Latham, Munro lead rout of Ireland

DUBLIN: New Zealand tuned up for the Champions Trophy by clinching the tri-series One-day International (ODI) here on Sunday, with three wins in three matches.

Their latest victory was set up by Tom Latham, who struck his third ODI hundred and first as captain, and Colin Munro, who threatened to break the record for the fastest fifty in ODIs. Their contributions and Ross Taylor’s fifty propelled New Zealand to 344 for 6. The bowlers then had a good workout in the defence, dismissing Ireland for 154 within 40 overs.

Latham added 75 for the second wicket with Neil Broom, who contributed 38, before chipping Chase to mid-off.

Latham had a life on 89 when he holed out to long leg, where Barry McCarthy completed an excellent diving catch. Young, the bowler, had overstepped though. Latham reached his hundred with a single to long-on off Dockrell, but he fell in the same over — the 36th of the innings — when he came down the track and missed the ball. Niall O’Brien, the wicketkeeper, took the bails off to dismiss Latham for 104 off 111 balls.

Taylor made his 35th ODI fifty. Munro led the charge in the slog overs, hammering three fours and four sixes, including one over square leg that broke a spectator’s chair.

He started the penultimate over of the innings with back-to-back sixes off Peter Chase and raced to 44 off 14 balls. Munro holed out off the next ball, though, but his blitz was instrumental in taking New Zealand to an imposing score.

They plundered 72 off the last four overs. The visitors, in fact, could have got more if not for sharp fielding from Ireland. Five out of six Ireland bowlers conceded over six runs an over.

Score Board

Ireland won toss

New Zealand

†L Ronchi b Young     35

*T W M Latham st O’Brien b Dockrell         104

N T Broom c Joyce b Chase  38

L R P L Taylor c Singh b McCarthy   57

C J Anderson b Young         20

M J Santner not out   20

C Munro c O’Brien b Chase   44

A F Milne not out      10

Extras (lb 6, w 8, nb 2)       16

Total (6 wickets; 50 overs)  344

Did not bat: S C Kuggeleijn, I S Sodhi, M J Henry

Fall: 1-70, 2-145, 3-212, 4-268, 5-268, 6-325

Bowling: Young 10-0-82-2 (1nb, 2w); Chase 8-0-69-2 (1nb, 2w); Dockrell 10-0-65-1; McCarthy 10-0-65-1 (3w); Singh 10-0-38-0 (1w); Stirling 2-0-19-0

Ireland

E C Joyce c Ronchi b Anderson       17

P R Stirling c Anderson b Henry      0

*W T S Porterfield c Milne b Kuggeleijn      48

A Balbirnie c Taylor b Anderson      0

†N J O’Brien c Munro b Kuggeleijn   5

G C Wilson b Henry   30

Simi Singh lbw b Santner     0

G H Dockrell lbw b Milne      16

B J McCarthy not out 16

C A Young c Ronchi b Henry 1

P K D Chase c Milne b Sodhi 14

Extras (lb 5, w 2)     7

Total (all out; 39.3 overs)    154

Fall: 1-1, 2-52, 3-58, 4-75, 5-76, 6-90, 7-119, 8-127, 9-129, 10-154

Bowling: Henry 8-1-36-3; Milne 8-1-29-1 (1w); Anderson 4-0-15-2; Kuggeleijn 5-1-17-2 (1w); Santner 7-0-27-1; Sodhi 7.3-0-25-1

Result: New Zealand won by 190 runs

Points: New Zealand 4, Ireland 0

Umpires: A J Neill and J S Wilson (West Indies). TV umpire: R S A Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka). Match referee: D T Jukes (England)