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Thoughts on Amazon Prime just picking up the Major League Cricket rights off Fox Cricket in Australia ahead of next weekend

by Sports Benches

The 2024 T20 World Cup might be coming to an end this weekend over in the West Indies, but there’s a bit of surprise earlier today that Amazon Prime in Australia has just picked up the rights to show the Major League Cricket T20 competition on top of the ICC events they’ve picked up that is set to begin on Saturday July 6 (Friday over in America) next weekend to Monday July 29 (Sunday US time). As said, they will have every game live & on-demand replays with mini-match highlights too. 

Fox Cricket via Foxtel and Kayo Sports aired the inaugural competition last year but it looks like retaining just the Australian home rights to all cricket here and not everything cricket is all that matters after they lost the ICC rights late last year – not long after Australia won their 6th title in the 50-Over World Cup Final v India. It costs so much $$$ to produce such a top-notch broadcast every match of the Aussie summer, even though the International interest here isn’t the same as it was once before. Hence, you can see why Nine is broadcasting the Tennis nowadays when they had enough of the game all those years ago while they’ve had poor commentary feedback during their final few years – especially after Tony and Richie passed away.

But they’re still sticking around for another couple of years until at least 2030/31 with the next tv rights contract set to begin later this year along with Seven who will now be able to stream matches online for free on 7Plus, having originally been restricted to TV-only coverage likewise with the AFL until next year when they took over long-time holders Nine back in 2018.

Going back to the Amazon Prime-MLC deal, good for them to add another league on their subscription streaming service where things began to feel like home outside of Fox Cricket when Australia isn’t playing at home. Yes, getting the rights to air the Australian away matches would have to be dealt with individual cricket boards like the Indian BCCI & New Zealand Cricket for example. But Fox Cricket still sees value within at least the other Top 3-5 nations, so don’t see them losing that easily any time soon. However, it’s possible for Amazon Prime to try and be the home of other Australian away cricket when the Aussies play against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland & Afghanistan. Fox doesn’t have a great history in recent times with these cricketing boards including other T20 tournaments, so can see Amazon coming in if Fox doesn’t want them and once the next IPL rights is up for grabs come 2027 there’s no doubt Amazon would want to make this happen as well.

So far, so good from Amazon Prime on wanting to be the home of World Cup and overseas cricket in Australia. They still have until 2027 to run through the current ICC deal and if Amazon Prime stay, it would be interesting to see which free-to-air partner they choose when a future Men’s T20 World Cup comes here again & New Zealand in October-November 2028.

Looking beyond Amazon Prime, Fox Cricket and Seven – you wonder why Nine isn’t doing much to add Cricket to their Stan Sport line up when they’ve been a Pay TV station (not like Foxtel on cable but subscription streaming-only service) of their own for the last few years. I see they have the annual Black Clash T20 charity match every January because it involves a mix of Rugby and Cricket legends because they’re the home of Rugby Union (Super Rugby, Wallabies and Club Rugby) here. 

But when it comes to trying to get the other Australian away cricket content like the ICC events, individual tours against a specific lower ranked Test nation and even the full England Cricket stuff other than retaining the Ashes Tests in England on Nine (2027 and 2031) that is specifically covered by the government, don’t think they would do it when the interest levels isn’t that good as said before compared to the 90s-early 00s & plus they also got the whole grand slam tennis on offer. 

Tennis matches can last the whole time nearly 100% uninterrupted except on the outside show courts with no roof than the usual cricket game being halted depending how long it takes before coming back once the rain stops & then the game can also finish off early than expected. Again, not worth the risk at this stage for Nine to try out cricket for its Stan Sport subscribers as retaining just the away Ashes only in England makes sense for the main channel for now. It has both the historical and competitive value in order to translate the investment they want to put out for their viewers and advertisers whereas the away and ICC events doesn’t do much even if it means putting most content behind a paywall with Australian games live and free on Nine when they take place on the other side of the world mostly between early evening to midnight and early-late morning except on rare occasions like the 2028 ICC T20 Men’s World Cup here and New Zealand for example.

And finally, well done to USA Cricket on a amazing tournament where they’ve got off to a great start v arch rivals Canada while shocking Pakistan along the way before Mother Nature v Ireland following a rained out draw gave them an extended run in the Super 8 and an automatic qualification for the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 – even though things weren’t easy against the top sides like India from their Group A game including England, West Indies and South Africa (Proteas) throughout the 2nd round. I’m sure they will keep on growing with more cricketers from the top nations will want to come here to play their cricket in the US in the years to come alongside a core focus at homegrown talent at the same time ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which is going to the sport’s comeback to the program since 1900 but via the T20 format.

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Amazon Prime’s upcoming 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup coverage for Australia

by Sports Benches

As we all know, Amazon Prime is now your home of the ICC cricket tournaments here in Australia at least over the next four years until the end of the 2027 50-Over World Cup in South Africa including the upcoming T20 World Cup across the West Indies and USA starting next Sunday on the 2nd June between Canada v USA in Dallas, Texas. So no free-to-air or even Foxtel involved in the meantime where fans would have to pay $9.99 a month or $79 a year in order to watch the games. Yes, it’s still possible that there will be free-to-air ICC Cricket World Cup content at some point thanks to the Government’s anti-siphoning laws but it can only be held in Australia or New Zealand and the next one won’t come out until the 2028 T20 World Cup edition. It remains to be seen if Amazon will still be covering this for another term by then which will require them to seek a free-to air partner or see Foxtel return onboard with Seven instead of Nine and/or on its own elsewhere with Kayo Freebies.

This is going to look different alongside a brand new theme like FIFA in Soccer where there will be four group stages with each be playing against them four times, then the top two will go play against the other best Top 2 group stage teams that will be split into two groups again during the 2nd round Super 8s for the first time in a long time since 2014 and then you got two semi-finals followed by a final to round off towards the end of June on the 29th. How Amazon’s coverage will look like is that they will air all the matches live straight off the world feed coverage by ICC TV with no in-house production & broadcast talent involved of their own at all even in Australian games since they don’t have a Sydney studio including on-demand full replays and both 10 minute & 25 minute highlights length packages too. Plus, in you case you missed the game by tuning in live midway during the match, you can also quickly look back from the start via a two-minute recap feature which is something new to try. I personally don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription but sure you can pause, rewind and fast forward as well.

Great to see the T20 World Cup enter the US even though it’s not full host rights where they will host some group stages across Florida, Texas and New York with the West Indies getting the majority including all of the Super 8s and Finals. They did beat Bangladesh twice so far during the warm-up games which was really good to hear 2-0, so let’s see if they can at least finish 3rd in Group A if not unexpectedly 2nd with a good group of players including ex-Blackcap Corey Anderson & head coach Stuart Law. But it’s all about the Aussies who hope to steal off yet another World Cup trophy off England albeit the T20 one for the second time after they won the 50-over tournament for the record sixth time late last year v hosts India.

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Rashid Khan’s illustrious show with the bat almost crushed Australia after a narrow loss for Afghanistan but Australia’s semi-final hopes rely on Sri Lanka beating England

by Admin

Today, we are describing fantastic news about the post-game match Report between Australia v Afghanistan that will prove very informative. Let’s start reading now! Glenn Maxwell made outstanding efforts in a half-century to reach Australia’s semifinal. However, Afghanistan’s outstanding performance makes Australia’s success hopes to an end. Rashid Khan at Adelaide Oval was afraid to host the team from his magic performance.

Reigning champions Australia must get their rivals to 106 runs or less to surpass England’s net run rate. Before England’s performance, Sri Lanka is in their final team play on Saturday.

The hosts reach 168 for eight from their 20 overs on the behind off Maxwell’s innings. Later, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi got five wickets between them to control their rivals. It appeared challenging for the match.

The Black Caps’ 89-run triumph in their first encounter proved so expensive to Australia’s championship campaign that New Zealand had already secured a spot in the semifinals. Australia was required to defeat Afghanistan by over 185 runs to surpass their NRR. 

Currently, Sri Lanka must defeat England in a shock result for Australia to advance. If England triumphs, they will meet New Zealand in the following round.

While scoring 169, Gulbadin Naib and Ibrahim Zadran put up a third-wicket partnership of 59 runs. However, Australia regained the initiative with four wickets in nine deliveries, two of which fell to Adam Zampa in his final over. 

Rashid scored an undefeated 48 off 23 balls at the end of the game. As he terrifying the packed house. While cheering his followers at the place he refers to as his “second home.” Still, Australia was capable of staying on and triumphing by four runs.

Controversial call

 A very harsh puzzle occurs as Mitchell Starc declares to away from their line-up. Aaron Finch and Tim David were changed from Cameron Green and Steve Smith less contentiously as both could not recover sufficiently from spasticity problems.

Afghanistan’s opening batsman was at the center of controversy in the first over. 

The bowler Josh Hazlewood struck with his first delivery. He was taking out the batsman with a sharp bouncer that caught him on the head. He was replaced by Pat Cummins and reportedly hurt his shoulder when he collided with Gurbaz in the running after hitting the ball.

Maxwell, Marsh Outstanding Performance

Mitchell Marsh had been on the receiving end of a barrage from Cameron Green and David Warner in the third over. But he was back at the crease in the fourth. He appears to bat with his team trailing by 20 runs and is determined to make a difference.

He starts slowly, carving Gulbadin at slip for four before catches at mid-on by Najibullah Zadran off Gulbadin with 19 runs on board. However, he soon found himself in trouble again. He dismisses Gurbaz with a top-edge straight over his head for a catch by Mujeeb Ur Rahman at cover point.

Afghani wrecking ball touch

With three wickets in four balls, Naveen Chandra’s performance was pivotal in putting a lid on an Australian side needing as big a total as possible to help their troubled title ambitions.  Then, Gurbaz Ahmed’s bright start and Gulbadin Naib’s determined innings before an excellent Maxwell throw from midwicket ran him out.

Afghanistan is within touching distance of the magical 106-run total that would have helped Australia’s NRR comparison with England considerably. When Afghanistan went from 98 for 2 to 99 for 5 and 103 for 6, they were still shy of the mark.

It’s a good week to be a T20I fan. First, the Adelaide Strikers’ Rashid Khan smashed his career-best T20I score, smashing four sixes in two balls off Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Starc over deep midwicket and long-off. It was that kind of T20 Cricket World Cup: explosive, high-scoring, and full of star power. Afghanistan’s bowling attack appears to have been swapped out for another set of explosive attacks.

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Australia win v Ireland last night at The Gabba in Brisbane that kept their World Championship defense hopes alive on home soil

by Admin

Australia vs Ireland was played on 31 October 2022, at the Stadium Brisbane, Australia. Australia was captained by Aaron Finch, and Ireland was captained by Andrew Balbirnie.

Before the start of the match, the toss was held between the two teams and Ireland won the toss and decided to field. It is very important to win this match for both teams to maintain their reputation till the semi-finals. David Warner and Aaron Finch came to play first for Australia while Joshua little bowled the first ball for Ireland.

Australia

In the first over, the Australian batsmen scored 6 runs and the second over of the match was played by Mark Adair in which Australia scored 8 runs without any loss. B. McCarthy bowled in the third over for the Ireland team and got the win for his team by dismissing David Warner on the first ball.

Australia scored 14 runs in 3 overs for the loss of one wicket. At the end of 3 overs, the predictor predicted 171 runs for the Australian team. And thus, in the ongoing match against Ireland, Australia scored 34 runs for the loss of one wicket in 5 overs.

B. McCarthy dismissed Marsh on the first ball of his second over to give his team the second wicket. Joshua little got the third wicket by dismissing Glenn Maxwell and Australia scored 84 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 11 overs.

The Australian team scored 179 runs against Ireland in 20 overs for the loss of 5 wickets, in which Aussie captain Aaron Finch scored 63 runs off 44 balls and Marcus Stoinis scored 35 runs off 25 balls for his team. And 20 overs Ireland needs 180 runs to win.

Ireland

Shortly after the end of Australia’s batting, Ireland’s players entered the field, which were P. Stirling and A. Balbirnie. But A. Balbirnie could not play well for his team and got out for 18 runs but after some time P. Stirling also got out for 18 runs in 2.2 overs. After that, the responsibility of the team L.Tucker and H. Tector took over. But H. Tector could not stay in the field for long and got out after scoring 6 runs.

After the departure of H. Tector, C. Campher and G. Dockrell came and they too could not play a good role for their team and got out without taking any runs.

After five of Ireland’s players were dismissed, G. Delaney came in at number seven, scoring fourteen runs off ten balls.

As the match wore on, the competition became tougher for Ireland. On the other hand, the Australian bowlers tried to get Ireland out early and thus the Ireland team scored 136 runs for the loss of eight wickets in seventeen overs. Ireland needed 44 runs off eighteen balls to win.

Ireland had just 18 balls to complete their target. But they could not complete his target in front of the Australian bowler and the whole team was out by scoring 137 runs in 18.1 overs. Ireland suffered a defeat and Australia won by forty-two runs.

Summary

Australia’s Aaron Finch (63/44), Marcus Stoinis (35/25), and Mitchell Marsh (28/22) take turns playing for your team.

Ireland’s Lorcan Tucker (71/48), Gareth Delany (14/10), and Paul Stirling (11/7) take turns playing for your team.

After winning the match against Ireland, the Australian team got 5 points and placed second in its Super 12 group, while Ireland is fourth in its group with 3 points after facing defeat.

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2022 T20 World Cup: Persistent rain abandoned Australia v England game tonight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground without a ball being bowled

by Sports Benches

Well, we were hoping to have at least some play tonight between Australia v England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground but again Mother Nature ultimately won this game ahead of the two teams without a ball being bowled.

With that being said, Australia should not have to face any issues beating Ireland and Afghanistan to complete their Super 12 campaign. However, like Mother Nature, Australia will need some luck & pray that England lose to the Black Caps (New Zealand) on Tuesday. 

That way, not only Australia can end up in the Top 2 Group 1 ladder, but they can advance into the semi-finals v India or South Africa in order to continue their World Championship defence on home soil.

For now, the Australian Opening and Top-Order will need to be at their best by scoring big, so they can come to a semi-final fully prepared to upset a giant like India as if their 2nd place finish in Group 1 was confirmed. 

Meanwhile, their bowling has been okay on the other hand but again they will need to be up and running right & nail down early wickets from the very start. If not, they will have a hard time overcoming India in the semi-final and potentially throw away another Trans-Tasman showdown v the Blackcaps (New Zealand) for the big T20 World Cup Final at the MCG come Sunday November 13.

We love seeing some underdog teams upset the big nation Test sides so far in this tournament, as we can’t wait to see how the business end of the Super 12 group stages unfold going into this weekend as well as the entirety of next week.

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STOINIS HEROICS GETS AUSSIES UP AND RUNNING

by Admin

By Shenol M.Wilson

It was an exciting day for the Aussies at Perth stadium as they were up for the challenge, not only to beat Asian Champions but also to recover their Net run rate after a huge loss with Kiwis. The pitch and conditions looked perfect for their pace attack.

Aussie captain won the toss and asked the Sri Lankan team to bat first. Unlike the New Zealanders, Sri Lankan top order came up with steady and slow start and they were able to get only 60 odd runs in first 10 overs. They were trying to up their gears but the consistent loss of wickets shorten their way to the par score as they were only able to get 157 runs for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 20 overs.

Ever reliable Pathum Nissanka was the highest scorer for Lankan Lions and Charith Asalanka made them get to a responsible score with his knock of 38 runs of just 25 balls. Five bowlers of Aussie line up chipped in with 1 wicket and economical Michelle Starc just gave 23 runs off his 4 overs by taking a wicket.

Coming up for the chase, Australians were trying to get there as soon as possible in order to up their Net run rate. It was not that easy with the quality of Sri Lankan bowling attack in the first few overs as David Warner was dismissed just for 11 runs by Maheesh Theekshana. Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch were also finding it difficult to time as Sri Lankans were doing their bowling and fielding well.Maxwell tried his best to get them out of trouble with 23 off just 12 balls before he was dismissed with a superb catch by Ashen Bandara. Aussies were struggling a bit again when Maxwell was dismissed when the score was 89 in 13th over.

After all Marcus Stoinis arrived to the crease and he had other ideas as he just threw his bat around to deliver an amazing knock of 59 runs off just 18 balls. He was hitting it to all the parts of the grounds as they were able to get it all done in just 16.3 overs which helped them to recover their Net run rate after what happened on Saturday night. Highest scorer for the Aussies was Stoinis as he showed again why he is one of the best power hitters in the world. Aaron Finch who was struggling all through the inning was able to be there at the end being not out and he was able to be the real backbone of the run chase irrespective of all the chaos.

This run chase was able to get the Aussie run rate improved up to -1.555 and it is very important for them to keep up with this momentum.Aussies will meet their Ashes opponent England on Friday and it will be a huge challenge again for them with the kind of performance English players were able to deliver recently. On the other hand, Sri Lankans will meet New Zealanders on Saturday evening where they will have to up their game and deliver.

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New Zealand surprise World Champions Australia with a Devon Conway special

by Admin

By Shenol. M Wilson

Hopes were high with Aussie fans earlier in the evening, going on to the first match of the world cup with their arch rivals New Zealand on their home soil. Kiwis had other ideas as they were able to get a thumping win over the World Champs and completely disarrayed every prediction going on into the match.

Aussie captain Aaron Finch won the important toss and decided to bowl first in a beautiful batting surface on the Sydney cricket ground as he thought it would get better with the match going on. Going on into the power play, New Zealand openers did not waste a second as they stormed in by throwing out their bats to world class Aussie pace attack. Finn Allen and Devon Conway were able to build up a 56 run opeing partnership before Allen got out for well-made 42 by using just 16 balls.

Ever reliable captain Kane Williamson steadied the ship as he was able to get a partnership with Conway before he got out to Adam Zampa when the score board was 125. Glenn Philips and Jimmy Neesham finished up the job with their cameos of 12 runs and 26 runs without wasting many balls as score board showed exactly 200 runs for just 3 wickets at the end of 20 overs. It was all about the anchor of the inning, Conway who was able to get 92 runs of just 58 balls, which was able to make him player of the match at the end of the game.

On the other hand, replying to this classy performance, Australian Batsmen never got going as they were bundled out for just 111 runs as Kiwis were able to win by 89 runs, which gave them the ability to get a huge advantage by having a such a good net run rate which might be crucial in this highly competitive group A.

Other than the sweep shots of Glenn Maxwell which were able to make him the highest scorer for the Aussies by getting 28 runs, there were nothing much to talk on individual scores in the Australian line up. Highly experienced pace duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult were able to share 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively as Spinning all-rounder Mitchell Santner made his presence felt with 3 wickets in his bag.

This was completely a surprise for many around the world as Aussie were coming up to the tournament as one of the tournament favorites. Funny things do happen in cricket and this might be an awakening for the Aussies who can still be a force to reckon in coming up fixtures.

Aussies will meet the Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka on Tuesday and it will be a good chance for them to bounce back after what happened already. However ,they should not underestimate any opponent in the group A as they need not only to win, they will have to win big to stay in the competition.

Talking about Kiwis, they should be grateful with this win but still there is a huge mountain to climb as they move towards their first ever world cup hopes. New Zealand will meet Afghan blue tigers on Wednesday, which will be a good opportunity for them to steady their position on top.

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A rundown of Nine Network’s coverage of the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup ahead of Australia v New Zealand tonight at the SCG

by Sports Benches

Well, it has been a while when watching white-ball International Cricket on Free TV, but Australia’s 2022 T20 World Cup campaign defense kicks off tonight at the Sydney Cricket Ground v New Zealand aka Black Caps.

And the Nine Network is onboard once again alongside Fox Cricket as the ICC’s Australian Free TV partner to bring you all the action with Australian games, a couple of other Super 12 games, two semi finals and the final to round off such a great next few weeks ahead of T20 World Cup on show.

I’m glad that Roz Kelly is onboard as the host who knows cricket so well, thanks to her husband who was also really good back in the his day with his fast bowling for South Africa in Morne Morkel. She also hosted Network 10’s Big Bash League coverage in the past before the rights were taken away by the Seven Network in 2018. But again, great to see Roz get the opportunity to present cricket on Nine after she came back here at the start of last year to host Rugby Union, Tennis, reading the sports news for Nine News Sydney (Fridays & Saturdays) and Sports Sunday.

It’s also good to see former Opening Batsman Mark “Tubby” Taylor provide his insights on the game once again as Nine’s primary cricket expert, even though they no longer hold the home summer matches anymore. But he’s still well liked here for over two decades since his retirement from the game, especially when he pops up on Sports Sunday for most of the year with Roz.

Although there isn’t any ex-Nine cricket faces currently hired on Seven and Fox Cricket these days following the tragic death of Shane Warne (Fox Cricket) earlier this year – as well as Michael Slater (Seven) whose life gone has upside down not long after Seven dismissed him over the past year due to budget constraints – but Nine will have two new analysts for this tournament in former spinner Steve O’Keefe and former batsman Callum Ferguson.

And oh, Michael Clarke may not have been picked up by Seven or Fox at all since Nine no longer airs the summer of cricket four years ago, but he will be on the world feed commentary nonetheless alongside Fox Cricket regulars in Mark Howard, Mel Jones and Adam Gilchrist.

It will be interesting to see what the cricketing community here will say about this commentary team in the next few weeks. I’m sure they will enjoy having a female presenting the coverage in Roz including Tubby and two fresh faces, before Nine will be back on the crease next year with The Ashes in England (Mid June-August) & the next Men’s 50-Over World Cup in India (October-November).

Then we’ll wait and see if Nine will get some help from Network 10 once the current domestic deal expires in 2024, so Nine can hopefully get Test Cricket back & 10 picks up the rest with the Big Bash & white-ball International Cricket – while keeping the Australian Open Tennis which has been working for them so well since they shocked Seven and the Australian sporting community in 2018/2019.

For now, enjoy the next few weeks of T20 World Cup Cricket. Plus, shout out to Ian Chappell who recently announced his retirement from commentary at age 78, after a illustrious spell for over a few decades following the end of his playing career with Nine and other International TV/Radio outlets.

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2021 T20 World Cup Final Match Report

by Admin

Australia won their first ever T20 world cup, after a commanding run chase over New Zealand.

The Aussies won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that has become pretty common in this world cup due to the dew effect and how the pitch matures. It seemed to be a pretty smart decision early on, with Josh Hazelwood taking the wicket of semi final hero Darrell Mitchell, in the third over. The other opener Martin Guptill scored a slow 28 runs off of 35 balls, before he chipped one to Marcus Stoinis.

But from there on it was the Kiwi captain who took control of the innings. After a slow start, Kane Williamson exploded through the middle overs, hitting thirteen boundaries including three sixes in a spectacular innings. Williamson was able to score his 85 off of just 48 deliveries. It was a spectacular innings, that led New Zealand to finish on 172-4, after Jimmy Neesham smacked a six towards the close of play.

It meant Australia had the difficult task of chasing 173 on a slow pitch. Their run chase was made a lot more difficult when they lost captain Aaron Finch for just five runs in the third over. But from there, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh put on the match winning partnership of 92, before Warner was bowled out by Trent Boult.

While Australia came into the tournament with some incredible batsmen like David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, it was ten year veteran Mitchell Marsh who provided the match winning performance. Coming in with Australia down 15-1 after a slow start, Marsh provided a controlled but impressive innings which led his side to victory.

Marsh had been dropped in the run up to the tournament, but was reinstated into the team as the tournament began, and provided the most important innings of his career in the final. Marsh hit some beautiful shots before Glenn Maxwell took Australia past 173, with seven balls to spare.

Top 3 Performances

3. Kane Williamson produced what was thought to be a match winning performance. His T20 ability is often overlooked, but the captain did everything to try to lead his team to victory today, narrowly falling short of defending their total.

2. While Williamson batted excellently, Josh Hazlewood showed why he is one of th best t20 bowlers in the world once again, taking 3 wickets for just 16 runs, including the wicket of Williamson. It was a bowling performance that meant no other New Zealand batter could properly help their captain

1. Mitch Marsh produced his greatest ever performance. Australia’s batting had been a worry coming into the tournament, with questions all across their line-up. But Marsh put to bed any questions about him being in the team. Marsh never looked worried as he hit a match winning 77 which included four big sixes. It was a performance no one expected, but came at exactly the right time for Australia.

This is the Aussies first ever t20 world cup victory, despite winning five world cups in ODI cricket. Australia lost in 2010 to England, but took care of things today. It means they go into the 2022 world cup which is hosted in Australia as holders, looking to defend their crown at home.

New Zealand need to regroup after a difficult loss in the final, but they will go into the world cup next year with a good squad that should have some crucial additions like Lochie Ferguson and Finn Allen come back into the squad to give them a good shot at the world cup in 2022.

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