South Africa registered yet another clinical performance on Tuesday at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens when it beat Ireland by 131 runs in its penultimate Group B match.
South Africa became the first team from Group B to qualify for the quarter-final stage and Ireland was knocked out of contention from the second stage.Batting first South Africa was struggling at 117 for 5, before JP Duminy (99: 103b, 6×4, 1×6) and Colin Ingram (46) added 87 runs for the sixth wicket.Duminy and Johan Botha then added a further 65 runs to pull South Africa to a challenging 272 for 7 in 50 overs.
For Ireland, George Dockrell (1-37) and Paul Stirling (1-45) were the best bowlers on view.Ireland’s chase never took off with only Gary Wilson (31) offering any resistance. For South Africa, Morne Morkel (3-33), Robin Peterson (3-32) and Jacques Kallis (2-20) shared the wickets around.
Wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk picked up four catches to back up his brisk 42 at number three to contribute to South Africa’s win.