Having won the toss skipper William Porterfield elected to bowl first, and soon regretted that decision as Aaron Redmond, a late inclusion in the squad for the injured Jesse Ryder put the Irish attack to the sword.
The 29 year old, drafted in just yesterday from the Bolton league, crashed 13 boundaries in his 30 ball score of 63, as New Zealand amassed 198 for 5 from their 20 overs. He struck 7 boundaries in the first two overs alone, bowled by Peter Connell and Trent Johnston.
Connell who replaced Boyd Rankin to give him his first outing of the competition, didn’t get a second over. He was replaced by Kevin O’Brien, who slowed the rate temporarily, but with Redmond in such prime form, the runs kept flowing.
Brendon McCullum struck the 100th six of the tournament , as the Black Caps raced to 51 without loss after 5 overs. The introduction of spin in the form of Kyle McCallan into the attack paid immediate dividends, as Brendon McCullum (10), drove straight to Regan West at mid-off. There was no respite for the beleaguered Irish attack, as Martin Guptill and Redmond proceeded to add a further 40 in 4.1 overs, before Alex Cusack trapped Redmond for a quite simply superb 63.
Scott Styris and Guptill kept up the ten an over rate, adding 61 in 6.1 overs, with both dealing primarily in maximums. Guptill hit four in his unbeaten 45, while Styris hit three in his 41 runs from just 24 deliveries.
In total New Zealand hit 15 fours and 9 sixes in their innings – a combined total of 114 runs, and one fewer than Ireland were to make in their reply. Disappointingly, Ireland failed to repeat their strong bowling performances earlier in the competition which had served them so well.
A total of 198 for 5 was always going to be beyond the Irish batting line up, and that task got even more difficult after Kyle Mills deflected Gary Wilson’s drive onto the stumps to run out William Porterfield for just a single in the first over.
Niall O’Brien (3), pulled Mills straight to a grateful Jacob Oram at mid-on, and Ireland were deep in trouble at 15 for 2. To their credit they rallied, as Andre Botha (28) and Gary Wilson (23) added 42 in 5 overs – indeed at that stage they were only 7 runs adrift of New Zealand at the comparative stage of their innings. There were some vintage moments from Botha, and one cover drive off Butler will live long in the memory.
However both departed in the space of three balls, Wilson tamely lofting Styris to a grateful James Franklin at deep mid-on, while Botha looked for a quick single which was never there, and was beaten by the Scott Styris/Peter McGlashan combination.
Kevin O’Brien was unable to repeat his heroics of earlier in the week, making just two before holing out to Franklin at deep midwicket off Nathan McCullum. John Mooney made 12 before being run out by a direct hit by Brendon McCullum, guilty of ball watching.
Alex Cusack hit 20 from just 12 balls, including the first six of the Irish innings, before being dismissed by the brothers McCullum – Brendon taking a splendid catch at midwicket off Nathan’s bowling.
McCullum was again in the thick of the action, as he ran out Trent Johnston (14), with a direct hit – the fourth of the Irish innings, and clearly an area where improvement is needed.
Regan West, who had played in the 1998 Under 19 World Cup for New Zealand as a left arm opening bowler, was the last wicket to fall, bowled by Kyle Mills for 8, as the Irish innings ended on 115 all out, with 3.2 overs unused.
Ireland now travel to London on Friday, where they play their next Super Eight fixture against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Sunday starting at 1:30pm.
