• New Zealand whitewashed the hosts after registering a 6-wicket victory in the final T20I.
• Mitchell scored 48 runs.
• Phillips scored 56 runs and remained unbeaten.

New Zealand whitewashed Ireland 3-0 in the Twenty20 series with a six-wicket victory at the Stormont field in Belfast on Friday, thanks to an unbeaten fifty from Glenn Phillips.

Daryl Mitchell contributed 48 runs off 32 balls before James Neesham scored 23 runs off six deliveries. Phillips remained not out at 56 as New Zealand chased a target of 175 with one over remaining.

Mitchell was caught and bowled by Josh Little with less than three overs remaining with the Blackcaps struggling at 147-4.

But Phillips, who also scored a match-winning fifty in the first game of the series, proved to be a thorn in Ireland’s side before Neesham’s massive hitting sealed the triumph.

Mark Adair’s hammered 37 off 15 balls and Curtis Campher’s 19 off eight balls contributed to Ireland’s total of 174-6, while seasoned opener Paul Stirling contributed 40.

The undefeated stand of 58 from 23 deliveries by Adair and Campher offered Ireland, who had suffered agonising white-ball losses to India and New Zealand this season, hope for victory.

However, they suffered yet another defeat at the hands of New Zealand, following a 3-0 setback in the preceding one-day international series.

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