Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie says that Ireland is now aiming to win the ODI series to show the world they are “making strides”, after leading his side to a brilliant 43-run win over South Africa in the second ODI at Malahide on July 13.
Balbirnie’s century (102) and Harry Tector’s brilliant 68-ball 79 helped Ireland to post their highest score against South Africa – 290 which they successfully defended by bowling out the tourists for 247.
Andy McBrine, Mark Adair, and Joshua Little each scalped two wickets to take the hosts to a 43-run victory in the second ODI on Tuesday.
Balbirnie said that Ireland is thrilled to beat South Africa, on Tuesday as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the ODI series with the final set to take place on July 16 followed by the three T20Is.
Following the victory, the Ireland captain also heaped praise on his team for their efforts to outclass the Proteas side despite the lack of infrastructure or exposure for the hosts.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Balbirnie stated: “We've beaten big teams before but we haven't beaten them consistently. We don't have the players these teams have, we don't have the infrastructure or the exposure. A lot of the South African team have played in the IPL. We don't get that.”
He added, “So what we do, when we do play these big teams, we get the most out of these games and we try to put in our best performance. We are thrilled and beating them once off is great but winning a series at the end of the week will be so important because it shows we're making strides.”
On his century, the skipper said: “It's nice to get runs but they are a lot sweeter when you come out with a win.”
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Hailing Tector, Balbirnie said: “Harry is a quick learner and a very impressive person. A lot of our guys have been thrown into the deep end, playing big teams but these are the players we need to invest in and put time into. In the last series in Holland, Harry has shown promise. He is looking really impressive in that No.4 position. That was probably the innings of the day.”
Meanwhile, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma hinted that he could make changes for the third and final ODI against Ireland.
Bavuma said, “With Quinny, we are trying to manage his workload and get Janneman [Malan] into the side - he has done very well in white-ball cricket. With Lungi, from a workload point of view, in the last game, his speeds were lower than normal. That was the thinking behind those decisions.”
(With ANI Inputs)
