Having won the triseries final against NZ, Australia climbs six places in the rankings to attain the second spot.
It is to be noted that Australia won six T20 games on a trot in their journey to this ranking. Led by David Warner, the team included young and dynamic stars from the BBL.
Consistent performances from D”arcy Short, Glenn Maxwell, and knuckleballs from Andrew tye played an important role in this remarkable achievement.
Australia also became the team to chase the highest total in T20I history in this series.
They are now just six points behind Pakistan, the first ranked team in MRF T20I rankings.
NZ crumbles
Opting to bat first NZ failed to execute their plans accordingly. Though the openers batted steadily, none of them were able to tackle deliveries from the kangaroos.
Agar spun a web against the NZ batting line up picking up three wickets for just 27 runs.
After five wins out of five in the Tri-Series, Australia move to second in the @MRFWorldwide T20I Rankings, just behind Pakistan on decimal points! 🇦🇺https://t.co/EKq6TJrPiQ pic.twitter.com/WpdOAJ8gRt
— ICC (@ICC) February 21, 2018
Ross Taylor scored a brisk 43 but that wasn”t enough to post a commendable total on the board.NZ needed their innings at 150/9.
Chasing 151, Australian openers came out all guns blazing and smashed the NZ bowlers to the nook and corners of the ground. D”arcy reached his half-century before getting out to Munro.
The blistering partnership between Maxwell and Finch was interrupted by the rain which never subsided.
Australia was declared the winners as they were 19 runs ahead of their D/L score.
Ashton Agar was declared the Man of the match while Maxwell bagged the MoS award for scoring a truckload of 233 runs in the series.
“It proves the great depth we have in Australian cricket” – Warner
In the presentation ceremony, David Warner praised the team for their consistent performances in the series.
“If you execute your skills at BBL level, there”s no reason you cannot do that here too”, he mentioned.
Australia will now play against Southafrica in a 4 match test series from March 1. while NZ will play the limited overs against England from Feb 25.
