Australia v South Africa: Cricket World Cup 2019 – live!

34th over: South Africa 198-2 (du Plessis 68, van der Dussen 26) Maxwell for his sixth, and again it’s five runs. Singles, a two when deep backward square is slow to get around. So the frontliners are being hit and the support bowlers are having the quiet time.

33rd over: South Africa 193-2 (du Plessis 65, van der Dussen 24) Faf du Plessis has a lot of respect for Pat Cummins. I interviewed him after the Test series last year and quoted some of it in my book.

“He’s an exceptional player. We would sit on the side of the field and just admire what he does. We’d say, ‘Look at the guy, he’s still running in and bowling quick.’ Diving at balls when he’s just finished an eight-over spell, runs in the series. As a batter I definitely felt he was the biggest challenge. He’s a nice guy, Pat. You enjoy it when nice guys do well, even opposition, the good people of the game. We’re looking forward to having a beer now with the Australian team.”

And now in Manchester, Faf advances and smashes Cummins straight for six! That’s how much he likes Cummins today. Walks down at one of the fastest in the world and hits him dead straight, onto the black shade cloth covering the seats at the Pavilion end. The ball rolls back down the slope. Then du Plessis hangs back and hacks through cover with an angled bat as he did earlier, for another four.

32nd over: South Africa 179-2 (du Plessis 53, van der Dussen 24) Maxwell burgles another over for four singles. He’ll be out the laundry window before you know it.

31st over: South Africa 175-2 (du Plessis 51, van der Dussen 22) Mitchell Starc is down on his haunches for a moment here, looking discomfited. An injury to him would be quite literally the last thing Australia would want, even if he’s been off the boil today. Rassie hands the strike over to Faf, who drives a single to raise his minor milestone. Excellent innings at just about a run a ball. Five from the over with a few singles and a leg bye.

30th over: South Africa 170-2 (du Plessis 49, van der Dussen 20) Maxwell zips through another over for three singles. He’s loving this, just 14 from his 24 balls so far. Steal another couple and he will have had a great day even before he bats.

29th over: South Africa 167-2 (du Plessis 48, van der Dussen 18) That’s just rude from du Plessis! Starc returns, all is quiet, no wides, an early single. The South African captain plays out four balls with due respect and care. Then the last ball of the over, he camps on the back foot and flays through cover for four! Back-foot punch with an angled blade and a flourish after the stroke, just beating the field.

On the slow-mo replay, Faf is a picture: lime-green shirt, hot pink gloves, forearms like knotted rope. I hope he doesn’t retire.

28th over: South Africa 162-2 (du Plessis 44, van der Dussen 17) Faf is running the doubles like an American barkeep. Taking Maxwell through square leg, then through point. Hustling back. Five from the over thanks to a Rassie single first ball, managing to actually drive a spinner for a risk-free run. He’s much happier against pace, clearly.

27th over: South Africa 157-2 (du Plessis 40, van der Dussen 16) Stoinis gets a lot of wickets with the short ball, and Rassie nearly becomes another one but doesn’t hit his pull well enough to reach deep square leg. He does drive a full toss through cover for four.

“Hi Geoff,” emails John Barnes. “I was surprised that there was rain about earlier today and thought I’d take a look at Edgbaston for Thursday. Er, looks like there might not be a game even with a reserve day! What happens in that case? Does the higher team go through or is it head to heads? Christ I hope there’s a game. I can see England being bundled out because of the bloody weather.”

John, I knew that no one would have read the entire 88-page playing conditions document except for Alison Mitchell of the BBC, so I asked her. She’s confirmed that an abandoned semi-final will be awarded to the higher team on the table, and an abandoned final means a shared trophy.

Cut it in half, I guess? Your team won the W r d u and ours won the o l C p?

26th over: South Africa 148-2 (du Plessis 38, van der Dussen 9) Maxwell gets through a quiet over for four runs. They’ll want to be a bit more proactive against Maxwell, I would have thought.

25th over: South Africa 144-2 (du Plessis 35, van der Dussen 8) Stoinis with his medium pace, and the batsmen are happy to work him around. Ones and twos, a wide for a bouncer. If only Markram were still out there, he was exquisite to watch today. Nothing gold can stay.

24th over: South Africa 136-2 (du Plessis 31, van der Dussen 5) There you have it! Rassie looking desperate, sees Maxwell the part-time off-spinner bowling and wants to crash him for six. Comes down, beaten on the outside edge by a quicker ball, and it’s a missed stumping. The ball crashed into Carey, maybe his wrists or his chest even with some bounce and pace, but there was no nick on it. The gloveman should have taken that, unfortunately. Maxwell is playing today being smashed on the arm by Starc in the same net session where Cummins broke Shaun Marsh’s arm. But Maxwell has come good. Three singles from his over.

23rd over: South Africa 133-2 (du Plessis 29, van der Dussen 4) It’s fifth-bowler time. Finch has decided he needs some from his second liners, so Maxwell is warming up while Stoinis comes on to bowl. A quiet over as the batsmen have a look at him, just a couple of singles. They’ve got some latitude to take their time, and van der Dussen has looked scratchy all day.

22nd over: South Africa 131-2 (du Plessis 28, van der Dussen 3) Lyon very nearly gets through another tight over, two runs and a leg bye, but from the last ball du Plessis comes forward and drives him through cover for four. Top shot. South Africa need those sort of strokes, to make sure their early initiative doesn’t drift away.

21st over: South Africa 124-2 (du Plessis 23, van der Dussen 3) Cummins has hit van der Dussen! Flush on the helmet with a short ball. Rassie tried to hook and missed, very late on the shot. There’s a curious lack of response. The batsman just shakes his head and carries on. The bowler just turns and walks back. The medical staff don’t appear. They try to come on at the end of the over but the batsman waves them back. Surely they have to at least check him? That was solid contact to the side of the head.

20th over: South Africa 122-2 (du Plessis 22, van der Dussen 2) Faf drives a single from Lyon’s first ball, but after that the spinner is all over van der Dussen. He nearly yorks the batsman at one stage, and Rassie is very uncomfortable and is entirely engaged in just keeping Lyon out. Five dot balls.

19th over: South Africa 121-2 (du Plessis 21, van der Dussen 2) Cummins starting to get some assistance from the wicket as the ball wears, which is curious. He nips one back in to van der Dussen that nearly cleans up the stumps. Du Plessis isn’t sure about the pace of Cummins’ short balls, either, lumping a couple away towards point for a two and then a three, but not with any conviction.

“Up in Leeds, Geoff. We win at Northernness,” emails Jon Millard. “Yes, yes, complete massacre on the Football, before of them points that out. And the music, to be fair. And rain…”

18th over: South Africa 115-2 (du Plessis 16, van der Dussen 1) There’s what Lyon brings to the team. The quicks all get belted, the track looks lovely for batting, the outfield is lightning, and he says give the ball to me, I’ll sort this out. Brakes on. Both openers gone. Rassie van der Dussen is next out, right-handed as is Faf du Plessis. Lyon flights the ball to Rassie immediately.

Lyon again! De Kock wants to take him down, and goes for a huge hoy over the leg side. Spin, takes the outside edge after straightening from around the wicket, and the ball goes high and drops comfortably into the hands of Starc at backward point around about the fielding circle line.

17th over: South Africa 112-1 (de Kock 51, du Plessis 15) Here’s fun, Steve Smith is going to bowl. He took a wicket against New Zealand, with Colin de Grandhomme punting the first ball he’d faced from Smith to long-off. Smith starts, not really short but on leg stump and de Kock almost does the splits to get low enough to pull that ball regardless, and hits it well for four.

“Hang on, I thought Ashley Giles was the King of Spain?” writes Andrew Thomas regarding El Rey. I don’t know what El Rey is El Rey of. El Rey of Sunshine, perhaps?

16th over: South Africa 107-1 (de Kock 46, du Plessis 15) De Kock doesn’t want to let the momentum shift. He drops to one knee facing Lyon and plays a scoop shot fine for four. Well timed. Drinks.

“Monitoring the excellent coverage from a damp and rainy Sydney,” writes Jonothan Holt. “Query for you. If a fielder hits the stumps with a direct throw they get the run out credit – all good. However if the fielder’s throw is gathered by the wicketkeeper who breaks the stumps why is it still the fielder’s credit and not the wicketkeepers? Seems a bit unfair (as an ex-keeper myself!)”

As far as I know there’s no formal credit for run-outs in basic stats archives. You’ll find a record of catches but not run-outs. Which has always seemed weird. But where you see them listed on scorecards, there’s a fair bit of latitude for interpretation. I’ve seen plenty listed as fielder/keeper both, and some listed with three players where there’s a relay throw. But those scorecard entries don’t correlate to a stats column as far as I know. Individual databases like CricViz are the ones who’ve started tracking fielding involvement in more detail.

15th over: South Africa 102-1 (de Kock 41, du Plessis 15) Back comes Starc. Can he get his game together this time around? Well, he doesn’t bowl five wides. Instead his line is sufficiently improved that it clips the pad and goes for four leg byes instead. Marginal gains? Again he over-corrects with width, and du Plessis drives square for four. “I have to say, the Aussies are rather going around the park,” says Jonathan Agnew on the BBC, definitely not at all like someone who might be finding the sight enjoyable. Here’s another for him, as du Plessis drives through extra cover for four! Top shot. Starc has 0-34 from four overs, and South Africa have their hundred up.

14th over: South Africa 90-1 (de Kock 41, du Plessis 7) Inside edged past the stumps! De Kock is nearly bowled as Lyon bowls around the wicket and angles in towards the left-hander. Survives. They milk the spinner rather than attacking now.

13th over: South Africa 84-1 (de Kock 38, du Plessis 4) Some calm returns to the field of play. Du Plessis chops a short ball through cover and gets three, as Cummins tippy-toes inside the rope trying not to kick it as he saves. Sri Lanka have reached 267 at Headingley, with Angelo Mathews making a hundred.

12th over: South Africa 80-1 (de Kock 37, du Plessis 1) Well, you wonder whether Markram’s slight tentativeness in the last couple of overs brought his undoing. He’d been so positive and assured before that, and if he’d come down to that ball or gone back to attack it, he might have defused it.

Against the run of play, Nathan Lyon does the trick! Sure, he’s been hit for six, but he’s held his nerve. Flights the ball again in this over, draws Markram forward and dips it on him. Markram’s back foot is dragged an inch out of his ground, and there’s no way to get back before Carey has the bails off. The third umpire confirms a clear-cut call.

11th over: South Africa 78-0 (Markram 34, de Kock 36) Australia finally gets out of the first ten overs. Runs ahoy. Cummins to de Markram, who knocks a single, then de Kock who flicks three runs. Cummins bowls a wide way over Markram’s head. Then the batsman is defending up on his toes. I think Markram has made the assessment that they’re off to a wonderful start, and he just wants to rein it in now and make sure he doesn’t play one shot too many. Tries to glide past backward point but Maxwell is too fast.

“I am backing Proteas to get a result today when it least matters most,” writes John Norris. “Sure they haven’t really clicked, but you should know more than most that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance, Geoff.”

Ha. That’s a sly reference to the Final Word podcast which has been running through the World Cup. Emma John’s Guardian podcast The Spin has been a lot of fun as well.

10th over: South Africa 73-0 (Markram 33, de Kock 33) Behrendorff bowls and Markram misses and is hit on the thigh pad. Then gets tangled in his next shot. Then hits the next to cover. Three dot balls, what is this? Straight to point. Four dot balls. Fielded by the bowler. Five! Could this be a maiden? No, a single from the last ball. But a good comeback from Behrendorff.

9th over: South Africa 72-0 (Markram 32, de Kock 33) De Kock is going stroke for stroke with Markram now, and passes his teammate’s score by cutting another boundary from Cummins. Crisp again.

8th over: South Africa 66-0 (Markram 32, de Kock 27) Lyon for his second over, and Markram skips down and drives him for six! Over long on, 85 metres into the camera area at ground level. What a knock from Markram already. Then he dinks a single, and de Kock pushes another. Lyon darts the ball through, almost bowling inswingers rather than off-breaks. Australia rattled.

“On your point of Hashim Amla possibly playing his last ODI, I wonder if it may well be Faf’s last match as well?” writes Ranjit Unnithan. “His comments at the pre-match presser certainly didn’t exclude the possibility. If so, he will be missed – one of the most underrated cricketers in world cricket! But it certainly looks the end for many – Tahir, Duminy – but possibly Faf, Amla, Steyn and even Ottis?”

Yes, very much an era’s end for South Africa. I think Faf may stay on a bit longer to help ease that transition. But we’ll see.

7th over: South Africa 57-0 (Markram 25, de Kock 25) Now they get some ballet involved. Cummins bowls his first ball, de Kock smacks a straight drive for four, and Markram at the far end has to do a theatrical spinning fall to get out of the way. I think he was more concerned with not stopping a boundary rather than his own safety, because he twirled to make sure he got no touch, rather than trying to protect himself. It works, and the ball goes straight for four. Then another drive on the up to the cover boundary! What a display of strokeplay! The batsmen have 25 apiece, after Australia donated the first few runs of the day. Seven overs and 57 on the board. Whoosh.

6th over: South Africa 48-0 (Markram 25, de Kock 16) Jim Maxwell is on BBC radio. “This ground, if it didn’t have a boundary, the ball would roll into the North Sea.” Value for shots today. Aaron Finch turns to Nathan Lyon, hoping that spin will slow the South Africans, but Markram produces a perfect straight drive for four.

5th over: South Africa 42-0 (Markram 20, de Kock 15) Now Quinton de Kock is joining the party! Starc serves him up a tray of hors d’oeuvres first up to be fair, and Quinny stuffs himself with a leg glance from the leg stump line. But his next shot isn’t to buffet bowling, its Quinton rushing into the kitchen and seizing a steak off the open flame. Decent length, on the up, but he drives it cleanly through cover nonetheless for four.

4th over: South Africa 34-0 (Markram 20, de Kock 7) Glorious shot from Markram! Behrendorff gives him a bit of width, but there must be been telepathy. Markram clears his front leg early, shuffles to open up the angle for himself, and carves it away for four! Third man is back, but that back-cut beats him easily into the rope. Outstanding. Then Markram hops on the front dog and laces a cover drive for the same result. Those shots were pure Outkast, just so fresh and clean.

3rd over: South Africa 25-0 (Markram 12, de Kock 6) A bit more controlled from Starc this time, clipped for a two and a one by de Kock, and just the one wide this time, well outside off stump this time. Radar still processing, though he produces a good yorker.

2nd over: South Africa 21-0 (Markram 12, de Kock 3) I neglected to mention, apologies, that Hashim Amla is missing after a knock on the knee. I wonder if we’ve seen him play his last ODI for South Africa. The replacement is the left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, and everyone else shuffles up the order, with the all-rounders Pretorious, Phehlukwayo and Morris starting from No6.

Behrendorff will bowl, left-arm swing from both ends. He’s picked off by de Kock for two off the pads, then one to point, and Markram finishes the over with a cover drive for four. He played a belter against Australia in the Durban Test last year, did Markram, in the fourth innings. All cuts and cover drives. Looking in top touch today.

1st over: South Africa 14-0 (Markram 8, de Kock 0) South Africa score six runs with one ball bowled. Not because Markram has smashed it over the rope, but because Starc bowls five wides, a dot ball, then another wide. He’s bowling fast, 90 miles an hour from the off. But not accurately. When he finally corrects to the off side, Markram drives him on the bounce over point for four, then cuts another four. Quite the start from Starc! Not in a good way.

Anthem time. Who doesn’t love an anthem? With the mascot kids and the players and the big balloon. Some of these kids look relatively old compared to the usual, I wonder how they feel at being made to hold hands with grizzled cricketers. Reeza Hendricks has to take two mascot kids because he’s last in line and someone hasn’t done their maths. It’s all a bit Pied Piper for me. And as someone smarter than me once said, if there’s one lesson from the Pied Piper it’s: pay your freelancers.

Mitchell Starc will have first use of the ball today. If you still need something to fill in your time, here’s a long piece that I wrote in appreciation of his Ben Stokes yorker. This is my highest ever words-per-delivery ratio, by the way.

Cheers for Faf du Plessis, who calls correctly. Bat first, the sensible method. And why not? Australia have only chased twice in this tournament, and they lost to India and were very sluggish against Afghanistan in so doing.

“Should be a great match,” writes El Rey. To those who don’t speak Spanish, The King. Humble chap. “Is a preamble preliminary to an amble?”

I think it’s more of a preliminary amble, Your Grace. That makes sense to me etymologically, because a preamble is an early stroll through a garden of ideas before you get down to the serious labour in the furrows of the main text. An idea is a seed, ready to be planted.

If you want to keep up to date with the India-Sri Lanka match while we wait, Tim de Lisle can take care of you.

Updates from Manchester: there was a smattering of rain earlier this morning, and there’s still some thick cloud and a very humid atmosphere. But there are patches of blue as well and the sun is breaking through here and there. Hopefully we have no interruptions. Both teams are out there warming up at the moment with nets and practice stumps and all kinds of equipment out on the ground, it’s very busy out there with the blue-and-orange shirted ground staff and some broadcasters and security and umpires. High traffic area.

Drop me a line. The usual communication lines are open. Email is good, isn’t it? geoff.lemon@theguardian.com, or on Twitter using @GeoffLemonSport. Hop in.