Aaron Finch shrugged off a long slump in form with a defiant half-century and Ashton Agar took six wickets as Australia claimed a 64-run win over New Zealand in Wellington on Wednesday to keep their Twenty20 series alive.

At a closed Wellington Regional Stadium, Australia clawed back to 2-1 in the five-match series following defeats in Christchurch and Dunedin.

Fired by 69 from captain Finch and a 31-ball 70 from Glenn Maxwell, Australia put an imposing 208 for four on the board before left-arm spinner Agar took 6-30, an Australian record in T20 internationals, to help bundle New Zealand out for 144.

Having scored a total of 13 runs from the first two matches in the wake of a dismal Big Bash League season with the bat, Finch was lucky to survive a big lbw appeal off Tim Southee on the first ball he faced.

He shook off the fright and grew in confidence in a blazing 64-run partnership with Maxwell before caught by Kyle Jamieson with a reverse-sweep off Ish Sodhi.

“It’s always nice when you contribute to a win, that’s the most important thing,” said Finch.

“I suppose that partnership with Maxie allowed us to go a little bit deeper which was nice.”

After going wicketless in the first two matches, Agar took the legs out from under New Zealand’s chase, removing Glenn Phillips (13), Devon Conway (38) and James Neesham (0) in the 13th over to leave the home side 110 for six.

Paceman Riley Meredith replaced Daniel Sams in Australia’s only change from Dunedin and grabbed 2-24 on an impressive international debut that included trapping New Zealand captain Kane Williamson lbw for nine.

New Zealand suffered a late withdrawal, with all-rounder Mitch Santner forced into isolation to await a COVID-19 test result after showing flu-like symptoms. Mark Chapman played in his place.

The series continues in Wellington on Friday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP/CBS13) — De’Aaron Fox had 32 points and six other Kings scored in double figures, but Sacramento fell to the Portland Trailblazers 123-119 Thursday in the last game before the All-Star break.

Damian Lillard had 44 points, including 10 straight at a key moment down the stretch.

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Enes Kanter added 22 points and 21 rebounds for the Blazers, who have won three straight heading into the All-Star break. Lillard finished with eight 3-pointers.

Fix added 12 assists and eight rebounds for Sacramento.

Richaun Holmes dunked to give the Kings a 103-98 lead with 5:41 left, but Lillard answered with a 3-pointer and Kanter’s layup tied it at 103.

Sacramento went up 108-103 with 3:49 to go on Harrison Barnes’ layup and Buddy Hield’s 3. Lillard responded with a pullup jumper, a layup and a pair of 3-pointers in quick succession to put the Blazers ahead 115-108 with just more than a minute left.

Sacramento wasn’t quite done, pulling within 119-118 on a 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left. After Gary Trent Jr. made two free throws for the Blazers, Fox hit one then appeared to miss the second intentionally. After a review over whether the ball hit the rim, Portland got the ball back with 3.7 seconds left and Lillard was fouled to close it out.

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Both teams were playing the second of a back-to-back heading into the All-Star break.

The Kings had won two of their last three games after a nine-game losing streak. Sacramento was coming off a 123-120 victory Wednesday night over the Lakers, who were playing without LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The Kings were still without reigning NBA rookie of the month Tyrese Haliburton, who missed his fourth game with a calf injury.

Portland was coming off a 108-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Lillard hit a 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds to go to secure the win.

Nemanja Bjelica’s 3-pointer gave the Kings an early 21-16 lead. Lillard’s 3 late in the opening quarter put Portland up 28-27, and the All-Star had 15 points by the end of the period.

The Kings kept close through the rest of the half, trailing 59-56 at the break. When Portland appeared to start puling away, Hield’s 3-pointer got Sacramento within 73-72.

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Tied at 92 with 10 minutes left, Fox made a layup to give the Kings the lead. His jumper pushed the lead to 97-92 with 8:21 to go.

United have received plenty of negative press lately for their poor recent record when facing other members of the so-called ‘big six’, with last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Chelsea the sixth successive game against such calibre of opponent in which they have failed to score.

Five of those six matches ended 0-0, while the last time United managed to get a goal against the league’s biggest clubs was the 6-1 humiliation by Tottenham in early October.

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Such omens do not offer a particularly bright outlook ahead of their trip to the runaway leaders, with City heading into the weekend just one match away from setting a new club record, having now gone 28 games unbeaten across all competitions.

But ex-United star Nani, who lost four of his eight games against City for the club, insists sheer ability alone is not the reason for the gap in the table.

Speaking to Stats Perform News, Nani said: “What I have seen of this team and what I saw from last season, United are building a strong team. They are building a young, strong team, so that’s very good.

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“Man United have a great coach now and it’s a matter of time [before they challenge for honours]. I think some of the players need to get more experience, learning fast how they win certain games in certain moments, because I see moments where there is no chance of losing any points and yet they lost.

“That’s why now, if you see the top of the table, it makes a little bit of difference because otherwise they would be sharing the position in the table with Man City.

“I don’t see Man City stronger than Man United, I see they look more experienced, and they are in a good form. I think the next game will be important for the end of the season if they beat Man City, we have all the chance and I think we’re going to win it because that is a different game. But they have to go with everything.”

Despite his confidence in United, Nani appreciates the job Guardiola has done in 2020-21 – after all, City took just 12 points from their first eight matches amid a sluggish start to the season.

Yet, Guardiola turned things around and City have not dropped a single point since being held to a 1-1 draw by West Brom on December 15, Nani singling out the manager’s influence in restoring the confidence of certain key performers.

“I think Guardiola has been doing a great job this season, to get the team together,” Nani added. “They seem a very confident team when they play.

“He brought back some players whose confidence was down, like Bernardo Silva. He put Joao Cancelo [in] – Cancelo is doing fantastic for the team, and all the players at the front, they are not scoring so many goals as before, but they have been important.

“There are players who last season did not appear so much, like [Ilkay] Gundogan, who this season has been amazing. He scored so many goals and is giving so many assists. So, it’s important when you don’t have important players available, like Kevin De Bruyne, you can bring another player who can appear and help the team.”

While Nani alluded to Silva’s increased importance, it’s another Portugal international who is seen as arguably the catalyst to City’s improvement this season: Ruben Dias.

The centre-back fits in perfectly with Guardiola’s philosophy of building from the back and has formed an outstanding partnership with John Stones – when playing together they have won 13 of 14 Premier League matches this term, keeping 11 clean sheets, and Nani believes Dias has proven himself one of the best around.

“Yes, he’s proved already that he’s one of the best in the world,” Nani continued. “I think if people don’t think that, then very soon they will change their mind because the way he’s been performing for the team, the way he has been helping in a defensive way, that is one of the reasons in the second half of the season City is performing and conceding less goals.

“It’s also partly [down to] John Stones. I think it’s important when the defence of the team is solid, it’s much easier for the ones who play at the front to perform and to be more relaxed to create the chances to score.”

United felt hard done by in the first half at Stamford Bridge when the video assistant referee (VAR) brought to Attwell’s attention a possible handball by Callum Hudson-Odoi in his own penalty area.

The incident occurred just before a tussle with Mason Greenwood, who subsequently also appeared to touch the ball with his arm.

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Attwell was advised to review Hudson-Odoi’s action on the pitchside monitor, yet no penalty was given despite replays appearing to show the Chelsea wing-back’s hand in an unnatural position when coming into contact with the ball.

Shaw claimed in a post-match interview with Sky Sports that Attwell had told United captain Harry Maguire giving them a penalty would “cause a lot of talk after”.

United later clarified that Shaw misheard Maguire’s conversation with the official.

While Solskjaer refused to explicitly repeat Shaw’s accusations, he was aware of what was said and made no attempt to shut them down, before also insisting it was “100 per cent” a penalty.

He then went on to accuse Chelsea of influencing referees via content published to their website ahead of the match, with Maguire’s recent VAR brushes the focus of the article in question.

Yet despite the comments made by Shaw and Solskjaer, neither is set to face any disciplinary action, with the FA not considering them to be in breach of the rules and regulations.

After Ryan Saunders was let go in Minnesota , then Lloyd Pierce was dismissed in Atlanta , people started to look around the league for the next coach on the hot seat.

A lot of eyes turned to Luke Walton in Sacramento.

They shouldn’t. Walton is safe, according to a report from Sam Amick and Jason Jones of The Athletic .

But sources with knowledge of the Kings’ plans say Walton is not in any imminent trouble and — barring a complete nose-dive in the second half — is likely to last at least through this season. There is a strong sense in coaching circles that Kings associate head coach Alvin Gentry would likely take over if Walton were eventually dismissed, but that time does not appear to be coming anytime soon. Sources say Walton, who was hired by former general manager Vlade Divac in mid-April of 2019, is owed a combined $11.5 million in the next two seasons of his four-year guaranteed deal.

Walton meets the criteria of coaches let go mid-season: Sacramento has changed GMs (Vlade Divac hired Walton in 2019 but Monte McNair is in charge now), the team wasn’t winning, there was an experienced head coach on the bench in Alvin Gentry, and there is pressure from ownership for improvement as the Kings move toward a 15th straight season of missing the playoffs.

However, according to the report, McNair and the Kings expected this to be a transition season — a “gap year” — and ownership was on board with this long-term thinking. Young players such as De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Halliburton are showing development under Walton.

Ultimately, however, it seems to be the money talking, too. The Kings have been hit hard by the pandemic-caused financial downturn; paying two coaches at once is not something in the plans right now.

Whether Walton will be coaching the Kings next season is an open question, but it appears his job is safe for now.

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