Bavuma ton sets up crushing 206-run win

South Africa 354 for 5 (Bavuma 113, de Kock 82, Duminy 52*, Behardien 50) beat Ireland 148 (O’Brien 41, Duminy 4-16) by 206 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Temba Bavuma became the second South African to score a century on ODI debut and shared in a Willowmoore Park record opening stand of 159 with Quinton de Kock to set up a dominant performance in their one-off ODI against Ireland. An 87-run fifth wicket stand in 40 balls from JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien added to Ireland’s pain before they were blown away with the ball to lose by more than 200 runs.

Ireland managed to better the 82 they scraped together against Pakistan in their last completed ODI but not by much. They collapsed against pace up front, displayed poor shot selection as the innings grew long and lost four wickets to the spin of Duminy, an unlikely hero with the ball. They will be disappointed with a showing that lacked energy in the field and at the crease.

Not only did Ireland err too much in length by routinely dropping it short, but they also squandered chances and fumbled far too many times to properly challenge a side fielding three debutants in their XI. Bavuma, Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo all gave solid accounts of their abilities, none more so than Bavuma who is being looked at as a possible future opener.

In this match, Bavuma stood in for Hashim Amla, who is awaiting the birth of his third child. It was only the third time Bavuma had opened in List A cricket and the early nerves showed in leaden footwork that could have led to an early demise. In the second over, …

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