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Australia have taken victory in the first T20I with a batting showdown in the capital.
An electrifying start by Finn Allen and Devon Conway set a quality stone for the Blackcaps to begin the opening T20I.
Allen went big off both Josh Hazelwood and Glenn Maxwell, with the first three overs of the innings going for 36 runs.
They raced out to 68/1 at the end of the powerplay with Allen being the only wicket to fall to Mitchell Starc for 32.
Rachin Ravindra and Conway kept the momentum going for the Kiwis as they piled on the runs, including Ravindra taking 23 runs from an Adam Zampa over.
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh then both struck for Australia in the face of two balls with Ravindra falling to Cummins for a first T20I 50 and a high score of 68 whilst Conway went to Marsh for 63.
Glenn Phillips (19*) and Mark Chapman (18*) were able to have a quick hit at the end to propel New Zealand to 215/3 from 20 overs.
Travis Head got the Australians off to a rocking start as he scored 24 of the first 29 runs before being out to Adam Milne.
David Warner, fresh off multiple media write-ups this week, was able to put that behind him in his 32 runs. He was out at the end of the seventh over to Mitchell Santner and got a sendoff by the Wellington crowd.
Marsh and Maxwell were able to get the visitors past the 100-run mark at the halfway stage but the momentum slightly struck New Zealand’s way when Lockie Ferguson picked up Maxwell for 25.
Josh Inglis was never really able to get going as he was out to Santner for a run-a-ball 20 with just 3.5 overs to go and 44 runs needed to win.
However, Tim David had a few ideas to get the Australian side over the line with a quickfire 31 from just 10 balls and alongside Marsh’s 72* from 44 balls the Australians were able to take the first T20I and a six-wicket win.
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