Glenn Maxwell scored a blistering 70 as Australia defeated New Zealand by 64 runs in the third t-20 international at Wellington on Wednesday.
The Black Caps made one change with Mark Chapman replacing all-rounder Mitchell Santner, while the visitors handed debutant Riley Meredith his first game, with the Hurricanes pacer replacing Daniel Sams.
After being sent in by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, Australian opener Matthew Wade was caught by Martin Guptill at slips off Trent Boult for 5.
Aaron Finch along with Josh Philippe added 83 runs for the second wicket, before the latter fell to Ish Sodhi for a quickfire 43.
Skipper Finch was then involved in yet another stand with Maxwell. The former looked good in his innings of 69, before being caught by Kyle Jamieson off Sodhi for a well made 69.
Australian all rounder Maxwell took on the New Zealand bowlers by smashing them to all parts of ground. In the 17th over he took on James Neesham and hammered for 28 runs. He scored a scintillating 70 runs off just 31 balls before falling to Tim Southee in the 18th over. His knock comprised off 8 fours and 5 sixes.
The visitors ended up with a mammoth 208/4 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Ish Sodhi was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand with figures of 2/32.
Australia went into the third T20 needing a win to stay alive in the series, and these two knocks from Maxwell and Finch gave them the platform to achieve just that, and the rest was done by their bowlers, with the Black Caps simply unable to keep pace with the required rate.
Chasing 209, Tim Seifert and skipper Kane Williamson fell to debutant Meredith for 4 & 9 respectively. The hosts at the end of the powerplay were 59/2.
Guptill along with Devon Conway added 42 runs for the third wicket before Adam Zampa broke the stand by dismissing the former for 43.
Ashton Agar got into the act by snaring the wickets of Glenn Phillips and the dangerous Devon Conway in the same over to peg the home side back. Agar wrecked the hosts middle and lower order with figures of 6/30, as Black Caps were bundled out for 144 runs in 17.1 overs, giving the visitors a 64 run win. He also became the the first non-Asian bowler to claim a 6-wicket haul in T20I history.
Australia – 208/4 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 70, Aaron Finch 69; Ish Sodhi 2/32) New Zealand – 144 in 17.1 overs (Martin Guptill 43, Devon Conway 38; Ashton Agar 6/30) won by 64 runs.
Ashton Agar was declared the Player of the Match for his brilliant performance with the ball. The fourth T-20 international will take place at Wellington on March 5, Friday.