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Wicket! Adair st Wade b Zampa 11 (Ireland 91-7)
Zampa steps one past Adair’s edge and Wade bowls with the batsman well outside his ground. Five singles over, Fionn Hand joins Tucker at mid on. Australia look a bit jittery with Finch off the field, many lieutenants waving their arms as they try to win this match by a decisive margin.
13th: Ireland 95-7 (Tucker 40, hand 1)
12th over: Ireland 90-6 (Tucker 36, Adair 11) All in all Lorcan Tucker has batted very well, Starc drags and Tucker bowls it in front of square. Seeing it big and early despite the express pace. Another beautiful shot! Tucker leans back and bowls Starc over extra cover for four. One detached unit carries two more. THROW! Starc is livid, how crucial will that be? A top edge from Tucker soars into the Brisbane sky and falls straight through the cupped hands of Pat Cummins. Tense things Twelve from above.
11th over: Ireland 78-6 (Tucker 25, Adair 10) Zampa continues, Adair cuts it to distance behind point for four. Five above Mitchell Starc is back, can he finish it off quickly and give the Aussies a NRR shot in the arm?
Wicket! Delany c Maxwell b Stoinis 14 (Ireland 68-6)
Delany gets a leg up on Stoinis and Maxwell runs him into the turnbuckle. Nervous times for the rest of the pack, all eyes on that margin of victory.
This has the makings of a very bad night for England. You obviously have a game in hand, but a big NRR swing coming in. Australia win by 75 or more and surpass England’s NRR. I would add another very important consideration to the games against NZ and SL.
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) October 31, 2022
10th over: Ireland 73-6 (Tucker 25, Adair 5)
9th over: Ireland 67-5 (Tucker 24, Delany 14) Adam Zampa comes into the attack and bowls an over that has just five singles.
A great gift of DRS is the keeper’s instant change from loud cheery appeal (to the umpire) to instant no-kill-didn’t-hear-anything (to the captain’s review). It involves highly skilled facial gymnastics. Matthew Wade world class right now
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) October 31, 2022
8th over: Ireland 62-5 (Tucker 21, Delany 12) Aaron Finch limps off the field, appearing to have aggravated an injury sustained while batting. It will be interesting to see who takes the reins for Australia… looks like it’s Wade behind the stumps. Five runs from the returning Hazlewood.
@Jimbo_Cricket is it a good day for bears and picnic baskets in Western Australia? Why are there so many Park Rangers at the Gabba?
— eamorugby (@HoarseRoar) October 31, 2022
It’s no picnic for Ireland at the moment.
Updated at 10.38 GMT
7th over: Ireland 57-5 (Tucker 19, Delany 10) Delany comes back and cuts Maxwell for four. This pair have done admirably after the deluge of wickets.
6th over: Ireland 49-5 (Tucker 17, Delany 4) Ireland don’t go down without a fight, get sixteen off Starc. Tucker looks good, bowls Starc to mid-wicket and pings the next one imperiously to hit back-to-back boundaries. Delany enters the act with an open drive from four to third. Welcome runs for England fans who fear this NRR.
Updated at 10.31 GMT
5th over: Ireland 35-5 (Tucker 9, Delany 0) So who’s batting now? Tucker is still there and so is Gareth Delany. Cummins continues after Starc’s carnage, Tucker comes down the wicket and pings it across the wicket, it’s not. What a feature among the chaos. Tucker pushes two to fine leg and a less spotted three from a hack to mid-on. Ten out and NOBODY’S DEAD CAME OUT.
Updated at 10.32 GMT
Reasons to be scared/joyful… one, two, three. It is worth noting that if Australia’s margin of victory is 75 runs or more, their NRR will surpass England’s. I’m just the messenger.
Wicket! Dockrell b Starc (Ireland 25-5)
I can’t type these wickets fast enough! “Rinse and repeat,” says Isa Guha on TV comms and that’s exactly it, full and quick with some form, Starc has two outside off, a double wicket maiden. This is an obliteration.
4th end: Ireland 25-5 (Tucker 0, Delany 0)
Updated at 10.32 GMT
Wicket! Campher b Starc 0 (Ireland 25-4)
Another missing! Painful things for the Irish. Camphor is cleared by a textbook Starc in-ducker.
Wicket! Tector ct Sub (S Smith) b Maxwell (Ireland 22-3)
Harry Tector makes a sublime drive at mid off…and then pulls a simple catch to Smith at square leg. Two in the last for Maxwell! Oh, and Mitchell Starc is coming.
3rd end: Ireland 24-3 (Tucker 0, Campher 0)
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.
Aaron Finch passes the fifty mark. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Updated at 10.08 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 plugin…