Ireland went down to a 33-run defeat in the first game of the DafaNews T20 series against South Africa, with left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, the world’s top ranked T20I bowler, bamboozled the hosts in the chase.
Ireland Men’s captain Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and elected to bowl, and will have been more than happy by his side’s performance in the field. South Africa got off to a blockbuster start, with Quinton de Kock hitting four of his first seven balls for boundaries, including a mighty maximum over midwicket off Barry McCarthy. But Mark Adair struck soon after, forcing a miscue to mid-off, and the crossfire started. Adair was again leading the force, taking on Janneman Malan, in form from the ODI series, after a juggling catch by Simi Singh, and it was the off-spinner who grabbed the next wicket, Temba Bavuma attempting a reverse sweep but only could edge it behind.
The Proteas regrouped, the next four overs was a defensive play by the batting team as no wickets were crumbling but also without a boundary scored, before Rassie van der Dussen attempted to release the up the run rate. He smashed George Dockrell for four and six in consecutive balls before cutting the first ball of Josh Little’s second over for four. The left-armer gave an answer immediately however, with van der Dussen toe-ending a drive to Balbirnie at cover, and another tight over from Singh followed.
The circle repeated itself as there were a few hits to the fence followed by a downfall, as they couldn’t stop the boundaries but took wickets at regular intervals. With Aiden Markram striking three of his last eight balls for four or six before some creativity from Singh left the powerful South African perplexed . Predominantly an off-spinner, he unfurled a well-disguised leggie, turning the ball away from Markram and deceiving him in the flight for Lorcan Tucker to take the bails off. The twirler was the pick of the Ireland bowlers, conceding just a single boundary, quite an achievement regarding the status of the shortest format of the game and ending with figures of 2-19 from his four overs.
Five down, the tourists had little choice but to slow down in death overs. Just two boundaries came between overs 15 and 19, with George Linde skying Adair to Singh and David Miller nicking Little behind. Kagiso Rabada gave the Proteas a cameo to witness as he smashed the first four balls of the final over to the fence to leave Ireland needing 166 to win.
The pursuit got off to the best possible start, with Paul Stirling slog-sweeping a six off George Linde’s opening delivery, but the hard-hitting opener couldn’t get far as he was dismissed next ball, sweeping once again but missing this time, and then the batsmen continued to tumble thereafter.In cricket news Kevin O’Brien, coming back to the side after his retirement from ODI cricket, chipped his first ball back to Kagiso Rabada going out for a golden duck, but Andrew Balbirnie paid back, striking three of his next five balls to the fence. But the introduction of Lungi Ngidi turned it around. The right-arm pacer struck with the very first delivery of each of his first two overs, with Balbirnie and George Dockrell each edging behind.
From there, it was over to Player of the Match Tabraiz Shamsi. The mystery spinner rooted out four of the next five wickets to fall, and by the time he was finishing the game it was too late for the others, with Ireland nine down and still short of the century mark. Simi Singh and Shane Getkate’s stumps went flying, the former not able to connect a loopy delivery with an attempted sweep, and the latter fooled by a beauty which hit off-stump, while Mark Adair holed out to long-off for a duck. Linde managed with the wicket of Tucker in the midst of Shamsi’s spell.
Harry Tector threatened to stop the havoc, striking three fours in his 36, but couldn’t overpower Shamsi, the ball turning away as he stepped down the track, and with more than seven overs left to bat, it appeared likely the hosts would be bowled out well short of using their full allocation. But Barry McCarthy, making his 50th appearance for Ireland across formats, signalled his intent by lustily driving the final ball of Shamsi’s spell to the fence.He and Joshua Little battled wisely, though without raising doubts of an upset. They ticked the strike over to start with before striking a boundary in each of the last four overs, the last of which, a six over midwicket from the bat of Little, set a new benchmark for the highest tenth-wicket partnership in T20Is by a Full Member side, with the unbeaten 44-run stand overtaking the 36 put on by New Zealand’s Tim Southee and Seth Rance against Sri Lanka in 2019.
Each reached their highest score in international cricket to give the home fans something to cheer about, but South Africa still wrapped up a comfortable victory by 33 runs.
MATCH SUMMARY
Ireland Men v South Africa Men, 1st T20I DafaNews Cup, Malahide Cricket Club, 19 July 2021
South Africa 165-7 (20 overs; A Markram 39; M Adair 3-39, S Singh 2-19, J Little 2-27)
Ireland 132-9 (20 overs; H Tector 36, B McCarthy 30*; T Shamsi 4-27)
South Africa won by 33 runs
