Mitch Marsh smashes maiden Twenty20 century to lead Australia to three wicket win over New Zealand

Mitch Marsh’s first Twenty20 international century has inspired Australia to a stunning three-wicket win over New Zealand.

The touring captain played a lone hand in chasing down the Black Caps’ 9-156 Mount Maunganui with a glorious unbeaten 103 from 52 balls.

Only two other batters - Mitch Owen and Sean Abbott - reached double figures as Marsh carried Australia home with two overs to spare.

Marsh whacked seven sixes and eight fours in his eighth hundred for Australia, adding to his four ODI and three Test tons.

James Neesham’s 4-26 gave the Black Caps a fighting chance of squaring the series after Australia had already retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.

Australia took the series 2-0 after Friday’s second match was washed out.

Wet weather continued to hover on Saturday, with the start of play delayed by 15 minutes after Marsh won the toss and elected to field first.

Rain forced the team 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.

Sean Abbott wreaked havoc on the lower order, finishing with figures of 3-25.

Big-hitting Tim David pulled off a stunning catch to help dismiss Mark Chapman (4) to give Abbott his first wicket.

Kiwi captain Michael Bracewell (26) and allrounder James Neesham (25) were able to do some damage late in the innings, smashing 17 from one Marcus 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.