Head reaches 50 off 19 balls

5th over: Australia 71-0 (Head 25, Head 45) Sam Curran now and he is welcomed into the attack with a spanking. Well, six spankings, actually. It’s not good bowling. He’s far too short and Head pulls a slower ball for four, cuts for four more and then pulls a six backward of square. Curran corrects his length but it doesn’t change the outcome. Head flicks a six over midwicket and then over deep point. He ends the over with a four to deep mid-off. 446664. What an over from Head!

4th over: Australia 41-0 (Short 25, Head 15) Mahmood into the attack and he is smoked through the covers by Short who stands tall and unleashes his arms at a short and wide one. Head survives a caught behind decision having reviewed the instant the finger went up. No controversy there, it clearly hit his jumper. Short cracks two more into the covers but they’re both stopped. Not a bad first over from Mahmood.

3rd over: Australia 35-0 (Short 20, Head 15) Archer beats Head’s outside edge with his first two balls but the next two fly away to the fence. Neither are out the middle of the bat but Head gives them both a proper thwack – first over cover off the front foot, then off the back foot over backward point. That forces Archer to bowl from round the wicket to reduce the width but Head is up to the task as he tucks the final delivery through midwicket for another four.

2nd over: Australia 23-0 (Short 20, Head 3) Topley from the other end offers a different prospect than Archer. He’s looking to swing it back into the right hander with his left arm but gets too straight on two occasions and Short clobbers him for back-to-back sixes. The first is over deep square leg, the second is even bigger over fine leg. Four singles elsewhere in the set means it’s an expensive start for Topley.

1st over: Australia 8-0 (Short 7, Head 1) Archer with some zip opens up. His first ball is back of a length and Short swivel-pulls it past the man at midwicket who misfields as it bobbles for a couple. An inside edge gets Short off strike before Archer beats Head with a beauty that lifts from a good length. The next squirts off a leading edge that would have landed on a regulation backward point’s nose. Instead Head picks up a single to the sweeper and Short gets a pair of twos through the off-side.

An eventful and steamy opening from Archer.

Can confirm that the shirts aren’t classics. England in bright red with blue trousers. Australia in dark green with yellow embellishments. Actually the Aussie kit isn’t so bad.

Anyway, enough of that. It’s Archer with the new ball. He’ll be tearing into Short first up.

Almost there. They’re clearing the ground staff, ushering the Sky pundits off the pitch and setting things up. Not long now.

Jacob Bethell is on screen chatting to Mark Butcher and he seems like a lovely young lad!

I hope that comes across sincerely. Speaks well, backs himself and exudes a real love for the game. He’s just 20-years-old and has already shone under the bright lights of The Hundred, scoring fast runs and plucking sensational catches on the boundary.

There’s been loads of positive noise around him. Let’s hope he goes well.

Despite fielding three debutants and an unfamiliar top order, I’m really excited to see England bowl.

Adil Rashid is the world’s number one ranked T20 bowler and how good is it to see Jofra Archer fit and ready to go? Saqib Mahmood and Reece Topley are handy – and tall – operators as well. Australia will have to bat this evening.

England win the toss and bowl first

Andrew Kitching has a very particular wish:

“I’d love one of the old MCC touring jerseys. Love the red and yellow piping. Far better than the home version.”

Well Andrew, perhaps someone out there has just what you’re looking for.

What will the players be wearing?

That might not matter now, but in 10, 20, 30 years from now, perhaps these strips will be considered vintage classics.

Hopefully future generations have an easy time locating them. At least easier than the challenge me and my fellow collectors face whenever we search for holy grails and white whales.

For a better idea of what I’m on about, take a read of this week’s Spin column, penned by yours truly:

The Sky feed has just flicked on and it’s sunshine and blue skies!

Looks lovely down on the south coast.

It’s probably not the smartest decision but there’s something special about a player heroically limping out to bat at No 11 for the good of the team.

Here’s Tom Banton doing so for Somerset:

Rain in the air and moisture on the ground means there’ll be a delay to the toss and start time.

It was scheduled for 6 pm but it’ll now be 6:15 pm.

Play will get underway at 6:45 pm.

Can’t wait for that first ball?

Well, if you’re hankering for some cricket on the go, Tom Davies is on top of all the County Championship action here:

Preamble

Daniel Gallan