Ross Taylor believes Billy Stanlake has a bright future

Australia defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the first T20 International of the tri-series also involving England as the third team. Batting first, the Kiwis could post only 117 runs for the loss of nine wickets as they were rocked early by Billy Stanlake with his pace. The fast bowler befuddled the batsmen with his pace and finished with the figures of 3/15 in his four overs. However, Ross Taylor has praised the youngster and believed that Billy is one to watch out for in the future.

Stanlake scalped the likes of Colin Munro, Martin Guptill and Tom Bruce as early in the first four overs of the innings which never allowed the visitors to recover. In reply, despite losing the early wickets, Australia chased down the curtailed total of 95 runs with ease on the back of Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn. But Stanlake was the one who dented all the hopes of New Zealand to post a big score on the board.

We didn’t assess the conditions well

Ross Taylor, while speaking to the reporters, admitted that Stanlake’s pace caught them off guard and the pitch wasn’t quick in Sydney. “I thought he bowled very well and those were two big wickets with his first two balls set the tone for their innings and our batting. He’s bowled very well in the Big Bash, it wasn’t a quick wicket here, but he bowled well with good pace and will be one to watch in the future for sure,” he said. He also went on to say that the batsmen failed to assess the conditions well and lauded the opposition bowlers.

“We probably didn’t assess conditions well enough, Australia bowled very well, and there was a little in the wicket, but we weren’t able to soak that up. Don’t know it was 160-170 wicket but if we’d scrapped our way to 140 we might have been a chance,” Taylor added.

New Zealand will now play their next game of the tri-series at home on February 13 as the second half of the series will be played in the Kiwi nation.

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