5.30pm The match has been called off. The series is shared. A frustrating afternoon with the weather the winner. My colleagues will be around in a little while to keep tabs on conditions ahead of the final men's T20I, but the forecast isn't promising. This tour now switches into one-day mode with the first match on Sunday. For now, from Andrew McGlashan, it's goodbye and thanks for your company.
5.10pm Mehul Trivedi: "@Andrew - any news regarding restart? Sitting in Papakura about 35 kms from ground and it's raining here...let's hope for the best." Nothing yet, I'm afraid.
Craigy: "Looking at the rain radar... they might even be lucky to get tonight's game in, let alone this one."
Paul: "NZC trying to play into April is stupid and they have only themselves to blame. They bend over and take whatever the ICC and Cricket Australia throw at them." Look at the forecast after today...this is bad luck more than anything.
4.50pm I get a feeling it's going to be touch-and-go for this game now which is a real shame. Given the game started suspect the cut-off will be pushed back a bit but doubt they'll be much wriggle room.
Dave Fern: "At Eden Park hoping - looking pretty grey all around the stadium."
4.45pm Another chat from the umpires and rain has stopped play. It's been steady for a while and it's just too much now
Umpires have a chat but stay on for now
END OF OVER:2 | 5 Runs 1 Wkt | AUS-W: 9/1 | RR: 4.50
- Meg Lanning0 (2b)
- Alyssa Healy4 (6b)
- Rosemary Mair1-0-5-1
- Jess Kerr1-0-4-0
The groundstaff are lurking
Meg Lanning in at No. 3 as the rain starts to fall again
BL Mooney c Down b Mair 4 (4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 100.00
END OF OVER:1 | 4 Runs | AUS-W: 4/0 | RR: 4.00
- Alyssa Healy4 (6b)
- Beth Mooney0 (0b)
- Jess Kerr1-0-4-0
Here come the players. Hopefully the weather holds. Jess Kerr with the new ball...
4.15pm New Zealand won the toss and bowl
New Zealand 1 Hayley Jensen, 2 Katey Martin (wk), 3 Amy Sattherthwaite (capt), 4 Amelia Kerr, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Brooke Halliday, 7 Hannah Rowe, 8 Lauren Down, 9 Thamsyn Newton, 10 Jess Kerr, 11 Rosemary Mair
Australia 1 Beth Mooney, 2 Alyssa Healy (wk), 3 Meg Lanning (capt), 4 Rachael Haynes, 5 Ash Gardner, 6 Ellyse Perry, 7 Nicola Carey, 8 Georgia Wareham, 9 Jess Jonassen, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Tayla Vlaeminck
One change for each team: Down replaces the injured Mackay and Vlaeminck returns in place of Brown
13-over match, three bowlers can bowl 3 overs, two can bowl 2. Powerplay is four overs
4.00pm Sahil Patel: "Think about this optimistically, because of how crazy Auckland works, the weather can change in an instant and they can end up playing even when its saying its meant to be raining. So chin up everyone"
Good news the toss will be 4:15 local time and start at 4:30
3.50pm Neil: "The rugby season runs from February through to November, The overlap between cricket and rugby isn't because the cricket season is too long, it's because the rugby season is too long." Oh dear, what have we started...
Michael: "@Mr F, no such thing as cricket season going too long, and the weather is brilliant down South today. Maybe more games in the South Island (particularly places like Queenstown) would be a good idea..."
Oscar: "Rain has stopped where I am, ten minutes north of the ground. Looking much brighter than it was." Sounds promising
3.25pm Neil: "Scrolling through the past rain radar pics it looks like the front is moving reasonably fast. Another 30 or 40 minutes and it should have moved on, just a little bit of scrappy stuff behind it." Fingers crossed.
Mr F: "This is proof the season goes to long in New Zealand. Playing cricket in April? We've almost already finished the Super Rugby Aoteroa! Season should have finished weeks ago." No such thing as a cricket season that's too long, and the forecast after today looks good so appears unfortunate more than anything else...but on a slightly more serious point (and I know previous seasons have extended into April as well) this year had the complication of it being tricky to have multiple teams going through MIQ at the same time, so some schedules had to be tweaked. Still more than two weeks to go in the Australia season, too.
3.15pm Nick : "Weather is not looking good. Tickets are booked but not sure if its still worth coming the the park!" Been some rough luck for Auckland with the Australia and England matches also being moved due to the Covid-19 cases last month.
Update from NZC: The latest start time for this match is 5.27pm for a five-over contest
2.55pm Not much movement as yet
2.40pm Can't say this radar looks especially promising.
Leerini: "Not looking so flash north of Auckland where the weather's coming from. Hope me and my son can still catch some play today!"
The legend that is Hypocaust has this: "Not only is the 2017 Ashes the last time Australia women lost a T20I series, it's the last time before today that they've been taken to a decider in a bilateral series of any format."
2.30pm Looks like we could have a delay
2.20pm It's been a long time since Australia have lost a T20I series - back in 2017 - but they are no strangers to must-win games after last year's T20 World Cup.
Darcie Brown made her debut two days ago and impressed with her pace. She spoke about learning from the experience of this tour.
2.10pm Hello and welcome to coverage of the deciding match in this T20I series. New Zealand managed to squeeze home off the last ball in Napier which means it's all on the line today at Eden Park. I'm Andrew McGlashan and will bring you the action although keeping fingers crossed about the weather.
Some early news from the New Zealand camp is that Sophie Devine will not play - it was announced yesterday that she is suffering from fatigue. "Sophie won't play today and will stay at the team hotel as we continue to support her," coach Bob Carter
Frankie Mackay, player of the match two days ago, as also been ruled out of the rest of the season with partial tear to her right calf. Lauren Down and Molly Penfold have been drafted into the squad for today's game.
"Frankie was outstanding with bat and ball in Napier and showed plenty of grit playing with an injury," Carter said. "We wish her all the best in her recovery and thank her for what she's added to the group. It's great to welcome someone of Lauren's experience back into the group and we have full confidence she can perform any role we require."