Captain Kane Williamson scored a sublime half-century to help New Zealand post 172/4 in 20 overs against Australia in the finals of the Twenty20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai.
Invited to bat, New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell struggled to put away the Aussie attack.
Mitchell was the first man to be dismissed for 11 runs.
Guptill was then joined by skipper Williamson who consolidated in the middle overs at a rather slow pace. Veteran Guptill struggled with fluency and was dismissed for a 35-ball 28.
Glenn Phillips was out after scoring a better than run-a-ball 18. Williamson who managed to up the run rate in the latter part of the innings was dismissed in the 18th over of the innings for a 48-ball 85.
James Neesham and Tim Seifert were unbeaten on 13 and 8 respectively.
For Australia, Pacer Josh Hazlewood had excellent figures of 3 for 16 in four overs including the priced scalp of Williamson. Adam Zampa took the wicket of Guptill to finish with figures of 1/26.
Earlier in the evening, Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to field first.
