Mitch Marsh has played the innings of his life to guide Australia to its maiden men's T20 World Cup after a win over New Zealand in the final.
Set a record men's T20 final target of 173, Australia reached the total in a canter following half-centuries from both Marsh and David Warner in the run chase.
RE-LIVE: Australia defeats New Zealand in T20 World Cup Final
After striding to the wicket early on following Aaron Finch's dismissal, Marsh was merciless in his attack on the New Zealand bowlers, helping Australia secure an eight-wicket win.
The much-maligned all-rounder began his innings with 14 runs off the first three deliveries of his innings and never looked back after that moment.
Marsh finished the match unbeaten on 77 off just 50 deliveries, vindicating the move to put him up the order in the vital No.3 position as he was named the Player of the Match.
"This has been one of the best T20 innings that I've seen," said former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson of Marsh's knock on commentary.
"There's not too many batsmen in the world who have the natural power that he does."
Following Australia's win, coach Justin Langer explained how the all-rounder had proved to be the missing piece in his side's T20 jigsaw puzzle.
"We knew when we came back together how much talent we had," Langer said. "There's enormous talent in this team."
"When we were in the West Indies and Bangladesh leading into this series, there were a few missing pieces and Mitch Marsh took one of those pieces and he's been brilliant."
Marsh paid tribute to Australia's coaching staff for instilling the confidence in him at the top of the order, revealing how the move had come about earlier this year.
"The coaching staff came up to me in the West Indies about six months ago now and said you're going to bat three for this series and I absolutely jumped at the idea of that," he said.
"I'd done it a little bit for the [Perth] Scorchers back home. I've got all of our staff and everyone involved in the set-up to thank for getting me up the top there, and I just love playing my role for this team."
Marsh's match-winning knock came after a remarkable innings from New Zealand captain Kane Williamson gave his side a fighting chance.
After being dropped early on by Josh Hazlewood, Williamson made Australia pay in ruthless fashion as he picked apart Mitchell Starc.
Starc leaked 60 runs in his four-over spell, making it the most expensive outing of his career as Williamson pounded 85 runs off just 48 deliveries.
Eventually his innings was brought to an end by Hazlewood, who was nigh on unhittable for the majority of the match as he finished with 3-16 off his four overs.
Australian captain Aaron Finch was full of praise for his charges after his side came into the tournament on the back of consecutive 4-1 series hidings at the hands of the West Indies and Bangladesh.
"This is huge, to be the first Australia team to do it. So proud of how the guys went about the campaign," he said.
"We had to fight and certainly did that, had some great team and individual performances."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/cricket/t20-world-cup-mitch-marsh-plays-magical-innings-australia-defeats-new-zealand-in-final/d5b1804b-d352-4ffa-b48f-651a4c555abc
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