NOTTINGHAM, England, CMC – Aaron Redmond scored 63 from 30 balls to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, and set New Zealand up for a commanding 83-run victory over Ireland as the Super Eight stage of the ICC World Twenty20 Championship opened yesterday.
Redmond, fresh from playing league cricket in Britain, joined New Zealand only this week to replace the ill Jesse Ryder, and struck 13 fours to give his side the platform for 198 for five from their allocation of 20 overs in the opening match of Group-F at Trent Bridge.
The McCullum brothers – Brendon and Nathan – then led New Zealand’s effort in the field before Kyle Mills sealed the victory with 20 balls to spare, when he bowled left-handed tail-ender Regan West for eight.
Off-spinner Nathan McCullum was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers with three wickets for 15 runs from three overs, Mills ended with two for 12 from 2.4 overs, and Brendon McCullum, the stand-in New Zealand captain, shined in the outfield with two run-outs and a catch.
Ireland were set back early, when William Porterfield was run out in the first
over for one – a straight drive from fellow opener Gary Wilson struck the right-hand of bowler Mills – on his follow-through – and ricocheted into the stumps at the non-striker’s end with the Irish captain out of his crease.
Ireland then lost Niall O’Brien in the third over, when he was caught at mid-on off Mills for three.
Ireland were 15 for two, but Wilson made 23 and Andre Botha scored 28 to take them to 57 for two in the eight over before they were dismissed for the addition of one run in the space of three balls.
Trying to force the pace, the remainder of Ireland’s batting surrendered meekly, as they lost their last six wickets for 48 runs in 50 balls, and the McCullum brothers took control of the second half of the innings for New
Zealand.
Earlier, New Zealand were put on course for victory, when Redmond dominated an opening stand of 51 with Brendon McCullum.
After McCullum was caught at mid-off off off-spinner Kyle McCallan for 10,
Redmond continued to batter the Irish bowling and reached his 50 from 23 balls.
He essayed successive reverse sweeps for fours off McCallan to equal West Indies captain Chris Gayle for the quickest 50 in the competition so far.
When Redmond fell in the 10th over, New Zealand were 91 for two, and the rest of the batting kept the momentum going.
Martin Guptill struck four sixes in 45 from 32 balls, and Scott Styris smote one four and three sixes in 42 from 25 balls in a stand of 61 for the third wicket.
Styris was caught at deep mid-wicket in the 16th over leaving Guptill and others to raise another 46 from the remaining 26 balls.
McCallan and Alex Cusack collected two wickets apiece for Ireland.
New Zealand face Pakistan tomorrow at The Oval in London in their second Super Eight match, and Ireland face Sri Lanka the next day at Lords in theirs.
