37th over: Bangladesh 219-4 (Mushfiqur 60, Mahmudullah 18) Another smoked pull shot from Mush, but there’s some excellent work on the rope by Stoinis sliding around at deep square leg to save it. Two of the three runs from that Cummins over come by that stroke. Cummins is 0-41 from 8 so far. Bangladesh need 12.5 an over from here. Something has to give.

36th over: Bangladesh 216-4 (Mushfiqur 58, Mahmudullah 17) That’s what you can do against Starc! Width, pace, and Mushfiqur drives with style through point for four. Dish that up on a plate with a garnish. (I’m doing Italian chef’s fingers right now.)

Here’s Brian Withington. “Kim Thonger may be on to something with his promotion of Sommaroy as a cricket venue (27th over). Never mind 50 overs, they could host a World Cup of test match duration games on permanent rotation. In passing, in sun-kissed England I believe the nights start drawing in this weekend.”

35th over: Bangladesh 208-4 (Mushfiqur 52, Mahmudullah 15) Cummins searching for that breakthrough. He’s the one you don’t want to have to attack, perhaps even more than Starc. He really ties down Mushy around off stump. But when he goes short, Mushy gloves him down through fine leg for four.

Half century for the Bangladeshi keeper. Lovely batting.

34th over: Bangladesh 201-4 (Mushfiqur 46, Mahmudullah 14) Zampa nearly gets through a good over, but Mahmudullah has a big swing at the end and gets a thick outside edge, up and over backward point and it rolls away for four. There’s the 200. Ok, the required rate is down a touch to 11.5. Interesting. Just a little.

33rd over: Bangladesh 194-4 (Mushfiqur 44, Mahmudullah 9) Coulter-Nile comes back from the Pavilion End, and Mushfiqur advances and launches him for four! Just bounced inside the rope at midwicket after a long launch that came down like a lunar module returning to earth. Single brings Mahmudullah on strike. Next ball? Charge, swat, four! Flat this time, through square leg and beats the sweeper! Ten from the over.

32nd over: Bangladesh 184-4 (Mushfiqur 39, Mahmudullah 4) And we come up to the drinks break via Zampa, who goes for four singles from his over. You don’t get much chance to consolidate when the asking rate is going up like a 4th of July sky.

Yep, that’s out. Going straight on, the ball is smashing into enough of leg stump. After a patchy first spell, that will do Zampa’s confidence a world of good.

IS DAS LBW? Zampa thinks so and Umpire Gough agrees. But it has been sent upstairs for a look by the batsman. Stand by.

29th over: Bangladesh 175-3 (Mushfiqur 34, Das 20) Target 382 Das goes again, this time at NCN who is back into the attack, pulling him hard through midwicket for another boundary! They’re ticking over really well, these two. With four other runs coming in the smaller coins, that makes eight off. They need 9.89 an over to win.

28th over: Bangladesh 167-3 (Mushfiqur 33, Das 13) Target 382 In a competitive field, that’s one of the most attractive shots played today, Liton Das driving Cummins straight past him for four. Very good batting. And he gets a bonus boundary to finish out on the rope at extra cover, Marcus Stoinis misfielding! That’s the second time today the Australians have given away a four like that. You can be sure that will be a *cough cough* ~talking point~ when this is all over.

“Re: Starc’s hand-over-mouth celebration,” writes Nick Toovey. “Brian Withington is a much more optimistic person than I with your assumption that it was mock-shyness. I assumed he was covering his mouth to disguise a frightful gobby send off that this new-age sporting Australian team no longer take part in.” More likely.

27th over: Bangladesh 157-3 (Mushfiqur 32, Das 4) Target 382 Mushfiqur has been around long enough that you can be sure he will not give up. Starc is making making life difficult, but going around the wicket to finish, the punchy wicketkeeper strikes a crisp cover drive into the gap out to the short boundary.

“Afternoon Adam.” Kim Thonger, hello! “Reading this it seems obvious to me that the next Cricket World Cup should be held in Sommaroy, Norway, where bad light would never be an issue, and floodlights never required. What Dickie Bird would make of it all I dread to think.” And Iceland the tournament after that.

26th over: Bangladesh 149-3 (Mushfiqur 26, Das 2) Target 382 Understandably, Finch is also bringing Cummins back. As usual, the man with more dot balls in the tournament than any other is making it hard for both players to get him away, three singles their lot to the sweepers behind the wicket.

“Stat-alert!” alerts (?) Hari Shankar. “Nick Toovey’s question made me think of which batsmen would have been the most unreliable. I check cricinfo stats expecting it to be the redoubtable Inzy. But the answer was a big surprise.guess?
Drumroll…. Steve Waugh! There was a 10% chance that if you had a partnership with the senior Waugh you would be left stranded.”

I’m on radio with Damien Fleming next door again soon – I’ll get his take on that.

25th over: Bangladesh 146-3 (Mushfiqur 24, Das 1) Target 382 Back in his stance, Das gets off the mark from the next ball to square leg. Nicely done. Bangladesh are keeping pace with where Australia were, but, as Harsha Bhogle explains on the telly, it is the sharp increase after over 30 where they surely can’t stay with it now. They need 9.5 an over from here, if that’s how you like to measure these things.

“As much as I’m an Aussie supporter, I’d love to see the Tigers win this one,” writes Kathryn Barras. I suspect this was composed before the last couple of wickets. Ah well. Bring on the dead rubbers. She continues: “Can we talk about the bad facial hair that the Aussies are sporting? Did they forget the bag of razors? (cf Pup’s comments earlier on players bringing bags of gloves and thigh pads). Either it’s the Dennis Lillee/Mitch Johnson mo or nothing. What a disgrace!”

Well, I can’t speak for them. But on Geoff and my side of the desk, I lost the beard (but kept the mo) for the World Cup. Geoff says he is joining me in this pursuit.

“There should be some form of penalty for bowlers expressing faux embarrassment with hand to mouth after taking a ‘lucky’ wicket,” says Brian Withington, in response to Starc’s response getting Tamim. “Not a good look.”

This, of course, is the ground of Stuart Broad’s double-hands-on-mouth from the 2015 Ashes. I know that isn’t the same thing, but thought I’d drop that in there.

Liton Das hit. He’s copped a whack to the side of the helmet from Starc first ball. He’s fine, on his feet straight away, but there is a delay to replace his lid.

Starc silences the crowd! First ball of his new over, Tamim misjudges a delivery just short of a length, chopping on when trying to steer to third man. It’s not much of a ball but those mistakes come when facing a bowler of Starc’s speed.

24th over: Bangladesh 144-2 (Tamim 62, Mushfiqur 23) Target 382 Zampa into his fourth and under pressure early on, Tamim sweeping hard and well for four! The spinner loses his line later in the over down the legside, Mushfiqur adding a couple more behind square to finish. Nine from it and the stands are PUMPING as the Bangladesh fans make more noise than they have at any time today. They want to believe.

23rd over: Bangladesh 135-2 (Tamim 57, Mushfiqur 20) Target 382 Starc is back to shake things up as he did against Sri Lanka in the middle overs. He has, by some margin, been Australia’s best powerplay-to-powerplay bowler in this World Cup so far. Tamim gets off strike first ball, which is a good idea because the left-armer is bowling heat at Mushfiqur, peppering the line of his body a couple of times, the final delivery hitting the splice and flying down to third man. Between times, Khawaja lets one through his legs at mid-off, which isn’t pretty.

“Had my heart in my mouth after you posted that the Tamim LBW was being sent for review immediately assuming he would go,” writes Frederick Herbert. “After finding out he wasn’t out I thought I’d do some research. Turns out, according to this handy analysis that only 20% of on-field not-out decisions are successfully overturned (a slightly higher 34% are overturned when the initial decision is out). As a behavioural scientist I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself. As Mr Kahneman says, never neglect the base rate!”

I suspect I’m going to lift this stat. Thank you for digging into it. Most interesting.

22nd over: Bangladesh 129-2 (Tamim 53, Mushfiqur 18) Target 382 Zampa, or ‘Zorba’ as Alex Carey calls him through the stump mic, again from our northern end of the ground. He’s been good so far. But Mushfiqur really wants to take him down, last time around busting out two reverse sweeps, this time smashing him back over his head for SIX! He turned it into a full toss after dancing at him. Clarke is critical of Zampa’s pace, saying he is sending it down too fast. “You can premeditate as a batsman as you know it isn’t going to spin past you.” Good point.

20th over: Bangladesh 111-2 (Tamim 45, Mushfiqur 9) Mushy! Be glad that he wasn’t run out, because he’s brought his bag of tricks and he’s here to party. Gets down low and scoops Zampa over his own shoulder for a couple of fine leg, then once more drops like it’s hot and reverse-sweeps over backward point for four! Zap, pow. Misses one that he nearly nicks. Charges one and defends. Sweeps conventionally to keep the strike. All happening. They need 8.98.

19th over: Bangladesh 105-2 (Tamim 45, Mushfiqur 2) No top spot for Shakib, he has to settle for 425 runs from his fifth World Cup 2019 innings, and his first thus far that hasn’t passed 50. Big chases are a lot about luck as well as skill, and there are little moments that have to go your way. Mushfiqur Rahim comes to the middle, vastly experienced wicketkeeper-bat in this team. He’s nearly run out for 1 as Tamim hits straight to Smith at midwicket and sets off regardless, and Mushy can only watch and hope the ball misses as he runs to the striker’s end. It does. He still ran, though. NB: Usman.

It’s not Zampa who does it! One of those strokes of luck that falls one way and not the other. A simple shot from Shakib, trying to turn Stonis away square, but instead he gets a leading edge that loops up to mid-off.

18th over: Bangladesh 102-1 (Tamim 44, Shakib 41) Right then. It’s leg-spin time. Adam Zampa has got to for a pile of runs if Bangladesh have any hope. We’ve seen that teams can get on top of him if they attack early. But also he often gets his wickets when teams try to attack him. Who wins this part of the struggle? Zampa takes the early honours, beating Tamim’s outside edge with a straight ball, and going for only four singles.

17th over: Bangladesh 98-1 (Tamim 42, Shakib 39) Slashed for four! Stoinis thought he was in business there with a wide ball bowled and backward point in play. But Tamim got his shot fine of Maxwell and it flies away to the boundary. Equally he nails a whip shot to close the over, but it’s saved on the fence. Again, seven runs scored including a couple more singles. Bangladesh need 8.6 per over from here and they’re nudging up towards 6 an over so far.

16th over: Bangladesh 91-1 (Tamim 36, Shakib 38) Tamim finally hits a pull shot flush, and this time will collect two as Cummins has some distance to cover in the deep. Then there’s a lovely late steer from Shakib that has the crowd in raptures as it beats Maxwell at gully, but they quiet down rapidly when they see third man is set quite square and will save the boundary. Tamim flicks a run, Shakib pulls one. Seven from the over. This is a crazy-tough chase, but they’ve got a real sense of purpose in their batting.

Shakib needs 63 to get back to the top of the runs list, by the way. Count down.

15th over: Bangladesh 84-1 (Tamim 31, Shakib 36) A classic picket fence from Stoinis: six singles, as the batsmen do a decent job of having a look at him while at least scoring a few. He looks to be bowling freely, and does what he always does, hanging back of a length to avoid letting batsmen get a good swing.

14th over: Bangladesh 78-1 (Tamim 28, Shakib 33) And these are the kind of overs they can’t afford. Coulter-Nile gets away with three singles, bowling a couple of good bouncers to force a dot ball and then a mistimed pull that only gets a hurried single. Stoinis will replace Maxwell next, and they’ll need to take plenty from him too…

13th over: Bangladesh 75-1 (Tamim 27, Shakib 31) If Bangladesh have any hope in this monster chase they have to target Australia’s weaker bowlers. Glenn Maxwell is an obvious target. Shakib zeroes in, lofting a straight drive that hangs in the air a fair while before bouncing for four, too straight to catch. Then a flatter harder one that skips over the straight rope. And two more runs to square leg. A dozen from the over with a couple of singles. These are the kind of overs they need, and plenty of them.

12th over: Bangladesh 63-1 (Tamim 26, Shakib 20) Shakib isn’t nailing the pull shot today. Tries again versus Coulter-Nile, but can’t time it to get more than a single. Four of those from the over as Nathan CN settles on a difficult length to get away.

Paul Headon emails in. “In reply to Nick Toovey, over 5, my over-riding memory is Hussain running out Strauss shortly before he managed a second ton on debut. As I recall, he retired from the international game immediately after getting his own 100…” As a direct result, presumably.

I’ve always said that Adam Voges should have done that, in his 20th innings when the statisticians had to count his record, during which his average went up to about 101 while he was making a huge score in New Zealand. Should have walked straight off the field at that moment and never returned. It would have made everyone so mad.

9th over: Bangladesh 49-1 (Tamim 23, Shakib 9) Target 382 Cummins again and Shakib is very keen on a shorter ball outside the off stump, crunching his cut shot to the eastern boundary. Beautiful cricket. The crowd are very involved now.

8th over: Bangladesh 41-1 (Tamim 22, Shakib 3) Target 382 “As a Dutchmen and cricket lover, it’s generally rather lonely when you try to make a conversation about what’s happening. So I cannot say thank you enough to OBO for existing, cause at least I now get the joy of listening to other people’s conversations.” Great to have you with us, Jaap van Netten.

“One point I’d like to make here, seeing all the Maxwellball discussion: during the most recent series against India (when Australia still regularly lost ODIs) I remember one of you guys (I guess it was Geoff) tweeting after a cheap dismissal: “this is the ball they’ll use to drop Maxwell from the World Cup team.”

Yeah, that was me.

“What turned this around, with Maxwell now being by far the most dangerous batsmen in their team, and everyone raving about Maxwellball? Is it really Finch being captain, rather than Smith?”

I think Maxwell is in a very good headspace and it doesn’t hurt at all that one of his best mates is the captain. It doesn’t stop certain parts of the cricket community pling into him every time he’s out but he’s learned how to shut all that out.

NOT OUT! Well, it is a good bit of bowling but it is just pitching outside leg, so that’s the end of that. Australia lose their review.

HAS COULTER-NILE TRAPPED TAMIM LEG BEFORE? It has been given not out but they are sending it up to the DRS. Stand by.

7th over: Bangladesh 38-1 (Tamim 21, Shakib 2) Target 382 Shot! Tamim is away, clipping Cummins beautifully through midwicket; his third boundary. With those runs in the bank, he plays conservatively for the rest of the set, getting under the bumper when it inevitably comes, finishing with a solid push past point for two.

6th over: Bangladesh 32-1 (Tamim 15, Shakib 2) Target 382 Glenn Maxwell is it, the two southpaws in the middle surely influencing this decision. It doesn’t quite work to play at the start, the offspinner overpitching and creamed for four to the cover rope by Tamim, who is in very good touch today. A few more singles follow but the Bangladesh fans are up on their feet again in protest when Khawaja’s throw hits Tamim on the leg, flooring the opening for a moment. Play on.

“Basically, the meteorological reason for the amount of rain in Manchester is the Pennines (the hills running down the centre of the country to the east of Manchester),” explains Mark Gillespie. “Prevailing weather comes from the west over the Atlantic, and picks up a lot of water. When that hits high land, i.e the Pennines, it dumps it as rain.” Well there we go! Most informative.

5th over: Bangladesh 25-1 (Tamim 9, Shakib 1) Target 382 Starc, into the breeze, is sending them down at 92mph. As you do. Shakib is having a look, defending then pushing one to get off the mark. Tamim gives the No3 the strike back and he has to duck under a zippy bumper to finish. Much as it was against England and West Indies, I’m sure they will try and test Shakib out early with the short ball.

“Would Khawaja be the record holder for the highest scorer that has to hide in the dressing room for fear of being eviscerated?” asks Nick Toovey.

4th over: Bangladesh 23-1 (Tamim 8, Shakib 0) Target 382 Earlier in the Cummins over, Alex Carey failed to glove adequately glove a delivery that ran away for four byes. But that’s all forgotten about now. Shakib ducks his first ball. As Michael Clarke points out on telly, the excellence of Finch there was taking an extra beat rather than throwing reflexively. He had the time, took it and nailed his ping.

“Here is a run-out story,” writes Hari Shankar. “In my school cricket as a tail-ender I was “protected” by my senior top-order batsman. For three consecutive overs the last ball ended in a single. On the last ball of the fourth over I decided to do a Khawaja. Much to my chagrin and to the delight of the watching girls I was chased all over the ground by a seriously-angry-swearing bat. My heart goes out to poor Khawaja when he walked back to the Aussie dressing room.”

We’ve all done it. I’ve twice been run out before facing a ball. Once, by a bloke who now plays in the Japan national team. If you’re reading, Bebe, I’m over it.

Brilllllliant fielding by the Australian captain! They practice that exact move at training over and over again, Finch sliding at mid-on then pinging down the stumps at the non-strikers’ end. Soumya is well short, Tamim sending him back upon realising the trouble. A very nasty mix up, both men running to begin.

3rd over: Bangladesh 19-0 (Tamim 8, Soumya 10) Target 382 “Steve Smith has a whole bag of gloves,” says Michael Clarke on the commentary. That’s what I’m here for, Pup. Next: has a sack full of thigh pads? A container of helmets? Back to the middle, Soumya gets down the other end via a leg bye, Tamim tucking a single. The strike rotation is followed by back to back boundaries for Soumya, clipping aerially through square leg then glancing a rank full toss fine, which Cummins misfields on the rope! You. Do. Not. See. That.

2nd over: Bangladesh 9-0 (Tamim 7, Soumya 2) Target 382 Cummins is bowling the second over today rather than the first, as he has in the last few games. It’s a nice little sidebar of the Australian campaign so far: who is the top dog, Starc or Cummins? Who has choice of end? Who picks the ball? I love this stuff. Anyway, it is Cummins from our northern or broadcast end, to Soumya to begin who drives in the air towards Warner who makes an excellent diving stop. Tamim’s turn, who strikes the first boundary of the reply with a beautifully timed straight drive.

“Enjoying the OBO,” emails Robert Hogg. Why, thank you. “On childhood memories of weather, I grew up in Manchester. Winter was mild, wet and dominated by a sky the colour of lead. You had to detect changes in the seasons by the warmth of the drizzle. I can’t remember summer ever coming up as a topic of conversation.”

Is there a meteorological reason why it rains more in Manchester? Or is it a bit of a made up thing and it rains there as much as it does anywhere in that region?

1st over: Bangladesh 4-0 (Tamim 3, Soumya 1) Target 382 Starc opens up from the southern or pavilion end. It almost certainly has other names but let’s not get into OBO End Chat quite yet. We’ll save that for the Test Matches later in the summer. He’s on the mark to begin, Tamim playing straight before punching with control through the gap at cover for three to get the chase underway. When the attack leader goes a fraction shorter, Soumya opens with a steer down to third man.

Lovely bloke, Tamim. I went to his house to interview him in Chittagong a couple of years ago and he invited me to stay with his family for Eid lunch. Great people.

50th over: Australia 381-5 (Stoinis 17, Carey 11) We’re back. Mustafizur has the job of closing the innings off for Bangladesh. Carey slams a yorker to deep cover for a single, and that sets the tone for the next two balls. But when the Fizz misses that length, Stoinis powers him back past the non-striker along the ground for four, hard enough to split the men in the deep. Super shot. Followed by a very not super shot, as Stoinis aims over midwicket but gets a thick lofted edge that floats over the keeper for four more. He finishes the innings with another slammed drive and Carey coming to the danger end bolts back for two.

That’s one hell of a score for Australia!

A restart is announced, as the sun comes out and sweeps briefly across the ground. Ten minutes away, at 14:35 UK time.

“When I see the phrase ‘golden arm’ I always think about Mudassar Nazar’s 6 for 32 at Lords in 1982. Not bad for an opener.” Quite so, David Brown. Soumya bowling the death overs is right up near that level.

As for the next wicket, “Maybe Smith’s review was on the basis that the bails weren’t going to come off?” writes Jim Luetchford. Hit on the front pad, while standing back on your stumps, by a full toss in front of middle… that was a review more worthy of humour than any of poor Shane Watson’s work.

48th over: Australia 359-5 (Stoinis 3, Carey 3) What an excellent fightback from Mustafizur, who was toyed with by Khawaja in his previous set. His skipper needed him to bounce back and he has in this over, getting Smith’s wicket and giving up only five singles. Can’t ask for much more than that from the young gun.

“Disappointing not to see Maxwell get a chance to go on with it,” says Damien McLean. “Did Khawaja have a responsibility to sacrifice himself there? Surely Khawaja had done his job by then, no shame being run out for 89 trying to build.”

Yes. In a word. Yes.

“Then to top it off goes out himself two balls later… Geez. An opportunity missed for us Maxwellball fans.”

Let’s be happy it happened rather than sad because Usman DIDN’T RUN.

Three wickets in six balls for Bangladesh! The Fizz traps Smith, who was deep in his crease trying to flick to square leg but doesn’t make contact. He reviews, because that’s what you do in over 48, but it is hitting middle half way up.

47th over: Australia 354-4 (Stoinis 1, Smith 1) The two wickets have done the job, only two runs coming after Maxwell’s run out. Two new men are out there for the final stanza. Can Bangladesh keep their cool for the next 20 minutes?

Soumya has a third! Can somebody please commission me to write 2000 words about this spell? It’s slow (they all are) and Khawaja is through his pull by the time the ball arrives. A tiny underedge is located on the way through and that is that. Well played Usman. That innings is going to make Justin Langer very happy.