Australia v South Africa: Cricket World Cup 2019 – live! | Sport

6th over: South Africa 48-0 (Markram 25, de Kock 16) Jim Maxwell is on BBC radio. “This ground, if it didn’t have a boundary, the ball would roll into the North Sea.” Value for shots today. Aaron Finch turns to Nathan Lyon, hoping that spin will slow the South Africans, but Markram produces a perfect straight drive for four.

5th over: South Africa 42-0 (Markram 20, de Kock 15) Now Quinton de Kock is joining the party! Starc serves him up a tray of hors d’oeuvres first up to be fair, and Quinny stuffs himself with a leg glance from the leg stump line. But his next shot isn’t to buffet bowling, its Quinton rushing into the kitchen and seizing a steak off the open flame. Decent length, on the up, but he drives it cleanly through cover nonetheless for four.

4th over: South Africa 34-0 (Markram 20, de Kock 7) Glorious shot from Markram! Behrendorff gives him a bit of width, but there must be been telepathy. Markram clears his front leg early, shuffles to open up the angle for himself, and carves it away for four! Third man is back, but that back-cut beats him easily into the rope. Outstanding. Then Markram hops on the front dog and laces a cover drive for the same result. Those shots were pure Outkast, just so fresh and clean.

3rd over: South Africa 25-0 (Markram 12, de Kock 6) A bit more controlled from Starc this time, clipped for a two and a one by de Kock, and just the one wide this time, well outside off stump this time. Radar still processing, though he produces a good yorker.

2nd over: South Africa 21-0 (Markram 12, de Kock 3) I neglected to mention, apologies, that Hashim Amla is missing after a knock on the knee. I wonder if we’ve seen him play his last ODI for South Africa. The replacement is the left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, and everyone else shuffles up the order, with the all-rounders Pretorious, Phehlukwayo and Morris starting from No6.

Behrendorff will bowl, left-arm swing from both ends. He’s picked off by de Kock for two off the pads, then one to point, and Markram finishes the over with a cover drive for four. He played a belter against Australia in the Durban Test last year, did Markram, in the fourth innings. All cuts and cover drives. Looking in top touch today.

1st over: South Africa 14-0 (Markram 8, de Kock 0) South Africa score six runs with one ball bowled. Not because Markram has smashed it over the rope, but because Starc bowls five wides, a dot ball, then another wide. He’s bowling fast, 90 miles an hour from the off. But not accurately. When he finally corrects to the off side, Markram drives him on the bounce over point for four, then cuts another four. Quite the start from Starc! Not in a good way.

Anthem time. Who doesn’t love an anthem? With the mascot kids and the players and the big balloon. Some of these kids look relatively old compared to the usual, I wonder how they feel at being made to hold hands with grizzled cricketers. Reeza Hendricks has to take two mascot kids because he’s last in line and someone hasn’t done their maths. It’s all a bit Pied Piper for me. And as someone smarter than me once said, if there’s one lesson from the Pied Piper it’s: pay your freelancers.

Mitchell Starc will have first use of the ball today. If you still need something to fill in your time, here’s a long piece that I wrote in appreciation of his Ben Stokes yorker. This is my highest ever words-per-delivery ratio, by the way.

Cheers for Faf du Plessis, who calls correctly. Bat first, the sensible method. And why not? Australia have only chased twice in this tournament, and they lost to India and were very sluggish against Afghanistan in so doing.

“Should be a great match,” writes El Rey. To those who don’t speak Spanish, The King. Humble chap. “Is a preamble preliminary to an amble?”

I think it’s more of a preliminary amble, Your Grace. That makes sense to me etymologically, because a preamble is an early stroll through a garden of ideas before you get down to the serious labour in the furrows of the main text. An idea is a seed, ready to be planted.

If you want to keep up to date with the India-Sri Lanka match while we wait, Tim de Lisle can take care of you.

Updates from Manchester: there was a smattering of rain earlier this morning, and there’s still some thick cloud and a very humid atmosphere. But there are patches of blue as well and the sun is breaking through here and there. Hopefully we have no interruptions. Both teams are out there warming up at the moment with nets and practice stumps and all kinds of equipment out on the ground, it’s very busy out there with the blue-and-orange shirted ground staff and some broadcasters and security and umpires. High traffic area.

Drop me a line. The usual communication lines are open. Email is good, isn’t it? [email protected], or on Twitter using @GeoffLemonSport. Hop in.