South Africa's new ball barrage blows Ireland away - 1st ODI review
Talking points from Abu Dhabi as Ireland fall to an 139-run defeat to South Africa to start the ODI series
Ireland suffered a heavy 139-run defeat to South Africa to start their three-match ODI series. Defending 271 after electing to bat first at the toss, the Proteas’ blistering new ball display took Ireland out of the contest in the second innings. Ireland were ultimately bowled out for 132, their second lowest ODI total against this opposition.
Lungi Ngidi (2-35) and Lizaad Williams (4-32) constantly hit a Test match length with the new ball, extracting sideways movement off the pitch to run through the Irish top order.
Earlier in the day, Ireland’s own new ball bowlers impressed to take three early South African wickets. Ryan Rickelton (91) and Tristan Stubbs (79) led the rescue effort with a 152-run partnership, but only after both offered chances which were put down.
Still, Ireland would have been happy at the start of the day to restrict the Proteas to a final total of 271.
Then came the new ball barrage. After losing the second T20 between the sides on Sunday, this was an emphatic response from South Africa.
Here are the game’s talking points:
Battle of the new balls
ODI cricket presents the fascinating challenge of a new ball at both ends, in theory extending the window in which skilled operators can cause problems.
Ireland were asked to bowl first but, based on the performance of their trio of seamers - Mark Adair (4-50), Graham Hume (1-42) and Craig Young (3-45) - it didn’t appear to be an awful toss to lose. Hume caused plenty of problems bowling over the wicket to Ryan Rickelton, constantly nipping the ball away and challenging the left-hander’s edge. On another day, a healthy nick would have led to a simple caught behind.
Adair initially didn’t find the same consistency of movement off the seam. But he thought his way to his first wicket, responding to Tony de Zorzi’s tactic of running down the wicket with a surprise short ball. A top edge was caught safely at fine leg by Young. The very next ball, Adair thought he had Bavuma trapped in front with a big nip-backer, only for a review to rescue the South African captain. Ball tracking showed the ball was bouncing over the top. On the stump mic, someone was head saying “How has that missed?”
Not long after, Young himself repeated the trick with a scrambled seam, the movement off the pitch beating Bavuma on the inside edge. This time his pad did not get in the way of the ball castling into off stump.
Reducing South Africa to 39-3 after nine overs looked to be best case scenario. That is, until the Proteas took their turn with the pair of new balls. After 13.5 overs, Ireland were 61-5, such was the havoc caused by lateral movement. Chasing 272, it was game over already.
Did South Africa’s new ball bowlers take better advantage of the conditions? It’s difficult to say. When Ireland came out to bat, the lights came on. Did the ball do more under lights?
Extra pace also has to be a factor. Lungi Ngidi and Lizaad Williams both operate around the 135-140 kilometres per hour mark. When Williams in particular got the ball to nip back almost at will, it was almost impossible to react when the change of direction comes with an extra yard of pace.
Andy Balbirnie was bowled by one which came back in. Harry Tector got his front pad in the way of a nip-backer. Stephen Doheny also lost his off-stump to movement back in off the seam. South Africa’s bowlers recognised the helpful conditions and targeted the stumps accordingly.
Be it due to execution, different conditions or extra pace, when Ireland had their new ball purple patch, they didn’t kill the game off. South Africa did.
Middle overs graft
At the halfway stage, Ireland would have been reasonably happy with their work with the ball during the middle overs. While Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs did put on 152 runs for the fourth wicket, Ireland never allowed them to do so at a speed which dominated the game. That they stuck in long enough for chances to eventually go to hand, before then restricting a weak lower order at the death, will be pleasing.
Ireland historically have struggled to take wickets in the middle period of white ball games. Andy McBrine is a containment option, rather than a consistent wicket-taking one. Leg-spinner Gavin Hoey got drift and turn on his debut. He could well turn into a badly-needed quality wrist-spinner, but he was unlikely to be that man on day one. There also isn’t the extra pace of Josh Little; Stirling can’t throw him the ball in hope that rushes a batter into a mistake.
Given this context, that Ireland stayed in the fight long enough to restrict South Africa to 271 is a plus. Adair, Young and Hume all showed impressive variations as the innings went on. The bowlers stayed patient and ultimately got their reward.
Ireland could have won this game had two or three batters survived South Africa’s new ball rampage. It’s difficult to be overly critical of the bowlers today.
Missed chances
For all that talk of lack of threat, Ireland’s middle overs effort should have had better results. Stubbs was dropped early in his innings by Young at short third. McBrine and Hoey might not have been overly threatening early in their spell, but they built enough dot ball pressure to force Stubbs to take a risk. His reverse-sweep sent a top edge in Young’s direction. While he did get off the ground with a decent leap, he couldn’t hang on to the ball over his head.
Not long after, Hoey was denied what could have been a first international wicket. Rickelton hit a flat ball down to long on but Hume looked to be slightly off the fence. It went over his head for six. Had he been on the rope, there may well have been a chance.
Hume’s placement in that position is worth questioning. It probably is overly harsh to point to his bad drops against Pakistan earlier this year, but they also may not be irrelevant.
The old adage is that to slow bowlers, you have your combination of best and tallest fielders in the deep positions straight. We have, in the past, seen Tector or Mark Adair, tall fielders with good hands, positioned straight down the ground off the spinners.
Tector was fielding on the square boundary. Perhaps the thinking was that, because Hoey bowls into the pitch, the square boundaries will see more action, meaning the better fielders go there.
In any case, this was Rickelton’s second life after Hume nicked him off without reward. It was unclear if the ball carried to Doheny - ‘keeping instead of the injured Lorcan Tucker. On commentary, former Ireland gloveman Niall O’Brien criticised Doheny for standing too far back.
The men who ultimately batted Ireland out of the game, Rickelton and Stubbs, both were given lives. Further chances were later put down off different batters at the death.
On a day when Ireland largely bowled well, their fielders did not back them up.
What was said?
Ireland captain Paul Stirling on earning his 400th international cap: “It is a proud moment for myself. I’m lucky to have my dad here watching, which was fantastic. Back to business and a tough result.
On South Africa’s new ball display: “It did a couple of things I wasn’t expecting it to. It nipped around in the evening but it nipped around earlier as well. A couple of catches cost us, we’ll sit back and reflect and come back Friday.”
How important were the dropped chances: “When you have a side three down you have to take your chances. We missed the two batters who put on their huge partnership. It’s not the only thing that cost us, but if we had them five down it would have made a difference.”
What’s next?
The second ODI of this series, at the same venue in Abu Dhabi, is on Friday at 12.30pm Irish time.
Really promising start from Hoey imo. Figures might look a bit expensive but thought his control was leaps and bounds ahead of White even in his first game. They have to stick with him long term.
Might be worth trying Adair at the top of the order in ODIs but would never have considered it before the 2nd T20I.
Stirling, Balbirine and Tector are all a concern in terms of form.
Am I right to be worried about Tector?
Since the 2nd innings at Lord's, he has the sort of numbers that would see others dropped.
Would like to see Adair open
Hopefully he can put pressure on good bowlers in the powerplay
Leave Stirling, Balbarnie and Tector to build a sold base without too much scoreboard pressure and then let Campher, Tucker (his absence highlights how important he is) and Dockrell bat like it's a T20