One-off Test, Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont (day two of four)
New Zealand 490-8 dec (119 overs): Blundell 186, Foxcroft 98; Tector 1-16
Ireland 179 all out (45 overs) Balbirnie 73*, Adair 40; Smith 6-40 & 65-2 (16 overs) Doheny 36*; Tickner 2-14
Ireland trail by 246 runs
Scorecard
New Zealand took control against Ireland on the second day of the one-off Test with Nathan Smith claiming an international career best of 6-40 at Stormont.
After recovering from a poor start on the first day to reach 361-5, the Black Caps continued in a similar vein on the second day in the Belfast sun, reaching 490-8 before captain Tom Latham declared.
New Zealand enforced the follow-on and Ireland’s response was dealt an early blow when Stephen Doheny and Cade Carmichael were dismissed in the first over and they then lost four more in quick succession after lunch as Smith claimed his first five-wicket haul.
Mark Adair and Andy McBrine steadied the ship, but Ireland were 179 all out before performing much better in the second innings as they ended the day on 65-2, trailing New Zealand by 246 runs.
The tourists enjoyed a strong start in the morning session as Tom Blundell and Dean Foxcroft built on their 58-run partnership from day one.
Blundell surpassed 150, while Foxcroft brought up his first Test half-century as they went beyond the 100-runs mark as a pair.
Ireland eventually got moving and took three quick wickets, including Blundell for 186 and Foxcroft, who fell two short of a first Test century.
Heinrich Malan’s side endured a disastrous start to their chase however, with Doheny and Carmichael dismissed by Smith in the second and sixth balls of the first over.
After lunch, Smith continued his fine run as he took the wickets of Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker while Harry Tector also fell before Adair and McBrine got Ireland back on track, steering them through to tea.
They brought up a 100-run partnership before Adair exited for 40 as Smith got a sixth wicket of the day.
Tom Mayes and Liam McCarthy then fell as Ireland faltered to finish 179 all out.
They fared better in the opening of their second innings, led by Doheny, but they still have a mountain to climb heading into day three.
“You’d take 98, its obviously better than a duck, I was so close to the century, but at the end of the day the team is in a great position to win this game,” Foxcroft told BBC Sport NI.
“In terms of the match, I’m delighted where we are at the moment. We’ve got eight more wickets to go and looking ahead to tomorrow morning, we are hoping we can put Ireland under pressure.
“For us enforcing the follow-on was all about momentum. We will want to try and finish the game off and then we can think about England next week.”
Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson added: “It was a really good spell from Nathan Smith, it asked us a lot of questions and I think you could see it’s a new ball wicket and you could see that in both innings.”
Play will resume at Stormont at 11:00 BST on Friday.
