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Overview

Hello cricket fans! Join us for the second match of the live coverage of the men’s T20I showdown for the Chappell-Hadlee series. Australia lead the series one-nil after beating the home side by six wickets in the first match on the previous match day.

The win was built on the broad shoulders of captain Mitchell Marsh, who thundered 85 from 43 deliveries with nine fours and 5 maximums at a strike-rate of 197.67.

New Zealand were dominated with the ball but can take heart from their performance with the bat. Even after losing three early wickets in the initial overs, they bounced back to reach what appeared a competitive 181 runs, led by Tim Robinson’s brilliant first T20I hundred.

Match Weather

The latest weather report…

Unfortunately, it’s a rainy day at Mount Maunganui and the light rain, which stopped an earlier, has just resumed. While the weather radar shows clearing conditions approaching, for now the coin toss and announcement of the two XIs for today will be delayed.

Nonetheless, I’m informed Bay Oval has a excellent drainage that handles rain effectively, so hopefully we see play shortly.

Team News

Here are the squads for today…

NEW ZEALAND
1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Devon Conway, Tim Robinson, Mark Chapman, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Michael Bracewell (capt), 7 Jimmy Neesham, 8 Matt Henry, Ben Sears, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Jacob Duffy

An altered squad for the New Zealand with all-rounder Jimmy Neesham joining the side, fast bowler Ben Sears in, and veteran leg-break specialist Ish Sodhi also selected.

AUSTRALIAN SIDE
Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), Matt Short, Tim David, 5 Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

A single alteration for the Aussies with pace bowler Sean Abbott replacing Ben Dwarshuis.

Toss Result

Toss: New Zealand have won the toss and opted to bowl

The New Zealand captain called right and elects to have a bowl at the Australian team. Mitch Marsh probably would have chosen similarly so an initial advantage for the hosts. However, the Kiwis will need to begin more strongly than they did in the first match where the visitors raced to 67 in five overs before the Kiwis took their initial breakthrough.

Match Conditions

More good news, folks: the covers have been removed at the ground and we have official word that this match will go ahead as an 18-over contest.

Key Performers

Tim Robinson’s debut T20I hundred in Game One was a ripper in a defeat. The Black Caps were 6-3 in the early stages, with the Australian paceman dismissing Tim Seifert in the first over and Ben Dwarshuis striking twice in two balls to send Devon Conway and Mark Chapman back to the sheds before the young batsman walked out confidently. In his 13th T20 international, the unruly-haired youngster scored an unbeaten 106 runs from 66 deliveries.

Robinson smashed six fours and five sixes along the way and concluded his innings in style, with a boundary and a maximum from the last two deliveries!

Squad Absences

There’s a few umbrellas packing up at the stadium so we expect a coin toss and today’s final XIs for you soon. But, there are a heap of players absent across the board through fitness issues, Test commitments, family reasons or unusual incidents.

Weirdest of all, both teams lost their star allrounders on the eve of the series in strange practice accidents. On Tuesday, New Zealand star Rachin Ravindra hit an signboard during a fielding drill and sustained a deep laceration to his face that required stitches and ruled him out for the entire series.

On the same day, Aussie veteran Glenn Maxwell had one of his meaty wrists broken while practicing bowling due to hard-hitting colleague Mitchell Owen. It means Maxwell is a no-show for this series and may be in doubt for the domestic season too.

Previous Match Recap

As the players go through their final warm-ups at the venue, we might reflect at Game One. The two sides arrived in hot form, with the Australians on a winning streak of 15 wins from their previous 17 T20 games and New Zealand having won 9 out of 11 matches in the current year.

Women’s World Cup Connection

Naturally today’s T20I is also a tasty entree for the Women’s World Cup being held in the subcontinent. The Australian women’s team are on a quest to win a seventh 50-over title, and become the first female side to claim consecutive titles since the late 80s. They started their campaign with a win against the White Ferns and this evening square off against Sri Lanka.

Proud Muruwari woman Ashleigh Gardner scored the opening hundred of the tournament, saving her team from 5-128 with a calm 83-ball 115 that helped her team to reach 326 all out in 49.3 overs. The Australians went on to defeat the New Zealand by 89 runs.