Technique, power, timing. This had the lot.

Laurie Evans backs away to give himself some room before lofting the ball over mid-off for a one-bounce four.

After that shocking start Originals are rebuilding nicely.

Disaster for Phoenix!

Jos Buttler was struggling to make his ground as Originals attempted a risky single.

Ben Duckett's throw narrowly misses the stumps, but the ball then flies past two fielders not backing up very well and goes over the rope for five byes.

Phoenix will be desperate to get Buttler early too as he can be so destructive at the top of the order.

Laurie Evans is the new batter, joining Jos Buttler in the middle, and gets off the mark second ball with a push down to mid-on.

Ooh, and we have just seen a replay of Evans' first ball and it showed a very thin edge through to the wicketkeeper as he pushed at one outside off stump!

Nobody on the Phoenix team appealed!

In the 2021-2022 seasons, Phil Salt’s strike rate against spin was 128, while he maintained a 155 strike rate against pace in this time.

But this year, Salt has dialled down his attacking instincts vs pace, going at 144 and has been ultra-aggressive against spin with a strike rate of 151.

There's a huge cheer as Originals openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler enter the field amid the usual fireworks and brightly-coloured smoke.

There's some serious talent on show tonight and, mercifully , the sun is shining and no rain is forecast.

Here we go!

In case you missed it, Manchester Originals women secured their first win of this year's Hundred with a nervy five-wicket victory over Birmingham Phoenix in today's earlier game.

Fi Morris was Match Hero after taking 5-7, a record in either the women's or men's competition, before Kathryn Bryce hit the winning runs with the penultimate ball of the match.

You can check out my colleague Ffion Wynne's match report here and watch the best bits below.

Manchester Originals' first game against Welsh Fire was reduced to 40 balls per side because of the weather, with Fire coming out on top by nine runs.

Originals then reached 138-5 from 80 balls against London Spirit on Saturday before the match was abandoned.

Phoenix have had worse luck.

They were 84-5 from 62 balls when their opener against Northern Superchargers was abandoned, while their second game against Trent Rockets was washed out without a ball bowled.

So Birmingham Phoenix are boosted by the return of Moeen Ali and a fit-again Liam Livingstone.

Moeen says Chris Woakes is not too far away from a return either, though he misses out this evening.

Manchester Originals are unchanged from Saturday's curtailed game against London Spirit.

Manchester Originals: Phil Salt (wk), Jos Buttler (capt), Laurie Evans, Max Holden, Ashton Turner, Paul Walter, Jamie Overton, Usama Mir, Tom Hartley, Josh Little, Richard Gleeson.

Birmingham Phoenix: Will Smeed, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith (wk), Dan Mousley, Shadab Khan, Benny Howell, Adam Milne, Tom Helm, Kane Richardson.

Manchester Originals captain Jos Butler: "We would have probably batted if we won the toss, for no particular reason. But looking forward to a full game.

"The weather is what is is. But it looks like we will get a full game in tonight and everyone is excited to get out there and has lots of energy.

"There's been some really close games so far, with some going to the last ball which is exciting. You talk about the meaning of every single ball in short-form cricket and even more so in this format."

Birmingham Phoenix captain Moeen Ali: "We haven't really got going so bowling first will get us into the game. It was 50-50 but thought we would take the safe option.

"It has been frustrating with all the rain but the guys are itching to get going and want to complete a game."

On the game plan: "Get Jos out early as we can! But most of it is to play our brand of cricket that we have been playing these last few years."

Birmingham Phoenix skipper Moeen Ali wins the toss and decides to have a bowl first.

The wet weather has played havoc with the Hundred schedule so far, with Manchester Originals and Birmingham Phoenix yet to play a full game.

But thankfully it is dry at Old Trafford (hurrah!) so we should have no interruptions tonight.

News of the teams and the toss coming right up.