Key events
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Buttler out of ODI series, Brook steps up
Big news from the England camp: Jos Buttler’s calf injury is not going to clear up in time for the ODI series. His role as captain in those five games will go to Harry Brook, who becomes (I think) the fifth England men’s captain in four months – after Buttler in the T20 World Cup, Ben Stokes in the Test series against West Indies, Ollie Pope in the Tests against Sri Lanka and Phil Salt in this series. Buttler’s role as a master blaster goes to Liam Livingstone. His role as wicketkeeper was already earmarked for Jamie Smith.
Also out of the ODI squad is Josh Hull, who has a minor injury to his quad after doing rather more bowling than he is used to on his Test debut.
Permission to switch to the football. Our MBM is being supplied by Rob Smyth, another legend in his own live-blog. “Spurs,” he reported a few minutes ago, “are all over Arsenal.”
In search of some local expertise, I texted Tanya Aldred, the live-blog legend who lives within walking distance of Old Trafford. “Pissing it down,” she pithily replied. “V unlikely I’d say.”
It’s not raining cats and dogs – it’s worse than that. Which is even more of a shame than usual as this game is live on BBC1.
Toss delayed
We have our first hold-up.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to a game that could be anything from a crackling dénouement to a damp squib. One thing it definitely won’t be is a dead rubber, largely thanks to Liam Livingstone.
He was England’s matchwinner on Friday with 87, he’s the leading run-scorer in the series on either side with 124, and he’s also the joint leading wicket-taker with five. His batting average for the series is 62 and his bowling average is 7.60. He’s been Ben Stokes on steroids. And he has kept an experimental England side in a series that they could easily have lost already.
Today, on his home ground, Livingstone will probably be out first ball and take none for plenty – if he gets on the field at all. The weather forecast, even by Manchester’s high standards, is atrocious. In every hour from 2pm to 7, the chance of rain (according to the BBC) is at least 60 per cent. The first hour, as Rod Stewart so nearly sang, is the driest.
We could end up with a five-over thrash or nothing at all. Still, this is the OBO, where the result is always win-win: either we get some cricket or we settle for some cricket chat.
The toss is at 2pm, in theory, and I hope to be back soon after that with the teams.
