Australia won the match against New Zealand by three wickets
Mitchell Marsh scored an explosive 103 off 52 balls
New Zealand set a target of 156 runs for Australia
Sean Abbott and Josh Hazelwood starred with the ball for Australia
Mitchell Marsh's unbeaten 103 off 52 balls guided Australia to a three-wicket win over New Zealand, and a 2-0 series victory.
After the second T20I of the three-match series was abandoned, New Zealand had a chance to salvage a draw, but they got off to a less-than-ideal start in Mount Maunganui.
Devon Conway was dismissed for a duck in the first over before Tim Robinson (13) and Mark Chapman (four) were both removed inside the powerplay.
Sean Abbott (3-25) and Josh Hazelwood (2-26) led the way with the ball for Australia, but Tim Seifert’s 48 helped the Black Caps set a target of 156, while Michael Bracewell (26) and James Neesham (25) offered useful contributions.
Marsh made a typically fast start, but the wickets kept tumbling at the other end as Mitchell Owen (14) and Abbott (13 not out) were the only other Australia batters to reach double figures.
Neesham (4-26) was New Zealand's standout bowler, but could not get the better of Australia captain Marsh, who smashed his team over the line with eight fours and seven maximums.
With the heavy lifting having been done by Marsh, Abbott's boundary got the job done with 12 balls to spare.
Data Debrief: Australia's skipper leads by example
Marsh scored 64.4% of Australia's runs (103/160).
That is the second-best rate of any player to record 100+ in an innings for Australia in men's T20I history (Aaron Finch - 75.1%, 172/229 vs Zimbabwe in July 2018).
It was also Marsh's first century in the format, and he has now scored 1,996 runs for his country in 73 innings. Only David Warner (3,277), Aaron Finch (3,120) and Glenn Maxwell (2,833) have registered more for Australia in T20Is.
