Tireless toil reaps rewards for Marsh

Not even the knowledge that he had effectively become a millionaire in the hour before he went out to bat could shift the steely focus that Mitchell Marsh had honed in the practice nets heading into tonight's ODI in Wellington.

Marsh, man of the match as Australia levelled the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Series against New Zealand courtesy of a game-altering 69no that guided his team home from a perilous place, attributed his success to the effort has put in at training after a lean summer with the bat.

Quick Single: Magic Marsh plays winning hand

It came a day after the 24-year-old, who was snapped up by IPL newcomers the Rising Pune Supergiants for $A990,000 in today's auction, gave cricket.com.au unprecedented access to his match-eve net session at Wellington's Basin Reserve.

Amid a series of heaves and groans as he threw his sizeable frame into almost every shot he played, Marsh could be heard quietly admonishing himself for any mis-hits before reassuring batting coach Michael DiVenuto "I'm ready" to perform in the crucial second match against the Black Caps at Westpac Stadium.

But not even the former Australia Under-19 captain, who led his team to the age-group World Cup in New Zealand in 2010, could have foreseen quite the impact he would have on a match the tourists had to win to keep alive hopes of regaining the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy which is currently in NZ's hands.

WATCH: Marsh, Hastings steer Aussies to win

With the world champions listing badly at 6-197 in pursuit of the Black Caps imposing 9-281 and with Marsh the last of his team's recognised batsmen when joined by seam bowler John Hastings, it was the basics he'd worked on in the nets that enabled him to get the job done.

"It was great to see that some of my hard work paid off because I've spent a lot of time this summer working extremely hard," Marsh said this evening.

Asked to identify the area of his game that he's worked hardest upon during those net sessions, Marsh's answer was as succinct and forceful as some of the short-arm jabs he muscled into the crowd during his 86-run stand with Hastings that carried Australia home with 21 balls to spare.

"Watching the ball - I try and keep it very simple," Marsh said.

"Obviously during the Test match series (against New Zealand and the West Indies in Australia this summer) I didn't get a lot of opportunity.

"The top five were making a hell of a lot of runs and I just kept working hard and wanted to take the opportunity when I got it.

"When you're under pressure for runs at this level you think about a lot of things.

"And when you haven't spent a lot of time in the middle, things just don't come naturally and you don't think as clearly as you do when you're in form.

"That's the biggest thing for me to work on.

"To worry about watching the ball and the rest will take care of itself.

"Over the last few weeks with my batting, it's given me great confidence to hopefully keep going now."

Quick Single: Million-dollar Marsh completes memorable day

Such are the vicissitudes of elite-level sport, the maiden ODI century that Marsh struck against India at the SCG last month was all-but erased from memories – including his own – when he fell for a four-ball duck in his next one-day appearance.

WATCH: Marsh makes maiden ODI hundred

That came during Australia's hefty 159-run loss to the Black Caps at Eden Park last Wednesday, which put the all-rounder and his teammates under pressure heading into the second game of the three-match Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Series.

Indeed, when asked what was going through his mind as he made his way to the middle after Australia had lost three key wickets (Steve Smith, George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell) for 11 runs in the space of three overs tonight, Marsh immediately replied "Eden Park".

But with David Warner unbeaten on 80 and striking the ball crisply at the other end, and with more than 25 overs remaining to score the 138 runs needed to level the series, Marsh enjoyed the rare luxury of having some time to find his range before being required to pick up the pace.

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And that was precisely the message he passed on to Hastings when the big-hitting bowler joined him in the middle following the loss of Warner (98) and Matthew Wade (2) in quick succession.

"I just told Duke (Hastings) to take a bit of extra time to get in, watch the ball extremely hard and if it's in his area to smash it because that's when he bats his best," Marsh said tonight, having narrowly avoided a scorching line drive from Hastings when backing-up at the non-striker's end.

"He kept it a simple as possible and we tried to take it as deep into the innings as we could because we knew we had plenty of time left.

"It was just a great partnership with Johnny Hastings.

"Obviously we were in a bit of strife there but the way he batted and we batted together was extremely satisfying.

"We came here today to get back in the series and we've done that now.

"Hopefully that will give us great momentum going into Monday (where the final match of the series will be played in Hamilton)."

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And while his 'watch the ball' mantra drowned out the little voice that was whispering 'Eden Park' as he made his way to do battle with a confident New Zealand and a cock-a-hoop crowd, there was one other item he carried with him.

The news that had been shouted to him over the fence as he sat in the team dug-out preparing to bat, and then later confirmed by his older brother Shaun, that he was on his way to the IPL with a handy hand-out for his trouble.

The way Marsh remembers it, the punter yelled at him "you've just gone for a million bucks in the IPL auction", to which the young allrounder had thought – perhaps out loud – "yeah right".

"I didn't really believe him, and then I just tried to block it out because it was pretty amazing," Marsh said after the match in which he also took the vital wickets of NZ's Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls and finished with 2-30 from six overs.

"Then Shaun came and sat next to me with a little grin and gave me a little nudge, so then I found out.

"But I was really happy I was able to block that out and focus on the game today because obviously playing for my country is extremely important to me - the most important thing to me.

"So while that (the IPL deal) is great, I'm just really rapt we're back in this series now."