New Zealand vs Australia 2021, 4th T20I: Aaron Finch And Bowlers Help Australia To Level T20I Series

The visitors Australia have brilliantly levelled this five-match T20I series (2-2 margin with one match to go) against the hosts New Zealand after winning the fourth match of this series by 50 runs at Wellington.

On Friday (5th March) night, Australian captain Aaron Finch chose to bat first after winning the toss. While the visitors scored 156/6 (20 overs), the hosts were bundled out for just 106 runs in 18.5 overs.

New Zealand vs Australia 2021, 4th T20I

2nd innings (New Zealand innings): Hosts had no clue for the perfect reply

Chasing down that target, the hosts New Zealand batting line-up totally failed from the beginning. Since the fifth over of that innings, the wickets were continuously falling and the hosts failed to handle that chase.

While Australian spinners dominated that innings, most of the Blackcaps batsmen failed to protect their wickets. While the lower-order batsman Kyle Jamieson was their only batsman in that innings to reach the 20-run mark, opener Tim Seifert (19) and Devon Conway (17) were their only other names who managed to reach the double-digit scores.

Kyle Jamieson really fought hard as he scored 30 runs off just 18 balls (5 fours) but it was very late for the hosts.

Pacer Kane Richardson got three wickets (3/19), while spinners Ashton Agar (2/11), Adam Zampa (2/24) and Glenn Maxwell (2/14) all bagged two wickets each.

1st innings (Australia innings): Captain Aaron Finch lonely guided the visitors to the challenging total

Apart from the opening batsman and skipper Aaron Finch, all the other Australian batsmen struggled in the first innings of this match as there were no other 20+ knocks in that innings. In the powerplay, the visitors Australia scored 38/1 as New Zealand bowlers mostly controlled that innings.

While another opener and wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade scored 14 runs, Josh Philippe (13), Glenn Maxwell (18) and Marcus Stoinis (19) also failed to reach the 20s. Meanwhile, Finch maintained his patience batting on this tough wicket as he completed his 50 in 47 balls.

But in the final over of that innings, Finch smashed Kyle Jamieson for 26 runs (2, 6, 6, 6, 0 and 6). Finch ended that innings on 79 not out off 55 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes).

Among the New Zealand bowlers, Ish Sodhi (3/32) got three wickets while Trent Boult (2/27) picked up two wickets and Mitchell Santner (1/16) took one wicket.

Brief Scores: Australia – 156/6 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 79*, Marcus Stoinis 19; Ish Sodhi 3/32)

New Zealand – 106 in 18.5 overs (Kyle Jamieson 30, Tim Seifert 19; Kane Richardson 3/19)

Result – Australia won by 50 runs.