Adam Zampa takes five as Australia rip through New Zealand in Cairns

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Adam Zampa
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Australia retained the Chappell-Hadlee Cup with a thumping 144-run victory over New Zealand in the second One-Day International in Cairns.

The wickets fell thick and fast on another difficult batting surface in far-north Queensland and Australia’s first innings total of 9 for 195 appeared grim enough, but New Zealand fared far worse in the chase, losing all ten wickets for just 82 runs in 33 overs.

Only four New Zealand batters reached double figures, Kane Williamson top-scoring with 17, as the visitors collapsed to their sixth-lowest total in ODIs.

Adam Zampa netted his first ODI five-wicket haul, finished with 5-35 off nine overs, while Sean Abbott returned the extraordinary figures of 2-1 off five overs.

Australia’s own batting performance left much to be desired, Trent Boult and Matt Henry again causing havoc early, reducing the hosts to 5-54 in the 19th over, but Steve Smith (61 off 94) steadied the innings somewhat with handy contributions from the lower order that took Australia to a modest total that was ultimately well out of New Zealand’s reach.

It’s difficult to read much into a series in which batting has been devilishly tricky, but Aaron Finch’s two-ball duck will do little to quiet the questions over his form ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup.

After being sent into bat, Finch was quickly back in the dressing room after attempting to drive Henry over mid-off only to miscue the ball to Williamson. Since making a half-century in the third ODI in Sri Lanka, the Australian captain has been out for a duck three times and his other three innings have totalled 26 runs.

But he was hardly alone in falling cheaply in Cairns. David Warner’s wicket was almost a carbon copy of his captain, toe-ending Henry to Williamson as he tried to go over the top.

Marnus Labuschagne (5) and Marcus Stoinis (0) were both victims of Boult’s familiar inswing and both players burned reviews to deliveries that would clearly have hit the stumps.

Smith’s steadying hand kept the score ticking, albeit slowly, but he had trouble keeping partners at the other end.

Alex Carey (12 off 28) was out by the barest of margins, stumped by Tom Latham when he missed an attempted sweep off Mitchell Santner, but it was a difficult call for the third umpire to ascertain if any part of his foot was behind the crease.

Glenn Maxwell managed 25 off 50 - a strike rate which only emphasised the difficulty of batting in the challenging conditions - but paid the price for swiping across the line to Boult, Martin Guptill taking the ballooning edge with a fine diving catch running in from deep midwicket.

After another leading edge ended Smith’s innings, holing out to Boult off Tim Southee, Mitchell Starc (38 off 45) and Josh Hazlewood (23 off 16) cut loose to ensure they would have something to defend with ball in hand, something that had seemed unlikely when Australia were 8-117.

Starc got the ball rolling in the first over of the chase, tempting Guptill (2 off 5)) with a full and wide delivery that caught the edge and was snaffed by Finch in the slips.

But it was Abbot who both stifled and ruffled New Zealand’s top order; his first four overs were maidens and his first included the wickets of Devon Conway (5 off 20), who holed out to fine leg, and Tom Latham (0 off 3), who edged to Smith.

The first of Zampa’s five wickets was the most extraordinary; he floated up a full toss to Williamson (17 off 58), who made a complete hash of his attempted pull shot. The ball dipped and struck Williamson on the back pad and he was given lbw, compounding the misery with an unsuccessful review.

A combination of Zampa’s legspin and googlies were too good for New Zealand who, at once, looked in danger of posting their lowest ever total, which stood at 64.

With the series lost it will be of little consolation that such a record was avoided but, with Cairns the venue for the remaining ODI on Sunday, another low-scoring match is entirely possible.

Author(s)
Melinda Farrell Photo

Melinda Farrell is a senior cricket writer for The Sporting News Australia.