Ireland give South Africa a tough fight in 1st T20I

A blistering 38ball 78 from Lorcan Tucker wasnt enough for Ireland as South Africa survived a scare to secure a 21run win in the first T20I at Bristol to go 10 up in the twomatch seriesFifties from Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram took South Africa to 2115 in their 20 overs In the pursuit of the massive chase Ireland slipped to 845 before Tucker and George Dockrell 43 off 28 balls kept Ireland in the hunt until wickets tumbled at the end of the chase ending at 1900 in their 20 oversSouth Africa won the toss and chose to bat first putting on 23 in the first three overs before Quinton de Kock departed for seven on the first ball of the fourth over Attempting a quick single the lefthander was caught short after Harry Tector was quick to move at midoff and hit the stumps at the nonstrikers endRassie van der Dussen departed for ten a couple of overs later his attempted flick resulting in a catch at third man off the bowling of Andrew McBrine From there Hendricks and Markram put on a stand of 112 runs for the third wicket Hendricks dominated in the early stages of the partnership continuing his excellent recent form to reach his fourth consecutive T20I halfcentury off just 32 deliveriesWhile Markram was patient to begin with he hit 11 off his first 13 deliveries the boundaries soon began to flow His halfcentury was achieved off just 25 deliveries with the righthander taking 20 runs off four consecutive Josh Little deliveries at one stageHendricks and Markrams partnership finally came to a close in the 16th over when the latter chipped Gareth Delany to deep midwicket After Markram was dismissed for 56 off 27 balls laced with two fours and five sixes Hendricks fell on the very next delivery finding Paul Stirling at point to depart for 74 hitting ten fours and a six in his 53ball knockAlso Read West Indies vs India Final two T20Is in USA to go ahead as planned reportSouth Africa bounced back quickly from those two blows with Tristan Stubbs 24 off 11 and Dwaine Pretorius 21 not out off seven balls lifting the Proteas to 211 In response leftarm pacer Wayne Parnell dismissed the Irish opening pair of Stirling 18 and Andrew Balbirnie 14It took Tucker to truly ignite the innings as he raced to 24 off just eight balls effectively using his feet to come down the pitch and aerially attack Parnell down the ground Tector Delany and Curtis Campher all departed cheaply but Tucker kept on motoring and he found the perfect partner in Dockrell to resuscitate the Ireland inningsTogether the pair put on fifty in just 25 balls and when Tucker smashed six and then four off Shamsi in the 17th over Ireland were well and truly in the game But Tucker failed to properly connect with his shot against the wristspinner gifting a simple catch to de Kock behind the stumps and Dockrell perished not long after off PretoriusFrom there South Africa took full control with Mark Adair and McBrine departing before victory was finally secured leaving Ireland 21 runs short in yet another case of so close yet so farBrief Scores South Africa 2115 in 20 overs Reeza Hendricks 74 Aiden Markram 56 Gareth Delany 231 beat Ireland 1909 in 20 overs Lorcan Tucker 78 George Dockrell 43 Keshav Maharaj 229 Wayne Parnell 236 by 21 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever