Key events
Salt smashes 19-ball fifty
9th over: England 150-1 (Salt 62, Bethell 2) This is now officially bonkers. Salt – who was overshadowed by Buttler despite scoring at a strike rate of TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY – assumes the lead role and mangles poor old Lisaad Williams for 20 from four legal deliveries. Six over midwicket, four through mid-off, six over extra-cover, four to wide long-on.
Somewhere in all that Salt brought up a relatively ponders fifty from 19 balls.
8th over: England 126-1 (Salt 41, Bethell 1)
WICKET! England 126-1 (Buttler c Stubbs b Fortuin 83)
Buttler pumps two more sixes off Fortuin – long on and midwicket I think, though they’er starting to blur into one – before pinging a hockey stroke to deep backward square, where Tristan Stubbs takes a sharp catch as he falls backwards.
Buttler walks off to a standing ovation, which can’t have happened too often for a player who faced 30 deliveries and batted for only 35 minutes. In that time Buttler struck eight fours and seven sixes, most with an eerie serenity.
7th over: England 112-0 (Salt 40, Buttler 70) Jansen returns, with the added security of having five fielders outsi- ah, forget it. Salt pulls him flat and hard for six; Buttler makes room to play a cross-court forehand between extra cover and mid-off for four. He has 70 from 26 balls.
Hang on, 70 from 26 balls!!!
England score 100 in record Powerplay
6th over: England 100-0 (Salt 33, Buttler 65) The teenage left-arm seamer Kwena Maphaka is invited to do something, anything. He starts well, conceding two from his first three balls. And then he too is Buttlered: a slap through the covers is followed by a devastating swipe down the ground for six.
That brings up the England hundred inside six overs. This is comfortably their highest Powerplay score, beating the 89 for 3 they scored against South Africa in a classic World T20 game at Mumbai nine years ago. On that occasion England chased down 230 to win; South Africa are facing a similar target.
Buttler wallops 18-ball fifty
5th over: England 88-0 (Salt 32, Buttler 54) Rabada returns to the attack and is monstered down the ground for six by Buttler. Three successive fours take Buttler to a quite exhilarating 50 from 18 balls. He waves his bat to the ground, then snaps his head back to salute his late father.
The second of those three fours tempted mid-on, who dived in an attempt to take a low catch but was beaten by the dip on the ball.
I’m not even sure South Africa have bowled badly you know; it’s been a startling assault from the England openers.
Fifty partnership in 3.2 overs
4th over: England 68-0 (Salt 31, Buttler 35) The left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin assumes the position. Salt pulls him for four to bring up the fifty partnership in just 3.2 overs; Buttler drives successive deliveries over mid-off for six and four. Remember when a six was an event?
Fortuin tries slowing his pace down with the last ball of the over. Buttler waits and waits and clubs it to exactly the same area for four more. He has 35 from 14 balls, Salt 31 from 10. It’s no exaggeration to say that England could get 500 here.
Williams’ first over disappears for 23
3rd over: England 48-0 (Salt 26, Buttler 20) The new bowler Lizaad Williams starts with two good deliveries – after which his figures are 0.2-0-12-0. Buttler pulled the first ferociously for six even though it wasn’t particularly short, and made room to blast the second over long on.
Two wides and a single are followed by successive boundaries for Salt, a pull and an edge wide of the keeper. Some start, this.
2nd over: England 25-0 (Salt 18, Buttler 7) Kagiso Rabada starts at the other end. Jos Buttler steers his first ball between slip and gully for four, a deft stroke, but Rabada keeps him quiet for the remainder of the over.
1st over: England 18-0 (Salt 18, Buttler 0) Phil Salt was out for a golden duck in Cardiff. At Old Trafford he hits the three balls of the match for four, as if this is somehow normal behaviour, then clubs the last delivery back over Marco Jansen’s head for six. A pr-etty good start for England.
Time for business. Marco Jansen will open the bowling to Phil Salt.
“It’s a sunny evening after deluges yesterday,” writes Tanya Aldred, who is at Old Trafford. “Party stand looks a bit sad – only about 15 per cent full at the moment.”
Team news
One change apiece. Jofra Archer comes in for Jamie Overton in the England XI; South Africa bring in the left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin from Corbin Bosch. Keshan Maharaj has a groin strain.
England Salt, Buttler (wk), Brook (c), Bethell, Banton, Curran, Jacks, Dawson, Archer, Rashid, Wood.
South Africa Markram (c), Rickelton, Pretorious, Brevis, Stubbs, Ferreira, Jansen, Rabada, Forruin, Maphaka, Williams.
South African win the toss and bowl
“The wicket looks a bit different, we hope there’s a bit of moisture early on,” says their captain Aiden Markram.
Harry Brook says England would have batted on what is a used pitch.
Preamble
It’s Friday, it’s 6pm, it’s time for TFI Not Raining in Manchester. After the soggiest of T20 matches in Cardiff on Wednesday, England and South Africa will hope for an actual 20-overs-a-side match tonight. There’s a chance of showers later – come on, it’s September in Manchester – but the signs are much better than they were 48 hours ago.
England need a win to avoid a second white-ball series defeat to South Africa. That’s a slightly weird sentence to write given the series is only 12.5 overs old. But South Africa handled the weirdness and the conditions far better on Wednesday, so if they win again in a more orthodox game tonight, England can have no complaints.
The match starts at 6.30pm.
