Australia beat New Zealand in final of Trans-Tasman tri-series

Australia put in another accomplished Twenty20 performance to win the Trans-Tasman tri-series with a whimper not of their choosing. Victory by 19 runs via Duckworth Lewis Stern made it five wins in a row for this band of Big Bash League-bred specialists – and stand-in skipper David Warner. They have been too much for England and here at Eden Park, for the third time, New Zealand.

Both Warner and head coach Darren Lehmann will miss the bulk of the post-match celebrations: an early morning call awaits for a flight to Sydney and then onto Johannesburg where they will join up with the Test squad.

Their time in transit will be well-spent reflecting on a remarkable about-turn in Australia’s T20 fortunes: one summed up by the fact they started this mini-tournament on 3 February as seventh in the world and now sit second in the ICC rankings. Such a dramatic swing can be explained by the “unusual” concentration of international T20s in this, only the second international tri-series. The five fixtures in the last three weeks matches the number played by Australia during the whole of 2017.

Returning to the scene of last Friday’s slugfest, when Australia chased down a world record 244 with seven balls to spare, there were fewer runs and spectators on a Wednesday night. Part of the blame can be attributed to Ashton Agar. In a T20 world where leg spinners are sending franchise owners wild, Agar’s spell of three for 27 was one for the orthodox guys.

Backed to the hilt by Warner, he was brought on in the fourth over – the first time Australia has gone for spin in the power play overs this series. But the brunt of his work was done in his next three overs: gutting the Blackcaps middle order with the wickets of Kane Williamson, Mark Chapman and Colin de Grandhomme.

“We spoke about it in the team meeting and the other day we saw that if you are going at 10s or 12s you might as well try something,” said Warner, when asked of Agar’s deployment in the first six overs. “I know my own tactics were that if a bowler starts well you give him another over. But I thought tonight just change it up a bit. I had a word with Finchy and said ‘What about just throwing Ash the ball?’ Tonight he came out and bowled well.”

With Billy Stanlake and Kane Richardson restricting the damage done by openers Martin Guptill (21) and Colin Munro (29), Ross Taylor’s senior hand of 43 from 38 deliveries, featuring three boundaries and just one six, did at least ensure a target of 151 to provide enough back-and-forth for the 20,072 that came through the gates.

David Warner and D’Arcy Short were not in the mood for nuance, taking Australia to 55-0 after six overs, which is where the score remained until the first batch of rain had cleared. When play resumed, Short brought up his second international T20 fifty before holing out to long on long on the ball after, off Munro, for 72 for one.

It was a start, though, that meant even though Short was the first of three wickets to fall in the space of 15 balls for just 12 runs, a 20 not out and 18 not out from Maxwell and Aaron Finch respectively ensured that the required scoring rate was always under control. The second delay, coming with 30 needed off 32, confirmed an Australian win.

That joy was soured by yet another shoulder injury sustained by Chris Lynn. The crumb of comfort is that it was his right shoulder that was dislocated when attempting to save a single at the start of the ninth over, having had three previous issues with the left one since 2015.

He was meant to travel to the Pakistan Super League on Thursday to play for the Lahore Qalandars. Instead, he will now miss the tournament, returning to Queensland instead for further scans on his shoulder. The road to be fit for his $1.86m IPL gig with Kolkata Knight Riders starts here.

Source: The Guardian