"I wouldn't want every T20 match to be like this. A six has still got to be an event."
Saturday 17 February 2018 10:03, UK
Australia and New Zealand produced "absolute carnage" to showcase the next stage of Twenty20 cricket's evolution, says Nasser Hussain.
The Trans-Tasman rivals clocked up almost 500 runs between them in a colossal encounter at Eden Park, which went Australia's way after David Warner's side recorded the highest successful international run-chase in the format's history.
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D'Arcy Short hit 76 and Warner struck a 24-ball 59 as the visitors chased down a target of 244 with five wickets and seven balls to spare, after Martin Guptill had scored the fastest T20 century by a New Zealander, from 49 balls, on the compact ground.
"The game is changing so quickly," Hussain told Sky Sports Cricket. "Maybe in the old days you'd have three or four hitters coming at you. Nowadays they come in all the way down.
"Aaron Finch bats in the middle order now. So you get through all these lads like D'Arcy Short and Chris Lynn and then Aaron Finch pops in just to finish the game off!
"The way Australia paced the run-chase was exceptional. They didn't have to panic as they were never behind the rate. If you are chasing 244, which has never been done in T20, you'd think you'll be behind the rate at some stage but they were ahead of it all the way through!
"In fact I thought it took them a little bit longer to take off the runs than it could have done. That was absolute carnage all the way through.
"It was great entertainment and made great television but who would be a bowler on this ground? I didn't think that was a fair contest between bat and ball.
"I wouldn't want every T20 match to be like this. A six has still got to be an event. Today a six was just another delivery that went out the ground.
"On the flip-side of that is this: you've got to believe that there is something you can do to affect the game. There's no point a bowler saying 'there's nothing we can do'.
"The bowlers have got to look at their performance and ask themselves if they executed their skills properly; I don't think they did. They didn't get their yorkers in and we didn't see too many slower-ball bouncers.
"New Zealand missed Mitchell Santner desperately and Ben Wheeler choked; if he's bowling waist high full tosses that means he's missing his yorker by around four yards."
Australia's victory means England can still qualify for next Wednesday's Tri-Series final but must first beat New Zealand convincingly on Sunday.
Watch New Zealand take on England in the penultimate match of the Trans-Tasman Tri-Series T20 live on Sky Sports Cricket from 5.30am on Sunday.
