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Introduction

Hello cricket fans! Join us for game two of the live coverage of the men’s T20I showdown for the Chappell-Hadlee series. Australia lead the series 1-0 after beating the home side by six wickets in the first match on Wednesday.

That victory was built on the broad shoulders of skipper Mitchell Marsh, who blasted 85 from 43 deliveries with 9 boundaries and 5 maximums at a scoring rate of 197.67.

The Black Caps were dominated with the ball but will take solace from their performance with the bat. Even after losing three early wickets in the first 10 balls, they recovered to reach what appeared a competitive 181, spearheaded by Tim Robinson’s first T20I hundred.

Weather Update

The latest weather report…

Sadly, it’s a wet day at Bay Oval and the drizzle, which stopped an earlier, has just resumed. While the weather radar shows clearing conditions coming in, for now the coin toss and announcement of the two XIs for today will be postponed.

Nonetheless, I’m informed the venue has a drainage system that disposes of liquids effectively, so fingers crossed we see play soon.

Team News

These are today’s teams…

NEW ZEALAND
1 Tim Seifert (wk), Devon Conway, 3 Tim Robinson, 4 Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, 6 Michael Bracewell (capt), 7 Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy

A changed lineup for the New Zealand with all-rounder Jimmy Neesham added to the team, paceman Ben Sears in, and 32-year-old leg-break specialist Ish Sodhi also included.

AUSTRALIA
Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (captain), Matt Short, Tim David, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, 8 Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

A single alteration for the Aussies with pace bowler Sean Abbott taking the place of Ben Dwarshuis.

Toss Result

Coin toss: New Zealand won the toss and will bowl first

The New Zealand captain calls correctly and chooses to field at the Australians. Mitch Marsh probably would have chosen similarly so an initial advantage for the home side. However, the Kiwis will need to start a lot better than they did in the first match where Australia raced to 67 in five overs before the Kiwis took their initial breakthrough.

Game Setup

More good news, folks: the covers have been removed at Bay Oval and we have confirmation that this match will go ahead as an 18-over contest.

Player Highlights

Tim Robinson’s debut T20I hundred in Game One was a spectacular effort in a losing cause. The Black Caps were six for three in the second over, with the Australian paceman dismissing the opener in the first over and the left-arm quick taking two wickets in consecutive deliveries to dismiss Devon Conway and Mark Chapman back to the sheds before Robinson walked out confidently. In his 13th T20 international, the unruly-haired youngster made an not out 106 off 66 balls.

Robinson hit 6 boundaries and five sixes along the way and concluded his innings in style, with a boundary and a maximum from the final two balls!

Injury Updates

Several fans leaving at the Bay Oval so we expect a coin toss and the confirmed teams for you soon. However, there are a heap of players absent across the board through injury, Test commitments, family reasons or freak accidents.

Weirdest of all, both teams lost their star allrounders on the eve of the series in bizarre training mishaps. On Tuesday, Black Caps gun Rachin Ravindra hit an advertising hoarding during a fielding practice and sustained a deep laceration to his face that needed stitching and ruled him out for the entire series.

On the same day, Australian star Glenn Maxwell had one of his powerful wrists fractured while practicing bowling thanks to hard-hitting colleague Mitchell Owen. It means The Big Show is a no-show for this series and may be in doubt for the home summer too.

Looking Back

As the players go through their last preparations at the venue, we might take a look back at the first match. The two sides arrived in hot form, with Australia on a tear of 15 wins from their previous 17 T20 games and the Kiwis having won 9 out of 11 matches in 2025.

Related Tournament News

Of course today’s T20I is also a tasty entree for the Women’s World Cup being held in the subcontinent. The Australian women’s team are on a quest to win a seventh World Cup, and become the first women’s team to win back-to-back championships since 1988. They began their tournament with a win against the White Ferns and this evening square off against the Lankan team.

Indigenous star Ashleigh Gardner notched the first century of the tournament, rescuing Australia from 5-128 with a calm 83-ball 115 that helped her team to post 326 runs in 49.3 overs. The Aussies went on to defeat the White Caps by 89 runs.