A hard-hitting 85 from Australian captain Mitchell Marsh has outgunned New Zealander Tim Robinson’s century to set up a commanding win for the visitors in their first T20I in Tauranga.
After Robinson’s 66-ball 106 helped rescue the Black Caps’ innings after slumping to 3/6 against the new ball, Marsh helped make light work of the target of 182, with the skipper’s 43-ball 85 and rapid 67-run opening stand with Travis Head steering Australia to victory with six wickets and 21 balls in hand.
The star opening pair took just 26 balls to bring up their half-century stand, while cameos from Matt Short (29 off 18) and Tim David (21 not out off 12) provided handy support for Marsh, whose only blemish was falling short of a well-deserved ton of his own.
With the ball, Josh Hazlewood (1/23 off four overs) was outstanding with the new ball, as was Ben Dwarshuis (2/40 off four), who took the wickets of Devon Conway and Mark Chapman with consecutive balls in the second over to leave the Kiwis on the back foot; while in the middle of Robinson’s onslaught, Adam Zampa (0/27) was miserly.
Zampa’s wicketless day was down to Australia’s sloppy fielding, with Head dropping two chances, David one and Alex Carey missing a stumping on an uncharacteristically poor evening for the Test gloveman.
The result sees Australia take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with Game 2 to be played in Tauranga on Friday evening.
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