33rd over: West Indies 174-3 ( Hope 74, Rutherford 16)Wow! Rutherford leans back and flays six against the wind. He and Livingstone have a petty battle over Rutherford not being ready for the delivery. The run rate creeps up to 5.27.

32nd over: West Indies 165-3 ( Hope 73, Rutherford 8) Archer puts the brake on, West Indies squeeze just three from his over. And we tick on.

31st over: West Indies 162-3 ( Hope 72, Rutherford 6) Rutherford replaces Carty and immediately has to tie his shoe laces. He pancakes his second ball up and over for four. Rashid looks quizzical. The cameras pan in on steaming barbeques of meat.

WICKET! Carty b Rashid 71 (West Indies 155-3)

30th over: West Indies 154-2 ( Carty 71, Hope 70) Carty goes for broke, swinging at a short ball from Archer. He’s fallen for the trap but gets height on the ball – Turner gets his hands to the ball but over the boundary falling backwards, and can’t push it back over the rope. Carty repeats the shot next delivery, the ball flies into Turner’s hands again, but he can’t hold on as he falls and rolls to the ground. Archer is furious and immediately serves up a wide.

29th over: West Indies 143-2 ( Carty 62, Hope 69) Adil Rashid back too, as Livingstone brings back the heavy mob in an attempt to make a breakthrough. Four singles from the over.

28th over: West Indies 139-2 ( Carty 60, Hope 67) Jofra Archer is back, now with sleeves on both arms. Immediately he turns off the tap, Carty nods out of the way of a bouncer. Ah, I speak to0 soon, as Carty playfully shimmies him over deep third.

“We maybe need to give this England side a break for much of what has happened recently due to the young age and inexperience of the side,” taps Brendan Large, “but the level of fielding, and particularly dropped catches, has been truly awful recently.”

Fifty for Keacy Carty!

26th over: West Indies 124-2 ( Carty 47, Hope 65) Liam Livingstone pulls mid-off up; Shai Hope lofts Jacks over the top for four. At just over the half-way mark, West Indies have a reassuringly solid base.

25th over: West Indies 117-2 ( Carty 45, Hope 60) Ooof, I think that was a dropped catch by Salt behind the stumps, he certainly flies forward with the desperate air of a flailing man. Yes, the replay shows Hope pressing and the ball flies off the edge into Salt’s gloves, but he can’t hold on. Bethell falls to the ground dramatically, head in hands.

24th over: West Indies 114-2 ( Carty 43, Hope 59) A double change, as Will Jacks replaces Rashid. Nine from the over, topped off when Hope drives the last ball with style for four.

Fifty for Shai Hope!

21st over: West Indies 97-2 ( Carty 39, Hope 46) Enough! Hope flaps at Livingstone’s first ball, Carty cuts his second which bissects the fielders and races to the rope – the first boundary for a while. Emboldened, Carty ploughs again – nine from the over.

21st over: West Indies 88-2 ( Carty 30, Hope 43) Mark Butcher reckons that Carty is struggling to pick Rashid, who with pushed up sleeve and impish beard reels in. A dab behind by Carty brings a single, but there are only another couple of singles to add to the pot.

20th over: West Indies 84-2 ( Carty 30, Hope 43) Three singles wrung from Liam Livingstone’s hankerchief. Just 13 runs from the last five overs.

19th over: West Indies 80-2 ( Carty 29, Hope 41) England’s spinners racing through their overs here, economically too. West Indies need to keep an eye on this.

18th over: West Indies 80-2 ( Carty 27, Hope 41) Marcus Trescothick watches with folded arms and a towel around his neck as Carty can only pick a single from Livingstone’s over.

An email! Hello Andrew Benton.

“I joined the multi-nation crowd at the excellent Cricket Sixes today here in Hong Kong, where in one match England let Oman score the highest of the tournament so far (160), dropping at least two catches in the process, and then proceeded to be on the receiving end of some excellent catching from their opponents that left them without a hope. Hopefully the one day side will be better prepared. And Oman were vibrant in orange outfits, too, they really stood out. With 12 nations playing, the crowd was a real mixture, not just the home side and their single opponents, and there was a really cool and friendly atmosphere.

“Are the sixes competitions elsewhere, do you know? Hong Kong’s used to be big business in the 90’s as I recall, but they stopped holding them a few years before covid and this is the first time in 7 years.”

All I know of is the Dermot-Reeve era 1990s competition – but OBO viewers around the world may know more.

17th over: West Indies 79-2 ( Carty 27, Hope 41) Rashid rattles through another, West Indies pick up three and they take DRINKS!

16th over: West Indies 76-2 ( Carty 24, Hope 40) Liam Livingstone brings himself on, sunglasses of course, and opens with a loopy legspinner, immediately dries his hands on the pitch. Mark Butcher says the ball is coming onto the bat better as the moisture rises from the pitch.

15th over: West Indies 72-2 ( Carty 23, Hope 37) A delicious on-drive from Hope as Saqib strays, celebrated with cow bells and flag waving as it crosses the rope. A handful of singles.

13th over: West Indies 64-2 ( Carty 21, Hope 31) …so a repressed Hope sticks a big maroon pad down the pitch and lofts Rashid for six . The fifty partnership comes up off 62 balls. A testing googly squeezes through Carty’s gate.

13th over: West Indies 54-2 ( Carty 19, Hope 23) England’s shirt rises quite high around the neck, good for sunburn I suppose. Excellent from Saqib, who sends down nothing for the West Indies to go at….

12th over: West Indies 52-2 ( Carty 18, Hope 2) Time for Adil Rashid, who whistles through his first over of twirly stuff.

11th over: West Indies 48-2 ( Carty 17, Hope 19) Saqib, closely cropped of beard and head, strays a tad full and Hope drives him exquisitely for four down the ground. Saqib pulls things back with four consecutive dots.

10th over: West Indies 41-2 ( Carty 16, Hope 13) Turner goes short, Hope goes high, with the wind and a snuff of arrogance, and the ball sails over cover for the first six of the match. End of the first power play.

9th over: West Indies 33-2 ( Carty 15, Hope 6) Jofra gets a rest, to be replace by Saqib Mahmood – who recently signed a new three-year white-ball contract with Lancashire (though still with the hope of playing red ball should his body allow). The cameras pan to an inviting turquoise Caribbean Sea. Four stolen from the over.

8th over: West Indies 29-2 ( Carty 14, Hope 3) Carty has had enough of this cat and mouse and swings at Turner – missing wildly. Two balls later he drives recklessly to where three fielders are bunched like milk bottles, crouching square on the offside. Bethell leaps but can only palm the ball upwards (and save two runs in the process). Carty goes again later in the over, this time angling the ball down through the hovering trio, and picks up four.

7th over: West Indies 23-2 ( Carty 8, Hope 3) A cheeky breeze ruffles the flags and the T-shirts of the crowd, the sky full of fluffy mottled clouds – think a reception-class collage. “A good battle between Jofra and Shai Hope” says the commentator “Jofra is disciplined, as is Hope, knowing that this might be Jofra’s last over.” And a maiden it is.

6th over: West Indies 23-2 ( Carty 8, Hope 3) Turner tidy and quick. Quite an intimidating figure actually as he runs in. Most of the crowd lightly filling the stadium seem to be Brits.

5th over: West Indies 19-2 ( Carty 5, Hope 3) A third over on the trot for Archer, accelerating into the high 80s (mph) and varying his length. Five dots.

4th over: West Indies 17-2 ( Carty 5, Hope 1) A morale-boosting boundary from Turner’s last ball, but a testing over from the young giant. West Indies defiantly not doing as Alastair Cook instructed and getting through England’s initial burst.

WICKET! Lewis c Salt b Turner 4 (West Indies 12-2)

3rd over: West Indies 12-1 (Lewis 4, Carty 1) Archer tries to tempt Lewis with a bouncer, but he shows admirable restraint, and finishes the over with a fuller length ball that Lewis plays straight back down the pitch for a single.

2nd over: West Indies 7-1 (Lewis 0, Carty 0) King drives his second ball through the off side for four with some style, but two balls later is walking back to the dressing room. Turner raises his long arm in bouncing delight.

WICKET! King c Cox b Turner 7 (West Indies 7-1)

1st over: West Indies 1-0 (King 1, Lewis 0) Jofra Archer has the new ball, little white beads threaded through the bottom of his braids, a sleeve on his right arm, red soles on his boots. One of his trouser legs looks as if its has been chewed off at the bottom by a hungry dog. Just a single from the over.

The players are out, as is the sun, away we go.

Apologies, I’ve just realised the email address on the page was wrong. Should now work – ping things this way if you have something on your mind: [email protected]

A steaming plate of cheese on toast enters the room alongside my son, sadly none for me. Cook thinks we could see 15 overs of “heavy seam” from England to start.

Pitch watch: Carlos Brathwaite gets intimate with the batting surface – “What is a good length? Six to eight metres from the popping crease. What Jaydon Seales did really well is get from being defensive at eight metres to being attacking a six metres.”

Jason Holder and Alastair Cook both agree that West Indies need to get through this initial burst from England.

A twelfth ODI loss in 18 matches? “Not where England is at”

West Indies XI

England XI

England won the toss and will field

Preamble