Comeback kings! Aussies' remarkable turnaround from 8/117 as Kiwis suffer collapse for the ages, but Finch fails again

Australia have completed a stunning turnaround in the second ODI against New Zealand, overcoming a nightmare start that saw them slump to 8/117 with a scintillating performance with the ball.

Eventually set a run chase of 196 after the Aussie tail rallied in the final overs, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood putting on a critical unbroken 47-run stand for the final wicket, the Black Caps collapsed spectacularly under the Cairns lights, routed for just 82 to lose by 113 runs.

With Sean Abbott picking up two wickets in his first over, and taking until his fifth to so much as concede a run – he’d finish with the miserly figures of 5-4-1-2 – the visitors’ run chase couldn’t have got off to a worse start, with Adam Zampa wrapping up the tail to finish with a five-wicket haul.

The dismissal of Kane Williamson, missing a swipe at a rank full toss from Zampa to be pinned plumb LBW, couldn’t have summed things up any better – while conditions were tough for all, the captain couldn’t exactly blame them for his downfall.

However, the form of Williamson’s rival captain Aaron Finch continues to be a major concern for the Aussies, with the opener falling for a second-ball duck in the opening overs.

Caught at wide mid-off attempting to lift Matt Henry over the covers, the ugly dismissal is set to heap even more pressure on the skipper’s head, having managed just 26 runs at 5.2 across five matches against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in the past fortnight.

“No doubt that the conditions are tough, but we have to be a little bit smarter,” Williamson admitted after the match.

“And, you know, today I thought we were too soft in terms of our dismissals with the bat.”

The impressive fightback shouldn’t paper over the cracks of another disappointing batting performance from the Australian top order, with Finch only one of a number of failures.

David Warner departed in identical style shortly after his opening partner, chipping Henry straight to Kane Williamson for 5, before Marnus Labuschagne was trapped LBW by Trent Boult for the second consecutive match.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who alongside Finch will be facing pressure after falling for his third straight single-figure score, compounded the issue by reviewing his plumb-looking LBW from Boult, despite Labuschagne having unsuccessfully done the same a few overs prior.

The resultant three reds left the Aussies not just in dire straits at 4/26, but without a review left; commentator and former great Mark Waugh describing the DRS use as a ‘waste’ on Fox Cricket.

“That is a shocking review – that is stone dead,” Waugh fumed.

“That’s just a waste… that’s as plumb as it gets. That’s where [non-striker] Steve Smith should say ‘No mate, that is absolutely dead. That’s a wasted review. Sorry, you’re out, you’re off.”

It fell to Smith to rescue the innings, the veteran turning around his failure in the first ODI to single-handedly carry the top order.

With first Alex Carey and then Glenn Maxwell offering minimal contributions before falling attempting to force the pace – the former brilliantly stumped down the leg side by Tom Latham off Mitchell Santner after missing a reverse-sweep, the latter holing out to mid-wicket for Boult’s third scalp – Smith’s composure overcame a difficult, two-paced wicket.

Only once Sean Abbott fell to a sharp catch at cover by Santner to leave the Aussies 7/111 did Smith begin to heave; but no sooner had he deposited Tim Southee over long leg for six than he died by the sword, an ugly slog producing a leading edge caught simply by Boult at mid-on. With 81 balls left for the innings, batting out the 50 overs looked as unlikely as a competitive total.

Made off 94 balls, Smith’s 61 was clearly the best batting the match saw, but he may have regretted his rashness after seeing the level of dedication tailenders Starc, Hazlewood and Adam Zampa put into ensuring a competitive total.

With the occasional boundary but otherwise sensible batting, Zampa and Starc took the total from 8/117 to the verge of respectability; but the dangers of the pitch remained constant. The moment Zampa began to force the pace, a lofted drive squirted to Jimmy Neesham in the covers for a sharp low catch.

At 9/148, the Aussies were still well and truly behind in the match. But only Maxwell and Smith’s stand would prove more productive than that of last pair Starc and Hazlewood, whose dedication and shot-making put plenty of their colleagues to shame.

Having only been dismissed four times in 65 ODIs heading in, Hazlewood’s batting average of 14.5 was a touch misleading; but he’d improve it beyond 20 with a critical unbeaten 23. Even more impressively, he’d finish as the only batsman from either side with a strike rate of beyond 100.

An inside-out lofted drive over the covers for six off Michael Bracewell was undoubtedly the shot of the innings, and, helped by some lacklustre bowling and fielding from a Black Caps that didn’t count on this much tail-end resistance, helped Australia to what, on a difficult pitch, amounted to a competitive total.

Far from outshone, a monster Starc six off Jimmy Neesham in the final over helped see the Aussies to 9/195; an impressive fightback from their earlier collapse, and, with the home side having only sneaked past the Black Caps’ target of 233 in the first ODI, they were in with a chance.

Hopes only grew stronger when Starc backed up his batting heroics by tempting Martin Guptill into edging to slip in the opening over, one ball after a tough dropped catch by Labuschagne.

Another missed chance saw the Aussies horribly squander a run out just one ball later, with Williamson and Devon Conway let off for a dire mid-pitch mix-up by a wayward throw from Abbott to Carey behind the stumps.

But the Black Caps’ nerves would continue to suffocate their innings from there.

Williamson would again escape after overturning an LBW off Hazlewood when the DRS spotted an inside edge, but Conway would have no such luck. The opener whipped a nondescript Abbott ball, just his second of the innings, directly to Zampa at fine leg, who clung on despite the best efforts of the Cazalys Stadium lights.

When Abbott struck again just three balls later, Latham lured into an edge to Finch again at slip, the Black Caps were 3/14. Game on.

Replacing the hobbled Cameron Green from the first ODI, Abbott’s batting was a far cry from the Western Australian wunderkind’s; but his bowling, coming in with an ODI average of 78 and an economy of above a run a ball, proved perfectly suited to the seaming conditions.

Unplayable at times, the New South Welshman would produce four consecutive maidens as Williamson and Daryl Mitchell aimed to weather the storm; while an ill-fated LBW review off the latter was the only major shout, nor would Abbott offer any respite whatsoever.

Taken off after finally conceding a run from his 29th ball, Abbott’s onslaught would prove only the start of New Zealand’s troubles. Replacing him in the attack, Zampa’s first ball of his second spell was the juiciest of full-tosses; one could practically see Williamson’s eyes light up as he mulled over which Cairns stand to pepper.

Instead, he’d be left red-faced as the ball dipped at the last moment, hitting him full on the back leg and out for as humiliating a dismissal as the batting great has ever endured.

A desperate review would confirm Williamson’s downfall, enough of the ball projected to take leg stump to uphold the on-field call.

Former Australian opener Chris Rogers, who himself suffered a similar dismissal in the 2013 Ashes off England’s Graeme Swann (though his was compounded by his call to not review when the DRS could have saved him), offered his sympathies on Twitter, but it would have been of little comfort.

At 4/34, and with their captain and best batsman gone, the nervous start had become full-blown crisis for the Black Caps; and as bad as the Aussies’ batting performance had been earlier in the day, the visitors’ took things to a whole new level.

Mitchell fell next; given the score, his choice to attempt a reverse-sweep off Zampa was as ill thought out as Williamson’s dismissal was ghastly. The leg-spinner’s second LBW was nearly followed by a third off Neesham’s first ball, but Finch’s haste to review would cost the Aussies as ball-tracker found it turning too much.

Not that it would matter – an over later, Neesham would flick Stoinis needlessly straight to Finch at mid-wicket for the captain’s third catch. At 6/45, only all-rounder Michael Bracewell remained of New Zealand’s recognised batsmen; for all his recent heroics with the bat against Ireland, this was a steeper challenge.

It fell to Starc to remove that challenge, with an inside edge onto pad well caught by Maxwell on the rebound at backward point – had Bracewell missed it, he’d have been plumb LBW.

Having claimed eight of the nine Australian wickets between them, tail-end trio Boult, Southee and Henry would need to produce something even more spectacular with the bat to prevent humiliation, let alone try for the win. Southee totally misjudging a Zampa wrong’un to be bowled neck and crop for two, leaving the score at 8/57, put paid to that: unlike the Australian effort, there would be no rearguard action.

Sean Abbott celebrates taking the wicket of Tom Latham. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Santner, with an unbeaten 16, did his best to delay the inevitable alongside Henry and Boult, managing to put on 25 for the final two wickets. Had Starc, Hazlewood and Zampa not rescued the Australian innings, their efforts may have been enough to make a game of it: here, it was just raging against the dying of the light.

It would be Zampa, fittingly, to claim the final two scalps and earn a maiden ODI five-wicket haul; first Henry caught by sub fielder Ashton Agar attempting to lift the leggie over mid-wicket against the turn, then Boult after an entertaining 12-ball stay at the crease, trapped LBW after missing a wild slog.

Bowled out for 82, the effort was the Black Caps’ sixth-worst score in a completed ODI innings, and their worst in almost six years. Having bowled so excellent early, it was a dismal performance.

Remarkably, Zampa even admitted after the match he was ‘a little bit off’, despite the career-best haul.

“Getting wickets in ODI cricket is always generally really tough, especially for spin bowlers,” he said.

“It’s one of those days I felt a little bit off, probably wasn’t quite at my best, but there was a lot happening.”

The Australians, rescued by the tail, have much to ponder despite the eventual comfortable victory. For all the talk on the conditions in first Townsville against Zimbabwe and in Cairns, few batsmen have emerged with any respectability. Finch’s career is hanging by a thread, Stoinis’ spot at number five is beginning to look precarious, and a team regularly opting for one of Maxwell or Green to bat at number eight has produced a notable lack of runs all series long.

With 12 months to go until the next ODI World Cup, but only months until the T20 version, questions remain concerning the make-up of the batting order. Finch in particular will be desperate for runs in the third and final ODI of the series on Sunday.

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