Mitchell Marsh bashed a brilliant century in the third and final Twenty20 at Mount Maunganui to propel Australia to a tense three-wicket victory to complete a 2-0 series win.
The Australian captain needed just 50 deliveries to register his first T20 international ton, leading from the front as wickets tumbled around him.
Marsh, who scored 85 in game one, smashed eight fours and seven sixes in his unbeaten 103 from just 52 balls and he was a little lucky to not get out on 99 with a miscued pull shot falling safe in the outfield to allow him to scamper a two.
Only two other Australian batters got into double figures, including Sean Abbott’s 10 not out to get them to the target with two overs remaining in a 26-run stand to seal the result.
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“I had a bit of luck. When you’re going like that, it’s important to keep going,” he said.
“I actually loved our intent with the bat, that’s how we’re playing at the moment.
“It was a pretty scrappy game all round, it was nice to get over the line. It was a little bit closer than I would have liked but we got there.”
Despite the early loss of opening partner Travis Head for eight when he was bowled by Jacob Duffy, the Aussies motored to 62 by the sixth over to be well ahead of the required run rate.
Marsh reached his half-century off just 21 deliveries with four boundaries and five more clearing the rope.
He could not find an ally to stick around with him as Matt Short (seven), Tim David (three), Alex Carey (one) and Marcus Stoinis (two) went cheaply.
Veteran all-rounder James Neesham was the middle-order destroyer for the home side with four wickets in the space of three overs but captain Michael Bracewell took him off just when it looked like New Zealand could steal victory with the Aussies at 6-111 when Mitchell Owen (14) departed.
Having already retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, Australia were determined to complete a 2-0 series win after Friday’s second match was washed out.
Australia restricted New Zealand to 9-156 after bowling first.
Wet weather continued to hover on Saturday, with the start of play delayed by 15 minutes, and the teams forced from the field briefly after just two overs of New Zealand’s innings.
But star quick Josh Hazlewood (2-26) was able to make it an immediate impact, removing out-of-form Black Caps opener Devon Conway (0) and No.3 Tim Robinson (13).
Wicketkeeper Tim Seifert played an important knock, but was dismissed by Xavier Bartlett (2-25) for 48 off 35 balls.
Abbott wreaked havoc on the lower order, finishing with figures of 3-25.
David pulled off a stunning catch to help dismiss Mark Chapman (4) to give Abbott his first wicket.
Bracewell (26) and Neesham (25) were able to do some damage late in the innings, smashing 17 from one Stoinis over.
But Neesham fell to Bartlett before he was able to truly lift New Zealand’s score up towards a difficult total for the tourists.
Both teams went in unchanged after just 13 balls were bowled in game two.
with AAP
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