The

Australia cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

toured New Zealand in February and March 2021 to play five

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) matches. In August 2020,

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New ...

confirmed that the tour was going ahead, and were working with their government to comply with biosecurity during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 29 September 2020,

confirmed the schedule against Australia. Originally, the tour was scheduled to be a three match series, but was increased to five matches. The last three T20I matches took place on the same day as the New Zealand women's fixtures at the same venues. On 27 February 2021, the third T20I match was moved from

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

to the

Wellington Regional Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (commercially known as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situ ...

after Auckland went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining matches were scheduled to be played

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

. However, crowds were allowed to attend the last T20I after restrictions were relaxed. On 1 March 2021, the final T20I was also moved from the

Bay Oval Bay Oval is a cricket ground in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty area of New Zealand. The ground was built in Blake Park and opened in 2005. Bay Oval has hosted men's and women's international limited overs matches since 2014. It ...

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

to the Wellington Regional Stadium, after logistical complications arose from the movement of the fourth T20I. New Zealand won the first two T20Is, with Australia winning the next two matches to level the series. New Zealand won the fifth and final T20I by seven wickets, winning the series 3–2.

Squads

Despite being injured,

Martin Guptill Martin James Guptill (born 30 September 1986) is a New Zealand cricketer and former international cricketer who played as an opening batsman in all formats of the game but pre-dominantly in limited-overs. Guptill is the first cricketer from New ...

was included in New Zealand's squad, with

Finn Allen Finnley Hugh Allen (born 22 April 1999) is a New Zealand International cricketer, who has played for the New Zealand cricket team since March 2021. He plays domestic cricket for Auckland, having previously played for Wellington, and has played ...

named as his standby. Ahead of the third T20I,

Adam Milne Adam Fraser Milne (born 13 April 1992) is a New Zealand professional cricketer who plays limited overs cricket for the New Zealand national cricket team. He is a right-arm fast bowler. He was also a part of the New Zealand squad to finish as r ...

was added to New Zealand's squad as cover, after

Mitchell Santner Mitchell Josef Santner (born 5 February 1992) is a New Zealand international cricketer and current captain of New Zealand Cricket team in limited overs cricket. Domestically, he plays for Northern Districts cricket team. He is a bowling all-rou ...

was ruled out due to illness.

T20I series

1st T20I

2nd T20I

3rd T20I

4th T20I

5th T20I

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian cricket team in New Zealand in 2020-21 2021 in Australian cricket 2021 in New Zealand cricket International cricket competitions in 2020–21 2020-21