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48th over: England 276-8 (Willey 26, Wood 8) Cummins kept the rotation going until the end of the day, with Agar bowling his ninth. Will he shoot the 50 too? Cummins has one left so will presumably take the 49th. Otherwise it’s either Stoinis or Green. Agar also does his job, only in singles and in twos, eight over.
47th over: England 268-8 (Willey 20, Wood 6) Still a swing for Starc! Is this the other way around? The ball goes to left Willey, who gets an edge behind square leg. Wood is also a left-hander, coming in big strides through the covers and beating two stop attempts for four. 10 overs, 1 for 45 for Starc as it ends. Today was very good, especially early.
46th over: England 261-8 (Willey 18, Wood 1) Four overs to go. Luke Wood in the middle, on ODI debut. David Willey at the helm.
WICKET! Malan c Agar b Zampa 134, Engand 259-8
At least this good performance ends. And Agar is there. At the change of offices, he receives a huge cheer from the crowd as he walks down the field in front of them at long on. Two balls later, Malan hits a high shot. Simple. But this entry was special in the circumstances. He took his team from nothing to something deep.
45th over: England 257-7 (Malan 132, Willey 17) Smash! Willey’s turn this time, sizing up Cummins’ length ball and driving it through cover. Airborne for a while, but safe in the end. Then, from the last ball of the over, it’s Agar again! Five runs saved. Malan launches into a stretch shot, flat over deep mid off. For a minute it looks like Agar is in the frame for a catch, then like he’s over him for six. At the end he climbs the mime ladder, catches the ball with one hand and returns it to the pitch, to a teammate, to keep the score at one.
44th over: England 247-7 (Malan 130, Willey 11) Zampa in his ninth over, still spins them down, giving some flight. Good for four balls. Then falls short, clipped for four by Malan. And overcorrects the next ball, bowled for a six! Deep inside the Donald Bradman Pavilion, over midwicket, Malan’s biggest hit of the day.
43rd over: England 235-7 (Malan 119, Willey 10) Starc to Malan, and he’s down! A comeback opportunity, it hit him but it didn’t break. Starc has kept the envelope tight, given little, then takes the cross bat off the sixth ball. Into his barn, and out again.
42nd over: England 232-7 (Malan 117, Willey 9) Lays into Agar! Malan backs away and pulls him by the leg into the crowd. Nice catch down there. This after sweeping the first ball of the over for four.
“Understated doesn’t do justice to the build-up to this game, and perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the turnout on the ground. All we’re missing is some grass drifting across the field,” writes Brian Withington. The crowd isn’t too bad, watching from the stands. There aren’t many in the sun on the eastern side of the ground, but the western side in the shade is pretty well filled in at ground level. It won’t set any records, but that’s okay.
41st over: England 221-7 (Malan 106, Willey 9) Starc comes back, slips down the leg side for a wide. Malan can’t score from a couple of balls, then goes up and over cover for two runs. Roll a single. Willey jams in a good yorker, maybe some inside point before it hits his boot, so they don’t review when the umpire says no. In fact he didn’t hit the boot at all, Willey just got his foot out before the ball hit the bat. Well played. The next one also hits his ankles, but this time coming down the side of his leg.
“No wonder cricket’s popularity is waning, not broadcasting free is a huge misstep by CA. Thank God we at least have your coverage,” writes John Stadtmiller. Thanks Joan, doing my best.
40th over: England 215-7 (Malan 103, Willey 8) Malan’s century, who adds three runs from an inside edge to end the over. In between, Willey drives Agar through cover for four. Not yet extinct, England. There are ten envelopes left.
Century! Dawid Malan 100 off 107 balls
It has been a fine performance, withstanding the Australian onslaught early on while all his top-order colleagues fizzled out. He missed the T20 World Cup final but shows what he can do here. A simple run driven past the bowler to bring him up. Before that he had a century for England in all three formats, but eventually doubled in one of them.
Updated at 0628 GMT
39th over: England 206-7 (Malan 99, Willey 3) On the trickle, three more runs from Zampa and Malan’s end to 99…
38th over: England 202-7 (Malan 97, Willey 2) Malan is walking singles towards his century now. I’m not sure I love the approach, though it’s probably earned the right. By giving your partner time to play with it, you could argue. You don’t take control of entries, you can also counter. Willey gets two runs from an outside edge to Agar, one ball after being hit and almost disturbed on overbalance. Three from the end.
37th over: England 199-7 (Malan 96, Willey 0) David Willey can bat, another left-hander. He defends his first ball, and Zampa’s last one ends. England have at least scored Australia 200, which was no sure thing 20 overs ago.
WICKET! Jordan lbw Zampa 14, England 199-7
We haven’t had many reviews today, but suddenly the review is central. The Aussies are shocked: Jordan crashes it into his pad at right angles, and the third umpire literally sees a replay and throws out the appeal. Jordan then tries to throw a ball that stays low, is hit in front and delivered, and he checks it himself. Tech holds the decision, hitting the top of the middle. A good partnership of 41 comes to an end.
36th over: England 197-6 (Malan 95, Jordan 13) Many overs left. Malan runs, Jordan cuts two to deep point, landing before the oncoming fielder. Malan makes a couple more. In the blink of a century.
35th over: England 193-6 (Malan 92, Jordan 12) Zampa replaces Green, double over. Switch to the cathedral end from the river end. Jordan sweeps a couple and drives one, doing his part. Malan swings one down the leg side to deep backward for four, then goes in front of square for another! Goes to 91, takes a single to keep the strike going.
34th over: England 181-6 (Malan 83, Jordan 9) Three more for Jordan. This is quite a feat in short-form cricket. This time, another direction, slotted to a deep third. Agar goes through the wicket to left-handed Malan, who doesn’t take it.
33rd over: England 176-6 (Malan 82, Jordan 5) Green continues, trying a slower hand-side ball that sinks over Malan and takes a fake shot, skewed through covers for to two The tables turn on the last ball, which is shorter and Malan crunches the shot for four, so clean. Jordan started with three on the floor. Another good dozen for England.
32nd over: England 164-6 (Malan 75, Jordan 1) Agar with his third wicket, making some amends to his economical pace by just two runs.
31st over: England 162-6 (Malan 74, Jordan 0) Malan manages to pick up a couple of doubles from Green to follow the over but England have been way off the mark today apart from Malan. Chris Jordan has the most T20 innings to bat.
WICKET! Dawson runs out (Agar) 11, England 158-6
A brilliant camp! direct hit Terrible running though. Dawson hits the ball on point and starts. Malan, to his credit, responds immediately and thus gets safely to the striker’s end. But that ball wasn’t likely to get past Agar, who stops it cleanly while on the move. Once the ball is in hand, Dawson gives up, slowing down to see if the pitch will hit or not. It does. Nobody on the stumps, Green has followed too far. But agar is good enough.
30th over: England 157-5 (Malan 70, Dawson 11) Agar returns. He bowled earlier, got hit once and was gone. Malan tries to play the first ball of the spin but gets the tip of the bat and kills the ball. So he backs off and cuts the next one… and hits the broom! This was very close to Stoinis but he hit too hard just behind his square position. Malan premeditates a reverse sweep, but it’s the wrong ball – on the leg-stump line, so he ends up cutting it off the bottom edge, beyond his off-stump, for example.
29th over: England 151-5 (Malan 65, Dawson 10) Cameron Green bowled four earlier and is back now. He’s using the short ball a lot, using his height in theory to make him hard to hit. Mostly it works. Still, full bowls for Malan, who usually plays the short stuff well. Four above.
28th over: England 147-5 (Malan 63, Dawson 8) Back to circumspection for Zampa, three singles away as the afternoon sun thickens in colour.
27th over: England 144-5 (Malan 62, Dawson 6) Follow-up from Malan, who has decided he can field the Australian captain. He drives it through cover for four, then plays the pick-up over deep square leg for another six. great shot This time he backs it up with a strike rotation and a dozen from the end to make him England’s best in the innings.
Half a century! Malan 50 off 64 balls
26th over: England 132-5 (Malan 51, Dawson 5) Dawson on his way, sweeping Zampa nicely for a somewhat lucky three runs. I could have let it go to pads or stumps. He has to stay here for Malan, who takes one and brings up fifty.
25th over: England 126-5 (Malan 49, Dawson 1) Pongo! A ball after getting past the outside edge, Cummins throws a bit and Malan hits it for six. Hello. Still, in typical Malan fashion, it’s the only scoring shot from outside.
24th over: England 120-5 (Malan 43, Dawson 1) It’s all Malan now. Not even half, and he will have to do his job with Liam Dawson, whose batting at this level you would describe as serviceable. And another wicket chance, as Malan hits the ball and…