03:08

Hard to know exactly what to make of this offering from Australia. With Warner and Finch scoring at will in the early overs, a score north of 300 looked on the cards. But once the first wicket was broken with 124 runs on the board, a rot of sorts set in. Undoubtedly the slowing SCG pitch played its part, but wonderful bowling in the middle from Santner (2-34) and to a lesser degree Boult (0-37) saw the runs evaporate and the wickets tumble. Australia were made to work very hard for their runs - not a single boundary was scored between the 37th and 48th overs - and but for Labuschagne (56 from 52) Australia might have been forced to settle for as score not far north of 200. The par score for a team batting first at the SCG is around 300, so this looks a tad on the thin side, but if runs are as hard to come by this evening New Zealand will have to bat well to win. Of course, all of this is being played out before an empty stadium. Strange, concerning times. That’s all from me. I’ll now place you in the safe hands of Adam Collins.