Postpublished at 18:29 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Here we go. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt walk out to the middle for the Manchester Originals.
Summary
Fire stumble to 46-4 inside first 50 balls and never recover
Four wickets for Abbott, who concedes just eight runs off 15 balls
Originals reach 149-9 - Salt top-scores with 38; Ball 4-29
Openers Salt & Buttler race to 66 off 34 balls
Fire still winless in competition but Originals up to fifth with first win
Postpublished at 18:29 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Postpublished at 18:27 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Manchester Originals captain Jos Buttler to Sky Sports: "I haven’t won many tosses all summer so I didn’t have to think about it very much!
"We don’t have anything to lose, we have some positives and some things to work on – and we know we need to get on a winning roll so we need to individually and collectively win this first match for us.
"It looks a good wicket, being a hybrid, we played on it the other day and it looked a good wicket in the ladies’ game too."
Key battle - Can Zampa get Salt in a spin?published at 18:25 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
We've identified spinner Adam Zampa coming up against big-hitter Phil Salt as a key battle tonight.
Zampa is about to head home to play for Australia against Zimbabwe so this is likely to be his last appearance in this year's competition. He's taken 1-25 in both of his matches so far.
England's Salt hit 70 not out for the Originals against the Rockets last time out. The match before he made 36 against the London Spirit.
Image source, ECB/BBC SportPostpublished at 18:23 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Welsh Fire skipper Josh Cobb to Sky Sports on winning the toss and opting to bowl first: "It looks a good wicket, it looked a good wicket the game they played before and we will look to restrict and hopefully chase.
"Ultimately we played some excellent cricket in our last game for 98% of it but that 2% cost us the game. We are just trying to continue that and get over the line."
Both sides looking to break their duckpublished at 18:21 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Image source, Getty ImagesUnless we have an unexpected tie this afternoon, one of the teams on show will break their duck.
Both have lost their first two matches.
Manchester Originals were defeated by fierce rivals Northern Superchargers in their first match of the summer and were smashed in a 52-run loss to London Spirit last time out.
Welsh Fire were beaten by Southern Brave by nine wickets at home in their opener before losing by 39 runs against the same opponents on the road.
Who will get the edge tonight?
Image source, Getty ImagesListen to every ball livepublished at 18:19 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports ExtraRemember you can listen to every ball live on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.
Alison Mitchell and Aatif Nawaz are with former IPL player Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and England fast bowler Saqib Mahmood. Build-up has just got under way.
Get it on!
Team newspublished at 18:18 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Manchester Originals: Jos Buttler (c), Phil Salt (wk), Wayne Madsen, Laurie Evans, Paul Walter, Andre Russell, Tristan Stubbs, Sean Abbott, Tom Hartley, Mitchell Stanley, Matt Parkinson.
Welsh Fire: Joe Clarke (wk), Tom Banton, Ben Duckett, Sam Hain, David Miller, Josh Cobb (c), Dwaine Pretorius, Adam Zampa, Matt Critchley, David Payne, Jake Ball.
Welcomepublished at 18:15 British Summer Time 16 August 2022
Image source, Getty ImagesOne game down, one game to go.
Earlier, Deandra Dottin struck a superb half-century and took 2-21 as Manchester Originals edged Welsh Fire in a thriller at Old Trafford.
And now it's the turn of the men as Jos Buttler's Manchester Originals host Josh Cobb's Welsh Fire.
The Fire have won the toss and chosen to bowl first. Old Trafford is set.