Rain saves Australia with Black Caps well on top

Williamson made 100 off 97 balls with the help of eight fours and three sixes, while Luke Ronchi scored a quick 65 off 43 balls up the order to set the base for New Zealand’s total of 291 all out in a rain-curtailed affair between the Trans-Tasman rivals at Edgbaston.

Dark clouds close in.

But just nine overs in, the rain came back and this time it proved to be the end of the match, with Australia on 53-3 when the abandonment was confirmed.

Kane Williamson (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

The contest resumes when neighbours Australia and New Zealand take the field in England in their 2017 Champions Trophy opener.

While Australia are always a tough team to crack, the Kane Williamson-led side will head into the eight-team tournament with renewed confidence, following their six-wicket warm-up win over Sri Lanka at the same venue.

New Zealand were on course for a score well above 300 while Williamson was at the crease in an innings reduced to 46 overs because of the rain.

It is generally agreed that the DL method favours the side batting second but the formula has been changed in recent years and when there was another rain delay during the innings break, Australia’s goal post of 292 in 46 overs was moved to 235 in 33 overs, which sounded a much stiffer ask.

Nearly 90 minutes of play were lost earlier in the day to reduce the match to a 46-over affair, and a superb century from Kane Williamson laid the foundations for the Black Caps’ innings.

After the first rain delay, the Black Caps came out firing with Australian worldwide Luke Ronchi particularly harsh on Pat Cummins’ bowling, smashing two fours and a six from an over.

The players left the field and never returned as the rain settled in a case of déjà vu.

“And credit to New Zealand, they came out and played and came quite hard and played quite well up top and got their innings going”.

“That was one our worst bowling displays for a long time“, said Smith. Willaimson felt that approach may have been partially responsible for the off-colour performance from the Australian bowlers. “You just have to realise 50 overs are a lot more than 20 and you can reign things back”, he said of the adjustment to ODI cricket.

“Jeetan Patel certainly has plenty of local knowledge and he says they produce the wickets the same way for County cricket and internationals, so he’s certainly got some good insights for us”. “Because that was pretty ordinary”, the skipper said. “So we perhaps got away with one there”, Smith said afterwards.

Australia will play Bangladesh in its next Champions Trophy game on June 5 at The Oval.

New Zealand’s quick bowlers were a great deal better than their Australian counterparts, building up some early pressure. “You know, Marcus Stoinis did very well in New Zealand in the last series, and Hastings has done very well for us over in these conditions”.