England v Australia: Cricket World Cup 2023 – live

For those just joining us, bottom-placed England named an unchanged XI after opting to field first in 35C Indian heat.

(Credit to Tom V d Gucht).

“Given the shambles their batting has been, why is Brooks not walking into the team straight away?” asks S Raman. “He could even replace an out of sorts Stokes.”

Meanwhile in domestic cricket:

“Excited to see which happens first,” emails Phil Russell, “England getting knocked out when New Zealand beat Pakistan, or England getting knocked out by losing to Australia. Suspect it will be the former given England have opted to bowl, unless declarations are allowed at the World Cup?” I don’t think we’ll see any declarations today Phil, after all, Australia’s po-faced batters don’t know the meaning of Bazball.

Today’s umpires are Chris Gaffaney (NZL) and Marais Erasmus (SAF).

This is the second match of the day. In the early starter New Zealand are doing their darnedest to eliminate Pakistan with Rachin Ravindra becoming the first man under 30 to hit three centuries in the same world cup.

It is fiercely hot, dry and airless at what Geoff Lemon has nicknamed the Big Bertha stadium in Ahmedabad. Air quality is on the borderline between moderate and poor. Fielding first is not going to be fun for England if they struggle to take early wickets.

There have been two matches at the venue this world cup so far. In the first New Zealand made a mockery of England’s 282, then India skipped past Pakistan’s 191 in the second to the delight of the most supporters in the history of cricket.

Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green come in for the concussed Glenn Maxwell and absent Mitch Marsh. Australia have still yet to play their preferred XI this world cup.

For what it’s worth, Pat Cummins would have batted first anyway.

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Cameron Green, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

England are unchanged. That means the now-retired David Willey retains his place.

England: 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid

“We’ve just got to play better cricket,” offers Jos Buttler at the toss, without being asked.

In more heartwarming news, Afghanistan stand to profit from England’s misery. Their victory over the Netherlands yesterday moved them into fifth place on the table with four wins and three defeats from their seven matches. Not only can Afghanistan still reach the knockout phase, the victory also guarantees them the top-seven finish required to compete in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

“In some ways, I wonder if Mott has played a blinder in terms of being able to introduce his own systems and ideas moving forward,” ponders Tom V d Gucht. “He inherited a team that was set up well and had enough credit in the bank to make it difficult for a new coach to make any significant changes. But, by letting them carry on until crumbling point, he’s given himself the freedom to start on a blank canvas.”

I don’t mind that as a line of thinking if the coach was, say, Eoin Morgan or an obvious long-term English project – but Mott feels very itinerant to me and the kind of easy scapegoat in a post tournament review.

Have you tasted enough pain yet? Well there’s plenty more where that came from. Like the decision not to award the now-retired-but-still-playing-today David Willey a central contract…

… or Ben Stokes going under the knife.

Mark Ramprakash takes us inside similar dressing rooms and ponders the role of England coach Matthew Mott.

England’s problems go a lot deeper than Mott, but now he needs to react to them. He arrived at the World Cup with the nucleus of a great, experienced side but under the relentless examination of competition it has proved not to be a strength at all. I didn’t see it coming, but from a distance what has happened looks slightly familiar. I’ve been involved in the past with successful teams full of experienced professionals, and I’ve seen how over time they can lose their edge. I’ve witnessed the disintegration of the very professionalism and dedication that allowed a group of people to achieve success. Sometimes it is age, sometimes it is attitude, but at some point, without realising, professional sportspeople can just go over the threshold.

Barney Ronay puts the men’s 50-over side’s humiliation in the context of wider problems in English cricket.

For all the talk, the PR initiatives, the glossy montages, four years on from those pre-Covid days cricket in England is still a shrinking summer pastime, largely invisible to the unconverted, walled up in its private garden. If anything it is more remote now, more niche. The real issue for the ECB is not that the England team is in a state of chaos, but that the wider world really doesn’t seem to care that the England team is in a state of chaos; that what we have here is a binfire in a vacuum.

Simon Burnton plays his analysis with a straight bat.

It is obvious now that England’s preparation for this tournament was inadequate.

One upside to England’s crapitulation is the quality writing it has generated. And there is no finer example than Jonathan Liew’s magnificent column on the topic.

But if you think about it, all of this really stems from one central issue, which you might call the Genius Fallacy. England essentially tried to win the 2023 World Cup by treating it as a 2019 tribute act, as if muscle memory and champion aura would do the rest. So you chase, because that’s what you did before. You pick most of the same guys, because that’s what you did before. You rip up your team balance to accommodate your retired all-rounder, who is – slight inconvenience – no longer an all‑rounder. Brydon Carse, your Liam Plunkett wig and costume is hanging in your locker. And you do this because on some level you have convinced yourselves that four years ago you discovered the secret to cricketing genius, and all you need to do is find the blueprints.

Hello everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of match 36 of the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Australia v England will get under way in Ahmedabad at 2pm local time (7.30pm AEDT/8.30am GMT).

Newsflash: England have been “crap” so far in this world cup.

England’s crapness undercuts the tension of what should be one of the highlights of the group phase. These are, after all modern ODI heavyweights and historic rivals, going through a bitter phase in their relationship following a toxic Ashes series, one whose discharge continues to pollute the discourse.

We will riff on England’s world cup pain in depth shortly, but suffice to say here that they have already effectively been outed from the tournament after being outbatted, outbowled, outfielded, and outcaptained in a run of five defeats in six matches.

Meanwhile, after a slow start, Australia are beginning to believe they could replace their old enemy on the world cup trophy following four straight victories. A win today, with matches against Afghanistan and Bangladesh to follow, will put the Aussies in a strong position heading into the semi-finals.

A stunning opening partnership between Travis Head and David Warner saw to New Zealand in their last outing, since when they’ve enjoyed a week’s rest and recuperation.

But that hasn’t gone according to plan with both Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell missing out today for different reasons, introducing an element of uncertainty.

That should do for now, so settle in while I steer you through the pregame and first innings, after which Tanya Aldred will see you through to the end of play.

If you’d like to get in touch while I’m on, please fire all communication to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.