AUSTRALIA: Riding on Conway’s fantastic 92* and a brilliant bowling performance, New Zealand won the opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup by 89 runs against Australia. In this match after winning the toss Australia opted to bowl first.
New Zealand Innings
Finn Allen and Devon Conway opened the innings for New Zealand and Allen just started whacking the ball as soon as he came. He scored 14 runs in the very first over of Mitchell Starc and it was perhaps the most expensive first over ever by any Australian bowler.
Conway also looked in good touch as he gathered a couple of good boundaries. From the first 2 overs, it looked like the bowlers were going to have a tough day.
50 runs came only in 3.5 overs, but Hazelwood broke the partnership by bowling out the dangerous-looking Allen (42).
New Zealand were 65-1 after the end of 6 overs. This was the highest power-play score for NZ in a World Cup ever.
With Skipper Williamson and Conway on the crease, New Zealand managed to score 97 runs after the end of 10 overs with the loss of only 1 wicket. Conway scored his half-century in 12.1 overs and was still looking good.
Willamson (23) was looking a bit slow and in the 13th over he tried a reverse sweep, which cost him his wicket. At the end of the 15th over, NZ was 144-2. A solid total was expected from NZ here.
But, Australia’s tight overs did not let Neesham and Conway free their arms as freely as they would have liked.
NZ ended up scoring 200-3 with the help of Neesham’s quick-fire 26 and Conway’s fantastic 92* off 58. Conway’s inning included 7 fours and 2 sixes.
Australia Innings
Old partners David Warner and Aaron Finch were seen opening the innings for Australia. As early as the 2nd over, Australia got a big blow as David Warner lost his wicket in an unfortunate way.
After the fall of Warner, Finch and Marsh initiated the counter-attack. They both looked quite aggressive and were consistently looking for boundaries. But Finch and Marsh both lost their wickets in search of boundaries. Australia was in big trouble after their departure. At the end of the power play, Australia was 37-3.
At the end of the 10th over, Australia managed to score only 62 runs, and they also lost Stoinis along the way. Australia just kept losing wickets and looked far from winning.
In the end, Australia were all out for 111 in 17.1 overs. Southee and Santner remained the best of the bowlers by taking 3 wickets each, while Maxwell (28) was the highest run scorer for Australia .
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