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4 days ago
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Williams' first over disappears for 23
3rd over: England 48-0 (Salt 26, Buttler 20) The new bowler Lizaad Williams starts with two good deliveries – after which his figures are 0.2-0-12-0. Buttler pulled the first ferociously for six even though it wasn’t particularly short, and made room to blast the second over long on.
Two wides and a single are followed by successive boundaries for Salt, a pull and an edge wide of the keeper. Some start, this.
2nd over: England 25-0 (Salt 18, Buttler 7) Kagiso Rabada starts at the other end. Jos Buttler steers his first ball between slip and gully for four, a deft stroke, but Rabada keeps him quiet for the remainder of the over.
1st over: England 18-0 (Salt 18, Buttler 0) Phil Salt was out for a golden duck in Cardiff. At Old Trafford he hits the three balls of the match for four, as if this is somehow normal behaviour, then clubs the last delivery back over Marco Jansen’s head for six. A pr-etty good start for England.
Time for business. Marco Jansen will open the bowling to Phil Salt.
“It’s a sunny evening after deluges yesterday,” writes Tanya Aldred, who is at Old Trafford. “Party stand looks a bit sad – only about 15 per cent full at the moment.”
Team news
One change apiece. Jofra Archer comes in for Jamie Overton in the England XI; South Africa bring in the left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin from Corbin Bosch. Keshan Maharaj has a groin strain.
England Salt, Buttler (wk), Brook (c), Bethell, Banton, Curran, Jacks, Dawson, Archer, Rashid, Wood.
South Africa Markram (c), Rickelton, Pretorious, Brevis, Stubbs, Ferreira, Jansen, Rabada, Forruin, Maphaka, Williams.
South African win the toss and bowl
“The wicket looks a bit different, we hope there’s a bit of moisture early on,” says their captain Aiden Markram.
Harry Brook says England would have batted on what is a used pitch.
Preamble
It’s Friday, it’s 6pm, it’s time for TFI Not Raining in Manchester. After the soggiest of T20 matches in Cardiff on Wednesday, England and South Africa will hope for an actual 20-overs-a-side match tonight. There’s a chance of showers later – come on, it’s September in Manchester – but the signs are much better than they were 48 hours ago.
England need a win to avoid a second white-ball series defeat to South Africa. That’s a slightly weird sentence to write given the series is only 12.5 overs old. But South Africa handled the weirdness and the conditions far better on Wednesday, so if they win again in a more orthodox game tonight, England can have no complaints.
The match starts at 6.30pm.
