Overview

Ireland v South Africa, 1st ODI
The Village, Dublin
11 July ; 10:45 am local time, 9:45 am GMT

Ireland have made nine appearances in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League and have won just two, meaning they are 10th in the table with 20 points. However, they’re only 10 points away from a top-eight spot – the automatic qualifying slots – and hope to embark on a series of wins in the series to strengthen their position.

South Africa are positioned at the bottom of the table, having won one of their three games so far in the series. Their tour of Ireland gives them the opportunity to collect 30 points, a comeback that will take them to fifth place in the standings.

South Africa have won all of their last five matches against Ireland, and after a successful tour of the Caribbean they will be ready to score maximum points.

Remember the last time

The two teams last met in an ODI in 2016 for a one-off match at Benoni. Temba Bavuma, the current ODI captain in South Africa, broke 113 points alongside Kock’s Quinton 82 of 66 as the Proteas posted an impressive 354/5.

Ireland stammered in their pursuit and failed to establish a partnership. They were knocked out for 138 in the 31st, with JP Duminy returning the career best 4/16 to help South Africa win by 206 points.

What they said

Rassie van der Dussen (South African player): “With the new competition structure, every game becomes important. Eoin Morgan [England captain] says there is no dead rubber because you get points in every game, and that’s qualifying [route] for the world cup. The priority is to win matches and you have to choose your strongest team. “

Andy Balbirnie (Irish captain): “It gives us two chances to qualify for a World Cup. A lot of people on the outside will look at that and say that there is only one team that wins this series, and that’s fair enough because that they’re a really impressive South African team. I don’t ‘I don’t have to keep repeating how good they are – I think everyone knows there is a big gap between the teams. But we we have match winners on our team. “