New Zealand vs Australia, 3rd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

For the 9th successive time, the Chappell-Hadlee trophy stays with Australia and, fittingly, skipper Marsh receives the trophy from Sir Richard Hadlee. Time to pose behind the 'winners' hoarding now. Australia's preparations for the T20 World Cup early next year continues to get better. Their back up options look pretty strong too and that is not good news for the rest of the teams. Plenty of white-ball cricket coming up this month and do remember to check this space for all the latest. Until next time, cheers and goodbye!!

Michael Bracewell | New Zealand skipper: We really needed to take that wicket of Mitch Marsh, and even without taking that wicket we fought right till the end and it was a competitive game. We threw everything we got at them and used our resources and sometimes they happen. You gotta tip your hat off to Mitch, he played beautifully and scored 100 off the 150 runs. It wasn't easy out there (with the bat), the pitch was under cover for the last 2-3 days with a lot of rain around. You are always looking around for those improvements and try and get 20-30 more runs every game you play. Fine margins in T20s and hopefully in the future we can play a longer series and I think we can came out on top in couple of games at least.

Mitch Marsh | Player of the Match, Player of the Series and Australian skipper: Nice to win the series, great to win an away series in New Zealand. Had a bit of luck, but it was important to keep going and actually loved our intent, and that is how we are playing at the moment and it was nice to get home at the end. Probably a bit more closer than we would have liked, but we got there. Anytime you are chasing 160, you want to try and finish the game as soon as possible, it was a bit of a messy game and as I said before, nice to get over the line and win the series. The wicket being under covers for a couple of days, there was seam movement early on and 160 is always a bit tricky on this wicket. Every team around the world now is building towards the World Cup, and we understand T20 cricket is not always going to be straightforward, but one thing we can control is our intent with the bat and just keep going, hopefully we can just keep going as a team. Go home, see my daughter and spend a couple of weeks with her and we will get back into it (talking about the series against India).

Australia in T20Is post T20 WC 2024
19 matches
16 wins
2 defeats
1 NR

Highest % of team total in a T20I inns (AUS)
75.11% (172 - 229/2) - Aaron Finch vs ZIM, Harare, 2018
65.69% - (90* - 137/3) - David Warner vs SL, Sydney, 2013
64.37% - (103* - 160/7) - Mitchell Marsh vs NZ, Mount Maunganui, 2025
63.98% - (103* - 161/5) - Glenn Maxwell vs ENG, Hobart 2018
62.94% - (124* - 197/5) - Shane Watson vs IND, Sydney, 2016

Mitchell Marsh vs NZ in T20Is: 13 innings, 479 runs at 59.87, SR: 155.51

Mitchell Marsh vs pace today
Front foot: 21 off 16, SR: 131.25
Back foot: 54 off 22, SR: 245.45
Down/other: 2 off 2, SR: 100

Of all the players to have scored at least 500 runs against pace off both front-foot and back-foot in T20Is(where data available) , Marsh is the only one to strike at 150-plus against both. He strikes at 152.69 off the back-foot vs pace, the highest for anyone with a 500-run cut off, and has hit 32 sixes while at it, a number only exceeded by Rohit Sharma (42).

100-plus sixes for Australia in T20Is
148 - Glenn Maxwell
125 - Aaron Finch
122 - David Warner
101 - Mitchell Marsh

T20I hundreds for Australia captains
172 - Aaron Finch vs ZIM, Harare, 2018
124* - Shane Watson vs IND, Sydney, 2016
103* - Mitchell Marsh vs NZ, Mount Maunganui, 2025

Captains with hundreds in T20I chases
122 - Babar Azam vs SA, Centurion, 2021
110* - Babar Azam vs ENG, Karachi, 2022
103* - Mitchell Marsh vs NZ, Mount Maunganui, 2025
*full-member teams

Marsh is also the third batter to register a T20I hundred in a run-chase for Australia after Glenn Maxwell (thrice) and Tim David.

He now has the highest T20I score for Australia vs New Zealand, surpassing Ricky Ponting’s 98* (Auckland, 2005) in the first ever Men’s T20I ever played.

23:15 local, 10:15 GMT, 15:45 IST: Mitch Marsh = 103. Rest of the Australian batters (8 of them) who walked out to bat = 49. Need I say more? The surface was a lot trickier and not as straightforward as the first game. New Zealand, at one stage, looked well set to post a total in excess of 170, but lost their way in the slog overs and crumbled very badly to finish at a below-par total. They needed wickets to have any hopes of a win, and they did ignite plenty of positivity through Neesham who claimed a four-for in 13 balls. Unfortunately for the hosts, they couldn't dislodge Marsh who held one end and played smart brand of cricket in the second half of the chase to steer his side to a comfortable win.

Jacob Duffy to Abbott, FOUR, opens the bat face and creams the drive through covers to seal the deal. Australia win by 3 wickets and take the series 2-0.

Jacob Duffy to Mitchell Marsh, 1 run, drags the short ball from outside off with a pull to deep mid-wicket

Jacob Duffy to Abbott, 1 run, short outside off, Abbott drags the pull to the right of deep square

Jacob Duffy to Abbott, no run, short of length outside off, cut away straight to backward point

Jacob Duffy to Mitchell Marsh, 1 run, full on off, Marsh drills it down to long-on

Jacob Duffy to Mitchell Marsh, 2 runs, thick top-edge on the pull, but that drops well wide of the fielder at deep square to his right. A well-deserved maiden T20I hundred for Mitchell Marsh. The dressing room rise as one to appreciate a superb knock from the skipper

Neesham to Abbott, 2 runs, back of a length outside off, cut away to the right of a diving backward point. Easy two...

Neesham to Abbott, FOUR, short of a length on off at 132ks, Abbott swivels and helps it away in the gap through short fine with a well-timed pull

Neesham to Mitchell Marsh, 1 run, length ball outside off, slashed away to the left of sweeper cover

Neesham to Mitchell Marsh, SIX, short ball angled in at the ribcage, Marsh swivels and gets enough on the pull shot to send it soaring over deep square for a 78-metre maximum

Neesham to Abbott, 1 run, short of length just outside off, tucked away to the left of deep square leg

Neesham to Mitchell Marsh, 1 run, full toss outside off, Marsh bashes it to the right of sweeper cover