The 1st match of the One Day International series between Australia and New Zealand was held on March 13, Friday at Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney. It was the series opening match and both the team looked very strong and it was expected to be good tough game for both the teams.
Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. Australian opener David Warner and Captain Aaron Finch gave a solid start to team and made a partnership of 124 runs for the first wicket. Both Warner and Finch scored half century and made 67 and 60 runs respectively. M Labuschagne also scored half century and made 56 runs quickly. M. Marsh finished the Australian innings and scored 27 runs. Australians made 258 runs in their 50 over. Ish Sodhi took the most 3 wickets for New Zealand while L Ferguson and M Santner took 2 wickets each.
New Zealand needed 259 runs to win the match. Kiwi opener Nicholls got out early of the innings and made only 10 runs while the other opener Martin Guptill scored 40 runs. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson too got out early on just 19 runs. Wicket Keeper batsman Tom Latham and De Grandhomme showed some courage of fight back and made 38 and 25 runs respectively. It was very disappointing performance by Kiwi batsmen. New Zealand team got out on 187 runs in just 41 over. Australian bowlers Pat Cummins and M Marsh took most 3 wickets each for Australia while Adam Zampa and Hazlewood took 2 wickets each. Australia won the first game of the series by 71 runs.
M Marsh was selected as player of the match for his brilliant all round performance. Aaron Finch appreciated the bowling performance by his team in post match presentation and discussed about the slowness of the wicket.