New Zealand’s fast bowlers crushed Pakistan in swinging conditions at Mount Maunganui and set up a massive 115-run win to help the home side clinch the series 3-1 with a match to spare. After chasing down 205 in Auckland to keep the series alive, Pakistan were all out in 16.2 on Sunday with New Zealand’s four-seam attack accounting for nine of the ten wickets. Jacob Duffy made early inroads, picking up three wickets inside the powerplay to dent Pakistan and they never recovered from the top-order collapse.

Earlier, Finn Allen top-scored with a 20-ball fifty and cameos fromTim Seifert and Michael Bracewell powered New Zealand to 220 for 6. New Zealand made the intent clear from the beginning as they raced to 79 for 1 in the powerplay. Even though there was a slowdown in the middle overs, New Zealand managed to post their second straight 200-plus total in the series, which proved too much for the visitors.

Pakistan’s chase never took off with New Zealand troubling them with swing and seam on offer. Unlike the game in Auckland, Pakistan couldn’t take advantage of the dew factor. The chase began with Will O’Rourke, playing his first match of the series, removing Mohammed Haris with an excellent delivery that nipped back in to disturb his stumps. Duffy then dismissed Hasan Nawaz, centurion from the last match, and captain Salman Agha in the second over to dent Pakistan. Zakary Foulkes, one of the two changes that New Zealand made to the XI, also struck instantly, as he cleaned up Shadab Khan in his first ball with an inswinger.

Eventually, Pakistan lost eight wickets for 56 runs. The game was all but over at the halfway stage of the chase even though the No.7 Abdul Samad fought a lone battle with his 30-ball 44.

Duffy came back for his final over and added one more wicket to his tally to end with 4 for 20 while Foulkes scalped three overall. Duffy is now the highest-wicket taker in the series with 11 wickets from four matches

Tim Seifert continued to give flying starts for New Zealand. He drove the second ball of the innings, a juicy half-volley from Shaheen Afridi, straight down the ground for four and followed it up with a six over long-on off Khushdil Shah in the next over. Abrar Ahmed’s first over, fourth overall, was the expensive one in the powerplay as Seifert smashed 6, 4, 6 in the 19-run over. The team’s fifty came up in 3.5 overs. But Pakistan got the breakthrough immediately as Haris Rauf was brought in for the fifth over with Seifert pulling a short ball to deep midwicket where Khushdil took a stunning low catch. New Zealand ended the powerplay at 79 for 1 – the second-highest powerplay total for any team against Pakistan in men’s T20Is. Seifert made a 22-ball 44.

Allen scored eight off his first six balls, but once the field was spread out, he took charge. Abrar, after his 19-run first over, conceded another 16 runs in his second as Allen hit him for two fours and a six. Allen continued his onslaught, slapping Shadab Khan for two fours and as many sixes in a 23-run 10th over to bring up his fifty off just 19 balls. But he perished the next delivery from Abbas Afridi after miscuing on to mid-off. From 134 for 2, New Zealand slipped to 149 for 5 as Pakistan bowled five boundary-less overs.

Rauf was the only Pakistan bowler to leak fewer than ten runs an over in the fourth T20I, as he returned 3 for 27 from his four overs.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 220 for 6 in 20 overs (Finn Allen 50, Mark Chapman 24, Daryl Mitchell 29, Michael  Bracewell 46*,  Tim Seifert 44; Abrar Ahmed 2-41, Haris  Rauf 3-27, Abbas Afridi 1-38) beat Pakistan 105 all out in 16.2 overs  (Irfan Khan 24, Abdul Samad 44;  Will O’Rourke 1-29, Jacob Duffy 4-20, Zakary Foulkes 3-25, James Neesham 1-14, Ish Sodhi 1-15) by 115 runs

[Cricinfo]

Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland and Alana King starred in another dominant Australia performance to crush New Zealand by 82 runs in Mount Maunganui and close out their first women’s T20I series win in New Zealand with one game remaining.

Mooney scored 70 off 42, her fourth 70-plus score in her last five T20Is, to earn Player-of-the-Match honours again and underpin Australia’s mammoth total of 204 for 3, where all five of Australia’s batters on show reached 23 or more. Only Phoebe Litchfield struck at under 153. Georgia Voll’s blistering 36 off 20 set the tone for Mooney to follow before Litchfield, Ellyse Perry and Sutherland all produced valuable cameos.

Sutherland then ripped through New Zealand’s top order, taking three wickets in her first seven deliveries after King had knocked over Suzie Bates, to extinguish any hopes of a record chase as they folded for just 122. Sutherland finished with extraordinary career-best T20I figures of 4 for 8 from 2.1 overs. King, who was oddly left out of Australia’s XI in the first game of the series despite starring in the Ashes, took 3 for 27 having come in for the injured Ash Gardner.

Amelia Kerr took 1 for 27 from four overs and made 40 off 36, but no other New Zealand player conceded fewer than eight runs per over with the ball or scored more than 22 with the bat.

Mooney and Voll once again took the wind out of New Zealand’s sails, this time blasting a 57-run opening stand in 5.1 overs after Australia won the toss and chose to bat on a pristine surface.

Picking up from where the two had left off following their 123-run stand in Auckland, Voll was vicious in her assault on the new ball. She smashed seven boundaries in the first five overs and could have done more damage had she not picked out fielders in the ring with several powerful strikes. She clubbed Eden Carson for three fours in the second over on the innings and then produced back-to-back boundaries off Rosemary Mair in the fourth to reach 33 from 17 before Mooney had got to double-figures.

She fell in unusual fashion, bounced out by Sophie Devine with keeper Polly Inglis up to the stumps. Both Voll and Inglis thought she had missed a pull shot. But Devine thought she heard something, and a review showed a spike on real-time snicko as ball passed bat.

Mooney enjoyed a slice of luck when Devine misjudged an aerial square drive on the deep point rope. She came in too far and it sailed over her head but landed inside the rope.

The left-hand batter then continued her form, accumulating with ease. She shared a 69-run stand with Litchfield, who made a scratchy 32 from 29. When she holed to long-on, Australia upped the tempo with Perry pumping her first delivery over cover for four.

It sparked an electric finish to the innings. Mooney holed out to Amelia Kerr, who very nearly pinned Sutherland lbw first ball with a superb wrong’un. Sutherland needed a review to overturn a decision with ball tracking showing it was just going over middle. Sutherland and Perry proceeded to take 40 from the last 18 balls of the innings. Sutherland smashed an enormous six in her 23 not out from 15. Perry showed her class off the last two balls of the innings, lofting inside out over cover and then reverse lapping fine of third to finish unbeaten on 29 from 15.

New Zealand’s pursuit of the record chase never got going. King bowled Bates in the second over before Sutherland removed Georgia Plimmer and Devine in consecutive balls in the fifth. When Brooke Halliday miscued to mid-on off Sutherland’s first ball of the seventh over, New Zealand were 45 for 4 and Sutherland had 3 for 3.

Amelia Kerr fought hard alongside Maddy Green but the game was well and truly gone. Georgia Wareham trapped Green lbw for 22 before King and Darcie Brown tore through the tail. King removed both Kerr sisters within three balls before Brown picked up two in four balls in the next over.

Sutherland flattened Carson’s off stump to seal the win with New Zealand losing 5 for 13 to be bowled out for 122.

Brief scores:
Australia Women 204 for 3 in 20 overs  (Beth Mooney 70, Georgia Voll 36, Phoebe Litchfield 32, Ellyse Perry 29*, Annabel Sutherland 23*; JessKerr 1-39, Sophie Devine 1-38, Amelia Kerr 1-27) beat  New Zealand Women  122 in 16.1 overs (Suzie Bates 12, Amelia  Kerr 40, Maddy Green 22, Jess Kerr 14; Annabel Sutherland 4-08, Alana King 3-27, Darcie Brown 2-23, Georgia Wareham 1-15) by 82 runs

[Cricinfo]