'Ireland is next big thing in WCT20' - Twitter lauds Irish team for their excellent performance against New Zealand in 3rd ODI

Ireland and New Zealand locked horns in a thrilling encounter during the third of the three-match ODI series. After winning the toss in Malahide Village, the visitors’ skipper decided to bat first. Kiwi went on to post a mammoth total of 360 runs for the loss of six wickets in the first innings against the Irish bowling attack.

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Chasing the target, Ireland did something which nobody could’ve expected from them. Balbirnie’s men fell only one run short from creating history against the mighty New Zealand team. They scored 359 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Eventually, Tom Latham & co. clinched the series with a score line of 3-0 with a thrilling one-run win in the last match.

Regardless of the result, fans on Twitter heaped their praises on the brilliant effort of the Irish team in the last fixture of the ODI series.

Paul Stirling and Herry Tector of Ireland left New Zealand in a shock during the entire match

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Speaking of the match, then the opening pair of senior batter Martin Guptill and Finn Allen provided a steady start for New Zealand. They both made a partnership of 78 runs for the first wicket. Later on, Martin Guptill ended up smashing a century with an individual score of 115 runs off just 126 balls with 15 boundaries and two sixes.

Other than him, middle-order batters Henry Nicholls and Glenn Philips also scored 79 and 49 runs respectively. On the backs of small but impressive knocks, Kiwis posted a massive total of 360 runs for the loss of six wickets. Josh Little remained the leading wicket-taker for Ireland with two scalps to his name.

But something big was there to happen in the second innings. Ireland came into the middle to chase the target. The hosts lost their two important wickets of skipper Andy Balbirnie and Andy McBrine only on the total score of 62 runs. But it was the time when senior opener Paul Stirling and young sensation Herry Tector decided to punish the New Zealand bowling attack.

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They both made a partnership of 179 runs for the third wicket before Stirling fell prey to Matt Henry. Nonetheless, Ireland made New Zealand look helpless and they scored 359 runs for the loss of nine wickets but lost the match by one run. Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner scalped four and three wickets respectively.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Ireland’s astonishing effort.