They came, they saw and Guptill conquered
The roar of the crowd rang in the Black Caps’ ears again, in the nick of time, and they responded under Wellington’s Sunday afternoon sun.
After two hefty defeats to Australia at an empty Sky Stadium, the turnstiles clicked at high noon under alert level 1 and captain Kane Williamson’s men repaid the faithful by delivering a transTasman cricket series victory.
Having restricted Australia to 142-8 when 160 looked a par total, New Zealand cruised to victory with 27 balls to spare for a sevenwicket victory in game five, and the Twenty20 series trophy by 3-2.
Opener Martin Guptill was at the forefront, a powerhouse knock of 71 off 46 balls a world away from his worrying run drought entering this series as he departed to a standing ovation from an official crowd of 7548.
‘‘We were well and truly outplayed.’’ Aaron Finch
Australian captain
Despite appearing to be troubled by a niggly hamstring, Guptill swung hard and long, seized control and was particularly savage on Australia’s legspinner Adam Zampa. His second over went for 23 as Guptill sent one onto the stadium roof, then muscled two more into the crowd to rattle up 50 off 33 balls.
He had different company, too, with Devon Conway elevated for a struggling Tim Seifert. The leftright duo were dynamic, Conway hitting 36 off 28 in a decisive opening stand of 106, and with his wicketkeeping prowess is a viable plan B for Seifert in the top XI.
In the fifth T20 match on the drop-in pitch in as many days it was always going to be hard work for the batsmen. Making it even tougher, no team had successfully chased down a target in the last six men’s T20 internationals in Wellington, including the Black Caps in the last two.
Coach Gary Stead chastised his top-order for being too passive in pursuit of 157 on Friday, and they listened as Guptill clouted Ashton Agar into the crowd in the third over then Conway took to speedster Riley Meredith, including one searing pull shot over the mid-wicket rope.
A Williamson first-baller to Meredith, lbw, was the only hiccup, as Glenn Phillips joined his Auckland team-mate and swatted some boundaries to ice it. Phillips’ winning six off Zampa nearly brought the house down.
‘‘When we lost the toss it was easy to think we were behind the eight-ball again, but we bowled and fielded exceptionally well. Some of Kane’s decision-making around when he bowled the parttime spinners was superb, then the way Gup and Dev started the innings was sensational,’’ Stead said.
Victory made it five from five in terms of home series victories this season, including all three
T20s against West Indies, Pakistan and Australia. Bangladesh are next for three ODIS and three T20s.
Australia’s skipper Aaron Finch said, before the touring squad headed to the airport for a charter flight home: ‘‘ We were always short with the bat, 140, we needed a few things to go our way, we needed early wickets and they denied that and once they did that we had to keep pressing and being aggressive. We were well and truly outplayed.’’
Spin was in for the Black Caps who dropped Kyle Jamieson and recalled Mark Chapman the leftarmer whose bowling has been limited since shoulder surgery.
In an accurate, committed performance in the field, Williamson used 12 overs of spin. Chapman was tidy and snared the massive wicket of Glenn Maxwell (1), while Phillips conceded 21 off two,
trying to bowl a wide line to avoid being whacked square.
While the turn wasn’t as pronounced as game four, on a sluggish surface it was a hint of what we’ll see at the Twenty20 World Cup in India in October. Ish Sodhi relished it as he led the way again.
The legspinner removed Marcus Stoinis and Ashton Agar in successive deliveries when the charge was beckoning, both caught by Guptill at long-off, to end with 3-24 and superb series numbers of 13 wickets at 12, and economy rate of 8.26.
Matthew Wade (44 off 29) and Finch (36 off 32) had Australia in reasonable shape for 160-plus at 74-1 in the 10th, before Sodhi removed the captain and they were strangled by spin.
In the final seven overs Australia lost 5-43 as senior men Trent Boult and Tim Southee were effective, varying their pace and lengths. Boult snared 2-26 while Southee took two in the final over and conceded only three off the bat.