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Aaron Finch proud of the way his team adapted to conditions after watching the first innings

New Zealand coach Gary Stead has criticised his team’s approach with the bat in the fourth T20I, saying the batsmen did not “fire a shot” at Australia early in the run chase on what was a challenging surface.

Stead acknowledged the game swung significantly Australia’s way when Aaron Finch took 26 off the last over from Kyle Jamieson, but felt New Zealand were timid with their response – they were 25 for 1 after the powerplay and then collapsed to 82 for 9 before some late hitting from Jamieson pushed them to three figures.

The surface changed considerably from the first match – this was the fourth game on the surface in three days with the women’s series also taking place – which “surprised” Stead but he said the batsmen had been too slow to adjust.

“The disappointing thing for me is I’m not sure we fired a shot at them tonight. When Kyle came in and played the way he did, it was too late then, the game was gone, so we need to think how we do that a little earlier,” he said. “In those situations, when it is tough, that was a very good score they had, then you have to try and get ahead of the run rate if you can and that provides a little more opportunity for the middle order to work out the way they need to play it.

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