‘Top innings by Rickelton and Stubbs’ - Temba Bavuma reflects on South Africa’s win over Ireland in first ODI

South Africa defeated Ireland by 139 runs in the first ODI of the series. They were under pressure after losing the ODI series to Afghanistan but against Ireland, the experienced cricketers stepped up and got the job done for the team. Opener Ryan Rickelton set the foundation, scoring 91 runs, while Tristan Stubbs made 79. Towards the fag end, Bjorn Fortuin played a cameo of 28 runs, helping South Africa post 271 runs in the first innings.

When it came to bowling in the second innings, Lizaad Williams stole the show with his four-fer. Lungi Ngidi and Bjorn picked up two wickets each, restricting Ireland to 132 runs. Speaking about the win after the game, captain Temba Bavuma lauded Rickelton and Stubbs for their brilliant knocks and credited the bowlers for cleaning up Ireland. He also shared an update on Tony de Zorzi, who had to leave the field following an injury.

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“It is a good start to the series, top innings by Rickelton and Stubbs and then with tail wagging in. We thought the seamers did really well. Top effort from them. He (speaking about Tony de Zorzi) is going for scans tomorrow. We tried to play what is in front of us and we got guys who can do a bit of both (swing and seam), so quite a nice variety from those three (the pace trio of Ngidi, Williams and Baartman) and it was just a matter of keeping up the pressure and challenging them,” Bavuma said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

The wobble seam is more effective for me: Lizaad

After picking up a four-fer, Lizaad explained that the pacers trained hard to land their bowl at the right place. The 31-year-old also noted that it’s difficult for him to bowl bouncers, which is why he relies mostly on wobble seam.

“We did a lot of analysis. We had a box as a target and tried to land most of our balls there. I don't get a lot of bounce, the wobble seam is more effective for me. There was a bit of wind and it did give me a bit of boost,” Lizaad said.