Live Match, 2nd T20I: England v Australia at Southampton, Sep 6, 2020 Live Score

6pm: So, England take the series, 2-0 up with one to play – but they’ll need to win that if they want to seal the No. 1 ranking. Matt’s report is in and we’ll be back for some more tonktastic action on Tuesday. Thanks for the comments, see you all again then. Bye!

5.46pm: Presentations time, starting with Australia’s Aaron Finch: “When you fail to get one of the openers out, who’s a great player, you miss out. Thought if we matched their Powerplay, we could come out on top, we didn’t pick up enough wickets. [Pitch?] Did a bit more than we expected, it seamed a bit. We thought it would start slow and get slower. We wanted wickets and to get into their middle order, need early wickets in this game. If he’s hitting balls over fielders heads, you can wear it. [Spin right tactic at death?] Thought it was, maybe quicks in last couple, but thought spin was hardest to hit. Needed wickets to win the game. [Change selection for final game?] Not that far out from World Cup, important to drill our basics and get game time as a group.”

England captain Eoin Morgan: “Pretty comprehensive, can’t fault any facets. Put in a better bowling performance, to make inroads on a wicket like that was fantastic. Made life a bit easier throughout the middle. We were happy chasing down that total. Wicket was a bit soft on top, wanted to bowl first. We wanted to be aggressive, Jofra set the tone in the first over. Thought if we played smartly we would chase it down, with a world-class player like Jos at the top. [Buttler locked in at opener?] We’ll look at options, want to get the best out of Jos whether it’s at the top or middle order. [Finger?] Just sore at the moment, we’ll see over next couple of days. Looking to play out best XI throughout.”

Jos Buttler is Man of the Match for his unbeaten 77 off 54: [Opening?] “Best place to bat in T20s, wicket got a bit better and that was a manageable target. The guys bowled well up top and pegged them back. If we got through 2-3 opening overs and settled down, we got a partnership going with Dawid and that set us up. Every time Dawid’s got a chance he does brilliantly, and at the end Moeen said he was happy to take on the legspinner turning it into him. When someone hits those two boundaries it takes the pressure off. [Finish it yourself?] The game can change quickly, bit of a tricky surface so you want to take ownership and see your team over the line.”

5.38pm: Tension, what tension? If you do it that way, Jos Buttler can be both opener and finisher… A couple of minor wobbles but England saw things through pretty calmly in the end. Buttler and Dawid Malan set the platform, after Jonny Bairstow struck his own stumps, and then Moeen Ali struck two pressure-easing boundaries just when the game was getting tight

Here’s Mayank: “What sort of captaincy this is? Zampa bowling 19th over when you have Kane’s 2 overs left, Cummins left with 1 too. Zampa had given 47 in last game also on same pitch against same team. If I can remember this, why can’t Finch?”

Adnan’s thinking the same: “Poor captaincy.. should have been Cummins n Richardson for final 2 overs.”

“Brilliant stuff from Ali,” gasps Finn. “Just brilliant!!!”

And amit has been keeping score in the Moeen Ali Game (copyright Philip M McCart): “Moeen bowled one over, conceded 8 runs, and played 6 balls, scored 13 runs.”

Seven off nine needed now

Now, the other night, Chris Jordan conceded just four off the 19th… Zampa to bowl on this occasion

CraigE: “Is that last awful over from Archer going to cost England?” Would certainly be a lot less tense at this point if it had cost, say, 8 rather than 18

Good over for Australia so far, can he close it out…

“Omg, is it the collapse??” wonders Monish Pokhrel

Moeen Ali walks out, still not in great form despite his 60-odd against Pakistan the other day… Agar to bowl out, England needing 23 from the last three

Andrew Proctor: “Banton is good as an opener but he isn’t right to bat at 4.” Seems about right on the limited evidence we’ve seen in ODIs/T20Is

Adam Zampa and his haircut back for Australia… England need 33 from 24

“Buttler wicket here will surely bring some panic in England’s batting camp.” You betcha, ABINASH DAS

Out comes Eoin Morgan, shuffling down to No. 5 today. Still a bit for England to do, but they’ll be favourites while Buttler is still out there

Agar into a third over

Duncan Ward: “Haven’t Morgan and Malan had a falling out in the past? I thought that was why he didn’t get picked. A bit like how Buttler is Root’s mate and so can’t seem to get dropped from the Test team despite a certain Mr Foakes obviously being the better choice.” Not a falling out, as such, although Morgan did make that pointed comment about Malan not running a bye off the last ball of the innings in Napier last winter

“England following every boundary with a single. Seriously underrated skill.” Unless you follow it with… another boundary, Tom

Mitchell Starc now, England needing 43 from 36 – more than Australia’s equation the other night