Ken Borland

South Africa’s bowling attack were on fire on a tricky Malahide pitch as they restricted Ireland to just 132 for nine to claim a comprehensive 33-run victory in the first T20 International in Dublin on Monday evening.

Having been sent in to bat, the Proteas put 165 for seven up on the board, which seemed a par score but nothing more.

Ireland started confidently with Paul Stirling heaving the first ball of the innings, from slow left-armer George Linde, on to the grass banks. But Linde responded with a fuller delivery that also drew a sweep shot, bowling Stirling around his legs second ball.

Kagiso Rabada came on at the other end and immediately caught-and-bowled opener Kevin O’Brien for a first-ball duck.

Lungi Ngidi then had Ireland on their knees as he had George Dockrell (2) and Andy Balbirnie (22) caught behind in successive overs that saw the hosts slump to 34 for four inside the first powerplay.

Tabraiz Shamsi, the runaway leader in the ICC T20 bowling rankings, hadn’t even come on to bowl yet. But when he did, the left-arm wrist-spinner was typically inspired, ripping through the rest of the Ireland batting with four for 27 in his four overs.

Linde was also excellent with two for 26 in his four-over stint.

South Africa had made a blazing start to their innings with Quinton de Kock (20) and Temba Bavuma (13) slamming 31 off the first 15 balls. But the Malahide pitch then showed her teeth. Slower balls and cutters were particularly effective, and the pitch took turn, batsmen struggling to find any rhythm.

Aiden Markram (39 off 30), Rassie van der Dussen (25 off 18) and David Miller (28 off 21) all worked hard to get South Africa to a respectable total.

The total was given a precious boost in the final over as Rabada hurled the bat at Mark Adair and hit the first four balls of the 20^th over for boundaries, on his way to 19 not out off nine deliveries.

Cheslin Kolbe’s sidestep has become one of South Africa’s most beloved sporting memes but the ace winger has praised the Springboks’ kicking game and their defence for allowing him to pull off his trademark move once again in setting up Lukhanyo Am’s dazzling try in the SA A team’s win over the British and Irish Lions in midweek.

Kolbe fielded a kick just inside his own half and five metres in from touch 32 minutes into the first half, jogged a bit and then exploded, wonderful footwork taking him through a small gap, and his super offload to Am then leading to a try. But the build-up to the try had seen the Springboks constantly driving the Lions back into their 22 with kicks, a tremendous defence then getting up quickly to force the tourists into kicking the ball back.

“A lot of teams try to use the kicking game to launch attacks and it’s about showing the patience for the perfect time to counter-attack. We did well to capitalise on our opportunities. For us, kicking is always about going forward, we want to make sure our backs are always going forward. You need to sum up what the defence are doing and try to bring some x-factor.

“We managed to do that quite a lot, but credit must also go to the forwards. They defend, defend all the time and that gets you energy and excitement and then you can’t wait to attack again. We expected the Lions to use long kicks on to the back three, but their kicks were mostly quite short. Fortunately Jasper Wiese was able to get up and take most of those,” Kolbe said.

While the try gave the Springboks a 17-3 lead, it took the mother of all defensive efforts for them to hold on to that lead until halftime, especially with scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and flank marco van Staden yellow-carded in quick succession. That superb defensive effort continued in the second half as the SA A side won 17-13.

“I was super-proud of the character everyone showed without a lot of preparation. We just had to hang in there, man up and try and stay in the fight. The defence delivered, especially when they defended a number of phases on our line. That showed our fight and we got energy from that,” Kolbe said.

The ants of Ireland pulled off a giant-killing act as they beat a sloppy South African side who suffered far too many eek-worthy moments in the field, by 43 runs in the second ODI at Malahide in Dublin on Tuesday.

The Proteas had again won the toss and sent Ireland in to bat but the pacemen bowled poorly up front and at the death as Ireland posted a formidable 290 for five.

This time Ireland were both able to prosper up front in the powerplay and keep wickets intact. Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie took them to 49 without loss in the first 10 overs and their opening stand was eventually worth  64 off 82 balls.

But in a powerful top-order performance, Balbirnie then added another 60 for the second wicket with Andy McBrine (30) and the Ireland captain went on to a superb 102 off 117 balls, really leading from the front and providing the foundation for the win.

Harry Tector (79 off 68) and George Dockrell (45 off 23) then provided a scintillating end to the innings as they hammered wayward death bowling for 88 runs in the last seven overs.

Spinners Tabraiz Shamsi (10-1-42-1) and Keshav Maharaj (10-0-50-1) were the best of the South African bowlers, doing a fine job in the middle overs.

Apart from the woes of the seamers, the Proteas fielding was also extremely creaky, with four catches going down that should have been caught and messy ground-fielding also being the order of the day.

Janneman Malan was the top-scorer for South Africa as they were bowled out for 247 in the penultimate over.

The rookie opener struck a powerful 84 off 96 balls, with four sixes, making up for the early loss of Aiden Markram (5) and Temba Bavuma (10).

He was well-supported by Rassie van der Dussen (49 off 70) in a third-wicket stand of 108 in 22 overs, but South Africa then fell away badly, once again exposing the lower middle-order and the finishing ability of the team as a problem.

Malan will wryly consider that he could yet found himself out the team for the third and final match on Friday as Quinton de Kock obviously needs to return.

He will also be kicking himself for getting out when he did though, caught sweeping spinner George Dockrell to cow-corner, and when Van der Dussen was trapped lbw by McBrine in the next over, it was the hammer blow from which the Proteas could never recover.

The first ODI between South Africa and Ireland may have been washed out, but it did provide the Proteas with a valuable demonstration of how accepting that conditions are going to be tough for batting up front and not pushing too hard in the first powerplay is going to be crucial when the second match is played at the same Malahide ground in Dublin on Tuesday.

Ireland had reached 195-4, after being sent in to bat, in the 40.2 overs that were played before the rain ended matters, and were well-placed to post a decent total. That was partly due to, and not despite, a fairly painstaking start in which they scored just 28 runs in the first 10 overs but did not lose any wickets.

It is the exact opposite situation to what the Proteas experienced in the West Indies, where batting up front in the powerplay was the time to cash in and the best chance to score quickly.

“The pitch was a tad slow, but it was a good wicket. We’ll have to assess again for the next game, but up front was the toughest time to bat. So you have to be very watchful the first 10 overs and then the ball doesn’t do as much. The game gets easier and then you can press on.

“It’s definitely the right thing to field first because then you know what score you’re chasing and you know the conditions better. We need to show what we’ve learned from the West Indies and be clinical with the bat. We bowled pretty well, but we just need to remind ourselves that we need to execute day in, day out. It’s about being consistent, that’s the key word, we need to repeat the good performances,” all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo said on Monday.

Given that South Africa never got to bat, any changes to the batting line-up are going to be unfair on the likes of Janneman Malan and Kyle Verreynne. But if Quinton de Kock is ready to go after his rest, then who wouldn’t want him in a game that has crucial World Cup qualification points at stake?

Consistent fast bowler Anrich Nortje was also rested for the first game and he could return at the expense of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who did not get any wickets but was tight, conceding just 38 runs in his nine overs.