South Africa hammer Ire by 174 runs in 2nd ODI: Tristan Stubbs smashes his way to tremendous knock
South Africa continued their domination into the second one-day international of the UAE, winning one-sided by 174 runs. On this day, centuries by Tristan Stubbs took the Proteas to a total of 343/4 that seemed unbridgeable for Ireland. The chase that Ireland mounted never picked up momentum and were bowled out for 169 in 30.3 overs.
South Africa innings: A century by Stubbs is remained not out 112.
South Africa, winning the toss and choosing to bat on a pitch that looked quite feasible enough for batting, opened their innings with Ryan Rickelton and the skipper himself, Temba Bavuma. Rickelton is the wicketkeeper-batsman of South Africa, who, in his 40 off 39 balls, was fluent enough to look ahead to scoring bigger before losing to Curtis Campher in the 14th over. Bavuma remained not out with 35 off 39 balls but retired hurt.
The middle order provides a resolute resistance as Rassie van der Dussen comes in and puts together another 35 off 39 deliveries and was bowled over by the now experienced Gavin Hoey. Middle and lower-stages of the innings would have to do all the heavy lifting for Kyle Verreynne and Tristan Stubbs as they arrested the rate at which it was growing with Stubbs taking charge with a strong performance till the very end.
He bashed a smashing unbeaten knock of 112 off just 81 balls, which consisted of 13 fours and three sixes. His authoritative stroke play in the final overs ensured that South Africa posted a mammoth 343/4 in their allotted 50 overs. Unabashed aggression spelt with calculated aggression and smart shot selection kept putting pressure on the rival team as Stubbs’s innings unfolded. Even Wiaan Mulder played, with a sparkling 43 off 34 balls, which he crushed on his way to being caught by Gavin Hoey.
Except for a little while in the middle of the innings, the run rate of South Africa never came off the boil and the Irish bowlers could do nothing to stem the flow of runs. For the Greenshirts, it was Craig Young and Andy McBrine who were the wicket-takers, but their haul was not sufficient as the batting strength of the Proteas was too much to handle.
Ireland vs. South Africa: The ball thieves, Ngidi and Williams, steal the show and Kiwis come out on top by 22 runs.
It was 344 that Ireland needed, and then it came out to the worst possible start. Lungi Ngidi dismissed Andrew Balbirnie with a duck in the second over, and then it became an innings all about that one wicket in the first few overs. The bowlers took the momentum right from the very first two overs, making Lizaad Williams and Ngidi fold the Irish top order like a deck of cards.
Ireland’s Paul Stirling – Invincible skipper: For a while, Stirling was struggling with a 57-ball 50 but much resistance did not come from the other end. When the middle order man Curtis Campher (17) and Harry Tector (20) tried to steady the innings, middle and the lower order collapsed soon after their fall. Half his side gone for Ireland within the 13th over, for just 50 runs.
The Irish continued to lose wickets as they could not deal with the challenge which South Africa had now matured. At 33 for three, Stephen Doheny and George Dockrell lost their wicket along with Andy McBrine and the hope of a respectable chase was lost pretty soon. Some stifled resistance from Gavin Hoey with 23 off 25 balls and Craig Young batting in company to complete an undefeated 29 off 21 deliveries only served to delay the inevitable as Ireland managed to stave off complete collapse.
Lungi Ngidi was the man of the match for South Africa, who saw off 3 wickets for 28 runs in his 7 overs. Lizaad Williams too chipped in with 3 wickets, including the prized scalp of Paul Stirling, as he saw off with figures of 5-36. The rest of the bowling did a decent job as well as Bjorn Fortuin took 2 and Andile Phehlukwayo and Ottneil Baartman took 1 each.
Stubbs sacks Player of the Match
He was justifiably rewarded by being declared Man of the Match with his fabulous hundred. An innings that dictated the way towards altering the balance of the game as the tide changed into South Africa’s favor, a total which Ireland hardly could approach at all. The match gradually went out of Ireland’s hands during the big windows of the second half of the innings by Stubbs.
Though he does so, Stubbs’ knock has unearthed him as a future star for South Africa, especially for the cause of limited-over cricket. The cricketer is 23 years young; his match-winning performance says it all-it is possible for him to deliver when the team needs him most on the international level.
Bowling continues to pose a massive problem for Ireland
They could not go tight enough as the South African batters kept coming hard, led by Mark Adair and Craig Young. Ireland went too long without taking wickets with much enough boundaries conceded in the middle overs that allowed South Africa to change the speed of the innings. Gavin Hoey and Andy McBrine were on the back foot but lacked that penetration all game long; Curtis Campher was working in getting rid of Rickelton early on but had nothing more to say.
Ireland’s bowling needs a rethink, especially during the last ten overs of the game in which it gave South Africa a crack at scoring 100 runs.
Conclusion: Hands Down Victory for South Africa; Inquiry End for Ireland
The Proteas totally dominated Ireland by 174 runs, both on batting skill as on bowling skill. The key highlight of the game is it came in the form of a century by Tristan Stubbs, but from other batmen, it could be seen he didn’t get much support and there was a brood that disciplined the bowling as well, ultimately leading to a big win for the Proteas.
Defeat once more for Ireland raises serious questions about their ability to threaten the better teams. Their batting, other than that exquisite half-century by Stirling, applied terribly little, and the bowling attack did little to muzzle a robust South African line-up. They have to do much better than they did in all aspects going into the next match if they are not going to let South Africa finish off a whitewash.
South Africa, on the other hand, will pretty be delighted with how things have been going for them and take this very good momentum forward from here into the rest of the games of the series.
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