Aotearoa 'A' grabbed a T20 series win over Pakistan 'A' after the kiwis chased down a target of 157 in the third game. With an over to spare and 5 wickets in the bank, this was a vastly different outcome to the first up loss and in both of the wins for Aotearoa, Glenn Phillips smacked half-centuries.

Phillips went the distance in the decider, not out on 69 off 50 and this saw Phillips finish as the leading run-scorer from either team for the series. An overall strike-rate of 127.27 was only beaten by Tim Seifert and Tom Bruce, with the two middle order batsmen; Seifert and Bruce couldn't combine to match Phillips' run-scoring total though as they scored 82 runs between them compared to Phillips' 126.

Pakistan A vs New Zealand A | 3rd T20 | Pakistan Batting | PCB Welcome to Pakistan Cricket Board Official Page. Get All The Updates Regarding Pakistan Cricket Here. All the Happening in Pakistan can be caught up here. You can get players interviews, match highlights, Practice Sessions, Press Conference, Celebrations.

Pakistan A vs New Zealand A | 3rd T20 | New Zealand Batting | PCB Welcome to Pakistan Cricket Board Official Page. Get All The Updates Regarding Pakistan Cricket Here. All the Happening in Pakistan can be caught up here. You can get players interviews, match highlights, Practice Sessions, Press Conference, Celebrations.

George Worker finished second in runs for the Kiwis, however he put up a duck in the third game and scored 52 of his 53 runs in a previous innings. All of this comes together to result in Phillips being the main winner for the kiwi batsmen, especially when you consider that Worker and Hussain Talat were the only other batsmen to pass 50 once.

We'll have to wait and see how Phillips goes in the remainder of the tour, but he's put himself into the limited overs opening mixer with those dominant displays. Depending on what other blokes do in the United Arab Emirates, primarily Colin Munro and to a lesser extent Martin Guptill, this could be the low key start of a breakout summer for Phillips in which he starts to put genuine pressure on the incumbent openers.

There was a change in the batting group for the final game, with Tom Blundell replacing Mark Chapman. Blundell batted #3 as Chapman had been doing and he put up a solid knock of 18 off 14 balls, with Seifert playing as the wicket-keeper throughout the series. Seifert had scores of 26 and 19, not batting in the second game and those types of scores with a decent strike-rate are what T20 cricket needs. Given Seifert's run-scoring in domestic cricket recently, I'm fairly content in the belief that Seifert sits in the 'next up' category for the limited overs wicket-keeping duties.

Blundell has been given the nod of approval in Test cricket and I'm not certain that he'll remain ahead of Seifert for much longer as Seifert churns out runs in all formats. Seifert took a minor boost of confidence from this series and it'll be super intriguing to see how what happens with the wicket-keeping situation as we move into 50-over cricket.

With the ball, Aotearoa took 6w to keep a lid on Pakistan's innings. Todd Astle bagged 2w @ 6.75rpo, while Lockie Ferguson, Ajaz Patel and Corey Anderson took a wicket each. Anderson conceded 11.50rpo and along with Scott Kuggeleijn's 10.33rpo, they were the most expensive of the bowlers while Patel (6rpo) and Ferguson (6.75rpo) were far more economical.

Salute to Kyle Jamieson as well, who didn't take a wicket but conceded just 6rpo from his 6 overs. Jamieson finished as the most economical kiwi bowler from the series, going at 5.20rpo and along with Kuggeleijn, they bowled the most overs of the kiwis with 10ov. This offers a nice comparison as Jamieson took 2w @ 5.20rpo in his 10 overs and Kuggeleijn took 1w @ 8rpo in his 10 overs.

The spinners understandably finished as the leading wicket-takers for Aotearoa. Patel and Astle both took 4w, with Patel conceding 6.45rpo and Astle 6.88rpo. There is little difference in their numbers from this series, making it hard to go all-in on who emerged ahead of each other and this only sets up more anticipation for the coming games as these two compete to partner Ish Sodhi in the Blackcaps series.

Lockie Ferguson came into the team for Blair Tickner, the only bowling change for the final T20. This resulted in Tickner failing to take a wicket in his 6ov from the first two games, although he only conceded 6rpo which made him one of the more economical bowlers for Aotearoa in the series.

We now move into three 50-over games, starting on Sunday and rolling through next week. BJ Watling and Logan van Beek join the squad, while Chapman and Ferguson drop out with Seifert only listed to play T20 and the second four-dayer.

Remember that two players from the A squad will be promoted to the Blackcaps T20 and ODI squads respectively, which based on the T20 series we've just observed, Phillips should definitely get a nod for the Blackcaps T20 squad. I reckon that last Blackcaps T20 spot will likely go to either Patel or Astle and with them both putting in solid performances across the T20 A series, their work in these one-day games could be crucial to their chances.

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Peace and love 27.