If there was ever a statement of intent in the T20 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand than it was made during the first thr...
If there was ever a statement of intent in the T20 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand than it was made during the first three balls that Mitchell Marsh faced. The Aussies had just lost the wicket of skipper Aaron Finch and NZ skipper Kane Williamson turned to the pace of Adam Milne to provide another breakthrough.
But perhaps the move played into Marsh’s hands. The allrounder is a far better player of pace than he is of spin having played in Perth all his life and he dispatched the first ball for a six. It wasn’t an edge or a lucky shot. Rather it came off the middle of the bat as if he had already spent a lot of time in the middle. The next two balls were fours and even before New Zealand had time to catch their breath, they were pushed onto the back foot.
Perhaps the pitch eased out a bit by the time Australia came out of bat but the aggression shown by the batters was key to their first men’s T20 World Cup triumph. Contrast that to how NZ batted. The Kiwis started brightly enough but just when they lost Daryl Mitchell in the fourth over, the...
