Marsh flays Kiwis as Aussies' red-hot T20 form rolls on

Australia's red-hot T20 form could not be doused by a Tim Robinson century, nor their own fielding foibles, as Mitch Marsh pummelled a depleted New Zealand in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series opener at Mount Maunganui.

Marsh made light work of the injury-ravaged Kiwis as the visiting captain pumped five sixes to see his side comfortably chase NZ's 6-181, with 23 balls to spare, on a chilly evening at Tauranga's Bay Oval.

Robinson had made the Aussies pay for dropping him three times, as well as a missed stumping opportunity, to become the seventh Black Caps batter to post an international T20 century.

The 23-year-old right-hander, who likely would not have played had first-choice top-order picks Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips been fit, finished unbeaten on 106 from 66 balls having rescued NZ from 3-6.

But the hosts' stuttering start proved telling.

In comparison, Marsh and opening partner Travis Head (31 from 18) helped their side take 68 from their Powerplay, while the returning Matt Short (29 off 18) along with Tim David (21no off 12) kept the momentum rolling beyond that.

The home side had no answers for Marsh until he drilled one to deep cover, leaving Marcus Stoinis to hit the winning runs from the first delivery he faced.

"Heady and I have a great relationship off the field and tonight was a lot of fun with him," Marsh said.

"The way we are playing has happened organically. We do have a lot of power in our batting line-up, hopefully it can continue.

"I thought we started really well with the ball tonight. The most pleasing thing was the way we handled the wind. We defended to the big side and backed our skill. We've been playing some really good cricket.

"It's a long build to the World Cup but nice to start well here."

Australia, who have now won 15 of 17 T20Is since last year's World Cup, go 1-0 up in the series ahead of the remaining two matches at the same venue on Friday and Saturday.

This one required a brave call at the toss.

From 14 non-DLS decided T20Is at the venue, none had been won by the team that fielded first. Marsh paid that statistic scant regard as he inserted his opponents for the 16th consecutive time after winning the toss, continuing his streak of never batting first as captain in the format.

It looked a sound decision when NZ lost three wickets in their first 10 balls with Josh Hazlewood (1-23) and Ben Dwarshuis (2-40) taking out three of their opponents' top four out with the new ball.

A 92-run stand between Robinson and Daryl Mitchell was broken by Short, playing his first game for Australia since February and taking on an elevated role with his off-spin in the absence of Glenn Maxwell.

Robinson lived a charmed life; Head put down him twice off as many Adam Zampa (0-27) overs. Alex Carey also missed a difficult stumping chance created by the leg-spinner, while David uncharacteristically fumbled another chance at long-on.

Head somewhat made up for it when his bullet throw from the boundary, made possible by a tricky through-the-legs pass from the diving Marcus Stoinis. It caught Bevon Jacobs marginally short while attempting a third run.

NZ captain Michael Bracewell suffered the same fate coming back for a third, courtesy of a solid throw from Short, capping a rocks-and-diamonds fielding effort from the Aussies.

"In the Powerplays in both innings we fell behind in the game," said Bracewell.

"We did well as a batting unit to put a competitive total on the board. Ultimately Mitch and Travis took the game away from us.

"I think we can take a lot of positives ... Tim Robinson played beautifully. He and Daryl took the game on from a difficult position."

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

First T20: October 1, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 4:15pm AEST

Second T20: October 3, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 4:15pm AEST

First T20: October 4, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, 4:15pm AEST

New Zealand squad: Michael Bracewell (c), Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matt Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

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