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Ricky Ponting wants to make this one of the “greatest Punjab Kings team of all time.” Ahead of their IPL 2025 opener against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, assistant coach Brad Haddin echoed similar sentiments.”That’s exciting to the players,” Haddin said, when asked if Ponting’s statement put pressure on them. “In this day and age, you want to challenge the player group to touch greatness. That’s what we want to see everyday. We want to see them get better than they were yesterday, better than what they were the previous week.”You have to set high expectations and high goals. The reason is we’re happy with the group we’ve put together. We’ve been ultra impressed with what they’ve done at training camps. Now all they want to do is play cricket. They’ve had enough cricket in camps, they want to get out there and express themselves.”Related

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Kings bought Shreyas Iyer for INR 26.75 crores to captain a new-look side that features the experience of Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh along with young talents like Priyansh Arya and Suryansh Shedge. They also multiple allrounders in Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.Asked if the Australian flavour to the Kings support staff group was a “good thing” in driving culture towards team success, Haddin heaped praise on Shreyas, who he termed as a “driven captain” who would lead the way in establishing “standards” and “habits.””We’ve got a driven captain who has had a lot of success, not just for India but in the competition and in this form of the game,” Haddin said. “From the captain down, he has brought everyone together, the staff are on the same page as the players. From that point of view, what we’re seeing is a high[-quality] group being led by the standards and habits of the captain.”Haddin was also clear of the Kings’ brand of cricket, without divulging much about their choice of personnel.”If you have a look at the way IPL has developed, especially with impact player, it allows players up top to play with a lot more freedom,” he said. “Last year, we saw an increase in powerplay numbers. This year, it’ll increase again. From our point of view, it’s giving guys an opportunity to express themselves, make sure they play brave and play what’s in front of them, and not worry too much about what’s happening.”This is a new group, we’ve had a brand new auction, we’ve got every player that we want to play different roles. One of those is a couple of guys to play in those six overs, you’ll be quite excited to see when it comes. Whoever we put up there will be exciting, they’ll play a brave brand of cricket, dynamic at the top. That’s what we want them to do.”

An action-packed run fest worth 470 runs that goes down to the last few balls. Every T20 tournament can do with a few of those, and PSL 10 got its on the second day itself. Two centuries too. On a woeful day for bowlers, a 142-run partnership between James Vince and Khushdil Shah separated Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans and took Karachi, the hosts, to the third-highest successful chase in PSL history.Vince, whose purposefulness was evident from the moment he walked out at the fall of David Warner’s wicket in Karachi’s chase of 235, orchestrated the win with a 43-ball 101, while Khushdil, the perfect foil for Vince, kept his end of the bargain with a 37-ball 60 from No. 6. It was a much-needed shot in the arm for Karachi, who missed the playoffs in the last three seasons.Earlier, put into bat, Multan put on a show of their own, posting 234 on the back of Mohammad Rizwan’s fluent century – 105* in 63 balls. Adam Milne struggled to control his swing early on and bled plenty in the powerplay. Hasan Ali drew an outside edge off Shai Hope early in the piece and bowled with superb control in the powerplay, but his two-over spell at the death went for 35 runs.Usman Khan stuck to his chaotic methods and eventually got stumped after getting a start. Kamran Ghulam didn’t let the momentum drop and scored a brisk 36 in 19 balls before holing out in the 15th over. Multan needed a big finish, and they got it from the bat of the in-form Michael Bracewell, who played the kind of innings that he does so frequently for New Zealand, sparing no bowler with a 17-ball 44 not out.Karachi should consider themselves fortunate that even after conceding 22 extras, they kept the target where they could overhaul it. It was a largely an erratic bowling display, especially towards the death.Mohammad Rizwan’s century gave Multan a big total•AFP/Getty Images

In the chase, the spotlight was on Warner and the stage was set for him to get his team off to a flier. Warner opened his account lashing a boundary off David Willey – who had a forgettable day going for 40 in two overs – but his stay was short and streaky. He was undone by Bracewell, trapped lbw, but it was a decision that would have been overturned with DRS, but Warner didn’t opt for it.Tim Seifert attacked from the other end in his pulsating 16-ball 32 and then nicked one through to the keeper off Akif Javed, who bowled the fastest delivery of the day at 147.6kph and finished with 3 for 41.Karachi were in a tricky situation at the end of the seventh over, precariously placed at 79 for 4, but that’s when the foundation of a match-winning stand was laid as Khushdil joined Vince. Together, they took the game away from Multan.Vince raced away to a 23-ball fifty in the 11th over while Khushdil warmed up to the task from the other end. The debutant Shahid Aziz was introduced in the 13th over and was visibly nervous; he was handed the ball at a stage when both batters were well set. Karachi were sitting comfortably at 155 for 4, needing 80 more in seven overs.Chris Jordan nailed his yorkers in the 14th over and pulled things back a bit, and still had two overs left. But for someone with a lot of late-overs bowling experience, he was taken for 21 in the 16th over, and that put the match beyond Multan. Akif lost his control as Vince smashed him for a six and three boundaries in the 17th.Vince and Khushdil weren’t in the middle to hit the winning runs and there was a glimmer of hope that Multan might create some panic, but with only 14 left to score and still some batting to come, Karachi didn’t botch the chase.

Lancashire 226 for 6 (Lamb 74, Cross 38*, Threlkeld 35*, Gordon 3-33) beat The Blaze 222 (Claridge 63, Jones 52, Potts 4-37) by four wicketsA half century by Emma Lamb and List A best bowling by Grace Potts helped Lancashire Women complete a Metro Bank Women’s One-Day Cup double over leaders The Blaze at Emirates Old Trafford.Potts’ 4 for 37 led an excellent bowling effort by the Lancashire attack on a slow wicket that restricted the visitors to a below-par 222 all out from 48.2 overs with half-centuries by England wicketkeeper Amy Jones and Ella Claridge.Lamb, the leading run-scorer in the competition, boosted her chances of gaining international selection with an excellent 74 in front of the watching England Head Coach Charlotte Edwards but three wickets by The Blaze skipper Kirstie Gordon threatened to swing the game the way of the visitors with Lancashire 155 for 6 after 32 overs.It took a vital partnership of 71 runs in 15.2 overs between captain Ellie Threlkeld and England all-rounder Kate Cross for the seventh wicket to take Lancashire to a four-wicket victory with 16 balls to spare.Lancashire openers Lamb and Eve Jones came into this match averaging 105 for the first wicket in the competition this season and the pair progressed confidently to post their fifty from just 47 balls after taking advantage of some wayward early bowling by The Blaze.Both played some eye-catching drives and pulls with Lamb dancing down the wicket to drive Gordon for six, so it was something of a surprise when Jones tamely drove a return catch to The Blaze skipper for 33 to end the opening stand at 88 in the 15th over.Sarah Glenn trapped Katie Mack for a duck in the following over and Gordon, playing her first match of the campaign after returning from injury, dragged her side back into the game with two further wickets, Seren Smale stumped for six and Fi Morris caught at mid-off for 3 to peg Lancashire back to 111 for 4 midway through the 21st over.An unperturbed Lamb, who had reached her fifty off 55 balls, reined in her attacking instincts as Lancashire attempted to consolidate but The Blaze continued to squeeze with Ailsa Lister falling to an excellent diving catch at deep midwicket by Kathryn Bryce off Josie Groves for 15.The key of Lamb followed when she nicked behind down the leg side off Kathryn Bryce at the end of the 32nd over to offer The Blaze increasing hope with six wickets down and 67 runs still required.But some good steady batting by Threlkeld (35 not out) and Cross (38 not out) chipped away at the remaining runs, the pair posting their 50 stand off 73 balls, before Cross sealed victory with the winning runs in the 48th over.Early pressure applied by Cross and Mahika Gaur after Lancashire had won the toss brought reward with the wicket of Tammy Beaumont for 11 well caught at mid-on by Fi Morris off Cross.Kathryn Bryce upped the tempo hitting four fours, but that good intent also proved to be her downfall when she drove Sophie Morris to Cross at mid-on for 22 and the left arm spinner was celebrating a double success four deliveries later when Sarah Bryce edged behind down the leg side for 2.A crucial double-strike by Potts increased the pressure with Georgia Elwiss playing on for 19 and Georgie Boyce clipping to Fi Morris at midwicket for 4 with The Blaze struggling at 97 for 5 in the 23rd over.Jones found excellent support from Claridge as the pair rebuilt the innings with a 44-run partnership in ten overs, Jones pulling Gaur for six to reach her half century from 74 balls but caught at fine leg for 52 three balls later when repeating the shot.Glenn sliced Lamb to Gaur at backward point for 12 and Potts, having limped off earlier with a knee problem, returned to trap Gordon lbw for a duck.Groves and Claridge then added a useful 32 runs for the ninth wicket with Claridge progressing to a gritty half century from 68 balls with some nice footwork before she was the last wicket to fall in the 49th over after making 63 of the visitor’s 222 all out.

The Blaze have recruited New Zealand batter Maddy Green on a short-term deal for the Metro Bank One Day Cup and Vitality Blast.Green, part of New Zealand’s T20 World Cup-winning side in October, replaces allrounder Orla Prendergast, who has returned home to Ireland for family reasons.Green will be available or the remainder of the opening block of fixtures in the Metro Bank One Day Cup, which runs to May 20 before the competition breaks until late July, and the opening four matches in the Vitality Blast, which starts on May 30.While this will be Green’s first experience of women’s domestic cricket in England under the new county-based structure, she was part of the Nottinghamshire women’s squad in 2012, playing against the likes of Trent Bridge stablemate Tammy Beaumont as Notts reached the regional final of the T20 Cup. She also appeared for Welsh Fire in The Hundred in 2022.”I’m really excited to be here,” said Green. “The Blaze have been a strong side for a number of years, so it’s a great chance to join that and play a part. It’s brilliant to be back in Nottingham. It feels like a long time ago now, but it’s been great to see the evolution of women’s cricket in that time. I’m really pleased to be a part of it, and I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running.”The Blaze are second on the One Day Cup table, five points behind Hampshire, who have played one game more.Green has represented her country 193 times across white-ball formats. She has scored 1,708 ODI runs at an average of 28.00 with two centuries and seven half-centuries. In T20Is, she has 1,193 runs at 17.04 with a strike rate of 103.29.She has also won multiple titles for Auckland and Wellington in both T20 and 50-over cricket in New Zealand and was part of the victorious Brisbane Heat side which won the 2019-20 WBBL.Craig Cumming, The Blaze head coach, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to secure a player of Maddy’s calibre at such short notice. She’ll add extra power to our batting line-up and energy in the field, and her leadership skills and experience will complement the rest of the group as we look to maintain our positive momentum this summer.”

David Payne deployed all his considerable experience to propel Gloucestershire to a dramatic two-wicket victory over Hampshire Hawks in a low-scoring but memorable Vitality Blast contest at the Seat Unique Stadium.Chasing a modest 125 to win and buoyed by D’Arcy Short’s 41-ball 49, Gloucestershire were cruising at 112 for 4 in the 16th, only to then lose four wickets for the addition of 11 runs to set-up a nerve-jangling finale. With the scores level, Payne kept his composure to lift the final ball, bowled by Chris Wood, over long-on for an astonishing last-gasp match-winning six.The veteran left arm seamer had earlier claimed 3 for 20 from four overs to undermine Hampshire’s top-order and help restrict the visitors to 124 for 9 after they had been inserted on a characteristically slow Bristol pitch. Josh Shaw and Ben Charlesworth weighed in with two wickets apiece and Miles Hammond claimed a remarkable five catches as Gloucestershire picked up a second win in as many games to keep alive their outside hopes of making the quarter-finals.Without a win in their last five games, Hampshire missed an opportunity to move above Glamorgan and back into top-four contention.Looking to follow up his half-century made against Somerset 24 hours earlier, Hampshire skipper James Vince enjoyed a moment of good fortune before he had even got off the mark, being dropped by Graeme van Buuren at extra cover off the bowling of Payne. But there was no such escape for fellow opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius who was held on the deep square leg boundary by Short later in the same over as Gloucestershire effected an early breakthrough.Payne struck another telling blow in his next over, persuading Vince to sky a catch to Miles Hammond at mid-off and depart for 7 with the score 9 for 2. Toby Albert poached a trio of boundaries at the expense of Matt Taylor and Shaw to afford the innings much-needed impetus, but he was bowled by Payne for 16 off the final ball of a powerplay that yielded an underwhelming return of 29 for 3.If Hampshire were reliant upon overseas star Dewald Brevis, they were disappointed. Having taken slow left armer Tom Smith for a six and a four in the seventh, the South African chanced his arm once too often, aiming an extravagant pull shot at a shortish delivery from Charlesworth and succeeding only in finding deep midwicket. He had contributed 13 and the Hawks were 49 for 4 and under the pump.The middle order did not respond well to pressure, Joe Weatherley hoisting Charlesworth to deep midwicket for 18 and Eddie Jack served up a carbon copy dismissal in the next over, falling to van Buuren’s slow left arm without scoring as Hampshire lurched to 67 for 6. Shaw returned at the Ashley Down Road end to remove James Fuller for 17, superbly caught on the run by Ollie Price at long-on as Gloucestershire continued to turn the screw.Liam Dawson followed Fuller back to the pavilion soon afterwards, brilliant held by Hammond in the deep off the bowling of Matt Taylor, and when Benny Howell hit Shaw high to long-on and fell for 14, the Hawks were 100 for 9 in the eighteenth. A late flurry from the last wicket pair of Wood and Scott Currie, who added an unbeaten 24, was not sufficient to paper over the cracks.Hammond and Short staged a brisk opening stand of 30 in five overs to afford the reply reassuring momentum. Hampshire desperately needed to take early wickets and Jack yorked Hammond for 22, but Short continued to apply pressure, carting Wood for two sixes as the home side posted 46 for 1 in the powerplay.Although England spinner Dawson snared Cameron Bancroft lbw without scoring, it did little to slow West Country progress, Price joining Short in staging a partnership of 32 for the fourth wicket to bring the required rate down to a run a ball.Price contributed 22 before slapping a short ball from Wood to midwicket and Howell then accounted for Jack Taylor with the score 87 for 4 in the 14th. Short had accrued three fours and three sixes and had his sights set on what would have been a maiden 50 in Gloucestershire colours when he top-edged Fuller to short third. Hampshire made the home side work hard for their runs and Howell bowled Charlesworth in the penultimate over before Wood removed Matt Taylor and van Buuren in the last to set-up a tense finale.Shaw scrambled a single off the next ball to bring the scores level and Payne calmed any nerves by smiting the final ball over long-on for six to send the crowd into raptures.

Codi Yusuf, the South Africa seamer, has returned to Durham on a deal that will see him available across all formats until the beginning of September, starting with the club’s Friday night Vitality Blast fixture at home to Northamptonshire.Yusuf initially signed on a short-term contract in April and went on to claim 17 wickets in four County Championship appearances. He was subsequently included in South Africa’s Test squad for the tour of Zimbabwe and went on to make his international debut, taking 10 wickets at 12.20 across the two Tests.Yusuf, who has experience of playing in the SA20 with Paarl Royals, could come into the T20 side straight away, with Durham looking for a victory that would confirm their qualification for the Blast quarter-finals.He will also be involved in the two upcoming rounds of the Championship and the group stage of the One-Day Cup, which takes place in August.”Codi was a great addition to Durham during his short spell with us earlier in the season,” Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, said. “He was heavily invested in the club and his performances in the County Championship have warranted his return to Chester le Street.”We look forward to him returning to the club this week.”

Gus Atkinson’s fourth five-wicket haul helped England make light work of what remained of India’s first innings of the fifth Test, dismissing them for 224.Atkinson’s 5 for 33 upon his return to the XI after two months out was all the more important after news this morning that Chris Woakes would play no further part in the match after a suspected dislocated shoulder sustained in the field last evening. And the Surrey quick, on his home ground, took three of the remaining four wickets that India had up their sleeve when they arrived on Friday morning on 204 for 6.It was Josh Tongue who made the first key incision, albeit with a choatic approach that would get any surgeon struck off. His first over, opening from the Vauxhall End, went for nine, but he was able to remove Karun Nair for 57 in his second. A sharp delivery that nipped into the stumps – Nair no doubt expected something short and wide either side of them – pinned the right-hander on the back leg. Plumb in front, Nair took one of India’s three reviews with him.Washington Sundar should have assumed the responsibility at that point as an elongated tail became exposed, but he fell five deliveries later, waltzing into a short ball trap, heaving Atkinson to deep square leg, where Jamie Overton sprinted in to take a smart catch.Atkinson would then skittle Mohammed Siraj before Prasidh Krishna felt for a delivery outside off, completing a collapse of four for six in 18 balls. This is now the lowest first innings total of the series. The previous lowest was India’s 358 at Manchester.Atkinson now boasts an average of 21, the fourth best for an England seamer with fifty or more dismissals, and the second best strike rate, ever, at 34.9, for those who have taken 60 wickets.

Chris Lynn became the first man to score a hundred in the 22-year history of T20 Finals Day as his unbeaten 108 from 51 balls took Hampshire through their semi-final against Northamptonshire almost single-handedly.Lynn described his achievement as “not bad”, although he joked he was more interested in becoming one of a slightly less select club to have hit six sixes in an over. Having brought up his century, from 49 balls, with the fourth of five consecutive sixes off Lloyd Pope’s legspin, he duly struck the fifth over the ropes – only to be given out lbw to the last ball of the over, a decision that was overturned on DRS.The second semi-final at Edgbaston had appeared to be delicately balanced up until that point, with Hampshire needing 38 runs from 24 balls in a game that had shortened by rain. But after Lynn’s five sixes – taking his tally in the match to 11 – it was left to James Fuller to hit the winning runs with 2.2 overs to spare.Related

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Former Australia international Lynn was one of a handful of overseas players still available to play on Finals Day, with his status as a T20 freelancer meaning he was not subject to being recalled for the start of the Australian domestic season, like many of his compatriots involved in the Blast.Lynn’s efforts eclipsed the previous best individual score on Finals Day, the 92 scored by Luke Wright for Sussex in their semi-final win over Somerset in 2018. In this case, it was a one-man demolition, with Lynn smashing 108 out of Hampshire’s total of 155; the next-highest score in the innings was James Vince’s 12.”It’s easy to sit here and say it’s a flat wicket now,” Lynn said at the post-match presentation. “[It was a case of] one ball at a time, we knew it had a bit in it up front, they’ve got some quality seam bowlers. For us, it was about partnerships. That’s the first domino down. Really happy, but still got one more job to do. Personally, it would top my day off if we can go again. I really like this shirt, I hope they’ll have me back next year.”Asked about becoming the first man to score a century on Finals Day, which was first held to cap off the inaugural season of the Twenty20 Cup in 2003, Lynn said: “Not bad, I probably wanted six sixes more. I wasn’t worried about the lbw, it was about trying to join Yuvraj [Singh] and Polly [Kieron Pollard].”The scoreboard shows Lynn’s five consecutive sixes off Lloyd Pope•Getty Images

Northamptonshire had battled back to make a game of it, having been 86 for 6 before the second of two heavy showers – the first having pushed back the start – led to a reduction in overs. The innings was resurrected by a partnership of 70 in 40 balls between Justin Broad and Luke Procter, although Hampshire’s target was revised down to 155 on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.They nevertheless made life difficult for Hampshire’s batters – Lynn aside – with four of the top five dismissed after going at less than a run a ball. Ravi Bopara, Northamptonshire’s veteran allrounder, said it took an “unbelievable” innings from Lynn to settle the outcome.”I thought we put a good total on the board,” Bopara said. “That was a decent total on that wicket, which was slowing up a bit. We though we had the game in the balance there, with about six overs to go – then obviously you have the one big over that loses you the game. I though Lynny played unbelievable, when someone had a day out like that it’s hard to stop them.””It is a tough wicket to get going, there’s not a lot of pace in it. You do need a bit of power, which Lynny has got and he showed it tonight. That’s why he’s been so successful in T20 cricket throughout his career, because he’s got the capability of clearing the ropes and taking the pitch out of the equation.”Hampshire, looking to secure a record fourth T20 title, advanced to contest the trophy against Somerset, the 2023 winners who have themselves reached four of the last five finals. Both teams share the record for Finals Day appearances with 11.Lynn was able to strap the pads back on straight away, after Somerset won the toss and chose to bowl. He could not repeat his semi-final heroics, despite hitting his fourth ball for six – his 12th of the day – as he holed out to cover for 12 off seven balls.

Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai struck half-centuries each to carry Afghanistan to 188 for 6 in the opening match of the men’s T20 Asia Cup. Hong Kong had their moments, their spinners in particular harnessing slow conditions well enough to frustrate their more pedigreed opponents. But the gulf in class eventually showed as Yasin Murtaza’s side dropped catches and committed misfields to hurt their own chances.Sediqullah has brought up each of this three T20I fifties in his last four innings, and as well as he looked out in the middle, standing tall at the crease and largely coping with the lack of pace, he benefited from three missed chances. A man who could’ve been dismissed in the very first over in the end batted through to finish on 73 off 52.Murtaza was involved in all three lives Sediqullah got – twice dropping the catch himself and once having to watch it go down off his own bowling. He did the best he could to make up for it, the three Hong Kong spinners giving the ball such little pace but so much air that this game looked straight out of the 90s. As such, the more modern day T20 batter wasn’t able to adjust. Murtaza, Ehsan Khan and Kinchit Shah picked up 3 for 75 in 11 overs.However, the arrival of pace in the 17th over changed the game with Atal and Omarzai targeting Ayush Shukla. Afghanistan scored 69 runs in the last four overs with Omarzai raising his first T20I half-century. From the simple clear-the-front-leg slog to the cheeky ramp past the keeper, the Afghanistan allrounder has shown impressive range on a difficult batting pitch and finished with a strike rate of 252.38.Should Hong Kong chase the target down, it would be their highest successful T20I chase.

Mitchell Marsh led from the front with a magnificent maiden T20I century to carry Australia to a 2-0 series victory over New Zealand after they had suffered a major stumble against James Neesham.At 62 for 1 in the seventh over, Australia were comfortably placed chasing an underwhelming 157 but Neesham claimed four quick wickets to leave the game in the balance. Marsh, though, remained unstoppable to continue his recent surge in form, bringing up his century from 50 balls, joining the group of those with centuries across all formats, in an innings where the next-best score was 14. Sean Abbott showed his calmness and experience by helping get the job done, unbeaten on 13.Australia’s three frontline quicks had all impressed after Marsh followed his usual route of bowling when winning the toss. Josh Hazlewood set the tone and was well backed up by Xavier Bartlett and Abbott as the trio shared seven wickets, while Marcus Stoinis claimed the important figure of Daryl Mitchell with his first ball.This early-season Chappell-Hadlee series was played across just four days in chilly, damp conditions – with the second match mostly lost to the weather – and New Zealand will now prepare to face England in white-ball cricket. Australia, meanwhile, return home to play India in ODIs and T20Is ahead of the Ashes.

Marsh’s lone hand

Marsh joked after the second T20I’s abandonment that he’d never felt such pressure being 1 off 5 balls in a nine-over slog. Today he was 4 off 5 when he got into himself into top gear with consecutive fours and a pulled six off Matt Henry. Then in the final over of the powerplay he took down Ben Sears, starting with a perfect lofted on-drive for six before showing extraordinary power to loft six over cover off the back foot – in all, the over cost 21.Marsh lost Matt Short, flicking Neesham into the deep, but consecutive sixes against Ish Sodhi – the second taking him to a 21-ball fifty – continued Australia’s momentum. Then the wheels threatened to come off. Tim David swung a big outside edge to deep third, Alex Carey was brilliantly caught at deep point by Mark Chapman – who held the catch horizontal to the ground – and Neesham put himself on a hat-trick when Stoinis drove to mid-off.He nearly claimed it, too, as Mitchell Owen got an inside edge into the pads. Owen launched a mighty six over long-on to suggest he might hurry the game to a conclusion but soon skied into the off side. Marsh scored 22 of the 23 added with Bartlett, but 24 were still needed when the seventh wicket fell, although there was never any run-rate pressure.Marsh moved to 97 with his seventh six, muscled over the leg side when he didn’t middle a pull off Neesham, and brought up three figures when a top edge landed safely.Hazlewood’s four in a rowFor the second time in the series, Hazlewood struck in the first over of a match when Devon Conway skewed a catch to mid-off after Tim Seifert had scooped his third ball for six. Three overs later, with New Zealand having made decent progress, he produced a superb delivery which nipped and climbed at Tim Robinson to graze the edge, although the DRS was needed after the on-field umpire didn’t hear the nick.In an attacking move, with the ball nibbling around, Hazlewood was given his four-over spell on the trot by Marsh – the first time he had bowled all his overs straight through in his T20 career. His top-class spell was somewhat dented in his last over when Seifert and Mitchell took a boundary a piece.David’s catch, Stoinis maidenAustralia were poor in the field during the opening match, but they caught safely in this one. Their highlight was David’s terrific effort, running back from mid-on take Chapman’s lofted drive over his shoulder, managing to hold onto the ball as he landed and it left New Zealand three down inside the powerplay.Another notable contribution was Stoinis’ opening over. He started by finding Mitchell’s outside edge with a delivery that moved considerably, and ended up completing a wicket maiden. It was his first maiden in a full T20 match, although earlier this year he completed two maiden ‘sets’ in the Hundred which are categorized among T20 statistics.In the end, Stoinis would end up Australia’s most expensive bowler as his last three overs went for 43 with Neesham taking 16 off him in the space of four balls in the 15th over including two sixes. Neesham and captain Michael Bracewell tried to rebuild from 99 for 5 but in felt like New Zealand were someway short although with the ball, Neesham nearly proved it otherwise. One player stood in their way.