So, after all that, the T20 series finishes 1-1. We will never know if the White Ferns had it in them for another upset, nor if Australia would have been able to regather and finish with more polish than how they started. Call it Mother Nature’s version of April Fool’s. Thankfully, it is the end of this chapter but not the book, and both sides return on Easter Sunday for the first ODI at Bay Oval. See you then. Thanks for your company.
Match abandoned
That’s that, then. Stop, start, stop, all within three overs, and the Auckland rain has proved too much for Australia to snatch back this series.
Such a shame. The rain continues to fall in Auckland and the series decider has been abandoned.
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) April 1, 2021
We'll be back for the Rose Bowl series that starts on Sunday! #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/5pD6DjzK7W
I’ve done the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculations and NZ need minus 3 to win #NZvAUS
— Jason Pine (@pineyzb) April 1, 2021
3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Healy 8, Lanning 0): Healy is giving the air particles at Eden Park a good bashing but not so much the ball. And turns out she needed me to write that because she’s just given us some fancy feat and sent Kerr straight and all the way to the boundary for four. That had so much power on it. There are droplets of rain coming down again now and the umpires look to be conferring and after an initial call to play on the covers are being rolled back out.
Updated
Wicket! Mooney b Mair c Down 4 (4)
2nd over: Australia 8-1 (Healy 4, Mooney 4): Rosemary Mair’s line is a little bit straight and she is not much troubling Beth Mooney until the second of two to the off-stump line. All Mooney can do is lift her bat and the ball sails back, back, and into the hands of Down, who was clearly recalled for this very reason. It’s written in the stars, the drizzle, whatever your heart desires. Lanning makes her entry but doesn’t get on the board.
Updated
We are under way!
1st over: Australia 4-0 (Healy 4, Mooney 0): And Alyssa Healy has already pumped a Jess Kerr delivery to fine-leg for the first boundary. That’s all for Australia in this opening over, though, as Kerr puts Healy off with some serious swing. Strong start for NZ.
Here are the teams. As suspected, Brown is out two days after her international debut and Tayla Vlaeminck is back.
For NZ, Lauren Down comes into the side for Frankie Mackay. And Katey Martin has moved up from the middle order to open the batting with Hayley Jensen.
New Zealand Women (Playing XI): Hayley Jensen, Katey Martin(w), Amy Satterthwaite(c), Amelia Kerr, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hannah Rowe, Lauren Down, Thamsyn Newton, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair
Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Nicola Carey, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck
That is a very handy toss for the Kiwis to win in such dodgy weather. But look, if Australia want to put a positive spin on this, which they do, they will view it as an opportunity to do with the bat what they could not on Tuesday and, indeed, last Sunday.
The visitors have a four-over powerplay to work with. Three bowlers are able to bowl three overs and two bowlers can bowl two overs.
Stand-in captain Amy Satterthwaite has won the toss and elected to bowl in what will be a 13-over match.
And finally some good news!
Update from Auckland: Coin toss at 4:15pm local time and a start at 4:30pm. So we're about 26mins away from the first ball! #NZvAUS https://t.co/0Jj87fH5O0
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 1, 2021
If you are parachuting in for one day only, you can catch up on Tuesday’s action here:
Time is ticking. This could be a quick-smart decider ...
If the game starts at 3:27pm AEDT, the match will be a 5-over per side affair. #NZvAUS https://t.co/66PG5QlKob
— Women's CricInsight | #NZvAUS (@WCI_Official) April 1, 2021
Mooney is reliving her opening performance with the bat in Napier on Tuesday, when she made an unbeaten 61 off 54 balls.
“I probably got player of the match for New Zealand to be honest, because I chewed up too many balls, ran out the captain and nearly knocked out the vice-captain,” she says.
“It probably wasn’t my best day but, like anything, your time in the middle is important and we haven’t played a lot in these conditions before so trying to assess that as quickly as possible is key to making sure we get a decent score. Unfortunately we were 10 or 15 short the other day, but hopefully we can get out there today and post a decent total.”
Beth Mooney is providing a weather update. “It looked like we were going to get on earlier but now it’s coming down pretty hard.” Not ideal.
Okay it’s drizzling and the covers are back on. Tum tee tum.
What will Lanning do with her line-up? Will she play Brown again? Will she retain her top order?
Bit of team news from the White Ferns, by the way, with Frankie Mackay ruled out with a calf problem. That injury was apparent in game two, when she opened the batting off-colour before slogging 46 off 39 to give NZ the optimum chance for that successful run chase. Sophie Devine, who sat out on Tuesday with fatigue, has reportedly flown to Auckland but feeling as if her inclusion will be doubtful.
JUST IN
— Women's CricInsight | #NZvAUS (@WCI_Official) April 1, 2021
All-rounder @FrankieMac71 will miss the rest of the #NZvAUS series with a partial tear to her right calf. Lauren Down has been added to the squad.
Sophie Devine wouldn't be featured in the final T20I.
📸: WHITE FERNS#NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/ynNMaPIQ7J
Speaking of Eden Park, the rectangular Auckland venue will be a new experience for Australia, with the women’s team having not played on the main ground in more than 20 years. We can expect some short, straight boundaries, and this match makes for an excellent opportunity to get comfortable before Australia play India here in the ODI World Cup next March. So, conditions!
Tearaway quick Darcie Brown is chatting with the Fox Sports panel two days after making her international debut. The sky behind the 18-year-old at Eden Park is looking a little dark. She says it’s windy but can’t feel any rain. Fingers crossed!
The coin toss has been slightly delayed.
Preamble
Well isn’t this unusual. It’s been a while since Australia have been pushed to a T20 decider. The first of a bilateral series since 2017, in fact, when they lost the 20-over leg of the Ashes (not the trophy though). Since then there has not been a blemish, with series wins over England, West Indies, Pakistan and current opponents, New Zealand, not to mention two World Cup titles.
So this is strange territory indeed for Meg Lanning’s side, who blew out the quarantine cobwebs by winning the first game, thanks largely to Ashleigh Gardner’s killer innings, before losing by four wickets in game two. It was a final-ball thriller to savour for the the White Ferns, who really copped it from England a few weeks back.
Strap yourselves in, here we go!
