South Africa seal the T20I series by beating Ireland in the 3rd T20I by 49 runs as we witnessed yet another disappointing display from the Irish men this time with both the bat and ball.
SOUTH AFRICA SET A MAMMOTH TARGET:
After winning the toss, Bavuma elected to bat first and the top order struggles of South Africa came to an end this time. Both the openers ( Bavuma and Hendricks ) stitched up a huge 1st wicket stand. Hendricks was dismissed only in the 16th over trying a cheeky shot but the skipper continued his merry way . He scored his maiden 50 in this format and his first in 11 international innings. This knock meant a lot to him and for his team. A couple of overs later he was dismissed but Miller, their hero in the previous game continued the momentum by smashing 36 from just 17 deliveries.
With that South Africa posted 189 for the loss of just 2 wickets. In the bowling department Simi Singh was the only one who looked impressive as others were smashed all over the park.
 - 2021-07-25T090708.jpeg)
Courtesy: Outlook India
IRISH REPLY:
There was nothing different when compared to previous two games as they crumbled with the bat again. A much improved performance from Kevin O'Brien this time as he scored 2 runs. As he is retired from ODIs he would love to contribute to the team especially with the bat , but he bagged 2 ducks and ended the series with just 2 runs (worst ever). Once again Stirling was off colour and the other batsmen repeated the same as the previous two games. Balbirnie top scored with 27 as they managed only 140 from 20 overs and fell short by 49 runs . A collective bowling effort from the proteas as Linde, Williams and Mulder picked up two wickets each while one went to Phehlukwayo.
Courtesy: ESPN Cricinfo
FIRST WHITEWASH:
This is South Africa's first whitewash in the shortest format since 2018 and they dominated the first ever t20I series D Miller Ireland. This would give them a lot of confidence as they gear up for the wt20 later this year in some style .
For Ireland though, this was their best chance to win a bilateral series against a top ranked team. At one stage they had the edge over South Africa when they were leading the ODI series 1-0 , but they failed to capitalize on that .
Bavuma's return to form is a big positive for South Africa as he was only batsman who was not scoring runs for them .
Stirling's poor performances is the biggest worry for Ireland as he dissapointed them in both ODIs and T20s.
The skipper was the M.O.M for his brilliant knock and Miller was the M.O.S for his heroics in the last two games. It was a forgettable series for Ireland especially for their batters as no one crossed the 50 run mark in the entire series.
Player of the Series: David Miller .
Leading run scorer: David Miller (139)
Leading wicket taker: T Shamsi (7)
 - 2021-07-25T090816.jpeg)
Courtesy: ESPN Cricinfo
