Guptill’s ton in vain as Aussies hammer world record chase

New Zealand will look to seal their place in the final of the Trans-Tasman tri-series when they take on Australia in the fifth Twenty20 worldwide of the tri-nation T20 series in Auckland on Friday.

At the start of Australia’s innings, David Warner, who made 59, and D’Arcy Short, who made 76, flung the bat with abandon in the powerplay, improbably racing ahead of the rate in reaching 91 without loss after six overs. Martin Guptill’s 105 from 54 balls helped the hosts post a formidable 243/6, New Zealand’s highest T20 worldwide score.

Martin Guptill, who surprisingly went unsold at the IPL auctions a few weeks ago, gave glimpses of what was in store as he began the New Zealand innings with a boundary off the bowling of Kane Richardson.

The hosts gained some form in the previous match, with both batsmen and bowlers doing well in a close game against England.

After this Glenn Maxwell made 31 runs in 14 balls and Aron Finch made 36 runs in 14 balls that made Australia wins this match one over earlier. At the halfway point you feel you have a fairly good score on the board.

Warner was over the moon to have won, and said: “Fantastic effort from the guys, you just have to take the scoreboard out of it”.

For Australia, though, the carnage started right from the very beginning.

“Hard to be too critical of the bowlers”. Was a fantastic surface. We’ll need to think about it. They went for 18 wides and two no-balls, which meant two free hits – 13 runs in total – but it’s not surprising with this kind of hitting the bowlers got a bit crease-shy.

Morgan was thankful that the result kept his winless team’s hopes alive to qualify for the tri-series final. In a must-win encounter for Kiwis, they had everything to cheer for when Martin Guptill helped himself to his second ton and became the leading run scorer in the history of T20 Internationals.

But get set for more “fun” because guess where the final of the Trans-Tasman Tri-Series is set for on February 21.

The match also had its share of freakish moments, including New Zealand batsman Mark Chapman’s dismissal, when a fizzing Billy Stanlake ball knocked off his helmet and sent it rolling into the stumps.