Ireland vs South Africa First ODI: Best Bets & Prediction

Following a humiliating defeat to Ireland in the second T20I, South Africa will be eager to redeem themselves in the three-match ODI series. Their form has been under scrutiny for a while, especially after their ODI series loss to Afghanistan last month. We look at the best bets to take for the first ODI in Abu Dhabi.

Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

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Like in the Afghanistan ODI series, South Africa will be without Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Gerald Coetzee, David Miller, and Heinrich Klaasen, who have either been rested or are playing in the Caribbean Premier League. Jason Smith returns despite a duck in the Afghanistan series, while leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter is also included. Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton replace Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, and Andile Simelane, who aren’t part of the squad.

The Afghanistan series was challenging for South Africa, though they avoided a 3-0 whitewash. After being reduced to 36/7 in the first ODI, they managed just 106 runs. The second ODI saw a lack of penetration in their bowling, allowing Afghanistan to post 311, and their batters fell short again at 134, with spinners Rashid Khan and Nangeyalia Kharote dominating. They improved in the final match, dismissing Afghanistan for 169, with Aiden Markram scoring an unbeaten 69 to guide them to victory.

For Ireland, Andy Balbirnie remains key to their ODI lineup, while Stephen Doheny and Andy McBrine are also only included for the ODIs, with players like Gareth Delany, Ben White, and Ross Adair not featuring. Gavin Hoey, a 22-year-old leg-spinner, could debut. Josh Little is involved in the CPL and is unavailable for this series.

Ireland hasn’t played an ODI since March 2024, focusing on T20s ahead of the World Cup and a Test against Zimbabwe. Their recent series saw losses to Afghanistan, though Harry Tector’s 138 and Lorcan Tucker’s 85 in the first game showed promise. Boosted by a recent T20I win over South Africa, Ireland will be hopeful against a weakened South African side. Abu Dhabi will host the series, with the last ODI here being in 2021- interestingly, all five previous ODIs involved Ireland, and this will be South Africa’s first ODI in Abu Dhabi since 2013.

It would be wrong to claim Ireland are as good as the Proteas. They may, however, boast better balance. South Africa will need Stubbs to step up as a sixth-bowling option which could make him a possibility to be Player of the Match. Back South Africa to win at 1.26.

Players to Watch: Tristan Stubbs has come into his own in the last year, more so in the smaller format. After playing the solitary ODI in March 2023, he was given the chance in the Afghanistan series but got out for 0 and 5 before hitting 26* in the successful chase. White-ball players don’t play a lot of fifty-over games these days amidst franchise workload. These games are a chance for Stubbs to rubber-stamp his spot.

Harry Tector averages 49.91 in ODIs and has generally been dependable for Ireland. However, he’s not been in good form lately. His recent scores read: 0, 4, 0, 4, 4, 1, 5, 16 and 5. He’s averaging 4 in the last ten innings for Ireland. He did well against South Africa in the 2021 ODIs, scoring 79 from 68 in one game. It would be nice to see him get runs in this series – he’s a lovely player to watch on song.

Key Stats

South Africa have a 6-1 record against Ireland in ODIs.

The average score batting first in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium is 241.

Andy Balbirnie hit 102 in Ireland’s sole ODI win over South Africa in 2021; he also has scores of 58 and 65 against them.

Curtis Campher scored 54 in the one ODI he has played against South Africa.

Tony de Zorzi hasn’t fallen for a single-digit score in eight ODI innings so far; he averages 49.14

Nqabayomzi Peter was slightly expensive on ODI debut – 10-0-68-1 – but bounced back with figures of 5-0-22-2 the next game.

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