NZ VS AUS - 1st T20I, Australia tour of New Zealand, 2021

A comprehensive victory for the home side and Williamson will be happy with the effort. There are a couple of chunks that need addressing but it is a long 5-match series and they have enough time to iron them out. Australia too have time to recover from this loss but first they have to find a way to dismiss Conway who has now gone four innings without being dismissed in the T20s. Also, they need their skipper Finch to get some runs under his belt. The second T20I is on Thursday at Dunedin. Join us for that encounter. That's all from us. This is Akshay Maanay signing off on behalf Raju Peethala and Sagar Chawla. Goodbye!

Kane Williamson: It was an incredible knock. We had a tough start with the bat and to see those partnerships in the middle led by Devon, unbelievable knock. To get 99 on a surface that was not easy to start on and we also saw a little bit of swing in our innings as well. It was a great effort to get us to the 180-mark. We have seen a lot of breaks in the recent times so it was exciting to get back together and play cricket. We would like to do better moving forward but it was an incredible effort with the ball. There was a bit of dew, it swung a bit and we weren't expecting that. Obviously a significant day, ten years (since the earthquake at Christchurch) and there are a number of people that came to the memorial today. We are happy to put on a performance for the people tonight.

Aaron Finch: It feels like it has been a long time since we played. The 14 days (of quarantine) were good to be honest, they looked after us really well. We are just grateful to be here. Yes, we didn't play our best tonight but New Zealand played well. Devon surely deserved the hundred there as they are tough to come by in T20 cricket. He played a great knock. They built a great partnership and it was based on running between wickets, changed the momentum and made use of the huge pockets in the field. We were undone in the powerplay under the lights. It is fantastic to have a debutant and unfortunately we couldn't get him the win tonight, it is a special occasion and we are very happy for him. He's (Philippe) a gun and plenty more to come from him.

Devon Conway, Player of the Match: Wanted to get myself in and play strong shots and run hard. T20 cricket is a bit of up and down and there's nerves every game and I'm happy to be scoring some runs. Pretty happy, good start to the series and we need to keep the momentum going. The key is to play strong shots and run well between the wickets. Naturally a little disappointed (for missing out on 100 off the last ball), probably a little more disappointed for Sodhi for not getting his fifer but happy to be on the winning side.

22:21 Local Time, 09:21 GMT, 14:51 IST: Apart from the first ten overs with the ball, Australia played catch up throughout the game. They allowed New Zealand to score 117 in the final ten overs and then could not cope with the swing of Southee and Boult. The two pacers rocked them with the new ball and picked up four wickets inside the powerplay. Mitch Marsh held one end up but had no support from the other. Agar played a cameo but the rest succumbed to the gile of Ish Sodhi. Earlier in the day, it was Devon Conway who bailed New Zealand out of trouble. The southpaw is in the form of his life as he notched up his third consecutive 90+ score in the T20 format. It was his innings that gave them a massive total and the bowlers then came to the party. Hang around for the presentations..

Santner to J Richardson, out Stumped!! New Zealand win by 53 runs. Santner is too smart a bowler to repeat his mistake. He spotted the charge down by Jhye and slided it through, it was the under-cutter that skid past the swinging blade and it was an easy stumping for Seifert as Jhye was too far down the wicket. J Richardson st Seifert b Santner 11(11) [6s-1]

Santner to J Richardson, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

Santner to J Richardson, SIX, excellent use of the feet. Jhye dances down, gets a bit of space to free his arms and he pumps the ball into the crowd at cow corner. Clean as a whistle!

Santner to Zampa, 1 run, nudged into the mid-wicket pocket and Zampa called for two, but Jhye slipped and they settle with a single

Mitchell Santner [3.0-0-22-0] is back into the attack

Boult to Zampa, leg byes, 1 run, follows a backing away Zampa and hits him on the pad outside leg-stump, the ball deflects behind point and the pair cross over

Boult to J Richardson, 1 run, 117.3ks slower delivery around off, Jhye bashes it down to long-on

Boult to J Richardson, no run, bouncer and Jhye takes it on, attempts the hook and the ball climbs over his top-edge

Boult to Zampa, 1 run, in the air and wide of the diving fielder. Rushed by the short of length delivery and Zampa splices the pull towards mid-wicket, Neesham gets across but doesn't get anything on the ball

Boult to Zampa, FOUR, streaky! Zampa backs away and looks to slap it through the off-side, the ball slants in to take the inside edge and escape past the stumps. It wasn't far away..

Boult to Zampa, 2 runs, short of length angled in from round the wicket, Zampa pulls it over mid-wicket and picks up a brace

Trent Boult [2.0-0-14-2] is back into the attack

Ish Sodhi to Zampa, 1 run, dragged back length outside off, Zampa cracks it square of the wicket and sweeper tidies up. Sodhi is done and he is applauded by his team mates, 4-0-28-4

Ish Sodhi to Zampa, FOUR, shimmies down to play the big hit, throws everything into the shot and the ball flies off the outside edge to the third man fence

Free-hit coming up..