FANTASY
Follow UsA week ago, when New Zealand led this series by a 2-0 margin, it seemed like they were in complete control. Two matches later though, the series is level at 2-2 with everything to play for in the final game at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on Sunday (March 7). Anyone who has watched cricket over the last few decades will know never to count Australia out and even though they aren’t at their best right now, this series has shown their ability to bounce back from an unfavourable situation.
The two teams have faced off in 13 T20Is until now, with Australia winning a majority of the games. The 2010 World T20 finalists have also won three out of the last five T20Is they have played against their Trans-Tasman rivals.
T20I HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall: Matches – 13 | New Zealand – 4 Wins | Australia – 9 Wins
Last 5 Matches: New Zealand – 2 Wins | Australia – 3 Wins
SUGGESTED TEAMS
GROUND DETAILS & TEAM COMBINATION
This will be the third consecutive match of the series to be held at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. In the two contests that have taken place at the stadium over the last week, it’s fair to say that spinners have done very well. In the first of those games, Ashton Agar took a six-wicket haul while, in the second, every spinner across both teams did exceptionally well.
In those couple of matches, spinners have been better when it comes to average (10.1 vs 41.8), strike rate (9.5 vs 27.6) and economy rate (6.4 vs 9.1). While the slower bowlers have bowled 39.5% of the overs in Wellington in this series, they’ve taken 65.5% of the wickets. That’s why we have selected a spin-heavy bowling line-up. If you feel you need more balance in your team, then you could replace Adam Zampa with one of Australia’s pacers.
With this being the last match of the series, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the players who haven’t got a chance so far will get a game. With Kyle Jamieson having not done very well so far in this series, New Zealand could make a change, something you should keep an eye out on.
There could be a few interesting match-ups too.
Adam Zampa has dismissed Kane Williamson once in this series and it’ll be interesting to see what happens if this contest does take place in this game, especially if the pitch assists spin. Williamson doesn’t have the greatest of records against Zampa in T20 cricket, having scored at a strike rate of 97.4 (37 runs from 38 balls) while being dismissed twice in seven innings.
In the previous match, as soon as Glenn Maxwell got going, Trent Boult was brought into the bowling attack and that worked well for New Zealand as the latter dismissed the former. It was the second time that Boult has dismissed Maxwell in T20 cricket, with the Australian batsman scoring 23 runs from 18 balls in seven innings in total against the Blackcaps left-arm pacer.
CAPTAIN SUGGESTION
There could be two concerns about selecting Kane Williamson as fantasy captain for this game. One being that he has been dismissed for single-digit scores in the last two matches and the other being that, going by the previous game, the pitch might not be great for batting. Yet, based on the skill set that he possesses, we have opted for Williamson as our captain. Since the start of 2020, he averages 48.7 in T20 cricket.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Williamson could score 13-36 runs in this match.
X-FACTORS
Due to his batting style, Glenn Maxwell might also seem like a risky option. One of the main reasons we’ve selected him as vice-captain of our team is because not only can he contribute with the bat, but at a stadium that has assisted spin over the last week, we feel that there’s a chance his bowling could result in some valuable fantasy points. In the previous T20I at the same venue, he did pick up a couple of wickets.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Maxwell could score 12-29 runs and could take 0-1 wickets in this match.
Ish Sodhi is the highest wicket-taker in the ongoing series, having taken 10 wickets at a strike rate of 9 so far. Add to that the fact that the New Zealand leg-spinner has performed admirably at the Sky Stadium in Wellington (14 wickets at a strike rate of 11.6 in seven innings) in T20Is, he seems like a really good option.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Sodhi could take 0-1 wickets in this match.
While the series didn’t begin all that well for Ashton Agar, going wicketless in the first two matches, he has been excellent in the two contests in Wellington. In the first of those games at the Sky Stadium, he secured career-best T20 bowling figures of 6/30 and his spell (two wickets at an economy rate of 2.8) in the match that followed played a huge role in Australia levelling the series.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Agar could take 1-2 wicket in this match.
