Australia is touring in New Zealand for 3 T20Is and 2 Tests series. Both the teams have played their first T20I on 21st February at Wellington. New Zealand have decided to go ahead with Mitchell Santner as their captain bringing in more youngsters into the side for this series. On the other hand, Australia has decided to play their full strength in Mitchell Marsh’s captaincy.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc have played in the match who did not play against West Indies in ODIs and T20Is. Cameroon Green did not play the match and Mathew Short has been added in the playing XI. New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bat first. Finn Allen gave an aggressive start with 32 runs from 17 balls.
Devon Conway, who has been looking to find some form, scored a valuable 63 off 46 balls. Rachin Ravindra became the aggressor post Allen’s dismissal and he scored 68 runs off just 35 balls. Mark Chapman(18) and Glenn Phillips(19) pushed NZ score beyond 200. New Zealand ended the innings by scoring 215/3 in their 20 overs. Starc, Cummins and Marsh took wickets for Australia.
In the chase, David Warner(32) and Travis Head(24) took on NZ bowlers from word go. Mitchell Marsh kept going at one end while Glenn Maxwell(25) kept the momentum going. Josh Inglis failed to score freely and ended up scoring 20 from 20 balls. Tim David absorbed all the pressure and scored much required 31 runs from 10 balls to win the match for Australia.
In the penultimate over he scored 16 runs in the final three balls and last over, he scored 6, 2 and 4 in the final three balls. He could hit a 4 when Aus needed in the final ball to win the high scoring thriller. Mitchell Marsh for his all-round performance – 72 runs with the bat and a wicket with the ball, won the Player of the Match award. Aus and NZ will play their next at Auckland on Friday.