England v Australia: Women's Ashes third ODI – live!

First one for England! Bolton doesn’t like that. She’s struck on the pad and is wandering away to square leg casually, then hears the cheer from England and whips her head around to stare at the umpire in disbelief. That was going down leg, wasn’t it? On first glance. Bolton is walking off, but the replay tends to confirm that suspicion. Maybe it could have grazed leg stump? But there was a fair bit of angle from around the wicket, to the left-hander, and I don’t think it was straightening or swinging in.

6th over: Australia 21-0 (Healy 16, Bolton 4) Healy is playing more shots than Bolton but not getting many more runs for them. A couple of cuts, one mistimed, one saved by Wilson. A couple of runs skewed through cover, and eventually a single when Healy gets the cut shot angled back through short third rather than square to the field. Bolton takes off for a leg bye to close the over.

5th over: Australia 17-0 (Healy 13, Bolton 4) Thanks Mike! What a gent, holding the controls while I made the long trip from Manchester, where I was reporting on Australia-South Africa in the World Cup last night, to Canterbury this morning. Just the five and a half hours with the M1 closed, if you’re wondering. Bliss. Glad to be here at the end of it, as Nicole Bolton drives Shrubsole for four through mid-on, then plays out the rest of the over quite carefully, blocking on off stump as Shrubbers comes around the wicket and tries to angle the ball in.

4th over: Australia 13-0 (Healy 13, Bolton 0) Healy finds the boundary again with a chip over mid-wicket for four runs. A big shout comes at the end of the over as she gets a bit tucked up but the ball’s going down leg again. And with that, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Geoff Lemon, who has got himself into the hot seat in Canterbury and will be here to guide you through the remainder of the Australia innings. Toodle pip.

3rd over: Australia 9-0 (Healy 9, Bolton 0) Shrubsole is getting some decent movement in the air; Nicole Bolton watches the ball well but can’t get it away for any runs. An excellent over, the first maiden of the game.

2nd over: Australia 9-0 (Healy 9, Bolton 0) Kate Cross opens from the other end. Healy is tempted by the first delivery, outside off, but doesn’t connect. But she does before too long as she finds the boundary with nothing more than a little flick off the legs that races away. Sciver gets to it, but can’t save the four runs.

1st over: Australia 5-0 (Healy 5, Bolton 0) Shrubsole opens the bowling and it takes just one sighter for Healy before she opens up and flashes a wide one away to the boundary to get Australia up and running. A ball later Shrubsle produces some huge swing to rap Healy on the pads, but it’s going down leg and despite the big shout, there’s nothing doing. Healy races through for a single and that’s the first over done.

England players run onto the pitch, and we’re nearly ready to go.

“Its a shame,” writes Tim from Bramhall, “that this series is so low profile, not helped by scheduling alongside the CWC. But I can’t help feeling that the location of these matches does not help, staged in mainly Southern or East Midlands small county grounds. Why does the ECB not take these matches to the cities, and why does the North not get a look in?”

Geoff Lemon touched on these very issues in the immediate aftermath of the first ODI in Leicester.

This will be the first of two meetings between these two great cricketing nations in the space of five days – they will clash again on Thursday in the men’s World Cup, after Australia failed to beat South Africa in their final round-robin game at Old Trafford 24 hours ago and as a result were leapfrogged by India into first place. Tanya Aldred’s match report from Old Trafford is pretty tremendous:

South Africa left the World Cup with a defiant raspberry, defeating Australia by 10 runs in another Old Trafford last-over thriller to set up a semi-final between England and Australia on Thursday. Tension had mounted after the result zipped across from Headingley, which meant Australia had to beat South Africa to finish top of the table – fail, and India would tuck into the freshly prepared New Zealand fattened calf, tender and soft, and send the reigning champions instead to Birmingham.

Geoff Lemon’s piece on the contest between two old mates is also not too shabby.

Confirmation of the lineups. England: Jones, Beaumont, Taylor (wicketkeeper), Sciver, Knight (captain), Wilson, Wyatt, Shrubsole, Cross, Marsh, Ecclestone. Australia: Bolton, Healy (wicketkeeper), Lanning (captain), Perry, Haynes, Mooney, Gardner, Kimmince, Wareham, Jonassen, Schutt.

Team news. England are forced into making one change: Katherine Brunt is indeed out with that ankle knock, so Sarah Taylor comes in.

Australia are unchanged. Captain Lanning says she “wasn’t too bothered” about losing the toss. “It’s a good batting wicket and it won’t change too much throughout the day.” Ominously she says there’s still room for Australian improvement. “It’s a massive game,” she adds.

Meg Lanning calls heads… it’s tails and England captain Heather Knight says the hosts will put Australia into bat.

Weather update. Geoff will be able to give you a more accurate view from his position on the ground at Canterbury later on, but a quick internet search tells me it’s currently 17C and cloudy with a light breeze and a small chance of rain between 11am and 1pm local. And this appears to confirm the cloud cover:

Still, there have been words of caution after the opening game from Australia bowler and Guardian guest columnist, Megan Schutt:

Remember, they made it to the World T20 final last year missing two of their best players. They are scrappers, which is what makes these amazing games. It’s why I love this series more than any other: there’s no hiding. Winning against them is so satisfying because you have to earn it.

Injuries. Not helping the host nation’s cause has been the couple of concerns casting a shadow over today’s game; Sarah Taylor missed the second ODI after picking up an ankle knock while Katherine Brunt also injured her ankle – while celebrating the key dismissal of Lanning during that game. Both will undergo late fitness tests before play starts today.

How close are Australia to wrapping up the series? Another win in Kent today and Meg Lanning’s side will move onto six points, having picked up two for each preceding win. With just eight needed to retain the title, they’re close – a win (four points) or even a draw (two) in the Test at Taunton would be enough, or failing that, just one win from the three T20s (two each) would seal the deal. In short, England badly need to win today if they are going to retain any realistic hopes alive of winning the series.

So, from back-to-back 50-over games in Leicester to a final one in this format at the historic St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, before the travelling roadshow heads to a one-off Test later this month, followed by three final Twenty20s. Competitive interest in the series may well be gone by the time it comes to the last part of this multi-format series though, with Australia already well positioned to retain the Ashes having won the opening two fixtures of this points-based series. More on the ins and outs of that in a moment, but for now, there’s just time for a bit of housekeeping – send an email ([email protected]) or tweet (@mike_hytner) if you’d like to get anything off your chest before Geoff Lemon steps in for the start of play in around an hour’s time.