Allen counter attack plus continuing Bracewell form halt Ireland as New Zealand wrap up ODI series win

New Zealand (219 for seven, 38.1 overs) (Finn Allen 60; Mark Adair 2-29) beat Ireland (216 all out, 48 overs) (George Dockrell 74; Michael Bracewell 2-26) by three wickets. Full Scorecard here

Finn Allen watched the chaos down the other end and decided to do something about it. Standing on his bat at the non-striker’s, he looked on in as much disbelief as anyone else at Malahide as Mark Adair took two wickets with the first two deliveries of the New Zealand chase to give Ireland a sniff after the hosts posted a below par first innings total of 216.

Those hopes were quickly dashed by Allen et al as New Zealand secured a three-wicket victory to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

If Martin Guptill playing around a straight one to see his timber disturbed with the first ball of the Kiwi innings was a surprise, Will Young doing the same the next delivery was even more so.

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To be fair to Young, the full delivery from Adair jagged back ever so slightly, but both both batters’ failure to move their front foot nevertheless led to delirious scenes in Malahide as Ireland eyed an unlikely victory.

That was until Allen made his move in response. He walked at Adair and missed not long after the initial bedlam. That was the last false stroke until he departed 60 runs later. Craig Young was launched over mid off to start off the counter attack, Allen didn’t get all of it by any means but he did an over later when Adair was dispatched even further in the same region.

Further authoritative strokes came with a pull through square leg and a flick through mid wicket and after the fast start Ireland’s hopes looked slim by the end of the powerplay.

Kiwi skipper Tom Latham provided more than able support, notching a more sedate half-century of his own (55) as he played the anchor role, the perfect foil to the more aggressive Allen. The pair put on 101 for the third wicket, seemingly able to find the boundary at will whenever Ireland threatened to build pockets of pressure.

“It wasn’t an ideal start,” admitted Allen when reflecting on seeing his partners fall so quickly at the beginning of the chase. “I recognised the importance of me being there and spending some time in the middle and getting us through and off to a decent start.

“I think I got one or two away and from there a bit of fluidity came into my innings. You get that feel, it was trusting my swing on those kinds of surfaces. I was pretty locked in and picking my balls.

“We definitely got through the tough stuff, it was doing a little bit off the surface. We always knew it would get easier the longer we batted.

“It stopped doing as much and once I recognised that, I still kept the same processes but it was easier once it stopped moving as much to be a bit more aggressive.”

Not that there wasn’t a late Irish fightback to make it somewhat interesting. Allen clothed Curtis Campher to Josh Little at mid on, Simi Singh trapped Latham in front on the back foot while a Campher direct hit from deep square to run out Henry Nicholls was nothing short of sensational.

That only brought Michael Bracewell to the crease days after his match-winning knock on Sunday. His unbeaten 42 off 40 deliveries steered New Zealand home and, along with his figures of 2-26 - including the crucial Irish wicket of Harry Tector - earned him player of the match honours.

[ Maiden century completes Harry Tector’s rise to the top of Irish cricket ]

Earlier on, the toss proved crucial as New Zealand once again asked Ireland to bat at the hardest point of the day, early in the morning. Matt Henry tore through the top order before the spin of Bracewell and Santner caused plenty of issues on a sticky pitch.

George Dockrell ensured Ireland reached above 200, cashing in on favourable match-ups when Santner’s left-arm spin was out of the attack, once again showing his lower order boundary-hitting ability with his array of strokes down the ground.

Dockrell ended up with a career best ODI knock of 74 off 61 balls, but once he skied debutant Jacob Duffy to long on in the 45th over, Ireland’s hopes of reaching a competitive score of 250+ went along with him, despite a late flurry of maximums from Adair.