South Africa defeat Ireland

Ireland lost the second of the Future Cup one day internationals, losing by 42 runs to South Africa on another rain affected day at Stormont, writes RTÉ's John Kenny.

There were frustrations all round in Belfast as a delay of over 5 hours meant there was no play before proceedings finally got under way at 4pm.

Ground staff arrived at the venue to find that the outfield was very wet and there were some damp spots on the wicket.

Drizzling rain also meant that play couldn't start until late in the afternoon with the game reduced to 31 overs a side.

Irish Captain Trent Johnston won the toss and asked the South Africans to bat.

South African openers Morne Van Wyk and AB DeVilliers started with a rush and put on 75 for the first wicket off only 13 overs before DeVilliers perished, caught brilliantly by Alex Cusack on the boundary off the bowling of Roger Whelan.

Van Wyk was joined by his captain Jacque Kallis and the onslaught continued with the pair adding 61 runs.

With the total on 136 South Africa lost their second wicket in the 26th over as Van Wyk was out after scoring a fine 52, caught at mid-wicket by Johnston off Cusack's bowling.

Cusack, making his one day debut, got his third wicket when Hershelle Gibbs was caught behind by Niall O'Brien for 2 with the score on 147 and the South Africans eventually ended their innings on 173 for 4.

Ireland's reply started with the rain coming down, but the umpires Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar decided to keep the players on the field.

Irish openers Kenny Carroll and William Porterfield put on 45 and were going along nicely, but Carroll was out when he slipped and hit his own wicket on 21.

It signalled an Irish collapse.

Thinus Fourie, elevated up the order, fell for just one while William Porterfield followed quickly after that for 17.

Niall O'Brien, who scored 52 against India on Saturday was bowled by Verno Philander for just 4 and Dominick Joyce fell for 11 and Ireland had fallen from 45 for none to 66 for 5.

Kevin O'Brien went for just 6 with the score on 77. Andrew White was out for 3 followed by Trent Johnston (9) Kyle McCallen (10) and Roger Whelan (0) as Ireland were bowled out for 131 in the final over.

Clontarf's Alex Cusack can be proud of his contibution, hitting 36 not out to add to his three wickets earlier in the day, but it was not enough as South Africa triumphed.

Speaking after the match, Johnston admitted his side have been out of sorts since the World Cup but insists they are on the verge of turning a corner.

‘If you took that amount of first-teamers out of any side they would struggle,’ the Irish skipper said.

‘We are an amateur side and are up against these top professionals.

‘We performed well in one discipline, but let ourselves down in the other.

‘We were quite well set at one point but when Kenneth Carroll accidentally hit his own wicket that really summed up our day.

‘After that we were continually losing wickets when partnerships were needed.

‘I know it has been some time since our last good performance but I am confident we can perform well at the triangular series in Kenya.’

But Johnston believes man-of-the-match Cusack has what it takes to make himself a permanent fixture in the Irish set up.

‘I was absolutely delighted with the way Alex performed today,’ he added.

‘To come in on your debut and perform like that against one of the best one-day sides in the world is fantastic.

‘He will be a guy I hope to see in Irish colours for years to come.’

Australian-born Cusack was also delighted with his bow in international cricket which saw him pick up the prize scalps of Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis.

‘It was great fun out there,’ Cusack said. ‘ The main thing for me was that I did the basics right.

‘It was quite intimidating facing the pace of a guy like Vernon Philander but I just managed to cope with it.

‘Obviously I am disappointed with the result but I could not have wished for a better start to international cricket.’