6th over: Australia 43-2 (Inglis 16, Stoinis 7) Jahandad Khan is unlucky, snaring the edge of Josh Inglis’ bat but the ball runs away fine for four.

5th over: Australia 38-2 (Inglis 12, Stoinis 6) Kablammo! Stoinis rocks back and nails a cut shot to the fence off Haris Rauf. The ball skimming across the outfield like a pebble across a glacier, faster than a cat on a hot tin roof, insert other simile here.

4th over: Australia 31-2 (Inglis 10, Stoinis 1) Marcus Stoinis joins his captain out in the middle, getting off the mark to his third delivery with a measured pull into the leg side.

WICKET! Jake Fraser-McGurk c Usman Khan b Jahandad Khan (30-2)

3rd over: Australia 25-1 (Fraser-McGurk 18, Inglis 5) Captain Josh Inglis comes to the crease and immediately picks up four runs with a glide through backward point. Swiss clock timing on that one. A single brings Fraser-McGurk on strike and he finishes the over in some style, pinging cover drive to the fence, stand and admire young man!

WICKET! Matthew Short c Irfan Khan b Shaheen Shah Afridi 2 (Australia 16-1)

2nd over: Australia 16-0 (Fraser-McGurk 14, Short 2) Jahandad Khan the debutant left-arm seamer shares the new ball and settles into his international career well. Five tidy balls on and around a length and a couple of slower balls thrown in for good measure. JFM decides enough is enough and hacks the final ball of the over down the ground for four. Didn’t middle it but got enough.

1st over: Australia 10-0 (Fraser-McGurk 9, Short 1) Shaheen Shah Afridi is driven through cover for four by Fraser-McGurk and then is unlucky to be edged meatily wide of the keeper and away for four. Ten runs off the first in total for Australia.

Here come Australia, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short out will get the chase underway.

Ah, I knew I’d spotted Adam Zampa’s new hairdo somewhere before…

Pakistan all out for 117!

18th over: Pakistan 117-9 (Rauf 0, Sufiyan Muqeem 0) Not long now…

WICKET! Jahandad Khan c David b Ellis 5 (Pakistan 116-9)

17th over: Pakistan 116-8 (J Khan 5, Rauf 0) Haris Rauf replaces his fellow fast bowler. Pakistan spluttering at the Bellerive Oval.

WICKET! Shaheen Shah Afridi c †Inglis b Bartlett 16 (Pakistan 116-8)

16th over: Pakistan 107-7 (J Khan 3, S Shah Afridi 9) Aaron Hardie back into the attack. Shaheen tries a huge smear over leg but fails to connect. Hardie gifts a free hit and is whipped away into the leg side for four by Shaheen. A thick outside edge off the last ball trickles away for four more to bring the hundred up for Pakistan. They need a strong finish here to try and post a vaguely competitive total.

A sorry looking Glenn Maxwell is now changed into his tracksuit and sat forlornly in the dugout. Doesn’t look like good news on the knee/hamstring injury.

15th over: Pakistan 95-7 (J Khan 2, S Shah Afridi 1) Here come old flat-top, he come groovin’ up slowly. Jahandad Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi come together in the middle. Adam Zampa nearly cleans both men up in his final over but somehow they survive. The leg-spinner finishes with 2-11 from his four overs. Well bowled that man.

14th over: Pakistan 92-7 (J Khan 0, S Shah Afridi 0) Two wickets in the over and no runs. Pakistan in a lot of trouble in Hobart.

WICKET! Abbas Afridi c David b Hardie 1 (Pakistan 92-7)

WICKET! Irfan Khan run out (Johnson) 10 (Pakistan 92-6)

13th over: Pakistan 92-5 (Irfan Khan 10, Abbas Afridi 1) Zampa licks his lips as a skittish looking Abbas Afridi arrives in the middle. Glenn Maxwell nearly runs him out after his first ball with the batter taking a dosy wander out of his crease. Uh uo. Maxwell has tweaked a hamstring in the process by the looks of it, he gingerly walks off. More on that as we get it.

WICKET! Babar Azam b Zampa 41 (Australia 91-5)

12th over: Pakistan 89-4 (Babar 40, Irfan Khan 9) Inglis shuffles his pack as Ellis replaces Hardie. Babar nudges into the leg side and they come back for a well scampered two runs. Babar had to fire up the afterburners a little bit there. Seven runs collected off the over. Zampa is coming back for the next.

11th over: Pakistan 82-4 (Babar 36, Irfan Khan 6) Spencer Johnson replaces Zampa. I’d have been tempted to keep Zampa on and go for the kill. But, then again, I am not the Australian cricket captain. Important to remember that. Shot! Khan pulls a short ball for four, the first boundary since the Powerplay.

10th over: Pakistan 72-4 (Babar 32, Irfan Khan 1) Irfan Khan to the middle and, like a lanky lemur or a drunk in the pub, Pakistan have a long tail after this pair.

WICKET! Salman Agha lbw b Hardie 1 (Pakistan 70-4)

9th over: Pakistan 67-3 (Babar 28, Agha 1) Just a single off an excellent Zampa over. Australia slamming the brakes on since the Powerplay. Babar cannot get any strike, takes a single off the first ball of the over and then Agha is tied down and can’t return the favour.

8th over: Pakistan 66-3 (Babar 27, Agha 1) Salman Agha joins a strike deprived Babar in the middle. Pakistan just starting to totter.

WICKET! Usman Khan c Ellis b Hardie 3 (Pakistan 64-3)

7th over: Pakistan 62-2 (Babar 26, Usman Khan 1) Khan arrives at the crease at nudges his first ball for a single to farm the strike off Babar.

WICKET! Haseebullah Khan c Short b Zampa 24 (Pakistan 61-2)

6th over: Pakistan 58-1 (Babar 23, Haseebullah 24) Nathan Ellis replaces Spencer Johnson and is immediately greeted with a scythe for four over point from Haseebullah. The makeshift opener squeezed for three behind square and plays a delightful late cut for three more. Lovely batting. Powerplay done and Australia in need of a breakthrough.

5th over: Pakistan 46-1 (Babar 22, Haseebullah 13) Marcus Stoinis chugs in, Alpine vast shoulders bursting out his shirt. Babar Azam purrs into action! Sixteen runs off the over and three Babar boundaries – a half volley driven handsomely down the ground, a flick fine off his pads and a glide wide of point. Pure class.

4th over: Pakistan 30-1 (Babar 10, Haseebullah 11) A tidy over from Johnson is blotted slightly by a top edge from Haseebullah that flies away over the keeper for four. Neither side pulling away from the other at the moment.

3rd over: Pakistan 24-1 (Babar 9, Haseebullah 6) Bartlett still spraying it around, a short and wide delivery is lashed wide of point for four by Haseebullah. The bowler tightens things up with a couple of well executed yorkers and Pakistan can only muster two more singles off the over. There’s no swing out there to speak of and the pitch looks flatter than a drunken karaoke session.

2nd over: Pakistan 18-1 (Babar 8, Haseebullah 1) Haseebullah Khan is the new batter. He eases his second ball to long on to pick up a single and keep strike.

WICKET! Sahibzada Farhan c Bartlett b Johnson 9 (Pakistan 17-1)

Spencer Johnson, fresh off his five-fer in the last match at Sydney, is starting from the other end. Back to earth with a bump! Farhan drives down the ground compactly for three and Babar launches the bowler back over his head for another superlative boundary… wait a minute though…

1st over: Pakistan 10-0 (Farhan 5, Babar 5) Xavier Bartlett has the ball in hand for Australia. We’ll have some seam to start. Play! Farhan clips through midwicket where a fumble allows a third run and brings Babar on strike. Four! No messing about from the Prince of Pakistani batting, a full ball is timed away off the pads for a boundary first ball. It’s a loosey goosey start from Bartlett who can’t find his radar. Pakistan take ten from the first over.

Here come the players, bright skies in Hobart, I don’t think the weather is going to get involved in this one. The word is that Sahibzada Farhan is set to open alongside Babar Azam for the visitors, can the two men get Pakistan off to a flier and put some pressure on this nascent Aussie side? Time to find out.

It looks like a beautiful evening in Hobart. We’ll have the first ball in a quarter of an hour. Excuse me for one second whilst I ‘compartmentalise’ a rowdy toddler and grind up some much needed Lavazza.

Pakistan win the toss and choose to bat first

Meanwhile, it looks like Jason Gillespie isn’t going to be axed. Not yet at least:

Whilst we wait for the coin toss, get your peepers around this:

Inside Hockley’s modest Jolimont office, within sight of the MCG, a sequinned pink and purple costume of a cartoon woman shaped like a cricket bat grabs your attention. It was worn by the backing dancers supporting Katy Perry at the landmark 2020 World Cup final and now occupies the corner.

Sitting opposite, Hockley adds one final thought. “It feels a bit premature, but I’ve been very fortunate, you’ve helped me reflect a bit,” he says. “One thing I’m not good at is celebrating our successes, I’m just very like ‘on to the next thing’. But I’m getting better at trying to celebrate everyone’s hard work.

And then the other bit is I’m not very good at enjoying the cricket and the event days, because you feel very responsible, and you just want to make sure everything’s right. So I’m determined to enjoy this summer.

Preamable

James Wallace