ICC World Cup 2015: South Africa v Ireland - Stats of the match

“I'm confident we will cope. We have our own individual plans for each of the [South African players] and hopefully we see the back of him [AB de Villiers] early,” said Ireland captain William Porterfield ahead of the match.Remember that this is the mighty Proteas, and, as expected, the Irish plans were sent for a walk in the garden. Right from the word go, Ireland had little going their way, including the toss. South Africa decided to bat first to exploit the mediocre Irish bowling attack. After losing Quinton de Kock early with the score at 12, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis steadied the ship by adding 247 runs for the second wicket. To top that, both the batsmen went on to score their tons with Amla taking the honours of winning the ‘Man of the Match’.At the end of 50 overs, with the middle-order adding necessary spice to the scoreboard, South Africa amassed a formidable total of 411/4. Absence of an ‘ABD show’ was the only low point of the match. Second innings of the match saw South African pacers Dale Steyn, Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel share 9 Irish scalps among them. Apart from a noteworthy maiden fifty scored by Andrew Balbirnie, who shared an 81-run stand with Kevin O’Brien, Ireland had nothing much to offer.South Africa won the match by a massive 201-run margin and, with 6 points, now top the Pool B leaderboard alongside India.

#8 First World Cup wicket for ABD

When the South African fast bowlers had done enough damage to the Ireland side, their skipper AB de Villiers, for a change, decided to try his hand at the ball. Bingo! He got his first World Cup scalp bowling John Mooney through the gate This was only his fourth ODI wicket.