England v Sri Lanka: second T20 – live!

Willey is running about like he’s going to bowl the first over. His blue trousers look less like pyjamas, more like trackies.

In other kit observations, Sri Lanka have taken inspiration from Galatasaray for theirs.

I guess the other thing to note about England’s team is that it still has no place for Moeen Ali. Ultimately, it’s hard to pick someone to leave out for him – if you were trying to make it happen tonight, you might’ve given Bairstow the gloves.

Jimmy Anderson is pitchside, and he says that having Wood at mid off helps him relax and remember that he’s meant to be enjoying himself. Two phenomenal heads of hair there.

When coloured clothing came in, people called it pyjamas, but these England kits are extremely pyjama.

We’re now watching some VT of Mark Wood, so likeable and yet so terrifying.

Eoin Morgan would’ve opted to chase and says that it suits England – but only if they play well. He confirms Buttler’s injury, and also that Woakes can’t play on consecutive days, which is why Willey returns.

Kusal Perera, meanwhile, wants to give his batsmen a chance to express themselves, so wanted to take first knock. His bowlers did well yesterday, but his batsmen need to give them something

to go at
at which to go.

As @iggigg noted on Twitter yesterday, Willey does not skip leg day.

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood.

Sri Lanka: 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Perera (capt), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Akila Dhananjaya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Binura Fernando.

England will be happy with that as they like to chase, but given we’re on terrestrial it might’ve been good for the audience had they batted first. In similar free-to-air ouch, Jos Buttler, so good yesterday, has a thigh strain – Sam Billings comes in – and David Willey, making his first appearance since being left out of the World Cup squad, replaces Chris Woakes. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, also make two changes: Niroshan Dickwella is back – yes! – and Binura Fernando is also in.

Though I’m not sure why they ended the opening titles with Jimmy Anderson and his latest Test-match madness.

Looking down this England squad, almost as notable as how good it is is how good those missing are. No Stokes, no Archer, no Hales, no Plunkett – and Root wants back in. I wonder if he’d be a sensible pick for India, given manipulating the ball can be just as useful as whacking 360.

Are we going to get Soul Limbo? I guess not, but anyone with any sense would’ve commissioned a grime remix. In the meantime, we can make do with this.

Back to our format, I do wonder about the rationale behind prioritising T20. The World Cup was understandable – England were hosts, had a great team, and the format rewards that. In T20, on the other hand, it’s possible to lose to pretty much anyone, making it much less sensible to rely on quality coming through – especially given the timezone and pay-tv aspect. But here we are so here we are.

So New Zealand finally did it. What a moment that was, and kudos to both teams for playing in a way that facilitated a result. The format needs work, but hopefully the WTC is here to stay and will only get better. I’m beginning to think that all schools should have to bin lessons and show one Test per summer on a big screen in the hall, and use it to trigger history, geography, English, maths and art lessons. I’m not sure whether or not I’m joking.

Last evening, while New Zealand were busy beating India to enshrine themselves in history for eternity as inaugural world Test champions, England were busy thrashing Sri Lanka in a T20 international so revered that they’r playing another one just like it today. I believe they call this poetry.

But of course there’s a bit more to it than that. The point of these matches is to provide mass entertainment – which they do – and to prepare for a shot at glory – which they also do. The T20 World Cup is imminent and England are good enough to win it, so they’re pursuing that to the fullest extent and rightly so. Thing is, New Zealand and India are too, and look at them!

Those of us who grew up following England will never tire of the amazement and mirth – amazemirth? – we feel each time we remember they’re now good at limited overs. It’s a beautiful thing. But true beauty elevates what’s around it, and currently that is far from the case.

That said, what a joy it is to have live international cricket back on terrestrial telly. Let’s hope England are firing, Sri Lanka find their best form, and together they serve us a match which helps turn this thing of ours into this thing of everyone’s.

Play: 6.30pm BST