Out of COVID-19 isolation, Blackcaps all-rounder Mitchell Santner has rejoined his teammates for the rest of New Zealand's white-ball tour of Europe.
Santner missed the Blackcaps' departure to the northern hemisphere earlier this month, after testing positive for COVID-19, but after sitting out his isolation period, he has belatedly joined the team at Dublin.
And after watching New Zealand's one-wicket victory in the opening one-day international against Ireland at Malahide, Santner is firming for a return to the Blackcaps XI for the rest of the series, beginning Tuesday night (NZ time).
"It's obviously nice to be here," Santner said. "Delayed by a week, which is a little bit niggly, staying at home, but I'm here now.
"It was nice to go to the game yesterday and stay awake. It was obviously a great game, but I'm ready to go.
"It was nice to get out there and have a bit of a train this morning. We tried to do a little bit yesterday during the game, but [I] should be pretty fresh, ready to go."
At Malahide, Santner had one of the best seats in the house to watch Michael Bracewell snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
With New Zealand needing 181 runs from 131 balls when he arrived at the crease, Bracewell struck an unbeaten 127 from 82 deliveries, with 10 boundaries and seven sixes.
Bracewell struck a record-breaking 24 runs from the final over - the most ever scored in a final over to win a match - carrying the Blackcaps to 305/9 to avoid a first defeat to Ireland in any format.
"He looked very calm, for one," Santner assessed. "Obviously it was a challenging time, losing wickets around him, but he kept his cool [and] controlled the innings very well.
"He obviously had to step up at the end and he did. Taking it deep - that's what we always say as a batting unit.
"We didn't get the partnerships we kind of wanted there, but he was always there at the end.
"It was pretty special to be fair. I've seen some decent knocks in my time, but that was up there."
With a core of players from New Zealand's test series defeat to England departing - including captain Tom Latham - Santner will assume the leadership for three Twenty20s against Ireland, before the Scotland and Netherlands legs of the tour.
After Ireland, the Blackcaps will play two T20s and one ODI against Scotland at Edinburgh, and three T20s against the Netherlands at Amsterdam.
