And here is the match report from Wellington.
That’s enough from us – thanks for your company through the series, and there’ll be plenty more OBO cricket coming up on the Guardian pages. As for the Cake Tin today, it’s about to host the England and New Zealand women’s teams in their third T20. England lead that series 0-2. See ya.
Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s captain, finishes the formalities:
“Incredibly hard fought series. Outstanding to pick up some of what we learned from the first two games and adjust to that surface. It’s about the cricket that we want to play, and we know how strong the Australian side is. In some ways we got exposed on that surface, and they adapted far quicker than we did. When you’re playing three games on the same surface you get clearer on how you want to approach it. Clearly the slower bowlers on that surface were a little bit trickier. I want to thank Aaron and his team for coming over, I’m sure they’ve had enough quarantine by now.”
Aaron Finch steps up, looking... delighted.
“We weren’t aggressive enough with the bat, myself up top leading that. If one of us gets 60 or 70, that might have got us to 160 or 170, and then we’re only a couple of Powerplay overs away from really squeezing them. I thought the pitch played better than the other day. For a drop-in wicket to hold up over three games, unexpectedly too, is credit to the groundsman. For us the constant improvement from game one to game four was pleasing. New Zealand are a great side, and for them to bounce back wasn’t surprising. It’s been a pleasure being here.”
Player of the series is Ish Sodhi.
“In these conditions you have to be as aggressive as possible. The boys up the top create some pressure to help us in the middle. The last game it turned a little bit, held up, but I think it was a better surface today. The batsmen adapted brilliantly to chase that score down. Chapman and Phillips work really hard in the nets, and for Chapman to pick up that big wicket of Glenn Maxwell for us was brilliant.”
Player of the match is, surprise surprise, Martin Guptill.
“The other night we took a backward step, so today we wanted to not back down from the fight. Devon’s opened a lot for Wellington over the years and he was brilliant out there today with me. It was nice to spend a bit more time and create a partnership, he got off to a good start, then I was able to catch up with him. Hitting sixes is just trusting that you can get enough with the bat, so you can stay in the shot and not try to overhit it.”
New Zealand win by seven wickets, and win the series 3-2
Obviously Phillips wasn’t in on the plan to let Chapman bat, because Chapman faces two balls before Phillips finishes the match as quickly as possible. The bulk of the work though was done by Guptill. He made a brilliant 97 down in Dunedin, and finished off the series with his 71 here today. Conway was excellent in support as well, kept contributing to keeping the run rate high while also giving Guptill lots of strike. A century opening stand in T20 cricket will be enough to set up your team in just about any game, so it was easy for Phillips to come in and play with freedom to finish things off with 34 from 16 balls.
Earlier it was New Zealand’s bowling the held the score to something achievable. Australia did give away two wickets to Sodhi’s full tosses, but there was also some excellent bowling from Boult and Southee especially to make sure that Australia’s potential run-scorers didn’t turn their medium scores into big ones. Finch made 36, Wade 44, Stoinis 26, and all got out before they could blow up.
Riley Meredith will get some love for that double-wicket over, but he also went at ten runs per over today. Adam Zampa got a mauling, Jhye Richardson was tidy with 1 for 19 from three overs but was bowling when they didn’t need to go after him with the win in sight. Agar’s four overs conceding 26 runs was a decent return to end an excellent series, but otherwise NZ got right on top of Australia’s bowling today.
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15.3 overs: New Zealand 143-3 (Phillips 34, Chapman 1) Finch decides to give Zampa one more chance to try to get something out of this game after some rough treatment from Guptill, and Phillips decides to treat Zampa exactly the same way. First ball of the over, slog-sweep for six. Third ball of the over, on drive for six more and the win.
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14th over: New Zealand 131-3 (Phillips 22, Chapman 1) Mark Chapman gets his chance in the middle, after a cameo with the bat when the match was all but lost on Friday night. Elevated to No5 today to give him a chance to hit a few. Might as well when this game is all but won. He’s off strike to begin with, as Phillips crossed when Guptill’s dismissal was still pending, and Phillips makes the most of the strike with a very nice off drive for four. They trade singles after that. Jhye Richardson with 1 for 7 from the over.
New Zealand need 12 from 30.
WICKET! Guptill c Marsh b J. Richardson 71 (46), NZ 124-3
Too late, but the main man falls. Tries a mighty pull shot to a ball that isn’t really short enough, and at Richardson’s pace that goes a long way up before settling in the hands of Marsh at short fine leg.
14th over: New Zealand 124-2 (Guptill 71, Phillips 16) Toe to toe! Meredith sears a ball in at Phillips that comes via the inside edge onto his body, has him flinching away. So the next ball Phillips comes forward and absolutely murders the ball right back at Meredith, who has to duck in his follow-through and narrowly avoids being hit. Scary stuff, though Meredith just laughs as he comes to a stop on the pitch, sitting on his backside.
Points go to Phillips to end the over, though, as he pulls Meredith’s shortish ball through midwicket for four, then backs away to drive the attempted yorker through cover. Three boundaries from the over, and the game is all but done. 19 from 36 required.
13th over: New Zealand 111-2 (Guptill 70, Phillips 4) Five balls from Agar for one run, before Phillips manages to whip away a boundary in the air to wide long on. He’s back in the game, as per Benjamin Macintyre’s email about his bowling. “Glenn Phillips was a visionary. Sodhi simply reaped the rewards.”
It was free-form extempore off-spinning from Phillips today, of a kind close to the hearts of all of we junk cricketers around the world. Wonderful to see it on a professional stage.
12th over: New Zealand 106-2 (Guptill 69) Last ball of the over as Williamson falls, two in the over for Meredith. They need 37 in 48 balls, the New Zealanders. Should still stroll it in, but there’s a slight way into the contest for Australia.
WICKET! Williamson lbw Meredith 0 (2), NZ 106-2
The Kiwi captain is gone, leg before to Meredith again. The same dismissal as a couple of matches ago when Meredith was on debut. Kane Williamson shuffling across his stumps, caught in front by the cross seam delivery the angles in. It looked a touch high, Williamson hopping, but the DRS shows it clipping high on leg stump.
WICKET! Conway c Agar b Meredith 36 (28), NZ 105-1
Marty Guptill is on one today. Pulls a couple of runs to raise the hundred, then plays an outrageous helicoptered whip shot off his hip to split the gap at deep backward square. But once he turns the strike over, the left-handed Conway lofts with the angle of Meredith’s bowling to deep cover and is caught.
11th over: New Zealand 98-0 (Conway 36, Guptill 62) Suddenly New Zealand only need 47 from 60 deliveries. Agar appeals after hitting Guptill’s pad but the ball is going down leg. Three singles from the over, this pair happy to avoid risks given Agar has been so accurate and has taken wickets through the series.
10th over: New Zealand 95-0 (Conway 35, Guptill 60) Matthew Wade talks Finch into taking a desperation review for a catch down the leg side, but Guptill got nothing on Jhye Richardson’s ball and it gets called a wide. The Aussies losing it now, Richardson as a right-armer has come around the wicket in this over to try to cramp Guptill for room but instead bowls wide of off stump, and gets cut for four. Four singles, the extra, and the boundary in another costly over.
Half-century! Guptill 54 from 33 balls
9th over: New Zealand 87-0 (Conway 33, Guptill 54)
THAT’S ON THE ROOF!
Martin Guptill loves landing them on the roof at the Cake Tin. Pretty sure he did that during his double ton at the 2015 World Cup. He does it again here. Down on one knee to Zampa, getting under it, and sending it into orbit.
A long delay as we get a replacement ball. Guptill likes that one too, cutting it behind point for four. Then he decides that he liked the slog-sweep so much that he hits another one for six. Not quite as far, but still a long way.
Zampa takes a deep breath. Comes in to bowl. Doesn’t want to be as full. Lands it back of a length. Guptill is there to meet it, on the gallop. And hits it over long on for six more. Straight bat, full journey.
23 from the over, and a fifty for Guptill.
8th over: New Zealand 64-0 (Conway 32, Guptill 32) Kane Richardson bowls short to Guptill, who mistimes a pull shot that limps out to deep square leg on the bounce. A breather for everybody in an over of five singles.
New Zealand need 79 from 72 balls.
7th over: New Zealand 59-0 (Conway 29, Guptill 30) Another close call that doesn’t land for the Australians. Adam Zampa’s second ball of the day, Guptill gets down and sweeps hard to deep midwicket, but it goes too square of Kane Richardson. He runs around but doesn’t have the rhythm to time his dive forward and get hands to it. Reaches out but misses the ball. Guptill, undeterred, smokes another in the air through cover, just to the left of Ashton Agar. Might have taken his hand off but it was some chance of a catch had it gone at him. Two boundaries and four dots from the over, interesting battle.
6th over: New Zealand 51-0 (Conway 29, Guptill 22) Riley Meredith is back with pace, but his line to the left-hander isn’t there. On the hip, and Conway can help it away to fine leg with full control this time. Meredith fixes his line but bowls an in-between short ball, and Conway seizes on it immediately, pulling for a flat six. Fierce power on that, all through the timing. This move of Conway up the order has already paid off for NZ in a small chase. He takes a single, and Guptill can’t carry on the charge: a drive to mid on for none, then misses a cut shot at a good fast bouncer. Bold from Meredith, right over middle stump and quick. The sixth ball of the over draws a miscue from Guptill, inside edge the lobs high behind square leg, but Zampa and Stoinis hang back and look at one another as it drops between them. I don’t think either of them could have made that into a catching chance, they were a fair way off. Guptill gets a run.
5th over: New Zealand 39-0 (Conway 18, Guptill 21) Kane Richardson is on to bowl his occasional fast stuff and often slower stuff. A streaky boundary for Conway, who tries to pull and gets some combination of glove and edge down the leg side, too high for the keeper to catch. Gorgeous shot from Guptill, who gets a full wide ball and utterly laces the square drive through cover point for four. I just rewound the stream to watch that shot again.
“Late night effort from Naples,” emails Colum Fordham. “Still feeling a bit shellshocked by England’s demise at the hands of India so thought I’d follow the T20 for a big of light relief. Sounds like New Zealand are committing the same errors as England. Risking inexperienced spin bowlers such as Phillips and Bess is clearly not a good option. Santner fine, Leach to an extent. I know we’re talking different forms of cricket but the basic skill sets still apply. Promises to be a good match.”
4th over: New Zealand 28-0 (Conway 12, Guptill 16) Jhye Richardson with the ball, he bowls fast but probably won’t get swing today. Hits a decent length early, Conway forcing a single to cover point, Guptill unable to score off the next. A grunt from Richardson with an effort ball, following Guptill as he backs away, in at the waist. No room to swing. Next ball Guptill moves inside that line, deflecting it for a run. Richardson bowls similarly to Conway, no room. Three singles from the over.
3rd over: New Zealand 25-0 (Conway 10, Guptill 15) Having a left-hander facing Agar pays off, as he gives a bit too much width to Conway who can cut to the boundary. He turns over the strike to midwicket after that, and Agar has to adjust his line to the right-hander with one ball left in the over. He drops a bit short again, and that gives the tall Guptill room to swing through the line with a straighter bat, sending him over wide long on for six. The over costs 13 runs.
2nd over: New Zealand 12-0 (Conway 4, Guptill 8) Guptill finds the first boundary of the day, flicking Meredith off his pads through square, using the pace. The same pace nearly had Conway caught down at third man just before that shot, with Zampa charging in but the ball fell short.
1st over: New Zealand 5-0 (Conway 3, Guptill 2) Agar opens the bowling with his left-armers, as he did on Friday. NZ let him bowl far too cheaply there. This new opening pair is Guptill and Conway, not Chapman. Left-hander too, is Conway. He and Guptill take five singles from the over.
New Zealand must chase 142-8
An excellent home performance. A big Australian score looked on the cards when Finch and Wade were together at the halfway mark, and still was in the air when Phillips had just bowled a shocker and Stoinis was there at 99 for 3. But the wickets started to fall. Sodhi grabbed three with some dodgy stuff, Boult and Southee finished with two each, and a bonus one for Chapman.
This is a slightly smaller target than the one NZ failed so badly to chase on Friday night, and they’ll get to look at it in sunshine rather than floodlights.
20th over: Australia 142-8 (K. Richardson 2) New Zealand have done really well to stifle Australia’s charge. Two wickets in the final over for Southee, eight runs conceded.
WICKET! J. Richardson c Phillips b Southee 4 (6), Australia 142-8
Last ball of the match, fuller ball, and Jhye has to swing. Gets most of it but gets caught on the midwicket fence.
WICKET! Marsh b Southee 10 (9), Australia 139-7
Talk about a mixed bag! Southee with the final over, and he starts with a leg-side wide. Then a high full toss. It’s a no ball, a free hit, but Marsh has lost strike after pulling it to deep square leg. Richardson can only get some pad on it behind square, but Marsh is backing up so far that he can belt through and get the strike back. Southee misses his line again, this time to the off side, aiming for the wide yorker but drifting too wide.
But after wide, no ball, leg bye, wide, Southee lands the perfect yorker right under Marsh’s toes, and it cleans him up. Bails akimbo. Was not expecting that, he was expecting the wide line again most likely. Late on the shot, trying to muscle it, nowhere near.
19th over: Australia 134-6 (Marsh 9, J. Richardson 3) Boult so nearly gets through the over: four singles and a dot ball, but the exception is the fifth delivery, which is full enough for Marsh to use all his power and deposit over long on for six.
18th over: Australia 124-6 (Marsh 1, J. Richardson 1) A clear tactical error from Sodhi, because he lands the hat-trick ball on the pitch. Mitch Marsh defends it. His batting partner is Jhye Richardson.
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WICKET! Agar c Guptill b Sodhi 6 (7), Australia 122-6
Another one to the full bunger! It’s a high fully, Agar advances and makes it even higher, gets it about stomach height and is cramped for room trying to swing it over midwicket, and Guptill out there for the left-hander takes another.
WICKET! Stoinis c Guptill b Sodhi 26 (26), Australia 122-5
Caught off the filth! A big full toss from Sodhi, and Stoinis isn’t in position. He’s initially opening up his stance to hit leg side, then he sees the length outside his off stump, and ends up coming across the ball and slicing it all the way down to long off where the catch is held. The full toss, his kryptonite this series.
17th over: Australia 122-4 (Stoinis 26, Agar 6) Southee back, Agar smoking him along the ground to cover but again for one. Stoinis lines one up, and... is dropped! Conway at long off gets another that he can’t handle. It goes an absolute mile up in the air, Conway is under it and waiting, then the Wellington wind pushes it just a bit too far back. Suddenly he’s having to arch backwards for it, and it clips his fingers and lands safe. That was the knuckle ball from Southee, floating down and causing the mistimed shot, the same kind of delivery that Boult used to dismiss Wade. Holding one knuckle behind the ball and letting it creep out of the bowling hand.
Stoinis is still there, and he marks that fate by utterly savaging six runs from a length ball over midwicket. Straightish bat, swing.
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16th over: Australia 112-4 (Stoinis 18, Agar 4) Picket fence over for Santner, bowling slow left-arm around the wicket regardless of whether he’s bowling to the lefty or the right-hander. Six singles, however hard they try to hit the ball.
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15th over: Australia 106-4 (Stoinis 15, Agar 1) Ashton Agar gets promoted again, with the hope of having a left-hander who can tackle the spinners late in the match. He’s made two ducks in this series the last two times this has happened. Gets off the mark today with a nudge to leg. Boult goes for four singles from the wicket-taking over.
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WICKET! Wade c Guptill b Boult 44 (29), Australia 103-4
Caught in the deep. Boult comes back and bowls full and straight, Wade wants to punish it over the leg side, but doesn’t time his flick and get it square enough. Instead it lofts straighter, and Guptill can run in from deep midwicket for a low catch that is comfortable enough by his high standards.
14th over: Australia 102-3 (Wade 44, Stoinis 12) “There’s the difference between a specialist and an amateur,” says Mitchell Santner, as he lands an over of left-arm spin perfectly. Three singles, against two hitters of this stature, that’s a massive win. He also has Stoinis dropped, I’d wager, the batsman backing away and trying to cut and there’s a noise as it passes the top edge into Seifert’s gloves and out again.
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13th over: Australia 99-3 (Wade 43, Stoinis 10) Phillips gets another over. Bold from Williamson. And Wade wants a huge piece of him. Can’t time the cut shot well enough and only gets a run. Stoinis gets a low full toss and drills it for four. Nearly caught at long on by Conway, but the ball is going too straight of him and his one-handed dive across can’t get there. From that point Phillips loses his composure, first with a filthy wide that lands in the keeper’s gloves on the full almost off the pitch, then with a high full toss that would also have been a wide had Stoinis not hammered it through backward point for four, beating the sweeper out there. Phillips is trying to bowl outside off stump, giving no room to swing to leg, but he can’t land them. Almost bowls three wides in a row outside off, except that Stoinis goes for one of them and gets an edge that doesn’t quite beat short third inside the circle. Phillips gets lucky on that one, and on a ball so wide that it almost misses the pitch and could have been called a no-ball. Then he gets lucky one more time with his final full toss that Stoinis can only belt to long on for a single. We finish with 13 off the over, and surely that’s the end of the Phillips experiment.
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12th over: Australia 86-3 (Wade 42, Stoinis 1) Wade doesn’t waste any time with responding. Sodhi is turning the ball into the left-hander, so Wade plays the same kind of shot that Maxwell was attempting and nails the slog-sweep for six. Flat again, struck really well, and right over Boult’s head by a couple of metres. Cuts a single, then Stoinis gets a good ball that turns away from his edge, another that he defends, before pushing a run to cover point.
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11th over: Australia 77-3 (Wade 34, Stoinis 0) A huge bonus over for Chapman, three runs from it plus the wicket.
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WICKET! Maxwell c Boult b Chapman 1 (2), Australia 77-3
Had to take some risks with a part-timer bowling, and Maxwell plays the conventional sweep to keep the heart palpitations of the establishment in check. He gets down low to try to get power on the lofted sweep, gets a lot on it, but can’t clear the man on the rope at deep backward square leg.
WICKET! Finch c Santner b Sodhi 36 (32), Australia 74-2
10th over: Australia 74-2 (Wade 32) Cat and mouse over. Finch defends Sodhi off the front foot, then gets a short ball and carves it through cover for four. Tries again but hits backward point in the circle. Opens the face and drives over mid off for four. Nearly caught. Southee at long off runs in but has to make up ground across the field as well, and mistimes his lunge and can’t get hands on the ball. But the fifth delivery he’s camped on the back foot and can’t beat cover with a push, and the sixth ball he squeezes away off the top edge and is caught at backward point.
9th over: Australia 66-1 (Finch 28, Wade 32) Glenn Phillips is getting a bowl, this is interesting. Hasn’t turned the arm over in this format before. He’s a strong boi, got some biceps bulging out of his shirt sleeves as is required to propel the mighty art of... off spin. All the power though comes from Aaron Finch, who gets strike from Wade and doesn’t even wait for one sighter of his own before smashing Phillips over midwicket for six. But Phillips responds well: Finch can’t time his next big attempt, getting one run down the ground, then Wade tries to put one into space and only toes it back to the bowler. Eight from the over, not a disaster for NZ.
8th over: Australia 58-1 (Finch 21, Wade 31) Here’s Ish Sodhi, with 10 wickets in the series so far from his leg-breaks. He’s bagged a couple of cheap ones but has bowled well for the most part, skidding the ball on and aiming straight. Five singles to start things off, nearly yorking Finch with the fourth of them. Wade carves through cover but there’s protection back. Finch gets a leading edge to short cover and can’t get a run.
7th over: Australia 53-1 (Finch 19, Wade 28) Chapman gets a chance early with his left-arm spin, perhaps the Kiwis hoping to sneak through an over while the batsmen adjust to having more boundary riders back. He does so, four singles and a brace, the two runs coming from a top-edged sweep from Wade that evaded the converging catchers behind the wicketkeeper.
6th over: Australia 47-1 (Finch 17, Wade 24) Southee comes back, and again this Australian pair take a few deliveries to have a look before the big shot comes out. Finch plays his favoured lofted drive but angles it to the on-side of straight, and it bounces a literal inch inside the boundary rope for four. Southee throws in a couple of wides to help the scoring along, then finishes the over with a low full toss that Wade pounds flat for six. Gets low and swings it over backward square leg.
NZ in some strife after 47 runs in the fielding restrictions period.
5th over: Australia 32-1 (Finch 11, Wade 17) Trent Boult starts well, a few dots and a leg bye off Finch’s pad. Then he gets away with the widest wide you’ve ever seen spared. A bouncer outside the off stump that must be a couple of feet above Wade’s head height, yet is called as “one for the over” by the umpires. Bizarre decision, from every available camera angle. When Boult pitches up, though, Wade drives him over cover for four.
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4th over: Australia 25-1 (Finch 11, Wade 11) Finch has had enough of patting Santner around, so when he sees some width he drives, holds his pose, and just chips it over cover. No need to swing hard at that with the field up. Four runs. Goes hard at the next one though, stepping down and throwing everything at a cut shot that he has to reach for, and can only smear it to backward point on the bounce. They get a sharp single. That brings Wade onto strike, and he drops to one knee to sweep airborne just square of the catcher at short fine leg for another boundary.
3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Finch 6, Wade 5) A nice option to get off the mark for the left-handed Wade, with a leg-stump half volley that gets whipped away behind square leg for four. Important innings for Wade, you’d think.
WICKET! Philippe lbw Boult 2 (8), Australia 8-1
The change-up doesn’t last long. Philippe goes and Wade will come in early. Boult bowls left-arm over the wicket, very full, swinging in to Philippe just a touch, and the batsman walks across his stumps a long way and then tries to whip square instead of driving straight. Misses, and is hit in front of middle.
2nd over: Australia 8-0 (Philippe 2, Finch 5) Mitchell Santner opening the bowling, interesting one, he was so good the other night with his left-arm spin. Does the job again here, only a single from his opening over, thwacked away in the air by Philippe, before Finch is circumspect against the next three balls.
1st over: Australia 7-0 (Philippe 1, Finch 5) A change in the order, then, with Cruel Intentions’ own Ryan Philippe opening the batting instead of Wade. This is the job that Josh Philippe does for the Sixers in the Big Bash and so he’s getting a chance where he’s most comfortable for this final outing. Apparently Chapman will be opening rather than batting No7 for the Kiwis, too, in place of keeper Tim Seifert.
Tim Southee has the ball, and mostly does a decent job bowling a straight line with some swing, except that he overpitches one ball and lets Finch flick square for four. NZ starting with a long off back in the deep, after Finch relied so much on his straight drive the other night in an awkward innings that came good at the very end.
Here’s a reader email to start us off from Tane Aikman. “Hello from a beautiful if rather chill Wellington. It’s going to be so good to have a crowd in again. Hopefully they’ll lift the Black Caps after two dire showings with the bat. This is a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in India: high stakes, spinning wicket. Time for Kane to take command and for someone other than him to show they can prosper on a turning track. As always, looking forward to your comments.”
Great news that the alert level has been relaxed in Wellington, and some spectators will be back. Tell them to stay out of the way of Glenn Maxwell after he put a hole in the furniture the other night.
Teams
No changes for Australia, same team as last time. New Zealand have dropped Kyle Jamieson, who has had a really poor series with the ball after being picked up for a big price at the IPL auction. Instead they’ve brought in Mark Chapman, who is a diminutive batsman with some more part-timey kind of spin compared to the giant fast bowling frame of Jamieson. Interesting. That likely means that Jimmy Neesham will shoulder more bowling responsibility today, having been taken for 28 from an over by Glenn Maxwell the other night.
Australia
Aaron Finch *
Matthew Wade +
Josh Philippe
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Ashton Agar
Mitchell Marsh
Jhye Richardson
Kane Richardson
Adam Zampa
Riley Meredith
New Zealand
Martin Guptill
Tim Seifert +
Kane Williamson *
Devon Conway
Glenn Phillips
Mark Chapman
James Neesham
Mitchell Santner
Tim Southee
Ish Sodhi
Trent Boult
Australia win the toss and will bat
The coin falls in favour of Aaron Finch. That’s a big advantage first up, even just in terms of being the team that feels most comfortable with the requirements of the game ahead.
Preamble
It’s decider time. The fifth and final match of this T20 contest. What a strange series it has been. For the first two matches, New Zealand were cruising and Australia were total pants. Then the next two New Zealand were pants and Australia looked great. We started with two big New Zealand totals and two poor Australian chases, even if the second one did have a Hail Mary partnership that got Australia close. Then we moved to Wellington for two Australian targets and two flaccid Kiwi chases.
Now we’re stuck in Wellington because of covid restrictions and no crowd is allowed into the ground. So the players will have to make their own atmosphere. This will be a day game rather than the day-nighter variety of the previous two matches. Perhaps that will make chasing easier. But you’d think that whoever wins the toss will bat first.
We’ve seen a range of good performances from players on both teams: Guptill, Conway, Neesham, Finch, Philippe, Maxwell and Stoinis with the bat; Agar, Meredith, Boult, Santner, Zampa with the ball. Hopefully we’re in for a final contest worthy of finishing off this series, tilting it from 2-2.
