New Zealand vs Australia, 2nd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Hello and welcome to the live blog of the second T20I. Will it be another contest between Australia and Devon Conway? The visitors are looking address top-order and execution troubles after losing to first game by 53 runs.

Conway has 50-plus scores in each of his last five innings where he has made 402 runs at a strike rate of close to 150. If there was any disappointment for going unsold in IPL auction, the left-hander did well to tide over it with his unbeaten 99 against Australia and help the side cruise to a 53-run win.

Conway is just one of several problems Australia face. The visitors fielded a side with seven all-rounders in the opening game. New Zealand were 19 for 3 at one stage and managed to post 184. Did they miss frontline bowlers? Maybe. Australia then found themselves tottering at 19 for 4. Did the batting depth help? Not really. However, more than the bowlers, Australia will be sweating over their top-order batting.

Aaron Finch's poor form, post the ODI series against India, has stretched more than the Australia limited-overs captain would have liked. Matthew Wade finds himself axed from the Test side and possibly out of the T20 side once David Warner returns. Josh Philippe made his debut and can expect a decent run before the premier players return. The batsmen face a test of adaptability and need to come to terms quickly with the conditions. If they fail to, the series will slip away pretty swiftly.

The win in Christchurch gave New Zealand a solid start to build on in the series. They will continue to look for death-bowling candidates to field in the ICC T20 World Cup in India later this year. The focus will also be on Martin Guptill, who in his last eight T20 innings, has failed to hit a 30-plus score.