Set to chase a tall 179 to keep the series alive, Ireland crumbled against the pace of Jacob Duffy in the powerplay before Ish Sodhi tightened the noose with his 3/21 in the middle-overs. Michael Bracewell, though, caught eyeballs with his maiden T20I hat-trick that wrapped up Ireland’s reply inside 14 overs. Duffy cleaned up Gareth Delany first ball with a sharp inswinger before drawing a faint outside edge off Andrew Balbirnie in his successive overs.
Brief scores: New Zealand 178/4 in 20 overs (Dane Cleaver 78*, Finn Allen 35; Joshua Little 2-31, Craig Young 2-34) beat Ireland 91 all out in 13.5 overs (Mark Adair 27, Paul Stirling 21; Micheal Bracewell 3/5, Ish Sodhi 3/21) by 88 runs.
Series win! @braceyourself10 wraps the @cricketireland innings with a HAT-TRICK. Ish Sodhi with 3-21 the other leading wicket taker at Stormont. Scorecard | https://t.co/q9V5TELUA7 #IREvNZ pic.twitter.com/ZGWnoWG15W
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) July 20, 2022
