The Aussies go up for their medals, pursued by garlands of praise from Harsha Bhogle. The last man in is Aaron Finch, who then gives his interview. “This is huge,” he says, before giving some quickfire lines on his star players. Warner? “Outstanding. Can’t believe people wrote him off a couple of weeks ago. Almost like poking the bear.” Zampa? “Player of the tournament. Got big wickets, yeah, super player.” Marsh? “Put so much pressure on New Zealand, the way he came out and played.”
The trophy is handed over, the tickertape goes off, the fireworks join in, and the Aussies do a mass man-hug which turns into a mass pogo. They are the champions. They peaked at the right time.
Thanks for your company and correspondence, and we’ll be back for the Ashes, in less than a month’s time, on 8 December.
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Kane Williamson is giving an interview. Affable as ever, he says Australia are “a fantastic team” who have had “a brilliant campaign”. It was “nice to get a competitive total and build some partnerships... the guys showed a lot of heart.”
The Player of the Tournament
... is David Warner, who finishes second among the leading run-makers, behind only Babar Azam. Asked if he was pumped today, he says: “I’m always pumped”.
Just as Jimmy Neesham quietly took his revenge on England in the semi, so did Warner on Williamson in the final. It was Williamson who replaced him as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the middle of the IPL season, and who then dropped him from the XI. Warner, all smiles now, doesn’t mention this, but it’s quite a sub-plot.
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Marsh "just wanted to have a presence"
Time for the presentations, which begin with the umpires. The only Englishman in the match, Richard Kettleborough, strides forward to collect his medal.
The player of the match is, inevitably, Mitch Marsh, for his 77 not out off 50 balls. “I don’t really have words,” he says. “I’ve just loved playing my role for this team.” Asked about hitting his first ball for six, he says: “Not a lot of thinking went into that. I just wanted to have a presence.” He’s so understated, he could be a Kiwi.
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Jos Buttler has to share a flight with this lot
Mike Atherton points out that England’s all-format players are still in Dubai, and, for reasons of quarantine, they’re booked on the same flight out as the Aussies. Ouch.
The Book of Heroic Failures
There was once a bestseller called The Book of Heroic Failures. If it was still around, Kane Williamson would go straight into it. He made only seven off his first 13 balls on a pitch so dry that the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat and even Martin Guptill, a master-blaster, was reduced to mediocrity. From that point on, Williamson was a man possessed. Off his next 35 balls, he made 78. He abandoned his natural orthodoxy and gave us some wonderful improv. And it still wasn’t enough.
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Now it’s the turn of Justin Langer, Australia’s coach. He says Mitch Marsh was one of the missing pieces in the jigsaw, Hazlewood has been sublime, and Zampa is “a little hippie”. For some reason, Langer doesn’t mention that between they have saved his job.
If you feel like reading the story of the whole game, here’s a snap match report, with Simon Burnton’s piece to follow.
The interviewees are coming two by two. Zampa appears with Glenn Maxwell. “Been in bubbles for nearly two years now,” Zampa says, acknowledging the role played by the backroom staff.
Josh Hazlewood teams up with Steve Smith, who salutes Marsh and Warner – “really proud of those boys”.
Zampa "our best bowler"
Now there’s another double act giving an interview, Pat Cummins (who was good) and Mitch Starc (who was hopeless). They’re generous in their praise for Adam Zampa. “He’s been our best bowler by far with a white ball,” says Cummins, or possibly Starc – the cameras have gone off to show us other members of the winning squad, cavorting around, demonstrating their love.
The Aussies actually love each other
Wade and Stoinis are giving an interview, in their capacity as the stars of the semi-final who were barely needed tonight. “We actually love each other,” says Marcus Stoinis. “It’s beautiful.”
How did Australia do that?
They were awful against England, but they pulled themselves together. They won every toss after that, and became masters of the chase – never letting the target get too big, as Warner found his form again after what could have been a career-ending IPL. Steve Smith wasn’t even needed today: Mitch Marsh did his job for him.
Mitch Marsh, this is your moment
Fireworks are going off, the Aussie players are staging a pitch invasion, and Mitch Marsh is in tears, sinking to his knees. His innings was so good, it was almost as good as Kane Williamson’s.
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Australia win with seven balls to spare!
19th over: Australia 173-2 (Marsh 77, Maxwell 28) Another mis-hit, another near miss: Southee’s slower ball is pulled straight by Marsh, and Neesham can’t quite reach it with his dive from long-off. A single, and now Australia can do it with one big hit. Two small blonde girls in yellow shorts hold ‘6’ signs hopefully. Maxwell fancies it but can only heave a single to deep midwicket. A single to Marsh too, so Maxwell can finish it with a four– and does! With a reverse flap!
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18th over: Australia 162-2 (Marsh 71, Maxwell 23) Boult finishes with 2-18 and his head held high. Milne returns, and there’s yet another near-miss as Maxwell flat-bats a cut about 18 inches short of the man at mid-off. Just three singles off the over, but the Aussies can afford it: they need 11 off the last 12 balls.
“Afternoon Tim,” says Kim Thonger. “This seems to be turning into an episode of Squid Game. When do the coffin bearers walk out to the middle?”
17th over: Australia 159-2 (Marsh 69, Maxwell 22) Boult comes back too, but now even he goes for four as Marsh finds the gap, yet again, at midwicket. The partnership reaches 50 off 26 balls. Maxwell bumps into Boult, who just smiles. Last ball of his spell, Boult persuades Marsh to offer a return catch – which he drops. Oh dear. Halfway through the over, Marsh sent for a new bat, as if unaware that the only way to make this finale exciting would be for him to have no bat.
“Assuming NZ lose this,” says Peter Salmon, “is there anywhere I can put good money on a newspaper feature before the next World Cup in any format, with a close-up pic of Kane Williamson, and the headline No More Mr Nice Guy?”
16th over: Australia 149-2 (Marsh 61, Maxwell 21) Southee returns as Williamson accepts that there’s no point keeping his best bowlers up his sleeve now. And Maxwell gets an inside edge for four more! Even the luck is with the Aussies. Then, with judgment rather than luck, he plays a lovely late pull for six. Poor old Williamson: he’s going to finish on the losing side after playing one of the all-time great innings. Australia need only 24 from 24 balls. And these two have added 42 from 22.
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15th over: Australia 136-2 (Marsh 61, Maxwell 10) Williamson has one over of Boult up his sleeve (3-0-8-2), but he wants to keep it there, so he summons Milne. And he almost takes a wicket too, but Mitchell, at deep backward square, can’t quite get his fingers under a flat-bat pull. Even Maxwell comes to the party, with a pull for four and a top-edge over the keeper for four more. Eleven off the over: Australia need 37 off 30 balls. Their chances of a win are around 93 per cent.
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14th over: Australia 125-2 (Marsh 60, Maxwell 1) New Zealand have to get rid of Marsh too. Williamson, perhaps fatally, turns back to Sodhi. Marsh lofts him for six, to reach an outstanding 50 off 31 balls – the fastest fifty in a T20 World Cup final. Some players are vulnerable just after waving their bat, but Marsh belts a two and a four, and persuades Sodhi to go wide of off – too wide. That’s a nine-ball over, costing 16, and it has put Australia back in control. They need 48 off six overs.
13th over: Australia 109-2 (Marsh 46, Maxwell 1) Here’s Glenn Maxwell. who’s not in form. He goes dot, dot, single, and the over goes for only three: well bowled Boult. Warner was undone by going for the big shot, a right old mow, when he didn’t really need to. Australia need 64 off seven overs, so the rate goes back above nine.
Wicket!! WARNER b Boult 53 (Australia 107-2)
Scrap that! In desperation Williamson summons his main man, Trent Boult, and he delivers with a length ball that crashes into the off bail.
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12th over: Australia 106-1 (Warner 53, Marsh 45) A third over for Santner. Marsh slogs him into the deep – and Phillips, who is an electric fielder, can only take it on the half-volley. A rare bad ball from Santner brings a full from Marsh that is just vicious. Nine off the over, which is par now. Australia need 67 from eight overs. They’ve helped themselves to 57 off the last five. Early finish, anyone?
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11th over: Australia 97-1 (Warner 52, Marsh 38) “Now time for a Neesham miracle,” says Michelle Garland. And Kane Williamson agrees – but there’s just one problem, the Aussies. Just like Milne, Neesham gets hit for six first ball by Mitch Marsh – a comfortable pull, backward of square. Warner sees that six and raises it a chip for six more, to reach 50 off only 34 balls. This is all too easy. Australia are ahead of the rate for the first time: they need 76 off nine overs.
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10th over: Australia 82-1 (Warner 45, Marsh 30) Williamson is sticking to his guns, when you might feel, to quote Woody from Toy Story, that this was the perfect time to panic. Santner again beats Marsh outside off with a ball so slow that if it hadn’t been on the spot, he could have run after it, caught it and tried again. At the halfway stage, Australia are well on top: 25 ahead of where NZ were at this stage. Speaking strictly from the neutral point of view, can we please have a collapse?
9th over: Australia 77-1 (Warner 42, Marsh 28) Sodhi continues, so Warner takes his helmet off and bats bare-headed. And hats off to him, as he flat-bats a four to long-on, then reverse-sweeps for two, pulls for four and straight-drives for six After a sedate start by his standards, he’s now going as fast as Marsh. The partnership has raced to 62 off 39 balls, and Australia are on fire.
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8th over: Australia 60-1 (Warner 26, Marsh 27) Williamson goes for spin at both ends and brings on Mitchell Santner. Marsh says thank you very much and slog-sweeps for six – a clear case of Mitch’s inhumanity to Mitch. Santner strikes back, beating the bat with some actual turn. Marsh’s 27 have come off only 15 balls, which feels like a match-winning strike rate. Australia need 113 off 12 overs.
7th over: Australia 50-1 (Warner 24, Marsh 19) Time for spin, with Ish Sodhi’s leg-breaks. Warner works him around for ones and twos. In mid-over, the win predictor pops up: NZ 50 per cent, Australia 50 per cent. Personally, I make it 49-49 with a 2 per cent chance of a Super Over.
6th over: Australia 43-1 (Warner 19, Marsh 18) After that shellacking from Marsh, Adam Milne fights back, mixing dots with leg byes and keeping Warner honest with a snorter of a bouncer. NZ win that over, but the Aussies win the battle of the powerplays, with 43-1 to NZ’s 32-1.
An interesting point from Khawar Ali. “As New Zealand are not as bad a fielding side as Pakistan were in the semi-final, NZ stand better chance to win this game.”
5th over: Australia 40-1 (Warner 18, Marsh 17) Warner, facing Southee, gets away with a bottom edge, into the pad and away for a single. Simon Doull makes a good point: against Marsh, the Kiwis will want to try some spin, but then they run the risk of Warner going postal. And Warner can play seam too – he spots Southee’s slower ball and swings it for six. Australia need 133 from 15 overs.
4th over: Australia 30-1 (Warner 10, Marsh 15) On comes Adam Milne, with a new batter to bowl at – and his first ball goes for six! Superb from Mitch Marsh, flicking off his toes into the stand. Next ball, he plays a delicate dab to steer a short one for four through the vacant slips. Then a pull for four more. Carnage! Milne recovers to an extent, with two dots to Warner. This innings has only been going for about 15 minutes, and already we’ve had some classic ebb and flow.
3rd over: Australia 15-1 (Warner 10, Marsh 0) Finch had just played a good shot, a straight thump for four, but that was the only one he middled. After taking the wicket, Boult keeps Warner quiet. Australia need 158 off 17 overs.
Wicket! Finch c Mitchell b Boult 5 (Australia 15-1)
First blood to Boult! He spots Finch going for another dance, digs it in and gets his reward as a mis-hit pull is beautifully caught by Mitchell, racing to his left at deep square.
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2nd over: Australia 11-0 (Warner 10, Finch 1) At the other end it’s Tim Southee, who’s gone for less than a run a ball throughout this World Cup. Warner’s first attempt to attack him falls flat as a cross-court forehand finds mid-on, but then there’s some width outside off and Warner goes over the offside ring for four. And again! Finch gets away with an inside edge, and that’s ten off the over.
1st over: Australia 1-0 (Warner 1, Finch 0) The new ball is in the hands of Trent Boult, the most successful seamer in this tournament. Can he find swing where Starc didn’t? He can. He goes dot, dot, nick as David Warner wafts at an outswinger, and then he screams for an LBW as Finch goes dancing down the track. It’s straight enough, but Finch was a long way down, so Williamson doesn’t review. Good over, though.
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Sam Curran, who may be cricket’s youngest-ever commentator, says he’d rather be in New Zealand’s shoes than Australia’s.
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NZ finish on 172!
20th over: New Zealand 172-4 (Neesham 13, Seifert 8) Hazlewood is bowled out, so Finch has to bring back Starc. First ball, Seifert flicks a yorker for four (fine leg up). Starc stays full, goes wide of off, and manages a dot that must feel like a wicket. Seifert guides another wide yorker for a single. Neesham swings and misses, for once. Two dots! Starc is so amazed by his good fortune that he ends up on the ground, calling for new boots. A legside wide, which the batters run, perhaps unwisely. A straight yorker, flicked for a single by Seifert. The lastball is driven for two by Neesham. By Starc’s standards today, that’s not a bad over – ten off it. NZ rattled up 115 off the last ten overs. Kane Williamson has made a game of it, almost single-handed – and literally so for a couple of his big shots. Back in a few mins.
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19th over: New Zealand 162-4 (Neesham 11, Seifert 2) It’s Cummins to Neesham, who stands and delivers – a straight six, struck with a cross bat, like a pull. That’s the first boundary off Cummins. The Aussies think they’ve got Neesham run out, celebrating with fist-bumps, but they’re misinformed – not something you see very often.
“This has to be one of the great captain’s innings in T20 cricket,” says Colum Fordham, “and the highest in a T20 World Cup final, eclipsing Sangakarra’s 64 in the 2014 final.” very true. “Williamson’s range of shots is spectacular and relied more on skill and improvisation than sheer power. What a player! PS Could you send a shout-out to my Howzat group chat with a colourful mix of England and India cricket fans?” Who do you think I am, Alan Partridge?
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18th over: New Zealand 149-4 (Neesham 1, Seifert 0) That’s a superb over from Hazlewood: five runs, two wickets. And now there are two new batters at the crease, one of them rusty – but the other is Neesham. Cameo time!
Wicket!! WILLIAMSON c Smith b Hazlewood 85 (NZ 148-4)
One brings two! And it’s the big one – Williamson, perhaps deceived by a cutter, chips to long-off, where Steve Smith fumbles but clings on. Thus ends one of the best captain’s innings you will ever see.
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Wicket! Phillips c Maxwell b Hazlewood 18 (NZ 144-3)
Hazlewood returns and makes some amends for that dropped catch. Phillips tries to go big but can only give a simple catch to deep midwicket. That’s a soft end to a buccaneering partnership.
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17th over: New Zealand 144-2 (Williamson 81, Phillips 18) Finch, not laughing any more, sends for Cummins, who has been immaculate so far – two overs for six. He starts with a wide but then restores order, again, with a string of singles. Eight off the over: Finch would settle for that. Starc, by the way, has brought up his half-century, with figures of 3-0-50-0. Memo to England: attack him early on in the Ashes.
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16th over: New Zealand 136-2 (Williamson 77, Phillips 15) Finch brings back Starc, who’s been by far the most expensive of his pacemen. He finds the edge of Williamson’s bat, twice, but both nicks go for four! One along the ground, one over short third man. And then Williamson shuffles across his stumps and slog-sweeps for six!! Starc manages a consolation dot, but only by going wide of off. Wide again, and Williamson lofts a square drive for four more! Followed by a late squirt, quite deliberate, for four more!!! That’s 22 off the over, and I’m running out of exclamation marks.
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15th over: New Zealand 114-2 (Williamson 55, Phillips 15) Time for someone else to come to the party, and Glenn Phillips gets the memo. He hits Zampa’s first ball for a straight six, and his fifth for an inside-out lofted four. Twelve off the over, and this partnership is 38 off 23 balls: just what the neutral ordered.
Twitter has ground to a halt on my screen, so if you’ve sent a tweet, apologies – and perhaps you can email it if it’s still relevant?
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14th over: New Zealand 102-2 (Williamson 54, Phillips 4) Cummins returns, with Phillips to bowl at, and restores order: dot, dot, single. Even Williamson can only manage a two, though it’s a very crafty one – looking to pull, he finds the ball too offside-ish, so he switches to a tennis player’s lob over mid-off. He’s been the best thing about this game by miles.
13th over: New Zealand 97-2 (Williamson 51, Phillips 3) Maxwell is back for his third over. He thinks he’s got Williamson LBW, but Marais Erasmus rightly reckoned it had pitched outside leg (though he wrongly missed a bottom edge). Williamson goes one-handed again, over midwicket, and that’s six! And six more, just to show that he can do it with two hands too. That’s his fifty, off 32 balls – the fastest in a T20 World Cup final. And he got off to a sluggish start. Sixteen off the over: game on?
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12th over: New Zealand 81-2 (Williamson 39, Phillips 1) It’s not Neesham, but it may be the next-best thing: Glenn Phillips, who specialises in sixes. But he can’t get one off Zampa, who hasn’t even conceded a four off his three overs (1-14). This game badly needs some more of that genius from Williamson.
Guptill c Stoinis b Zampa 28 (NZ 76-2)
Guptill follows suit, goes big – and gets caught at deep midwicket!
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11th over: New Zealand 76-1 (Guptill 28, Williamson 35) Back comes Starc, and Williamson is dropped at long leg by Hazlewood! This is extraordinary. Williamson, off balance, played a one-handed pull. It went straight to Hazlewood, head high. And he not only dropped it, he let it dribble away for four. Williamson, sensing the moment, helps himself to a glorious off-drive for four. Starc, rattled, bowls a high full toss and Wiiliamson even manages to pull that for four. Genius. The resulting free hit brings a squaredrive for two, well saved by Stoinis on the rope, but he seems to be injured. That’s 19 off the over: the tide turns!
“I’d say NZ need about 160 minimum,” says John Ryan, “what do you think Tim? Looks like that might already be beyond them, and maybe the final, because they are being way too conservative...” My uneducated guess is that 150 might do on this pitch, which is dry and a bit sticky. NZ’s seamers are as good as Australia’s, but the danger is that David Warner will just blast off from ball one and make the target look awfully small.
10th over: New Zealand 57-1 (Guptill 27, Williamson 18) Zampa has a simple strategy: bowl flat, bowl straight. His length is immaculate and the batters can only get singles – six of them. Halfway through the NZ innings, the Aussies are laughing all the way to the cup. Williamson may need to send Jimmy Neesham up the order.
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9th over: New Zealand 51-1 (Guptill 24, Williamson 15) Finch is having a laugh now. He brings on Mitch Marsh, his sixth bowler, so this is the third over by a part-timer already. Williamson realises he needs to do something and heads down the track to loft a cover-drive for four, then waits for a short one and pulls it for four more. He charges again and gets one in the grille, but he seems fine. He’s brought up the fifty and blown some life into this contest.
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8th over: New Zealand 40-1 (Guptill 22, Williamson 6) And now it’s spin at both ends as Adam Zampa comes on with his deceptively lethal leg-breaks. Three singles, three more dots, to make 26 so far. And that’s with Guptill, one of the world’s leading dashers, out there. It’s all going horribly right for Australia.
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7th over: New Zealand 37-1 (Guptill 20, Williamson 5) Aaron Finch thinks he’ll sneak in another over of Maxwell, his weakest bowler. Five singles off it, which may well satisfy both sides. The commentators think 160 might be a good total here, but NZ are already struggling to get that.
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6th over: New Zealand 32-1 (Guptill 17, Williamson 3) Hazlewood is still on, and why wouldn’t he be? Bowling to the orthodox Williamson, he goes dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Even Williamson feels the pressure, so the last ball is chipped into the deep at midwicket. It lands safely, but it’s another victory for the Aussies. The powerplay ends with NZ about 15 runs below par.
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5th over: New Zealand 30-1 (Guptill 17, Williamson 1) Pat Cummins replaces Maxwell, and the dots keep on coming: four of them. Kane Williamson works one to leg to get off the mark, but the Aussies are on top.
“I confess,” says Colum Fordham, “to having grudging admiration for the way New Zealand and Australia overcame England and Pakistan. But let’s face it. All right-thinking people plus wanted to see a Pakistan-England final so why not a third place play-off? They do it in football.” Yes, but it’s meaningless, isn’t it?
4th over: New Zealand 28-1 (Guptill 16, Williamson 0) So Hazlewood lands the first blow, and it’s a big one. Of his 12 balls, only three have brought any runs.
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Wicket! Mitchell c Wade b Hazlewood 11 (NZ 28-1)
The breakthrough! After tying Mitchell down with a couple of dots, Hazlewood slips in the slower ball, gets the nick and hands Wade a chance for instant redemption.
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3rd over: New Zealand 23-0 (Guptill 11, Mitchell 11) Aaron Finch tries some spin, from Glenn Maxwell. Mitchell, still on fire from the semi, hits his first ball for a straight six. Mid-off and mid-on stay up. A single to Mitchell, and then Guptill is dropped by Matthew Wade behind the wicket – a bottom edge, not easy but into the left glove and out again.
2nd over: New Zealand 13-0 (Guptill 10, Mitchell 3) Josh Hazlewood, harder to get away than Starc, opens with line’n’length: four dots to Guptill, who is vastly experienced but has never faced Hazlewood before in a T20 international. Then there’s a bouncer, and Guptill is tucked up but manages to shovel it round to fine leg for four. Australia win that over, but they’d like a wicket.
1st over: New Zealand 9-0 (Guptill 6, Mitchell 3) It’s Mitch Starc to start things off. He goes well wide of off, finds no swing, and gets away with a near-wide. Second ball, boom! Martin Guptill cuts for four, finding a narrow gap between the men at backward point. He repeats the shot and gets a single. No swing from the first four balls. Then a straight one to greet Daryl Mitchell, who became a star on Wednesday, hitting 26 off his last seven balls. Another straight one, and Mitchell clips a hard-run three; then a nick from Guptill, quite safe, for a single. NZ showing great intent.
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The players and support staff take the knee. The crowd respond with applause.
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An avenue of sparklers
The players enter, walking down an avenue of giant sparklers. But not as giant as Kyle Jamieson, who takes his place in the NZ line-up as one of their reserves and dwarfs everyone else.
The pitch is said to be dry, which could help the team batting first. Maybe it’s not win the toss, win the game after all.
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“Good afternoon Tim,” says Simon McMahon, “I hope you and all fellow OBOers are well.” We are, thanks. “Really looking forward to this, should be v. exciting. Been a hugely enjoyable tournament; the only thing missing has been a Super Over. Y’know, just saying…” Ha. If they manage a tie, New Zealand will have done heroically. Good to hear that you’ve found the tournament so enjoyable: there is a school of thought that it hasn’t quite caught fire.
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“What’s the procedure,” asks Andrew Benton, “if it all ends all square in runs and wickets at the end of the second innings? Unlikely, but possible perhaps? And why isn’t there a third place play-off?” If it’s a tie (on runs, never mind the wickets), we get a Super Over. And if that is tied too – apparently it can happen – then we get another one, and another, and another ... which is a much better tie-breaker than a boundary count-back. There isn’t a third-place pay-off because it would be pointless.
Teams: one change for NZ, none for Australia
The Aussies are unchanged. NZ make one change as Devon Conway misses out – after breaking a bone in his hand when punching his bat in annoyance at getting out in the semi-final – and Tim Seifert returns to keep wicket. Both teams, curiously, have gone through the whole tournament using only 12 players. Ashton Agar is unlucky to miss out, given his excellent record against NZ in this format.
New Zealand 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Daryl Mitchell, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Tim Seifert (wkt), 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Adam Milne, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Trent Boult.
Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Matthew Wade (wkt), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitch Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Adam Zampa.
Toss: Australia win!
And choose to bowl first. They are now the favourites.
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Preamble: a new name on the trophy
Afternoon everyone and welcome to what should be a great occasion. It’s a World Cup final! On a Sunday afternoon! With no Premier League football to get in its way!
On the other hand ... the final doesn’t feature cricket’s best-supported nation (India), or the most electric entertainers (Pakistan), or the biggest hitters (England). It does feature the two sides that came second in their groups. And both are from the Antipodes, so when the World Cup is won, most of their supporters will be fast asleep: play starts at 1am in Sydney and Melbourne, 3am in Auckland and Christchurch. If cricket scheduling cared about common sense, the match would surely have moved to this morning.
Still, it’s tastier than it may look. We are guaranteed a new name on the trophy. New Zealand, so many people’s second-favourite team, have reached their first T20 World Cup final. They used to be cricket’s answer to Tim Henman, forever destined to go down in the semis, but now, after Jimmy Neesham knocked out England with a plate of revenge eaten cold, they have a good chance of becoming world champions in the shortest form of international cricket as well as the longest. The bookmakers have NZ down as the underdogs today; the rankings make them the favourites, as they’re fourth in the world, two places above their noisy neighbours.
Australia have reached this final before, against England in 2010, but they’ve never won it, which doesn’t seem very like them – hence, perhaps, the bookies’ rookie error. They have needed luck to get this far: all five of their wins in the tournament have come after winning the toss and choosing to field. The one time they lost the toss, against England, they were reduced to rubble. NZ, by contrast, have secured three of their five wins the hard way, after losing the toss. But still the Aussies have made it through, after playing extremely well to topple the previously invincible Pakistan.
They have the tournament’s leading wicket-taker in Adam Zampa, the man with the killer mullet – though Ashton Agar, their reserve spinner, has done better against NZ in T20s. They have a Test-match pace attack in Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins (none of whom has ever played a T20 against NZ). And NZ can match them, toe-ball for toe-ball, with Southee, Boult and Milne. They have five specialist bowlers to Australia’s four, which means they don’t bat as deep.
Historically, Australia are NZ’s bogeymen, with 14 wins to four in white-ball tournaments involving five or more teams. But over the past ten years, as NZ have inched their way to the top of the world, it’s been 2-2. All told, the Aussies have about a 45-per-cent chance of lifting the trophy today – which will shoot up to 66.67 if Aaron Finch wins the toss. Do pop back at 1.35pm UK time to find out what that fateful coin has to say.
