Kane Williamson finally found some much needed rhythm in his 35-ball 61 before Ireland pacer Joshua Little picked up a memorable hat-trick to limit New Zealand to 185 for six in the T20 World Cup, here on Friday.
Williamson batted at a strike rate of more than 100 for the first time in this tournament and got fluent as his innings progressed. His knock comprised five fours and three sixes.
The other notable contributions came from opener Finn Allen (32 off 18), the in-form Glenn Phillips (17 off 9) and Daryl Mitchell (31 not out off 21).
Left-arm pacer Little put the brakes on the New Zealand scoring rate in the death overs by removing a well set Williamson, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner off successive balls in 19th over.
While Williamson was caught in the deep attempting another big hit, Little trapped Neesham and Santner in front of the stumps with two straight deliveries that skidded on. It was this World Cup's second hat-trick after UAE's Karthik Meiyappan achieved the feat against Sri Lanka.
The biggest positive for New Zealand was their leader Williamson finding his groove. He struggled for timing initially before changing gears.
The skipper brought UP his half-century with a flick off pacer Barry McCarthy that went all the way for six over deep midwicket before depositing one in the same region two balls later for another six.
Williamson perished in the 19th as his pull shot off Little did not get the desired elevation.
New Zealand were set for a 200 plus total but Ireland pegged them back by conceding only 12 runs in the last two overs.