Moeen comes on for a new spell, and there is just one run off this.

It's stand and deliver stuff from Maxwell here against Plunkett. Ferocious slash behind point for four, he looks like he means business. But England just need to keep their nerve.

Hello! Glenn Maxwell is at it. He's smacked two huge drives in this over, four for each shot. This partnership is already worth 34. Another 45 minutes of The Big Show and England will be getting antsy.

Maxwell batters Plunkett for four. Now Marsh whacks him through the covers. 

More like it for the Aussies. Well, Marsh, really. Two nice shots from him off Adil through the covers, four and a three.

Just a couple off the Plunkett over.

Earlier in that over, Shaun Marsh had reached his fifty. Classy stuff from him, but it's too big a score to be gettable by one man alone.

And that's the end of Finchy! Gets down to sweep and simply misses the ball. That's bang in front, plumb as you like, he's basically just missed it. Aussies in a right mess here. FOW 110/4

The Finch Hitter comes in, and is beaten all ends up by Plunky, excellent cross-seam ball.

Stoinis is trapped on the crease, chops at the ball, and plays on. He trudges off, pouting.  I reckon he thinks it kept low. FOW 99/3

Rashid comes on, England continuing to back their spin hand. Slips Stoinis the googler but it turns past the pads, and that's a wide. 

Marsh has got hold of that one! Woof! He's battered that into the crowd, where a have-a-go-hero makes a game effort to catch it. He fails. The ball lands on the concrete and has been sufficiently damaged by that experience that it needs changed.

Three-run over from Moeen. This match looks set to go the full five days.

Root having a handy little spell here, no four-ball, but he does use his arm-ball.

Five overs without a boundary for the Aussies. Marcus Stoinis, who is related to Stoinfish off out of Neighbours but not Toidfish, comes in for the last ball of the over, and takes a single.

Oh, Mr D'Arcy! Short is gone. He plays back to Moeen, the ball turns, edge, and Joe Root does the business at slip. FOW 77/2

Root comes on. And England are rewarded with a three-run over. That run rate be creepin'. Over 7...

Ooh, that's a drop! England's second of the day, and this was worse. Key man Marsh flicks Ali off the pads, and Tom Curran, who is on the pitch as a sub fielder, has grassed it.

Plunkett to Marsh: hits him on the pad. Appeal denied. It hit the inside edge and it pitched outside edge. Other than that...

Just four off the Plunkover.

Moeen comes on, and there are just three runs off the over

Plunkett comes on but, admirable fellow that he is, lets the pressure off a tad. Two legside balls, Short helps himself to both. 12 runs off the over mean that the powerplay has a better feel to it than it might have for the Aussies. Still, a decent bowling start. 343 is still a LONG way off.

Marsh looking like what he is: a Test class batsman with all the shots and great game-management. Placing the ball where he wishes.

England plugging away and this is good stuff from their opening pair. Solid, brisk stuff from Wood. Marsh pulls him away for a four. Decent contest.

Ah, shame Hales wasn't fielding there! Another very sharp chance to midwicket, cracked hard by Marsh but dropped by Jonny Bairstow. Hard lines, would have been a good 'un.

England bowling very well here. They've got the Aussies under the pump.

Just one scoring shot in this over, nicely bowled from Willey.

Handy intervention from Hales, that, because Head had started at a good clip.

This is Shaun Marsh, by the way.

That is a terrific catch from Hales. Head flicks it to midwicket and Hales takes a blinder very low down. He had to make a lot of ground. They go upstairs to check if the catch was good, and it is. FOW 24/1

Review! Swinger from Willey, over the wicket to the left-hander Head, hit on the pad and given not out. England like it! They're going to review, and one or two of them, led by Jos Buttler, seem to be celebrating as much as reviewing. But in vain! This pitched outside the leg stump. Jos is the captain today, Morgan had a back spasm this morning.

Mark Wood bowls the next one, it's a mixed bag, with a wide and a lovely shot from Head as he flicks the ball over the keeper's, well, head for six!

Willey bowls the first over and Head hits two boundaries off it.

Here is the Aussie reply.

Feels a bit like that innings started sometime yesterday, but this is in fact a one-day international and it is in fact the highest total England have scored against Australia in the format. Jason Roy and Jos Buttler the stars. All that said, it's not a cakewalk from here for England on this small ground and the Aussies will feel that, strange though it might sound, they restricted England in the last ten to rather fewer than the hosts were wanting. Still, it's the record ODI score at this ground so...

Hats off to Tim Paine for getting hit in the mouth, reportedly losing a tooth, and then immediately taking a great catch.

Can Tye finish things off then, after that wicket? No! He cannot! Jos spanks him for two, then toes the ball somehow for four, before finishing the innings with a flourish. Ten runs off the last three balls means England end on a high, and have their highest ODI total against Australia.

Bouncer called wide first ball. Second ball, Plunkett smears a single to get off strike. But Jos cannot find a big shot and has to settle for one.

Third ball, Plunkett on strike, he tries to work to leg but doesn't get enough on it. Sets off for the single and is run out at the non-striker's end by a country mile. Good unselfish batting though, England would rather have Plunkett out and Buttler on strike than a dot ball and Plunky at the bat. FOW 332/8

The batsmen crossed. Jos nails the last ball of the over. Four over midwicket.

Last over coming up, England very much hoping that can Plunkett can get off the mark ASAP..

Series of short balls from Richardson to Willey.

First one, Willey, all bristle and bs, flat-bat slams the short ball back down the ground.

Now another one, top edged and it goes safely for four. Lucky.

And now another one, he goes at it again, gets it far to high up on the bat and that's FOW 325/7 as the bowler himself runs through to gather it. Good catch that.

Two fours for Willey before his wicky.

Jos with the most elaborate single I have yet seen. He's moving around all over the crease, the bowler Richardson adjusts his line and Jos, now miles outside off stump, plays a French cricket shot, deliberately using the outside edge, to send it down to third man for one. What a laugh. 

Aussies really done a good job here, 23 in the last five overs.

Buttler cannot find the fence, and nor can new man Willey and they have to settle for a series of singles.

...and just 16 off the last four.

Oooh, they could have done with that one going to hand. Buttler pulls Richardson to deep square and it lands just short of the man running in.

Just 11 off the last three overs...

First ball of the over, Moeen swings it straight and true to deep square leg. FOW 300/6

Cunning over from Tye, and there are just five off that. 300 up from England, they'll want another 35 and they would like another 50.

Excellent from Richardson, just two off it.

but if Lizzy says so then that's good enough for me.

Two crunching shots in that over, by the way. Jos behind square for four. And now Mooen comes in and carves his first ball away through the point region for a boundary. nice way to open your account.

Farewell Sam Billings, we hardly knew ye. I'd barely noticed the lad and now he's chopped the ball onto his stumps, playing away from his body with a diagonal bat, chops it into his leg, then the poles. See ya. FOW 289/5

Aussies gamble on Short in the PP, and largely get away with it. Eight off the over, not a disaster.

Jos with another monster shot through the covers. He is just such a good player to watch. What a talent.

Here comes Richardson... And here comes Jos Buttler! Smacked through the covers for four. And now a cheeky ramp shot for six, brilliant skills. And again, walks across the stumps and helps it on its way to fine leg for another six! Now a brutal cut, but the sweeper keeps that to two... Jos has his fifty. Single. Billings drives into the covers, there is a misfield, and they pinch one. A 20-run over, that's got England going again!

Another cheap over of spin, four off Short, takes us up to the powerplay and the final push.

25/1 in the five overs since that wicket of Roy.

Four off Agar's over. Aussies with a twist on the classic, saving the deeply boring Quiet Middle Overs of an ODI for slightly later in the innings. They've pulled this back well.

The big Short, four off the over.

Agar. Two run over. This is a decent ODI but my God it's going slowly, right? I feel like I've been live blogging this since I got up and it's still just over a third of the way through.

Last ball of the over is Tye's knuckleball, it bounces in front of Paine and deals him one in the chest! Someone needs to buy Paino a beer after this.

Well, all happening since the resumption! Jason Roy spanked one behind point, and they ran hard for two. Then he smashed a drive on the up through mid off, regal stuff... but this Andrew Tye is made of stern stuff, he produces a very fine delivery that nips back off the seam, it takes the inside edge and Tim Paine, bleeding face and all, takes a fantastic catch down the legside. He had to change direction. Brilliant keeping. FOW 239/4

We are back on. And Tim Paine is okay too.

Not going well for the Aussies! First Roy mullers Tye back down the ground for four, and now a ball down the legside bobbles, takes a nasty bounce, and smashes Tim Paine in the kisser! Ow.

And now we are having another delay for rain.

Super shot from Roy as he laser-guides Ashton Agar through backward point with a reserve sweep. 

Attractive shot from Jos, expressive and expansive, opens up his shoulders and lofts through the covers for four. A ten run over. Stoinis is done, that's ten overs for 60, with the wicket of Joe Root in the something column.

A short spell for, erm, Short, he's withdrawn after just the one over and here's Ashton Agar in his stead. The England pair nibble and nudge him around with minimum stress, and one of those nibbly nudges takes Jason Roy to 100. A commanding, controlled and impressive innings, mixing good accumulation with careful shot-making, and the occasional massive thump! What's not to like? Classy stuff.

Stoinis back on, but 80mph short stuff is asking for trouble against Roy here. Walloped. England must be looking for 330-plus here.

Left-arm wrist spin from Short, it's slow and loopy stuff, but he gets some turn. Surprised we have not seen more spin actually, because there's certainly something for the twirlymen in this surface.

One nice delivery foxes Roy, there are five runs off the first five balls, but sadly a promising start is spoiled by ball six. Overpitched, and driven for four through wide mid off. by Jos. Ten off the over.

And the Aussies are going to recommence with spin, specifically from D'Arcy Short.

Looks a bit brighter there. Don't think we are losing any overs.

Another quiet over, this one from Stoinis... but here comes the rain again, and it's a little heavier than before I would say.

Tye, with his variations, three off the over.

Jos the new man.

D'Arcy John Matthew Short, then. He's on his ODI dayboo, although he has played five T20s for the Aussies. Cannot be many Australian cricketers called D'Arcy, can there?

...on the subject of the soccer...

Oh that is a splendid catch! The new bowler, Stonis, digs it in and Joe Root goes for the hook. But it gets up just a few inches more than he was thinking, he connects a little thin, and D'Arcy Short races in at deep backward square to dive forward and catch it very low. FOW 179/3

Richardson. Root into the twenties, showing skill and timing to work into the gaps. England are on for a serious score here, on this small ground.

There was an appeal for LBW off the last ball of the over but that was sliding down.

Tye foxes Roy, who is looking really strong, into a mis-hit with a slower ball. But there's nothing wrong with the timing of the next one. He's fair massacred that! Deep, deep into the crowd at midwicket. 

He's not one of my favourites, Jason, but my goodness he can give it a thump. I cannot remember many harder hitters of a ball in my time following cricket.

Kane Richardson. Roy pushes into the covers and takes on the throw of Maxwell, he's home safe. Some excellent running all round in this over actually. This England pair harassing the Aussies.

Three balls left of the over, and the second of those is a juicy one. Roy cashes in, overpitched and through extra cover for four. Pinches the strike.

Players are back on, here is Andrew Tye and his beard.

it has been drizzling pretty much non-stop but the umps have had enough. I might watch the last few minutes of the footer, Aussies are 2-1 down in injury time. 

Tye comes on and delivers a slower ball, and now a really good bouncer that rattles Joe's splice. I enjoy watching Andrew Tye, a thinking sort of a bowler... but that pleasure will be temporarily suspended, because rain has stopped play

Richardson continues, Root gets a thick edge and that's not far from Payne's dive. Four. Good wheels from Richardson in this over. Touching 90.

That one to Roy certainly was therein

Marcus Stonis continues, and Jason Roy takes a half step down the track and belts him for six! Sails over cow corner, a brute of a hit. Few singles in the over too, Root finding it very simple to get up above an 80mph bouncer and steer it. Stonis goes for ten.

Aussie! Double Aussie! We've got their football team on one screen, giving the French a good game in Russia,and here of course are their ODI team against England in a low-key affair at Cardiff. Bairstow was in lovely touch before falling. Roy is accumulating sensibly and Root has joined him.

A thick outside edge falls favourably for Root, racing away between backward point and third man and to the rope. 

And now it's time to hand over to the main man in the Telegraph office, Alan Tyers, who will guide you through the remainder of the game. Enjoy!

Stoinis comes back on for Australia. Roy leans back and hooks, just so coolly, for four, before a single brings up his 50 from 52 balls. He was slower to start than Bairstow but he is the one still going out there.

Rooooooot is the new man in. He nudges off his hips for four off his second ball.

Ohhhh dear! Just when Hales was starting to look like he had got his eye in with a couple of fours, he is beaten all ends up by a beauty from Jhye Richardson that seams back in at the right-hander, perfectly between bat and he is clean bowled! Lovely ball! Fow 113/2

Here he comes. Roy flicks a straight ball from Andrew Tye over midwicket, but it takes a single bounce before reaching the rope. 

The rain is coming down a little stronger as the players reach a drinks break. Hales looks pretty unhappy he's out there.

Agar continues, consistent line and length. Little movement of the damp surface,

Hales cuts but doesn't quite get it right, and gets away with it, a thin edge racing away for four. Then Roy brings up England's hundred with a well-timed cover drive.

The drizzle is getting stronger in Cardiff. No sign of them going off but it can't get much heavier out there.

Roy half-goes for a shot towards mid-off but doesn't put his weight into it and it falls short of the man in the deep, after Tim Paine's hopeful cry of "catch".

Hales and Roy like big shots, and I don't imagine they'll like scoring this slowly for much longer. Just three runs off the over, and we've had only one boundary since Hales came in. Nothing to panic about, but I think the run rate will creep back up before long.

 Six Agar balls. Six singles.

More from Stoinis. Roy tries to cover drive but doesn't quite nail it and there's a man in the deep. Hales then tries similar but a ball lacking pace from the medium pacer skips up off the surface and takes him by surprise. Tim Paine thinks there might have been a feather. Nothing doing.

Agar comes back on having changed ends after a pretty poor first over.

This is much better. More consistent length. Variation to his pace. Just four off the over. 

Stoinis again. A few singles, strike rotated. Then a bit of width and Hales cuts away for four behind square.

End of the first powerplay.

Alex Hales comes in, sees out the over. Australia are right back in this game.

Oh no! How has that happened? Bairstow has made such a good start today, racing to 42, but then this shot is just so unconvincing. He tries to slice away when it's too near his body and he gets the slightest of nicks through to the keeper. Really disappointing, that. Fow 63/1

Stoinis joins the Australia attack, and Bairstow punishes the slightest width, cutting away for four.

Bold move from Paine: Ashton Agar comes on, but Roy doesn't want time to get his eye in. He pushes for two runs through the covers. Then he goes for a big shot but doesn't quite connect, but it lands safe in the covers and bounces over the rope.

Bairstow punishes a wide ball for four, and then sweeps for four more! One way traffic so far this morning.

Much better from Roy, smacking through the covers for four, before YJB gets the strike and goes even better. Kane Richardson over-pitches and Bairstow golf-swings to smash well over long-off for six. 

Aaaaand again! Not quite for six, but it's a very similar ball and given the treatment by Bairstow, but it falls short of the rope. And then another boundary, this time clipped off his legs and it beats the man on the rope. An expensive over for the Aussies.

Jhye is finding his feet now, one nipping back at Bairstow and beating him - but it's kept out.

He responds with a thwack right off the middle the careers through the covers for four, but then tries to hook the next ball and the bounce beats him.

Roy tries to cut two balls in a row away but both times Glenn Maxwell is equal to it at point. He then gets one all wrong with an ugly, frustrated swing and miss. He just isn't looking as comfortable as Jonny at the other end, at the moment. One off the over.

Bairstow is just playing so well at the moment, he jumps back and catches one right off the middle of the bat and away through the covers for four. 

NOTICE: It is summer in Cardiff but it's so gloomy that the floodlights are on at the Swalec. It's 11.12 in the morning. Glorious British weather, this.

Kane Richardson - no relation to Jhye - to open from the other end, and he pins Roy  back fairly well but where his (sur)namesake was bowling too straight, he goes too wide and is punished with a four.

No second successive duck for Jason as he pushes the first ball of the day off his pads and down to fine leg.

And Richardson strays too straight to Bairstow, too. He clips it through the leg side and has timed it perfectly. It races away off the slightly damp surface for four.

And what a spelling of Jhye that is. I don't know how I think it should be spelled out but it definitely isn't like that.

There had been rumours this morning that Australia might try and bat so they could sit in the clubhouse and watch the Socceroos play France in Russia. But Tim Paine has thrown that idea straight out the window by choosing to field.

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (c,wk), Moeen Ali, David Wiley, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Australia: D'Arcy Short, Travis Head, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Tim Paine (c,wk), Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Kane Richardson

Eoin Morgan is out with a back strain. Jos Buttler will captain the side. Buttler says he found out "about 20 minutes ago" and "would have batted" had he won the toss. Sam Billings comes in.

Billy Stanlake misses out for Australia after hurting his toe in the first ODI, Neser also drops out. Jhye Richardson and D'Arcy Short come in.

And will bowl.

The toss has been delayed slightly but the groundstaff are still hoping for an 11am start as scheduled.

Liam Plunkett wants to be part of an England team which lives up to its world-beating status again.

Plunkett, who faces an uncertain future with Yorkshire and will miss two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka to get married in October, will not be letting any of those issues distract him from success against Australia in Cardiff this weekend.

England managed that on Wednesday to go 1-0 up in the five-match ODI series but by key seamer Plunkett's admission, were short of standards which have put them top of the International Cricket Council rankings and raised hopes they could win the World Cup for the first time next summer.

For a team whose big-hitting batting line-up is its undoubted strength, there was nothing convincing about a chase of just 214 which limped over the line at The Oval.

Plunkett, who was dropped by Yorkshire this month following his return from the Indian Premier League, impressed with three for 42 in a bowling collective which showed significant improvement from the shock defeat against Scotland.

"We tied them down, and the spinners bowled really nicely," he said.

"We'd take that all the time. But absolutely, we agreed as a batting unit we should be able to finish that off.

"There were soft dismissals, and we're looking to erase them.

"We need to show why we're number one in the world."

England's opponents are in a vulnerable state, shorn of half their full-strength team through injury and former captain Steve Smith and combative opener David Warner's year-long bans for their parts in the ball-tampering fiasco during their Test tour of South Africa two months ago.

That sorry saga has left them hostages to the treatment of partisan crowds eager to remind Australia of their misdemeanours.

Plunkett is not sympathetic.

"I don't feel sorry for them," he said. "You're going to get it - it's part of sport.

"I'm sure it would be the same if someone on the England team had done that...you get plenty of stick when you go and play against Australia Down Under."