England v Australia T20 & ODI Series

Team changes, for England Carse comes in for Archer. Head captains Australia with Marsh out along with Hazlewood & Bartlett. McGurk, Hardie & Connolly come in.

Great knock from Livingstone to get England over the line.

Bethell showed why he'd been included in the team with a nice knock. Nice to see him bashing Zappa about, and don't forget that Zampa is one of the best one day spinners in cricket.
Carse was also a big plus as he finally got the breakthrough.

But there were a few disappointments. Cox looked out of his depths.

Carse stepped in for Archer & impressed, Bethell has been hailed as the next star batsman & showed a glimpse of his class by taking down Zampa which doesn't often happen. Livingstone is a senior player now with 50 caps & needs to deliver on a more regular basis & repay the faith they have shown in him. He has benefited from batting at 4, there's no secret that all batsman want to open in T20 cricket, the job of finisher 5,6,7 is the toughest gig, usually needing to score at 10+ an over from the off.

It was an exceptional knock from Livingstone & tbh I think he definitely will push Stoke for a regular place I think.
I think checking back on his stats for this years T20 he scored in total (& hope Boomer can confrm this too) 72 runs - so he score more last night than he did in all of the T20 world cup;!! Tbf I think Australia must alsi be in something of a transitional stage too. I wonder If he needs to bat around 3 - 6. It seems we also bowled pretty tidily too, not giving away any extras whereas Australia gave up 4 wide bals!!!

If he can break into the Test side (if he hasn't done so already I think he would certainly bolster the lineup. How did Archer look last night? Did he look like anything back to his best?

^^ Not sure about Livys T20 World Cup runs, it wasn't many, only one innings of note as I remember. In short form & specifically T20 averages are less important, strike rate all important. Batting in the middle/lower order could mean facing only 10 or 15 balls. Buttler wasn't stupid he grasped the chance to open, he was our best finisher.
The man under pressure for his place is Jacks, immense talent, but very few stand-out innings batting in the top 3. I would be looking at Banton again (sadly injured) he has gone back to playing Championship cricket & found consistency in T20, something Livingstone would benefit from.

Which bright spark thought it was a good idea to stage the deciding T20 at Old Trafford, will they even bowl a ball today ?

^ It's going to stop at 7pm.

They could always do what we used to do in the limited over league. We used to play rain effected matches in waterproofs.

They are hopeful to squeeze in a 5 over match.
No chance.............

Match Abandoned