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A patient yet effective 55-ball 78* from Dane Cleaver, and a dominating effort from New Zealand’s bowlers handed the visitors a resounding 88-run win over Ireland in the second T20I in Belfast. The victory sealed the three-game series for New Zealand, giving them an unassailable 2-0 lead with one game still to go.For the second game in a row, Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie’s decision to bowl first proved costly, as New Zealand posted 179 for 4 in 20 overs. Cleaver, playing only his second T20I, hit five fours and four sixes, and stayed right till the end after coming in to bat at No. 3 in the fifth over.Then New Zealand’s well-rounded bowling unit did the rest, helped in part by some unnecessary attacking shots or risky runs from the Ireland batters. If it wasn’t for a 37-run stand for the eighth wicket between Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy, Ireland’s total could’ve been far lesser than their eventual score of 91.The spin twins Ish Sodhi and Michael Bracewell were the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand, taking three wickets each. Sodhi’s scalps of Curtis Campher, Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell broke Ireland’s back in the middle overs, leaving him with figures of 3 for 21 but Bracewell had the widest smile by the end of the game. Bowling his first over in T20Is, the offspinner cleaned up the Ireland tail with three wickets in three balls, thus making him only the third New Zealand bowler after Jacob Oram and Tim Southee to achieve a T20I hat-trick.Spinners headline Irish collapse
Ireland’s chase of 180 began with some potential as Mitchell Santner was walloped by Paul Stirling for a six and a four in the very first over. Then when Lockie Ferguson was dispatched by Stirling for four more through the covers, it seemed like the Ireland opener could be the big-hitter around whom the rest of Ireland’s batters could rally.However, three balls after the Ferguson four, Stirling fell slicing a catch to mid off, and thereafter the floodgates opened. From the other end, Jacob Duffy had Gareth Delany bowled for a first-ball duck in the fourth over with the batter failing to get forward to a fullish ball, and Harry Tector then paid the price of being impatient, run-out to a direct-hit from Glenn Phillips at cover while trying to take the fielder on for a quick single.Having gone from 23 for no loss to 27 for 3 in the space of eight deliveries, it was up to the prodigy Campher and Balbirnie to stick a partnership together, but the latter was the next to go, becoming Duffy’s second scalp. Duffy went full and wide, got the ball to swing away under cloudy conditions, and all Balbirnie’s drive could do was take an outside edge to Cleaver wearing the gloves. After a quiet – and rare wicketless – over, Sodhi got among the wickets too in his first over of the game.Tucker tried to slog sweep the legspinner, only to lose stock of where the mistimed ball went. It had dribbled past him to the wicketkeeper, and as Tucker tried to pinch a single thinking the ball has gone elsewhere, he was stumped. Next ball, Sodhi brought a slip fielder for the new batter and Dockrell edged it to James Neesham in the cordon.With the score at 45 for 6, and ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster giving Ireland less than 1% chance of a win, the pressure was off the Ireland lower order. Mark Adair, in particular, hit a few lusty blows after Campher became Sodhi’s third (and Ireland’s seventh) wicket. Adair went 4, 4, 6 off Sodhi’s third over to ruin his otherwise tidy bowling figures and then drilled Neesham over his head for another boundary. His partner for the eighth-wicket stand, Barry McCarthy, tonked Neesham and Bracewell for a couple of fours too.But Bracewell’s offbreak had Adair caught at deep midwicket for a 22-ball 27, and with the batters crossing, McCarthy too was out next ball, slogging to the same region. On a hat-trick, Bracewell had better luck than Sodhi, taking his third wicket in three balls as the No. 11 Craig Young tried to clear cover, only to slice a catch behind point, and ending Ireland’s innings at 91.Dane Cleaver attempts a reverse sweep during his highest T20I score•Sportsfile/Getty Images

Cleaver follows his cousin’s footsteps
Having made his T20I debut at the age of 30 only two days ago, it was another chance for Cleaver to make the most of the opportunity of batting at No. 3 for New Zealand with senior batters being rested for the T20Is. Coming in at a position favoured by his first-cousin Kane Williamson – after the fall of Finn Allen’s wicket, Cleaver made a sedate start, but kept upping his gears right until the 20th over.Allen’s blitz at the top had allowed New Zealand to race to 40 for no loss after four overs, but he fell for a 20-ball 35 trying to take McCarthy on in the fifth over. With Martin Guptill struggling with his timing, and Cleaver playing but missing the swinging deliveries offered by the Irish seamers, it seemed like the hosts would provide yet another squeeze to the New Zealand top order like the first T20I.But Cleaver grew in confidence, in particular trusting the bounce on offer to play the pull on numerous occasions to finally get off the blocks. Even with Guptill falling for a 17-ball 11 in the ninth over, Cleaver motored along at a strike-rate of under 110 to move into his twenties in Phillips’ company for the third wicket. Together, they added 53 in 5.2 overs, and as Cleaver’s confidence grew, so did his choice of shots. He scooped McCarthy for an ingenious six over the keeper one time, and then played a sliced drive on purpose to beat the fielder at deep point.However, Cleaver did receive a reprieve on 40 when he skipped down the ground to a Dockrell slider, only to miss it. But the wicketkeeper Tucker failed to grab it, and Cleaver offered no further chances. He picked Adair’s two slower balls in the 16th over well enough to smack them for boundaries, then brought up his maiden half-century in 39 balls with a six over deep midwicket. Daryl Mitchell, the No. 5, contributed just 14 runs in his 48-run stand with Cleaver, letting the man in form enjoy most of the strike.Cleaver would go on to thump Young for a pulled six in the 18th, then tonked Josh Little for three fours in four balls in the 19th, and earned his final boundary off the innings’ penultimate ball by slicing a four behind square on the off side. In all, New Zealand made 50 off the last five and Cleaver finished unbeaten on 78 in 55 balls. His performance eventually eked out the Sodhi-Bracewell efforts in the second innings to also earn him the Player of the Match award.

Yorkshire 110 for 9 (Conners 5-28) beat Derbyshire 109 by one wicketYorkshire Vikings edged a thrilling Royal London One-Day Cup match against Derbyshire by one wicket on a poor Chesterfield pitch to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.Chasing a target of 110, Sam Conners took 5 for 28 to reduce the Vikings to 88 for 7 and they lost two more wickets before Harry Sullivan got them over the line in the 32nd over.On a pitch where some balls took off and others stayed low, Derbyshire were bowled out for 109 with Ben Coad taking 2 for 15 in 10 overs and Jack Shutt 2 for 5. Harry Came top scored with 19 from 58 balls but Yorkshire also ran into trouble until George Hill, 21, and Sullivan sealed a tense victory.Conners said: “We were saying we got the worst of it but I think the boys batted really well in the situation we were in with the ball doing absolutely everything. We didn’t get enough but on a pitch like that I think the boys did what they could.”After the Vikings won the toss, Derbyshire struggled from the start on a pitch of variable bounce that was extremely challenging to bat on. Four batsmen were hit by balls that reared alarmingly while Came was almost bowled by one that skidded through.Related

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Billy Godleman was surprised by a ball that stopped on him and Luis Reece, who was struck on the hand, was caught at point off a leading edge.Shan Masood, who is expected to join Yorkshire next season, made only five before he was caught behind pushing forward at Matthew Waite.Only one run came from the bat in seven overs which highlighted the problems facing the batsmen and when Brooke Guest drove Matthew Revis through the covers, it was the first boundary for 10 overs.Guest was another victim of the pitch when he was lbw staying back to Coad, Anuj Dal cut Matthew Revis to point and when Came was bowled pushing forward at Sullivan, Derbyshire had slipped to 69 for 6.Mattie McKiernan swung a full toss from Sullivan for six but was lbw to Shutt with the last three wickets falling in three overs to leave Yorkshire with what looked a modest target.But they were soon in trouble with Will Fraine bowled by a shooter from Conners and Finlay Bean athletically caught at point by Dal off a leading edge against Aitchison.Harry Duke, badly dropped at mid on by Luis Reece, was caught by the same fielder when he miscued a pull to give Conners his 100th Derbyshire wicket in all formats.When Aitchison plunged forward to take a return catch off a leading edge from skipper Jonny Tattersall, the Vikings were in trouble at 37 for 4 but some firm blows from Waite eased the pressure.The momentum shifted again when Conners returned to bowl Waite with another ball that kept low before Matthew Revis edged a drive to first slip.Conners claimed his fifth wicket when he bowled Tom Loten and after Hill took his side to within nine of victory, he was caught behind trying to steer a wide ball from Aitchison.With the scores level, Coad was yorked by Nick Potts but Sullivan kept his nerve to hit the winning run off spinner Mark Watt.

Big picture

Day by day, match by match, we are getting closer to the real thing. Neither Australia nor England have been short on T20Is of late and now they face each other for three more, beginning in Perth before two more back across the country in Canberra.The sides have been doing a fair amount of tinkering with their teams in recent games, but it has been as much to do with workload management as anything. Barring late-injury dramas, it still feels they are close to knowing their World Cup XIs – England perhaps have two spots up for most debate and for Australia, provided Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis can bowl, it still appears just the final batting place to resolve.While there is nothing hugely significant riding on this series – the main thing will be certain players finding form and others avoiding injury – it has the makings of a very good contest. Australia found their groove in the second outing against West Indies while England played some excellent cricket in Pakistan to take the series 4-3 with wins in the last two games.Related

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The short nature of this trip to Perth, which is not an ideal schedule for the home side, and was not the original fixture until this game was moved west after the venue lost its ODI against South Africa, means Australia will field a fresh frontline attack from Friday in Brisbane with only Cameron Green of the five bowlers used with the squad.For Green, provided he is in the XI, this will be his first international on his home ground with Perth having not staged international cricket since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. If Marsh, Stoinis and Ashton Agar play, Western Australia will be well represented. Josh Inglis is also in the squad along with former WA player Tim David.Depending how England manage their fast bowlers, there is the enticing prospect of seeing Mark Wood operate on a Perth pitch after he sent down some thunderbolts in Pakistan.

Recent form

Australia WWLLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
England WWLLWMitchell Marsh will hope to make an impact on his home ground•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Ben Stokes is now a two-format player having retired from ODIs earlier this year, but he hasn’t played a T20I since March 2021 against India. Rightly or wrongly, his career in the format is still most-remembered for being taken for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over of the 2016 T20 World Cup final. He has never quite found his perfect role in the England side, with a top score of 47 not out in 28 innings and 19 wickets with an economy of 8.77. There is a squeeze of highly-destructive hitters in England’s middle order, so it’s a rare occasion of the pressure being on Stokes to prove he should be among them.This is a big week for Marcus Stoinis. He has struggled to stay on the park in recent months and his side injuries are frequent enough to be something of a concern. But he had a significant part to play in Australia’s World Cup triumph last season and he is important in balancing the side, although his bowling is not of Green’s quality. He has every right to be in the World Cup XI, but he’ll want to make this series count.

Team news

Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell have all stayed on the east coast and will rejoin the squad in Canberra, so there will be four new bowling options. It would make sense to give Kane Richardson and Agar a game after their recent side issues as they are in the World Cup squad, but it could also be another opportunity for Nathan Ellis to impress. Steven Smith is likely to be forced out of the XI as Australia may continue to tinker with their batting order.Australia (probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Green, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Aaron Finch (capt), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Daniel Sams, 9 Ashton Agar, 10 Nathan Ellis, 11 Kane RichardsonLiam Livingstone is not available for selection as he continues to recover from an ankle injury while Chris Jordan may be held back for the Canberra games. Captain Jos Buttler will return at the top of the order, which leaves the major selection call between Alex Hales and Phil Salt to partner himEngland (probable) 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales/Phil Salt, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Reece Topley

Pitch and conditions

There hasn’t been much cricket at this ground over the last couple of years – just a handful of BBL and WBBL matches – but it’s normally a good pitch that offers pace for bowlers and batters to work with, although it is still early in the season. The forecast is, by Perth standards, on the milder side with just a very slim chance of a shower.

Stats and trivia

• England featured in the first international at Perth Stadium, an ODI in 2018 which they won by 12 runs
• In the one previous T20I at the venue, Australia cantered home by ten wickets against Pakistan in 2019
• Aaron Finch needs 12 runs to become the first Australia men’s player to reach 3000 T20I runs. Smith needs three runs and Matthew Wade 28 for 1000 in the format.

Quotes

“Adapting to conditions quickly is going to be a key factor for us to get up and running. It’s all about peaking at the right time for this World Cup.”
“Don’t leave any energy in the tank. Give it our best shot. We are here on home soil. We want to entertain and we want to take it deep. We have to start well against New Zealand.”

Cameron Green has been called into Australia’s T20 World Cup squad after Josh Inglis, the reserve wicketkeeper and a spare batter, was ruled out due to a hand injury he suffered playing golf in Sydney on Wednesday.It means that Australia will not have a back-up wicketkeeper in their 15-member squad, and while a replacement could be added if Matthew Wade was injured, that would not cover a problem emerging on the day of a game which would leave them scrambling within their ranks for someone to take the gloves.In that – albeit unlikely – scenario, the job would probably go to David Warner, who once previously kept with during a Test against Pakistan in 2014, although captain Aaron Finch has also done it briefly in the BBL. Coach Andrew McDonald even floated Mitchell Starc as an option.Related

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Australia have previously gone into World Cups without another frontline wicketkeeper, including the 2015 ODI event on home soil where Brad Haddin was the only option.”If you look back over World Cup squad selections, there have been plenty of times where Australia have gone in with only one frontline keeper in the squad,” McDonald said. “And that is to give greater flexibility to batting and bowling structures in the team. It’s a conversation about how we want to give ourselves the most options, rather than potentially covering the small risk that is there.”Inglis was assessed in hospital yesterday after his right hand was cut when a golf club snapped, and although the timeline for the recovery is not long – and there is no tendon damage – he will now miss the tournament.The selectors spent the day weighting up their options for a replacement which also included a like-for-like in Alex Carey, Josh Philippe or Ben McDermott, alongside a call-up for pace bowler Nathan Ellis, but in the end opted for Green who had been part of Australia’s T20I set-up in the lead-up to the tournament.Green had impressed on the tour of India with two rapid half-centuries opening the batting, but did not enjoy the same success against West Indies or England at home. However, before Green’s call-up was rubberstamped, McDonald had confirmed that Green would not come straight into the XI.”Does it create a headache if we bring him in? No, it probably just gives us more options,” he told reporters at the SCG. “If Cameron Green was considered in the starting XI before the tournament started, then he would have been in the 15; and he’s not, so if he was to come in, there’s no way – unless there’s another injury – that he would come into the starting XI.”Inglis, who has played nine T20Is so far, was anyway unlikely to feature in Australia’s starting XI during the tournament unless there was an injury to Wade, or a concussion substitute was required.He was also part of the squad for the previous men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. However, he featured in just three of Australia’s games leading into this tournament: two matches on the tour of India and then the warm-up game against same opponents at the Gabba on Monday.”The whole group is flat,” McDonald said. “Even though he hasn’t played a lot of cricket, he’s an important member of the squad, [and] was part of the last World Cup campaign as well. He’s obviously gutted; it’s a tight-knit group and any time something like this happens you feel for that person.”Inglis has made a good impression in his limited opportunities, with a strike rate of 141.02 from his inventive batting. He is viewed as the natural successor to Wade whenever he retires.Also, England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow was ruled out of the tournament due to a golf mishap too, when he suffered a badly-broken ankle caused by slipping on a tee box on the day the squad was announced.07.24GMT This story was updated after Cameron Green was confirmed as Josh Inglis’ replacement

There was an incident of a bowler – Adam Zampa – attempting to run the non-striker – Tom Rogers – out backing up during the Melbourne derby in the BBL on Tuesday. However, Stars bowler Zampa had turned his arm over before stopping and whipping the bails off, so even though Rogers was outside his crease, it wasn’t out. And though David Hussey, the Stars coach, said “we would have withdrawn the appeal” had it been given out, Zampa himself wasn’t too sure about it.Zampa, in fact, stressed that he “saw red a little bit” when Rogers rushed out before he had delivered the previous ball, the fourth of the final over of Renegades’ innings.