David's last-ball boundary wins Australia first T20I thriller

Tim David's combination of brute force and icy nerves delivered Australia a remarkable last-ball win in the series opening T20I against New Zealand, as he somehow squeezed a Tim Southee yorker to the mid-wicket boundary with four runs needed.

David finished 31no from just 10 balls faced as he and captain Mitchell Marsh (72no off 44) carried their team across the line in a game that looked lost for all money when Australia required 43 off the final three overs.

But in a bat-dominated contest, they produced the highest-ever T20 chase at Wellington Stadium with David's contribution featuring two crucial sixes and a boundary from the last three balls of the penultimate over leaving 15 to get off Southee's last.

When the veteran NZ seamer conceded just three from his first three deliveries, it seemed the game was done but David produced a stunning strike that hit the boundary rope on the full, then two past cover before his final-ball miracle that just eluded the diving fielder at deep mid-wicket.

In a game where both teams traded heavy blow for heavy blow – NZ with 13 sixes in their innings; Australia 17  – it seemed it would be the hosts' profligacy in shelling three crucial catches that would prove decisive.

But the Black Caps' cause was best served by pace man Lockie Ferguson, in his comeback game after a lengthy injury lay-off, who was the difference returning 1-23 from his four overs after his fellow bowlers all coughed up runs at economy rates in double figures.

Marsh was the only Australia batter to top 50 whereas NZ had opener Devon Conway and number three Rachin Ravindra in their match-defining stand that underpinned a total that proved insurmountable.

When Josh Inglis, batting at number five with Steve Smith watching from the sidelines, holed out for a run-a-ball 20, the equation looked beyond the visitors.

By the midway point of their chase, Australia were on track at 2-110 (compared to NZ's 1-97 off their first 10) with the union between Marsh and Glenn Maxwell having realised 41 from just 18 balls at that stage.

Maxwell's hitting prowess was well known at Wellington Stadium, after the allrounder smashed an unoccupied plastic seat at the venue with a bullet-like blow during Australia's previous visit at the height of NZ's COVID-19 restrictions in 2021.

He later signed the damaged item, which was sold to raise money for charity.

When his stumps suffered a similarly mortal fate shortly after the mid-innings break, having plundered 25 from 11 balls faced, Australia's progress slowed.

The task might have become more daunting had Josh Inglis not been dropped by a diving Tim Southee at mid-off when on seven, and Marsh not been granted a double blessing from Adam Milne's next ball that he belted to square leg where Glenn Phillips missed the catch and parried it for six.

Australia's skipper posted a half-century (from 29 balls) next over, as he kept his team in the hunt after the home team threatened to send their score beyond reach and their parochial fans into a state of euphoria.

The 113-run stand (from 64 balls) between Conway and Ravindra carried New Zealand to their third-highest T20I total against their historic rivals as they took advantage of the short boundaries square of the wicket at the venue known to locals as 'the cake tin'.

Conway's 63 off 46 deliveries represented a welcome return to form for the left-hander whose previous eight T20I innings stretching back more than a year had yielded a top score of 20.

Even more worrying for the man likely to open alongside Tom Latham in the upcoming two-Test series against Australia, he had endured a lean home summer across all formats until hitting his straps tonight.

The 32-year-old had posted a highest score of 29 for the season prior to today, with that knock coming in the two-Test series against a below-strength South Africa where he averaged less than 12 across four innings.

And although he enjoyed some fortune against the new ball this evening – an attempted leg-side flick off Pat Cummins took the outside edge and flew over deep third for six – his innings might yet prove a turning point heading into the upcoming Tests.

He was initially upstaged by his contrastingly in-form T20 opening partner Finn Allen, who again took to Australia's big-name bowling line-up to bludgeon 32 off 17 balls to get the Black Caps innings off to a flyer after skipper Mitchell Santner chose to bat first.

Allen, the hero of NZ's win over Australia in the 2022 T20 World Cup, clubbed the first ball faced from Josh Hazlewood into the vacant seats beyond mid-wicket, and then sliced the next one over cover for a boundary that bounced just inside the rope.

When Maxwell took the ball for the next over, Allen launched the first – a no-ball – back over the bowler's head for a six and then repeated the shot with the free hit that followed.

It was a forgettable evening for Australia's spin pair, with Maxwell (0-32 off two) and Adam Zampa (0-42 off three) suffering at the hands of left-handed pair Conway and Ravindra and conceding runs at almost 15 per over.

Ravindra made a scratchy start to his innings, scoring just seven from the first 10 balls he faced, before exploding into an array of strokes that have come to characterise his rapid ascent in the Test and 50-overs arena.

He then raced to a half-century off just 29 balls and the Black Caps were eyeing a total close to 230 before the set pair fell to consecutive deliveries, both of them caught by Mitchell Starc off Cummins and Marsh respectively.

Their departures left NZ 3-174 at the start of the 17th over before Mark Chapman (18no off 13) and Phillips (19no off 10) put on an unbeaten 41 off 23 to take the total to 215.

Phillips brought a rarely seen innovation to the 20-over game when he crouched like a sprinter at the non-striker's end before exploding out of the blocks the moment the bowler let go of the ball.

Australia's chase began at a similarly frenzied speed, with reunited opening pair David Warner and Travis Head rattling on 29 from 22 balls before top-edged an attempted heave off Milne and fell to a clever catch by NZ's Test skipper Southee – playing his only game of the T20 series – running back with the flight of the ball.

Warner might have fallen in a similar manner on 18 when he to-ended an attempted pull off Ferguson, playing his first game for NZ since injuring his Achilles tendon during the ODI World Cup last November.

But Ravindra was unable to emulate his Test skipper as he ran back from mid-wicket and barely laid a hand on the chance as he dived full length.

Warner celebrated the reprieve by thumping consecutive sixes into the crowd from stand-in captain Mitch Santner next over, but perished attempting a third as Australia slipped to 2-69 after seven.

Having aired his views on NZ crowds earlier this week, in reference to the torrents of abuse he copped from fans on previous visits across the Tasman, Warner was given a rowdy send-off as he left the field tonight and duly blew a kiss to the stands in what seems certain to be his final appearance in NZ's capital.

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

February 21: Australia won the first T20 by six wickets in Wellington

February 23: Second T20, Auckland, 5.10pm AEDT

February 25: Third T20, Auckland, 11am AEDT

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

New Zealand T20 squad: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult

February 29 – March 4: First Test, Wellington, 9am AEDT

March 8-12: Second Test, Christchurch, 9am AEDT

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.