Ireland v New Zealand: Nathan Smith stars as tourists dominate at Stormont on day two

One of Tests, Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont (two days of four days)

New Zealand 490-8 Dec (119 overs): Blundell 186, Foxcroft 98; Tector 1-16

Ireland 179 all out (45 overs) Balbirnie 73*, Adair 40; Smith is 6-40 and 65-2 (16 overs) Doheny 36*; Tickner 2-14

Ireland trail by 246 runs

Scorecard

New Zealand took control of Ireland on the second day of the only Test, claiming Nathan Smith’s international career-best 6-40 at Stormont.

After recovering from a poor start on day one to reach 361-5, the Black Caps continued in similar fashion on day two in the Belfast sun, reaching 490-8 before captain Tom Latham declared.

New Zealand applied the follow-on and Ireland’s response was dealt the first blow when Stephen Doheny and Cade Carmichael were dismissed in the first over and Smith lost four more in quick succession after lunch to claim his first five-wicket haul.

Mark Adair and Andy McBrien steadied the ship, but Ireland were bowled out for 179 before a better performance in the second innings as they finished the day on 65-2, with New Zealand trailing by 246 runs.

The visitors enjoyed a strong start to the morning session as Tom Blundell and Dean Foxcroft built up their 58-run stand from day one.

Blundell passed 150, while Foxcroft brought up his maiden Test half-century as they crossed the 100-run mark as a pair.

Ireland eventually gained momentum and Blundell took 186 and three quick wickets, including Foxcroft, who fell two short of a maiden Test century.

Heinrich Malan’s side endured a disastrous start to their chase, getting dismissed by Doheny and Carmichael Smith in the second and sixth balls of the first over.

After lunch, Smith continued his fine run as he took the wickets of Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector also fell before Adair and McBrien got Ireland back on track and their tea.

They put on a 100-run stand before Adair was dismissed for 40 when Smith took his sixth wicket of the day.

Tom Mayes and Liam McCarthy then fell as Ireland failed to reach 179 all out.

They had a better start to their second innings under Doheny, but they still have a mountain to climb on day three.

“You take 98, it’s obviously better than a duck, I was very close to a century, but at the end of the day the team is in a great position to win this game,” Foxcroft told BBC Sport NI.

“In terms of the match, where we are at the moment, I’m delighted. We’ve got eight more wickets to go and looking towards tomorrow morning, we’re hoping we can put Ireland under pressure.

“For us to execute the follow-on was a matter of momentum. We will try and finish the game and then we can think about England next week.”

Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson added: “It was a really good spell from Nathan Smith, it asked us a lot of questions and I think you could see it was a new-ball wicket and you could see that in both innings.”

Play resumes at Stormont on Friday at 11:00 BST.