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19th over: Pakistan 150-5 (Iftikhar 22, Khushdil 3) Sam Curran to depart. His first ball is a disaster, the ball slips out of his hand like greased imperial leather (other soaps, I think are available) and jammed for SIX on fine leg. Curran manages to respond well and gets out of the envelope for just three more. The final is coming: the rookie entrusted Luke Wood.
18th over: Pakistan 141-5 (Iftikhar 14, Khushdil 2) Wood gets the wicket and bowls a miser for his captain as well. Just four runs from him. Pakistan have slowed down after coming out with a burst of strokes at the top.
WICKET! Nawaz b Wood 4 (Pakistan 137-5)
A first T20I wicket for Luke Wood and another emphatic one! A quicker ball goes past Nawaz’s lofted drive and into the stumps, making the woodwork spin! The rookie jumps in the air and is assaulted by his teammates. A good time
17th over: Pakistan 137-4 (Iftikhar 12, Nawaz 4) Iftikhar edges David Willey over long on for SIX! This helps the execution speed. A long-on as Willey sprays a couple of wides and Pakistan rotate the strike. 12 runs from him in the over. There are three left.
Updated at 16.58 BST
16th over: Pakistan 125-4 (Iftikhar 4, Nawaz 2) Mohammad Nawaz is the new batsman for Pakistan. Rashid restricts the home side to five runs from the over and ends his four-over set with 2-27. straightened up
Updated at 16.58 BST
WICKET! Masood c Gleeson b Rashid
A domestic reverse sweep from Masood goes straight to Gleeson in ’45. Pakistani ports continue to decline.
WICKET! Rizwan st Salt b Ali 68 (Pakistan 117-3)
Rizwan is gone! Moeen saw him coming down the track and bowled the shortest ball. The worker played his cards too soon and got confused. Salt removes bonds quickly. Pakistan stuttering here and have lost their batsman.
Iftikhar Ahmed is the new batsman and he is about to run him out from his very first ball! Mildly silly cricket throughout. Spin making things happen more than a seam on this surface, Pakistan will have scored.
Rizwan reacts after losing his wicket. Photograph: Anjum Naveed/AP
15th over: Pakistan 120-3 (Masood 1, Iftikhar 1)
Updated at 17.01 BST
14th over: Pakistan 110-2 (Rizwan 66, Masood 1) Shan Masood comes to the crease on debut. He blocks his first two balls before getting off the mark with a single into the covers. An opener by trade, it will be interesting to see how he fares with Pakistan expecting him to hit the metal from the get-go. Six overs left.
WICKET! Haider Ali c Willey b S Curran 11 (Pakistan 109-2)
As you might have guessed from the heavily loaded ellipses…England has another port. Haider Ali hit Currill in the Karachi night but it didn’t go far enough, Willey took a safe catch on the edge of the boundary. England got into it again in the last couple of overs.
13th over: Pakistan 107-1 (Rizwan 65, Ali 10) Willey comes back and tightens things up a bit, just three runs from the over – a shrewd mix of slower balls and yorkers doing the business. Pressure will lead to error…
12th over: Pakistan 104-1 (Rizwan 64, Ali 8) Rizwan drops to his haunches and smears Rashid at mid-wicket for SIX! Here you are looking at a great score. 11 runs from the over. Pakistan progress to just short of nine overs and they have a huge engine room sitting idle in the dugout. They will fly close to 200 on this surface and with this platform.
11th over: Pakistan 93-1 (Rizwan 56, Ali 5) More singles than an 18-30 holiday at Kavos. Well, six. Richard Gleeson returns and keeps a lid on things with a barcode.
Updated at 4.27pm BST
10th over: Pakistan 87-1 (Rizwan 53, Ali 2) Haider Ali the new batsman and Rashid has his hair up after that golden dismissal. Ali makes two, but England are done – just four runs and a wicket. We’re halfway there, time for a drink.
Rizwan celebrates half century by scoring. Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 16.58 BST
WICKET! Babar b Rashid 31 (Pakistan 85-1)
He bowled him with a googly! Rashid foxes Babar with a well-disguised error, the ball spins across bat and pad and runs away onto the stumps. England needed it, Pakistan lose the first.
Rashid celebrates the dismissal of Pakistan captain Babar Photo: Anjum Naveed/AP
Updated at 4.27pm BST
9th over: Pakistan 83-0 (Rizwan 42, Babar 27) Spins from both ends as Ali tackles. Five runs from the first four deliveries as the batsmen get closer and climb towards the gaps…that’s a big SIX indeed! Rizwan hops and skips across the wicket and sends a length ball for the first maximum of the series. Two more off the last ball make it 13 from the over.
8th over: Pakistan 70-0 (Rizwan 42, Babar 27) Moeen turns to turn and his best mucka: Adil Rashid. A mix of flat deliveries with skates and tempting slower loops from Rashid as he tries to find the best pace to play on this glassy surface. No boundaries but Rizwan and Babar are experts at finding the gaps, seven runs easily picked up from the last over.
7th over: Pakistan 63-0 (Rizwan 38, Babar 25) Sam Curran comes in and looks to be easy pickings for Pakistan. A short ball is scornfully hit by Rizwan to the fine leg fence and a full ball tossed from the stumps is driven powerfully back past the bowler for four more. 12 runs conceded from the over and not a single sniff for England.
6th over: Pakistan 51-0 (Rizwan 28, Babar 23) Do it! Rizwan steps down the track and clones Luke Wood straight for four! It was a dismissive shot, Rizwan and Babar are lining up the English bowlers and looking very comfortable*. A quick wicket brings up the fifty partnership in the top half for Pakistan. England need a breakthrough or it could be a very long twenty overs.
(*trying teasing?)
5th over: Pakistan 43-0 (Rizwan 21, Babar 22) Ali continues to rotate his bowlers. Richard Gleeson is summoned for a bit of right arm and gets away with three singles but then he oversteps and is caught nonchalantly by Rizwan on the boundary. Pakistan very much on the offensive, England’s attack has looked a bit of the same and progressed in these early stages.
Pakistan captain Azam and Rizwan run Picture: Anjum Naveed/AP
Updated at 4.01pm BST
4th over: Pakistan 36-0 (Rizwan 13, Babar 19) Debutant Luke Wood is summoned early by Moeen Ali. Wood is the third of England’s trio of left-handed seamers in this game and delivers a good knock, just four singles away.
3rd over: Pakistan 32-0 (Rizwan 13, Babar 19) Beautiful batting from Rizwan who plunders back four from Willey. A whiplash shot followed by a clean leg kick. “Anything you can do…” Babar then plays the best of the lot, a step back who whistles into the gap. Sublime
2nd over: Pakistan 15-0 (Rizwan 4, Babar 11) Sam Curran, with peroxide-slicked tips, takes the new ball from the other end. Starts off with three points but then falls short and Babar pounces on it and scrambles to the fine leg fence for four. The outfield also looks fast. This could be a racing festival. Gup.
1st over: Pakistan 9-0 (Rizwan 3, Babar 6) David Willey delivers the first ball of the game and a little piece of cricket history. Rizwan is off the mark immediately with a push through covers. People are cheering enthusiastically all the time, it’s wonderful to hear. What an atmosphere! The crowd goes wild as Babar gets away from Willey for the first boundary of the game, with a nice toe clip to the fence. Sharp run from that opening pair and it’s nine runs from the first over.
The pitch has a sheen like Patrick Eagar’s famous Sabina Park image. I’m far away in sunny south London, but it seems a little bigger from here.
Updated at 3.40pm BST
The teams are outside and lined up for the anthems. David Gower’s mournful tones can be heard on the TV commentary. Moeen commands his men, sets his field. Rizwan and Babar walk to the crease – the port has a malty milk tint and looks hard. David Willey has the new ball in his left glove. People are ready for this, so am I!
Let’s play!
Moeen Ali leads England. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images
Updated at 3.56pm BST
Alex Hales has been speaking to Sky Sports:
Dear Andy Bull is our man in Karachi, his evocative polo field piece is well worth it.
Equipment:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani
Shan Masood (Derbyshire) debuts and Rizwan rests… from his rest: plays.
England: Phil Salt (wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali (c), Sam Curran, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood, Richard Gleeson
Jos Buttler presents Luke Wood with his debut cap. It’s a new England look: Hales, Duckett, Wood.
Updated at 3.27pm BST
England win the toss and will bowl first
Moeen Ali calls properly under the lights of Karachi. Shortly afterwards he talks about the importance of the occasion: “It’s huge for us and also for Pakistan. I haven’t been to Pakistan much in my life so to represent England as captain here is amazing.”
Moeen also confirms that Alex Hales will play. “Alex Hales comes in after three years, which is amazing for him.” Confirmed teams and comments from Babar in a second.
England’s Moeen Ali and Pakistan’s Babar Azam see each other in the draw. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images
Updated at 3.42pm BST
preamble
21 December 2005. England’s weary cricketers walk off the pitch under the haze of the Rawalpindi floodlights. A consolation ODI win thanks to a match-winning 4-48 from a slippery-seamed 23-year-old called James Anderson. As the players face the dew-covered field and…