Australia vs New Zealand 2022

'What a knock it has been' - Twitter rises to salute an outstanding innings from Steve Smith versus New Zealand

Steve Smith gave Aaron Finch a memorable farewell and put Australia in a dominating position to win the Third One Day against the Kiwis.

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Steve Smith

Steve Smith (Source: Twitter)

Steve Smith Steve Smith (Source: Twitter)

The third ODI between Australia and New Zealand took place in Cairns at Cazaly's stadium. Australia annihilated New Zealand in the 1st two ODI's and took a comfortable 2-0 series lead over the kiwis. While all the limelight was centred on Aaron Finch, who was playing his last one-day international, Steve Smith stole the show with his incredible performance.

One man snatched all the attention from Finch and that was Steve Smith. Josh Inglis was slotted into the side in place of David Warner for this fixture and he did not make much of an impression, scoring just 10 from 16 balls. Aaron Finch's horror run of form continued with the bat as he was dismissed by Tim Southee in his last ODI innings for just 5 runs from 13 deliveries.

Steve Smith walked out at no 3 at a precarious time when Australia was 16-2 and he straightaway got the flow going. Although he scored 105 from 131 deliveries, which was a slow innings by Steve Smith's standards, he showcased his array of strokes and showed why he is an ace in the ODI format.

He took on all the bowlers and smashed them with disdain and he took the score to 203 when he got dismissed trying to increase the run scoring. The talismanic batter for Australia was willing to grind it out in the initial phase and then laboured through his innings. Once he got his eye in, the typical Steve Smith dance moves at the wicket were back, and also he showed why he is such a versatile player in the ODI format.

As he progressed through the innings, he found his range and played all kinds of strokes, including cover drives on the offside.  Steve Smith made sure that he put Australia in a winning position as the team finished at 267- 5 in their 50 overs. He also made sure that Australia will give Aaron Finch a memorable final ODI to remember as he called time on his ODI career.

Twitter was abuzz, let us take a look at the reactions here -

Steve Smith