Smith unstoppable as Kiwis ease clear

Irish batting still off the pace at Test level

A stunning spell of fast bowling by Nathan Smith blew away the Irish top order at Stormont yesterday, leaving the hosts on the brink of a heavy defeat to New Zealand in the one-off Test match.

But the short Test career of Andy Balbirnie’s side has regularly been lit up by stirring rearguard actions, and yet another of these gave Ireland some hope after a challenging second day.

After 12½ tests, the most remarkable statistic tells us that Ireland’s top five batsmen as a unit average 105 runs an innings, while the bottom five, those with other jobs to do, average over 130.

The two who exemplify this are Donemana’s Andrew McBrine and Lisburn’s Mark Adair, leaders of the spin and seam attack respectively. Yesterday they made their third century partnership together, which happen to be the best three stands by Irishmen in tests.

That they feature as low down as the seventh wicket emphasises how Ireland’s batting just hasn’t got Test cricket right yet.

Their heroic stand came with a dramatic backdrop too.

Cricket history venerates several players who got up from their sick beds to save the day, notably Eddie Paynter shrugging off appendicitis during the Bodyline Ashes tour and Aussie Dean Jones battling through dehydration in India.

Mark Adair spent four hours overnight in the smallest room of his hotel accommodation, and was too ill to bowl or field in the morning session.

He may have turned greener as he watched Ireland’s top order collapse, but with the score on 38-6, he made his way to wicket at Stormont.

Steaming in from the city end was Nathan Smith, the Otago Volts quick who had done most of the damage, having 5 for 9 at one stage. The Oamaru native’s girlfriend will sigh and nod gently when he tells her his tales of conquering the Irish — in 2018 as an 18-year-old, Amelia Kerr set a new world ODI record score of 232 not out in Clontarf.

Smith eventually took Adair’s wicket, but not before he and McBrine had added 116 precious runs. McBrine hung around long enough to coax 25 more runs from the last three batters but the total of 179 was more than 300 behind the Kiwis.

With bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks, and some batters short of middle time, there was speculation that New Zealand might bat again. But the prospect of some golf at Portrush might have encouraged them to hurry Ireland to defeat and so the follow-on was enforced.

For the second time in little over five hours Balbirnie (13 and 14) and Cade Carmichael (0 and 6) lost their wickets, this time to Blair Tickner.

Having been dismissed second ball earlier, Stephen Doheny played a positive innings, hitting 7 fours to sleep on 36no and give Ireland faint hopes of prolonging the game beyond day three.

In the morning session, the visitors ground their way towards 500, without ever really cutting loose.

They were helped by the absence of Adair, and some ordinary bowling. Reuben Wilson failed to recapture the verve and accuracy of day one, but happily was able to claim his first Test wicket.

It was a good scalp too, depriving Tom Blundell of a double century. The Kiwi keeper had worked his way up to 186 when he picked out substitute fielder Matthew Humphreys at wide mid-on.

His overnight partner, Dean Foxcroft, also fell short of a prized milestone, a century on Test debut. McBrine dropped one a little short and the Pretoria native top edged it around the corner where Wilson held a good catch.

‘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 said afterwards.