England v Australia: Cricket World Cup warmup – live!

16th over: Australia 77-1 (Warner 39, Marsh 18) Good batting from Warner, who hits three twos in four balls from Moeen Ali. That’s drinks.

15th over: Australia 70-1 (Warner 33, Marsh 17) Apparently Paul Collingwood, England’s fielding coach, is on as a substitute. Presumably Archer went off as a precaution after slipping by the boundary.

Another good over from Stokes, who has bowled well since coming into the attack when Wood went off with injury. Warner has 33 from 49 balls, Marsh 17 from 24.

14th over: Australia 68-1 (Warner 32, Marsh 16) There’s no spin for Moeen – shock, horror – but he is getting a bit of drift, and he hurries through another useful, boundaryless over.

13th over: Australia 65-1 (Warner 31, Marsh 14) Good shot from Warner, who rocks back to belabour Stokes through extra cover for three. I know he can be a bit of a wand at times but he really is a glorious batsman.

12th over: Australia 58-1 (Warner 25, Marsh 13) Moeen Ali comes into the attack and starts with a low-key over; three singles from it.

11th over: Australia 55-1 (Warner 23, Marsh 12) For heaven’s sake, they’ve now taken those four runs off Warner. Whoever you are, stop this, you’re raising my stress levels.

10th over: Australia 51-1 (Warner 26, Marsh 9) The official scorecard is still different. I’m taking an executive decision to go with that, which means deducting a run from Australia’s total. And then adding four when Warner lifts Curran gracefully down the ground. The last ball of the over jags back to hit Warner amidships and fly for four leg-byes. At least I thought they were leg-byes, but the official scorecard has given them as runs. I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE.

“I’ve decided to watch the One Day Cup today rather than England v Australia,” says Phil Harrison. “I find the downgrading of the Lord’s domestic final – that lovely fixture of the cricket summer – a bit heartbreaking. Lingering around the edges of this exciting summer is a real end-of-days feeling. This is the last summer of cricket before the heart of the summer is essentially given over to a sort of cricket-themed It’s A Knockout. Anyway. Sorry for being a downer. England’s new kit is lovely isn’t it?!”

Wait till you see the kits for the Hundred.

9th over: Australia 44-1 (Warner 17, Marsh 10) Marsh squeezes Stokes through point for three, and then Warner, who has been pretty scratchy, plays a defensive shot onto his body and this far wide of off stump.

“Robin Smith’s autobiography?” sniffs Mac Millings. “Blimey. Probably my favourite England player of all time, and of any sport. Great cover, too, because while we all talk about his cut shot, the way he avoided a bouncer was just as memorable. Mind you, regarding the cut, who didn’t throw everything at a short, wide one every time they could, trying to do a Robin Smith? I know I did, and on the handful of occasions I actually connected, there were few better feelings.”

8th over: Australia 39-1 (Warner 15, Marsh 7) Warner squirts a square drive for four off Curran. I think the official ICC scorecard, which has Australia on 37 for one, might be incorrect. Either that or the Guardian is wrong, which would not be entirely without precedent. I can say with absolute conviction that Australia are thirtysomething for one.

“Evening Rob,” says Phil Withall. “I’m sure I’ll be tarred and feathered after the World Cup has concluded (and he has topped the averages and won the bloody thing) but I have the feeling that Warner may not be the dynamic threat he once was. The enforced humility brought about by the sandpaper shenanigans seems to have curtailed his natural flow. His game relies so much on his self-belief and the knowledge that he IS the best batsman on the ground, that there must be a certain amount of doubt in his mind.”

What makes you say it has curtailed his natural flow? Wasn’t he the best player in the IPL? I always thought his self-belief was bulletproof. But you’ve probably seen more of him than I have since his return.

7th over: Australia 34-1 (Warner 14, Marsh 7) The injury-prone Mark Wood leaves the field halfway through his fourth over. Great stuff. He pulled up in his delivery stride and decided not to take any risks, this being a warm-up game and all. Wood did run off the field, though, so hopefully it’s not too serious. Jofra Archer comes on as substitute.

Ben Stokes completes the over, with Marsh dumping a pull through midwicket for three. Archer slipped over in saving the boundary, and for an entirely miserable few seconds it appeared he’d injured himself as well. Mercifully, he’s fine. Warner completes a good over for Australia with a boundary to fine leg.

6th over: Australia 24-1 (Warner 5, Marsh 4) Curran has an LBW appeal against Warner turned down. There was a big inside edge, and Curran knew as much – he went up and then watered down the appeal when he registered what had happened.

5th over: Australia 23-1 (Warner 5, Marsh 4) The new batsman Shaun Marsh gets off the mark with a boundary, tickling Wood off the pads. Wood’s line has been a bit erratic so far.

“Variety of cricket on the telly today,” says Abhijato Sensarma. “The RetroKit Ashes as a prelude to the World Cup — England v Australia; StoicCup of experienced personalities on both sides — India v New Zealand will be a potential entertainer too; and in a tournament with an affinity for high-scoring thrillers and quality players on both sides, we have the non-WarmUp RLODC Final too! What a start to the weekend for the cricket enthusiasts :)”

What did we do before emoticons?

Gone. Finch whips Wood’s slower ball straight to mid-on, where Moeen Ali takes a simple catch.

4th over: Australia 17-0 (Warner 4, Finch 13) A good over from Curran, with just a single off the last delivery.

“Rob,” says John Starbuck. “As some of us don’t have Sky, people might like to know that, following the usual OBO/TMS combo, Channel 4 are showing a one-hour WC highlights package most evenings. If anyone tries to set their sets to record, but are foiled by previous recording times, there’s a Channel 4+1 repeat in the very small hours too. That’s what I’m recording so as to catch up over breakfast.”

Yes, I should have mentioned that. It’s a shame the highlights are on so late, but I suppose Location, Location, Location will attract more viewers than Sri Lanka v New Zealand.

3rd over: Australia 16-0 (Warner 4, Finch 11) Wood drifts onto the pads of Finch, who does the necessary through square leg for his first boundary. He gets another two balls later, muscling a pull over midwicket. That wasn’t a great over from Wood, and he was punished accordingly: 11 from it.

In other news.

2nd over: Australia 5-0 (Warner 4, Finch 1) Warner gets the first boundary, pinging Curran through extra cover. He has been in stunning form of late, and looks a decent bet at 9/1 to be the leading runscorer in the tournament.

Tom Curran’s first ball skids through to hit Aaron Finch on the pad, prompting a huge shout for LBW that is turned down by Marais Erasmus. It might have been missing leg stump. England have decided to review, which is a risk as I reckon this will be umpire’s call at best.

Replays show it was hitting the outside of leg stump – umpire’s call, in other words, so Finch survives and England retain their review.

1st over: Australia 0-0 (Warner 0, Finch 0) Mark Wood, wearing England’s impressive new kit, opens the bowling to David Warner. I thought Warner might bat No3; I was wrong. Wood hits 90mph straight away and starts with an excellent maiden, including one delivery that zipped past Warner’s attempted pull.

Today’s match is in Hampshire, which is as good a reason as any to plug Robin Smith’s autobiography. I had the surreal privilege of working on it with him. I’m proud of the book, and even more proud of him for talking so honestly about everything from his mental health problems to the best fast bowler he faced.

“Why is Maxie not in the team?” asks Rhonda Bradmore.

He’s being rested, presumably; same with Cummins, Starc and Archer.

“Tell you what!” says Dean Kinsella. “Afghanistan are gonna take some beating. Put Pakistan away at a canter.”

They are going to be so much fun. I don’t think they’ll make the semis, but they’ll take some teams down with them.

Australia (11 bat, 11 bowl) Finch (c), Khawaja, Warner, Smith, Marsh, Stoinis, Carey (wk), Coulter-Nile, Lyon, Zampa, Richardson, Behrendorff.

England Roy, Bairstow, Vince, Stokes, Buttler (c/wk), Moeen, Woakes, Dawson, Curran, Plunkett, Wood.

Nostalgia, while u wait Sky are showing highlights of the greatest ODI ever played: the semi-final between South Africa and Australia. I know exactly what happens, yet I still feel nervous. Even if my seaweed and green tea diet has the desired effect and I live to the age of 213, I’ll not see a better one-day game.

And, as it transpires, it’s not 15-a-side. England have picked an actual XI; Australia a XII.

So, we’re doing a World Cup podcast this year. I say ‘we’; I have the square root of bugger all to do with it. It’s presented by the polymathic Emma John, and you can listen to the first episode here.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup warm-up between England and Australia at the Ageas Bowl. The recent form of both teams is such that they might need to warm down rather than up, lest they burn this goddamn house right down before the World Cup has even started. But this game has been scheduled for months and the culture of our times dictates that you can’t cancel a match for no reason at 24 hours’ notice, so here we are.

I have a confession to make:

I shot the deputy an’ all
I’ve never watched a World Cup warm-up game, so I’ve no idea what level of intensity to expect. It’s not an official ODI; it’s not even a List A game. But it’s England v Australia, so that counts for something.

It’s 15-a-side (14 in England’s case, as Eoin Morgan is injured); 11 can bat, 11 can bowl, and the team that hits the most sixes wins, probably.

The match starts at 10.30am.