South Africa have prevailed in an entertaining run-fest that ebbed and flowed.

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After posting 211 at halftime, it was down to the bowlers to back up the superb effort with the bat. Skipper Andy Balbirnie briefly impressed, but Wayne Parnell got the Proteas the first breakthrough when Balbirnie mistimed a pull to Dwaine Pretorius at midwicket.

The dangerous Paul Stirling was finding his range, but Parnell trapped him plumb in front, leaving Ireland two down in the Powerplay.

Lorcan Tucker got off to an explosive start, but spin was doing the trick for SA. Keshav Maharaj returned to send back the in-form Harry Tector. And the introduction of Tabraiz Shamsi’s left arm wrist spin brought about another cheap dismissal.

After Maharaj took his second wicket when Curtis Campher got castled, it appeared that the ship was rapidly sinking for Ireland.

However, that was never the case. George Dockrell brought out the long levers and Tucker continued to attack the seamers. The 13th over from Dwaine Pretorius went for 19, and Tucker reached a superlative half-century – his third in this format

Ireland got their much-needed boundaries whenever the asking rate seemed to surge out of their reach. But the game took another definitive turn, when a badly timed slog sweep from Tucker off Shamsi ended up an easy catch for Quinton de Kock.

And on the very next delivery, Dwaine Pretorius got the wicket of Dockrell, effectively sealing the deal. Aiden Markram took a spectacular catch at long-off, and the dogged comeback came to a tame end.

Lungi Ngidi came back to strike in the penultimate over, and it was all but done at that stage.

The Proteas have a 1-0 lead heading into the second and final game of this series.

SA 211/5 in 20 overs
IRE in 20 overs (Tucker 78, Dockrell 73 – Parnell 4-0-36-2, Shamsi 4-0-37-2)

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