NZ vs Australia News

Cairns said the country's cricket "is very, very healthy" Cairns played 62 Tests, 215 ODIs and two T20Is for New Zealand between 1989 and 2006

Australia's Aaron Finch played a captain's knock of 79 not out in the fourth T20 against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday (March 5). Finch smashed a second successive fifty in T20Is and his knock included 26 runs off the final over bowled by New Zealand paceman Kyle Jamieson. The Australian skipper's fine show lifted his team to 156/6 after Kiwi spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi had restricted the visitors well. Australian bowlers Kane Richardson, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar then held New Zealand back to 106 to set up a 50-run win and level the five-match T20 series at 2-2. Here is a collection of pictures which tell the story of the exciting fourth T20.

Finch also became the leading run-scorer in the shortest format of the game for Australia. He toppled his opening partner David Warner to take the top spot. In 70 games, Finch has scored 2,310 runs including two centuries and 14 fifties. He played an unbeaten knock of 79 runs to displace Warner from the first place.

Finch avoided getting out to a first-ball duck thanks to replays showing umpire`s call after New Zealand took a review against an LBW decision. Finch went on to put up 83 runs for the second wicket with Josh Philippe before the latter was dismissed on 43 by Ish Sodhi. Then came a bruising 64-run partnership between Finch and Maxwell that came off just 37 balls.

On Saturday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that Auckland would return to level 3 for seven days. The fourth T20I between New Zealand-Australia and White Ferns-England was to be played in Auckland, but as per the new guidelines, the matches were relocated to Wellington.

New Zealand went 2-0 up in the T20 series against Australia with a hard-fought four-run win in Dunedin in the second T20 international on Thursday (February 25). Martin Guptill was the star of the show, hammering 97 off 50 balls and in the process becoming the batsman to hit the most sixes in T20 -- going past Rohit Sharma's record. NZ all-rounder smashed 45 off 16 balls with the bat and then bowled the final over to help his team defend 15 runs. Here are the top highlights from the action-packed second T20 match.

Guptill fell a couple of metres and three runs short of equalling the record for the fastest T20I century by a Black Caps batter. Australia lost Glenn Maxwell (3) to a spectacular catch by Ish Sodhi. Stoinis (78 from 37) and Sams (41 from 15) set a new record for the seventh-wicket in T20 internationals.

Guptill reached his fifty in 27 deliveries and shifted the gears further afterwards. However, Guptill holed out to Marcus Stoinis off Daniel Sams with just three runs required to reach three-figures. Guptill’s 97 in addition to NZ skipper Kane Williamson’s 53 and all-rounder James Neesham’s 45 off 16 balls, powered the hosts to 219/7 in 20 overs.

Even as the others raked in the megabucks after the franchises loosen their purse strings in Chennai, Conway went about his business in the most professional manner and lifted New Zealand from a precarious 19 for three to a competitive 184 for five in the stipulated 20 overs. Conway was part of South Africa’s domestic cricket for the first eight years of his first-class career. Conway made his T20I debut for New Zealand against West Indies in November 2020 and scored a 29-ball 41 in a winning cause.

Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum and Aussie opener David Warner have been involved in a verbal off-field battle.

The tourists declared their innings without facing a ball after captain Brendon McCullum found the pitch unfit for play.