17th over: England 111-0 (Ali 45, Bell 65)
It’s time for the burly Moises Henriques to part the Red Sea of England’s resistance, and bring the spell of Ten Co-maidens down from Mount Wellington.
Nope, it’s not that time. Bell is using his feet, driving cleanly, and fetching ones and twos with ease. Six from that over.
16th over: England 105-0 (Ali 44, Bell 60)
Bell is getting very cheeky, repeatedly chipping Faulkner in the air, down the ground, wide of mid-off, and taking two runs at a time. He collects seven from the over and raises England’s century opening stand.
15th over: England 98-0 (Ali 44, Bell 53)
England can’t go wrong here today. A few singles traded, then Ali sweeps Maxwell through fine leg for four, and follows up with a clout over midwicket for four more, thus evening up his disgraceful six-to-four ratio. The second shot wasn’t at all convincing, but like McGarnagle, it got results.
11 from the over.
14th over: England 87-0 (Ali 35, Bell 51)
Half-century! 50 from 42 balls for Bell, it’s looking easier and easier after an iffy first couple of overs. Eight fours. Ali, interestingly, only has one, but he’s his three sixes.
James Faulkner has taken over the bowling. Only three singles from his first over.
13th over: England 84-0 (Ali 34, Bell 49)
There’s the counter-argument for playing the reverse sweep. Bell is very nearly bowled as he swaps his feet, swaps his hands and tries another reverse against Maxwell. He misses the ball, the ball misses his off stump by an inch and bounces off the keeper for a bye. Four singles also come from the over.
Sorry England fans but this game is an elaborate hoax. England are really 23/0 after 10. Ali on 19, Cook with a determined 2 off 42 #AUSvENG
— 51allout (@51allout) January 23, 2015
12th over: England 79-0 (Ali 32, Bell 47)
Sandhu again, he’s the only one stringing tight overs together today. The English openers are watchful against him. Bell takes one to third man, Ali one through midwicket, Bell one behind square. That’s it. Sandhu’s four overs for 14 so far.
11th over: England 76-0 (Ali 31, Bell 45)
Smith decides to change things up with spin, and goes for Glenn Maxwell. Ali doesn’t look comfortable here, missing a big sweep shot that nearly bowls him and mistiming a drive. But when Bell gets on strike he calmly reverse-sweeps Maxwell for four. He even made that look like an elegant shot.
10th over: England 69-0 (Ali 30, Bell 39)
Sandhu, in contrast, goes for just three singles from his over. England flying nonetheless, a good return from the first 10 and not a wicket down. Just looking at Shaun Marsh on that replay, he would have caught the ball if he’d just waited right back on the rope. Instead he was about two metres in and so he had to jump back for the catch. That’s a lapse, when the bloke on strike has just nailed two sixes out your way.
9th over: England 66-0 (Ali 29, Bell 37)
Six! Moeen Ali has had enough of scratching around like an old chook, and tries to hit out of trouble. Doesn’t entirely nail that Cummins short ball but slices enough bat on the pull shot to hang the ball just over the rope at deep midwicket.
Six! No trouble with that one! Got every piece of it, another short one, a proper hook and it landed right up on the grass bank.
Six! Three in a row for Ali, that wasn’t short but he flicked it off his pads with a half-flick, half-pull. It was caught by Shaun Marsh at deep square leg but he was leaning too far backwards, and even though he tried to throw it back into the field of play his momentum took it over the rope.
Defends the last ball.
Hitting his way out of trouble has definitely worked.
8th over: England 48-0 (Ali 11, Bell 37)
Sandhu is looking good here. He’s a right-armer angling the ball just across Ali, and he’s getting some jag from the seam. Tall bowler, bangs it in hard. Ali plays and misses at one... two... edges the third for a single... Sandhu is more at the stumps for Bell, and in the end they only get three singles from his over.
7th over: England 45-0 (Ali 9, Bell 36)
Cummins arrives from the other end now as Starc’s spell finishes. Bell drives three from the first ball, then they potter a few singles. No dramas as yet, apart from Ali playing and missing a bit.
6th over: England 39-0 (Ali 7, Bell 32)
Sandhu is on for his first over - haven’t seen much of him, he’s a big broad-shouldered fellow with a muscular style of delivery rather than a hugely fluid one. He’s tight on off stump and pitching up for the entire over, and after getting the pace from the first four balls, Bell drives a boundary and a single down the ground. Moeen Ali’s score has barely moved.
“Ian Bell not having much fun?” says an incredulous Mark Armitage. “88 from 91 against India? After Cook (A) at the top of the one-day order, I’ll happily take that kind of torpor.” More thinking of series-opening ducks against Australia, Mark, but he’s enjoying himself now.
5th over: England 34-0 (Ali 7, Bell 27)
Wonder what Steve Smith is thinking of his decision to bowl first? The pitch is playing very truly, it’s a sunny day, there hasn’t been a millimetre of swing, and Starc is smacked for another four through cover by Bell. Six from the over.
An amusing message in from Nick: “Looking forward to hearing how things go today. But I am off to play cricket this morning with a hardy bunch of lads here in Saudi Arabia at the ungodly hour of seven thirty in the am. It is absolutely freezing. I am not confident that the English element of our group, me, is going to do very well today. And have THE FEAR that England will probably be in the same boat.”
4th over: England 28-0 (Ali 6, Bell 22)
Ian Bell! Well, he’s zooming along now. Cummins gives him a pie on his pads, then another short outside off stump. Leg flick, square cut, eight runs, Bell has 22 from 12 balls. That turnaround didn’t take long.
3rd over: England 19-0 (Ali 5, Bell 14)
In the air again from Bell, this time off the full face but the square drive could have been caught had the field been slightly different. He gratefully takes the four runs. He’s slowly working his way into touch, and he’s much closer with the next boundary, a shortish ball that sees him stand up straight and time it very nicely off the back foot push through cover. Then he’s back to fortunate rubbish as he nicks the last ball wide of second slip for four more.
12 from the over.
2nd over: England 7-0 (Ali 5, Bell 2)
Very ungainly shot from Bell, he gets a ball to cut but he’s through the shot way to early, dragging it away near mid-off but it lands safely. Later he tries a big square drive and edges it on the bounce to third man. Ali also got a single, but with much less drama. Bell hasn’t had much fun since that 180-odd in the tour game.
1st over: England 4-0 (Ali 4, Bell 0)
Mitchell Starc takes the new ball - he’s sure done some damage with it in this series so far, and curiously Ian Bell elects not to face the first delivery. He was out first ball of the match in Sydney, so he’s preferring to put Ali into the firing line this time.
The pitch is a strange rich clay colour, halfway to terracotta, and it looks pretty hard and pure, though the captains at the toss thought it might be a bit tacky. Ali isn’t having too much trouble timing on it, whipping Starc’s fourth ball through midwicket for four. The rest he safely negotiates, getting behind, pushing around, not scoring runs.
Australia wins the toss and will bowl
Temporary skipper Steve Smith sending the visitors in. George Bailey is suspended for a slow over rate. David Warner and Shane Watson are resting with slight hamstring worries. That has required plenty of reshuffling, with Cameron White, Shaun Marsh and Moises Henriques into the side, and a batting promotion for Brad Haddin. Gurinder Sandhu keeps his spot for his second ODI.
England are unchanged from their last match unless I’m missing something.
Australia
White
Finch
Marsh
Smith*
Maxwell
Haddin†
Henriques
Faulkner
Starc
Cummins
Sandhu
England
Bell
Ali
Taylor
Root
Morgan*
Bopara
Buttler†
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
Finn
Hello champs, chumps and champignons. How are things travelling in your corners of the globe? Geoff Lemon with you for the first innings of this adjective-free ODI contest - I don’t think it particularly big or small, it doesn’t deserve much of a descriptor.
That’s how you talk things up in Hobart.
New Zealand are handing out another Sri Spanking on the other side of the ditch, with ex-Australian Luke Ronchi making a lazy 170 from 99 balls, and all-rounder Grant Elliot making a ton. They were two of the controversial inclusions in the World Cup squad, so everything’s looking rosy for the Black Caps.
Meanwhile, down our way, Australia have pretty much qualified for the finals of this short series already and are playing a B-Team batting line-up, while England can qualify for the finals by beating them.
Australia meet England for the second time this Tri-Series in the pleasant surrounds of Bellerive Oval in Hobart and, would you believe it, the host nation are in pretty fine fettle heading into this one. Two played, two won, including the opener against England. The tourists, however, bounced back from that defeat with a thumping win over India and with Australia depleted by injury, suspension and tiredness, this one promises to be an intriguing encounter. Geoff Lemon isn’t in Tassie, he’s holed up somewhere in Melbourne, but he’s the man charged with bringing you all the latest from Hobart. He’ll be along soon enough, so why not read this in the meantime?
I think it is good for the game to have a bit of niggle but there is a line you can’t cross and you’ve just got to do it with a bit of intelligence.
That’s England brainbox Jimmy Anderson, in case you hadn’t realised. Read more here.
