16th over: England 72-2 (Banton 52, Brook 1) Banton drives Liyanange for two to bring up a good half-century from 51 balls. On Thursday morning he had one fifty in ODIs; now he has three.

15th over: England 68-1 (Banton 49, Root 18) Dunith Wellalage is the first spinner into the attack. That could suit Root, who immediately rotates strike with a drive to deep extra cover. That’s the first of three singles from the over. Time for drinks.

14th over: England 65-1 (Banton 48, Root 16) A short ball from Madushanka is uppercut for six by Banton. That’s the only scoring shot of an all-or-nothing over.

13th over: England 59-1 (Banton 42, Root 16) England scored only four runs in the last three overs. Banton releases the burgeoning pressure by flicking Malinga crisply through midwicket for four. That’s his eighth boundary in a score of 42 not out from 39 balls; Root has 16 from 34 and is starting to look frustrated.

12th over: England 52-1 (Banton 35, Root 16) Root is surprised by a bit of extra bounce from Madushanka, who has replaced Fernando, and defends the ball into the leg side. He’s really struggling to rotate strike, which is not something you see very often; in fact he’s scored only one run from his last 12 deliveries. I can’t be the only person thinking of Colin de Grandhomme.

11th over: England 51-1 (Banton 34, Root 16) A nipbacker from Malinga, nephew thereof, is inside-edged onto the thigh by Root. The commentators keep mentioning how dry this pitch is, so England’s decision to bat first looks increasingly wise. They have the spin of Liam Dawson and Will Jacks, plus the cutters of Jamie Overton and friends.

9th over: England 48-1 (Banton 32, Root 15) Banton waves an errant delivery from Malinga to the extra-cover boundary. That’s a lovely shot; he’s been ruthless with anything full.

8th over: England 43-1 (Banton 28, Root 14) Fernando has changed ends to replace Madushanka. Banton hoicks a pull behind square for a one-bounce four, his sixth boundary of the morning. Fernando responds by beating the bat with successive deliveries, one on the outside and one on the inside.

It’s the last day of the County Championship season. Join Tanya Aldred for news of Tom Abell’s 307 and more.

7th over: England 38-1 (Banton 24, Root 13) Eshan Malinga’s first delivery is a sharp lifter that Banton edges over slip for four. His third kicks off a length to beat Banton – and startle the keeper Kusal Mendis as he takes it in front of his face. All told, that’s an excellent first over.

6th over: England 34-1 (Banton 20, Root 13) Madushanka is fractionally short to Banton, who punches an excellent boundary through extra cover. He looks in excellent touch, a player who finally feels like he belongs at this level.

5th over: England 28-1 (Banton 15, Root 12) Banton slugs a short ball from Fernando through square leg for four. He didn’t middle it, and there was a shriek of “catch!”, but it beat the diving fielder and bounced away for four.

England are progressing well, even if the sailing hasn’t been entirely smooth.

4th over: England 20-1 (Banton 11, Root 9) Madushanka beats Banton with a good delivery, but then he gets greedy and overpitches. Banton belts it through the covers for four.

Root, busy as ever, tucks a single off the last ball to move to nine from eight balls. On Sky, Athers makes the point that Root hasn’t scored an international century this summer; the only time that has previously happened was in the Covid summer of 2020.

3rd over: England 13-1 (Banton 6, Root 6) Root times Fernando sweetly through extra cover for four. By his recent standards, Root has had a complete shocker of a series; he’s averaging 32.

There’s some swing for Fernando and Madushanka, so England may have to sit in for a little while.

2nd over: England 7-1 (Banton 5, Root 1) Replays show that the ball to Duckett only deviated slightly, a lot less than I thought when I saw it live. On England batting first, it was a complicated decision – apparently the pitch is very dry (bat first), but it’s September (bowl first) and there’s a chance of rain later (bowl first).

“So we come to the final OBO of the 2026 summer (South Africa on the way),” writes John Starbuck. “Which do you think was the best to write, and did it depend on England’s own fortunes?”

Yikes, good question. Not sure about the best to write, but my favourite memory is Ollie Robinson’s triple-wicket maiden on his return at Lord’s, during which there was a lot of rain on my face. Dead inside as I am, I was pleasantly surprised to experience such overwhelming happiness for somebody I’ve never met.

How about you lot?

1st over: England 6-0 (Banton 5, Duckett 0) Asitha Fernando has an early LBW appeal against Ben Duckett turned down. It pitched fractionally outside leg stump and would probably have swung past leg. That aside, it was plumb.

Tom Banton gets the first boundary with a cracking cover drive. “Classic cover drive to an outswing bowler,” purrs Nasser Hussain on commentary. “Perfection.”

A good spot from our cricket correspondent Ali Martin. Jos Buttler’s absence means Joe Root is the only player with 50+ caps in the England team. He has 195 caps; the other ten players have 214 between them. Harry Brook (44*) is second on the list.

Ethan Bamber may be an adopted Brummie but it’s fair to say he has the city’s self-effacing nature down to a tee. After sealing Warwickshire’s ninth County Championship with one final explosion of bails, and watching captain Ed Barnard lift the trophy to cheers of “You Bears” from the stands, Bamber tried to credit anyone but himself and even claimed to be an “average cricketer”.

Average? Not so fast. No bowler in Division One has sent down more than Bamber’s 445.3 overs this year, nor can top the 69 wickets that he finished on after rattling Tom Scriven’s timbers to wrap up a comprehensive innings and 79-run victory over Leicestershire. The 27-year-old ploughed through all 14 games of the campaign, with his waspish brand of wobble-seam and swing consistently undermining batting line-ups in this slow-burn triumph.

Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England dressing-room has evoked all those JFK innings he played in international cricket. I never took euphoric drugs, but I liveblogged several KP specials and that’s basically the same thing. In this silly job, nothing has come close to the exhilaration of the KP surge.

Kevin Pietersen insisted he is a “completely different” person these days as he sat down at Headingley – the ground where he declared “it’s tough being me in this dressing room” 14 years earlier – and spoke at length about his role as the new “specialist mentor” to England’s white-ball teams.

In the aftermath of a 16-run loss to Sri Lanka that sends this late summer one-day series into an Oval decider on Sunday, Pietersen also revealed that while not full-time – “I’ll be in and out” – his input may not be restricted to the challenge of winning the 50-over World Cup in South Africa next year. A home Ashes comes before that, the series that launched his career back in 2005, and discussions with Stephen Fleming, the incoming Test coach, and Joe Root have already taken place.

For now though it is Harry Brook’s team that has his attention beyond work as a content creator and home life, with this role the brainchild of Brendon McCullum, now the specialist white-ball coach. Pietersen was racking his brains as to whether he had publicly criticised England when McCullum’s name flashed up on his phone.

“I thought I was in trouble,” said Pietersen. “‘What have I done now? Have I said something?’ But [after]: ‘How are you doing? ‘All good?’ ‘Yes, I’m fine. What do you want?’ [McCullum replied:] ‘I want you to join us in the dressing room. We want to work over the next 12 months to be competitive in South Africa next year.’

Ben Stokes is on course for another clash with the England and Wales Cricket Board because the governing body is unlikely to grant him permission to play in overseas franchise competitions next summer.

The former England captain is understood to have had discussions with franchises in the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) about joining them next season, but the Guardian has learned that the ECB is reluctant to provide the No-Objection Certificate required to play in either competition while he remains registered with Durham.

We’re liveblogging another ODI today: Daniel Gallan is on duty for the second match between South Africa and Australia.