New Zealand vs West Indies, 3rd T20I at Mount Maunganui, WI in NZ, Nov 30 2020 - Match Result

Mitchell Santner: Very happy with the way we went about our business. West Indies are a very tough side. It's a little disappointing. They came a long way. We both did quarantine. So to not get a full game is a bit disappointing. Very good player, Phillips. We've seen in CPL and Super Smash back home, he's very destructive. The way he went about his business was world class. The way he continued to keep going, keep the foot down, through the middle overs too. I think it's credit to the way we batted in Eden Park too, even if we lost wickets, we just kept going. I think it's massive. A lot of time goes into scouting now. Obviously Glenn has played against these guys a lot in the CPL and I guess playing with different guys that you don't play with often is very good for the game. It's pleasing to win this, we have another big series against Pakistan. We're looking forward to the World Cup, we'll be using different guys in different times and it's been very good to see young players stepping up for us.

Kieron Pollard: Obviously disappointed. As a unit, didn't expect to be outplayed this badly. Onus was on us to compete and win the series. But hopefully the guys in the Test series can get something out of the Test series. The conditions are totally different to where we come from. We didn't have enough time to practice, to get middle wicket practice, like that, which is why it's been hard to win in New Zealand. Fielding is an attitude. That's the only time it's 11 vs 2 on the park. And if you don't show the intent to want to do it, it's going to be difficult. So as individuals, we have to look in the mirror. We don't want to feel like laughing stocks in the dressing room. We have an opportunity now to think about it and come back. Next year is very crucial with the World Cup coming up. So if players don't show that attitude, they may get the boot

Lockie Ferguson is the Player of the Series. Very happy with how the boys played as a collective. Obviously the first two games, different people stood up at different times. Very happy with how our young guys played. I think I just had a good day out in Eden. Nice to run with those. Tough work I did in the IPL worked out. I think the boys are gelling and the way the young players are coming and asking questions is a good thing about our team right now. I think a big part of it is staying on the park. I do put a lot of work in with accuracy. It's exciting to play in front of a home crowd and express my talent. If you wanna bowl fast, you have to want it. I learnt that at a young age and I went through a series of injuries. If you wanna bowl that speed, it's going to take that mental strength. Hopefully there are more fast bowlers to come for New Zealand because it is good fun I think it's an experience thing. Over time you get a feel about how the batsmen are playing, how they're moving, where they want to hit me. At Eden Park, I didn't use my slower ball because it was a fast wicket there, so there's that as well

Mitchell Santner has been called out to have a convo with the umpires. A quick little debrief about the situation. They're joined by Kieron Pollard now. We have handshakes, which confirms the game has been abandoned. New Zealand take the series 2-0. The Test series - comprising two matches - begins on December 3, where we'll have several of the first picks back in action, including Kane Williamson and Trent Boult. We can't wait for that. Hopefully neither can you.

9.16 pmThe umpires make their way out, shrouded under their umbrellas. OUt comes the head groundsman to meet them. This looks like the conversation that will call everything off. We hear that it'd take 40 minutes to get the ground ready to play, which would push us past the cut-off for a five-over game. So in all likelihood, this game is done for.

If we start by 9.48 pm, we can have a five-overs-a-side game.

While we wait, why don't you catch up with what Lockie Ferguson's been up to. Sure, you know about how he has batsmen hopping around on the field, but do you know that he's developed an app that can help you become a better bowler? Read all about it here with Deivarayan Muthu.

Goughy: "Unpopular opinion:- 5 over games are a farce. Discuss." I have zero arguments.

Rob Sims: "5 over games may a farce, but for an audience waiting for hours, a show of any kind is still better than a no-show, isn't it?"

hardik: "I see no reason why there are time-limits for T20s, I never understood that about ODI's either. With matches under lights being going on for decades. " Umm, well, people also have to kinda go and live their lives. Also, there is no way you'll convince a player, let alone the fans, to stick it out till like 1 am.

8.44 pm There's another quick meeting between the umpires and the head groundsman. The covers are still firmly on the pitch. The West Indies players are tucked away in the dressing room. The New Zealanders are taking time to mingle with the crowd. Ish Sodhi giving away selfies. Mitchell Santner making funny poses for them as they train their phones on him. It's all kinda happening (?)

Soberjunki: "I hope NZC has covers for the whole outfield. Just like in LPL rain hit day, we wouldn't have witnessed the dre russ blitz if not for those covers." The Bay Oval's drainage is actually very very good. So we shouldn't have a grave issue so long as the rain stops.

If the rain clears up, those of you in the US can tune in to New Zealand vs West Indies on ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ here and tune in to the series.

Thanks Debayen. I'm very well versed in counting raindrops. Do it with me!

Nadeem: "Booked tickets to go watch match in the ground, dropped plan, after seeing weather whole day, now left with cricinfo for match information."

8.21 pm Right, I think we are definitely going to start losing overs from now on. Here's Al Muthu to take you through the next period of rain watch.

8.11 pm Nothing much to report yet. The weather forecast indicates showers every hour from now until about 10 pm. The only saving grace, the volume of rain promises to be really low.

Soumya: "No offense to Golf. But Cricket isn't just a sport, it's a showBiz. Audience, Viewership, Broadcasting. People who have spent loads of bucks for tickets. It's not that easy to manipulate the timing spontaneously even if the match itself is at risk."

8 pm Michael : "Another example of cricket being totally inflexible. If this was golf, even a major, they would have seen the forecast and started play early to beat the weather. They regularly do that. Why is cricket like this? " --- Alas, no great improvement to report at the Bay Oval. The rain seems to have stopped, though, so now it is up to the drying process to kick in, and hope that there are no further heavy showers.

7.49 pm The tarpaulin covers still all over the square. The rain has reduced in intensity as of now, but there's still a long way to go before conditions are dry enough to continue. It is also rather cool and windy, with the fans taking cover under their raincoats. Full credit to them to have come out in numbers at Mount Maunganui, where the turnout has been really good.

Ashish: "What's the cut off time for a 5 over match? " --- Would depend on the specific playing conditions here, but by and large they keep an hour in hand for rain delays. We are just coming up to an hour, so we'll probably only start losing overs from another 15 minutes or so. So I'd think we'll need to have a further delay of two hours and a bit for it to crunch down to five overs a side. Michael backs me up on this with "Rule 13.7 sets out how overs are deducted from the team batting first. 14 overs an hour. So still a chance of a match of 5 overs each for a couple of hours yet"

"I assume Taylor, Southee and Jamieson are off to the Test camp so why is Santner still playing?" --- He isn't part of the Test squad, Saoirse. Ajaz Patel is the first-choice spinner in Tests. Sorry, Bevin does point out that Santner is Patel's injury cover for the first game. He'll play this game, and join the Test team tomorrow

Craig: "@Hardik - I agree with you. While match ups provide a guide a good bowler will be a good bowler to any type of batsman. Too many times I see a bowler not even bowl just because a left hander is at the crease. Sometimes the left hander at the crease ain't even a dangerous batsman."

"The whole match-up thing is getting overdone. It's as if being actually good is not a real thing to the point where teams will pick a much lower quality bowler just because of their type. A good bowler can bowl to left and right handers. They're doing it so much, the stats have become self fulfilling prophecy. " --- Largely agree with you, Hardik. But it has become a very important part of cricket, especially T20s. Players and teams follow them carefully, and to that extent it goes on to determine team selection, overs bowled by specific bowlers, etc. That's the way the game is evolving, and one has to understand that

Ryan : "Any news on why Hetmyer is not playing today? " --- Pollard mentioned at the toss that he suffered a "delayed concussion", most likely as a result of the ball from Lockie Ferguson that pinged him on the badge of his helmet in Sunday's game.

7.18 pm The rain has picked up again, and that's forced them off again. The covers coming back on, and the players troop off, hoping to come back to better news. The rain this time looks heavier than what it was just before the start of play. I can also confirm that the main pitch, square and the surrounded areas are under heavy covers now, something that we didn't see in the first two T20Is, so this might well be a pretty long break

CSKian: "Santner is simply avoiding Pollard." --- Indeed, or Nicholas Pooran. Also, probably playing the calculations that this might be a shortened game, and he might end up scrambling for a few overs from the faster bowlers anyway later on.

Here's Hamish Bennett. The New Zealand players are wearing a black armband today in memory of Ross Dykes, former cricketer, and administrator for Otago

Still some drizzle around, but they are staying on for now

Interesting decision, to send Kyle Mayers in at 3

Haxx: "Questionable decision by Santner to bowl himself first up with conditions the way they are. Doesnt really turn the ball so was an easy way for WI to get off to a good start, the 5 extras werent helpful either."

Not that there'll be a lot of it. In fact, here's Lockie Ferguson. Easily the best bowler on either side in this short series thus far. Starts with a wide slip

Not a bad start for the West Indies. They'll actually be quite glad to get some spin with these overhead conditions

The teams make their way out to the middle. It's very grey, and I have to say this is not an enviable task ahead of Andre Fletcher and Brandon King. Mitchell Santner has the first over in the absence of Tim Southee. The players and support staff take a knee just ahead of the first ball

7.03 pm Good news. The covers are slowly but steadily being peeled off. They will need to ensure the pitch and square are completely dry. We should see action soon, and in the meantime, why don't you partake in this lovely piece about the new passion of Lockie Ferguson and his mates?

6.58 pm Ok, scratch that. Now the covers have been brought on. The umpires, Shaun Haig and Wayne Knights, are having a look at the underfoot conditions. There's certainly going to be a delay, and we can hope the spittle washes away soon.

Paul: "Just hope the WIs turn up tonight. They have been very average in the field so far."

6.56 pm Just a hint of a drizzle around in Mount Maunganui, but it's not bad enough to warrant any covers. A lot of grey around the ground, which could make the first few overs of bowling quite spicy.

Sheldon Cottrell: 2020 has been a year of great uncertainty. But for me, I've got time to reflect a lot on my game. I've got time to spend time with family. It's been up and down but I've been grateful. I've spent 11 years in the Jamaica Defence Force. I started six years ago and it's just to show my appreciation to the soldiers doing their job. And it's been great to see the kids pick that up and it's been really fun seeing people on the street doing that salute when they see me or calling me Sarge or things like that.

West Indies: 1 Andre Fletcher, 2 Brandon King, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Kyle Mayers, 5 Kieron Pollard (capt), 6 Rovman Powell , 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Hayden Walsh, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas

New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tim Seifert, 3 Devon Conway, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 James Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Hamish Bennett

New Zealand coach Gary Stead: West Indies are a good team, so for us, getting into a fight was very very good. We had a real focus on chasing. We haven't done that particularly well in the last couple of years so really pleasing that we did that well in Eden Park. Ahead of the series, we tried to simplify our plans, to break a game down to do better.

Every time we select players we select them to do a role. And in between World Cups, you're always experimenting, but also make sure you give confidence to the guys that we want them. Glenn Phillips was obviously so good. His innings in the first game too, it brought momentum back to us. Devon Conway too. I've been a very very happy coach with him.

I always thought Glenn had it. He's always been top of the order as opener. So I guess one of the things I wanted to find out was if he could do the middle order role. And the feedback we gave him two years ago was that we wanted to see him take teams down. And it was pleasing to see him do that.

At times, I guess we're lucky there's not a lot of one-day cricket. So the focus is on Tests and T20. Every team wants to win everything so we don't talk about formats too much. All we can do is focus on each ball and get the guys in a good frame of mind. The challenging thing this year is times like tonight when a number of guys are off preparing for the Tests, where we're well placed in the Championship. But with the T20 World Cup coming up, we are also getting to look at new players and with my selectors cap on, I've been very very happy with what's happened so far.

6.30 pm New Zealand win the toss and they'll bowl. "I think with rain around later, Duckworth Lewis might come into play," says Mitchell Santner captaining the Black Caps for the first time. "It's a privilege to lead this game. Great opportunity for me. We've got three changes. Taylor, Southee, Jamieson are gone. Mitchell, Kuggeleijn and Bennett are back. I think if you look back at the first two games, it's been very good for us. So not gonna rock the boat too much."

"First game we batted first and posted 180 odd in 16 overs, so its just about remembering that and doing the right thing," says Kieron Pollard. "Two changes Hetmyer has suffered delayed concussion and he misses out. Paul misses out as well. Hayden Walsh get an opportunity and Shepherd as well. We need to be cricket smart and we need to put things right and execute our plans."

We're going to have an on-time start with the rain being kind enough to keep away from our lovely game.

Jeita Hartwell: "When's the toss?" Any minute now. stay tuned!

Troy: "Whats the weather doing do we know?" We may be looking at another rain-interrupted game, according to the forecast.

6.20 pm For those still reeling from the Glenn Phillips big-hitting masterclass from yesterday, here is the man himself explaining what becoming New Zealand's fastest T20I centurion means to him. He's been added to the A team as well which will play a three-day game against West Indies A so the Black Caps are looking at him as an all-format man

Jack: "Afternoon, a keen observer from across the pond. Curious to see what kind of captain Santner will be. It'll be akin to having Vettori, a left arm finger spinner leading the troops again!" If his bowling is anything to go by, he won't back down, and instead he'll back himself to outwit the opponent.

6.00 pm New Zealand at home. Under those blue (occasionally grey) skies, in the midst of those rolling fields and sleepy hills and breathtaking beauty, this is a team that is very very difficult to beat. Though that narrative is rather more tailored to Test cricket.

Now though, even as they are grooming their next generation, whether by plan or simply as a consequence of resting their superstars for the upcoming Test series, their limited-overs game has got teeth and they were sharp enough to completely tear West Indies - the reigning World T20 champions - to pieces.

Kieron Pollard's men are 0-2 down. Their bowling looks suspect. Their batting hasn't clicked; the young superstars in their XI have been smothered. The Mount gives them one last chance to set things right. It's time to #Rally!