Hastings is pumped. Marsh embraces him. Hastings finishes it off with successive fours. Near half-volley length, blugeoned ram-rod straight down the ground. Has Hastings snatched the finishing rights from Faulkner?
New Zealand vs Australia, 2nd ODI at Wellington, Feb 06 2016 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Australia won by 4 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)
9:30pm Australia bounce back to level the series. After the lower order rallied NZ to 281 for 9, Warner and Khawaja gave Australia a rousing start with an 122-run partnership. Though the visitors' middle order fell away, Mitch Marsh stepped up, as did John Hastings in an unbroken 86-run partnership under pressure.
New Zealand's fielding was superb, exemplified by catches from Milne and Ronchi. Baz kept attacking Australia. He even deployed a slip to a set Warner who was batting in the nineties. Marsh was then welcomed by a two-man slip cordon. New Zealand willed themselves to manufacture a win, but they were overpowered by Marsh. Hastings played some smart cricket as well, finding the gaps before launching some big hits at the end.
Marsh and Hastings had a good day at the IPL auction as well
Baz: I thought we were okay. We were par. That summed up the game, we were just okay. Australia played well under pressure. We are still learning a little bit. We are still hanging in there. Santner is a gun cricketer. He is a huge positive for us. I thought the bowlers did d good job as well. Australia took their opportunities and deserve to win. We had another big crowd today; I'm sure there will be a bumper crowd at Hamilton. It should be a cracker
Smith: I thought the way we were able to scrape over the line, we showed composure. We could have bowled them out for 250. We let it slip, I dropped a catch. I thought the surface was pretty good and I'm just pleased we were able to scrape home. Hastings did a terrific job. No.3,4, and 5 still have a lot of work to do. Zampa did well, he took crucial two wickets.
Mitch Marsh is the Man of the Match
Santner: Warner played fantastically.That brought us back into the game. Milne's catch was pretty good from my angle. It was an awesome catch at a crucial time.
Vishaal : "How good has the Big Duke been for Australia today!! "
Andrew : "Haven't been a Hastings fan til now, but he's changing my mind!"
Pranav: "Hastings did the Faulkner at wellington. "
That is all we have for you from this match. It was good fun bringing this to you. Do tune in for the decider at Seddon Park as well, on Monday. Cheers and ta ta!
hint of width outside off, flat-bat belt past mid-off, Hastings sends it thudding to the boundary
Boult nails a yorker on middle and leg, squirted out to mid-off
Rohit Verma: "Thanks to M Marsh for reminding me how proud Australian fans used to feel when the two other M's Michael Bewan and Michael Hussey used to do the same almost every time they needed to!! "
full and outside off, another slower one, 120ks, Marsh yanks his bottom hand off the bat and squeezes it to point
short, tucks Marsh up for room on the off stump. Back of the hand slower ball, chopped towards cover
Burhan: "Welcome to KKR Hastings, the knock itself shows you richly deserved it :)"
full on the stumps, pushed to mid-on
Manu: "Maybe after this innings M Marsh can boast about his batting average at family dinners"
Abdul Rasheed: "Hastings is today's unsung hero, he bowled magnificently well, was economical with ball and handy with bat."
short on leg, Hastings skips away again, dabbed down to third man
bouncer outside off, Hastings throws his hands. Flashes and misses
Baz moves to leg gully. Milne from round the stumps
Hastings backs away outside leg, the bowler errs in length. The low full toss is tonked over midwicket. It exploded from the meat of the bat
low full toss, Hastings goes for a leg-side flick and chips it just in front of Baz at short cover. ''He won't give up," says Ian Smith
RD Podder: "Marsh is today's hero for Australia.He played a brilliant knock."
full on off, square-driven for one
back of a length on off, punched down the ground, but Corey Anderson moves swift to his right at mid-off and cuts it off
Mitch Marsh needs some taping on the bottom of his bat. Shaun Marsh is out, taping his brother's bat.
full and aimed at the base of off, slapped to mid-off, Anderson throws himself to his right and keeps it to a dot
slippery bouncer, soars over the batsman to Ronchi. Ump Billy calls it a wide
low full toss, mis-hit to mid-off, diving stop
short and ducks in with the angle. Hastings sways back and away as he rides it down to third man
Mujeeb: "A wicket here will make the things interesting........,!" --- I guess Aus have the game in the bag
Henry ends the over with another slower ball, flat-batted to mid-off
Chin: "Looking back, the ODI 100 scored by Mitch Marsh could be the turning point he needed in his career.
Hastings steps away outside leg and chops to cover
shortish, slower ball on the leg stump. The batsman waits for it and pulls it over backward square leg
shortish, punched in front of square on the leg side