Key events
Buttler c Shadab Khan b Haris Rauf 84
Haris Rauf returns for some death bowling. Buttler crunches a full ball off his toes with that now familiar break of the wrists to get four through cover… GONE! Buttler holes out with two overs to go.
18th over: England 164-5 (Ali 4, Livingstone)
Glad I’m not missing an eventful FA Cup final. Oh.
17th over: England 157-4 (Buttler 79, Ali 2) Amir is whipped for two by Buttler and then his short ball is swivelled away in the gap for four. The bowler responds well with a slower ball bouncer that outfoxes the England skipper. Three to go.
16th over: England 149-4 (Buttler 72, Ali 1) Ali gets off the mark – all eyes on Jos Buttler – can he get England up to 200 and to three figures for himself? Let’s find out shall we?
WICKET! Brook b Imad Wasim 1 (England 147-4)
Imad skids one through Brook and knocks back his middle stump. Brook stepped away and missed the cut shot off the straight. Here comes Moeen, England’s sole left-hander on the batting card.
WICKET! Bairstow c Iftikhar Ahmed b Shaheen 25 (England 144-3)
Shaheen comes back and is blitzed by Bairstow. A four over extra cover is followed by a flick off the hips that soars away for SIX! Swiss Clock timing on that one from JB. Bairstow in full on baseball mode as he chops away for another four and tries to do the same to a slower ball, pulling in the air to the leg side… where he is caught. OUT.
My days, Pakistan needed that.
15th over: England 144-3 (Buttler 69, Brook) Harry Brook skips out to the crease to join Buttler.
14th over: England 130-2 (Buttler 69, Bairstow 11)Jos Buttler reverse-hits for SIX! Shades of Kevin Pietersen in that shot, wow! The ball soaring out of the middle and into the stands. A single brings Jonny B on strike… he plays the regular sweep with the same result – SIX more into the crowd. Buttler finishes with a cut for four for good measure.
England flexing those muscles like Arnie in a pair of speedos. “Like a brown condom full of walnuts” as Clive James memorably said of the hulking great Austrian.
13th over: England 110-2 (Buttler 56, Bairstow 4) Buttler scoops with aplomb! Timing it beautifully with fine leg up… not that it matters as the ball flies over the rope for SIX. Fifty for the England cap’n too. A bashful wave of the bat from Jos. How dearly England would love to see him at his blistering best over the coming weeks.
“Cripes” says Tom Van Der Gucht. “This is a muscular batting line-up. I can well imagine Pakistan thinking they’re about to get a breather having removed Jacks, only to see Bairstow striding out- chewing gum and flexing his biceps – whilst Brooks, Livingstone and Ali lurk ominously in the dressing room. Pawing the ground like an angry bull, probably.”
12th over: England 101-2 (Buttler 48, Bairstow 3) Shadab into his third, he’s been expensive so far today but does better this over, driving the ball into the pitch at a decent lick and not allowing Buttler and Bairstow to get under it and away. Just four runs off it and England bring up their ton.
11th over: England 97-2 (Buttler 46, Bairstow 1) Babar goes upstairs for a review that had absolutely nowt going for it. The ball missing the stumps and hitting Bairstow outside the line. Bleurgh. Good over from Rauf though – just a single and the Jacks wicket off it.
Bairstow apparently hosted a BBQ for the England team at the weekend and paid for a ‘very famous chef’ to come and flip the burgers. Who’s your money on? Not Delia. Not Raymond Blanc surely?
WICKET! Jacks c Shadab Khan b Haris Rauf 37 (96-2)
First ball back after drinks and Jacks has to go – he slaps a slower ball from Haris Rauf straight to backward point. England lose their second. Here’s Jonny! (Bairstow)
Halfway through – time for a drink. Milk and a sugar please.
10th over: England 96-1 (Buttler 46, Jacks 37) Imad continues. Pakistan need another frugal one from him. WHAT.A.SHOT. ‘scuse capitals but Will Jacks has just played an outrageous shot for SIX! He backed away to leg and Imad followed him with a ball angled down the leg-side… Jacks simply kept backing away and somehow managed to pulverise the ball off the back foot for a ferocious six over cover. Extraordinary.
9th over: England 87-1 (Buttler 41, Jacks 29) Shadab returns after being clobbered last over and it is more of the same for him. SEVENTEEN runs off the over, Jacks cutting for four, Buttler reverse-sweeping and unfurling the cut shot too. The boundaries being bruised at the minute by England.
8th over: England 70-1 (Buttler 33, Jacks 24) Imad Wasim is recalled and he gets in and out of his over for just three runs. Tidy stuff. The spinner nearly picks up Buttler with a caught and bowled too – the ball landing just short on the return drive. Just five runs off his two overs so far today – Imad Wasim has been the pick of the bowlers.
7th over: England 67-1 (Buttler 32, Jacks 22) Shadab Khan into the attack and is taken for 14 runs off his first over. Buttler cuts him for four and then heaves a half volley over the leg side for a huge SIX. It looks pretty flat out there.
6th over: England 53-1 (Buttler 19, Jacks 21) Amir changes ends to bowl the final over of the PowerPlay. Buttler pulls into the leg side for a couple and nearly beats mid-wicket with a powerful drive but Shaheen pulls off a tidy stop to keep it to a single. A single to Jacks. Buttler gets an inside edge to bring his partner back on strike for the final ball of the over. Crrrrrunch! Jacks spanks a wide ball through point for a punishing four. Don’t bowl there son. The Surrey man looking in reeediculous nick.
5th over: England 44-1 (Buttler 15, Jacks 16) Haris Rauf is summoned into the attack. He’s making his way back from injury too but can bowl with real fire when he’s on song. Have some of that! Jacks plays the shot of the day so far – a textbook straight drive with a minimum of fuss that sails over the bowler’s head for SIX! Jacks goes again next ball – not timing it as well but the ball still trickles into the fence at mid-wicket for four. Speared away! Jacks hits his third boundary of the over, flaying a wide ball over point for four. Seventeen runs off the over.
4th over: England 27-1 (Buttler 12, Jacks 1) Will Jacks in at first drop. This will be England’s top three at the World Cup next month. Wasim is on the money, Jacks clipping a full ball into leg to get off the mark. Just a couple of runs and the wicket off the over. Pakistan punch back.
WICKET! Salt c Shaheen b Imad Wasim (13) England 25-1
Imad Wasim comes on to bowl some spin. Left arm round and slightly jerky action… Salt slaps it aerially into the leg side where Shaheen takes a fine tumbling catch! Pakistan have their first scalp. Salt is angry he didn’t either keep it down or smash it into the stands.
3rd over: England 25-0 (Salt 13, Buttler 12) Afridi is full and Salt drives over mid-on for four. He didn’t get all of it but has enough power that even his mis-hits race away to the fence. Easy now! Salt winds up to go agains and is very nearly cleaned up, an inside edge onto pad saving him, a quick single taken off it. Shot. Buttler steps away and clubs a full ball down the ground for four. Jos’s shoulder shimmying whilst Afridi runs in, this is high octane stuff. Four more! Buttler goes down the ground again for the third boundary of the over. A wild swish of a play and a miss to finish the over.
2nd over: England 12-0 (Salt 8, Buttler 4) Mohammad Amir shares the new ball, he has a slight breeze to run into as opposed to Afridi who has it at his back. Them’s the breaks when you aren’t top dog. Cripes! Buttler nearly chops a full bunger onto his stumps, the ball just sliding down past the timbers. A push to mid-on and they take a single. Amir hustles in and slings one down short with his southpaw action, Salt pulls in front of square for three. Amir angles the ball across both Buttler and Salt, beating them both in his first over and conceding just four runs off it.
1st over: England 8-0 (Salt 5, Buttler 3) Eeesht! Shaheen is fast and full to Phil Salt. A bunted full toss and a swing and a miss make it two dots to begin with. Salt is then nearly outfoxed by a slower ball that he plinks into the air short of mid-on. A scampered single sees him off the mark. Buttler leans on a full ball and guides it through the covers for three. Salt then digs out a toe crunching yorker before going up and over the in-field to clobber four off the final ball.
The players emerge onto the field, a decent crowd in and plenty of support for Pakistan. Great swathes of green shirts in the bleachers. Shaheen Shah Afridi is going to start up, what a sight he is at full tilt. Let’s play!
A slightly guarded but smiling Jofra Archer speaks to his former captain and current Sky Sports pundit Eoin Morgan. He’s been out of the game for so long that he clearly wants to take each game at a time. Kudos to him for putting in the hard yards and solitary hours of rehab to get back out there today. Archer did suggest recently that another injury setback like the ones he has experienced over the last few years would make him seriously consider his future playing the game. I really hope he comes through and has plenty of years worth of injury free playing ahead of him.
Jofra said:
I want to get out there before I can tell you how I feel, I’ve been rehabbing for as long as I can remember, so it is good to be back. The constant robotic routine … you’ve got to get up and keep going, but I’m back here so it has to be worth it.
I have been bowling since November last year properly, but there’s an extra 10% of intensity for big games. Hopefully I can get through it and get on the plane. I have to take it game by game, can’t look too far ahead, but I’ve never played at Kensington [Oval in Barbados] so fingers crossed.”
Confirmed Teams:
England: Jos Buttler (t/wk), Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir
Shadab Khan makes a return for the visitors and Naseem Shah misses out/ is rested in modern parlance.
Pakistan win the toss… and choose to BOWL
A slightly fluffed toss where both captain’s seem to call with the coin in the air. Babar wins it and confirms they will take the field first.
Buttler says he would have chosen to chase too. On Jofra’s return – “Really exciting, he looks great, fit and healthy and raring to go”
Liam Livingstone is in the side for England and Haris Rauf for Pakistan.
James Wallace
Hello everyone and welcome to The Guardian’s OBO coverage of England’s first T20I against Pakistan from Edgbaston. It’s World Cup tune up time! After the rains in Yorkshire kiboshed the scheduled first game in the week all is set fair for the series to get underway in a little over 30 minutes time in Brum.
All eyes are on Jofra Archer.
The bowler has been marking out his run up and looks nailed on to make his return to the England fold – this will mark his first international on home soil since 2020 and his first professional match since May of last year. England’s prospects of retaining their title at next month’s tournament in the USA and Caribbean are considerably improved if the lightning armed Archer is fit and firing.
The toss is about to take place, I’ll confirm the result and the confirmed teams in a jiffy – if you are out there and want to join in the fun this afternoon then do drop me a line at the details on the left of this page. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin.
Preamble
James will be here shortly. In the meantime read Ali Martin’s preview:
Moeen Ali signed off from the 50-over World Cup with a typically honest admission that England should turn to the next generation. Although as the 36-year-old heads into the Twenty20 equivalent next month – a tournament in which he could captain the side at some point – there are no thoughts of international retirement.
Speaking in India last November, Moeen said the players failed to see “the writing was on the wall” and he would “just start again”. As such, having called time on Test cricket after his final-day Ashes heroics last summer, and currently on a one-year central contract, it raised the question whether next month in the Caribbean will be his last dance.
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