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WICKET! Wyatt-Hodge c Litchfield b Garth 0 (England 4-2)
And another. Wyatt-Hodge drifts forward to an outswinger but gets an edge behind and Litchfield, who has just been on the TV mike, scoops it up at first slip.
1st over: England 4-1 (Dunkley 4, Wyatt-Hodge 0) Not ideal.
WICKET! Bouchier c Wareham b Schutt 0 (England 0-1)
Oh dear. Second ball, Bouchier’s eyes light up and, after the feeling of bat on ball, she pulls powefully. But she has picked out Wareham at deep square who takes the catch almost on her knees.
Here come England. Dunkley and Bouchier bounce gloves, Megan Schutt has the ball in her hand. The Ashes on the line.
Apologies, I’ve just seen that my email is wrong on the page so if you’ve written in, I won’t have seen it. My email is tanya.aldred.freelance@theguardian.com. Just going to grab a coffee before the England chase begins.
England need 199 to keep the Ashes alive
20th over: Australia 198-7 (Wareham 11, King 1) England do restrict Australia to under 200 – but only just, and will need to equal their highest successful run-chase to win and keep this series alive. An expensive final over, despite the wicket of Harris. Bell not helped by her fielders as Heather Knight makes a flat footed dive at mid-off and a ricochet off Jones’ glove helps the ball fly away for four.
WICKET! Harris c Ecclestone b Bell 14 (Australia 187-7)
A slower ball and Harris goes for gold, but the ball goes only up and behind where Ecclestone waits and calmly collects.
19th over: Australia 183-6 (Harris 10, Wareham 5) Ecclestone with the penultimate over. Two dots to start and then a wide given as Wareham shimmies across off side. Ecclestone is none too impressed. But she’s tight and finishes with just five off the over as Wareham can’t take advantage of a full toss to finish.
18th over: Australia 178-6 (Harris 8, Wareham 2) Knight swaps Kemp back in and she grabs the vital wicket of Mooney with her second ball. A wide, a fistful of singles, and Harris eyes up a slower ball and smokes it for SIX!
WICKET! Mooney st Jones b Kemp 75 (Australia 168-6)
Mooney advances down again, but this time Jones makes no mistake.
17th over: Australia 167-5 (Mooney 75, Harris 1) Ecclestone’s third over. Australia tuck in, both Mooney and McGrath picking up four leg side. McGrath goes again but this time Ecclestone is on top. A magnificent partnership from Australia. Too little too late from England? If they can restrict them to under 200 I think that would be a success in the circumstances.
WICKET! McGrath b Ecclestone 26( Australia 166-5)
England dab at their sweaty foreheads. After a partnership of 45 runs in just 17 balls with Mooney, McGrath goes for another big hit and loses her off stump. Ecclestone roars in fury/joy.
16th over: Australia 157-4 (Mooney 70, McGrath 22) Bell’s first two balls are dismissed away to the rope by Mooney. A third follows past short fine leg, and then McGrath joins in, as a fourth skims through the covers with a kiss.
15th over: Australia 140-4 (Mooney 57, McGrath 18) McGrath gets off the mark shovelling Glenn down to the rope where it gets past a diving NSB, who isn’t quite as on her game as usual in the field today. A scare for England as Bouchier dives to field in the deep, rolls over and comes up clutching her shoulder and grimacing in pain. But the physio gives her the once over and she is fit to continue. An expensive over in the end as McGrath adds another four and a SIX fired over deep mid-wicket.
14th over: Australia 122-4 (Mooney 56, McGrath 1) Dean with her final over makes a breakthrough!
WICKET! Sutherland c Wyatt-Hodge b Dean 3 (Australia 121-4)
At last, a catch in the deep held with no drama. Wyatt-Hodge a safe pair of hands as Sutherland hauls the ball to deep midwicket.
13th over: Australia 116-3 (Mooney 52, Sutherland 2) Just what the doctor ordered from Ecclestone, the wicket of Perry and the brakes applied. England need to use this over as a pivot and start to squeeze.
WICKET! Perry st Jones b Ecclestone 7 (Australia 114-3)
For the first time in three years, Perry is stumped! Bewitched by Ecclestone she is beaten. With amazing speed of thought she almost throws her back leg back behind the line in time but is out by the width of a paintbrush.
Fifty for Mooney!
12th over: Australia 111-2 (Mooney 52, Perry 7) Click – a 24th half century for Mooney in T20 cricket. Nine from the over including four from Glenn’s first ball which is a full toss and is belted straight by Mooney.
11th over: Australia 102-2 (Mooney 44, Perry 4) Floodlights now on, the sky a deep inky purple-blue. England got just the start they needed after the break with that run-out, but Australia keep the pressure on as Mooney immediately belts her for four through backward point and Perry slams her first ball over NSB’s head for another.
WICKET! Litchfield run-out 25 (Australia 91-2)
From nowhere! Knight shows the rest of the team how it is done with a direct hit as Litchfield tries to steal a quick single.
10th over: Australia 90-1 (Mooney 30, Litchfield 19) Dean rolls through, such a lovely relaxed approach to the crease. Litchfield has her eye in now though, a reverse sweep, for four, followed by a flowing square drive for the rope. They take DRINKS with Australia on top and England needing to find some consistency in the field.
9th over: Australia 78-1 (Mooney 30, Litchfield 19)Ecclestone for her first over. Keeps it tight until the final ball which Mooney dances at and pings dismissively for four.
8th over: Australia 71-1 (Mooney 25, Litchfield 17) Sarah Glenn, such a great T20 spinner. Glenn’s ponytail bright blond against the red shirts England are wearing today. Litchfield drives, like an arrow, through the covers for four. Then a casual switch-hit for SIX! That’s unbelievable actually. She tries again, misses. Then another fielding mishap as Mooney spoons the ball up but the two fielders, NSB and Dean, hovering at cover, are frozen in hesitation. Glenn isn’t hugely impressed.
7th over: Australia 57-1 (Mooney 22, Litchfield 7) Time for some Nat Sciver-Brunt, and oh dear, another chance slips through England’s fingers as Mooney edges behind and Jones can’t hold on with the gloves. I think there was a missed stumping chance there too. Good old NSB, like one of those plucky girls from the Chalet School stories, just smiles away. An athletic bit of diving on the rope by Ecclestone prevents a boundary but Mooney pulls a lacklustre bouncer for four. Ten from the over.
6th over: Australia 47-1 (Mooney 16, Litchfield 3) Just three from Bell’s neat over, England tightening the rope.
5th over: Australia 43-1 (Mooney 15, Litchfield 0) Mooney survives – sent on her way lbw to Dean after missing her sweep, but reviews. The replay shows the ball ballooning over the stumps. A misfield from Dean off her own bowling delivers a single from the last ball.
4th over: Australia 40-1 (Mooney 12, Litchfield 0) England dearly needed that wicket, you could see on the faces of Bell, of Dunkley, of Dean, that the last week’s events have hit hard. Ah, what’s this? England appeal what seems a fairly innocuous missed ramp shot by Phoebe Litchfield. I don’t think she hit it.. she didn’t. To finish the over, Litchfield advances down the pitch but is beaten.
WICKET! Voll lbw Bell 21 (Australia 40-1)
A grim faced Bell suddenly has a smile on her face! She traps Voll on the back leg. It looks very out – it is very out! Relief for England.
3rd over: Australia 38-0 (Mooney 11, Voll 21) Charlie Dean slips into the bowling rota. Mooney isn’t in the mood to let her settle, dances and lofts her inside out for four. Voll joins in, sweeping with gusto. And then – oh dear – she top edges a sweep and is dropped by Bell who seems to be in the right position but somehow gets in a total tangle and lets the ball fall to the ground. It rolls for four. And one more four to close a fabulous over for Australia, going for 17.
2nd over: Australia 21-0 (Mooney 6, Voll 9) Lauren Bell at the other end. Drifts on the leg side and Mooney flicks her away to the rope, one-legged flamingo style. They run a handful of quick singles and pick up another when Dunkley lets the ball through her legs at cover. And then an overthrow.
1st over: Australia 11-0 (Mooney 1, Voll 6) And Kemp starts with a slightly insipid wide. Exciting young starlet, 21-year-old Georgia Voll, is playing in her first international T20 after making her debut against India in three ODI games earlier this winter. She’s beaten once, but also hooplas Kemp up and over Nat Sciver Brunt at mid-on for four.
Here they come! Sophia Dunkley looking happy on her first outing this series as she takes up her fielding position. England are opening with Freya Kemp who is also in her first Ashes game of the Australian summer.
This was a thoughtful piece from Raf earlier this week – Jon-ball isn’t working.
England XI
England: Maia Bouchier, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Amy Jones (wk), Freya Kemp, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Bell.
Australia XI
Australia: Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney (wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt
Ash Gardner calf strain
Tahlia McGrath is the stand-in for Healy and very chirpy she is too, despite also losing Ash Gardner with a calf strain. Healy and Gardner are replaced by Georgia Voll and Grace Harris.
England win the toss and will bowl!
Knight looks briskly confident. “A change of format suits us really nicely,” she says, “into a format that we love playing and are really good at.” Then she turns on her heel and marches off. There are three changes for England as Sarah Glenn, Freya Kemp and Sophia Dunkley come in.
Alyssa Healy injury
Healy will not play today, with soreness in the same foot as her plantar fascia injury. She’s currently wearing a boot and will be seen by specialists over the next couple of days.
Hello! Already the ODIs are over, already England are six points down. Over there on the river are the Ashes, sailing away, with a good wind behind them, almost out of reach. We are a week into England’s tour of Australia and they’ve been thoroughly outclassed – tactically, with the bat and in the field. Australia have been….Australia.
But! Hope (just about) survives as we march into the T20 part of the series. England are pretty good at the shortest form and the last time Australia played one, they lost to South Africa in the World Cup semi-final against South Africa.
Can England re-find their mojo? Will new blood make any difference? Will Australia retain the Ashes today? Play starts at 8.15GMT, there is plenty of space here on the sofa.