England v Australia: Women's Ashes first T20 – live! | Sport - Fashion,News And Health Blogging Updates

2.22pm EDT
14:22

1st over: Australia 1-5 (Mooney 1, Lanning 0) Healy gone fifth ball of the over after whacking a four, and England have the early running.

2.21pm EDT
14:21

WICKET! Healy c Sciver b Cross 4 (Australia 4-1)

Early breakthrough! Huge for England, Healy is so dangerous off the top of a T20. She goes for a big one, gets a top edge, and Sciver is able to make excellent ground up in the circle and take the catch tumbling back.

2.06pm EDT
14:06

Teams

I’ve got the XIs for you now. Australia going first. Perry gets a promotion from the World T20 setup, and Gardner is up the order after batting in the tail in the Test. Australia bat deep today with Kimmince all the way down at 10.

Australia
Healy
Mooney
Lanning
Perry
Gardner
Haynes
Molineux
Jonassen
Wareham
Kimmince
Schutt

I have no idea how England will line up, because they have four openers and the team sheet they’ve given us is helpfully filled out with 1 to 11 down the page, not by actual batting order. Unless Kate Cross is suddenly a first drop and Sophie Ecclestone second. Think not. Will Beaumont and Winfield come in down at 5 or 6, or has Wyatt’s successful run at the top come to an end?

England
Jones
Wyatt
Beaumont
Winfield
Knight
Sciver
Brunt
Marsh
Ecclestone
Shrubsole
Cross

Updated
at 2.09pm EDT

2.03pm EDT
14:03

England win the toss and will chase

The decision is Heather Knight’s. They’ll bowl first. Interesting given Australia’s batting depth. I would have thought putting pressure on them under lights might be the go. But in this format, sides do like knowing what the pitch is doing and what their required run rate is.

1.57pm EDT
13:57

Contact

You know I always want to hear from you. Hit the classic old email button using geoff.lemon@theguardian.com, or the tweetphone using @GeoffLemonSport.

1.29pm EDT
13:29

Squads

The big news is that Sarah Taylor is out – a recurrence of her mental health issues meant she decided she’s not in the right headspace to play. She hasn’t looked it in her last few matches, so it’s a sensible call on her part. Also the young bowling all-rounder Mady Villiers got a call-up.

England squad
Amy Jones, Danni Wyatt, Heather Knight *, Laura Marsh, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Natalie Sciver, Mady Villiers, Tammy Beaumont, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone

Australia squad: Elyse Villani, Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning *, Rachael Haynes, Ash Gardner, Delissa Kimmince, Ellyse Perry, Nicola Carey, Nicole Bolton, Beth Mooney, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux

1.24pm EDT
13:24

Preamble

Geoff Lemon

Hello again. Welcome to sunny Essex, home of a lot of things that I don’t know about because I’m not from Essex. Chelmsford is the ground, where Goochy used to prowl with Salim Malik and Mark Waugh in the 1980s.

Today it hosts the first of three Women’s Ashes T20s. These have a bit more riding on them than you might expect after England got pantsed in the 50-over games and was nowhere near the mark in the Test match. But by virtue of escaping with a draw, they can still tie this series on points 8-8.

Three T20 games, 2 points each, and a 2-8 scoreline at present.

They need a clean sweep. Australia meanwhile gave up a lead in the last series to tie it 8-8 and they do not want to do that again. So both teams are going to come out today desperate to win. Should be fun.