IRE vs SA | Clinical Ireland stitch together all-round display to dominate Proteas in consolation win

Batting first for the first time in the series, Ireland got off to their best start for quite some time as Paul Stirling declared the intent early with a boundary off his very first ball. The skipper continued to dictate terms throughout the powerplay even as the likes of Lizaad Williams and Lungi Ngidi shackled Andy Balbirnie, the opening duo trickling the score along to 37/0 at the end of the powerplay. In the 17th over, the Irish crossed the 70-run mark to register their highest ever opening stand in South Africa before bringing up the century six overs later. However, with the scoring rate a substandard 4.39, the pressure got to Balbirnie as he pulled a Lizaad bumper straight down square leg’s throat to hand the visitors their first breakthrough. His successor Curtis Campher came out all guns blazing, smoking two early boundaries and a maximum to set the stage for a quicker than run-a-ball 58-run stand but eventually flew too close to the sun as an attempted paddle ended in the stumps. Baartman added a second in quick succession with an inseaming jaffa to castle Stirling 12 short of a century and Ireland suddenly found themselves at 179/3 after 35. Even though the Irish kept going at run-a-ball thereafter, the Saffas seized further control with two more scalps by the 45th over but Tector kept the scoreboard ticking and punished Ngidi for 14 runs in the 48th over to bring up a 42-ball fifty. However, Lizaad struck back immediately with three wickets in the penultimate over to restrict the hosts to 284/9.

In response, Mark Adair got the Irish off to a flying start by having Ryan Rickelton caught at slip on the fifth ball. The quick alongwith Graham Hume managed to extract prodigous movement off the deck under the lights, courteys of which the later scalped Rasfeeza Hendricks for cheap. Adair made it a triple whammy by trapping skipper Rassie van der Dussen plumb in front to leave the Proteas reeling at 10/3. Kyle Verreyne took the counterattacking route to stroke five boundaries in the powerplay and take the score to 48/3 but the quick 38-run cameo was brilliantly ended by Craig Young with another inseamer in the 13th over. Tristan Stubbs tried to resist the onslaught with some cautious batting, only to end up nicking one eventually with the scorecard reading 79/5. Jason Smith, who had so far been mirroring Stubbs’ approach, broke free thereafter with 10 runs in three deliveries in the 29th over, but the move backfired when Andile Phehlukwayo tried to replicate the antics and holed out for 23. The asking rate had skyrocketed past seven and a half by then with 20 overs to go and kept getting worse, culminating in Mark Humphreys sounding Bjorn Fortuin the death rattle in the 36th over. Nevertheless, Smith showed incredulous fight to race away to 91 but a combination of cramps and asking rate saw him succumb agonizingly close to a ton as the Proteas folded out for 215.

Jason Smith on some “don’t bowl there…”

— Simnikiwe Xabanisa (@simxabanisa) October 7, 2024

Jason Smith, you have my attention 👀🏏

— Ta Lamzo 🇨🇩 (@LamaTheCule) October 7, 2024