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Wicket! Stirling ct Cummins b Maxwell 11 (Ireland 18-2)
Ireland lose another and it’s Stirling on his way, he puts a jubilant Maxwell to Cummins at covers…
Wicket! Balbirnie b Cummins 6 (Ireland 18-1)
Stirling sends Pat Cummins into the stands, a big six off a good length ball. Indignant at the big one too. A spin pull takes Stirling for four more and a leg bye brings the Irish skipper back on strike. His luck runs out when he goes offside and is cleared by Cummins. Frantic start!
2nd: Ireland 18-1 (Stirling 6, Tucker 0)
1st over: Ireland 7-0 (Stirling 6, Balbirnie 1) Hazlewood gets a hoop with a perfect seam, Balbirnie takes a big yahoo and misses, the ball cuts the bails as it goes but amazingly they stay still! The luck of… DON’T say it. Stirling then makes his stop superbly pulling Hazlewood for six! Fantastic stuff.
Hazlewood has the new ball, Stirling and Balbirnie scratch their guards. Play!
I’m going to the kitchen to quickly fill up some strong brown liquid, I’ll catch you in a few minutes.
Here’s more on Virat Kohli’s story:
Australia bowled Ireland 180 to win
20th over: Australia 179-5 (David 15, Wade 7) Poor Mark Adair…gets a bit more of his end, seventeen runs in the last innings to leave Ireland staring at an imposing total. Tim David steps up in the first half of the over, hitting full deliveries and full tosses to the boundary. Wade then improvises a sprawling ramp from a very wide delivery that was drifting away from the cut strip, four more runs. A two runaway from the last closes the Australian innings. Adair is left to lick his wounds, 59 runs in his spell.
19th over: Australia 162-5 (David 5, Wade 1) Excellent from Josh Little, takes his second wicket and goes for just four runs from the penultimate over. He finishes with good figures: 2-21 from four. Adair will take care of the final after going to put some serious touches on the last one. Here we come…
Wicket! Stoinis ct Dockrell b Little 35 (Australia 160-5)
Disappeared! Stoinis cuts Little to backward point. Another “impact” innings from the big man. Mathew Wade is the new batsman.
18th over: Australia 158-4 (Stoinis 35, David 3) Ireland fight back: Dockrell is in and out, sending an over for just three runs. He finishes with 0-24 from his four. Two left…
Wicket! Finch ct Adair b McCarthy 63
The skipper was looking tired and eventually holed out over long on, but 63 off 44 balls will keep his critics quiet. Tim David is the new batsman and he is off the mark straight away. McCarthy ends his spell with 3-29 from four overs.
17th over: Australia 155-4 (Stoinis 34, David 1)
16th over: Australia 145-3 (Finch 57, Stoinis 31) Stoinis flicks a ball towards the covers and is almost caught but Delany can’t quite hang on to lunge forward. A difficult opportunity. Dockrell is milked for one and two before Finch drives hard for six down the ground. Eleven escapes, Australians in charge. It could be a stinging last four overs for Ireland.
Updated at 10.07 GMT
15th over: Australia 134-3 (Finch 50, Stoinis 27) Adair has ended a nightmare. As if to make Michael Keane look like a T20 Nostradamus, he loses his radar and blasts a painful five wide into overdrive. That’s the least of his worries too… the winger goes for 26 in total as Stoinis crunches two fours and Finch spins for four before bringing up his fifty with a six off a full toss from the final ball Australia on the charge and Ireland for the first time in the game.
“As I was saying…” Mystic Meg emails Mike.
Updated at 09.29 GMT
14th over: Australia 108-3 (Finch 40, Stoinis 16) Stoinis plays a powerful straight drive past Delaney for Australia’s first boundary in almost three overs (17 balls). He follows it up with a pull for another couple and then hits a longer six. Sixteen runs from the over help the Aussie cause.
Michael Keane emails a bugbear:
“Jim, nice for those of us back home that Ireland are playing at a civilized time, although the 5am departure was worth it. But how many wides have we bowled? It’s absolutely maddening, especially from the our seamers who are otherwise pretty good. Maybe a bit short for the Gabba, but generally dangerous and tight. I felt a lot (in place of Moeen Ali) almost cost us against England and we’re not helping ourselves today.” .
I’m seven wide so far from Ireland, which isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things, but as always, every race counts in this format.
Updated at 09.29 GMT
13th over: Australia 92-3 (Finch 38, Stoinis 3) McCarthy has been fantastic tonight. His last over goes for five and he is 2-19 from his three overs so far. Ireland keep the pressure on Australia here.
Updated at 09.29 GMT
Stepping away from the Gabba for a second, this is pretty dark and disturbing:
12th over: Australia 87-3 (Finch 34, Stoinis 1) Just three runs from Dockerill’s second over, Australia do a mini rebuilding job after Maxwell’s departure.
Many thought that George Dockrell was bad for Ireland in recent years for Ireland.
He has now taken 1-15 in 3 overs against England and Australia. Very useful add-on for his power punch; another player who could find his way onto the franchise circuit
— Tim Wigmore (@timwig) October 31, 2022
Updated at 0930 GMT
Wicket! Maxwell ct Tucker b Little 13 (Australia 84-3)
Josh Little returns after isotonic sips. Finch drives him away through cover for four before a single takes Maxwell on strike. Little whistles one through his ears and then takes the next ball! A full, wide, quick ball is clipped by Maxwell and the meaty nick flies to Tucker behind the woodwork.
Marcus Stoinis is the new man, he marmalade Sri Lanka the other night to get his side over the line. They need crucial outputs from him here as well. Poc keeps him honest with his first ball, a point defended.
11th: Australia 84-3 (Finch 34, Stoinis 0)
Updated at 0930 GMT
This made me laugh:
Nasser Hussain on Halloween: “I can’t tell what this is all about to be honest.” Bloke rarely fails
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) October 31, 2022
10th over: Australia 78-2 (Finch 27, Maxwell 13) Maxwell tries to paddle Delaney and umpire Menon gives it away but immediately checks with a confident smile. Sure enough, the replay shows the ball dropped and the decision is overturned. Next ball another big shout for lbw with a switch hit, Ireland go up this time but the decision rests with Maxwell. Ireland are in this game, frustrates Delaney as he fires the ball on a flat trajectory. Help for Maxwell, who takes one to the slot off the final ball and drives it back down the ground for a six. Events over, ten gone: time for a drink.
9th over: Australia 68-2 (Finch 27, Maxwell 7) Eight runs and a wicket from the ninth over as Glenn Maxwell approaches the crease. He immediately gets into it, taking three twos to keep the fielders and their captain busy.
Updated at 08.48 GMT
Wicket! Marsh ct Tucker b McCarthy 28 (Australia 60-2)
McCarthy has a double, not a great shot from Marsh, who leans back on a cut-back and toe-tacks a wide delivery to the keeper.
8th over: Australia 60-1 (Finch 27, Marsh 28) Dockrell takes a turn and then the batsmen are happy to work him and take the ones and twos. Seven more and the fiftieth partnership between Marsh and Finch.
7th over: Australia 53-1 (Finch 24, Marsh 24) Fifteen runs plundered by Fionn Hand. Mitch Marsh hits a brutal shot into the second floor of the stadium behind the grapevine – a 102 meter shot. And another! Six more! Marsh is happy to slide past the line and sends Hand over for another maximum. Ireland need one here, it was a *changing moment about TM*.
6th over: Australia 38-1 (Finch 23, Marsh 11) Marsh hits a four down the ground off Gareth Delaney, but the spinner recovers well, hitting five runs. Powerplay done.
How do you see this one going? Another finger-chewing botty squeal? As always, send us your thoughts, theories, and general musings.
5th over: Australia 34-1 (Finch 23, Marsh 7) Finch already looking more fluent tonight, absolutely nails a hooked SIX off Adair that flies deep into the Gabba crowd, a whiplash that echoes of the bat brisbane night The Aussie skipper then goes up and up for four more. Fourteen for Australia.
4th over: Australia 20-1 (Finch 11, Marsh 6) Little comes back and keeps a cover, Finch gets a shot for four to get him going, but Ireland are tight in the field, six runs from the end.
3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Finch 5, Marsh 6) Mitch Marsh is the new man and hits his first ball with the spinner for four. No spectators required. Decent from McCarthy though, six runs and a wicket from Warner.
Wicket! Warner ct Adair b McCarthy 3 (Australia 8-1)
Disappeared! Warner bowls Barry McCarthy straight to Adair on ’45*. Ireland is joyful. Davey Dubya can’t believe what he’s done, but he needs to get off the field.
* Full of… receiver
2nd over: Australia 8-0 (Warner 3, Finch 5) Wonderfully moustachioed Mark Adair gets a full ball ahead of Finch who trots down the pitch. Beautiful ball but no dice, going over the edge. A couple more runs are added but Warner is frustrated to miss a full toss outside the off stump, clips it to Dockrell at covers, who makes a good stop to save a certain boundary.
Updated at 08.36 GMT
1st over: Australia 5-0 (Warner 1, Finch 4) Relatively soft first over, at five runs. Little gets a decent bounce and both batsmen poke their eyes. The pitch usually looks bouncy.
Well, here we go. Anyone else excited to see Josh Little get in and out of the Aussie batting line-up? David Warner has yet to…