In what was a family affair, Ross Adair grabbed the early headlines when he scored a 57-ball hundred, his first in T20Is – and Ireland’s third century in the format – before his younger brother, Mark Adair, took 4 for 31 to seal the win. Ross Adair set the tone when he shared Ireland’s second-highest opening stand in the format – 137 – with his captain Paul Stirling, who scored his first fifty in 21 T20Is.
The start provided by Ross Adair and Paul Stirling meant Ireland were on track for a score above 200 but lost 6 for 43 in 32 balls to leave some runs unscored. Still, they asked South Africa to complete the highest successful chase in T20Is at this venue and they made a fist of it.
A spectacular century from Ross Adair which saw him add 137 runs for the opening wicket alongside Paul Stirling headlined Ireland’s tight 10-run win over South Africa in the 2nd T20I. Chasing 196, South Africa were on course to get the job done before stumbling right at the death as Ross’s brother Mark came to Ireland’s rescue to ensure the series was drawn.
Pitch and Toss
Pitch Report :
The surface at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi offers a balanced contest between bat and ball. The seamers from the team bowling first generally get a hint of movement off the pitch, with batting becoming easier as the game progresses. However, the spinners don’t get significant assistance and must be accurate in their line and length to succeed at this venue.
Overall, the pitch in Abu Dhabi favours the batters and new ball bowlers. So, the batters must safely negotiate the first few overs before adopting an aggressive approach. The chasing sides have been much more successful than the teams batting first in Abu Dhabi. Therefore, unless it’s a used pitch, the toss-winner will likely field first in the decider between Ireland and South Africa.
Toss :
South Africa skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to ball with no changes in the playing XI. Ireland skipper Paul Stirling batting first also decided to go with the unchanged XI .
Ross Adair rides his luck to the century vs South Africa
By the end of the powerplay, Ireland had 59 on the board. The fact that they managed this despite Ross Adair making only 20 off 19 was purely down to Stirling. South Africa used four different bowlers to deliver the first four overs but Stirling managed to find the boundary consistently. After sending Wiaan Mulder out of the attack very early with a four and a six, Stirling took on Lizaad Williams to race to 35 in the powerplay.
Any hopes of a respite after the fielding restrictions were lifted didn’t materialize for South Africa. This time, Ross Adair got into the act as well as he broke free against Nqaba Peter for a four and a six before clearing the ropes three more times in the following two overs. That assault saw him turn his fortunes around and bring up a fifty off just 32 balls.
Stirling, who was watching the carnage at the other end, joined in as Ireland scored 110 runs at the halfway point. Ross Adair kept dealing in sixes as he dispatched two more to the stands off Peter. The massive partnership was finally broken in the 13th over immediately after Stirling brought up his fifty as he got stumped.
However, the platform was laid with Ireland’s run rate well over 10 at this point. Ross Adair fetched a six and a four in the following over as well as Ireland had 150 on the board at the end of 14 overs as a total beyond 200 was firmly in their sights.
Take nothing away from Ross Adair’s innings, which was an exhibition of all-round hitting, but he will know he should have been out not once, not twice, not three, not four but five times. Ross Adair offered South Africa a first chance on 19, in the powerplay, when he was cramped by a Lizaad Williams short ball and miscued a pull to deep square leg. The catch was taken but Williams had overstepped and Ross Adair batted on.
Then, in the 14th over, immediately after Stirling was dismissed, Adair, on 78, hit Wiaan Mulder to Williams at deep backward point. Williams got both hands to it but palmed the ball over the boundary rope to send Ross Adair into the 80s.Ross Adair swung wildly at the next ball and hit it straight up but Ryan Rickleton couldn’t make enough ground to take the catch. And the ball after that, Ross Adair was at the non-striker’s end when Harry Tector called him through for a single and then changed his mind.
Patrick Kruger could have run Ross Adair out but he missed his throw from extra cover. Ross Adair had not quite had enough of danger and in the next over, on 90, he offered Kruger a return chance but it just went over him and Ross Adair kept going. He brought up 100 off 57 balls and finished with nine sixes, the most by an Irish batter in the format.
The side saw Paul Stirling and Ross Adair open the innings and amass 52 and 100 runs, respectively. Harry Tector added five runs on the board, with George Dockrell going unbeaten on a score of 20 runs. Furthermore, after a few runs in the middle order, Ireland managed to post a total of 195 runs in the first innings, losing six wickets in the process.
SA strangle Ireland in end overs to restrict them to 195 for 6 in 20 overs
Quite stunningly, they didn’t. With nine wickets in hand at that stage and six overs left, 10 an over would have easily carried them to 210. However, South Africa staged a commendable comeback by conceding just 45 from those final 36 balls. Kruger and Williams came up with two good overs to stifle the opposition and even though Ross Adair brought up a stunning hundred with his ninth six, his dismissal and the departure of Curtis Campher with three overs to go hurt Ireland as they added just 19 runs from thereon to fall five short of 200.
In the first match, South Africa gave away only six runs in the last two overs of the Ireland innings to leave them short of a par score; this time they gave away only 19 in the last three overs to keep Ireland under 200. Lungi Ngidi, who has been excellent on the tour, started the squeeze with an over of slower balls. That included a ball that completely foxed Neil Rock, who was far too early on his shot, and took out his middle stump.
Ngidi finished with an analysis of 1 for 23 in four overs. Kruger bowled the 19th, which started with a run-out as Mark Adair was scrambling for a second run and was also peppered with pace-off. And Williams was given the last over by which time South Africa incurred an over-rate penalty and had to have an extra fielder in the ring. Still, he did not concede any boundaries as he stuck to yorker lengths.
As for South Africa, Wiaan Mulder was the highest wicket-taker for his side in the first innings, with two wickets to his name. Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams, and Patrick Kruger took one wicket each as well.
South Africa on track in chase of 196 in the early overs
Mark Adair conceded just two runs in the opening over before Reeza Hendricks fetched a couple of boundaries in the next. Ryan Rickelton, who starred in the opening game, made a watchful start before exploding with a flurry of sixes to race to 34 off 19. His heroics came to an end in the final over of the powerplay when Rickelton top-edged a delivery to depart for 36.
Matthew Breetzke didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, scoring only 10 from his first 10 deliveries but Hendricks kept going at the other end to ensure South Africa didn’t fall behind. A poor over from Fionn Hand that saw him concede 17 runs put South Africa on top as Hendricks brought up his fifty. Even though he was dismissed in the following over,
Breetzke and Aiden Markram hit a six each in the same over to solidify South Africa’s position. Ireland struck a couple of times more but with 28 needed from the final three overs, South Africa would have backed themselves to get the job done.
Reeza Hendricks scored his second successive half-century Matthew Breetzke his first but Ireland struck often enough to ensure the required run rate got too big on South Africa’s middle order. They needed 108 off the last 10 overs, with nine wickets in hand, and 53 off the last five overs, with seven wickets in the bank, and that is when Mark Adair struck. He went around the wicket to Tristan Stubbs, who pushed at a wide ball and was caught behind. That sparked a collapse that saw South Africa lose 5 wickets for 25 to fall 11 runs short.
Left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys turned 22 on Saturday and celebrated with a trip to the Abu Dhabi Louvre but the real gift came 24 hours later when he took his first wicket of the series, and it was a big one. After conceding 26 runs in his first three overs, Humphreys was given the 14th over to finish and he made a big incision.
With 66 needed off 39 balls balls, Aiden Markram premeditated a reverse-sweep but did not account for the change of pace from Humphreys. He sent the ball down quicker, it beat Markram and bowled him. Humphreys finished with 1 for 30 and left South Africa’s middle order with too much to do.
Aiming to chase down a target of 196 runs, South Africa came out to bat and opened their innings with Ryan Rickelton and Reeza Hendricks scoring 36 and 51 runs, respectively. Matthew Breetzke added 51 runs on the board as well. However, after the good start provided by the top order, it all came down to the wire due to the middle order’s failure to go big.
Mark Adair magic propels 10 run win over SA to level the series 1-1
After dismissing Stubbs, Mark Adair opened up South Africa’s middle order and then dismantled it in the 19th over. South Africa needed 23 runs off the last 12, and Mark Adair sent down a slower ball to Mulder, who hit straight up and Adair took it on himself to complete the catch. Two balls later, Breetzke tried to swat Mark Adair through the leg side but sent the ball straight to Harry Tector at long-on.
Mark Adair closed out his over when Nqaba Peter hit him to extra cover, where Stirling took a diving catch to put Ireland in the pound seats. Graham Hume had 17 runs to defend off the last over and picked up two wickets in the process of doing that.
This is where the game turned on its head. Graham Hume conceded just five runs to bring down the equation to 23 off 12 and the penultimate over saw Ireland tip the scales completely in their favour. Mark Adair came back for his final over and began it by bagging Mulder’s wicket. The well-set Breetzke then found the long on fielder before Mark rounded off a remarkable over with another wicket to completely rattle South Africa. 173/4 became 179/7 as Hume delivered another excellent over to seal the deal for Ireland.
Skipper Aiden Markram departed for eight runs, Tristan Stubbs added nine runs on the board, and Wiaan Mulder added eight runs, with Patrick Kruger scoring five. Ireland’s bowling attack put in an excellent showing to ensure that the Proteas did not chase down the target.
South Africa managed to score 185 runs in 20 overs, losing nine wickets in the process as Ireland won the game by 10 runs and ended the series on level terms. The side put in an excellent performance with the ball; Mark Adair was the highest wicket-taker in the second innings with four wickets to his name; Graham Hume took three wickets, with Matthew Humphreys and Ben White taking one wicket each.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Paul Stirling the winning skipper said : Halfway we wanted an extra 15-20 runs. Again they managed to squeeze us in the last 4 overs and we felt we were under-par, there was less dew and we managed to get over the line. You need time at the crease, to get a pace of the wicket, if not we mistime it and with new batters coming in you always have a chance.
We went bang bang here and there, we are obviously delighted with the win, could have gone either way. We were behind the eight-ball for most of the time, we are over the man with the result and hopefully we will bring that into the ODI series.
Aiden Markram the loosing skipper said : We thought it was chaseable for sure, both with bat and ball, small moments, it comes down to the small moments. It will be pretty much each to their own, you never really stop learning, we can reflect on an individual point of view as to how we can improve and win games for South Africa. Probably close to the end, lost wickets and they bowled well with good plans and executed well.
Mark Adair gets the bowler of the series award. Ryan Rickelton the batter of the series award.
Ross Adair Player of the Match for his 100 runs said : Balbirnie is a big miss for us in the squad, I knew if I stuck in for long enough it could get easy. We are looking forward to have Andy (Balbirnie) back at some stage, but I wanted to make a mark today.
Lot of South Africans in Ireland and have heard a lot from them about the quarter-finals and semi-finals in Rugby, it was nice to get it in the cricket (talking about which reward was more satisfying – Ross earlier played Rugby and shifted to cricket after a couple of hip surgeries).
Ross Adair again spoke when awarded the Player of the series said : It’s great, they are a really good bunch of people to be around. I have come from a rugby background, they are as equal if not better than them. I try to get in as many T20 squads as possible so that I can travel with them around the world and enjoy their company.
Completely different to being at home, here the weather is a wee bit warmer, wickets wee bit quicker, the South Africans would have been in their jumpers if this was Ireland. Abu Dhabi is a beautiful place, it has been great, we went to a couple of tourist spots, we have loved it here.
Ireland level the series 1-1. No third game sadly to decide who ends up as the winner of the series. Stirling is all smiles. Also first time that Ireland have beaten South Africa in a T20I. The top three from South Africa all did well, Rickelton in particular was looking very dangerous but Hume got him with a short ball, Hendricks and Breetzke then took over and added 71 for the 2nd wicket. The former fell after his fifty and a poor shot from Markram opened the door for Ireland.
It came down to 28 off the last three overs and in the 18th over Hume frustrated Breetzke with his outside off lines and in the next over Mark Adair took three wickets to leave 18 for Hume to defend. Hume closed it out easily as Ireland sealed a famous win. South Africa were on track for most parts of the chase but credit to Ireland for hanging in there and not giving up.
Excellent death bowling from Mark Adair and Hume ensured Ireland notched up a comeback win. A point to note as well – no dew as was the case in the last game and that helped Ireland who were woeful in the first match.