The Proteas have gone 1-0 up in their One-Day International series against Ireland with a convincing 139-run win in Abu Dhabi.
The Proteas scored 271/9 in their allotted 50 overs with Ryan Rickelton scoring 91, while Tristan Stubbs scored 79 on Wednesday.
The Proteas were in trouble after 9 overs with Tony de Zorzi (12), the captain Temba Bavuma (4), and Rassie van der Dussen (0) all back in the hut with South Africa's score on 39/3. Rickelton and Stubbs put on a 152-run partnership for the 4th wicket to steady the ship for South Africa.
At the backend of the innings, Bjorn Fortuin scored 28 and Lungi Ngidi added 20 to give the Proteas a decent total to defend.
Mark Adair took 4/50, while Craig Young took 3/45, and Andy Balbirnie took no less than four catches.
In reply, George Dockrell scored 21 for the Irish as they were bowled out for 132 in 31.5 overs. Balbirnie and the South African-born Curtis Campher each scored 20 to try and aid their cause.
Lizaad Williams did the damage with the ball for South Africa by taking 4/32 in his 10 overs. Fortuin in turn took 2/28 in 6.5 overs, while Ngidi took 2/35 in 6.
Reflecting on the game, Ngidi, said they tried to exploit the favourable bowling conditions under the lights.
“We obviously did enjoy the conditions and Abu Dhabi has been like that since we arrived here,” said Ngidi.
“I would say that the ball does probably swing a little bit more under the lights. The conditions do allow for a little bit more swing, so we tried to exploit that as much as we could.”
The second of three One-Day Internationals will be played on Friday.
OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh
