By Razeen Gutta
South Africa succumbed to a ten-run defeat in their second and final T20 international against Ireland in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
After coming out winners by eight wickets on Friday, the Proteas had the task of chasing 196 to keep their perfect T20 win record against Ireland in-tact.
Man of the match Ross Adair (100) starred for the Irish in the first innings before his brother Mark Adair (4/31) did the business with the ball in the second.
Reeza Hendricks and Matthew Breetzke both got half centuries, but the South Africans would fall just short of the target as nine wickets fell in the famous Ireland win..
Proteas skipper Aiden Markram said that, as usual, the game would be taken as a learning curve ahead of what is set to be an exciting summer of cricket.
“We thought it was chaseable for sure, both with bat and ball, small moments, it comes down to the small moments,” Markram said post-match.
“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.”
Three ODI’s next await the two sides, with the first of those kicking off at 13:30 on Wednesday.
Pictured above: Proteas
Image source: @proteasmencsa
