Date-stamped : 14 Jul94 - 18:26 New Zealand vs Eire, Belfast, July 10, 1994 (55 over match - reduced to 20 by rain) Kiwis complete tour with exhibition against Irish DUBLIN (NZPA) -- New Zealand's cricket tour of Britain and Ireland ended in semi-farce on Sunday with the tourists winning what became an exhibition cricket match against Ireland at Malahide. Heavy overnight rain which continued through the morning made any play extremely doubtful, and looked likely to spoil Irish cricket's big day. Irish President Mary Robinson was due to meet both teams during the tea break, and she duly arrived at 3:30pm before a ball had been bowled. The teams lined up with their blazers over their cricketing whites to meet the Irish head of state, then walked back across the soggy outfield to begin the match. At the end of its long tour, the last thing New Zealand wanted was to play a match in conditions verging on dangerous. So it was in consideration to the home supporters, who had waited patiently all day, and the sponsors of Irish cricket, that captain Ken Rutherford reluctantly agreed to a 20-over-a-side exhibition match. Ireland batted first and slogged its way to 147 for nine in its 20 overs, then New Zealand reached 148 for the loss of Adam Parore, who opened with Blair Hartland, in the 14th over to score a nine- wicket win. New Zealand took the game less than seriously, and used eight bowlers, including part-timers Stephen Fleming and Parore. Parore, the first-choice wicketkeeper, even took two wickets and returned respectable figures of two for 17 off four overs of dribbly medium-pace. One of his dismissals was a stumping, the first time he had figured in such a dismissal from the bowler's crease. Bryan Young, pulling on the gloves instead of Parore, completed the stumping of Ireland captain Alan Lewis, and also stumped Garfield Harrison off Shane Thomson's bowling. Rutherford said: "It was a bit of a farce, really." "But it was an important day for Irish cricket and a decent enough crowd turned up." Ireland was determined to make the most of the reduced match on Sunday, and a second wicket partnership of 66 between Justin Benson and Bobby Rao put it on target for a reasonable total. Benson, a former Leicestershire professional, scored 41 and Harrison 44 but the regular fall of wickets meant Ireland's run rate dropped off, and 147 looked a score that was achievable. Hartland and Parore soon set about showing that it was. They brought up the New Zealand 50 in the fifth over, growing at better than 10 runs an over, and Hartland moved to his half- century with a 6 in the ninth over. Parore was out in the same over, caught behind for 38 off the thinnest of edges. Young soon joined in the run feast, striking two 6s on his way to 24. Hartland also hit two 6s in his 80 off 45 balls. He wrapped up the match with a single off Graham Cooke to take New Zealand to 148 for one. (Thanks : NZPA) Contributed by Romario (Romario@gandalf.otago.ac.nz)