Australia outclassed New Zealand in the third T20I to register a series clean sweep at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday, February 25. In a rain-truncated series finale, the Aussies took down the hosts by 27 runs by DLS method to end their last T20I series before the T20 World Cup 2024 on a brilliant note.
With this win, the 2021 T20 champions Australia have become the 4th team to register 100 wins in the shortest format, joining India, Pakistan and their opponents New Zealand. The series finale saw both teams taking a cautious approach and resting a few players in light of the upcoming Test series. Australia were without David Warner (ruled out of the game), Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and captain Mitchell Marsh - who were rested. Meanwhile, New Zealand played without Devon Conway (pulled out) and Rachin Ravindra, who is recovering from knee soreness.
The game saw several interruptions after Kiwis' captain Mitchell Santner sent the Aussies to bat first. Steven Smith could not make much of another shot at the opening, falling to Adam Milne for 4 before Travis Head and Matthew Short powered the visitors to 67 in the powerplay with Short falling on the final delivery of it. The rain poured down after the powerplay but stopped the play just for a while. However, it interrupted twice again and play was forced to be 10-over a side after the Aussies ended their innings on 118 in 10.4 overs. The hosts were set a target of 126 in 10 overs as per DLS.
Speedster Spencer Johnson produced a couple of strong overs in the absence of senior pacers as he got Tim Seifert in his two-over spell of 2/10. The Aussies will now hit the ground in the T20 World Cup in this format, while the Blackcaps are set to travel to Pakistan for a five-match series in April.
Teams with most wins in T20Is:
1 - India: 140 wins in 219 games
2 - Pakistan: 136 wins in 231 games
3 - New Zealand: 107 wins in 211 games
4 - Australia: 100 wins in 188 games
5 - South Africa: 96 wins in 173 games
