Proteas stumble again in ODI defeat to minnows Ireland

South Africa’s up-and-down tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fizzled to a close on Monday night as the national team were handed a humiliating defeat in the third and final one-day international (ODI) against minnows Ireland.

Though they had already won the three-match series after coasting to easy victories in the first two matches, the Proteas were outplayed in the final game as Ireland triumphed by 69 runs.

Set a target of 285 runs to win, the SA team’s top order crumbled and they were unable to recover, despite a valiant effort from middle-order batter Jason Smith.

Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks and stand-in captain Rassie van der Dussen all fell within the first five overs as the Proteas were left stranded at 10/3.

A middle-order recovery kept them afloat for a while, with Kyle Verreynne, who made 38 runs, and Tristan Stubbs, who hit 20, sharing 49 runs for the fourth wicket.

After they were dismissed, Smith and Andile Phehlukwayo combined in a 47-run partnership for the sixth wicket as they continued to keep the Proteas’ hopes alive.

Phehlukwayo was removed in the 29th over, however, after contributing 23 runs. And while Smith went on to hit his first international half-century (making 91 runs off 93 deliveries) the Proteas fell well short as they were bowled out for 215 in the 47th over of their innings.

Ireland innings

Earlier, after choosing to bat, Ireland’s top order batters were superb. They were led by captain Paul Stirling, who made 88 runs off 92 balls, and Harry Vector (60 off 48).

The Proteas attack combined well, spearheaded by seamer Lizaad Williams who took 4/56 (including three wickets in the 49th over), but they struggled to pin back their opponents as Ireland compiled 284/9 in their 50 overs.

While the South Africans battled to contain the minnows as well as they would have liked, Williams was well supported by Ottneil Baartman and Phehlukwayo, who returned identical figures of 2/32 from eight overs each.

Ultimately, however, it was not enough as the Proteas were beaten by Ireland (10 places below South Africa in the ODI world rankings) for the second time in the space of nine days.

After losing 2-1 against Afghanistan in their ODI series, settling for a 1-1 draw against Ireland in their T20 series, and winning 2-1 in their ODI series against Ireland, the under-strength SA squad won only four of their eight matches on their UAE tour.