New Zealand's Finn Allen opens up on getting to grips with ODI Cricket

New Zealand opener Finn Allen has revealed that he is still getting to grips with one-day cricket.

Allen has already earned the tag of a 'T20 Specialist', with his strike rate touching 178.92 while batting mainly at the top of the order. Due to his consistent and dominant performances with the bat in the 20-over format, he was handed his maiden ODI cap in the first ODI of the three-match series between Ireland and New Zealand.

The swashbuckling opener didn't have the greatest of the starts to his ODI career as he was out for a single-digit score in his maiden ODI appearance. However, Allen bounced back strongly in the second ODI of the series, being the top scorer for his side. 

Finn Allen produced a match winning innings in the 2nd ODI

The right-handed batter scored his first ODI fifty off 58 balls with three sixes and six fours to guide his team to victory. He put on 101 runs for the third wicket with stand-in captain Tom Latham, who scored 55 off 73 balls with one six and five fours in his innings.

Talking about his maiden ODI fifty and the match-winning hundred-run partnership with Latham, the Auckland-born cricketer said it wasn't easy for him early on in the innings after the visitors lost two wickets in the first over.

"I supposed I recognised that it wasn't easy early on. Me and Tommy (Tom Latham) had good comms. We kept each other in it and kept reiterating to trust our base and just go from there.

"There's lot more time than we realise at times in 50-over cricket, so it was nice to just sit in and bat with him and spend a bit of time in the middle and once we sort of got one away, we became a bit more free-flowing, which is nice." Finn Allen told NZC's in-house media team after the game. 

Allen believes he is still figuring out the ropes of ODI cricket

"I'm still figuring out the pace at which I want to go about my one-day cricket, and sometimes on those wickets, you have to sit in and realise that they're bowling well and get through that. We still finished the powerplay on 56, I guess, so we came out of it nicely”.

Allen battled through the powerplay overs when the Irish bowlers were all over the Kiwi batters. Recalling that initial phase of the match, Allen said he learnt a lot and enjoyed spending time in the middle with skipper Latham.

"Just recognising that there are tough periods in the game that you've to get through and once you get through that, you're kind of set in a way. So, yeah, a lot of learnings for me today and obviously, as I said, nice to spend time with Tommy out there today."