Trans Tasman Tri-Series, NZ vs AUS, Final, Review: Australia reign supreme in the rain-marred final

Australia is now the top-ranked team in T20 Internationals.

Published - 21 Feb 2018, 15:33 IST | Updated - 21 Feb 2018, 15:33 IST

2 Min Read

Australia's Ashton Agar celebrates with teammates

Australia ended the tri-series unbeaten by winning the final against the hosts New Zealand by 19 runs at the Eden Park in Auckland. The game was marred by the rain twice which eventually had the final say unfotunately. Nevertheless, the visitors were on course for the victory with Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch looking comfortable in the middle. However, the game was set by the bowlers who bowled beautifully on a small ground and kept on picking the wickets of the home side.

New Zealand opted to bat first in order to post the runs on the board in the title clash and put the pressure on the visitors later. Both the teams went in unchanged for the big game keeping faith on the same lot of players. The opening duo of Martin Guptill and Colin Munro strode out to the middle with an aim to give the blazing start to their team and they were partially successful.

Kiwis collapse in quest of runs

Both added 48 runs for the opening wicket in 27 deliveries before the dangerous Guptill mistimed a heave to mid-on off Billy Stanlake. Soon, his partner also lost his wicket in the same manner off Ashton Agar who later went on to scalp Kane Williamson and Mark Chapman. While the former was castled by the left-arm spinner, Chapman was pinned in front by him to leave the hosts reeling at 73/4 in the eighth over. The procession continued as the batsmen kept on hitting the ball in the air only to lose their wickets.

New Zealand were in danger of being bowled out with many overs to go at 110/8. However, it was the experience of Ross Taylor which came to the fore for the home team and he was well supported by Ish Sodhi. Both added 38 runs for the ninth wicket and were keen on playing the full quota of their overs. While Taylor remained unbeaten on 43 off 38 balls with a couple of fours and a solitary six, Sodhi scored 13 runs which were crucial as well. New Zealand posted a fighting total of 150/9 after 20 overs after being threatened to skittle out for a far lesser total.

Agar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/27 from his four overs as all the other bowlers picked key scalps as well. Even Marcus Stoinis endured a good outing with the ball as he ended with the figures of 1/23. Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye shared four wickets between them too. Meanwhile they lost the services of Chris Lynn as he landed awkwardly on his shoulder and dislocated it while fielding at the mid-wicket position.

Rain-interrupted run chase

Australia began their run chase in style with the skipper David Warner and D’Arcy Short smashing the ball all around the Eden Park. The latter, in particular, was brutal as he continued from where he left off in the last game at the same venue. Short played some delightful strokes on his way to second consecutive half-century. He was dismissed soon by Colin Munro but not before he smashed six boundaries and three maximums. Soon ish Sodhi castled Warner on 25 to give the spectators some hope.

However, the Kiwis started to believe when Mitchell Santner sent back Ashton Agar who was promoted to number 3. Australia were in a spot of bother with 67 runs still needed with less than 10 overs to go. Meanwhile, rain interrupted for the first time during the chase after six overs were bowled. But it once again made it appearance felt in the 15th over when the visitors still needed 30 runs off 32 deliveries.

The duo of Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch played cautiously and added 37 runs to take their side close to victory. But the rain had the final say as Australia were declared the winners according to Duckworth Lewis Stern method (DLS). They were ahead by 19 runs when the rain arrived and never relented. The Kiwis tried their best to make a comeback into the game but the score they had put on the board was never going to be a challenging one for the visitors.

In the end, they failed to beat their arch-rivals on three occasion in the tri-series, twice at home. Australia won their sixth consecutive T20 International which is their longest winning streak and have romped to number 1 position now. Interestingly, they had began the tri-series at number 7 and back-to-back wins have allowed them to reign supreme.