Australia have put yet another Test series in their kitty as they defeated New Zealand by three wickets at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday, March 11 to win the second Test.
Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey turned out to be the difference on the fourth day of the game as they stitched a 140-run stand for the sixth wicket and pulled Australia out of trouble after they lost Travis Head fairly early in the morning.
Marsh and Carey threw counterattacking punches towards the Kiwis and scored at a brisk rate to take the game away from the opponent's corner. Marsh scored at a strike rate of 78.43 and racked up 80 runs off just 102 balls before he was pinned in front of his stumps by Ben Sears.
The wicket of Marsh brought another one for the hosts as Sears got rid of Mitchell Starc for a golden duck and it seemed that the Blackcaps were still in with a chance with 79 runs more to get for the Aussies.
However, the tenacity of Australia came to the fore yet again as Carey and Pat Cummins got together in the middle and weathered the storm gradually. Carey remained unbeaten on 98 and added 79 runs for the seventh wicket to take Australia over the line.
Cummins scored the winning runs as he pushed a length ball from Sears through point and ran two to knock the target off.
For New Zealand, Sears bowled exceedingly well and gave everything to script a turnaround for the hosts but it wasn't meant to be. Sears finished with figures of 4/90 as he claimed the wickets Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc.
Carey was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for his magnificent knock. He scored 15 boundaries throughout the course of his knock.
New Zealand's strike bowler Matt Henry won the Player of the Series for picking up 17 wickets.
