As it happened - Australia vs England, Men's T20 World Cup, Super 12s

England 126 for 2 (Buttler 71*) beat Australia 125 (Finch 44, Jordan 3-17) by eight wickets
Never mind the Ashes, Australia's T20I team was reduced to rubble in Dubai, as England maintained their hot streak in the T20 World Cup Super 12s. Chris Woakes produced another incisive display of fast bowling in the powerplay before Jos Buttler did pretty much as he pleased during an innings of 71 from 32 balls. The chase was a formality, achieved with more than eight overs to spare.

If the game wasn't decided by the toss - teams batting second have now won 12 out of 14 games at this World Cup - it effectively was by new-ball spells from Woakes, who finished with 2 for 23, and Chris Jordan (3 for 17). Australia limped to 21 for 3 at the end of the powerplay, and although they managed something of a recovery from 41 for 4 at halfway, their total looked severely under par.

Australia's lower order had in fact managed to plunder 50 from the last four overs of their innings, and the ball continued to fly to all parts as Buttler and Jason Roy got the England reply going. They raced to 66 without loss from the first six overs - the highest powerplay score of the tournament so far - before Buttler and Jonny Bairstow finished the contest in a blaze of sixes.

Despite the momentary relief of breaking England's opening stand, the end looks very much nigh for Australia. Buttler and Dawid Malan trashed 29 off the next two overs, with the target rapidly coming into view. Buttler went 4-4-6-1-2-4, on the way bringing up a 25-ball half-century, and although Agar removed Malan via a thin edge behind, the players took drinks with England needing 29 off 65 balls.

England love a chase - heck, everyone at this World Cup loves a chase. The suggestion on TV during the break was that there was a "tiny bit" of dew in evidence, but even from watching the back end of Australia's innings - during which Tymal Mills delivered his four overs at a cost of 45 - the ball seemed to be coming on to the bat a lot better.

England have the luxury of knowing what they need, and can afford to take their time. There were a few sighters against Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins - but while Australia took until the 17th over to clear the ropes, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler have each done so inside the first four of the chase. Die cast?

Australia 125 (Finch 44, Jordan 3-17) vs England
England's bowlers produced another powerplay masterclass, backed up again in the field in Dubai, to leave themselves a target of barely a run a ball in order to make it three wins from three in the Super 12s.

Chris Woakes produced an immaculate opening spell of 3-0-7-2 as Australia, who lost the toss and were inserted, struggled to 21 for 3. Aaron Finch made 44 from 49 - his highest T20I score in the UAE, but also his slowest innings of 14 balls or more. After 10 overs, Australia were 41 for 4; after 16, they were 75 for 5, as Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone held sway.

Finch belatedly found some support from the lower order, a clutch of boundaries from Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc helping to get Australia up above 100. In all, they managed to crash 50 from the last four overs, but England were by far the happier side at halfway.

Woakes' fourth over makes much better reading for Australia. Agar's first six caught Moeen Ali napping somewhat - he stepped over the rope before attempting to catch the ball (and dropped it anyway). But the second was a no-messing tonk over cow. Four leg byes squeezed off a yorker from the final ball means Australia are in sight of three figures.

Back-to-back boundaries off Mills from Finch has given the scoreboard a bit of a kick - but this is shaping up to be one of the slowest T20I innings of the Australia captain's career. He has never previously faced 40 balls with a strike rate of less than 100. It's appropriate enough that Finch is the man carrying the fight for his side - England are his favourite opposition in T20Is. But compared to a career average of 61.1 and 175 strike rate coming in, this has been a struggle.

Did I mention Livingstone sneaking through overs? Not a bit of it. Licorice Liam switches his allsorts to bowl offspin at Matt Wade, who stomps out and plinks a lofted shot straight to long-on. Australia are 51 for 5 and probably wishing they had an extra batter, rather than Ashton Agar walking out at No.7...

Worth giving some extra credit to Livingstone there. He had bowled six deliveries at Wade, all in the 88-94kph range, before tossing that last one up at 79kph, and drawing the mishit.

Australia managed just two boundaries during the first half of the innings, while creeping along at 4.10 an over. Such has been England's dominance that Liam Livingstone was able to scuttle through a couple of cheap ones - and now Morgan has plenty of options during the back straight. He turns to Tymal Mills, whose allocation will be backloaded for the death, for the first time in the 11th.

It's a Halloween horror show for Australia tonight - their tally of 21 for 3 was right up there among their worst in T20Is, with England again seizing an early grip on proceedings. Then, from the first ball outside the powerplay, Marcus Stoinis is bamboozled by a Rashid googly, to leave Australia four down and flailing. Anyone want to talk about the Ashes now?

That is Woakes' powerplay spell tonight, as crisp and clean as the man himself. And here are his returns against West Indies and Bangladesh, too. Nine overs, 4 for 31. Put it in a frame and hang it on the sitting room wall.

Bang! Bang! BANG! Glenn Maxwell reviews but that's smashing leg.

Early wickets have been a feature of England's excellent start to this tournament - gone the problems of 2020, when they struggled for breakthroughs in the powerplay. Woakes' T20I comeback has played a big part, and with the dismissal of Maxwell in his second over, his average from five games stood at 10.60 (to go with an economy of 3.57).

Woakes was also the man taking the acrobatic overhead catch to dismiss Steven Smith off Chris Jordan. At three down inside the first four, Australia are already in a bit of strife under the Dubai lights.

Rather than sticking with Moeen as his opening bowler, Morgan tossed the ball to Adil Rashid instead. Presumably that was down to Finch's record against legspin in 2021 - seven dismissals for an average of 8.3. Rashid has also got him a couple of times in T20Is, too. It was a bit of a gamble, given Warner, who took first strike, has a good record against Rashid; and, in the end, a stalemate, Finch facing five balls for five runs, including a boundary biffed through mid-off.

But never mind your funky stuff: Chris Woakes has nicked off Warner with his second ball!

Australia will be wearing black armbands today (though they'll be hard to spot on their black sleeves), in memory of Ashley Mallett and Alan Davidson. Mallett, the much-loved offspinner, died yesterday, while news of allrounder Davidson's passing came earlier today.

Right, Australia's turn to try and upset the win-toss-bowl-win formula that has characterised this tournament. Both chased to good effect in their opening two matches. England are unchanged, while Australia have made a tweak to their XI: having got through against South Africa and Sri Lanka by trusting their allrounders to bowl four overs, they revert to a five-bowler strategy, Ashton Agar coming in for Mitch Marsh. Let's hope "dew factor" isn't the deciding factor. First up, it'll be David Warner and Aaron Finch aiming to continue their good form from Thursday night - perhaps by taking down Moeen Ali, whose offspin has been such a vital weapon for England in the powerplay? We'll soon see. It is a fresh surface, by the way, with a little grass left on.