Wellington: Spinner Ashton Agar’s six-wicket haul and Glenn Maxwell’s 70 off 31 balls helped Australia beat New Zealand by 64 runs in the third T20I on Wednesday at the Westpac Stadium.
Maxwell’s innings and captain Aaron Finch’s 69 off 44 balls helped Australia post a mammoth 208/4 batting first and Agar then ran through New Zealand’s middle order as they folded for 144 runs.
Australia have thus halved the hosts’ lead in the five-match series with New Zealand still leading 2-1.
Agar was brought into the attack in the seventh over after Riley Meredith got Tim Seifert in the first over of the innings and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson later. Agar dismissed Glenn Phillips, Devon Conway and James Neesham in the 13th over to put Australia on the cusp of victory.
He then got Tim Southee in the 15th over before taking two wickets in the 17th to complete his six-fer. The match ended with Kane Richardson dismissing Ish Sodhi off the first ball of the 18th over.
