to see South Africa struggling with getting some of their best players on the pitch is distressing. Don’t want to see them go the way of the Windies.”

10.43am BST

But really, this is all window-dressing; the old Warner was home to the finest toilets ever crafted in the history of the world.

Finest toilet on the planet bar none. pic.twitter.com/GWHLBIfk

10.37am BST

Sky are now chatting us through the development of the Warner Stand which, from my vantage point in the Compton Upper, looks nice but makes wanton vitamin D acquisition harder. Understand more about it and the accordant issues by reading the great Matthew Engel.

Related: MCC’s masters of the cricket universe have all but lost their footings at Lord’s | Matthew Engel

10.35am BST

Other great Sundays at Lord’s: 2008, during which South Africa compiled 229-1, featuring crowd-pleasing tons for Smith and McKenzie, with Amla getting underway too. Put your hand up if you sat through that with dad-slaking restrictions in place.

10.31am BST

On Sky, Ian Ward is asking Russell Domingo if Quinton de Kock can move up the order; tricky, given a young keeper, he dead-bats. He’s then pretty diplomatic about the binning of Kagiso Rabada for a Test, but the subtext appears fairly clear: people who aren’t Kagiso Rabada need to grow up.

10.26am BST

The 2012 battle for the Basil is among the best ever played in this country. The two best sides in the world - driven, skilled, brilliantly vicious sides - fought like junkyard dogs to deliver a sustaining scrap of unbridled intensity.

That contest - criminally, staged over just three matches, hate criminally the last between the sides until 2016 - ended at Lord’s, and was more or less the perfect Test. Fair-to-middling scores on account of superb bowling, serious batting was still rewarded and the serious was finally settled with the eventual squashing of an improbable chase on the final afternoon. Ahhhhhhhhh.

12.41pm BST

Daniel will be here shortly.

Continue reading...

Australia beat Pakistan by 159 runs: Women's Cricket World Cup –– as it happened

Australia’s powerful death-batting and tight new-ball bowling did for a disappointingly timid Pakistan;

5.06pm BST

So, thanks for reading; bye!

5.06pm BST

So Australia consolidate their position as favourites for the competition; they were far too good for a timid Pakistan, even if they let this match go on for longer than seemed likely. The bowling of Ellyse Perry will be a concern too, but when all’s said and done, they’re still 4-0. Next up: England.

5.04pm BST

That could scarcely have been easier.

5.04pm BST

Diana pushes to long off and sets off, Beams seizes the ball and throws down the stumps, much to her delight.

5.02pm BST

Seeking her fifty, Mir comes down the track and looks to hoik off her legs. But the ball is wider than ideal, so she misses and has to go.

5.01pm BST

50th over: Pakistan 131-8 ( Mir 45, Sadia 3) Gardner will send down the final over; 160 needed from it.

4.59pm BST

49th over: Pakistan 131-8 ( Mir 45, Sadia 3) Australia might look at their bowling performance and wonder how they’ve taken so long to not dismiss a side so timid. Of course, if there are no risks taken it can be hard, but there’ve been too few seriously testing balls. Perry, desperate for a wicket, tries a slower-ball bouncer that flummoxes Mir; Mir then strokes into the covers for one, the only run from the over. Perry finishes with 0-24 from her 10.

4.55pm BST

Nashra goes back and Gardner’s ball hurries on; she can’t find it with her bat, and is hit dead.

4.54pm BST

48th over: Pakistan 130-7 ( Mir 44, Nashra 6) Nashra gets a leading edge to Gardner’s fourth ball and Haynes dashes in from mid off but even with a dive, can’t quite get to the ball in time.

4.52pm BST

47th over: Pakistan 127-7 ( Mir 42, Nashra 5) Perry is putting her back into this, attacking the diminutive Nashra with a bouncer; she finds it hilarious, then edges a humungous swing to third man for four. A wide follows, Nashra then guides a single to long on, except they can’t be arsed to take it.

4.47pm BST

46th over: Pakistan 121-7 ( Mir 41, Nashra 1) This is very gentle now; I daresay Australia’s next game against England - who are in the process of clumping South Africa - might be slightly more intense.

4.45pm BST

45th over: Pakistan 120-7 ( Mir 40, Nashra 1) Perry returns and doesn’t look any more at ease than in her two previous spells. One from the over.

4.41pm BST

44th over: Pakistan 119-7 ( Mir 39, Nashra 1) Mir reverse-sweeps Gardner’s first two balls for four; lovely stuff, but why wait until now to try it? A single follows, so just the 172 from 36 deliveries needed.

4.38pm BST

43rd over: Pakistan 110-7 ( Mir 30, Nashra 1) I’m really not sure what Pakistan are up to here. Sure, Australia’s total is imposing, but at least attack it with conviction. This is miserable stuff; they’re even declining singles now, because Mir is needed for the final push.

4.34pm BST

42nd over: Pakistan 109-7 ( Mir 30, Nashra 1) Mir ruins Jonassen’s figures, reverse-sweeping her for four. Jonassen responds with two dots, but then cedes a single to long on, the definition of profligacy.

4.32pm BST

41st over: Pakistan 104-7 ( Mir 24, Nashra 1) Mir gets forward to Arey and with no short mid-on they snaffle a single. A wide follows, then four dots and one to fine leg.

4.28pm BST

40th over: Pakistan 102-7 ( Mir 23, Nashra 1) Jonassen might just end up with some of the most economical figures of all-time. Another maiden means she now has 17 off nine; not bad.

4.23pm BST

39th over: Pakistan 102-7 ( Mir 23, Nashra 1) I’m not sure I’ve ever seen overs rattled through which quite such prejudice. Nashra scrapes a single, after which Mir arranges four to cow corner and drinks come on.

4.20pm BST

38th over: Pakistan 97-7 ( Mir 19, Nashra 0) Jonassen, back for a third spell, decides to come around to Mir. Naturally, she serves up yet another maiden, after which the umpires signal for drinks, after which the drinks do not come.

4.18pm BST

37th over: Pakistan 97-7 ( Mir 19, Nashra 0) Pakistan just can’t get a partnership going, and consequently have never had Australia under even a modicum of pressure.

4.16pm BST

Aley fires down a wide one; it does nothing, so Sidra swipes, imparting a thick edge which is very well taken behind the stumps.

4.15pm BST

37th over: Pakistan 97-6 ( Mir 19, Sidra 4) Sidra cops a return throw on the back which bends her over but she has a chuckle afterwards.

4.14pm BST

36th over: Pakistan 97-6 ( Mir 19, Sidra 4) Aaaarrrghh. My system crashed, but it appears that Mir helped herself to two fours. It’s on!

4.10pm BST

35th over: Pakistan 89-6 ( Mir 11, Sidra 4) Sidra takes one to third man and then Mir almost drags on, ambling one instead. Aley responds with four leg-side wides.

4.07pm BST

34th over: Pakistan 82-6 ( Mir 10, Sidra 3) Sidra crumps to wide long on and they dash a single. That’s it from the over, as we wait patiently for this match to expire.

4.04pm BST

33rd over: Pakistan 81-6 ( Mir 10, Sidra 2) Aley is back, and Mir helps her around to the leg side for one; Sidra then does likewise when she strays straight.

4.01pm BST

32nd over: Pakistan 79-6 ( Mir 9, Sidra 1) Sidra gets off the mark with a swipe to square-leg, then Mir turns one towards the same area. Two from the over, plus a wicket.

3.59pm BST

Asmavia backs away to make room for the cut, except she misses and her leg-stump is hammered from its moorings. That’s the fourth time today that a bowler has taken a wicket with the first ball of a spell.

3.57pm BST

31st over: Pakistan 77-5 ( Asmavia 10, Mir 8) Perry begins her over with a bouncer; it’s a long way over Asmavia’s head and a clear wide. Asmavia then takes a single, before Perry tries a bouncer ... Mir hooks unconvincingly for four, good for her.

3.53pm BST

30th over: Pakistan 71-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 4) Mir sweeps Jonassen, who appeals for lb; there was definitely bat on that, and they run two. Five dots follow.

3.50pm BST

29th over: Pakistan 69-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 2) Pakistan need more than 10 an over now, and Perry celebrates by drawing an edge from Mir. She celebrates, bouncing and prancing, but still no finger goes up. Er, ok. That was obvious. Mir then tries a square cut and gets most of it, but Blackwell, at point, leaps into a tremendous stop; next ball, Mir deflects a decent short one over the top and they run one.

3.47pm BST

28th over: Pakistan 68-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 1) Jonassen, whose figures so far read 5-3-5-1, returns. And she’s another maiden to add to that, a leg-bye from the final delivery the only run ceded. from the over.

3.44pm BST

27th over: Pakistan 67-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 1) Perry returns, and after two dots, an awful delivery pitches about two feet in front of her and swings away for an obvious wide. A bye then completes the scoring for the over.

3.39pm BST

26th over: Pakistan 65-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 1) Villani’s wicket-to-wicketers put the strangle on, a wide aside ... and another. Mir then glances her way off the mark, diverting the ball to square-leg.

3.36pm BST

25th over: Pakistan 62-5 ( Asmavia 9, Mir 0) Asmavia has a huge hoik at Gardner’s final ball, getting about a sixteenth of it. Women and girls, this.

3.35pm BST

After taking four from the first ball of the over, Iram goes again, swiping towards cow corner. But Bolton is alive to it, haring in off the fence and sliding underneath a fine catch.

3.32pm BST

24th over: Pakistan 58-4 ( Iram 17, Asmavia 9) The charge is on! Villani into the attack and she loosens with a half-tracker, whacked through backward point for four by Asmvia. A bye and a single follow.

A stunning catch by Pakistan captain @mir_sana05 was voted as Sunday's #WWC17 @Nissan Play of the Day! Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/xUdJ3DP6pl

3.29pm BST

23rd over: Pakistan 52-4 ( Iram 16, Asmavia 5) Well whaddaya know? Iram takes four from Gardner’s first ball, looking towards leg and squirting into the off; five dots follow.

3.27pm BST

22nd over: Pakistan 48-4 ( Iram 12, Asmavia 5) A maiden for Beams and the PA plays a tune that isn’t this.

3.25pm BST

21st over: Pakistan 48-4 ( Iram 12, Asmavia 5) After another single to Iram, Gardner befuddles Asmavia with a topspinner that passes her edge by very little indeed. Perry then does really well to save a boundary, diving on the point fence, but when she shies to the bowler’s end, Gardner can’t collect and the ball runs over the rope at cover.

3.22pm BST

20th over: Pakistan 41-4 ( Iram 10, Asmavia 0) Iram flips a single down to square-leg, with three dots and two dots either side. The only question now is whether Pakistan will bat their overs.

3.17pm BST

19th over: Pakistan 41-4 ( Iram 10, Asmavia 0) Gardner rushes through another frugal over, one off it. Drinks.

3.15pm BST

18th over: Pakistan 40-4 ( Iram 9, Asmavia 0) After three dots and a W, Beams allows a leg-side wide; Asmavia sends Iram back when she fancies a single to backward point.

3.13pm BST

This is not a good shot at all. Needing runs and with mid on and mid off up, Nain swings at a low full-toss. But she doesn’t strike through it, handing the former an easy catch. This is over, I’m afraid.

3.11pm BST

17th over: Pakistan 39-3 (Nain 7, Iram 9) Gardner into the attack, and a fine one it is too, a maiden that has Iram in strife all the way through. She plays and misses twice and generally looks scooby-deficient.

3.08pm BST

16th over: Pakistan 39-3 (Nain 7, Iram 9) Beams begins with a wide, and then when she drops short, Iram is quickly down the track once more to deposit the ball back over her head for a one-bounce four. A single follows, and that’s six off the over, the most profitable of the innings.

3.05pm BST

15th over: Pakistan 33-3 (Nain 7, Iram 4) And there’s another wide one, and there’s another Nain square drive. But she doesn’t get all of this so, though the ball runs to the fence, it’s stopped thereafter and they run two, all they muster from the over.

3.01pm BST

14th over: Pakistan 31-3 (Nain 5, Iram 4) Beams ties a flatter, faster wrongun - it skids on, and Iram just manages to dig it out. Another three dots follow, but then she trots down the pitch to welly four straight over the top.

2.59pm BST

13th over: Pakistan 27-3 (Nain 5, Iram 0) Aley is absolutely loving life, bowling full and straight. Nain doesn’t seem to have the footwork to manufacture space, resigned to wait for the loose one. And there it is, wide and overpitched so sent rushing to the fence at deep point.

2.56pm BST

12th over: Pakistan 23-3 (Nain 1, Iram 0) Wicket-maiden for Beams, and Pakistan are not long for this match.

2.54pm BST

Oh dear, dear me; Marina gets down on one knee to have a shy at a straight one, clumping straight to square leg. Whatever was she thinking?

2.53pm BST

12th over: Pakistan 23-2 (Marina 9, Nain 1) Theoretical respite: Beams replaces Jonassen. Nain takes a top-spinner on the pad and there’s an appeal, but that one was clearly going down and they run a bye.

2.51pm BST

11th over: Pakistan 22-2 (Marina 9, Nain 1) There we go. Therrrrrre we go! Aley allows Marina some width, and she spanks a square drive for four; what they need, though, is to score off good balls, because hammering the bad ones won’t get them anywhere near.

2.49pm BST

10th over: Pakistan 18-2 (Marina 5, Nain 1) It doesn’t matter who’s facing; none of the Pakistani batters have looked remotely comfortable against Jonassen - they can’t even ro-tate the strike. She fires in six more darts, none of them scored off, and already Pakistan are big, big trouble.

2.46pm BST

9th over: Pakistan 18-2 (Marina 5, Nain 1) It’s a good over this, Nain forced to jab down on one which keeps low. But with a wicket-maiden in sight, a wide ruins it and a single follows.

2.44pm BST

This is what she can do with the ball! She bangs in a full one, and it actually finds itself meeting Ayesha’s swing. But she doesn’t connect properly, skying a drive to mid on, where Villani takes a smart catch over her shoulder, running towards the boundary. Slice of urine, this Test cricket.

2.43pm BST

9th over: Pakistan 16-1 (Ayesha 8, Marina 5) Sarah Aley has the ball; she’s already had a great debut thanks to her efforts with the bat, but what can she do with the ball?

2.41pm BST

8th over: Pakistan 15-1 (Ayesha 8, Marina 5) Ayesha turns a single around the corner to backward square-leg, but they don’t chance one to mid-off next ball. So one off the over and the required rate is already almost 6.5.

2.39pm BST

7th over: Pakistan 15-1 (Ayesha 7, Marina 5) Ayesha squirts Perry’s first ball to midwicket for one; it’s the only run from the over. I wonder what Pakistan’s plan is here, because they really can’t afford too many more low-scoring overs.

2.34pm BST

6th over: Pakistan 14-1 (Ayesha 6, Marina 5) Jonassen is fair rattling through these overs, racking up the dots before the batters have even noticed them. She hits Marina on the pad and there’s another strangulated appeal; again the ball was going down. And then when she’s donated width, she doesn’t miss out, throwing hands into a flowing cover-drive that gets her four.

2.32pm BST

5th over: Pakistan 10-1 (Ayesha 6, Marina 1) Perry continues; I know I speculated as to whether she’s injured, but her workload suggests to the contrary. Seems more likely she’s trying to bowl herself into form ... and could that have been the moment? After three dots, Ayesha spanks a half-volley down the ground ... Perry’s in her follow-through but throws up both hands towards her face and the ball sticks ... then bursts! Aaaaarggh. Then, off the final ball of the over, Ayesha swings at a short one, top-edges, and gets herself a one-bounce four. It never rains....

2.28pm BST

4th over: Pakistan 6-1 (Ayesha 2, Marina 1) After four dots, Marina plays and misses, taking one on the pad; there’s an appeal, but on principle; the ball looked to be going well down. Maiden.

2.26pm BST

3rd over: Pakistan 6-1 (Ayesha 2, Marina 1) It’s not fun watching a champion like Perry bowl like this; perhaps she’s not fit. She gives Ayesha some width, and she drives nicely, but Jonassen stops well at cover point.

2.23pm BST

2nd over: Pakistan 4-1 (Ayesha 2, Marina 0) Wicket-maiden for Jonassen, who may end up being one of the crucial players in this tournament. Australia have great batsmen, but there are teams who can compare, and anyway, as we saw in the Champions Trophy, great bowling settles things because it’s so rare.

2.21pm BST

This well bowled and all that - and decent captaincy too - but really, Nahida. She goes down on one knee to sweep an almighty hoik at a ball that’s full on off, misses, and back goes her peg.

2.16pm BST

1st over: Pakistan 4-0 (Ayesha 2, Nahida 0) Perry starts with a friendly half-volley, driven square on the off side; her pace - so really her rhythm - isn’t quite there at the moment.

2.13pm BST

Afternoon all. Due to the vagaries of telly coverage, this be your Daniel Harrises filling in for your Tim de Lisles; they players are in the middle...

1.44pm BST

That was a very good comeback from Australia, who scored 230 from the last 30 overs and 102 from the last 10. The consequence is that Pakistan need 291 to win. Tim de Lisle will be with you for their innings. Thanks for your company, bye!

1.43pm BST

50th over: Australia 290-8 (Healy 63, Aley 12) The last over of the innings, from Diana Baig, is bashed for 22! Healy clobbers four to long off to reach a 37-ball fifty, pings a spectacular six over square leg and squeezes the next ball to the third-man boundary. She finishes with 63 from 40 balls, and Aley has 15 from eight on debut.

1.38pm BST

49th over: Australia 268-8 (Healy 48, Aley 8) Ten more from Mir’s final over; she ends a really good spell with figures of 10-1-49-3.

1.35pm BST

48th over: Australia 259-8 (Healy 40, Aley 6) Diana Baig’s eighth over disappears for 10. The debutant Aley whips a full toss for four, and then Healy drags another boundary over midwicket. She has played with impressive intent, hurtling to 41 from 32 balls.

1.31pm BST

47th over: Australia 249-8 (Healy 36, Aley 1) Healy takes consecutive boundaries off Mir with a strong drive and a big edge, before missing the most premeditated switch hit you will ever see. She was in position before Mir had finished her run-up.

1.28pm BST

Gardner lifts Mir high towards deep square leg, where Asmavia takes the catch.

1.26pm BST

46th over: Australia 239-7 (Healy 27, Gardner 22) Gardner continues her impressive innings by smacking Sadia over wide long on for six. Two balls later she miscues towards the extra-cover boundary, where Ayesha misjudges the catch and gives away four runs as well. Fourteen from the over; Gardner has 22 from 12 balls.

Since you asked, England are batting tremendously against South Africa, with the little genius, Sarah Taylor, in full flow. She is racing towards the highest ODI score by an England player, Charlotte Edwards’ 173 not out.

Related: England v South Africa: Women's Cricket World Cup – live!

1.23pm BST

45th over: Australia 225-7 (Healy 24, Gardner 11) Gardner rocks back to force Marina through cover point for four. That was a very classy stroke for a No9.

1.20pm BST

44th over: Australia 216-7 (Healy 22, Gardner 5) Gardner scrunches her second ball through the covers for four to get off the mark. Pakistan will be justifiably proud of their performance with the ball, though Australia should have enough runs to avoid a shock defeat.

1.17pm BST

Sadia has recovered well after a desperate start to the match, both with the ball and in the field. And now she has her second wicket, with Jonassen chipping tamely to Mia at midwicket.

1.16pm BST

43rd over: Australia 211-6 (Healy 22, Jonassen 2) Healy runs down the track to splatter Nashra over wide mid off for four. Terrific batting, and it moves her to 22 from 21 balls.

1.14pm BST

42nd over: Australia 203-6 (Healy 16, Jonassen 0) Perry is sitting with her pads still on, hands over her face in disappointment. That’s a really interesting insight into the mindset of a great cricketer.

1.12pm BST

Ellyse Perry is out! She played another handsome inside-out drive but didn’t get the elevation and Sana Mir took a smart catch at extra cover. Perry, who played almost flawlessly, will be annoyed that she has missed out on a first international hundred.

1.09pm BST

41st over: Australia 198-5 (Perry 63, Healy 14) Perry gets his first boundary for 17 overs with a stunning drive over extra cover off Nashra. She drives with such upright elegance. Later in the over Healy swaggers down the pitch to slap another boundary over extra cover. Great shot.

1.05pm BST

40th over: Australia 188-5 (Perry 58, Healy 9) Healy gets her first boundary with a lovely shot, driving Sadia inside out over extra cover. That was one of the shots of the innings.

1.02pm BST

39th over: Australia 179-5 (Perry 55, Healy 3) Perry will surely go big at some stage. She hasn’t hit a boundary since the 24th over, content to tick along with singles.

12.59pm BST

38th over: Australia 178-5 (Perry 54, Healy 3) Good stuff from the returning Sadia, who bowls five dot balls to the new batsman Alyssa Healy before a double misfield costs her a maiden.

12.56pm BST

37th over: Australia 176-5 (Perry 54, Healy 1) Meanwhile, if you’re into the men’s game, here’s some essential reading.

Related: England Tests against South Africa can be more compelling than the Ashes

12.55pm BST

Blackwell’s cameo comes to an end. She fell to a fine delivery from Sana Mir, tossed up from around the wicket before straightening sharply. Blackwell pushed tentatively and inside edged it onto the stumps.

12.52pm BST

36th over: Australia 170-4 (Perry 53, Blackwell 19) The impressive Diana Baig returns to the attack. Blackwell flashes a back cut for four, continuing a breezy start to her innings. The security of Perry - who is now averaging 166 in this tournament, allows everyone at the other end to tee off with impunity.

12.49pm BST

35th over: Australia 162-4 (Perry 51, Blackwell 13) Blackwell hoicks a full toss from Marina round the corner for her first boundary. Pakistan started superbly but have lost control of the match now.

12.41pm BST

34th over: Australia 156-4 (Perry 50, Blackwell 8) Perry steals a single to reach the usual half-century, her 19th in the last 30 ODIs. Before that she made one fifty in her first 57 matches. She has batted beautifully; in fact I can’t remember a false stroke in the whole innings.

12.38pm BST

33rd over: Australia 151-4 (Perry 49, Blackwell 4) Four from Marina’s over, all singles. There was a direct hit but Blackwell was comfortably home.

12.35pm BST

32nd over: Australia 147-4 (Perry 47, Blackwell 2) While Villani was smashing it to all parts I was looking at some fast-scoring innings on Statsguru. Look at Miriam Grealey’s knock here. Nine from one ball! The mind boggles. Anyone know what happened?

12.32pm BST

31st over: Australia 143-4 (Perry 45, Blackwell 0) “Ellyse Perry,” says Phil Withall. “What a magnificent cricketer, nay athlete. The way she goes about her business, plays to her strengths and the conditions is pure cricketing perfection. I will forgive her for the fact she bats, bowls, fields, plays football and retains her hair better than me purely because I love to watch her play sport.”

Yeah, at the moment she looks like she has almost perfected batting.

12.30pm BST

Villani’s cracking innings comes to an end when she tries to cut a ball from Marina that skids on to hit the stumps. It was the wrong choice of stroke, with the ball far too close to cut. She played a superb initiative-seizing innings, however: 59 from 40 balls with four sixes.

12.27pm BST

30th over: Australia 137-3 (Perry 45, Villani 53) Villani drives Sana Mir for her fourth straight six, which brings up a raucous 34-ball half-century. It’s been a brilliant performance.

12.23pm BST

29th over: Australia 129-3 (Perry 44, Villani 46) Marina Iqbal’s first ball of the innings is slashed through backward point for by Villani, who has now overtaken Perry despite facing 40 fewer deliveries. She’s a little fortunate to survive when Marina skids an excellent delivery this far wide of the off stump.

12.20pm BST

28th over: Australia 121-3 (Perry 42, Villani 41) Villani drives Sadia for two emphatic straight sixes in three deliveries. This is brilliant batting; she now has 41 from 29 balls, and the dangerous Sadia has gone for 31 from four overs.

12.16pm BST

27th over: Australia 107-3 (Perry 42, Villani 28) Perry and Villani take six low-risk singles off the returning Sana Mir. Excellent batting, and you can feel Pakistan’s early optimism starting to evaporate.

12.13pm BST

26th over: Australia 102-3 (Perry 39, Villani 25) A decent over from Sadia, which she needed after a difficult 10 minutes.

12.10pm BST

25th over: Australia 98-3 (Perry 37, Villani 24) Villani sweeps Nashra for another four. She has been like a triple espresso in the Australian innings, hurtling to 24 from 18 balls.

12.07pm BST

24th over: Australia 91-3 (Perry 35, Villani 19) Villani survives a run-out chance, with the throw from extra cover whistling wide of the stumps. Perry then cuts the nervous Sadia for four.

12.03pm BST

23rd over: Australia 85-3 (Perry 30, Villani 17) Villani sweeps Nashra in the air towards deep backward square leg, where Sadia backpedals away from the ball instead of going for the catch. Then, when it bounces up, she pushes it over the boundary for four. That wasn’t the best bit of fielding - and she compounds it later in the over by helping another sweep from Villaini go for four more. Villani has started with considerable intent and has 18 from 21 balls.

11.58am BST

22nd over: Australia 74-3 (Perry 30, Villani 7) The left-arm spinner Sadia Yousaf comes into the attack - and Villani gets off the mark with a majestic straight six! Oof.

11.55am BST

21st over: Australia 66-3 (Perry 29, Villani 0) Perry cuts Nashra for four, another excellent stroke. Pakistan need to get rid of her quicksmart if they are to have any chance of a famous victory.

11.53am BST

20th over: Australia 60-3 (Perry 24, Villani 0) The new batsman is Elyse Villani.

11.51am BST

One captain dismisses another. Haynes pushed forward defensively to a nicely flighted delivery from Mir and was given out caught behind. Her reaction suggested there was no edge, as did the replays.

11.48am BST

19th over: Australia 60-2 (Perry 24, Haynes 28) That’s the shot of the innings from Haynes, who charges Nashra and drives for four with perfect placement between mid-off and extra cover.

11.46am BST

18th over: Australia 55-2 (Perry 24, Haynes 23) Six singles from Mir’s over. Perry in particular has constructed her innings with intimidating certainty. She is so difficult to dismiss; in the last ten ODIs her average (112.75) exceeds her highest score (95)

11.42am BST

17th over: Australia 49-2 (Perry 21, Haynes 20) The teenager spinner Nashra Sandhu, who bowled superbly against India on Sunday, replaces Asmavia. Perry punches an elegant drive to long off for a single, the first of three in the over.

11.36am BST

16th over: Australia 46-2 (Perry 19, Haynes 19) The offspinner Mir pops a good delivery past Perry’s attempted cut. Another good over from here, just two from it. It’s time for drinks.

11.33am BST

15th over: Australia 44-2 (Perry 18, Haynes 18) Perry drives Asmavia through the covers for her first boundary, and then punches her second through mid-off. Australia are looking good now.

11.30am BST

14th over: Australia 36-2 (Perry 10, Haynes 18) The captain Sana Mir comes on to replace Diana Baig (6-0-16-1), and starts with an accurate over that goes for just a single.

11.26am BST

13th over: Australia 35-2 (Perry 9, Haynes 18) Still no bowling changes from Pakistan. Haynes is playing fluently now, and gets her third boundary in as many overs with a nice cover drive off Asmavia.

11.22am BST

12th over: Australia 30-2 (Perry 8, Haynes 14) Haynes fetches a short ball from Diana, launching it over midwicket for four more - and then she’s dropped by the keeper Sidra Nawaz. Haynes chased a wide yorker and squeezed it to the left of Sidra, who put down another pretty straightforward chance.

11.18am BST

11th over: Australia 23-2 (Perry 7, Haynes 9) Haynes hits the first boundary of the innings, thrashing Asmavia through the covers to prompt a blast of popular darts anthem ‘Freed From Desire’ over the tannoy.

11.14am BST

10th over: Australia 17-2 (Perry 6, Haynes 4) Australia won’t be worried yet, despite this slow start; you’d expect them to target one or two of the change bowlers. In other news, England have started really well against South Africa, a match you can follow right here.

11.09am BST

9th over: Australia 15-2 (Perry 6, Haynes 3) Perry guides Asmavia to third man for a couple. Diana then saves a boundary with an excellent stop at extra cover. A much better over for Australia, with six from it.

11.05am BST

8th over: Australia 9-2 (Perry 2, Haynes 1) An errant delivery from Diana makes wides the joint top-scorer with three. Australia are playing very cautiously, content to see of the new-ball pair. Perry has two from 18 balls, Haynes one from eight.

11.01am BST

7th over: Australia 8-2 (Perry 2, Haynes 1) A maiden from Asmavia to Haynes. It’s fair to say that, half an hour ago, nobody in the world thought Australia would be eight for two after seven overs. Pakistan have been terrific. Asmavia’s figures double up as a football formation: 4-2-3-1.

10.57am BST

6th over: Australia 8-2 (Perry 2, Haynes 1) The stand-in captain Rachael Haynes is the new batsman, and she might now be wishing she’d bowled first upon winning the toss.

10.55am BST

Oh my! Australia are two down. Bolton tries to pull a short ball from Diana that straightens and creeps under the bat to hit the pad. The umpire took a while to give her out but replays suggested it was the right decision.

10.52am BST

5th over: Australia 7-1 (Bolton 3, Perry 2) Perry’s drive is well fielded at extra cover. Here off-driving is a thing of classical beauty, even when she doesn’t pierce the field.

10.49am BST

4th over: Australia 5-1 (Bolton 2, Perry 1) What’s the opposite of a flyer? Whatever it is, Australia are off to one, with just five from the first four overs. That’s mainly down to some respect-demanding Pakistan bowling.

10.43am BST

3rd over: Australia 3-1 (Bolton 2, Perry 0) Bolton is dropped! She top-edged a cut at a lifting delivery from Asmavia, and the keeper Sidra Nawaz put down a simple chance. It burst through the gloves and hit her on the shoulder. Pakistan have started superbly with the ball.

10.40am BST

2nd over: Australia 3-1 (Bolton 2, Perry 0) The young swing bowler Diana Baig will share the new ball. She starts with a wide but gets her line right thereafter, with some encouraging inswing to the left-handed Bolton. That was an excellent over, just two from it.

10.35am BST

1st over: Australia 1-1 (Bolton 1, Perry 0) Ellyse Perry has moved up to No3, with Meg Lanning absent. She has batted beautifully in this tournament, averaging 115, and might fancy her chances of a maiden ODI century.

10.34am BST

Got her! Beth Mooney has gone for a duck, chasing a wide delivery angled across her by Asmavia Iqbal. That’s some start for Pakistan.

10.17am BST

Anyone out there? The floor is yours, senator. We can talk about anything you like (when I’m not describing Australia boundaries and Pakistan wickets).

10.12am BST

Pakistan Nahida, Zafar, Iqbal, Abidi, Javed, Khokar, Mir (c), Nawaz (wk), Sandhu, Yousuf, Baig.

Australia Mooney, Bolton, Haynes (c), Perry, Villani, Blackwell, Healy (wk), Jonassen, Gardner, Aley, Beams.

10.03am BST

Rachael Haynes replaces Meg Lanning both as batsman and captain.

11.58pm BST

Hello folks. There are some darn good teams at this World Cup, yet Australia still stand out from the crowd. They have won their first three matches with varying degrees of ease, and should thrash Pakistan today even without their captain Meg Lanning. Her chronic shoulder injury could become a bigger problem as the tournament progresses, as she is the most important part of a formidable batting line-up. Today, not so much. All due respect.

It’s another big day in the tournament: India, the only other team to have won all their games, play Sri Lanka, and England take on South Africa’s formidable pace attack. That is a seriously big game, because if England lose they will be in the malodorous stuff. Not that I’m saying you should follow that match instead. I’m not saying that.

Related: England v South Africa: Women's Cricket World Cup – live!

Continue reading...

‘The nastiest match I ever played in’: England v South Africa, Headingley 1998 | Rob Smyth

That was Mike Atherton’s verdict on the decider to a Test series that caught the national imagination and culminated in a battle for the ages in Leeds

When England last won a Test series at home to South Africa, the Spin wasn’t even a glint in the Guardian’s eye. Life was pretty different in 1998: cricket was on the BBC, there was no DRS and elite sport was still a place where male hormones could run riot. England’s 2-1 win over South Africa was less a Test series, more a testosterone series; an unyielding arm-wrestle between two tough yet fragile sides with more in common than they would ever admit at the time.

Related: When one-day cup’s September spot provided all the narratives needed | The Spin

Related: Misbah and Younis did more than serve Pakistan – they served cricket

Continue reading...

Australia seal five-wicket win over New Zealand at Women's Cricket World Cup – as it happened

Australia preserved their 100% record, beating New Zealand with plenty to spare thanks mainly to Jess Jonassen’s bowling and Ellyse Perry’s batting

5.05pm BST

So, thanks all for your company; bye!

5.05pm BST

Though there were moments, that was pretty straightforward for Australia, who were just too good for New Zealand. They are back joint-top of the table - with India, who also won today - and understandable favourites.

5.02pm BST

49th over: Australia 219-4 (Blackwell 36, Healy 0) A shove to mid off, a quick run, a missed shy, and there we go.

5.02pm BST

Perry tries to do it with a six and gets plenty of Peterson’s delivery, launching to midwicket; and what a catch Satterthwaite takes, haring into a slide to take close to the rope.

5.00pm BST

49th over: Australia 219-4 (Perry 71, Blackwell 35) Perry goes to mow Peterson into the crowd, imparts glove not bat, and enjoys four behind the keeper. One to get.

4.59pm BST

48th over: Australia 210-4 (Perry 67, Blackwell 35) Kerr draws Perry down the track and when she misses her mow Priest might stump ... not if she can’t field the ball she won’t. Perry then turns two to fine leg, a single follows, and Australia need five off 12.

4.55pm BST

47th over: Australia 210-4 (Perry 63, Blackwell 34) Blackwell premeditates a dab around the corner, misses and there’s a shout; nope says the umpire. Then, next ball, she tiptoes down the track and crumps four over mid on; a full-toss allows two more; and padding up elicits another shout, confidently rejected by the umpire.

4.52pm BST

46th over: Australia 204-4 (Perry 63, Blackwell 28) Kerr continues, and after a single to Perry, Blackwell uses her feet well to drive through cover for four. Australia are nearly there now, and three further singles leave them needing just 16 from 24 balls.

4.49pm BST

45th over: Australia 196-4 (Perry 61, Blackwell 22) Peterson returns and after ceding two singles goes around the wicket to Perry, who carts her hard to square-leg; Perkins does really well to prevent the boundary and then Blackwell goes for a dicey single ... the incoming throw hits the stumps and it’s close, but Umpire Williams is certain without resorting to replay.

4.45pm BST

43rd over: Australia 191-4 (Perry 57, Blackwell 21) Back comes Kerr, and two singles to Perry gives her an ODI average of 50. Blackwell gets one too, and then miscues one up in the air; this time they run 2.

4.41pm BST

42nd over: Australia 177-4 (Perry 55, Blackwell 18) Oh this is lovely, an off-drive from Perry gliding a full-toss to the fence for her sixth ODI fifty, this one off 73 balls. It is bookended by two and three singles; New Zealand are back to needing something urgently again.

4.37pm BST

41st over: Australia 177-4 (Perry 48, Blackwell 16) Ellyse Perry has had enough, stutter-stepping down the track to launch a one-bounce four over Bermingham’s head; that’s her first boundary since the 26th over. A two and three singles follow, which at this stage of the game makes that a massive over.

Perry finds a much-needed boundary, followed by two more runs to move to 46*.

Scores: https://t.co/W3X9wLchTt #WWC17 #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/krVElzrj8y

4.33pm BST

40th over: Australia 168-4 (Perry 40, Blackwell 15) Sophie Devine returns, and when Perry cuts her first ball Perkins does well at point again. The batters are struggling to hit the ball off the square here, let alone to the rope or into the gaps. Blackwell, though, does well in moving over to leg and taking the ball with her - she earns two to square-leg.

4.29pm BST

39th over: Australia 165-4 (Perry 39, Blackwell 13) Kerr is taken off, perhaps because she can’t be trusted not to toss fully; if New Zealand can force a few more tight overs, she can come back with more to play with. Three singles, and Australia now need 55 from 60 deliveries.

4.26pm BST

38th over: Australia 162-4 (Perry 37, Blackwell 12) Another tight over from Huddleston, aided by Perkins’ diving stop at point to deny Blackwell a four off its last ball. The pressure is cranking up...

4.22pm BST

37th over: Australia 160-4 (Perry 36, Blackwell 11) Kerr is giving the batters pause here - they don’t want to attack her, which puts them under a different kind of threat. But then comes the full-toss and Blackwell doesn’t miss out, easing down the track to clump four to long on.

4.16pm BST

36th over: Australia 153-4 (Perry 35, Blackwell 5) Huddleston is charging in now and three dots begin the over; Blackwell then goes hard at the fourth ball to get a single down to third man. The required rate is now well above five, such that after another single, Blackwell drops and runs ... if Perkins hits, Perry is gone! She misses!

4.12pm BST

35th over: Australia 150-4 (Perry 34, Blackwell 3) Kerr is loving this, squaring up Perry with her second ball; can she cut out the full-tosses? And can her team-mates help her in the field? Satterthwaite misses one that allows the first run of the over after three dots; another single and a two follow it.

4.09pm BST

34th over: Australia 146-4 (Perry 31, Blackwell 2) Elsewhere, England have diddled Sri Lanka by eight wickets; here, it now matters a bit if New Zealand can keep the score per over below the required rate, and Huddleston keeps this one to just two. Powerplay incoming.

4.06pm BST

33rd over: Australia 144-4 (Perry 29, Blackwell 1) The hat-trick ball isn’t bad either, trapping Blackwell - facing only her second ball of the tournament - on the crease with a wrongun. But it’s a bit straighter and nudged away for one.

4.04pm BST

What a delivery! Two in two! Kerr loops one above the eyeline ... drift ... it’s only the googly! And Villani gets nowhere near it, beaten by the turn and through the gate! Do we got ourselves a ball-game? Meantime, Kerr is on a hattie! 16!

4.02pm BST

Well! Kerr tosses one up but not too much and Lanning presses forward in search of more runs, then decides to go back; the ball brushes the face on its way past, and Priest eventually seizes it, off her chest. 16!

3.58pm BST

33rd over: Australia 142-2 (Lanning 48, Perry 29) Oh dear. Lanning drives to wide long-off - Peterson arrives from point and makes an absolute pig’s privates of clawing the ball off the rope; four, followed by another two. Oh dear. Bates floats a full-toss onto Lanning’s pads, and it gets the treatment, flicked to backward square-leg for four more.

3.55pm BST

32nd over: Australia 132-2 (Lanning 38, Perry 29) The scoreboard continues to move, a single to Lanning then two to Perry via sweep. This is going to be over quite soon.

3.53pm BST

31st over: Australia 129-2 (Lanning 37, Perry 27) A single for each batter, then off Bates’ final delivery, turned around the corner by Lanning, Bermingham is deceived by the spin as the ball bounces and they run three. Ouch.

3.49pm BST

30th over: Australia 124-2 (Lanning 33, Perry 24) A wide, then another two to Perry - the sixth in the partnership so far. New Zealand need to find something right away, because the chase, such that it is - it’s a saunter really - is now down to double figures.

3.45pm BST

29th over: Australia 121-2 (Lanning 33, Perry 24) Bates sends down a full-toss that Perry drives to cover for two, then two more come down to square-leg. In a way, the ease with which they’re keeping the score moving is more impressive than the boundaries.

3.42pm BST

28th over: Australia 116-2 (Lanning 33, Perry 19) Lanning is so good as masterminding a chase. Partly, it’s her twinkling feet and assassin’s eye, but as much as anything it’s her preternatural calm.

3.39pm BST

27th over: Australia 113-2 (Lanning 32, Perry 17) A sure sign that New Zealand are in strife: in commentary they’re talking about backing up and chucking the ball in hard as a way to get a wicket. How about bowling full and straight? Because Bates, who’s brought herself on, gives Lanning some width and is quickly disappeared to the point fence.

Elsewhere:

England going a long nicely in their pursuit of 205.

They're 133-2 with Knight (45) and Taylor (40) in control.https://t.co/HDbwoL6qbR pic.twitter.com/F3TmELAjpl

Related: England v Sri Lanka: Women's Cricket World Cup – live

3.36pm BST

26th over: Australia 107-2 (Lanning 26, Perry 17) Bermingham gives one some air; that is unwise. Perry waits and flat-bats four to square-leg with minimum effort and maximum prejudice. She adds another pair for good measure, and these two look impregnable now.

3.33pm BST

25th over: Australia 100-2 (Lanning 25, Perry 11) Devine returns and each batter takes a single, meaning Lanning raises Australia’s hundred. Those are the only runs from the over. At this point, New Zealand were 90-3; not much difference, except the quality of the pair in the middle.

3.29pm BST

24th over: Australia 98-2 (Lanning 24, Perry 10) And here we go! Lanning is hotter than heat, so stays still before stroking Bermingham straight down the ground for six. That was so, so easy.

3.27pm BST

23rd over: Australia 91-2 (Lanning 18, Perry 9) New Zealand have put a break on the scoring these last few overs, though that comes with a caveat - they’re using their best bowlers, and need them to break this partnership. Perry takes two and then Lanning absolutely canes through to make sure they get three shortly afterwards; she’s proper sprinting, and that’s a better over for Australia.

3.23pm BST

22nd over: Australia 86-2 (Lanning 18, Perry 4) Elsewhere, Pakistan are 26-6 chasing 170 to beat India; good luck with that. Two off Bermingham’s over.

3.20pm BST

21st over: Australia 84-2 (Lanning 17, Perry 3) Tahuhu begins with a wide - a bouncer - but responds with four dots before another wide - a bouncer. She’s doing all she can to make something happen, but needs to go a little fuller with her short one and get it in at the body.

3.16pm BST

20th over: Australia 81-2 (Lanning 16, Perry 3) Bermingham has a shy at bowling Perry around her legs; no dice, but worth a shy. Five singles and a wide from the over; these two appear to be in nick.

3.12pm BST

19th over: Australia 75-2 (Lanning 13, Perry 1) So, can New Zealand force the issue? On the one hand, two newish batters; on the other, just look at them! Excellent over, that; there’ll need to be more of the same, and rapidly.

3.07pm BST

Good ball, this! Tahuhu goes around and slings one down the skids and surprises Mooney; she plays across the line, looking to smear leg-side, but misses and hears the timber rattle behind her.

3.05pm BST

18th over: Australia 72-1 (Mooney 32, Lanning 12) Bermingham, whose name sounds like she’s from Liverpool, comes on to send down her leggies. Mooney has a look, then ro-tates via shove to cover, the only runs from the over.

3.01pm BST

17th over: Australia 71-1 (Mooney 31, Lanning 12) Lanning swivels - is forced to swivel - by a quick one from Tahuhu and, imparting a thick edge, earns four to fine leg. Then, after a single, Mooney steers a wide one past point for four more; New Zealand need something here, because if they don’t get it this match will soon be over.

2.57pm BST

16th over: Australia 60-1 (Mooney 25, Lanning 7) Kerr returns at the other end - perhaps I misjudges that situation. Hmmm. She begins with a full-toss, so Lanning comes down the pitch and wallops off her hips, over mid-on for four. But Kerr comes back well, a better line meaning only two more runs come from the over.

2.53pm BST

15th over: Australia 54-1 (Mooney 24, Lanning 2) No we aren’t! Suzie Bates decides that discretion is the better part of valour, bringing on Tahuhu, her fastest bowler, instead. The over yields two singles and a wide.

2.49pm BST

14th over: Australia 51-1 (Mooney 23, Lanning 1) Lanning gets off the mark immediately and Mooney adds a further single. We’re about to see Kerr bowl at the world’s best player!

2.48pm BST

A half-tracker beseeches Bolton for violence but she doesn’t quite get hold of it, sending a catch to mid on instead. That’s the good news for New Zealand; the bad is that Lanning is now at the crease/

2.46pm BST

14th over: Australia 49-0 (Mooney 22, Bolton 26) Bitta turn for the returning Peterson, and...

2.44pm BST

13th over: Australia 48-0 (Mooney 21, Bolton 26) Are you kidding me! Amelia Kerr into the attack; she’s a legspinner at 16! Obviously bowling for your country in a World Cup isn’t as good drinking 20/20 in a park but still, pretty impressive. She’s into the groove right away too with three dots, before Mooney nurdles a single ... and whoops! One doesn’t quite come out right, looping up for Bolton to massmurder four over mid on.

2.40pm BST

12th over: Australia 43-0 (Mooney 20, Bolton 22) Now Mooney’s in on the act, reclining onto her haunches and clouting four over midwicket. By the looks of things, Australia’s opening pair decided to make sure they were played in and still there after 10; now they’re unleashing their fury.

2.38pm BST

11th over: Australia 38-0 (Mooney 15, Bolton 22) On comes Huddleston to try and find the breakthrough - or breakthru as those who enjoyed a classical education call it. Either way, when she slants a short one across Bolton, it’s smacked through cover for four, then next ball is sent careering to long on with a whipcrack pull. She’s looking very comfy now.

2.34pm BST

10th over: Australia 29-0 (Mooney 14, Bolton 14) Satterthwaite drops one short, and Bolton does need asking twice, stepping back in her crease and smiting four to cow corner. That was hit exceedingly hard.

2.31pm BST

9th over: Australia 24-0 (Mooney 14, Bolton 10) Australia are looking ominously comfortable. The required run-rate is so low that they can afford to knock it about and only hammer the rubbish. One off the over, so nice from New Zealand too, but they need wickets,

2.30pm BST

8th over: Australia 23-0 (Mooney 13, Bolton 9) Satterthwaite into the attack, so more spin - she gets away with a full toss first up. Two off the over, a run and a wide.

2.25pm BST

7th over: Australia 21-0 (Mooney 12, Bolton 9) Lovely shot from Mooney, taking advantage of a wide one to wham it low to the point fence.a single comes next, and both batters now look ominously in.

2.22pm BST

6th over: Australia 16-0 (Mooney 7, Bolton 9) Great footwork from Mooney, stepping down the track to time-lift four over long on; the fielder jumps, but can’t catch, though if she had, she’d simply have succeeded in bringing Meg Lanning to the wicket.

2.19pm BST

5th over: Australia 11-0 (Mooney 2, Bolton 9) I daresay neither side will mind this start. New Zealand have stopped Australia getting away; Australia have stopped New Zealand taking early wickets. Anyway, after five dots Bolton pulls a two and on we pootle.

2.15pm BST

4th over: Australia 9-0 (Mooney 2, Bolton 7) Ashley Giles-esque, the commentators say of Peterson; presumably they’re referring to her sunnies, as she doesn’t bowl as though she’s pushing a wheelie bin. One off the over.

2.13pm BST

3rd over: Australia 7-0 (Mooney 1, Bolton 6) Roose or Ramsey, which is Nicole Bolton’s dressing room nickname? She plays and misses at one Devine slants across here, but manages to turn a yorker down to fine leg for a single; Mooney does similarly. And then, facing the final ball, Bolton looks to pull and instead edges over slip. This gets her four.

2.09pm BST

2nd over: Australia 1-0 (Mooney 0, Bolton 1) It’s the off-spin of Anna Peterson from the other end, and she’s coming around to the two lefties trying to turn the ball away from the bat. Bolton has a big hoik at her second ball but misses, then works a single from the fifth, the only run of the over. Good start from New Zealand.

Tangentially; ok. very tangentially;

"This is an unbelievable catch!"

Remember this from @Arronlilley20 against Notts in 2015?#Blast17 tickets ➡️ https://t.co/TR9DlVAWrQ pic.twitter.com/fwFCmv1X66

2.06pm BST

1st over: Australia 0-0 (Mooney 0, Bolton 0) Devine is on the money right away, straightening one into Mooney; she misses and there’s a concerted holler for leg before. The umpire thinks otherwise and rightly so; that was going down. Great ball, but, and it precipitates a controlled maiden.

2.02pm BST

The players are out...

1.44pm BST

Afternoon all. New Zealand are in what I like to call “a situation” here. Given the light Australia made of chasing down Sri Lanka the other day, it’s hard to see them not making 220. But, as I like to say, “you never know”. They’ll start their reply in around 20 minutes.

1.34pm BST

50th over: New Zealand 219-9 (Tahuhu 4, Huddleston 1) That’s the end of the innings. Although New Zealand’s total is under par, they would have taken it when they were 147 for six after 37 overs. Australia need 220 to win. Thanks for your company; Daniel Harris will be with you after the interval for Australia’s run-chase. Bye!

1.33pm BST

Kerr premeditates a lap but can only ping it high in the air and Wellington runs round from short fine leg to take a simple catch.

1.31pm BST

Bermingham charges Schutt, misses and is smartly stumped by Healy.

1.29pm BST

49th over: New Zealand 215-7 (Bermingham 35, Tahuhu 3) The penultimate over, bowled by Perry, goes for seven. Bermingham wallops the last delivery over midwicket for a rare boundary, just the third in the last 12 overs. Perry ends with figures of nought for 58.

1.24pm BST

48th over: New Zealand 208-7 (Bermingham 29, Tahuhu 2) The left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen completes a superb spell with a thrifty final over. Four from it, and she ends with figures of 10-0-33-3.

1.21pm BST

47th over: New Zealand 204-7 (Bermingham 26, Tahuhu 3) Tahuhu pulls Perry for a single to take New Zealand up to 200, before a rare error from Healy leads to four byes.

1.20pm BST

Perkins is run out in mildly controversial circumstances. She tried to steal a second to fine leg but had to swerve past the bowler Ellyse Perry as she turned. That proved decisive when the throw came in and Healy broke the stumps with Perkins just short. I’m not sure Perry did much wrong - she was watching the ball and didn’t change direction at all - though you can understand why Perkins was frustrated as she walked off.

1.16pm BST

46th over: New Zealand 195-6 (Perkins 51, Bermingham 24) A quick single takes Perkins to a very good fifty from 57 balls. She has played with impressive purpose to drag New Zealand back into the match. Australia are still strong favourites but anything over 200 will give New Zealand an outside chance, certainly if they can take early wickets.

1.11pm BST

45th over: New Zealand 186-6 (Perkins 47, Bermingham 21) Perry decides to bomb Bermingham with short stuff from around the wicket. The first ball follows her and rams into the gloves; the second is back cut expertly for four. Some effective scampering thereafter brings New Zealand 10 from the over.

1.05pm BST

44th over: New Zealand 176-6 (Perkins 44, Bermingham 15) Australia have squeezed the innings to such an extent that there has been only one boundary in the last seven overs. Gardner finishes a fine spell with figures of 10-0-32-1.

1.02pm BST

43rd over: New Zealand 173-6 (Perkins 43, Bermingham 13) Bermingham clouts a Jonassen full toss just wide of the diving Perry at extra cover. She’s struggling to get the ball away, and fresh-airs a huge slog sweep later in the over.

1.00pm BST

42nd over: New Zealand 170-6 (Perkins 42, Bermingham 12) Bermingham survives a huge shout for LBW from Gardner, bowling around the wicket. It might have pitched outside leg stump. Four from the over; that’s not enough.

12.56pm BST

41st over: New Zealand 166-6 (Perkins 41, Bermingham 9) Wellington returns for her 10th and final over. Bermingham is beaten, trying to cut, and there are just three from the over. Wellington finishes a decent morning’s work with figures of 10-0-46-1.

12.53pm BST

40th over: New Zealand 163-6 (Perkins 39, Bermingham 8) Bermingham pulls Perry vigorously over square leg for four, a cracking stroke. New Zealand are inching towards a vaguely competitive score. They could do with a run a ball from the last 10 overs though.

12.48pm BST

39th over: New Zealand 155-6 (Perkins 37, Bermingham 3) Perkins has been the most fluent and urgent of the New Zealand batsmen, Bates included. She has 37 from 41 balls now.

12.44pm BST

38th over: New Zealand 151-6 (Perkins 35, Bermingham 2) Ellyse Perry comes on for her third spell. Jonassen’s underarm throw whistles past the stumps with Bermingham short of her ground, and there are four singles from the over.

12.38pm BST

37th over: New Zealand 147-6 (Perkins 33, Bermingham 0) It’s time for drinks.

12.38pm BST

The impressive Perkins hits Schutt for consecutive boundaries, but a good over for New Zealand turns bad when Peterson is caught behind off the last delivery. She tried to drive a wider delivery and snicked it to Healy, who took a lovely catch standing up to the stumps.

12.33pm BST

36th over: New Zealand 135-5 (Perkins 24, Peterson 5) Three from Gardner’s over. I suppose if New Zealand can sneak up to 200 they might have a chance on a used pitch, but even that looks unlikely.

12.30pm BST

35th over: New Zealand 132-5 (Perkins 21, Peterson 4) Oof. Peterson is beaten by a classic flighted legbreak from Wellington. Australia are in total control at the moment.

12.28pm BST

34th over: New Zealand 130-5 (Perkins 21, Peterson 3)

#DaneVanNiekerk

3.2 overs
4 wickets
3 maidens
0 runs

That is not a typo!
@danevn81#SAvWI #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/xrqNoCSJ9o

12.24pm BST

33rd over: New Zealand 127-5 (Perkins 20, Peterson 1) Perkins sweeps Wellington round the corner for four. She’s played a lovely little cameo, full of intent in both her running and boundary-hitting, and has 20 from 20 balls.

12.22pm BST

32nd over: New Zealand 120-5 (Perkins 15, Peterson 0) With the dangerous Devine gone, it’s hard to see how New Zealand can post a competitive score. Australia’s spinners have done a terrific job, with combined figures of five for 80 from 21 overs.

12.20pm BST

It’s all going wrong for New Zealand. Devine tries to hoick the offspinner Ashleigh Gardner across the line, misses and is plumb LBW.

12.17pm BST

31st over: New Zealand 119-4 (Devine 14, Perkins 14) Megan Schutt returns to the attack. She was excellent with the new ball, bowling three maidens in five overs. New Zealand can’t afford maidens at this stage, and they milk five runs from the over.

12.14pm BST

30th over: New Zealand 114-4 (Devine 11, Perkins 12) Perkins opens the face to glide Gardner for four, another excellent shot. She’s made a busy, purposeful start to her innings and has 12 from 12 balls. Devine has 11 from 24.

12.12pm BST

29th over: New Zealand 106-4 (Devine 9, Perkins 6) That’s a good shot from Katie Perkins, a strong sweep for four off Jonassen.

12.08pm BST

28th over: New Zealand 101-4 (Devine 8, Perkins 2) Even at this early stage, that spell from Jonassen looks like a match-winning one.

12.06pm BST

27th over: New Zealand 96-4 (Devine 5, Perkins 0) Jess Jonassen is having a very good day: 7-0-22-3.

12.05pm BST

Suzie Bates has gone! She tried to sweep a delivery that straightened to hit the pad in front of middle. It looked pretty adjacent. Bates had reached an excellent fifty the previous ball, but New Zealand needed a lot more from her. They’re in the malodorous stuff now.

12.03pm BST

26th over: New Zealand 90-3 (Bates 47, Devine 4) Bates charges Wellington, who sees her come and spears it down the leg side. Bates reacts smartly and adjusts her body like a piece of Play-Doh to ensure the ball hits the and she isn’t stumped off a wide.

11.58am BST

25th over: New Zealand 90-3 (Bates 47, Devine 3) The impressive Jonassen hurries through another over, conceding just a single. The over rate has been tremendous: we’ve had 25 overs in 90 minutes.

11.57am BST

24th over: New Zealand 89-3 (Bates 47, Devine 2) The legspinner Wellington returns to the attack, presumably to try to tempt Devine into something rash. Nothing doing in that over, which brings just a couple of singles.

11.55am BST

23rd over: New Zealand 87-3 (Bates 46, Devine 1) The big-hitting Sophie Devine is the new batsman.

11.53am BST

Two wickets in three balls for Australia! The new batsman Katey Martin top-edges a premeditated lap, giving the wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy an easy catch.

11.51am BST

A big wicket for Australia, with Satterthwaite trapped in front by Jonassen. She might feel she should have played straighter - she was trying to work it square on the leg side - but it was a good delivery from Jonassen that turned just enough to beat the bat on the inside.

11.49am BST

22nd over: New Zealand 85-1 (Bates 45, Satterthwaite 21) Bates cuts Perry in the air and just past backward point for four. It also brings up a calm fifty partnership. New Zealand are laying a solid foundation for some bish-bosh towards the end of the innings.

11.46am BST

21st over: New Zealand 79-1 (Bates 40, Satterthwaite 20)

11.42am BST

20th over: New Zealand 75-1 (Bates 38, Satterthwaite 18) Ellyse Perry returns to the attack. Australia will want a wicket soon because they know both these batsmen have the capacity to go big. Bates and Satterthwaite are fourth and third in the ICC rankings, behind Mitahli Raj and the inevitable Meg Lanning. Five singles from Perry’s over.

11.35am BST

19th over: New Zealand 70-1 (Bates 36, Satterthwaite 15) Satterthwaite hoicks Gardner towards the midwicket boundary, where Perry saves three runs with an excellent piece of fielding. Gardner has been thrifty thus far: 4-0-10-1.

11.32am BST

18th over: New Zealand 69-1 (Bates 36, Satterthwaite 12) Wellington was Australia’s leading wicket-taker in series against NZ earlier in the year, with six in three games. Her pursuit of wickets is such that she will usually go for a few runs, and she concedes 13 in her fourth over. Satterthwaite clips confidently through midwicket for four, and then an errant delivery to Bates scuttles through for five wides.

11.29am BST

17th over: New Zealand 56-1 (Bates 34, Satterthwaite 8) Bates looks in excellent touch, determined to mark her 100th match with a hundred. Satterthwaite isn’t as fluent and can’t pierce the field in that over from Gardner. She has eight from 24 balls, Bates 34 from 48.

11.27am BST

16th over: New Zealand 55-1 (Bates 33, Satterthwaite 8) A quieter over from Wellington. No overthrows either. She’s bowling really nicely, though, tossing the ball up at every opportunity.

11.24am BST

15th over: New Zealand 52-1 (Bates 31, Satterthwaite 7) It’s hard to know what a par score is, especially as this is - play the Jaws music - a used pitch. I suspect New Zealand would be reasonably happy with around 220.

11.23am BST

14th over: New Zealand 50-1 (Bates 30, Satterthwaite 5) Anyone out there? Wellington is settling into a nice rhythm, with Bates edging a beauty past Blackwell at slip for four. Bates charges the next ball, is done in the flight and can only push it back to the bowler, who flings it needlessly towards the stumps and away for four more overthrows. That’s eight free runs in two overs for New Zealand.

Meanwhile, West Indies’ triumphant start to the tournament continues.

West Indies are falling like dominos, South Africa's feared pace attack has reduced them to 16-5#WWC17 #SAWvWIW https://t.co/lWEJBiC4fN

11.19am BST

13th over: New Zealand 41-1 (Bates 22, Satterthwaite 5) It’s good to hear our own Geoff Lemon commentating on the game for Sky. I think Adam Collins will be on later as well. The offspinner Ashleigh Gardner is into the attack now, with a silly point and slip for the left-handed Satterthwaite. She gets off the mark from her 10th delivery, sweeping round the corner for a single - which then becomes five because of an overthrow to the boundary.

11.15am BST

12th over: New Zealand 35-1 (Bates 21, Satterthwaite 0) There’s a short leg for the new batsman, the dangerous Amy Satterthwaite. Wellington is giving the ball plenty of air, and Satterthwaite carefully plays out the last five balls of the over.

11.13am BST

The leggie Amanda-Jade Wellington is coming into the attack - and she strikes straight away! Her first ball was a leg-side wide; her first legitimate delivery was almost an off-side wide, but Priest chased it and sliced the ball to Jonassen at backward point. She made eight from 30 balls, and is probably feeling a degree of relief that it’s over.

11.11am BST

11th over: New Zealand 34-0 (Bates 21, Priest 8) Glory be, it’s working! Sky, I love you. Rupert Murdoch, you are my muse. Fleece me for as much as you like for the rest of my natural-born days. Here, have a tenner now! Right, so, the left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen has just hurried through her third over, conceding just a single.

11.09am BST

10th over: New Zealand 33-0 (Bates 21, Priest 7) Tremendous scenes as Sky have now removed the link to live coverage on the iPad. This is hopeless, I’m sorry. Megan Schutt seems to be having a slightly better day than me: she has figures of 5-3-8-0.

11.06am BST

8th over: New Zealand 28-0 (Bates 20, Priest 3) I know Jim Telfer says the honest man doesn’t make excuses but I bet he never had to deal with a farce like this on a Sunday morning. A maiden from Schutt; Priest has 3 from 23 balls.

11.00am BST

7th over: New Zealand 28-0 (Bates 20, Priest 3) I’m not disappointed, I’m just angry. I’m looking at a screen that says “Sky Sports, your home of sport.” They’ve locked me out of my own home!

10.58am BST

6th over: New Zealand 23-0 (Bates 18, Priest 1) Priest gets off the mark from her 12th delivery - thanks Cricinfo - in an otherwise uneventful over. At least I assume it was uneventful, as there were three runs and no wickets. I haven’t actually seen a ball so there might have been five consecutive dropped catches.

10.52am BST

5th over: New Zealand 20-0 (Bates 17, Priest 0) We might have progress. The ‘service unavailable’ message has disappeared, to be replaced by an apparently endless loading process. I’m starting to know how D-Fens felt.

10.50am BST

4th over: New Zealand 12-0 (Bates 9, Priest 0) Back-to-back maidens from Perry and Schutt. I know this because of the Cricinfo scorecard.

10.48am BST

3rd over: New Zealand 12-0 (Bates 9, Priest 0) I’m getting annoyed now.

10.43am BST

2nd over: New Zealand 11-0 (Bates 9, Priest 0) Well this is turning into a bit of a farce. I’m trying to get pictures but the iPad app is not working. New Zealand are off to a decent start, it seems.

10.36am BST

1st over: New Zealand 5-0 (Bates 5, Priest 0) We have pictures. Sort of. Suzie Bates gets going straight away, flicking a poor delivery from Ellyse Perry through square leg for four.

10.31am BST

A tremendous start here as the Sky Sports app tells me ‘this streaming event is unavailable’. Apologies. I’m working on it.

10.18am BST

It’s a glorious day in Bristol. I suspect we’re going to see runs; lots of runs.

10.16am BST

Apropos very little, let’s have a bit of Jim Telfer (warning: video contains strong language from the start)

10.10am BST

Australia Mooney, Bolton, Lanning (c), Perry, Villani, Blackwell, Healy (wk), Jonassen, Wellington, Gardner, Schutt.

New Zealand Bates (c), Priest (wk), Satterthwaite, Martin, Devine, Perkins, Peterson, Bermingham, Kerr, Tahuhu, Huddleston.

10.01am BST

Special moment for @WHITE_FERNS captain @SuzieWBates being presented a cap by former NZ cricketer Paula Flannery for her 100th ODI! #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/KqsgCTH0Gu

8.48am BST

Morning. How you doing? Yeah, me too. But don’t worry, we have a belting day of World Cup cricket ahead. Four matches will be played simultaneously, just like in the old days: we have England v Sri Lanka (which you can follow here), India v Pakistan, South Africa v West Indies – and the big one, Australia v New Zealand.

It would be no great surprise if these two met again in the final in three weeks’ time. Both have started the tournament in assertive form, although New Zealand were frustrated by the weather in their second match against South Africa. Before that they thrashed Sri Lanka by nine wickets, while Australia have had consecutive eight-wicket victories against West Indies and Sri Lanka. I doubt the margin of victory, for either side, will be quite so large today.

SOLD OUT!

Today's India v Pakistan game at @DerbyshireCCC is now sold out! Tickets will not be available at the gates. #INDvPAK #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/JcI4J14LqJ

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Australia beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets: Women's Cricket World Cup – as it happened

Meg Lanning’s masterful unbeaten 152 led Australia to an easy victory despite an astonishing 178 not out from Chamari Athapaththu

5.01pm BST

43.5 overs: Australia 262-2 (Lanning 152, Perry 39) Lanning completes victory, and reaches her 150, with a majestic straight six off Polgampala. That was a great innings in anyone’s money - 135 balls, 19 fours, one six - and has set up an easy win for Australia despite a truly astonishing 178 not out from Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu. The teams are next in action on Sunday: Australia meet New Zealand while Sri Lanka play England. Thanks for your company, bye!

4.58pm BST

43rd over: Australia 255-2 (Lanning 146, Perry 38) Three to win.

4.56pm BST

India have beaten West Indies by seven wickets at Taunton, continuing their excellent start to the tournament.

4.55pm BST

42nd over: Australia 251-2 (Lanning 143, Perry 37) Lanning hits consecutive boundaries off Siriwardena, a precise sweep followed by a blazing drive over mid-off. This is now the highest score of her ODI career.

4.49pm BST

41st over: Australia 239-2 (Lanning 133, Perry 35) Perry’s upright driving is a thing of beauty, so crisp and elegant. She has punched so many singles to long off during this innings, and there are two more in that over. Australia are 19 away from victory.

4.46pm BST

39th over: Australia 230-2 (Lanning 130, Perry 29) A big over for Australia, with Prabodani disappearing for 19. Lanning hits three consecutive boundaries - two pulls, one back cut - before Perry slices another over gully.

4.40pm BST

38th over: Australia 211-2 (Lanning 117, Perry 25) There are some stiffer tests ahead for Australia, starting with New Zealand on Sunday. But they look in excellent shape, particularly with the bat.

4.37pm BST

37th over: Australia 205-2 (Lanning 113, Perry 22) Too short from Ranaweera, and Perry crashes her second boundary through the covers. Australia’s batsmen have been far too good for Sri Lanka.

4.34pm BST

36th over: Australia 199-2 (Lanning 113, Perry 17) Lanning dances back in her crease to back cut Siriwardena for four more. She has 113 from 109 balls, yet she’s hardly hit the ball in the air at all.

4.31pm BST

35th over: Australia 192-2 (Lanning 107, Perry 16) Australia are easing to victory, primarily through no-risk singles. It’s been an almost immaculate batting performance, built around the brilliance of Lanning. She has made seven centuries in successful run-chases, probably eight after today. Nobody else has made more than three.

4.25pm BST

34th over: Australia 186-2 (Lanning 103, Perry 14) Lanning back cuts Weerakkody for four to move to 99 and then flicks a full toss behind square to reach a simply brilliant century. It’s taken exactly 100 balls, with 13 fours, and extends her own record of ODI centuries. Her conversion rate (11 hundreds, 10 fifties) is miles ahead of anyone else in the game’s history. Time for drinks.

4.21pm BST

Mithali Raj falls four short of an eighth consecutive fifty https://t.co/DCfKIqtpeX #WIvIND #wwc17

4.20pm BST

33rd over: Australia 173-2 (Lanning 95, Perry 9) Six singles from Polgampala’s over. Lanning has made 10 ODI centuries, more than anyone else in the game’s history, and she’s on course to extend her own record. Australia have turned an awkward run-chase into a practice match.

4.16pm BST

32nd over: Australia 167-2 (Lanning 92, Perry 6) A one-handed sweep for two takes Lanning into the nerveless nineties. There were a couple of inside-edges early on but I’m struggling to remember a false stroke since then.

4.13pm BST

31st over: Australia 160-2 (Lanning 86, Perry 5) Perry is driving beautifully, with that familiar high backlift, even if she has nothing but singles to show for her work. After five singles in that Prabodani over, Australia need 98 from 114 balls.

4.11pm BST

30th over: Australia 155-2 (Lanning 83, Perry 3) That’s the shot of the innings from Lanning. She skips down to Ranaweera, makes room and punches a drive between cover and extra cover for four. Beautiful. Sri Lanka look resigned to their fate.

4.06pm BST

29th over: Australia 149-2 (Lanning 78, Perry 3) Prabodani is going around the wicket now, with two right-handers at the crease. There’s no swing, however, so Lanning and Perry can drive confidently to take five singles from the over.

4.04pm BST

28th over: Australia 144-2 (Lanning 75, Perry 1) Perry connects with a couple of elegant drives off Siriwardena but can’t pierce the field. A quiet over, three from it.

4.03pm BST

27th over: Australia 141-2 (Lanning 73, Perry 0) Prabodani tarnishes an otherwise excellent over with consecutive wides. Sri Lanka surely need another quick wicket if they are to have any chance of winning the match.

3.57pm BST

26th over: Australia 138-2 (Lanning 72, Perry 0) Ellyse Perry is the new batsman.

3.56pm BST

Got her! Bolton is furious with herself for the manner of this dismissal. She chased a loopy, wide half-volley and sliced towards point, where Hansika took a comfortable catch. Sri Lanka have an opening.

3.53pm BST

25th over: Australia 136-1 (Bolton 59, Lanning 71) Back comes the left-armer Prabodani, who got plenty of swing with the new ball. Lanning pulls her first ball a little too close to long leg for comfort. Sri Lanka’s last hope is that this might be a difficult pitch on which to start. They need some wickets to test that theory, however.

3.49pm BST

24th over: Australia 132-1 (Bolton 57, Lanning 69) Bolton drives Siriwardena through extra cover for her eighth boundary. Australia are ahead of the rate, and need 126 from 26 overs.

3.46pm BST

23rd over: Australia 124-1 (Bolton 53, Lanning 66) This is turning into a batting clinic from Lanning. She charges Polgampala to drive another boundary over mid-off. We already know that Athapaththu has played the innings of the match, but Lanning is playing the innings that is going to win the match.

3.44pm BST

22nd over: Australia 117-1 (Bolton 51, Lanning 61) Siriwardena returns to the attack and is promptly cut for four by Lanning. Sri Lanka urgently need a wicket.

3.39pm BST

21st over: Australia 113-1 (Bolton 51, Lanning 57) Lanning steals a second run after a misfield; the running has been a feature of this partnership. Australia are miles ahead on Duckworth/Lewis, though it may not come to that the weather has improved slightly.

3.36pm BST

20th over: Australia 110-1 (Bolton 51, Lanning 54) Lanning sweeps Ranaweera round the corner for three to reach a high-class fifty from 51 balls. She’s a brilliant player who looks in total control of this run-chase. From the next delivery, Bolton also reaches her half-century from 60 balls. She was dropped early on but has played with increasing authority. With Ellyse Perry next, Australia have such a formidable top order.

3.32pm BST

19th over: Australia 103-1 (Bolton 49, Lanning 49) Chamari Polgampala’s first delivery is pulled straight back down the ground for four by Bolton, but those are the only runs from a decent over.

3.27pm BST

18th over: Australia 99-1 (Bolton 45, Lanning 49) A hooping yorker from Lokusooriya hits Bolton on the toe, prompting a huge appeal for LBW. I think there was a slight inside-edge; if not, it was probably going down leg. It was a beautiful piece of bowling though.

Thanks for those who have emailed some more contenders for our Spectacles XI: Zaheer Abbas, Clive Lloyd, David Steele and Rob Smyth.

3.24pm BST

17th over: Australia 96-1 (Bolton 44, Lanning 47) Athapaththu comes into the attack and receives a dose of her own medicine from Bolton, who hoicks a boundary over midwicket. Australia are batting beautifully now, and a classy cut for four from Lanning makes it 10 from the over.

“For better or worse I am out there, Rob,” says Ian Copestake. “For my part I am attending a conference on Herman Melville hosted by London’s King’s College, and while the paths of these subjects rarely cross they did once in the writing of CLR James, who saw the “Bodyline” series as a violent imperial power game and likened it to Captain Ahab’s totalitarian obsession with the white whale that took his leg off.”

3.18pm BST

16th over: Australia 86-1 (Bolton 39, Lanning 42) “Hi Rob,” says Kev McMahon. “Just watching Nicole Bolton bat and wondering, a fellow glasses-wearer, how many other batsmen/women can we think of that opted for glasses? Daniel Vettori, Dirk Wellham? Can’t think of many others...”

Geoff Boycott wore them for a while. “Look at this four-eyed effer!” chirped Bobby Simpson when Boycott made his Test debut against Australia. “Let’s knock his effing glasses off.” Something like that. Anyway, it’s time for drinks.

3.14pm BST

15th over: Australia 79-1 (Bolton 34, Lanning 41) A storm is coming, Frank said. Bolton pulls Ranaweera round the corner for four, and then Lanning back cuts another boundary. She is playing immaculately.

3.09pm BST

14th over: Australia 69-1 (Bolton 23, Lanning 37) The lights are on Bristol, such is the afternoon gloom. Australia are ahead on Duckworth/Lewis, since you asked, and at the moment they look in control. Lanning mows Weerakkody down the ground for another boundary.

3.05pm BST

13th over: Australia 60-1 (Bolton 23, Lanning 33) A beautiful delivery from the left-arm spinner Ranaweera goes through the gate of Bolton and misses the off bail by this much. That’s a good over, with some encouraging turn for Sri Lanka.

3.02pm BST

12th over: Australia 57-1 (Bolton 23, Lanning 33) Weerakkody continues into a sixth over, another good one that goes for just a single.

2.59pm BST

11th over: Australia 56-1 (Bolton 23, Lanning 33) Lanning scampers a second to bring up a fifty partnership of increasing authority. Australia need 202 from 39 overs; Sri Lanka need a wicket

2.54pm BST

10th over: Australia 51-1 (Bolton 20, Lanning 30) Weerakkody continues what has been an excellent opening spell, full of tone-setting intensity. She has figures of 5-0-16-1. In the other match at Taunton, Mithali Raj has put her book down: she’s at the crease for India, who are 48 for two after 13 overs chasing 184 to beat West Indies.

2.50pm BST

9th over: Australia 50-1 (Bolton 19, Lanning 30) Lanning swaggers down the track to ping Siriwardena for two high-class boundaries through extra cover. That’s lovely batting from Lanning, who has raced to 30 from 26 balls.

2.47pm BST

8th over: Australia 42-1 (Bolton 19, Lanning 22) Anyone out there?

2.44pm BST

7th over: Australia 41-1 (Bolton 19, Lanning 21) The experienced offspinner Siriwardena comes into the attack. Lanning puts her first ball away for four, and there are nine runs from the over in total. Despite some difficult moments, Australia are making excellent progress.

2.40pm BST

6th over: Australia 32-1 (Bolton 19, Lanning 12) Another desperate LBW appeal from Weerakkody, with the ball to Bolton pitching well outside leg stump. The conviction of these appeals is a reflection of Sri Lanka’s morale. Lanning opens the face to steer four to third man and then inside-edges just past her off stump. Australia’s progress has not been smooth.

2.35pm BST

5th over: Australia 24-1 (Bolton 16, Lanning 7) When Prabodani drifts onto the pads, Bolton works four behind square. Lanning is then beaten, trying to cut a ball that cramped her for room.

2.30pm BST

4th over: Australia 16-1 (Bolton 11, Lanning 4) Sri Lanka are bowling a very full length, challenging Australia to drive. A rare shortish delivery allows Bolton to cut for four, again with the help of a misfield. Australia are starting to settle down after a nervous start.

2.26pm BST

3rd over: Australia 10-1 (Bolton 5, Lanning 4) Bolton is dropped! She tried to cut Prabodani and edged through to the keeper Weerakkodi, who was a bit slow to react and could only punch the ball towards third man. Oh my. Another fielding aberration allows Lanning to get off the mark with a boundary through point. Another good over from Prabodani, with some dangerous inswing to the right-hander Lanning.

2.22pm BST

2nd over: Australia 5-1 (Bolton 4, Lanning 0) That was the last ball of the over.

2.22pm BST

Sripali Weerakkody starts at the other end. She’s all arms and legs in her action, and slips a good first delivery past Beth Mooney’s outside edge. Sri Lanka are really up for this - and now they have a wicket! Mooney drives straight to short extra cover, where Athapaththu takes a simple catch to continue her reasonable day at the office. Is something brilliant happening here?

Well, that's one of the best things I've seen in cricket. Astonishing innings, Chamari Atapatu. 69% of SL's runs. Get out. #WWC17

LANNING: We'll have a bowl.

ATTAPATU: pic.twitter.com/cTtk8oyvIw

2.16pm BST

1st over: Australia 5-0 (Bolton 4, Mooney 0) The left-arm swing bowler Udeshika Prabodani opens the bowling to Nicole Bolton, who reaches for an outswinger and inside-edges it just past the stumps for four. If Australia lose this they will be beaten for lack of pace - the pitch is fairly slow and Sri Lanka have nobody quicker than medium. There’s some encouraging swing for Prabodani in the over, aided by a very full length.

2.12pm BST

Got a light?

2.04pm BST

How good was that? The question could be rhetorical or interrogative, because Chamari Athapaththu’s awesome 178 not out has a case for being the greatest innings ever played. That case will be even stronger if Sri Lanka pull off a seismic one by beating the world champions. Australia need 258 to win. While you’d expect them to do to so, they will have to contend with cricket’s new phrase of fear: a used pitch.

1.49pm BST

Anyway, that’s about us; Rob Smyth will be here presently to take you through what should be a thrilling chase.

1.48pm BST

But for a second, who cares? The innings we’ve seen today will live longer than the match, and absolutely brilliant display of skill, power, moxie and composure. Athapaththu carried her bat, she hit 22 fours and six sixes - 124 runs in boundaries - and scored 69.26% of her team’s runs, the highest ever in women’s cricket. But nice though the numbers are, they don’t compare to the simple exhilaration of watching someone be brilliant; be brilliant at clutch; be brilliant at clutch against Australia; be brilliant at clutch against Australia in the World Cup. That was astonishingly wonderful.

1.44pm BST

50th over: Sri Lanka 257-9 (Athapaththu 178, Ranaweera 0) This is an excellent last over from Schutt, a single from the first ball, a wicket from the second, and then four dots.

1.42pm BST

A slash to short-midwicket, and a seriously valuable 0 is over.

1.40pm BST

49th over: Sri Lanka 256-8 (Athapaththu 177, Prabodani 0) Oy my days! Perry gives Athapaththu some width, so she flat-bats her back over her dropping head for four! This is now the third-highest score in women’s cricketing history! So Perry speeds up and Healy misses her take; the batters scurry a bye to compound the annoyance. Prabodani then does well to keep Perry out; Perry ends with figures of 2-52 off eight. She won’t be battered like that too many times in her career.

1.36pm BST

48th over: Sri Lanka 249-8 (Athapaththu 171, Prabodani 0) Athapaththu forces down to long on and they race through for two, but no messing next ball; she picks up the flight so quickly, and bangs six over midwicket! And! And! Beams tries a wide full-toss so Athapaththu tries a straight drive, and that’s six more! Strewth! Stone the flamin crows! This is a special, special innings, and this is a defendable, defendable total.

1.32pm BST

A heave misses, and Perry has a consolation wicket, but what a crucial partnership that was, 44 off 32 balls.

1.31pm BST

47th over: Sri Lanka 234-7 (Athapaththu 156, Weerakkody 8) As Perry charges in to deliver a wide, it’s worth noting that Schutt is 0-49 off nine. And here’s another one to fetch! Perry - who’s lost the heid here - again goes short, but so, so short, allowing Athapaththu to wait for it on the back foot and loft it over midwicket. She ha now hit 21 4s and 4 6s, every boundary in the innings!

1.27pm BST

46th over: Sri Lanka 228-7 (Athapaththu 151, Weerakkody 8) Expletive! This is expletive magnificent! Athapaththu has a look at Schutt’s first ball, waits, and hoists yet another six - abck down the ground. She then cross-bats four past the bowler before swinging and edging four more! That’s her 150! She loves it as much as you should, pointing to her name and milking the moment; this is now one of the great innings, and we’re privileged to be enjoying it.

1.24pm BST

45th over: Sri Lanka 213-7 (Athapaththu 136, Weerakkodi 8) This might - and only might - be a competitive target. Perry tries another short one and again Athapaththu looks to get after it, nabbing just a single. Weerakkody then takes a single of her own, Athapaththu adds another, and with the fielders looking to encourage a final-ball single, Weerakkody chucks hands at a wide one and gets four down to fine third man!

1.19pm BST

44th over: Sri Lanka 206-7 (Athapaththu 134, Weerakkodi 3) Oh my! Athapaththu is something! Coming around the wicket, Bolton sends down a nondescript half-tracker and away it goes over long-on for another six! So Bolton tries a wide one, looking to stop the hoik over leg; consider it stopped. Instead, arms are thrown and the ball flashes through deep backward point for four more!

1.15pm BST

43rd over: Sri Lanka 195-7 (Athapaththu 123, Weerakkodi 3) Perry returns and after Weerakkodi takes a single she tries a short one; naturally, Athapaththu takes her on with the hook, gloving a further single to square leg. Two more singles follow.

1.11pm BST

42nd over: Sri Lanka 190-7 (Athapaththu 121, Weerakkodi 0)

What an innings!

Chamari Athapaththu brings up her off just 106 balls - including 15 fours & 1 six!#SLvAUS #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/ex0R6iNsRV

1.09pm BST

Bolton sees Lokusooriya coming down and preparing the mow, so fires in a shorter one; the batter misses, she hits, and this time manages to compose herself in the moment. Boooo!

1.07pm BST

42nd over: Sri Lanka 189-6 (Athapaththu 121, Lokusooriya 12) Bolton back into the attack, and she can’t contain her excitement when Athapaththu reverse-sweeps for one, appealing for leg before. There’s laughing, and then...

1.06pm BST

41st over: Sri Lanka 188-6 (Athapaththu 120, Lokusooriya 12) If form’s anything to go by, Sri Lanka are about due to lose a wicket. But Athapaththu thinks not, chasing a wide one to ger four to fine leg, bringing up her country’s highest score against Australia in the process. And then, after a two, a cleared front leg and a huge swing deposits six over long-on! This is rapidly turning from a brilliant innings into a great innings!

1.03pm BST

40th over: Sri Lanka 176-6 (Athapaththu 108, Lokusooriya 12) Athapaththu isn’t done yet though, not by a long chalk. With Perry back out of the attack - given her reduced pace, perhaps she’s not fit - she takes two to leg, then jams her bat down on a wide one which races through third man for four.

12.59pm BST

39th over: Sri Lanka 169-6 (Athapaththu 101, Lokusooriya 11) Lokusooriya carves towards wide long-on and they amble one when two were available; Athapaththu wants that ton. AND THERE IT IS! A push down the ground, and she’s 100 mot out rom 106 balls, a magnificent, majestic innings when her team needed it most. Brilliant!

12.55pm BST

38th over: Sri Lanka 165-6 (Athapaththu 99, Lokusooriya 10) Perry back into the attack, and Athapaththu’s really feeling the nervous nineties; she heaves over the top and down to long-on for four, then gloves a pull for one. Lokusooriya isn’t hanging about either, carving a short, wide one for four. Ten off the over.

12.52pm BST

37th over: Sri Lanka 144-6 (Athapaththu 94, Lokusooriya 5) Athapaththu stands and delivers, cracking over the top towards the midwicket boundary. But Bolton does brilliantly to chase, leap and palm back from over the fence, saving 2; so Athapaththu does brilliantly to monster the next ball over square-leg for six. What an innings this is! she now has 65.28% of her team’s runs.

12.48pm BST

36th over: Sri Lanka 144-6 (Athapaththu 84, Lokusooriya 4) Powerplay called as Schutt returns ... and that’s a lovely shot from Athapaththu, making room, rocking back, and pulverising a drive through cover for four. Oh! And there’s four more, front leg cleared, ball smacked high through square-leg. Superbly done!

12.44pm BST

35th over: Sri Lanka 135-6 (Athapaththu 75, Lokusooriya 4) Lokusooriya is backing up! Of all the novel things! Single to each batter, and Sri Lanka need something special to make this a contest.

12.41pm BST

34th over: Sri Lanka 133-6 (Athapaththu 74, Lokusooriya 3) Nice, positive start from Lokusooriya who turns two to midwicket; at the over, Bolton is still excitedly reliving her moment.

12.37pm BST

Oh dear. Perera moves right across towards leg so Bolton fires in an arm ball; Perera misses early, she hits late, and this innings is now in dire danger of collapse. Bolton, meanwhile, runs around in manic celebration and why not? It’s a World Cup wicket!

12.36pm BST

34th over: Sri Lanka 130-5 (Athapaththu 74, Perera 0) Bolton into the attack as we note that Siriwardena ought really to still be here - she and Athapaththu missed an easy two the previous ball.

12.34pm BST

33rd over: Sri Lanka 129-5 (Athapaththu 72, Perera 0) Sri Lanka could not have needed that less. The question now is whether Athapaththu tries to bat out or add qickly.

12.32pm BST

Beams has the knack! And so do Sri Lanka (of losing wickets when set). Again, a batter gets down on one knee to sweep, again she misses, and again the fingers goes up. This one looked a little suss, though - I’m not sure the ball wasn’t passing leg stump.

12.30pm BST

32nd over: Sri Lanka 127-4 (Athapaththu 72, Siriwardena 23) Back comes Megan Schutt, and after Athapaththu adds a single she sends down a wide; Australia’s discipline in both bowling and fielding has been a little awry today. And Siriwardena plays a decent delivery very nicely, stroking a single down to third man thereby raising the fifty partnership. Six an over from here gets 234; Sri Lanka will need at least that.

12.26pm BST

31st over: Sri Lanka 125-4 (Athapaththu 71, Siriwardena 22) Athapaththu currently has 57.26% of Sri Lanka’s runs; the record, held by Lynne Thomas of England, is 61.94%.

12.23pm BST

30th over: Sri Lanka 122-4 (Athapaththu 70, Siriwardena 21) After a few quiet overs, Athapaththu is back going for it, aiming to set a total, not survive. So she clumps Vakarewa back over her head for four, then a lovely pick-up flicks four more over mid-on. 13 from the over, and this now a very useful partnership.

12.19pm BST

29th over: Sri Lanka 109-4 (Athapaththu 62, Siriwardena 19) Gardner’s offies are back, and Mooney drops one! Siriwardena eases into an uppish drive, Mooney leaps at midwicket - she’s there - but the ball bursts through her hands. That’s a real oversight, all the more so given a fielder who usually keeps. And Athapaththu then rubs it in, clearing her leg to cart the final delivery of the over for four at long on.

12.15pm BST

28th over: Sri Lanka 104-4 (Athapaththu 58, Siriwardena 17) Vakarewa has a lovely rhythmic, energetic action, swinging arms helping her bowl full; Athapththu does really well to get bat on a yorker. Three from the over.

12.11pm BST

27th over: Sri Lanka 101-4 (Athapaththu 57, Siriwardena 16) Siriwardena enjoys this over from Villani, an edge taking its first ball for four and then a straight drive forcing bowler and two fielders into fruitless drives; lovely stuff! Oh, and following a wide and a single Villani then strays on leg, so an edge adds four more to Athapaththu’s total.

12.07pm BST

26th over: Sri Lanka 87-4 (Athapaththu 53, Siriwardena 7) Athapththu has slowed down these last few overs - or been slowed down. And Vakarewa quickly has her hopping with a full ball which threatens the toes - there’s a muted appeal, but the bowler knows it pitched well outside leg. Athapththu then mistimes a drive off a full-toss - it should’ve been clouted into next year - but Beams can’t quite get in from mid on to catch; I’m not sure she quite read the flight. One from the over, a wide.

12.03pm BST

25th over: Sri Lanka 86-4 (Athapaththu 53, Siriwardena 7) Ah, apparently Jess Jonassen is injured; I’d thought Vakarewa was picked ahead of her to exploit the conditions. Two singles off the over, and I wonder if Lanning will bring Perry back to try and get through the Lankan middle order before it plays itself in.

12.00pm BST

24th over: Sri Lanka 84-4 (Athapaththu 52, Siriwardena 6) Vakarewa has the ball, and her first delivery for Australia is a decent one: full, quick, and just outside off. But her third one is floaty and well outside off; Siriwardena doesn’t need to be asked twice, cracking through cover for four. Vakarewa responds well though, sending down a nut that’s outside off and holds its line, almost enticing the edge.

11.56am BST

23rd over: Sri Lanka 79-4 (Athapaththu 52, Siriwardena 1) Siriwardena chases one that’s so wide she needed a golf club to reach it; no joy, wide. But a leg-stump full-toss follows, and now she’s away.

11.54am BST

Big trouble for Sri Lanka now! Weerakkody chips Villani around the corner and at short midwicket, Blackwell takes a beauty, superman-diving forwards and left to hang on just above the ground. The footwork there was so good.

11.53am BST

23rd over: Sri Lanka 77-3 (Athapaththu 52, Weerakkody 1) Vakarewa is swinging her arms, either to remind her captain or she’s been told by her captain.

11.51am BST

22nd over: Sri Lanka 77-3 (Athapaththu 52, Weerakkody 1) Beams has proved her value once again; Weerakkody gets herself off the mark immediately.

11.50am BST

Another so plumb the batters could’ve walked. Beams sent down a straight one full of length, Manodara went down on one knee to sweep, missed, and took the ball on the pad right in front of middle.

11.49am BST

22nd over: Sri Lanka 76-2 (Athapaththu 52, Manodara 8) Australia haven’t fielded well today; Beth Mooney is the latest to err, allowing Manodara a single.

11.47am BST

21st over: Sri Lanka 74-2 (Athapaththu 51, Manodara 7) Villani keeps at it, but in commentary they’re surprised that Belinda Vakarewa, 19 and making her debut, hasn’t been given the ball. It’s unusual captaincy, really - generally the convention is to get new kids involved as soon as possible. The batters add a single each, augmented by a wide.

11.43am BST

20th over: Sri Lanka 71-2 (Athapaththu 50, Manodara 6) The players quickly imbibe before Beams continues; she starts with a wide, and then Athapaththu bunts her fourth ball for one to raise an excellent and crucial fifty. She’s exceedingly pleased with herself, with good reason.

11.38am BST

19th over: Sri Lanka 69-2 (Athapaththu 49, Manodara 6) Villani, wearing MC Hammer-style trousers, hops and skips into the attack; Athapththu flicks her around the corner for one. It’s the only run from the over.

11.35am BST

18th over: Sri Lanka 68-2 (Athapaththu 48, Manodara 6) Beams is warned for running on the pitch - not something that often happens to spinners. The strangle is off - five more added to the total, and Sri Lanka are going to make a game of this. I wonder if Perry will be back soon.

“According to the commentary 10 of the 16 Sri Lankan squad players are left-handed. How is this statistically possible? I know two left-handed people and I have a slightly larger base to work with. Is left-handedness more pre levant in Sri Lanka?”

11.32am BST

17th over: Sri Lanka 63-2 (Athapaththu 44, Manodara 5) The strangle is on; Athapaththu takes a single from Gardner’s first ball, but can contrive nothing else from the over.

11.29am BST

16th over: Sri Lanka 62-2 (Athapaththu 43, Manodara 5) Beams’ leg-breaks into the attack, and Athapththu does well to nick a bit of bat on one which squares her up. Two runs from the over, a single each taken off balls five and six.

11.27am BST

15th over: Sri Lanka 60-2 (Athapaththu 42, Manodara 4) Athapaththu sweeps four from the final delivery of the over, to add to the single each taken earlier on. She’s playing very aggressively, and it’s working well for her.

11.25am BST

14th over: Sri Lanka 51-2 (Athapaththu 35, Manodara 2) Three from the over.

11.22am BST

13th over: Sri Lanka 51-1 (Athapaththu 35, Surangika 2) We should be all good from here.

11.21am BST

I’m afraid I wasn’t allowed to see what happened here.

11.19am BST

12th over: Sri Lanka 49-1 (Polgampala 6, Athapaththu35) I’m sorry about the lack of detail here, oh and presto! Pictures are back! Athapththu appears to have ruined a maiden by nabbing four off its final ball.

11.15am BST

11th over: Sri Lanka 45-1 (Polgampala 6, Athapaththu31) Gardner continues and the batters add a single apiece.

11.14am BST

10th over: Sri Lanka 43-1 (Polgampala 5, Athapaththu 30) Another four to Athapthathu, along with two singles, makes this another nifty over for the Lankans. They’ve done brilliantly to respond after losing a wicket third ball when most of us were hearing John Williams music.

11.08am BST

9th over: Sri Lanka 37-1 (Polgampala 4, Athapaththu 25) Ash Gardner’s nickname is Bushy; of course it is. In the meantime, Sky’s coverage has dropped out, but the over ceded one wide.

11.04am BST

8th over: Sri Lanka 36-1 (Polgampala 4, Athapaththu 25) Schutt continues, and Healy opts to stand up; apparently, she and her husband, Mitchell Starc used to alternate bowling and keeping duties. Anyway, Athapaththu drives uppishly at one which doesn’t carry to wide mid-off, but then absolutely batters one on leg-stump right over the top for her fifth boundary.

11.00am BST

7th over: Sri Lanka 32-1 (Polgampala 4, Athapaththu 21) Time for some off-spin - perhaps a little early given the conditions - but Gardner is on. She concedes three singles and wide from her first over or, put another way, Sri Lanka will like how things are now going.

10.58am BST

6th over: Sri Lanka 28-1 (Polgampala 3, Athapaththu 19) Schutt begins her over with a wide - Australia are a little ragged at the moment. And this is a scrappy over, featuring one or two decent deliveries but yielding seven.

10.53am BST

5th over: Sri Lanka 21-1 (Polgampala 1, Athapaththu 17) If Perry can find her rhythm, the conditions are great for her. She and Lanning decide to take out slip in favour of silly mid-off, but neither are much use when Athapaththu top-edges a short one over the top for four. And there are four more, Beams misfielding a drive; and there are four more! This is a thumping shot through the covers, though the ball, wide and short, was pretty ordinary. 12 off the over.

10.49am BST

4th over: Sri Lanka 9-1 (Polgampala 1, Athapaththu 5) Oh dear - Healy allows a slower ball through her legs, and it runs away for two byes. Schutt remains unperturbed, though, hitting her lines nicely, and that’s another maiden.

10.45am BST

3rd over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (Polgampala 1, Athapaththu 5) Perry is finding some lovely movement through the air - if she nails her line, Sri Lanka are in all sorts. First, though, she sends down a floaty yorker towards leg - and even that causes grief - before the next delivery turns Athapaththu’s bat. She responds well though, cutting a shorter one for one, then presenting the full face to a full toss; that ball races away for four through mid-off.

10.41am BST

2nd over: Sri Lanka 2-1 (Polgampala 0, Athapaththu 1) Megan Schutt with the ball now, and she finds some lovely shape straightening one into the left-handed Athapththu. She’s mainly moving the ball away though, and that brings her a maiden.

10.38am BST

1st over: Sri Lanka 2-1 (Polgampala 0, Athapaththu 1) Lanning, after administering a three-ball duck, slings down a wide; Sri Lanka will take that. Perry is bowling within herself, not at express pace but with a full length, “giving the ball every opportunity to swing”. A single follows, and already the Lankans are in strife.

10.35am BST

What a nut! Perry slants one across Hansika, fair enough, but then it jags back in to meet the stride across, raps the pad just below the knee-roll, and though the umpire takes a while, that is dead.

10.33am BST

1st over Sri Lanka 0-0 (Hansika 0, Polgampala 0) Perry with the ball, obviously, and the pitch has a greenish tinge...

10.32am BST

These two will really have to come off if the Lankans are going to post a suitable target.

10.31am BST

Out come the openers.

10.26am BST

Anthem time!

10.23am BST

Both teams make one change: Australia leave out Jess Jonassen, the left-arm spinner - again, conditions probably sealed that one - and Sri Lanka replace Chandima Gunaratne with Hasini Perera.

10.07am BST

Given the conditions, I’m not surprised. With weather likely to improve, batting will be hardest first up.

9.55am BST

In theory, we all know exactly what’s going to happen here: Australia are going to absolutely cane Sri Lanka, split infinitives and all. Except, happily, sport is played is not played in theory but in practice, and as such, you never know.

Ok, you probably do know, but even then, it doesn’t matter: Australia are one of the best teams currently playing any sport, and we are therefore obligated to devour every opportunity to enjoy them. So, let’s dig in.

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Football transfer rumours: Tottenham target Adrien Silva and Carles Aleñá?

Today’s gossip does not have a light

The Mill loves the smell of gossip in the morning. How better to start a new day than with that fresh, invigorating, hopeful, malodorous, fetid, putrid, fecal scent wafting up our freshly tweezered snout. It’s true that 95% of football tittle-tattle makes us retch, but it’s worth the pain and suffering for the 5% of rumours that turn out to be true.

There is something persuasive and thrilling, for example, in the suggestion that Liverpool want to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Arsenal, thus prompting all kinds of banter-based hilarity about Arsenal being a feeder club. Chelsea and Manchester City have also set up an RSS feed for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Related: Manchester United set to sign Nemanja Matic from Chelsea for around £40m

Related: Transfer window 2017 – every deal in Europe's top five leagues

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England beat South Africa in the third T20 international – as it happened

The debutant Dawid Malan struck an exhilarating 78 as an experimental England side won the series decider by 19 runs at Cardiff

5.55pm BST

20th over: South Africa 162-7 (Phehlukwayo 27, Morkel 5) After a few lusty swings from Phehlukwayo, who has had a good series, Chris Jordan completes England’s victory. That’s an impressive win for an experimental side, with plenty of encouragement for England’s future in all forms of the game. Mason Crane’s dismissal of AB de Villiers was the feelgood moment of the series, while Dawid Malan batted like a veteran debutant to make 78. Thanks for your company, bye!

Related: Dawid Malan stars on debut as England win series against South Africa

5.49pm BST

19th over: South Africa 145-7 (Phehlukwayo 16, Morkel 0) Curran finishes another very impressive performance with figures of 4-0-22-1. The variety and relish of his death bowling are particularly encouraging with the 2019 World Cup and 2020 World T20 in mind. South Africa need Daan van Bunge to bowl the first over; they require 36 from six balls to take the match into a Super Over.

5.48pm BST

Mosehle heaves a full toss to Billings at deep midwicket to give Curran a wicket with his last delivery. The third umpire checked the height but it was fine.

5.43pm BST

18th over: South Africa 138-6 (Mosehle 31, Phehlukwayo 15) Mosehle decides to pay a little tribute to Carlos Braithwaite, clouting Willey’s first two deliveries down the ground for six. Willey goes around the wicket to restore order, with four from the last four balls. South Africa need 44 from two overs.

5.37pm BST

17th over: South Africa 122-6 (Mosehle 18, Phehlukwayo 12) Tom Curran looks like a man who enjoys glory, and he’ll grab plenty of it over the next decade if he bowls like this. He beats Mosehle with consecutive deliveries, a slower leg-cutter and a fast yorker, and though Mosehle wallops a slower ball for six, England will be very happy with seven from the over. South Africa need 60 from 18 balls.

5.33pm BST

16th over: South Africa 115-6 (Mosehle 10, Phehlukwayo 12) The reliable Plunkett returns to calm things down with a canny, boundaryless over that is summed up when he sees Phehlukwayo making room and spears a wide yorker through to Buttler. Plunkett ends with figures of 4-0-22-1. He is very, very good these days.

5.29pm BST

15th over: South Africa 111-6 (Mosehle 10, Phehlukwayo 11) South Africa are going down swinging, with 18 from Willey’s third over. Mosehele flips six over fine leg and then Phehlukwayo creams consecutive deliveries down the ground for four. They need 71 from five overs.

5.26pm BST

14th over: South Africa 93-6 (Mosehle 3, Phehlukwayo 0) “And in your wisdom,” says Rob Lewis, “which of those mentioned (over 12) will go on to great things?”

There are too many variables to predict with any certainty what young players might achieve - Billy Kenny and all that - but I’d say Hameed is a banker. I really like all the others too, especially Crane and Jennings.

5.22pm BST

South Africa are done here. Their death hitter, Morris, was pushed up the order and they don’t have the firepower to score 14 an over. They are also running of wickets. Behardien hooks Jordan’s short ball high to deep square, where Billings takes a nonchalant catch. After a bad day on Friday. Jordan has bounced back superbly and has three for 10.

5.20pm BST

13th over: South Africa 88-5 (Behardien 2, Mosehle 0) Behardien is beaten by four consecutive deliveries from Crane. That is an outstanding comeback from Crane, who turned figures of 2.3-0-34-0 into 4-0-38-1. It’s impossible not to be seriously excited about how good he might become.

“Glasto rumours,” says Ben Parker. “I heard MC Corbyn is gonna rap the whole of the Labour manifesto. Rumours, rumours...”

5.16pm BST

12th over: South Africa 86-5 (Behardien 0, Mosehle 0) A superb over from Jordan - just four from it - leaves South Africa needing snookers. I know potential is often gobbled up by life, but bloody hell England have got some exciting young talent at the moment. Hameed, Crane, the Currans, Livingstone, Lawrence, Foakes, Jennings and others.

5.13pm BST

England are in charge now! Miller chases a wide, short delivery from Jordan and snicks it through to Buttler.

5.11pm BST

11th over: South Africa 82-4 (Miller 3, Behardien 0) That was such a lovely moment. He’s 20 years old and his first international wicket is the greatest white-ball batsman of all time. That’s not supposed to happen to English legspinners.

“Still following from Glastonbury, Rob,” says Tim Woollias. “Another wait for a secret gig, this time outside the John Peel Tent, where about 15,000 people are expecting the Killers, if it’s Steps we could see a very fast exodus.”

5.09pm BST

What a moment for Mason Crane! This is spine-tingling stuff. AB de Villiers walloped him for 16 from the first three balls of the over, including two huge sixes, but Crane kept his nerve and struck when de Villiers swept a flighted delivery to Hales at deep backward square. He took another beautifully judged catch to send Crane off on a celebration full of joyous disbelief. That is wonderful stuff.

5.04pm BST

10th over: South Africa 64-3 (de Villiers 18, Miller 2) This is the key partnership, between the two best batsmen in the team. After a flurry of singles, South Africa need 118 from 10 overs.

5.01pm BST

That’s superb bowling from Liam Plunkett. He saw Smuts moving to leg, followed him with the short ball and was rewarded when Smuts top-edged a blind hook to Malan at long leg.

4.59pm BST

9th over: South Africa 59-2 (Smuts 29, de Villiers 15) de Villiers decides it’s time to bully Crane. Nothing personal, just business. He flashes a one-bounce four over extra-cover, is beaten on the slog sweep and then clouts one not far short of deep midwicket. Crane stood up really well to that mini-assault, inducing false strokes from the last two deliveries of the over.

4.56pm BST

8th over: South Africa 50-2 (Smuts 27, de Villiers 8) Plunkett has had a lot of joy at Cardiff this summer, particularly with the short ball. He rams one past Smuts’ attempted cross-bat clout, the highlight of an excellent over that goes for three. South Africa need 132 from 12 overs.

4.52pm BST

7th over: South Africa 47-2 (Smuts 25, de Villiers 7) The young legspinner Mason Crane is coming on. He had an impressive debut in the first match, though the dimensions of this ground aren’t so spinner-friendly. Smuts sweeps the first ball for four; that’s the only boundary of a decent first over.

4.49pm BST

6th over: South Africa 38-2 (Smuts 19, de Villiers 4) Smuts survives a big appeal for caught behind when he attempts to pull a cross-seamer from Plunkett. England were sure it was out, and there was a noise at the right time, but the umpire Tim Robinson disagreed. No reviews in DRS. Smuts certainly gets bat on the next two balls, beasting a six over long on and driving four move over extra cover.

4.45pm BST

5th over: South Africa 26-2 (Smuts 8, de Villiers 3) The new batsman is AB de Villiers, who is playing his last innings of the tour. He is taking a break from Test cricket at the moment. An AB special might be in order because, after an excellent start from England, the required rate is now above 10 an over. He cuts his first ball confidently for three.

4.42pm BST

This is a big wicket for England. Morris pulls the new bowler Jordan towards the square-leg boundary, where the leaping Hales takes an excellently judged catch.

4.39pm BST

4th over: South Africa 21-1 (Smuts 6, Morris 8) Morris clunks Curran over extra cover for three; then, later in the over, he makes room to cut over backward point for four. That was a clever stroke, and this guy is a dangerous customer. Meanwhile, on the subject of Liam Livingstone, I’m with Gazza.

4.36pm BST

3rd over: South Africa 13-1 (Smuts 6, Morris 1) If Morris bats 30 balls, South Africa will probably win this game. He has started with intent, missing an attempt to deposit Willey out of the ground.

“Let’s not forget the ODIs led to the phrase ‘Boring Middle Overs’ which may not be quite true anymore but does tell you something,” says John Starbuck. “On telling people something, I was at a 10th wedding anniversary bash yesterday and a bloke walked up to when I was not dancing to tell me I had egg on my chin. I hadn’t eaten anything remotely eggy and it took a while to figure out he meant my fly was open. Why he couldn’t say so I don’t know. We are some way on from the days when women said ‘Charlie’s dead’ to indicate an underskirt hem showing.”

4.32pm BST

2nd over: South Africa 11-1 (Smuts 4, Morris 0) That was the last ball of an excellent over. Chris Morris and his deadly long handle have been promoted to No3.

4.31pm BST

Tom Curran has graduated to the new ball in only his second match, and he has taken a wicket in his first over! Hendricks, who was hit in the breadbasket earlier in the over, drove tamely to Plunkett at mid-off to spark Curran’s increasingly familiar aeroplane celebration.

4.27pm BST

1st over: South Africa 8-0 (Smuts 3, Hendricks 0) There is some early swing from David Willey, though that isn’t always a force for good: he swings one onto the pads of Smuts and away for four leg-byes. It’s a good over apart from that, with only three runs off the bat.

4.23pm BST

The consensus from the keyboard achievers, incidentally, is that Liam Livingstone should never be allowed to play professional cricket again.

4.12pm BST

South Africa need 182 to win the series. See you in 10 minutes.

4.12pm BST

20th over: England 181-8 (Jordan 0, Curran 1) Paterson doesn’t get the hat-trick but he does ends with figures of four for 31 after a fantastic last over. South Africa may have found one there; his death bowling in this series has been exceptional.

4.09pm BST

Paterson is on a hat-trick for the second time in two overs after bowling Willey with a perfect yorker. “This is an exhibition in death bowling,” says Nasser Hussain, and he’s not wrong.

4.08pm BST

Buttler’s cameo comes to an end when he skies a short ball to backward point. This is some very good death bowling from South Africa, and there are three balls remaining.

4.06pm BST

19th over: England 179-6 (Buttler 31, Willey 0) That was the last ball of the over. The batsmen crossed, which means Buttler won’t be on strike for the start of the final over.

4.05pm BST

This is a cracking little contest between Buttler and Phehlukwayo, who is going through all his variations of pace, length, line and cut. Buttler takes two off each of the first three balls and then waves an astonishing six over cover from an almost immaculate wide yorker. AB de Villiers applauds the shot, one genius recognising another.

It’s high-octane stuff, this, and Plunkett falls to the last ball of the over when he heaves to cow corner. Miller took another excellent catch.

4.00pm BST

18th over: England 166-5 (Buttler 18, Plunkett 0) That was a great over from Paterson - five dot balls, two wickets and one six.

4.00pm BST

Livingstone goes first ball, bowled by a full toss when he misses an attempted ramp from outside off stump. In a sense that was admirably selfless; in another it continues an inauspicious start to his international career. We’ll see more of him, don’t worry.

3.57pm BST

Billings sweeps a full toss from Paterson over square leg for six but then clonks one straight to de Villiers at extra cover.

3.55pm BST

17th over: England 160-3 (Buttler 18, Billings 5) Billings struggles to lay wood on Phehlukwayo’s wide yorkers, taking just a single from the first three deliveries. When Phehlukwayo misses his yorker length, Buttler reminds us of his genius by launching a stunning blow over long-off. Then he swats a slower short ball to cow corner for four, and finally Phehlukwayo dupes him with a slower leg-cutter. That was a brilliant over of T20 cricket.

“It was put to Eoin Morgan that paying customers may feel hard done by not seeing the established stars of English white-ball cricket,” says Adam Roberts. “They weren’t robbed by seeing Malan, were they?”

3.50pm BST

16th over: England 149-3 (Buttler 8, Billings 5) Buttler survives a huge LBW appeal from Tahir (aren’t they all?) by virtue of being a long way down the pitch. Replays show it would have hit middle halfway up. There are no reviews in T20, at least not yet, and England get the bonus of four leg byes.

“Not liking the new 20-over shirt England are wearing,” says Dave Tole. “Anyone else think they whiff of Rugby League? Wigan maybe?”

3.46pm BST

15th over: England 139-3 (Buttler 3, Billings 4) Buttler misses an attempt to flap Morris’s short ball onto the camera gantry, like he did here against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy. An excellent, boundaryless last over from Morris, who ends with 4-0-24-0.

“Everything I write seems to make it into OBO,” says Adam Roberts. “Just the ten of us following the OBO, Rob?”

3.41pm BST

14th over: England 134-3 (Buttler 1, Billings 2) A drifting googly from Tahir to Buttler beats off stump on the full and goes through Mosehle for four byes.

3.40pm BST

Dawid Malan’s exhilarating debut innings comes to an end when he drives Tahir to long on. He smashed 78 from 44 balls and played with exceptional control and authority. Only three greats - Ricky Ponting, David Warner and Hiral Patel - have made a higher score on their IT20 debut.

3.36pm BST

13th over: England 123-2 (Malan 74, Buttler 1) The new batsman is Jos Buttler, who is quietly having a bit of a rough trot. Malan has moved to 74 from 41 balls.

“I see Dawid Malan was born in Roehampton, where I grew up,” says Rob Lewis. “Can’t claim to have had anything to do with it though, as I left aged 13.”

3.33pm BST

Hales falls to a brilliant catch from David Miller. He smashed Phehlukwayo towards cow corner, where Miller ran in and dived forward to take a very difficult low catch with the minimum of fuss. Hales made 36 from 28 balls.

3.30pm BST

12th over: England 116-1 (Hales 35, Malan 69) Hales is starting to loosen up - both his knee and his arms. He mows Paterson down the ground for a flat six and then takes a dodgy single to de Villiers at mid-off. He has to dive to make his ground and ends up demolishing the stumps and falling over. His innings is turning into a Charlie Chaplin sketch. Malan’s innings, meanwhile, is turning into a mini-masterpiece. He walks across to daintily scoop Paterson for four and pulls the next delivery to the same boundary.

“Which format I like to watch does depend on whether I’m at the match or not,” says Matt Emerson. “If I’m there, then it’s Test, ODI, T20 - this merely because ODIs last longer so you can spend more time eating pastry-based products, drinking pints of Shame Inducer & talking rubbish with fellow attendees. If I’m watching remotely then I’d put T20s ahead of ODIs as I’m rarely able to spend all day in front of the TV, but I may be able to sneak a whole T20 in. Clearly several overs of Test cricket beats both hands down. Also, does anyone else record an entire day’s play if at work and then watch on +30 rather than look at the highlights? No, just me then...”

3.26pm BST

11th over: England 99-1 (Hales 27, Malan 60) Morkel is going to bowl out here, such is South Africa’s need for a wicket. Hales snicks an attempted yorker wide of the diving Mosehle for four, then Malan thumps yet another boundary through mid-off. This is one of the more impressive debut innings for England in white-ball cricket. Since you asked, nobody has scored a hundred on their IT20 debut.

3.22pm BST

10th over: England 88-1 (Hales 21, Malan 55) Hales monsters a full toss from Tahir over cow corner for six - and then Malan manufactures a scoop for four to reach a tremendous half-century on debut. That shot was a bit close to Morkel at fine leg for comfort, but for the most part he has played with striking authority. He’s faced 31 balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes, and is the first England batsman to hit a fifty on his T20 debut.

“Rest of the world now discovering what Middx members/supporters have known for years; Morgs is not the only excellent one-day/T20 batsman in the Middlesex side,” says Ang Gilham. “Better late than never for Dawid.”

3.18pm BST

9th over: England 73-1 (Hales 14, Malan 47) Malan drives Morkel for a thumping straight six to move to 47. “What a shot that was!” says Eoin Morgan in the Sky commentary box. This is exhilarating stuff, and it’s now the highest score by an England batsman on their T20 debut, beating Paul Collingwood’s 46 on a giddy afternoon in Hampshire 12 years ago.

“Heartened to see - having looked up his profile at the other place - that Dawid Malan’s nickname is ‘AC’,” says John Foster. “Class. I think I’m developing a man-crush.”

3.13pm BST

8th over: England 65-1 (Hales 13, Malan 41) Imran Tahir comes into the attack, and Eoin Morgan comes into the Sky commentary box. “We recognise the series is a big opportunity to have a lot at our younger players,” he says. “That’s a really important part of our development. Our success in the last two years has been down to the strength in depth we have, and that’s very important for our development down the line. It’s unfortunate that I hae to miss out but this is the rotation system we have. We remain very confident we can win and put on a show with the team we have. It is a big call but we haven’t been shy in making big calls.”

The man who has replaced him, Malan, is doing just that. He pulls Tahir very hard down the ground for four and bottom edges another past short third man. He has 41 from 23 balls and is five away from the highest score by an England batsman on their T20 debut.

3.07pm BST

7th over: England 54-1 (Hales 11, Malan 32) Morris returns, perhaps with a view to sorting out Malan. He should at least dismiss Hales - but Phehlukwayo drops an absolute dolly at mid-on. Malan bleaches the wound by helping the next ball round the corner for four to move to 32 from 19 balls.

“Morning, Rob,” says Adam Roberts. “I’m surprised you rank T20 above ODIs. I don’t mind 50-over games - they resemble the real game to an extent. I love Bumble’s unquenchable enthusiasm for everything; it livens up a Sunday morning.”

3.02pm BST

6th over: England 46-1 (Hales 9, Malan 27) Hales is going to continue, though he’s limping like Tony Blundetto. He winces a single to mid-on. and then Malan, who is playing majestically, walks across his stumps to drive Paterson over midwicket for four.

“I am in town for the cricket, but unfortunately it is not the same town as the cricket is being played in,” says Ian Copestake. “However the view of the motorway from my Travelodge is being transformed by your word pictures.”

2.58pm BST

5.3 overs: England 41-1 (Hales 8, Malan 23) Paterson replaces Morkel, who bowled two excellent overs. Hales drags the ball onto the inside of his knee and collapses in a heap. “That is as sore as it gets,” says Shaun Pollock, who has clearly never been to my dentist. Hales is receiving treatment, and this might be a problem: he’s struggling to walk, and he can’t have a runner. He might need to retire hurt while his knee loosens up.

2.53pm BST

5th over: England 39-1 (Hales 7, Malan 22) Your friend and mine, Gary Naylor, has been going on about Malan for the best part of a decade so he will be even chattier than usual today - especially if Malan carries on like this. He back cuts the new bowler Phehlukwayo’s first ball for four and wallops another pull to the fence. He has 22 from 13 balls. “I like the look of this guy,” says Shaun Pollock on Sky. This, I suppose this is the advantage of making your debut in your late 20s - you know your game like the back of your bat and are much more comfortable expressing yourself straight away.

2.48pm BST

4th over: England 26-1 (Hales 5, Malan 12) Malan plays another confident pull stroke, this time for a couple off Morkel, before being duped by consecutive slower balls. The first went past the edge, the second hit him in the arm.

“Am I the only OBO reader who can’t get into this T20 business?” says Andrew Benton. “It’s all over far too fast - which is probably good for the telly, which I don’t have, but not so good for written or spoken commentary. Those need time to build momentum. Roll on the Test series, I say, oh yes.”

2.43pm BST

3rd over: England 21-1 (Hales 5, Malan 7) Madon! Dawid Malan has hit his second ball in international cricket for six with a storming pull stroke off Morris. “World’s gone mad,” says Bumble. “It’s his second delivery!”

2.40pm BST

2nd over: England 12-1 (Hales 4, Malan 0) “Just watched the Roy interview on Sky and wondered what you thought?” says Ben Parker. “I thought his answers re: the lbw referral and his last dismissal were very enlightening.”

Ach, I missed it as I was

in the kitchen, faffing
doing my pre-OBO finger exercises. I have taped it though. I like Roy, and also the culture of accountability that Eoin Morgan seems to have created.

2.39pm BST

Morne Morkel trampolines a delivery past Hales’ attempted hoick. This is a slightly frenetic start from England, and Hales edges the next ball over the leaping slip fielder for four. And now Roy has gone! The ball after a quite gorgeous whip through midwicket for four, he tried to limbo dance and steer a short ball over the keeper’s head - but it followed him and kissed the bat on the way through to Mosehle.

2.35pm BST

1st over: England 4-0 (Roy 4, Hales 0) Chris Morris, whose rage brought South Africa back into the series on Friday, bowls the first over. This is a fresh pitch with a striking green tinge, so this might be a decent toss to win. Crikey, Roy has been dropped third ball. He slogged the ball miles - miles - in the air towards fine leg, so much so that the cameraman had no idea where the ball was. The keeper Mosehle ran 30 yards to get there, only for it to burst through his gloves. I know this because of the magic of action replays.

2.12pm BST

Some pre-match reading

Related: Pink balls at night may not be every batsman’s delight | Vic Marks

Related: Tom Curran determined to build on confident start in England decider

Related: Heather Knight the first of four run-outs as India shock England in opener

Related: Steve Harmison: ‘I didn’t want the public to know about my depression’

2.04pm BST

England Roy, Hales, Malan, Buttler (c/wk), Billings, Livingstone, Plunkett, Willey, Jordan, Curran, Crane.

South Africa Smuts, Hendricks, Mosehle (wk), de Villiers (c), Miller, Behardien, Morris, Phehlukwayo, Morkel, Paterson, Tahir.

2.02pm BST

Jos Buttler captains England, with Eoin Morgan surprisingly rested. Dawid Malan makes his international debut. Craig Overton does not, despite the earlier suggestion that everyone in the squad would get at least one game. Plenty of fuel for keyboard warriordom there.

11.07am BST

Let’s try that one again. England made a mess of winning the series on Friday, their complacency reacting with South Africa’s furious pride to produce an unexpected twist, so now we have a decider at Cardiff. The match does not exactly scream C-O-N-T-E-X-T, yet it’s a chance to see how England’s young players fare in the heightened circumstances of a winner-takes-all match.

A victory would take South Africa above England in the spandex-tight T20 rankings. There is also a sense that, if they win this series after such an abysmal start to their tour, it will significantly empower them going into the first Test at Lord’s next week. Never mind rankings and series wins, that’s probably the most important context of all.

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