T20 World Cup final: Australia 173-2 off 18.5 overs (M Marsh 77*, D Warner 53, T Boult 2-18) beat New Zealand 172-4 (K Williamson 85, J Hazlewood 3-16) by eight wickets.
It was less a procession than a runaway train, but either way there was no stopping Australia as they raced to their first T20 World Cup title. They had promised to attack this game with bravery and aggression and their assault on a target of 173 certainly left New Zealand punch drunk, Mitch Marsh leading what amounted to a gleeful pile-on on a previously outstanding group of bowlers as his team raced to the finish line with seven balls to spare.
It took a brilliant innings from their captain, Kane Williamson, to lift New Zealand to something approaching a par score but Australia made it look trivial through a barrage of brutal and often brilliant batsmanship.
Having posted a score of 172 the Kiwis needed quick wickets to stay in the game but when they got one, Trent Boult dismissing Aaron Finch in the third over, Marsh simply strolled in and in the space of three deliveries – six, four, four – took a hammer to their fragile confidence.
New Zealand looked a beaten side long before the end. Ish Sodhi has had an outstanding tournament, but it concluded with an over containing three wides, two boundaries and 16 runs, and at the end of it he looked broken. The Kiwis’ other spinner, Mitch Santner, bowled three overs of increasing pointlessness. This was not the way anyone had wanted this to end.
Just under two hours before the start a minor earthquake had struck Dubai, as the aftershocks of a large tremor in Iran spread across the Middle East. But though it was more one-sided than anyone had expected there would be no shockwaves in Sports City as the final very much followed tournament type. The team that won the toss chose to bat second and duly chased their target down, precisely the plot that many had foreseen.
But if the earth didn’t move as Australia won their first T20 World Cup, the ball certainly did. Trent Boult delivered an excellent opening over that brought just a single run, but from then on it was pedal to metal cricket. Warner was always the man New Zealand most feared, not just for his strength and aggression but because he is particularly strong against spin, and the Black Caps would need Santner and Sodhi to get through some overs at some stage.
But when Warner survived into the middle overs New Zealand had no choice to bowl them anyway, and it was at that stage that things fell apart. Boult returned in the 13th over with his side in dire need of any sort of encouragement, burst one through the arc of Warner’s swing to take out middle stump – if there was doubt about whether he was actually out when he left the field in the semi-final there was absolutely none this time – and roared at his teammates, insisting that the game was still alive. Sodhi bowled the next, and we know what happened then.
Having been put in to bat – Finch having won his sixth toss in seven World Cup games, and an odds-defying 14th in 17 this year – New Zealand started their innings well, with Martin Guptill making a statement of intent by hitting the second ball of the night past point for four and looking in good form. After three overs they had scored 23 runs and seemed on their way. But after Guptill hit the first ball of the fourth over things took a turn for the inexplicably pedestrian. The last 17 balls of the powerplay went for just five runs and brought the wicket of Daryl Mitchell, hero of the semi-final, who edged Josh Hazlewood through to Matthew Wade.
At the end of the sixth over New Zealand were 32 for one and in trouble. The only thing Guptill, who scored 15 off his first 14 balls before mislaying his timing and intent, was giving his side was problems. He managed 13 off his next 21 before finally heaving Adam Zampa to deep midwicket, and through their disappointment Kiwis might have been a little relieved to see him depart.
If Guptill lost his accelerator pedal, perhaps it was because Williamson had two of them, flourishing after a slow start. He scored one run off his first seven, 21 off his first 21, and then he lifted his 22nd high towards Hazlewood at fine leg who had time to set himself, lift his hands, and let the ball straight through them. He turned just in time to see it roll into the rope, and with that New Zealand’s captain was away.
It was the only thing Hazlewood did all evening that was less than impeccable. His four overs cost just 16 runs – Starc’s on average cost 15 each – and brought three wickets, eventually including that of Williamson, but by then a great deal of damage had been done.
Starc had bowled the delivery from which the Kiwi captain was dropped, and from the Australian very nearly getting the upper hand that particular head-to-head swung brutally in the other direction. While scoring conservatively off the other specialist bowlers Williamson mercilessly targeted the seamer, facing 12 balls and scoring 39. To put that in some kind of context, Starc had not conceded 39 runs in any of his previous 10 matches. In all he hit 64 off his final 27 balls and had particular fun during the 16th over, inevitably bowled by Starc, edging a couple of balls for four, lifting the next over square leg for six, and adding another couple of fours for good measure.
Williamson eventually fell midway through the 18th over, attempting to lift the ball over long-off and failing, but though Jimmy Neesham could not quite find the instant perfection he managed in the semi-final – there was only one six this time – New Zealand had recovered in the second half of their innings from the mess they made of the first, scoring 115 from the last 10 overs, but Australia wasted little time in making it clear that it was not going to be enough. - Guardian
