New Zealand and Australia produced a thrilling run fest in the first T20I game to kick off the multi-format tour on Wednesday. Australia successfully chased down a 216-run target with big-hitter Tim David smashing a last-ball boundary at Wellington's Sky Stadium.
Captain Mitchell Marsh and late heroics from Tim David boosted Australia to a thrilling win. But the team registered an unwanted record after conceding 215 runs while bowling first. The Australian team became the first team in T20I history to concede 200-plus totals.
Australia registered a 2-1 win against West Indies in their last T20I series at home but surprisingly conceded 200-plus scores in all three matches. The star pace trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were all part of the playing eleven along with ace spinner Adam Zampa in the series opening against New Zealand but once again the opponent managed to reach 200-plus total.
In individual records, Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and New Zealand's veteran pacer Tim Southee entered history books by becoming the players to play most matches for their respective countries. Maxwell also joined Aaron Finch to record join-most sixes for Australia in T20Is and now is only behind India's Rohit Sharma and New Zealand's Martin Guptill.
Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bat first in the first T20I match. Devon Conway scored 63 off 46 balls and Rachin Ravindra smashed 68 off 35 balls to boost the BlackCaps to 215/3. Australia lost both openers David Warner and returning Travis Head inside the first seven overs but captain Mitchell Marsh kept the game alive with an unbeaten fifty.
Marsh smashed 72* off 44 balls but it was Tim David's 31* off just 10 balls that took Australia past the finish line. Tim smashed five boundaries when Australia needed 32 runs in the last nine balls, including a match-winning four off Tim Southee on the last ball of the game.
