Marsh's one-man show leads Australia to series win

A one-man batting effort from Mitch Marsh saw Australia successfully chase 157 to seal the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand 2-0. Australia had already retained the trophy with the second T20I washed out after their win in the opener. Marsh's 103* dwarfed the combined 49 the rest of the Australian batters made.

Following a delayed start due to rain, New Zealand were asked to bat first in conditions that favoured seam bowling. Just two overs of play were possible, in which New Zealand lost Devon Conway for a duck, before there was another 35-minute rain interruption. Centurion from the first game, Tim Robinson started positively with a six off the very first ball after resumption and followed up with a boundary. Tim Seifert too, who had already got underway with a six, joined in and smacked Xavier Bartlett for 15 runs in the following over. Australia struck back though and removed both Robinson and Mark Chapman in quick succession to leave New Zealand on 46/3 after the PowerPlay.

The 10th over, bowled by Marcus Stoinis, turned out to be a wicket-maiden following Daryl Mitchell's dismissal off the first ball. Seifert continued to attack but fell two runs short of his fifty in the 13th over. Michael Bracewell and Jimmy Neesham looked destructive and threatened to power New Zealand to a big total but were both unable to convert their cameos into something more substantial. Neesham holed out in the 17th over while Bracewell followed in the 18th. Sean Abbott claimed two more wickets in the following over and New Zealand stumbled to 156/9.

Australia's chase was a complete one-man show. Marsh got underway with two fours and a six off Matt Henry in the third over. He lost his opening partner in the following over but kept going. He tore into Ben Sears in the sixth over, smashing two sixes and two fours to collect 22 runs. Matt Short was the next to fall right after the PowerPlay but once more, it did not slow Marsh down. He raised his fifty off just 21 balls in the 8th over by smacking consecutive sixes.

While runs flowed from Marsh's bat at one end, wickets flowed from the other. Neesham dismissed both Tim David and Alex Carey, who was caught brilliantly by Chapman, in the ninth over to keep New Zealand in the game. He returned to dismiss Stoinis in the 11th and eventually finished with figures of 4-26.

New Zealand kept picking up wickets with Mitch Owen falling next but they had no answers to Marsh's onslaught. Batting with all the responsibility and a fear of running out of partners did not weigh him down. He pulled the game further into Australia's grasp by hitting 15 runs off the 15th over. Australia managed 15 more off the 17th over to truly shut the door on their opponents. Marsh notched up his maiden T20I century with a miscued pull in the next over before Abbott crunched a drive through cover to seal the game and the series for Australia.

Brief Scores:New Zealand 156/9 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 48, Michael Bracewell 26; Sean Abbott 3-25) lost to Australia 160/7 in 18 overs (Mitchell Marsh 103*, Mitchell Owen 14; James Neesham 4-26) by 4 wickets