Trans-Tasman Tri-series 2018, New Zealand vs Australia, Final: Match Predictions

Here is what CricTracker predicts for the game.

Published - 20 Feb 2018, 20:14 IST | Updated - 20 Feb 2018, 20:14 IST

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Australia has well and truly dominated the Trans-Tasman T20 tri-series so far winning all their 4 games and they will be going into the final as the firm favourites against the Kiwis who haven’t quite come to the party yet and have suffered 3 losses already.

To say that the Blackcaps have played bad Cricket will be an overstatement as they have been on the driver’s seat for decent periods in the last couple of games, but they just haven’t been able to show those steely nerves towards the end to come out victorious. They will have to tighten up ahead of this big clash as there will be no coming back if they lose this one.

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch of Eden Park is a flat batting surface which is perfectly fine, but the real issue is the size of the ground. It’s a ridiculously small ground and with its dimensions, it at times closes down the skill margin between the two teams.

Even the decent hitters of the Cricket ball or the mistimed hits fetch six runs. The toe ends and the splices disappear out of the ground.

Since no score is safe under these conditions and virtually anything can be chased down, there is no point batting first. Both David Warner and Kane Williamson will opt to field if the fall of the coin goes right for them.

Playing Combination

Australia

Australia will like to go with an unchanged XI. They had played their last game at the same venue and had managed to inch ahead of the Blackcaps in a run fest. The bowlers, particularly Andrew Tye, had taken some real beating in that game, but it had a lot to do with the conditions than the execution.

There is no way the Kangaroos will think about dropping someone like Tye on the basis of that performance considering how fruitful he has proved to be for them in White ball Cricket of late.

From batting point of view, the captain David Warner made a welcome return to form the other night after having a dismal summer with the bat and D’Arcy Short’s another impressive show meant Australia don’t need to bother about pushing Aaron Finch to the top of the order and can persist with him at no. 5 where he is surprisingly doing a decent job.

Probable XI: David Warner, D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye, Billy Stanlake

New Zealand

New Zealand is coming from two back to back losses, but they know they could have won both those games if they had held their nerves at the crunch moments. So they won’t be reading too much into those results.

There is no room for any changes in the New Zealand XI either. They might not have had the desired results, but they will look to put the same unit in the park again and back their first choice players to topple the Aussies.

Maybe they will shuffle the batting order a bit if they lose wickets early and push Ross Taylor to no. 4 to allow him to milk the bowling for a brief period and lay the platform for the likes of Mark Chapman and Collin de Grandhomme.

Bowling wise, Ish Sodhi will be the trump card for the hosts. The leg-spinner who is no. 1 T20 bowler in the world at the moment has been at the top of his game of late and the management will be expecting him to help the team with another impactful spell tomorrow.

Probable XI: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Colin de Grandhomme, Mark Chapman, Ross Taylor, Tim Seifert (wk), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult