Australia, alongside India, is emerging as a dominant force in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup 2026. The Australian team, which previously won the T20 World Cup, is reaffirming its position as a strong contender. Having previously defeated England, West Indies, and South Africa in T20 series, Australia has now defeated New Zealand. Captain Mitchell Marsh’s record-breaking century powered Australia to a 3-wicket win in the third and final T20 match, securing the series.
Australia had also won the first match of this series being held in New Zealand, while the second match was called off due to rain on October 3. The final match was played on Saturday in Mount Maunganui, where Australia’s pace attack troubled New Zealand’s batting order. Batting first, the host New Zealand lost 4 wickets for just 77 runs in 9.1 overs, with the four batsmen who were out scoring a mere 26 runs collectively.
However, opener Tim Seifert (48) provided resistance with rapid scoring, alongside captain Michael Bracewell and all-rounder James Neesham, who helped the team to reach 156 runs for 9 wickets. Sean Abbott took 3 wickets for Australia, while Josh Hazlewood and Xavier Bartlett took 2 wickets each.
After that, Australia’s captain, Mitchell Marsh, who had played a brilliant innings in the first T20 match, stepped up. In that match, Marsh reached 85 runs, but this time the explosive opener scored a century. However, he received minimal support from his teammates, with the other 5 batsmen in the top-6 scoring only 21 runs combined. None of them even reached double figures. But Marsh alone dominated the Kiwi bowlers and scored his first T20I career century in just 50 balls.
Australia won this match by 3 wickets, scoring 160 runs in 18 overs, with captain Marsh’s bat accounting for 103 runs (8 fours, 7 sixes). Furthermore, with this innings, Marsh broke a 20-year-old record. In 2005, the first-ever T20 International match was played between Australia and New Zealand. Ricky Ponting, who captained Australia at the time, scored an unbeaten 98 runs. Since then, no Australian batsman had managed to score such a high score against New Zealand. Now, Marsh has claimed this record after 20 years.