All you need to know for the T20 World Cup final

When and where

Australia and New Zealand will meet in the final of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday, November 15. The match will be played in the early hours of Monday morning for Australia and New Zealand fans.

The match begins at 1am AEDT on Monday for fans on Australia's east coast, which means 3am NZT across the Tasman, and 10pm Sunday night for those on the West Coast.

The full scorecard and live ball-by-ball coverage will be here.

How can I watch?

Foxtel and Kayo Sports are the only places in Australia to watch the T20 World Cup final. There will be no free-to-air broadcast.

Foxtel and Kayo have broadcast every single match of the tournament, from the first round and, with the time difference to the UAE not being particularly great, especially to the east coast, Kayo will produce a 30-minute 'Mini' of the final as well as offering a full replay.

You can sign-up for Kayo here, starting with a 14-day free trial.

So, why no free-to-air broadcast given Australia's anti-siphoning legislation? Well, put simply, the T20 World Cup final falls outside the list – even with Australia and New Zealand involved.

The legislation only covers Australia's matches and the final of T20 World Cups played on Australian soil – so while that will impact next year's event here, Foxtel and Kayo are the only way to watch this year's final.

The Nine Network does have a long-standing arrangement with Foxtel to show Australia's matches at World Cup events – like it did most recently with the 2019 ODI World Cup in England – but this year's tournament is not part of their deal.

In brief, this event was originally scheduled as a Champions Trophy 50-over tournament, putting it outside of Nine's joint-venture with Foxtel. The ICC then changed it to a T20 World Cup in 2018 but it remains outside Nine's arrangement, hence no broadcast.

Australia's path to the final?

Aside from a humbling at the hands of England, it has been a strong run of results for Justin Langer’s men in the UAE. A nail-biting win over South Africa kicked off Australia’s tournament, before they doubled their points with a commanding victory over Sri Lanka. And while the disheartening England defeat in their third clash saw many write the side off, the Aussies bounced back with a thumping victory over Bangladesh. This, in hindsight, proved crucial in securing a strong enough net run-rate to progress. Another comfortable win over the West Indies followed, which ensured progression to the semi-finals in second spot in their Super 12 group after England, Australia and South Africa all finished on level points. There, facing an undefeated Pakistan, the Aussies pulled off perhaps their most famous ever T20 win to progress to Monday morning’s showpiece.

New Zealand's path to the final?

Unlike Australia, the Black Caps kicked off their tournament with a loss to Pakistan, which left them with little margin for error. They then bounced back in terrific fashion with victory over pre-tournament favourites India, which laid the foundations for progression. A defeat in that game, as was the case with India, would have been the end for Kane Williamson’s men. Instead, they remained in the hunt. From there, they started favourites in three consecutive games against Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan and controlled each encounter, ensuring they would do enough to progress through to the semi-finals. There they met England and, like the Aussies, started as underdogs to an in-form side. But as is customary with this New Zealand outfit, they scrapped and scraped to remain in the contest throughout, before some brilliant late hitting from Jimmy Neesham and Daryl Mitchell saw them through.

Players to watch

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa has been the go-to bowler for skipper Aaron Finch throughout the tournament, and again looms as Australia’s key on Monday morning. No players has taken more wickets (12) in the Super 12s, and Zampa will again look to control the middle overs for his side. Teammate David Warner had a terrible lead-in to this tournament; dropped by his IPL franchise and returning scores of 0 and 1 in the two World Cup warm-up games. But something has clicked for the punchy left-hander, in ominous signs for the Black Caps. Warner was back to his best with 89 not out against the Windies in Australia’s final group game, but his 49 off 30 changed the course of the semi-final and pulled Australia out of the early trouble caused by Shaheen Afridi.

For New Zealand, Martin Guptill looms as the man who could hurt Australia early. The opener has scored 218 runs in his past four T20I innings against Australia, at a strike rate of 162.70. Just like Brendon McCullum did in the 2015 ODI World Cup between these two sides, expect Guptill to come out swinging. If Australia (in particular Mitchell Starc) can replicate the famous early dismissal from the ODI World Cup final, they will set themselves up well. And, while it’s a name that hasn’t been mentioned much this T20 World Cup, it is worth remembering Trent Boult’s capacity to do damage both in the Powerplay and at the back-end against Australia. Boult sits just behind Zampa with 11 wickets in the Supers 12s, at an impressive economy rate of 6.54. One of world cricket’s most consistent performers, he will again have the ball in hand when it matters most on Monday morning.

Fast Facts and Stats

Australia have a batting dot-ball percentage of 24 per cent between overs 17 and 20 at this tournament, the best of any team and three percentage points fewer than New Zealand.

New Zealand's bowling economy rate of 6.40 is the best of any team at this tournament. Australia is ranked tenth with a bowling economy of an even 7.

The stats say Australia have saved 21 runs in the field in the tournament, the second most by any team (Pakistan had 22) and four more than New Zealand (17).

If David Warner scores 29 or more he will pass Matthew Hayden's record for the most runs scored at a single T20 World Cup by an Australian. Haydos hit 265 in 2007, and Shane Watson had 249 in 2012. Warner currently has 236 and his 35 boundaries (28 fours, 7 sixes) are the joint-most by any player in the tournament, equaling Mohammad Rizwan and Jos Buttler.

Tim Southee has induced a false shot percentage of 44 per cent against batters at the tournament. Only Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi, with 46 per cent, has caused batters more problems.

Adam Zampa's 12 wickets trails only Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga's 16 for most at the tournament (Sri Lanka played four more matches in the first round). The Aussie record for most wickets at a T20 World Cup was the 14 Dirk Nannes took in the Caribbean in 2010.

The heartbreak tale

Spare a thought for Devon Conway, who was so frustrated with his dismissal in the semi-final that he punched his bat, promptly breaking a bone in his finger and putting him out of the final against Australia. Conway was stumped for 46 off 38 balls at an awkward time in New Zealand's run-chase against England, and thumped his GM bat in frustration, with the padding on his gloves offering little protection.

"It looked a pretty innocuous reactionary incident on the field, but the blow obviously caught the bat between the glove padding While it's not the smartest thing he's done there's certainly an element of bad luck in the injury," NZ coach Gary Stead said.

An X-ray confirmed Conway broke the fifth metacarpal on his right hand and misses not only the T20 World Cup final, but New Zealand's Test and T20 tour of India to follow. Tim Seifert, who has played just the one game at this World Cup, scoring eight off as many balls in a defeat to Pakistan, is the back-up keeper in the Black Caps' squad.

Any Aussie injury worries?

Touch wood it has been a charmed run through the tournament so far for the Australians. The only issue – apart from some bad haircuts – was when Mitch Starc copped a knock to his knee in training after a fierce return drive felled the fast bowler, but a bit of ice and he was good to go and hasn't missed a beat.

Likely line-ups?

Expect Australia to take an unchanged side into the final and persist with a pace-heavy approach. The batting order may shuffle depending on how the Aussies start, with Glenn Maxwell likely to slide up or down in the order to be first in after the Powerplay is complete

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

The Black Caps will be forced into at least one change with the self-inflicted injury to Devon Conway and that is likely to be a straight swap for back-up keeper Tim Seifert. That does weaken their batting a touch, but they have no other batters in reserve to strengthen the line-up.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Tim Seifert (wk), Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult.

Tournament history?

Australia and New Zealand have only met once before at a T20 World Cup, in the Super 10 stage of the previous tournament in Bangladesh in 2016. Both teams can expect to have five players from that match in their starting XI come Sunday night, although it could be six if the Aussies change tact and include Ashton Agar. On that occasion New Zealand opted to bat first and Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill put on 61 for the first wicket on their way to 8-142. Usman Khawaja top scored in the Aussie reply with 38 before he was run out – David Warner made 6 from 11 batting at No.4 – and Mitchell McClenaghan took 3-17 as the Aussies collapsed to lose by eight runs.

Their last meeting at any World Cup event was in the group stages of the 2019 ODI World Cup, when Usman Khawaja (88), Alex Carey (71) and Mitch Starc (5-26) steered the Aussies to an 86-run thumping.

Their last meeting in a World Cup final? Well, we all remember how that one went, don't we....

What if it's a tie?

You may remember a little drama involving a Super Over and a final at the last ICC men’s event.

The rules have since changed, thankfully. If the match is tied a Super Over is played. If the Super Over is a tie, then we'll have another Super Over!

If we have more than one Super Over, any batter dismissed is ineligible to return in the following Super Over, and a bowler cannot bowl two Super Overs in a row.

If we get a tied Super Over, the team that bats second in the first Super Over will be batting first in the next one, and the bowlers will swap ends.

There can be an unlimited number of Super Overs to achieve a result, but if 'exceptional circumstances' or conditions prevent one being completed, there will be joint winners.

Show me the money!

There are some juicy cash prizes on offer, with a total of A$7.6m to be dished out in prizemoney at this tournament.

The winner will collect a cool US$1.6m, which equates to A$2.2m for the Aussies, and a handful more dollary-doos across the Tasman. The runner-up will collect half that amount.

Pakistan and England, as the two losing semi-finalists, have already collected US$400,000 each. The Super 12 teams who didn't make the semi-finals were given US$70,000 each, plus there was a US$40,000 bonus for every game won at that stage.

Anything else to know?

There's a couple of minor changes to the playing conditions from previous events, including the use of the Decision Review System for the first time at a men's T20 World Cup. Teams get two reviews, and the Aussies will have been reminded of that after David Warner missed a chance to overturn his dismissal in the semi-final

The stifling desert heat has also contributed to the introduction of mandatory drinks breaks at the 10-over mark of each innings.