Australia managed to keep the 5-match series alive by winning the 3rd T20I, which was played at the Westpac Stadium on Wednesday. The series now stands 2-1 and the 4th T20I between the two sides is scheduled to take place once again at the Westpac Stadium, this Friday.
Though the opener of the series was dominated by the hosts. The second encounter saw Aussies show great intent and at one instance it looked like the mighty Aussies would chase down the mammoth target of 219 but fell short by a narrow margin of 4 runs. They did make it up in the last encounter by notching up 208 runs on the board courtesy of quickfire 70 of 31 balls by the ‘Big Show’.
The hosts once again lost their opener- Tim Seifert early in the innings and the skipper- Kane Williamson was quick to follow. With the scoreboard pressure building, the hosts tumbled and eventually bowled out for 144 runs. The top bowler being the Left-arm bowler- Ashton Agar, picked up a staggering 6 wickets in his quota of 4 overs.
The series stands to be well poised now as Australia are showing an excellent intent to make an in-road into the series. Can the Baggy greens level the series and take it to the series decider? Or will the hosts wrap it up all too early?
Match Toss Time: 18:30 Local (11:00 IST)
Match Start Time: 19:00 Local (11:30 IST)
Match Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Weather Report
Conditions are once again in favor of Cricket as clear skies expected throughout the course of the day. The temperature is forecasted to be hovering in 20-17 degrees Celsius and the humidity at the peak is likely to touch the 55-60 percent range.
Pitch
As we saw in the last encounter, the pitch is an absolute belter to bat on. Once again the team batting first should be looking to bat first and let the scoreboard pressure do the rest. Do not be surprised if we see a score in excess of 200 once again.
Team News
Mitchell Santner was replaced by Mark Chapman in the previous encounter but the 26-year old was not able to perform to his potential as wickets kept tumbling at one end. He is likely to be given one more go. With Adam Milne back to the squad, New Zealand may consider playing him in place of Kyle Jamieson.
Australia on the other hand made a bold move by bringing in Riley Meredith in place of the all-rounder-Daniel Sams and it did work in their favor as Meredith picked up the crucial wickets of the kiwi's skipper and their opener- Tim Seifert. No changes are expected in the line-up, until and unless a forced one.
Probable Playing Xl
New Zealand (NZ): Martin Guptill, Tim Seifert (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mark Chapman, Kyle Jamieson/Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
Australia (AUS): Matthew Wade (wk), Aaron Finch (c), Josh Philippe, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith
NZ vs AUS Fantasy Team
Josh Philippe, Martin Guptill, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Jhye Richardson
Captain Picks: Martin Guptill (NZ), Aaron Finch (AUS)
Vice-captain Picks: Glenn Maxwell (AUS), Kane Williamson (NZ)
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