10:23pm And that is all from our live coverage of this game. See you for the decider on Sunday!
Finch: I think just hanging out in the end helped me out. I had visions of ending up 50 off 60 balls! I think I was trying to hit a bit too hard. We lost a couple of wickets along the way so had to take it deep. Good to get some out of the middle in the end.
I thought with ball we adapted really well, we learnt from the way NZ bowled. Pace off the ball was going to be important, the way Agar bowled in that powerplay was important. He's such a dynamic player (Maxi), he always wants to be in the action - he's a great player to balance out your side. We've been trying to be a bit more aggresive with the batting but when you lose wickets, it gets tougher, so we looked to take it deeper [today] and got some good momentum going into the bowling innings. We felt it was a competitive score and knew the powerplay would make or break the game. We knew had to be really really on in that powerplay.
Williamson: I thought the way the Australian side adjusted, the knock from Finchy to take them deep was crucial. At the same time it was a poor performance from us. We lacked intent and got behind the eight ball. But for us it's imporant to make the adjustment, we have three games on this surface. I think it surprised everybody but got to use that experience to adjust quickly, which the Australians did well today. It was a poor batting performance, certainly things to touch on and adapt. I think it was a very good total in the end, the guys did adapt reasonably quickly (with ball) but it's those big overs that give you the real competitive totals and we weren't able to get in those positions.
Aaron Finch is the Player of the Match.
10:15pm Another comprehensive defeat for the hosts then, two in a row and suddenly we are primed for a series decider. It was a tricky pitch to bat on and New Zealand didn't find a single phase in the innings where they'd figured out run-scoring. Australia built the pressure early on, took the pace off when they had to and snuck in extra spin overs from Maxwell too to completely bully New Zealand in chase. Once again, the hosts were left with no chance.
KA Jamieson c Maxwell b KW Richardson 30 (25m 18b 5x4 0x6) SR: 166.66
Nathan Dare: "Big big odds for Trent Boult to be involved in the highest batting partnership earlier today." --- always good for the money!
Liam: "You can't drop Jamieson, he is NZ best batsmen today haha"
END OF OVER:18 | 7 Runs | NZ: 99/9 (58 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.50, RRR: 29.00)
- Trent Boult5 (5b)
- Kyle Jamieson25 (14b)
- Jhye Richardson2-0-16-0
- Adam Zampa4-0-24-2
Mark: "The NZ batting has been woeful this game. Not enough emphasis early on taking singles and ticking the score along. Jamieson has to be replaced for the next game. His bowling has just been too costly. I'm surprised Williamson didn't have an over or two himself given that it was taking spin. Then he wouldn't have had to rely on Jamieson at the end. Just haven't been as innovative as Australia."
Harinath Ranjit: ""cLaSsY" batsman. None other than the inventor of the FBD (Flamingo Backfoot defence)"
END OF OVER:17 | 11 Runs 1 Wkt | NZ: 92/9 (65 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.41, RRR: 21.66)
- Trent Boult4 (2b)
- Kyle Jamieson19 (11b)
- Adam Zampa4-0-24-2
- Ashton Agar4-0-11-2