Marsh 103* brushes aside Neesham four-for as Australia clinch series 2-0
Mitchell Marsh led from the front with a magnificent maiden T20I century to carry Australia to a 2-0 series victory over New Zealand after they had suffered a major stumble against James Neesham.At 62 for 1 in the seventh over, Australia were comfortably placed chasing an underwhelming 157 but Neesham claimed four quick wickets to leave the game in the balance. Marsh, though, remained unstoppable to continue his recent surge in form, bringing up his century from 50 balls, joining the group of those with centuries across all formats, in an innings where the next-best score was 14. Sean Abbott showed his calmness and experience by helping get the job done, unbeaten on 13.Australia’s three frontline quicks had all impressed after Marsh followed his usual route of bowling when winning the toss. Josh Hazlewood set the tone and was well backed up by Xavier Bartlett and Abbott as the trio shared seven wickets, while Marcus Stoinis claimed the important figure of Daryl Mitchell with his first ball.This early-season Chappell-Hadlee series was played across just four days in chilly, damp conditions – with the second match mostly lost to the weather – and New Zealand will now prepare to face England in white-ball cricket. Australia, meanwhile, return home to play India in ODIs and T20Is ahead of the Ashes.
Marsh’s lone hand
Marsh joked after the second T20I’s abandonment that he’d never felt such pressure being 1 off 5 balls in a nine-over slog. Today he was 4 off 5 when he got into himself into top gear with consecutive fours and a pulled six off Matt Henry. Then in the final over of the powerplay he took down Ben Sears, starting with a perfect lofted on-drive for six before showing extraordinary power to loft six over cover off the back foot – in all, the over cost 21.Marsh lost Matt Short, flicking Neesham into the deep, but consecutive sixes against Ish Sodhi – the second taking him to a 21-ball fifty – continued Australia’s momentum. Then the wheels threatened to come off. Tim David swung a big outside edge to deep third, Alex Carey was brilliantly caught at deep point by Mark Chapman – who held the catch horizontal to the ground – and Neesham put himself on a hat-trick when Stoinis drove to mid-off.He nearly claimed it, too, as Mitchell Owen got an inside edge into the pads. Owen launched a mighty six over long-on to suggest he might hurry the game to a conclusion but soon skied into the off side. Marsh scored 22 of the 23 added with Bartlett, but 24 were still needed when the seventh wicket fell, although there was never any run-rate pressure.Marsh moved to 97 with his seventh six, muscled over the leg side when he didn’t middle a pull off Neesham, and brought up three figures when a top edge landed safely.Hazlewood’s four in a rowFor the second time in the series, Hazlewood struck in the first over of a match when Devon Conway skewed a catch to mid-off after Tim Seifert had scooped his third ball for six. Three overs later, with New Zealand having made decent progress, he produced a superb delivery which nipped and climbed at Tim Robinson to graze the edge, although the DRS was needed after the on-field umpire didn’t hear the nick.In an attacking move, with the ball nibbling around, Hazlewood was given his four-over spell on the trot by Marsh – the first time he had bowled all his overs straight through in his T20 career. His top-class spell was somewhat dented in his last over when Seifert and Mitchell took a boundary a piece.David’s catch, Stoinis maidenAustralia were poor in the field during the opening match, but they caught safely in this one. Their highlight was David’s terrific effort, running back from mid-on take Chapman’s lofted drive over his shoulder, managing to hold onto the ball as he landed and it left New Zealand three down inside the powerplay.Another notable contribution was Stoinis’ opening over. He started by finding Mitchell’s outside edge with a delivery that moved considerably, and ended up completing a wicket maiden. It was his first maiden in a full T20 match, although earlier this year he completed two maiden ‘sets’ in the Hundred which are categorized among T20 statistics.In the end, Stoinis would end up Australia’s most expensive bowler as his last three overs went for 43 with Neesham taking 16 off him in the space of four balls in the 15th over including two sixes. Neesham and captain Michael Bracewell tried to rebuild from 99 for 5 but in felt like New Zealand were someway short although with the ball, Neesham nearly proved it otherwise. One player stood in their way.