Key events
9th over: England 97-2 (Duckett 28, Malan 24) Huuuuuge from Dawid Malan. Tossed up by Shadab and the left-hander gives it a big swing, the ball travelling over deep midwicket for six. Duckett, on the other hand, goes straight for six more, advancing down the ground for his big hit. The two lefties are ticking along nicely.
8th over: England 77-2 (Duckett 20, Malan 17) Iftikhar in to bowl his offies and Malan goes big first ball, driving inside-out over extra cover for four. Duckett joins in on the fun a few balls later, slapping the ball through the covers for his third boundary of the innings.
7th over: England 65-2 (Malan 11, Duckett 14) That’s an unreal reverse sweep from Ben Duckett. Shadab Khan’s second ball is tossed up, full and Duckett gets some proper meat on it to get four through the off side. He’s so, so good at that shot. A good diving stop at mid-on stops Duckett from fetching four more with a drive.
6th over: England 57-2 (Duckett 8, Malan 9) Rauf runs in for the final over of the Powerplay. Duckett and Malan exchange singles before the former clips behind square, with the man at fine leg misfielding to let the ball run away for four.
5th over: England 48-2 (Duckett 0, Malan 8) A very weird over. Two wickets are followed by back-to-back boundaries from Malan.
WICKET! Salt run out Shadab 20 (England 39-2)
Oh my. Malan’s hit on the pads as the ball tickles to fine leg. Phil Salt has decided to sprint towards the other end but is forced to race back after Malan says no. Shadab Khan is the fielder to pick up and lob a very careful throw through the air – it looks like he’s trying to get it back to the bowler, but it ends up being a direct hit! Salt is fuming. And he’s gone.
WICKET! Hales lbw Hasnain 18 (England 39-1)
Hasnain strikes! He goes straight first ball and Hales can’t whip it off the pads. That’s plumb.
4th over: England 39-0 (Hales 18, Salt 20) Rauf in and while he’s got proper pace, he’s very tidy with those slower balls into the surface. It’s a quiet over, one Pakistan needed.
3rd over: England 35-0 (Salt 18, Hales 16) The spin of Nawaz is replaced by the pace of Wasim. Hales doesn’t get the middle of the bat with a swat down the ground, but the ball seems to be heading for four until Haris Rauf pulls off a stunning one-handed stop. Top effort from the big man. But Hales gets four the next ball, guiding it to the third-man boundary. And then another boundary! Hales flicks off the stumps to find four more at midwicket. Make that three in a row! Full from Wasim and Hales goes through the covers. Awesome batting.
2nd over: England 20-0 (Salt 17, Hales 2) Hasnain into the attack and another four for Salt! He’s racing. But that’s a good comeback from the young quick, who gets a bit of lift off the deck to beat the bat second ball. Three singles follow before Hales digs out a fuller ball to mid-on for none. Good wheels from Hasnain.
1st over: England 13-0 (Salt 11, Hales 1) Salt rocks back and cloths the first ball down the ground for a couple, and then follows that up with a cut for four. A leg-bye gets Hales on strike, and he clips to mid-on for a single. And then Salt smashes the ball over mid-on for four. A leading edge that falls safe rounds off an eventful first set. Top start for England.
Let’s get going. Mohammad Nawaz is going to open up for Pakistan with his left-arm tweak.
Pakistan will be hoping they don’t have to send Shaun Tait out for the presser…
Teams:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain
England: Phil Salt (wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali (c), Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
We will bat first after losing the toss!
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 2, 2022
Pakistan win the toss and will bowl first
Babar Azam wins it and Pakistan will bowl first. Dew’s a key factor in that decision. Four changes for Pakistan: Rizwan, Rauf, Hasnain and Khushdil back in.
Still no Jos Buttler for England as Moeen Ali leads once again. Just the one change for his side: Chris Woakes is in for Richard Gleeson.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to the seventh (!) and final T20I of this exhilarating series between England and Pakistan.
What was supposed to just be a few warm-ups ahead of the World Cup in Australia has turned into heaps of fun. There was that stunning century from Babar Azam. There was the grand arrival of Harry Brook. The extraordinary consistency of Mohammad Rizwan. The rockets of Mark Wood. The rockets of Haris Rauf. Sweep-mania from Ben Duckett. And, of course, some magnificent crowds in a country that has been waiting a long time for this series.
And we’re set up perfectly too, with the scores level at 3-3. This is going to be a cracker. Drop me a line whenever you fancy – I’ll be back in a bit with the toss and line-ups.