Australia begins their Champions Trophy campaign with a clash against England in Pakistan. Follow along for all the action.
Australia begins their Champions Trophy campaign with a clash against England in Pakistan. Follow along for all the action.
Nathan Ellis just kept England to three runs in the 34th over – just my view but that is as good as a maiden on this wicket.
Harry Brook has made three runs from five balls and he tried to take the bat to Zampa in the next over but was caught out.
Carey has made another diving catch, this time with two hands.
Brook will be disappointed, surely England won’t throw away this superb platform for a bumper score?
England are 4-219 with skipper Jos Buttler coming in.
Ben Duckett has chopped two straight fours to bring up his century.
He’s made 101 from 95 balls and never looked troubled, even when he faced some short balls in this over.
Massive innings for England and one Australia’s top three will need to emulate if they want any chance to chase down whatever score England make.
England are 3-120 from 32 overs.
Root was trying to sweep Zampa and he looks to have missed the ball.
He was forward but Zampa is usually very accurate, especially on low bouncing pitches.
There was a nervous pause as the DRS system tried to load up the ball-tracking.
The ball was just hitting leg stump, so it was umpire’s call.
Root is out for 68. England are 3-201.
Root was out lbw but immediately called for the DRS replay.
He could miss out on another century.
Matthew Hayden loves to make a wild prediction and he thinks 380 or even 400 runs are on the cards for England’s powerful batting order.
But he urged Root and Duckett to start putting the foot down given their side has so many big hitters in the middle order.
Australia are trying to reduce the number of boundaries but they can’t put much pressure on this pair.
Duckett is nine runs from a century.
England are 2-195 and Root, Duckett have past 150 runs together this innings.
Ellis is continuing for Australia as he looks for a way to break this English partnership between Root and Duckett.
Last over, Duckett cracked another four to move to 82 in the last over and a big century is right there for the taking while Root is easing himself around with singles, letting Duckett push the tempo.
Finch says Australia would love anything under 340 given how good England are travelling. He added England would be aiming “north” of 350 runs.
On the current projections, if England makes 10 runs per over from here, they will post 405 runs or thereabouts.
“They will be eyeing something big,” Finch said on Amazon.
England are 2-183 from 28 overs with Duckett on 83 and Root on 60.
Labuschagne just bowled the 25th over with his leg-spinners and he only gave up seven overs.
He is the seventh bowler used so far by Smith so one does wonder how Smith will juggle his limited attack for the remaining 25 overs.
England are 2-166 from 25 overs and on course for 350 plus runs.
Root has brought up his 41st half century in one-day cricket.
According to the commentary, he hasn’t made a century in ODI cricket since 2019.
He had 50 from 56 balls and a lot of overs left.
England are 2-154 from 23 overs.
I had forgotten that Matt Short can also bowl and he has been called in for his right-arm off-spinners.
Root has cracked him for four from the first ball but recovered to only give up seven runs.
“This is the issue Australia faces, how do they get their fifth bowler away?” Aaron Finch asked on commentary.
Atherton asked if Smith might bowl his leg-spinners but Finch said no and Labuschagne would be the man, should Smith want another spin option.
Root and Duckett’s partnership is past 100 now and they don’t look like stopping anytime soon.
England are 2-150 from 22 overs.
It’s fair to say that Johnson is struggling on this low, lifeless wicket so one does wonder if he might not bowl all 10 overs.
Smith doesn’t have another recognised all-rounder than I can see beyond Maxwell but we’ve seen in Test cricket that Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne can take wickets with their spinners.
Or could Alex Carey’s freedom from keeping extend into a call to bowl? I have no idea whether he is a seamer or spinner but he looks capable of anything after that catch earlier.
So I do wonder if one of them might get the call to bowl since Australia has a lot of overs to go.
Johnson is continuing for now and he’s trying to cramp up Root by bowling around the wicket.
England are 2-132 from 20 overs.