T20 World Cup, England vs Australia as it happened: Buttler’s brilliant 71 helps England win big
All the updates from the Super 12 match between England and Australia.
ENG 126/2 after 11.4 overs: Big, big, big win for England. They have crushed Australia — they have won by 8 wickets with 50 balls to spare. Buttler finished with 71off 32 balls. The other batters just needed to feed him the strike. What a statement by England! They are the side to beat.
ENG 119/2 after 11 overs: Buttler and now, Bairstow going nuts. We are going to have an early finish. Australia though will have a sleepless night.
ENG 97/2 after 9.1 overs: WICKET! Agar back into the attack and he strikes. Malan walking back after edging it through to the keeper. Malan c Wade b Agar 8(8)
ENG 97/1 after 9 overs: Buttler all the way. Fours and sixes the order of the day. He got to his fifty off just 25 balls. Zampa has no answers to this.
ENG 82/1 after 8 overs: 14 from the Starc over and Buttler has motored away to 49 off just 24 balls. He is striking it so well today.
ENG 66/1 after 6.2 overs: WICKET! Zampa into the attack and he gets a wicket right away. Roy trapped LBW after Australia get their review right. Roy lbw b Zampa 22(20)
ENG 66/0 after 6 overs: What a Powerplay for England! Australia needed early wickets but instead, their bowlers have been hammered all around the park. Buttler has 39 off 19 and Roy has 22 off 18.
ENG 48/0 after 5 overs: Given the circumstances, this is a brilliant start. England have almost finished the game off already. They need 78 off 90 balls now.
ENG 37/0 after 4 overs: England are motoring along. They keep getting the odd big shot every over and that is all they need today. A six for Buttler off Agar was a welcome one.
ENG 27/0 after 3 overs: 14 runs from the Cummins over. England are off and running. Roy is doing his thing and given the number of runs Australia have on board, it isn’t good for Finch’s side.
ENG 13/0 after 2 overs: A four off the first ball eased the pressure on Roy and put it right back on Hazlewood and Australia.
ENG 5/0 after 1 over: Buttler pulled Starc for a four in the first over. A bit too short from the left-armer.
The England innings is all set to begin and for Australia to stand a chance, they need early wickets.
AUS 125 all out after 20 overs: Starc was dismissed off the last ball but he has done his bit. As has Mills, whose 4 overs went for 45. That is a huge percentage of the total runs scored. The Aussies bowlers have a battle on their hands. They will need to be brilliant.
AUS 112/8 after 19 overs: The lack of intent from Australia for most part of this innings would have troubled their team management. The bowlers have shown way more intent than the batters.
AUS 110/8 after 18.2 overs: WICKET! And the very next ball, Cummins is gone too. Jordan on a hat-trick now. 143 kmph yorker did the trick. Cummins b Jordan 12(3)
AUS 110/7 after 18.1 overs: WICKET! Finch tries to smack one out of the park but finds the fielder in the deep. No support for the Aussie skipper today. Finch c Bairstow b Jordan 44(49)
AUS 110/6 after 18 overs: Cummins come in with two balls left in the over and he dispatches both of them for sixes.
AUS 98/6 after 17.4 overs: WICKET! Agar finds the fielder in the deep. Mills gets another wicket. Important wicket given how he was striking the ball. Agar c Livingstone b Tymal Mills 20(20)
AUS 91/5 after 17 overs: 20 runs off the Woakes over. A few more overs like this and Australia will be back in business. But is it too late? Good intent by Agar who hit two successive sixes.
AUS 67/5 after 15 overs: A couple of fours for Finch off the first two balls off the Mills over. Some hope. Some rhythm.
AUS 57/5 after 14 overs: Slow and steady. Australia will hope that Finch can reel off a few good overs towards the end. Livingstone finishes his quota of overs - 4-0-15-1.
AUS 53/5 after 13 overs: The runs have simply dried out. A huge gap between England and Australia on the face of what we are watching.
AUS 51/5 after 11.4 overs: WICKET! Livingstone gets Wade. The left-hander was looking for the big shot but is caught on the boundary line. Wade c Roy b Livingstone 18(18)
AUS 49/4 after 11 overs: Mills into the attack for the first time today and he did well mostly. Wade got an uncomfortable short ball away for a four. But not easy.
AUS 41/4 after 10 overs: Half the innings is done and Australia have just 41 runs on the board. It is not looking good at all for them. Can they turn this around as Afghanistan did against Pakistan?
AUS 37/4 after 9 overs: Steady from Rashid. If England can get a few more wickets, they’ll finish Australia off completely. They can’t take the foot off the pedal here.
AUS 32/4 after 8 overs: England keeping things under control. Livingstone coming in and playing his role to perfection. Wade and Finch need to stay together for a while now.
AUS 21/4 after 6.1 overs: WICKET! Stoinis is done in by the googly from Rashid. England are destroying Australia here. Didn’t even think of the review here. Stoinis lbw b Adil Rashid 0(4)
AUS 21/3 after 6 overs: The Powerplay overs are done and what a toss to win this has proved to be for England. Woakes has been brilliant and the others haven’t put a foot wrong either.
AUS 19/3 after 5 overs: The Powerplay overs are almost done and Australia have got few runs of the board and lost three wickets too. How do they go about their innings from here? First priority... build a partnership.
AUS 15/3 after 3.5 overs: WICKET! Maxwell gone too! Trapped LBW. He took a review but it didn’t help. The ball was crashing into the leg stump. Australia in big trouble. Maxwell lbw b Woakes 6(9)
AUS 11/2 after 3 overs: Maxwell and Finch in the middle and they have to find a way to get past this period.
AUS 8/2 after 2.1 overs: WICKET! What a catch by Woakes! One-handed… back over his head. Steve Smith gone. Tried to clear mod-on. The connection was totally off. Jordan the bowler. Australia have a lot of work to do. Smith c Woakes b Jordan 1(5)
AUS 7/1 after 1.2 overs: WICKET! Warner goes early. Woakes strikes. The batter came down the pitch a little but the ball nipped away. Superb bowling. Warner c Buttler b Woakes 1(2)
AUS 6/0 after 1 over: Rashid to start things off and he did well. He tossed one ball up and that was driven by Finch over the head of mid-off for a four.
Teams: No changes for England. Agar comes in for Australia.
Australia playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
England playing XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills
Toss: England have won the toss and will field first against Australia.
Win the toss and chase: The toss is vital in Dubai. Chasing teams have won 9 out of the 10 games so far.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the Super 12 match between England and Australia.
Speaking on the eve of the match, Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins hailed England as the “form team” in white-ball cricket but shrugged off the potential impact on the forthcoming Ashes of Saturday’s T20 World Cup clash.
Eoin Morgan’s England are the 50-over World Cup champions and chasing a second T20 global title after their 2010 triumph.
Both teams go into Saturday’s clash in Dubai with two wins in two games and the semi-finals enticingly within reach.
Adding extra spice is the approaching Ashes series which starts in December.
“It’s probably going to be one of our most difficult games,” Morgan said of Saturday’s game.
“Australia are a very strong side – they’ve won two from two, much like us – and have started well.”
Morgan admitted that fast bowlers Mark Wood (ankle) and Tom Curran (knee) are both still likely to sit out the match.
“They’re progressing really well,” Morgan said.
“Where we were before the first game, they’ve come on a long way.”