That was a fun day. Swings of fortune, some periods of grind, some flashes of freedom. This series will come down to a decider on Thursday, and we’ll have coverage with Emma Kemp. Thanks for your company today.
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Amy Satterthwaite is the stand-in captain. “I felt a bit rusty to begin with, you’re having to think all the time. I spoke about it before the game, said that if everyone executed their role then we’d be in a good position, and everybody did that. We fielded outstanding, all the bowlers did their job. I said before batting that I wanted us to try to get ahead of the rate, and that didn’t happen. But the way that Frankie Mackay stuck in and got us ahead there was important. Opening the batting and opening the bowling, it was a big day for her, but she was brilliant. Stepped up to the challenge and took it with both hands. I’ll take a French cut any day of the week. We’ve lost a game to Australia in that fashion, so we’ll take a win.”
Meg Lanning says she always thought they were a bit light for runs, though she was confident their bowlers were a decent chance to compete. Bringing the game to the final ball shows that they did. “We felt like we needed to take wickets to stay in the contest, so it was a matter of balancing that with the run rate. That last ball, I don’t think there was too much wrong with it, but that’s the way it goes.”
Frankie Mackay is player of the match. Opened the batting and the bowling. “It’s a little bit tender, to be honest, but you’d take all the pain in the world to get a win like that. I shocked myself and my teammates as well to see those shots go over the rope. Sometimes when the heart rate’s going a bit, you have to take a deep breath and look around and think, this is why we do it.”
New Zealand win by four wickets
A win to savour for the New Zealand women. They got bossed around by England recently, and before that they toured Australia and got bossed around there. They lost the first T20 match after having a decent chance to win it, and there were several points today where it looked like they should win, only for Australia to push ahead again. Coming down to the last couple of overs, it was a scramble, it was anything but clinical, but it was probably all the more enjoyable for that.
Hannah Rowe was terrific at the end. Talk about modest records: she’d hit one boundary in T20 cricket for New Zealand before today. She hit two in this innings, when they really mattered, off Megan Schutt at the end. I wondered whether Schutt was too consistent in that final over, bowling the same kind of delivery over and over. By the end, Rowe was able to line that up.
Maddy Green then found the boundary twice in the final over, and that was enough. 21 from the last two overs was no small demand!
The fact that they got close enough for that final rally though, you can put down to Frankie Mackay. She started clunkily, a bit hampered by a leg injury, and it got worse as the innings progressed. But she got the scoring going, whacking a couple of sixes and raising spirits with the run rate. Her 46 off 39 changed the dynamic, and Amelia Kerr’s 36 off 33 held things together through the middle.
And the fact that a gettable chase was there to be got comes down to NZ’s bowling effort. They were so good all day, forcing Australia to hit to the boundary riders, hit to the infield, and so keeping the scoring down. Keeping a team like Australia to 6.5 runs per over throughout is impressive, but doing it without bowling them out is more so.
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20th over: NZ 131-6 (Green 16, Rowe 14) New Zealand win the match in the most entertaining of fashions. The ball is good, full and straight. Green gives herself room, tries a huge swing to the leg side. Angled bat. Inside edge. Past leg stump, beats the short fine, and races for four. Carey sinks to the ground. Lanning hides her face in her hands. Green is laughing, laughing, before she has even crossed for a run, halfway down the pitch and unable to believe her good luck. Swing hard and hope, that’s about as refined as it gets in that situation. And on this occasion, hope has delivered.
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19.6 overs: INSIDE EDGE FOR FOUR!
19.5 overs: One run! Bottom edge from Rowe as she tries to go leg side. The ball lands at her feet. Green was backing up halfway down the pitch, and gets on strike. Three runs to win, two runs to tie and bring a Super Over.
19.4 overs: Long conference between Lanning and Carey. Long on is back. Long off is back. It’s going to be full. Dot ball! Swing away from the bat and it beats the edge.
19.3 overs: One run. Green squeezes it back past the bowler this time. Rowe on strike. 4 runs from 3 balls required.
19.2 overs: dot ball! Almost a run out at the non-striker’s end, as Green hits back to Carey, and Rowe dives for her ground.
19.1 overs: Maddy Green on strike. Can hit long. Nicola Carey bowling. Skiddy pace. In at the stumps. Green hits it for four! Through cover, on the walk, along the ground, hits the gap.
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19th over: NZ 121-6 (Green 7, Rowe 13) No second hat-trick in this format for Megan Schutt, as Rowe drives the relevant ball down the ground for a single. Wants the second but it isn’t there. Green tries to muscle a ball straight but again can only get one. Schutt errs to the leg side, but Rowe trying to sweep gets pad on the ball! Saves Schutt at least one wide, maybe five of them. Similar line next ball, but Rowe stands up tall this time, clears her front toe, and shovels four runs through long leg! Good shot. Plays to midwicket next ball, and races back for the second as Schutt keeps aiming at the batter’s boots. Same ball from Schutt to end the over, and by now Rowe has lined her up! Middles it, down on one knee, between the leg-side sweepers at midwicket for four.
NZ need 9 from the final over!
18th over: NZ 109-6 (Green 6, Rowe 1) Maddy Green can hit big, and she finds a boundary here. Takes guard on off stump against Jonassen, steps outside and plays a standing sweep behind square leg. Hits another one nicely but straight to deep midwicket. NZ need 21 from the last two overs.
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17th over: NZ 101-6 (Green 0) Just shows you how good this Australian team is. Games that they shouldn’t be in, they find ways to stay in. They’re in the box seat now.
WICKET! Kerr b Schutt 36 (33), NZ 101-6
Two in two balls! Schutt on a hat-trick to end her third over. Swings the ball in, floating up at the stumps. Kerr advances, but doesn’t know what to do with the full length. Yorks herself, really, in the end. Prods at the ball, misses, and it hits middle stump.
WICKET! Halliday c Healy b Schutt 1 (2), NZ 101-5
The left-handed Halliday starts off facing Schutt, who comes around the wicket. Halliday shovels a run to long on. Back over the wicket to the right-handed Kerr, who is strong off her pads. Digs out a dot, then whips a ball wide of long-on. Halliday calls for two and runs to the danger end, making it. Kerr back on strike, slashes at width, hits it well but it gets knocked down at point. One run rather than four. Which brings Halliday back on strike for a big swing to leg, an outside edge that goes up high and comes down at short cover, where Healy has arrived from behind the stumps to catch. Again a wicket from the fifth ball, and the task gets harder for New Zealand.
16th over: NZ 97-4 (A Kerr 33, Halliday 0) Brooke Halliday batted well in her brief chance the other night. Kerr has strike for the final ball of the over after crossing before the catch was taken. Wareham lands it beautifully, yorking Kerr and denying her the chance to score.
NZ need 33 from 24.
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WICKET! Martin c Carey b Wareham 5 (11), NZ 97-4
Wareham’s final over. Kerr comes down the wicket at her fellow leg-spinner and cleans her out over midwicket. Four runs, first ball of the over. Wareham comes back with a couple of dots, swinging but not timing them. Sweeps a single, brings Martin on strike, and the Kiwi keeper tries to go large straight down the ground, but miscues it high. Carey at mid on waits under it and claims the high ball. Had to go for the boundaries, Martin, but soaked up a few too many deliveries before getting out.
15th over: NZ 92-3 (A Kerr 28, Martin 5) A bit more productive for New Zealand, five singles against Jonassen as they work the spin around. They need 38 from the final five overs.
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14th over: NZ 87-3 (A Kerr 25, Martin 3) Parry and thrust. A fine over from Wareham, two runs off it, including Martin skying a ball that landed safely between mid off and cover after she tried to go over the top.
13th over: NZ 85-3 (A Kerr 24, Martin 2) Katey Martin in next, the busy wicketkeeper-bat. Can be very useful in these situations. Jonassen bowls the 13th, giving up only four singles as the batters find the field.
NZ need 45 from 42 balls. Frankie has closed that gap for them. Theirs to lose from here.
WICKET! Mackay c Mooney b Brown 46 (39), NZ 81-3
12th over: NZ 81-3 (A Kerr 22) Darcie Brown is back. Ten runs from her three overs so far, and Lanning hopes she can tangle up Frankie. But she’s bowling to Kerr first. and Kerr cuts beautifully for four! Shot! Not far from Haynes at backward point, but on the bounce even had it gone to her. It flies wide and away to the rope. Feeling good, Kerr charges the fastest bowler in the Australian side but misses. Stays at home for the next ball, short again, cut again, but this time Haynes on the dive gets a hand to it and keeps the scoring to a run. Frankie on strike. Nails it for four! Through midwicket along the ground, a lot of bottom hand as she whips this ball away, coming across the line. Brown responds, bangs in her bouncer so hard that it clears Mackay by about the height of another Mackay. She’s not bothered. Gets on the front dog next ball, sinks down onto one knee, and crashes the slog-sweep for six! Over deep mid. And after a brilliant over for New Zealand, with 16 runs coming, it comes to an end. Short and width again, Frankie nails the cut shot, but doesn’t get the placement. Fast to Mooney at point, who juggles the catch but manages to claim it on the second attempt while falling to ground.
What an innings from Frankie Mackay though. Applause all round. And let’s not forget, the first international wicket for Darcie Brown.
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11th over: NZ 65-2 (Mackay 36, A Kerr 17) Two shots a minute from Frankie. Tries the reverse lap shot against Carey, aiming to go through deep third, but missing. Utterly nails a pull shot next ball but it goes one bounce to the deep midwicket sweeper. Carey goes leg side to Kerr, would have been a wide but Kerr catches it with some glove and picks up four! Very fine behind the keeper.
65 to win from 54 balls.
10th over: NZ 58-2 (Mackay 35, A Kerr 11) Another big swing for Mackay along the ground to backward square, one run. Kerr charges Wareham, who bowls shorter, and Kerr adjusts well, opening the face to run the ball to backward point. Haynes and Mooney crash into one another! The ball escapes between them into the deep for two runs, the cover sweeper tracking around. Fortune smiles on New Zealand, and again when Mackay backs up too far, Healy throws at the non-striker’s stumps, and Mackay has got back in time and then is able to run an overthrow. Which gives her the strike, and the chance to come down the wicket and whack Wareham for six. Over deep midwicket and into the hospitality area at the ground in Napier.
11 from the over. NZ need 73 from 60.
9th over: NZ 47-2 (Mackay 27, A Kerr 7) Jess Jonassen bowls left-arm orthodox and takes wickets against New Zealand for fun. Mackay flicks the first ball off her pads and takes a second run to deep backward square, and that hurts her. She’s already favouring a hamstring, it looks like, and she also rolls her ankle a bit on the second run. Tries a reverse sweep next ball and misses. Then she nails a solid pull shot, but straight to deep midwicket. Takes the run, Kerr cuts one to cover, Mackay tries a huge sweep shot and misses. So it’s big shots only now for Mackay. Another one to end the over, but again finds the leg side sweeper. The doctor comes out at the end of the over, but Frankie says relax. She’ll keep swinging.
NZ need 84 from 66.
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8th over: NZ 41-2 (Mackay 23, A Kerr 6) Georgia Wareham on, and the Kiwis tackle her immediately. Mackay advances and drives a run. Kerr gets low and sweeps a boundary, then takes a run to mid on, hit well enough to draw a misfield. Deep square leg is back now, so Mackay’s sweep only yields one run. But seven from the over, and that helps.
New Zealand need 89 from 72 balls.
7th over: NZ 34-2 (Mackay 21, A Kerr 1) Amelia Kerr to the middle. Mackay was really put up top as a pinch-hitter but she’s still there, and now probably has to try to bat long. After trading a couple of singles she finds her first boundary, dipping her knees to pull Carey hard and flat behind square. Then a dicey single to end the over, taking on the throw from Haynes that misses as Mackay labours to the non-striker’s end. Apparently she’s dealing with an injury niggle, she certainly looks hampered on those fast runs.
WICKET! Satterthwaite c Mooney b Carey 6 (6), NZ 27-2
Oh dear. First ball after the Powerplay, Nicola Carey bowling her medium pace, at the pads of Satterthwaite who plays the pick-up shot nicely. Times it, hits it aerially. But there’s a deep midwicket and it lands straight in her hands. Looked like she wanted to go a bit squarer with that.
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6th over: NZ 27-1 (Mackay 15, Satterthwaite 6) The uppercut again from Mackay facing Brown, and it lands not far short of Schutt at deep third. Satterthwaite backs away and glides a run to that same region. But when Brown goes in at the body, it tucks up Mackay and she can’t score. Nor off the yorker that follows. She’s faced 19 balls for 13 now, wants to get away. Times her next shot better off her pads, through square leg for two runs.
The Powerplay overs have cost Australia 4, 2, 8, 3, 5 and 5. A triumph.
5th over: NZ 22-1 (Mackay 12, Satterthwaite 5) Mackay is a busy player but the one bowler she doesn’t know how to handle is Schutt. That inswing confounds Mackay, she falls over her front leg trying to move across to it, consistently. Four dot balls as she gropes about, before managing to jab a single square on the leg side. Satterthwaite rescues the over for NZ as Schutt doesn’t correct her line to the left-hander, letting the batter leg-glance a four.
4th over: NZ 17-1 (Mackay 11, Satterthwaite 1) Darcie Brown continues as she left off. Quick, at the body, sometimes outside the off stump. The batters fend a couple of singles and then Frankie uppercuts a run stylishly. Another tidy one, three runs from the over.
WICKET! Jensen c Lanning b Perry 3 (12), NZ 14-1
3rd over: NZ 14-1 (Mackay 9) Ellyse Perry to have a bowl. She didn’t do so in the first match, only batted at the end of the innings. Starts with a rusty effort, on the leg stump and Mackay gloves it through fine leg for four. The batter whacks a single to mid on, and that’s also a no-ball for the overstep, says the third umpire. Jensen swings herself off her feet at the free hit, backing away and missing completely. Gets a single to cover off a midfield, then Mackay continues The Frankie Show by scooping over fine leg. But it’s saved, yielding only a single, and that brings Jensen on strike for the sixth ball. She tries to clear mid off and instead slices it straight to Lanning at cover. That’s what I was referring to with Jensen: 3 from 12 is not what you need from an opener, who seldom looked like she had a clear idea about where to score.
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2nd over: NZ 6-0 (Mackay 3, Jensen 2) Darcie Brown on to bowl on her debut. She turned 18 a couple of weeks ago and now she’s playing for Australia. Was a revelation in the most recent Big Bash edition, especially to left-handers, swinging the ball at pace into the stumps. She’s topping 120 kph in her first over here, some shape on the ball, backed up by a strong off side field. And closes the over with a bouncer! A beauty too, zipping up at Jensen’s lid while a flailing pull shot was nowhere near making contact and then turned into a half-duck. Wheels!
1st over: NZ 4-0 (Mackay 2, Jensen 1) Right then. Hayley Jensen and Frankie Mackay opening the batting, which you have to say is a fairly makeshift combination. Frankie batted briefly and entertainingly in the final over at No8 in the previous match, and Jensen is a career No8 (spiritually at least) who has recently been bumped up as a pinch hitter. They have Megan Schutt swinging the ball into their pads, and can only manage a few singles and leg byes.
New Zealand must chase 130 to win
Excellent display from New Zealand: they didn’t run through the Australian batting, but actually that makes it more impressive to have kept them to 129. Mooney batted through the innings but could only collect 61 off 54 balls, never got to break the game open. Nor could anybody at the other end start to tee off to complement her innings.
Mackay and Satterthwaite went at less than six per over with their bowling, Amelia Kerr and Mair at less than 7, and Jess Kerr at 7. Only two overs from Rowe went at 8 per over. One six in the innings, and 11 fours. Only five boundaries in the last ten overs. That’s a comprehensive win for the bowlers, who managed to get Australia’s batters to hit to their field time and time again.
20th over: Australia 129-4 (Mooney 61, Perry 2) Hannah Rowe down the ground has had a lot of work to do. Mooney slams a drive off Mair, but Rowe saves two runs on the rope. The next ball goes straight to Rowe for one run. The Australians just can’t find that fence! A couple of low full tosses, but only singles. A yorker from Mair lands right, and another single. A couple of pings at the stumps, no direct hits. And a yorker to finish it off, one run to the circle. That’s brilliant bowling and fielding right at the end. Seven runs from the final over.
19th over: Australia 122-4 (Mooney 56) Two wickets from the over for Mackay, who finishes with 2 for 20 from four overs. Fabulous bowling.
WICKET! Gardner c Martin b Mackay 3 (3), Australia 122-4
Ten balls remaining in the innings as Gardner comes to the crease. Smart bowling by Mackay to go in at the pads, and Gardner can only tug away a single. In at the toes of Mooney, and she can also only take one run. Two balls left in the over. Gardner backs away to drive over cover, but it gets saved on the rope and only costs two. And the last of the over, Gardner does what she has to do: steps across, clears the front leg, aims high, but doesn’t get any distance along with that height. Caught by the wicketkeeper after a detour 40 metres into the air.
WICKET! Haynes c J. Kerr b Mackay 29 (25), Australia 118-3
Frankie Mackay to bowl the 19th. Very interesting watching New Zealand rely on off-spin so much when Gardner, so dangerous against spin, is still sitting on the bench waiting to come in.
She’ll get a belated chance now, though! Second ball of the over, Haynes backs away outside her leg stump and slashes to backward point. Simple catch, Kerr on her knees to claim it.
18th over: Australia 116-2 (Mooney 55, Haynes 27) Satterthwaite continues, bowling really well: around the wicket and drifting it in at the feet of the left-handers. A single, a couple of dots, a single. Nearly a run out at the non-striker’s end as Mooney hits the ball back at Satterthwaite, who grabs it and flicks at the stumps while Haynes was backing up. One boundary for Haynes down the ground when the length isn’t quite full enough to stop her getting under the shot, but only three singles besides. Seven runs from the 18th over is a definite win.
17th over: Australia 109-2 (Mooney 54, Haynes 21) Amelia Kerr with her leg-spin, and finally Haynes does break free. Uses her feet and drives over extra cover, a nicely timed shot for four. Predictably Kerr drops shorter, so Haynes plays a savage back cut, and the dive at backward point can’t stop it. There are also two run out chances in the over, Mooney still belting those singles, and twice there’s no direct hit that could have created a wicket. Haynes gets 10 off the over. Three overs to go. NZ have to keep the Australians restrained.
Half century! Beth Mooney 50 from 44 balls
16th over: Australia 98-2 (Mooney 53, Haynes 11) The milestone up for Mooney with a single from Jess Kerr first ball, but she’s scored at a sedate strike rate by her standards. Both batters are looking for big shots this over but they can’t time anything. Six runs from the over, mostly singles dragged to the field.
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15th over: Australia 92-2 (Mooney 49, Haynes 9) Amy Satterthwaite bowling her off-breaks now. This is interesting, she barely bowls for New Zealand any more. By my count... 9 overs in all formats since 2017. The ball comes out pretty nicely though, some flight, pitching on a length, two singles and a brace from the over. Four runs from the 15th is a real win.
14th over: Australia 88-2 (Mooney 48, Haynes 6) Mooney drags across the line at Mair, straight to midwicket and no run. Then gets a dipping full toss that Mooney slams wide of mid off, Satterthwaite lunging across with one hand and just getting fingertips to it. Two runs, then she scorches a square drive but there’s a deep point in place, so only one run. Haynes can’t beat Newtwon at backward point with a steering shot, Newton has been a point of energy in the field. Mair slips down the leg side for a wide. It’s only the third extra of the innings, after a couple of leg byes. Good discipline after NZ bowled a number of wides the other night. Last ball of the over, Mooney walks across and plays the ramp shot for four. From outside off stump, took it off a length, no fine leg in place.
13th over: Australia 79-2 (Mooney 41, Haynes 5) A sweep shot for two from Haynes against Amelia Kerr, after which a short fine leg is brought into place. Kerr keeps things tight, a couple of dot balls, and Mooney again trying to loft over long on. Just gets one run as she doesn’t get hold of it.
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12th over: Australia 74-2 (Mooney 39, Haynes 2) Mooney is still helter skelter: charging Mackay to defend, then to try lofting a big one and miscuing over mid off for two runs, then to drive a single. Haynes scoops a couple of runs, then lumps a sweep shot straight to short fine, after which Mooney wants another sharp single and gets turned back.
11th over: Australia 69-2 (Mooney 36, Haynes 0) Well, it had been a good over for Australia up until that wicket. Rowe was driven through cover by Mooney, though a good save from Jensen kept the scoring to two. Then a bad ball from Rowe sat up on the leg stump and Lanning clouted a pull shot along the ground for four. But things come undone from the fifth ball, and then on the sixth Haynes steers straight to backward point and again Mooney tries to pinch a single, having to turn back to the non-striker’s end and nearly running herself out this time. She’s got some bees buzzing in her head just now.
WICKET! Lanning run out 27 (25), Australia 69 for 2
A Tuesday barbecue! What was the thinking there? Mooney drives Hannah Rowe hard and straight to cover – and sets off for the run anyway. Lanning honours the call but she wasn’t expecting it, and she’s a bit slower to respond. She needs a bad throw, but Jess Kerr collects cleanly and fires straight into Katey Martin’s gloves, and the wicketkeeper does the rest. Umpire doesn’t even bother going to the replay.
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10th over: Australia 61-1 (Mooney 33, Lanning 22) Frankie Mackay is back, off-spin around the wicket to the left-hander to start, but Mooney gets a single immediately. Over the wicket to Lanning, who checks a push into the cover gap for one. Flight to Mooney, who advances and drives square. Tamsyn Newton pursues it back to the rope, slides and flicks back to Amelia Kerr who is backing her up. Three runs. Mackay drops short but Lanning has uncharacteristically missed out on a few opportunities behind point, and she whacks another one that gets saved well by a diving Mair. Big wingspan on that fielder. Then a slight chance at midwicket as Lanning flicks over Amelia Kerr, who perhaps fingertips the ball as she leaps for the catch. Two more streaky runs. But this Australian pair is still there.
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9th over: Australia 54-1 (Mooney 29, Lanning 19) A good over from Amelia Kerr, five runs from it, having tied down Lanning through the middle of the over. Only singles pushed around the field, then two runs as Lanning pulls the sixth ball. The googly pitching too short again.
8th over: Australia 49-1 (Mooney 27, Lanning 16) The Kerr sisters bowling in tandem now, with Jess coming back. Lanning tries to do what Healy failed to do, and Lanning succeeds, opening the face and driving over cover, deliberately lofted. Rotates the strike, then Mooney picks up a slower ball and just whacks it off a length over midwicket. Four more. 11 from the over with a leg bye and another single for Mooney to backward point.
7th over: Australia 38-1 (Mooney 22, Lanning 11) The fielding restrictions come to an end, and Amelia Kerr comes into the match. The Australians went after her the other night, Gardner especially, and hit her out of the attack. Very rare that you would see A. Kerr, the best bowler for NZ by a mile, not complete her four overs in a T20. She did get Lanning out caught in the deep, but a lot of her leg-breaks flew into the deep without being caught. No big shots this time: Mooney drives a single, Lanning back-cuts a couple of runs to deep third, then they take a couple more singles. Lanning using her feet early, converting balls into low full tosses. So she gets a short ball from the sixth of the over, Kerr trying a wrong ‘un but bowling it short and wide, and gets away with it as Lanning cuts straight to the backward point fielder.
6th over: Australia 33-1 (Mooney 20, Lanning 8) Difficult to time the ball early for Lanning, who keeps trying to go over the off side against Hannah Rowe’s seamers. Skews a ball high over point for two runs, lucky not to be caught, misses another couple of attempts. But the one time she goes leg side, she gets the timing there. The ball is a bit fuller, and Lanning clubs it high down the ground over the rope. The two, the six, and four dots from the over.
5th over: Australia 25-1 (Mooney 20, Lanning 0) Mooney again picks up a boundary from that straight ball from Mair, first of the over, but Mair bowls really well after a single gets Lanning on strike. Full and straight, yorks the Aussie captain twice, who just keeps the ball out. No further scores bar a leg bye as Katey Martin goes tumbling down the leg side and does an awkward sideways roll that bends her neck. “I don’t need a chiropractor anymore after that,” she says on the player mic.
4th over: Australia 19-1 (Mooney 15, Lanning 0) The captain Meg Lanning to the crease for the final ball of the fourth over. Defends.
WICKET! Healy c Martin b J. Kerr 4 (11), Australia 19-1
Another good piece of fielding to start the over, this time Newton is able to offset her previous miss with a diving stop at backward point after Mooney steers the ball looking for the boundary at deep third. They take a run, and Healy pushes at Jess Kerr’s delivery outside off and misses. Rare that you see the Aussie keeper-opener start this slowly: by now she’s usually either on 20 or she’s out. She backs away to leg his time, wanting to make room but making too much in the end. And from the fifth ball of the over – I swear I wrote the above lines before this happened – Healy swings big at a fuller swinging ball, looking to go over cover, and she’s brilliantly caught behind! Katey Martin standing up to the stumps takes a rebound catch. The thick edge, hits her gloves and out before she has time to think, but she’s able to knock the rebound in front of her body, and from there can dive forward to snare the second chance.
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3rd over: Australia 17-0 (Healy 3, Mooney 14) Healy wants to get going. Advances at Mair, strikes the ball nicely to the on side of straight, but a top diving save from Hannah Rowe prevents a boundary. They take a run. Mair hits a really nice length to Mooney, twice moving the ball away from the lefty off the seam and beating the edge. Too straight from the final ball though, and Mooney flicks through long leg for four, beating Newton’s sliding attempted save.
2nd over: Australia 12-0 (Healy 2, Mooney 10) Jess Kerr from the other end, and she was the standout the other night. She bowls right-arm swing, generally comes over the wicket, starts the ball wide, and swerves it into the right-hander, away from the left. That’s how she got the left-handed Mooney first ball the other night, swinging across and caught at slip. But Kerr’s first ball today is a bit straight, so Mooney can drive a single off her stumps to the leg side. Healy tries a big pull shot off a shorter ball, and just gets enough of a top edge to have it carry over midwicket in the circle. One lucky run. Mooney back on strike. Doesn’t want to be a sitting duck when Kerr gets her length right, so Mooney advances to change the length. Smart move, and it gets her a fuller length to drive through cover for four! Top shot, beating the field along the ground. Kerr comes around the wicket in response, to see whether she can bring her catching cordon into play with a touch of outswing, while also bringing lbw into play with the straight ball. But she drops too short again to end the over, and Mooney pulls for four. She’s such a classy player along the ground. Doesn’t hit many sixes, but doesn’t need to: she hits more fours more consistently than anyone in the game.
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1st over: Australia 2-0 (Healy 1, Mooney 1) Away we go. Frankie Mackay will open the bowling and open the batting today, in the absence of Devine. The only word thus far is that she’s sick, rather than injured. Wishing her all the best. Mackay bowls off-spin, and she got Healy out in the first over the other night. So Healy is watchful starting the match today, taking four balls to push a single along the ground through cover. Mooney adds another. No aerial shots, no advancing down the wicket.
Teams
Sophie Devine isn’t playing today, I’m just looking for information on what is presumably an injury absence for the captain. So a change-up to the NZ team at the top of the order, and the inclusion of Thamsyn Newton. For Australia, teenage speedster Darcie Brown will make her debut, which is exciting. Tayla Vlaeminck is being rotated out of the side to help her return from long-term foot fractures.
Australia
Beth Mooney
Alyssa Healy +
Meg Lanning *
Rachael Haynes
Ashleigh Gardner
Ellyse Perry
Nicola Carey
Georgia Wareham
Jess Jonassen
Megan Schutt
Darcie Brown
New Zealand
Frankie Mackay
Hayley Jensen
Amy Satterthwaite *
Amelia Kerr
Katey Martin +
Maddy Green
Brooke Halliday
Hannah Rowe
Thamsyn Newton
Jess Kerr
Rosemary Mair
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New Zealand win the toss and choose to bowl
The coin falls Amy Satterthwaite’s way this time around, after Lanning got to choose to chase in the first match. Generally that’s the preferred method for teams in T20 these days: know what you’re chasing. Especially in a day match where floodlights and dew won’t change the batting conditions in the second innings.
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Preamble
It’s that time: Game 2 of the T20 series between Australia and New Zealand. The first match was one that twisted and turned, with the Kiwis battling through the first half, getting on top when they bowled, then being swept aside by a powerful innings from Ashleigh Gardner. You don’t get this Australian team four wickets down for not many every day, so they might be left ruing that missed opportunity. The Aussies will presumably be better for the run after having spent two weeks in hotel quarantine. So will they come out firing today? Or can the home team get their act together after a poor home season thus far, having previously been comfortably beaten across two formats by England?
