Aussies win warm-up thriller

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Australia’s opening pair of pocket dynamos have stolen the show and propelled their team to a narrow victory in the practice fixture against New Zealand in Fatullah ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

If it was a low-key build-up the Australians wanted, George Bailey’s men most certainly got what they were after.

Maybe 200 locals turned out to witness the early stages of the warm-up contest between the trans-Tasman opponents, and they soon discovered it was to be ‘warm’ in name only as David Warner and Aaron Finch turned up the heat on a Black Caps attack that had no answers to a remarkable onslaught.

Bailey had no hesitation in batting first, and Warner and Finch strode imposingly to the crease like a pair of bare-knuckle brawlers keen to get their mitts into anything.

The eight-over exhibition that followed could well send shockwaves through the tournament – some four days before Australia have even played their first official shot in anger.

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After Warner took six balls to find his first runs, Finch added two boundaries in the second over before picking off-spinner Kane Williamson as his chief target, and sending him for four fours and a six.

Warner obviously took his partner’s exploits as some kind of challenge, and duly outdid him, taking 23 from the following over, including 6,6,4,6 from spinner Ronnie Hira’s first four deliveries.

The left-hander raced to his 50 from just 20 balls, proving in the process that a change of scene and a long-haul plane flight has done absolutely nothing to diminish his stunning form.

In the end, it was Australia coach Darren Lehmann who invoked what could only be described as a self-imposed mercy rule, withdrawing Warner (65 from 26) and Finch (47 from 22) from the action in order to provide his other batsmen with some valuable time in the middle.

Through a combination of brute force and some exquisitely deft touches, particularly from Finch, the Australian opening stand had reached a dizzying 113 from just 48 deliveries.

After such a frenzy, the pace inevitably slowed, and an approach more befitting a practice match followed, with Shane Watson (27), George Bailey (19) and Brad Hodge (25) all spending valuable time in the middle as the Australians seized on the flying start to work their way comfortably to an even 200.

That’s not to say the final 12 overs – which still garnered 87 runs – were sedate, with Watson hitting three consecutive sixes off Hira before holing out to long off attempting a fourth, while the second of Hodge’s sixes was arguably the biggest of the afternoon.

Allrounder Glenn Maxwell will be disappointed to have again missed out, with the right-hander swinging across the line to off-spinner Anton Devcich and being trapped lbw for two, but generally speaking, Lehmann will be delighted with the form shown and opportunities seized upon by his key batsmen.

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Mitchell Starc, seemingly revelling in his role as Australia’s spearhead in the now prolonged absence of ‘the other Mitch’, conceded just a couple of runs off his opening over and presently appears a man capable of threatening in even the most batsman-friendly T20 conditions.

But it was Nathan Coulter-Nile who made the initial breakthrough, finding the edge of Kane Williamson’s bat, with Brad Haddin doing the rest to dismiss the opener for 17.

Brendon McCullum announced his arrival with two fours from the same bowler, before he and Martin Guptill settled into a partnership that consistently stuck to the required rate of around 10 an over until McCullum attempted one too many midwicket heaves, and was caught on the fence by Maxwell off James Muirhead’s bowling.

Muirhead was courageous enough to continually flight his leg-breaks, and he was rewarded a second time for his valour, with the prized wicket of Martin Guptill, who batted sublimely for his innings-topping 62 from 34 balls.

Fellow tweaker Brad Hogg then ensured he was still very much in the selectors’ minds, snatching the limelight back from the man 23 years his junior with the wickets of Ross Taylor and Colin Munro in consecutive balls.

He could have had three in the over had he managed to hang onto a difficult chance running back towards the sightscreen.

The double blow brought to the crease the dangerous sixth-wicket pairing of Corey Anderson and the familiar face of former West Australian keeper-batsman Luke Ronchi, and the pair seemed to set themselves for a do-or-die counterattack with 43 runs required from the final four overs.

Bailey reintroduced Starc into the attack in the hope of the left-armer coming to the party with a decisive wicket, and the big quick delivered in his final over, grabbing two wickets before Coulter-Nile iced the deal with a tidy final over that prevented New Zealand reaching the target of 201.

What had been originally billed as a separate five-over-contest then served solely as match practice for the two sides.