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Rare chance for Ireland to face the big guns
- Updated: September 24, 2016
Match facts
September 25, 2016 Start time 1000 local (0800 GMT)
Big Picture
As cricket ventures towards expansion, these are the kinds of games it needs. In the larger context, there may not be any good reason for Ireland to visit South Africa for two one-off ODIs but, as an isolated event, to play the No. 1 and No. 4 ranked sides in the format will be a good, albeit rare, experience for the Associate side.
Ireland have played against each of Australia and South Africa only four times before and have not won a match. They have not been to South Africa since Eoin Morgan was still in their side, seven years ago for qualifiers of the 2011 World Cup. Then, too, they played in Benoni. William Porterfield and the O’Brien brothers remain from that trip while the rest will all be first-timers in the country, trying to get Ireland back to the consistency they had a few years ago. Recent results have seen a dip in Ireland’s form; they are now ranked 12th in ODIs, below Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. They don’t have many opportunities to climb, but this will be one.
For South Africa, the match marks the real start of a season that began with two winter Tests against New Zealand last month. Their packed home season includes 28 matches across formats until March next year. Limited-overs cricket will likely remain a low priority as they chase Test redemption, but with the Champions Trophy less than nine months away, they will want to begin planning, which for them usually also means climbing the rankings. Victory against Ireland won’t do much for that cause but it will set them up for the five-match series against Australia that follows. A series win for South Africa in that contest will see them rise to No. 2.
Perhaps, more importantly, the focus will be on how South Africa will enter a new era marked by transformation targets which stipulate that they field a minimum average of six players of colour, including two black Africans, over the course of a season. Essentially that means that at the end of the summer, an audit will be done of every match played to check that the target has been met. Administrators have already said that the fact that the calculation will be done as an …
