News

These ODI games against South Africa and Australia are part of the winter tours which have been scheduled, with Ireland now being as part of the ODI rankings-based qualification system for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. This gives Ireland the opportunity to play more games against full member nations, which has already occurred during this summer, with ODI series against Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The last time these two teams met, it was in the ICC World Cup in March of last year, where South Africa won by 201 runs in Canberra. There were hundreds for both Hashim Amla (159) and Francois du Plessis (109) in their innings of 411/4, with Andrew Balbirnie had the best response for Ireland’s 210 all out. He made 58 (71) in his innings at the Manuka Oval.

The two ODIs will be played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, the home of Eastern Cricket. The pitch is known for good pace and carry. It will be good for the Irish team to learn how to bowl and bat in these condition, which may be foreign to the tracks that are produced at home.

During the past summer, Ireland has consolidated their place at top of the Intercontinental Cup table, with a 70 run win against Hong Kong in Stormont. This keeps Ireland on track to have Test match status by 2019. However, there have been disappointing results in the limited formats of the game. They lost the KPC ODI series 2-0 to Sri Lanka and 1-0 to Pakistan, while they lost the T20 series to Hong Kong 1-0. However, they did share the controversial ODI series against Afghanistan 2-2.

Ireland

The biggest news out of the Irish squad is that Ed Joyce has been ruled out of the trip to South Africa with a progressive knee injury, and will have minor surgery on it. He has once again been prolific with his runs during the season, making 1,026 runs at an average of 64.12 in County Cricket or Sussex. He also made two hundreds in the ODI series against Afghanistan, with the highest being 160*(148) in a 12 run win for Ireland in Stormont back in July. Sean Terry will be his replacement for this series.

Tim Murtagh has been allowed to delay his travel to South Africa, to play for Middlesex in their final County Championship Div. 1 decider against Yorkshire, with a victory ensuring the London club’s first victory in the competition for 23 years.

There is a stock of quick paced bowling in the squad, with Peter Chase, Barry McCarthy and Craig Young all fit to play in the series. This will be a test for them, since it is expected that the pitch in Benoni will have more pace and carry in it than in home conditions, against an explosive South Africa batting line-up.

Key Player

John Anderson

With the exclusion of Ed Joyce from the squad, this gives the perfect opportunity for John Anderson to express himself on the international stage. He has been prolific in the Hanley Energy IPC this season. He scored 342 runs, at an average of 85.50. His highest score in the competition was 135* against the Northern Knights at Stormont in May.

He has also provided important innings at club level this season for Merrion. The most crucial one being his 109 in the Irish Senior Cup Final, where Merrion defeated Waringstown by 56 runs in Castle Avenue last month. He has been the man to anchor the innings for whatever team he has played for during this summer, and that type of batting will be needed against the pace attack of Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada.

South Africa

This is part of their ODI series against Australia, who are ranked number one in the world. They have had mixed success in the shorter formats of the game throughout 2016. They won the ODI series against England back in January, but have struggled in limited overs cricket since then. They did not qualify for semi finals in the ICC World T20 in India in March, nor did they qualify for the final of the Tri-Nation Series against Australia and West Indies in June.

Despite this, they have four players who are in the top ten of the ODI batting rankings at the moment. These include Hashim Amla, Quintin de Kock and Francois Du Plessis. This will prove a stern test for the Irish bowling, which will experience much warmer conditions than the ones they have left at the end of the Irish summer.

Key Player

AB de Villiers

He is comfortably the number 1 ODI batsman in the world. His explosiveness and array of shots will be hard to keep quiet in Benoni later this week. He had a successful time during the CPL with the Barbados Tridents in July. He hasn’t played cricket since then, and he will be primed and ready to go for the start of the South African summer, with further ODI, Test and T20 series against Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand after the ODI against Ireland.

Match Information

Date: Sept 25, 2016
Start Time: (10:00 local | 08:00 GMT | 09:00 IST)

Ireland Squad:

William Porterfield (C) John Anderson, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Stuart Poynter, Paul Stirling, Sean Terry, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

South Africa Squad:

AB de Villiers (C), Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Francois du Plessis, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada.

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Connaught