T20 WC Final: Australia close to take trophy home

11:08 pm

Mitchell Marsh is playing the innings of his life as he is taking Australia close to be crowned as champions of T20 World Cup 2021. Glenn Maxwell is helping him with a quickfire knock.

Australia: 149-2 (16 ov)

10:52 pm

Although Australia are cruising for the victory with quite an ease, Boult picks up his second wicket as Warner gets bowled by him. 

Australia: 109-2 (13 ov)

10:35 pm

As the drinks break approaches, Australia are on the driving seat in their chase of 173 runs as Warner, 45 off 33, and Marsh, 30 off 20, are executing the line and length of Kiwi bowlers perfectly.

Australia: 82-1 (10 ov)

10:02 pm

Trent Boult picks up the first wicket as Daryl Mitchell takes a stunning catch to dismiss Aaron Finch.

Australia: 15-1 (3 ov)

Australia were too good till 8 overs. The toss went their way, their bowlers bowled proper Test match lines and lengths and batters were finding fielders. But Kane Williamson did know Australia only have four frontline bowlers. So he took on Mitch Marsh upon arrival and got 11 runs. Zampa squeezed some tight overs in and Mitch Starc was totally off colour today. His second over went for 19 runs, third for 22. From 6 off 13 balls, Kane raced to 51 off 31 balls to record the fastest fifty of a men's T20 World Cup final. The runs were leaking, thoughts of 190+ were on, but Cummins and Hazlewood bowled slow and into the wicket to arrest the leakage. Kane perished for a 48-ball 85, Josh finished with 3 wickets. And now we have a contest that can go either way. Australia know how to win trophies. They do have power-hitters. If they can handle the spinners well, this could be spicy. Chase on shortly.

09:27 pm

Kane Williamson plays a captain's innings as he gets out after an incredible 85 runs off 48 deliveries.

New Zealand: 149-4 (18 ov)

09:16 pm

Kane Williamson scores 22 runs off Mitchell Starc's over. Brilliant batting from New Zealand captain.

New Zealand: 136-2 (16 ov)

09:00 pm

Kane Williamson picks up his half century in a fine fashion with back-to-back sixes as he is leading from the front to take his team to a challenging total.

New Zealand: 97-2 (13 ov)

08:52 pm

Right after Williamson smashed Starc for 19 runs, Guptill gives away his wicket to Zampa.

New Zealand: 76-2 (11.1 ov)

08:43 pm

Captain Williamson and senior opener Guptil are struggling in the crease as Australian bowlers create pressure.

New Zealand: 57-1 (10 ov)

08:27 pm

Hazlewood outfoxes Mitchell with a slower ball and gets his reward as the batter nicks it to Wade.

New Zealand have the experienced duo Williamson and Guptil on crease at the end of Powerplay.

New Zealand: 32-1 (6ov)

Australia have won the toss and have opted to field.

The pitch looks a little bit dry. At the start of the tournament there was a bit of moisture. There is no grass and is pretty dry. The middle overs are going to be crucial for either team. It might be a little bit two paced and it thus could be an advantage to bat first because of that.

Aaron Finch: We'll have a bowl. Looks a little bit dry but I don't think it will change. It might skid with the new ball. We're playing the same team. The way we hung in the contest and take it deep was crucial for us. Zampas has been superb for a while in the shortest format, and hopefully that will continue. It is a new format, a new team and our record over NZ doesn't matter at all.

Kane Williamson: We would have fielded as well. It looks like a reasonable wicket and who knows about the dew. Just trying to get a competitive total. We have one obvious change: Conway is out and Seifert is in. It is a shame that he misses but as a team we have to move on and focus on the challenge at hand. Mitch Santner is a world class operator and it didn't quite work out in the match the other night. We don't want to look too far ahead and we just need to make a few small adjustments.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson(c), Tim Seifert(w), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood