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Aaron Finch's last over 26-run madness sparks New Zealand's stunning collapse in Australia's 50-run win

Aaron Finch has gone into rare air with a crazy finish as his return to form continued in a crazy demolition in Wellington.

Aaron Finch took Kyle Jamieson to the cleaners.
Aaron Finch took Kyle Jamieson to the cleaners.

Aaron Finch has led Australia right back into the T20I series against New Zealand with a crushing 50 run win over New Zealand in the fourth match of the series.

The Aussie skipper was slammed for his tragic run of form that continued in the first two games of the series but has turned it around to bring Australia right back into the frame for a series win.

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It will be decided in the final T20I of the series on Sunday evening, which will be played in front of a crowd after an easing of COVID restrictions in New Zealand.

But Australia will be carrying all the momentum off the back of Finch's bat after he destroyed the Kiwis as the only batsman that actually got away in Australia's score of 6/156.

In a scratchy innings on what was a difficult pitch in Wellington, Finch passed David Warner on the list of most T20I runs with as the Australian record holder.

He moved to 2310 for his career - well short of the men ahead of him in terms of games played but sixth overall worldwide. Virat Kohli is the most prolific T20I batsman with 2928 runs in 85 matches, more than 150 runs ahead of the next best player.

But Finch's back-to-back half centuries took a back seat to his final over heroics, belting 26 off hapless Kiwi quick Kyle Jamieson to help Australia to the competitive total.

Finch fired Australia into a T20 series decider.
Finch fired Australia into a T20 series decider.

Jamieson, who went for $A2.66m in the IPL auction, was monstered for 0/49 off his four overs with Finch crushing four sixes and a two off the last over.

In this series, Jamieson has gone for 1/175 at an economy off 11.66 an over as he prepares to join Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The next highest score was 19 from Marcus Stoinis, while Glenn Maxwell had 18 off 9 balls.

The commentators said Australia had "ground to a halt" after struggling to find the boundary, so Finch went over it.

Mark Waugh said the over was a "game-turner" with Australia struggling to get away through their innings.

But you can only judge how good a wicket is when both teams have batted on it and this pitch was not good.

New Zealand couldn't get away, scoring just 1/25 in the opening six over power play before stumbling to 4/41 off 10 overs.

The wickets just kept falling as New Zealand fell to 7/64 as the side lost 6/30.

It included a horror run out with Glenn Phillips blocking a ball with no chance of getting to the other end but took off and was beaten to the line by Devon Conway.

The Kiwis raced each other for the line at the other end.
The Kiwis raced each other for the line at the other end.

Some late hitting from Jamieson narrowed the final deficit but Australia wrapped it up when he was caught for 30.

It's the lowest score New Zealand have scored in a T20 International against Australia.

It means the series will be decided in game five on Sunday at 10am AEDT.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/live-blog-aussie-cricketers-caught-in-earthquake-scare-ahead-of-t20-match-against-black-caps/live-coverage/9718518f882c3126796dc0eb5df3ed35