WELLINGTON: Captain Aaron Finch's unbeaten 79 and a brilliant effort from the spinners helped Australia beat New Zealand by 50 runs in the 4th T20I at the Westpac Stadium on Friday. Finch led Australia to 156/6 after which New Zealand were bowled out for a meagre 106 runs in 18.5 overs.
Australia have thus come from 2-0 down to level the five-match series 2-2.
While fast bowler Kane Richardson cleaned up the tail to end the match with three wickets for 19 runs, spinners Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell starved the New Zealand batsmen of runs. The three players took two wickets each with Agar giving just 11 runs in his four overs. All-rounder Kyle Jamieson's 30 off 18 balls pushed a lacklustre New Zealand past the 100-run mark.
Finch hit five fours and four sixes in his knock. He smashed 38 out of 42 runs in an unbeaten seventh wicket stand with Jhye Richardson that pushed Australia over the 150-run mark.
The decisive final match of the series will now be played at the same venue on Sunday.
Brief scores: Australia 156/6 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 79 not out, Marcus Stoinis 19; Ish Sodhi 3/32) beat New Zealand 106 all out in 18.5 overs (Kyle Jamieson 30; Kane Richardson 3/19, Ashton Agar 2/11, Glenn Maxwell 2/14) by 50 runs. IANS