NZ, Australia ready to light up T20 World Cup final
DELIVERING ON t he biggest stage is where it really matters. And New Zealand (NZ) and Australia have done just that to set up an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final that few predicted.
It all started when Oman won the toss and elected to bowl against Papua New Guinea four weeks ago. And 44 matches, 11,153 runs and 485 wickets later, the 16 nations that began this thrilling tournament have been whittled down to just two.
Today’s showpiece at the Dubai International Stadium, which is set to bowl off at 9 a.m. Jamaica time, will see the world’s fourthranked side New Zealand take on the country ranked sixth, Australia. And it is a fitting finale to decide who will lift the T20 World Cup trophy after a tournament of twists and turns, highs and lows, upsets and hammerings.
Yet, just because few predicted this would be the final line-up, does not mean the players did not believe. And Aussie skipper Aaron Finch was in boisterous form on precisely that topic in his media conference yesterday.
“I’m not surprised one bit,” he said. “I think we came here with a really clear plan to win the tournament, and we still feel as though we’ve got the squad to do that.”
“We always felt as though we’ve got the depth of the squad and the quality in our squad to put ourselves in a position to do that. And New Zealand, they have been in every final for a long time now in ICC events. They are a great team over all three formats of the game,” added Finch.
A glance down the likely team sheet for today’s final supports the captain’s claim. Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Finch – there is an abundance of talent and experience in the Australian line-up.
LITTLE SURPRISE
Add to that the qualities of Adam Zampa, who has taken 12 wickets in the tournament so far – more than any other bowler to enter at the Super 12 stage – and it is little surprise that this is a squad that has been able to beat higher-ranked and higher-fancied outfits.
The term ‘higher-fancied outfit’ has rarely, if ever, been used to describe Kane Williamson’s New Zealand … even if it should be.
The cliches flow thick and fast in conversation about the Black Caps. They’ve “flown under the radar” and come up on the rails as “dark horses”, but naturally you can “never write off” New Zealand. It is language that almost goes handin-hand with this extraordinary era of Kiwi cricket. But it does so for a reason.
“I think ultimately the side has been operating well as a collective and certainly playing for each other,” said Williamson. “You know, obviously we saw a pretty exciting semi-final. Both semi-finals actually were somewhat similar, where you do see moments in games that are match-defining, and you see games that can take quite a sharp turn when you have some key performances.”
The 2019 World Cup finalists, World Test champions and now 2021 T20 World Cup finalists, this group of players has proven time and again that they are among the world’s best across all three formats.
And today’s all-Antipodean clash in Dubai represents a chance for Kane Williamson and his boys to cap off a stunning calendar year by finally adding a white-ball trophy to the cabinet, where it will sit alongside the World Test Championship mace. Many will bet against them once again, but you would be brave to do so.