Australia v England: Women’s Ashes first Twenty20 – live!

19th over: England 124-7 (Wilson 21, Hazell 5)

Big Perry off-cutter to begin the penultimate over. Wilson lucky to get an inside edge. Better next ball, deploying her lap sweep. Her best stroke, clearing short-fine leg with easy. Two boundaries in two balls for her when Kimmince is unable to drag back a slap shot that has just enough gas to get to the rope. Doing her job here, Wilson. Single to point after making room gives Hazell two to look at. She tries to put the first one out of the stadium, but misses. No harm done. Gets onto the next one though pulling high over midwicket, a couple of bounces into the rope. So, three fours from the over and England are beyond that really important run a ball barrier. With an over to go. How many sweeps will Wilson play in this final over? I say six.

18th over: England 111-7 (Wilson 12, Hazell 1)

Schutt brilliant. Three different types of slower ball used through the remainder of the successful over. Only four from it. Advantage Australia.

Bringing back opener Schutt has worked straight away, Gunn top-edging and Haynes doing the rest at extra cover. Clever little chance of pace has done her there. 16 balls left.

17th over: England 107-6 (Wilson 9, Gunn 4)

Gunn the new player in, she’s facing Perry who has been brought back for a third over. She should be caught at gully but Jonassen has put down another awful dropped catch. The caught and bowled earlier and now that. Wasn’t hit well at all, floating to her. Must not have picked it up in the lights. Nearly doesn’t matter, Gunn to the danger end and has to dive to make her ground, the throw from Haynes only just missing. Single to the deep from Wilson. Six from it. Both teams would probably take that.

Goodness me. Wyatt hits two boundaries to begin the over, cutting Gardner wonderfully then taking her down the ground over mid-on for four more. Next ball, she got her first international half-century. So well played. Next? Bunt and run, ran out by the bowler after Wilson – quite rightly – sent her back. Not sure why she did that. 11 from the over alongside the very important wicket. Australia are north of 100 thanks to Wyatt, but has made a bad mistake there. Well done by Gardner in her follow through to execute a very good turn and throw. “What an athlete” Mark Taylor says on the telly. Not wrong.

16th over: England 101-6 (Wilson 6, Gunn 1)

15th over: England 90-5 (Wyatt 41, Wilson 5)

Dropped! There’s a moment. Kimmince wins the error from Wilson, going high but not far. The bowler doesn’t have far to go but it goes straight through her hands. Had to move with the flight, but still should have done better. She recovers well with two dot balls. Make that three! Yep, that’s a very good over. Four from that as well.

14th over: England 86-5 (Wyatt 39, Wilson 3)

Gardner again from the Moreton Bay Fig Tree End. Singles to the first three balls, Wyatt nearly bisecting long-on and long-off with the third of those. Wilson plays a game of dab and run, sent back by Wyatt just in time. She moves to three with a sweep and keeps the strike. Only four from that over though, a reminder of how imporant wickets are in the shortest form of the game.

13th over: England 82-5 (Wyatt 37, Wilson 1)

Wilson the new player, off the mark down the ground. Wyatt keeps the strike the same way. She becomes the most important player in this game now. If she is there at the end, England will have recovered something very bad and turned it into something very servicable.

On the cusp of breaking the game open, the partnership is over when Sciver tries to lift Kimmince over midwicket. Trapped in front. No issues there. Earlier in the set she played just about the shot of the night with an on-drive to the rope, after Wyatt took the first ball past point for another boundary. They put on 64. But Kimmince, in her first over in the canary yellow since 2014, has got the breakthrough at the vital time.

12th over: England 71-4 (Sciver 22, Wyatt 31)

Gardner for her first bowl tonight. Both players trying to go down the ground rather than sweeping by default as they did, suggesting there is a fair bit more in this track than we thought after the Test Match. That’s a good thing. 50 partnership from 46 balls raised with a Sciver single to cover. Clutch in the context of both this match and series, remembering that if England lose here the Ashes are over. Sciver premeditates and does it again! This time having enough time to lift over short fine leg after racing outside off-stump. What brilliant timing from the all-rounder. She was 1 from 14 balls earlier but now into the 20s. Eight from it. England back in business here.

11th over: England 63-4 (Sciver 16, Wyatt 29)

Wyatt slicing at Aley but third man is up, so she gets another boundary. A slap to midwicket turns it back to Sciver. She bunts down the ground for another. Wyatt does likewise to midwicket again. Much, much better batting. Sciver for the second time in the set picks out the sweeper at long-on. Nine from that one.

10th over: England 54-4 (Sciver 12, Wyatt 23)

Wyatt and Sciver successful in turning the strike over, a nice strike down the ground from the former. Sciver decides to take the game into her own hands with another standing sweep, but one that is very much premeditated after making a lot of room and exposing all three stumps. But she makes perfect contact, gets a boundary and moves into double figures. England get to 50 as well. A single from the same player out to cover means she’ll face again next over. We’re at half way. For what it is worth, a total of 120 wins more games of women’s international T20 cricket than it loses. I have no stats to back this up, but I reckon I’m right.

9th over: England 44-4 (Sciver 6, Wyatt 19)

Sarah Aley to get her first chance to play for Australia at age 33. Great stuff. Nearly gets one second ball, Wyatt not getting much on a slap down the ground, just clearing the circle. Great bit of fielding from Kimmince in the deep to save a boundary later in the over. Wyatt takes a couple to mid-on as there isn’t fielder there, Aley having to do the work off her own bowling. Keeps the strike again with a clip out to midwicket. Seven from it. That’ll do for them from here. Wyatt to 19 from 16 balls.

8th over: England 37-4 (Sciver 3, Wyatt 15)

Amanda Wellington on. And immediately making things happen, as she tends to do. Wyatt plays and misses a ball that just misses the woodwork. Next ball: Wyatt gets something on it and it only just evades a diving Jonassen at backward point. Doesn’t quite go to hand. Better from Sciver, finding the middle of the bat with a standing sweep. Wyatt keeps the strike with a single to the sweeper at point. Five from it.

7th over: England 32-4 (Sciver 2, Wyatt 12)

“It’s rattling on a bit this game.” The first words of Jim Maxwell when he joins the radio call. Can say that again. Perry with the ball, and she is missing wide of off-stump again. So we’re up to 12 runs in wides now. A misfield from Jonassen at point gets Sciver down the other end. DROPPED! Perry wins the edge and Healy can’t take punchy Wyatt. Went with the one hand, may have tried for both had she her time again. Lovely bowling.

3248 the current crowd, we’re told. Rachael Haynes said at her pre-game press conference yesterday they were expecting 7-9000 at CA. Wonder what’s going on there?

6th over: England 28-4 (Sciver 1, Wyatt 10)

Boom, boom! Wyatt takes Jonassen on twice in two balls down the ground, the pocket-rocket depositing both over her head for boundaries. Her first chance to bat in this Women’s Ashes series and she isn’t going to die wondering. Down the track for a single through the covers. This is the last over of the power play, so only two Australians are permitted outside the circle, Haynes moving one of those to Wyatt’s area of choice. Sciver isn’t able to do anything with the final three balls. She is in terrible nick, only one run from 14 balls. But at least she is still there. And we know what she can do if it does click at some stage. Power play finished. Phew.

5th over: England 19-4 (Sciver 1, Wyatt 1)

Another wide from Perry. 19 runs scored so far, 11 in sundries. Not pretty. Two wickets from the over. “England have got to be thinking 110 or 120 and hoping that’s enough for their spinners,” says Charles Dagnall on the radio. Charlotte Edwards agrees – they need to quickly reassess what is possible from here. Here are the Perry wickets.

https://twitter.com/SouthernStars/status/931439952541368320

HAT-TRICK BALL…. Dani Wyatt leaves it alone outside the off-stump. And it is a wide, in keeping with the manic theme of the night so far. A night that is still only 4.2 overs old. Scenes!

Perry on a hat-trick! A lot more conventional this time, Perry winning Brunt’s edge first ball and the wicketkeeper making no mistake. Brunt’s elevation up the order has not worked and England are on the brink of a complete catastrophe.

Given! Massive call from the umpire to assume that went all the way into Healy’s gloves, but that is the call. Consensus on radio is that Beaumont would get the benefit of the doubt. She hasn’t. England have lost their third wicket and we’re only a couple of balls into the fourth over.

HAS BEAUMONT EDGED PERRY? Going upstairs. Great take by Healy. But a lot to consider for the TV umpire, as it was a wild out swing after charging, and only just carried to the ‘keeper. Stand by.

4th over: England 16-2 (Beaumont 4, Sciver 1)

Charlotte Edwards on TMS says that this is very tough for a batting side, knowing they have to attack despite the early wickets. You only get this power play period for six overs, after all. Still incredibly scrappy cricket out here, Schutt giving up the first boundary when missing her line once again, four wides added. There’s an appeal for leg before, a couple of quick singles. Still, eight runs from it.

3rd over: England 8-2 (Beaumont 2, Sciver 1)

Singles with sweeps conventional and reverse get England finally heading in the right direction. DROPPED! That should have been three wickets in three overs, Sciver returning the easiest of chances to the bowler Jonassen. Straight through her hands. Harder to miss than to take. She’s nearly run out Beaumont at the non-strikers’ end after dropping it though, the opening getting her bat down with about a tenth of a second to spare. It is sent upstairs and confirmed as not out. Crazy cricket!

2nd over: England 5-2 (Beaumont 0, Sciver 0)

What a loose old start! Schutt is spraying them about down legside a couple of times, the only runs from the over. Both batsman are yet to get off the mark. There’s the aforementioned lbw. And the madness second ball. Fair to say no one definitively knows the deal with Knight’s dismissal yet.

Here is the LBW. What do you reckon? Geoff is near me saying it wouldn’t have hit the proverbial second set. Not so sure about that myself, not that it matters.

Taylor is gone too! Given LBW to Schutt’s second ball after bowling a wide first up. She’s not happy, but it has hit in line so she was always going to struggle to get the decision go her way. A lot of swing, mind. No DRS, so we’ll never know. But she’s gone and England are in real strife already.

1st over: England 1-2 (Taylor 2, Beaumont 0)

We’re all still trying to process what happened there. But a couple to Taylor. She’s away. Take a breath.

Okay – I have written this post three times! Second ball, Knight was caught behind. Or so we thought. She came off, most of the way, replaced by Sarah Taylor. Then she came back as the TV umpire assessed that Healy had taken the bails off. This suggested that Knight had been given bowled. But wait! A twist! She hit it! So she is out caught behind after all. I’m sorry this is confusing. To be fair, TV and radio haven’t a clue what happened either. But it did.

Weather. Bit cloudy and quite breezy, but no rain. A major concern coming in was that this would be washed out, but not so. The crowd is about the same as what we had at the Test Match. So not quite the 7-9,000 quoted during the week. Maybe half that. So if you are reading on in Sydney and considering dropping down, please do. Ample room.

Players on the field. Ready to roll. Knight and Beaumont to start to England, the former elevating herself to the top of the list for the first time in a while. Jess Jonassen has the first over for Australia with her left-arm orthos. PLAY!

Sarah Aley. Nice story here with the 33-year-old New South Wales seamer. She freely admits giving up hopes of an international career long ago. Then the Women’s Big Bash League happened. In the second iteration of the tournament last summer she led all comers for wickets by a massive margin of seven, taking 28 scalps at 12 to lead the Sydney Sixers to the title. An ODI debut followed in the World Cup against Pakistan (should never have been dropped), and tonight she gets to play her favoured format.

Shrubsole. “A chance for Sunday,” the England camp have confirmed. Missing tonight as a bit of a precautionary measure. England are three spinners (Ecclestone, Hartley and Hazell) in their side, alongside Knight and Wyatt who also tweak it. Throw in Jenny Gunn, who coach Mark Robinson considers a spinner, and you get the idea: spin to win.

Understandably so, given the track is the same as the one they used on the Test Match over the weekend. It was dead as they come then. We’re all hoping it has a lot more to it tonight.

Oh – I missed the important bit of any OBO preamble: telling you how to talk to me. Tell me on the email, hit me on the twitter. We’re ten minutes away from it kicking off. Buckle up.

Good evening. Adam Collins with you here at North Sydney Oval. The news to hand is that England are unchanged from the side that thrashed the Governor-General’s XI in a tour game on Wednesday.

To dig a bit deeper on that, this confirms that Anya Shrubsole’s hamstring niggle is a bit more than that alone, for this is must-win and England rely on their vice-captain when she has the white ball in her hand.

The short story here is that Australia lead the multiformat series 6-4 on points, with three T20s (worth two apiece) to come. Because they hold the trophy from 2015, one victory will be enough to confirm their retention of it.

So for England it is fairly black and white: win them all, get a nice piece of hand luggage for their trip home. The did defeat Australia 2-1 in the T20 element of their previous stoush in 2015. And since then, of course, won the ODI World Cup this July.

As I type the toss has been run and won in the middle, Australia winning it and putting in the visitors. Of note in the Australian XI, all-rounder Delissa Kimmince is back for her first international since 2014 and veteran seamer Sarah Aley will debut.

Australia: Healy (+), Mooney, Villani, Perry, Haynes (c), Gardner, Kimmince, Wellington, Jonassen, Aley, Schutt.

England: Knight (c), Beaumont, Taylor (+), Sciver, Brunt, Wyatt, Wilson, Gunn, Hazell, Ecclestone, Hartley.

Adam will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a reminder of where we’re at in the series: