Ireland captain Paul Stirling won the toss and decided to bat first against South Africa in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 7), in the third and final ODI of their white-ball tour. (Match Blog | Streaming | More Cricket News)
Regular South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma is not playing the match due to an elbow injury he picked up while batting in the second ODI. He has been replaced by Reeza Hendricks in the playing XI, while Rassie van der Dussen is leading the Proteas in his absence.
Playing XIs
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton(w), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen(c), Kyle Verreynne, Tristan Stubbs, Jason Smith, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman.
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling(c), Curtis Campher, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w), George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Matthew Humphreys, Craig Young, Graham Hume, Fionn Hand.
With the Proteas already having clinched the three-match T20I series 2-0, the Irish side will look to pull one back and gain confidence by ending the tour on a high.
South Africa have come out all guns blazing in the 50-over leg, winning the first and second one-day internationals by 139 runs and 174 runs, respectively. The T20I series before that was drawn 1-1, so the ODI triumph augurs well for the Temba Bavuma-led Proteas, who travelled with a relatively young squad, as a number of experienced faces were not around. Ireland, on the other hand, are playing for pride.
The white-ball tour between the two sides was originally supposed to be hosted by Ireland, but is being held in the United Arab Emirates instead due to what the Ireland board's chief executive Warren Deutrom called "infrastructure constraints". Ireland do not have a permanent home stadium and have to pay rent and bring in temporary facilities each time they play at home.
