Marsh powers Australia to First T20 World Cup title

Marsh powers Australia to First T20 World Cup title DUBAI: Mitchell Marsh smashed an unbeaten 77 as Australia hammered New Zealand by eight wickets to clinch their first Twenty20 World Cup title on Sunday. Chasing 173 for victory, Australia depended on a 92-run second-wicket stand between David Warner, who made 53, and Marsh to achieve their target in Dubai. Warner became Trent Boult’s second wicket but Marsh kept up fast scoring to power Australia home to their long-awaited T20 world cup win. Glenn Maxwell, who made 28, joined Marsh, who hit six fours and four sixes in his 50-ball knock, to put on 66 runs and hit the winning boundary as the Aussies came running in to celebrate the victory. "It’s huge. We felt like a lot of people wrote us off but we spoke about being the first team to do this for Australia and it feels really special," said Matthew Wade. New Zealand Skipper Kane Williamson hit a quick 85 in total score of 172-4 after being invited to bat first in a crucial toss won by Aaron Finch as teams chasing have won all but one game at the venue. Toss played crucial role in the easy victory for the Australians. Australia, whose previous best was a runners-up finish in 2010, came into T20 semi-final with one loss to England and beat Pakistan in the final-four clash with a chase of 177. Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood get figures of 3-16 and leg-spinner Adam Zampa had 1-26. Kane’s a superb player," said Hazlewood. "It was another classical innings, runs all around the ground and he hurts you when you bowl poorly."loop Australia suffered an early blow in their chase when Finch departed for five off Boult. But the left-right batting pair of Warner and Marsh combined to take apart the bowling with fours and sixes. Marsh started his inning with great aggression. Marsh hit Adam Milne for one six and two fours on his first three balls of the knock. Warner also kept up his fast scoring as he hammered leg-spinner Ish Sodhi for 16 runs in one over. He hit Jimmy Neesham for a six to raise his third half-century of the tournament but soon lost his wicket. Warner, with 289 runs in total, ended second behind Pakistan’s Babar Azam 303 in the tournament’s batting chart. Williamson started slowly but once settled took on the opposition bowling to reach his first half-century of the tournament. He finished with 10 fours and three sixes in his 48-ball inning to lift New Zealand from 57-1 in 10. The Kiwis initially struggled and lost Daryl Mitchell caught behind for 11 off Hazlewood. Opening batsman Martin Guptill failed to get quick runs despite his three boundaries and a 48-run second-wicket stand with Williamson. Williamson survived a spill by Hazlewood in the deep with the ball popping out of the fielder’s hand to find the boundary. Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc was the bowler. The captain hit back with two more fours off left-arm quick Starc who was taken for 60 runs from his four overs, to get some momentum into the innings. Zampa sent Guptill trudging back to the dugout after the opener’s 35-ball 28 but Williamson kept up the charge with two sixes off Maxwell. Williamson again picked out Starc to smash four fours and one six in a 22-run 16th over and put on 68 with Glenn Phillips, who made 18. Hazlewood returned in his final over to break the stand with Phillips’ wicket and then got Williamson out with a leg-cutter. This seventh edition of the T20 tournament was staged in Oman and United Arab Emirates.