Australia vs New Zealand Game 2: Kiwi's 'ridiculous' reverse stuns cricket

Australia has been left devastated in defeat after two stars went bananas, but it's been overshadowed by a simply ridiculous reverse shot that's stunned cricket.

Jimmy Neesham pulled off the reverse ramp.

Australia has been left devastated in defeat after falling agonisingly short at the death in a thriller in Dunedin.

The Kiwis thumped the Aussies by 53 runs in the series opener on Monday and the bashing continued earlier  as Thursday with the Kiwis spanking their way to 7/219 at the end of their 20 overs.

Aussie captain Aaron Finch won the toss and sent the Kiwis in to bat. With Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham producing explosive innings, Finch was left regretting the decision almost immediately.

However, the match was flipped on its head by an explosive comeback partnership between Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams which saw Australia need just 15 runs from the final over.

They fell just four runs short in a match that came down to the final ball after the Aussie pair went ballistic with 93 runs from 37 balls.

Martin Guptil was named man of the match for his earlier pyrotechnics of 97 runs from 50 balls.

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Updates

3:27 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

New Zealand wins thriller at the death

New Zealand has won a last-gasp thriller in Dunedin to take a 2-0 series lead.

The contest turned from a one-sided snore-fest into a rollercoaster finish at the death on the back of an explosive innings between Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams.

Sams (41 from 15) and Stoinis (78 from 37) went bananas in the final seven overs, with their extraordinary partnership worth 93 runs from just 37 balls.

The pair had Australia with victory in sight heading into the final over needing 15 runs to win.

Both stars were caught on the fence in the final over, as the Kiwis held their nerve to win by four runs.

The Kiwis earlier battered the Aussie attack to reach 7/219 from their 20 overs.

Australia looked dead in the water before Sams and Stoinis arrived at the crease, but their brilliant innings' could only push Australia to 8/215. Sams hauled out in the deep in the first ball of the final over.

His cross-bat slog off a full-toss hit high on the blade but was just 2m short of clearing the rope.

He was caught by Glenn Phillips off the bowling of Jimmy Neesham.
Even with the wicket, a Marcus Stoinis six left Australia needing nine runs from the final two balls.

Stoinis, however, followed Sams in being caught on the fence in the very next ball to leave Australia devastated at the end of an extraordinary fightback.

Stoinis reached his 50 from just 22 balls as he and Sams breathed life into the Aussie chase.

Sams at one point struck four sixes from five balls.
The pair came together with Australia dead and buried at 6/113 after 13 overs. It looked grim for Australia, but the contest wasn't over until the very final ball.

2:38 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

Australia needs a miracle after collapse

Glenn Maxwell's dismissal in the 11th over has triggered a mini-collapse.

Having been 1/70, Australia lost 5/43, crumbling to 6/113. Australia lost Ashton Agar, Mitchell Marsh and Josh Philippe in the space of four balls in the 13th over, bowled by Mitchell Santner.

The spinner finished with 4/31 from his four overs.

Maxwell earlier threw his wicket away attempting a reverse sweep, falling for ust three runs.

It came after Aaron Finch and Matthew Wade also fell cheaply.

2:29 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

Finch's captaincy hangs by a thread after soft dismissal

Aaron Finch has failed again to leave his spot in the Aussie side under question again.

Finch has had a stinking summer with the bat and his dismissal for just 12 from 14 balls leaves selectors needing to ask the hard questions about the Aussie T20 skipper.

Chasing a huge total, Finch was bizarrely slow off the mark, and his dismissal at the hands of Ish Sodhi came after he calmly let two balls outside his off stump through to the keeper without taking a swing.

On the next ball his hit out straight down the throat of a man on the fence.

Aussie great Mark Waugh said Finch's place in the side "is not safe".

Finch has not scored more than 18 in his 11 Twenty20 innings since the start of the Big Bash.

1:48 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

'I can't believe that': Reverse shot stuns cricket

Jimmy Neesham has pulled off one of the freakiest sixes ever seen in Twenty20 cricket with a cold-blooded reverse ramp.

Neesham clubbed a blistering 45 not out from 16 balls at the death of New Zealand's innings, but it was his ramp shot in the final over off the bowling of Daniel Sams that has caught the cricket world's attention.

Neesham appeared to move into a pre-emptive position to ramp the ball over his leg side – but when the full pitched delivery came outside the off stump, he switched his grip and flicked the ball over the rope near the third man fielder.

"What a shot from Neesham. That is ridiculous," Isa Guha told Fox Cricket.
"That’s not fair. I can’t believe that shot."

Mark Waugh said: "That’s a reverse ramp. He went for the normal ramp and went, nup, not in my zone, so I’ll just change the angle of the bat."

1:39 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

New Zealand puts foot on Australia's throat

Just as it looked like Australia had fought its way back into the contest, Jimmy Neesham has plundered 20 runs off the final over to guide the Kiwis to 7/219 at the end of their 20 overs.

Neesham went ballistic at the death, striking 45 from 16 balls – a strike rate of 281.

It leaves Australia needing to chase 220 to win.

1:30 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

Australia holds New Zealand back with wickets

Australia has fought back from oblivion with five wickets in 26 balls.

With New Zealand on track for a score of more than 230, the quick dismissals of Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson restricted New Zealand to 6-199 after 19 overs.

Kane Richardson was the chief destroyer, while Jhye Richardson bowled important holding overs.

1:05 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

Guptill hits out for 97, Australia battered

Martin Guptill was one swing away from the second fastest hundred in the history of New Zealand playing international Twenty20 cricket when he hit out to the deep.

His dismissal at the hands of Daniel Sams saw him fall just three runs short of his hundred with his innings coming to an end on 97 from 50 balls.

It came after Kane Williamson brought up his fifty from 33 balls to leave Australia reeling at the 15-over mark.

12:38 pm February 25, 2021 Highlight

Guptill pulverises Zampa out the park

Martin Guptill has scored the equal quickest fifty by a New Zealander after twice crunching Adam Zampa out of the park.

The opener reached his 50 from 27 balls.

The highlight was two sixes in the one Zampa over, with one sailing miles clear of the University of Otago ground in Dunedin.

"That’s near the tractor shed," Mark Waugh said of the six on Fox Cricket.

The six also saw Guptill become the new record holder for career sixes in international Twenty20 cricket with 126 maximums.

Martin Guptill sends Adam Zampa out of the ground twice in the over! It looks like even Matthew Wade was impressed behind the stumps. #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/99O0VIYrnX

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 25, 2021

12:19 pm February 25, 2021

Richardson strikes with first ball

Kane Richardson has the first crucial breakthrough for Australia, removing Tim Seifert in the fourth over.

Richardson cramped Seifert with a shortish ball that popped up to cover after hitting high on the blade.

It left New Zealand 1/25 after the first four overs.

11:44 am February 25, 2021 Highlight

Finch 'doesn't really trust bowlers'

Aaron Finch has announced Australia will take an unchanged line-up into the Second T20 in Dunedin after being destroyed by 53 runs earlier this week in New Zealand.

Finch also sent the Kiwis in to bat, having won the toss.

His decision to put the Kiwis in raised the eyebrows of Aussie great Mark Waugh, who suggested Finch has lost faith in his bowling unit after coughing up 33 runs in the final two overs in the series opener.

"Maybe Aaron Finch doesn’t really trust his bowlers under pressure bowling second," he told Fox Cricket.

"That could have something to do with it as well. He thinks their batting is there strong point."

AUSTRALIAN TEAM: Aaron Finch (c), Matthew Wade (wk), Josh Philippe, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Daniel Sams, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa