Third T20 between England and Australia abandoned due to rain, series tied at 1-1
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The third T20 international between England and Australia at Old Trafford was abandoned without a ball bowled on Sunday afternoon.
The start was expected to have been at 2.30pm but persistent rain all morning made this seem unlikely, and the time duly came and went. The umpires inspected at 4.15pm but, even though the rain had somewhat abated, the huge puddles of standing water on the outfield made it a hopeless cause and they called it off. The series thus finishes 1-1.
England captain Phil Salt said: “We were pleased to have responded after defeat in the first game but of course disappointed not to get on today.”
04:20 PM BST
Match abandoned
Umpires have seen all they need to see, there’s loads of water on the turf and this is a non-starter.
Shame, this was nicely poised with Australia winning the first match in the series before England hit back. But the rain has put the kybosh on it and it’s tied 1-1.
On the upside, England and Australia now contest fully FIVE one-day internationals at various (hopefully) less soggy locales around the country. The first order of business is a 12.30pm start in Trent Bridge on Thursday. Hopefully see you for that. I don’t think we will tarry long on this blog but Tim Wigmore’s thoughts will appear above in due course. Cheers.
04:13 PM BST
The umpires are out there
having a look but more I think out of politeness than anything else.
03:51 PM BST
Potential toast sitch
Looks like rain again - we could be toast here. Covers back up again. Think we are running out of time.
03:41 PM BST
Tim Wigmore’s Ominous Puddles
Covers coming off slowly. But some of the puddles still look ominous. Pitch inspection at 4:15. Latest start time is 5:48 for a 5 over thrash.
03:30 PM BST
Pitch inspection at 4.15pm
We need to be playing by 5.46pm (apparently changed from 5.48pm for some arcane reason).
03:28 PM BST
‘The clear up operation has begun’
says Nicholas Verity Knight on Sky Sports. “They are going to do what they can. Let’s keep it real. But things are beginning to move. Potentially - potentially - we could get some cricket but there is more rain forecast. And there will be a pitch inspection at 4.15pm.”
It was an extremely Knighty sort of update. Measured. Balanced.
Anyway, we will see.
02:39 PM BST
‘Looks Grim’
It looked like the rain was going to stop here. But now it says it’s set in and looks grim. I’m afraid I’m not positive about our prospects of play later.
02:37 PM BST
Not looking at all promising
02:34 PM BST
Lonely vigil
02:25 PM BST
The toss has been delayed
and the 1430 start time is not going to happen.
01:57 PM BST
‘Nasty puddles’
Good afternoon from Old Trafford. It’s not a great afternoon sadly - still raining, with some nasty puddles on the outfield. But my trusty weather app suggests that it will stop raining in 28 minutes, so perhaps there’s hope. The latest we could start a five-over-a-side game is 5:48.
01:49 PM BST
Third T20 this afternoon
Hello, Tyers here, hope you are having a restful and/or enjoyable Sunday. You join us for our live blog of the T20 international between England and Australia, which comes to us from Old Trafford. It’s the third, deciding match in the series with both sides having won one so far.
But there is bad news in the shape of the Manchester weather. Not looking too good there right now and I’m sorry to say that a total washout is not beyond the realms of possibility. We’ll have more from Tim Wigmore as soon as. As I understand it, we could go to as late as 5.48pm to have a five-over hit and giggle but hopefully something more substantial emerges because this has been a decent little series so far.
And it has been more than decent for Jacob Bethell, who has mad a bright start to his England career.
Ushered in as part of England’s white-ball reset, Bethell was labelled a future “superstar” by interim head coach Marcus Trescothick on the eve of the three-match T20 series against Australia this week.
After his family brought forward a trip from their native Barbados to see him in action, Bethell bowled three overs of serviceable spin and was dismissed for two as Australia prevailed at the Utilita Bowl.
But Bethell underlined why he has been earmarked for greatness on Friday with a breakout 44 off just 24 balls at Cardiff as England levelled the series..
“Obviously there’s a lot of stuff that comes with the debut: all the off-field stuff, cap presentations, which is all very sentimental and nice,” the 20-year-old reflected.
“But it is quite hard to focus on the cricket, so it was nice to get that out of the way. It was a special evening, but nice to then hit the ground running (in Cardiff) and put a good performance in.”
The second T20 was in limbo when Bethell walked to the crease with England on 79 for three in pursuit of 194 but he put on 90 in only 47 balls with Liam Livingstone to break the back of the chase.
What arguably tilted the game towards England was Bethell taking 20 runs in five deliveries off Australia’s premier bowler Adam Zampa, who comprehensively bowled the youngster 48 hours earlier.
Bethell expertly used his feet to disrupt the leg-spinner to snatch four successive boundaries before Livingstone’s 87 off 47 balls underpinned a three-wicket victory with six balls to spare.
“That’s what it is like coming out in the middle order,” Bethell said. “You always tend to come in when the game is in the balance. Livi was going well, so I just didn’t want to put any pressure back on him.
“I just wanted to play strong shots and get off strike, until the opportunity came to take advantage of a match-up, and I did that. Fortunately, it paid off.
“Obviously Zampa is a great bowler, so to be able to do that against him was brilliant.”
