Ross Adair hit a century as Ireland beat South Africa by 10 runs to tie their two-match T20 series at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday evening.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram chose to send the Irish in to bat after winning the toss and defeating them by eight wickets in the opening game.
And Ireland’s openers seized charge, with Stirling and Ross Adair combining for 137 runs before Stirling was bowled out for 52 in the 13th over.
Despite losing multiple wickets due to mishandled catches, Ross Adair persisted as the opposition began to pile up wickets.
He attempted to extend the single that took him to 100 runs into a two from the opening ball of the eighteenth over, but was run out after hitting five fours and nine sixes.
Ireland’s batting faltered a little bit, but their 195 for six wickets was plenty.
With two wickets for 51 runs, Wiaan Mulder was the most dangerous bowler in South Africa.
Then, South Africa launched their innings quickly. Reeza Hendricks struck 51 runs, including six fours and a six, and Ryan Rickelton hammered four sixes en route to a quick 36 before being bowled out by Graham Hume.
After 13 overs, South Africa was nearly at the needed run rate, despite skipper Markram being bowled for eight by Matthew Humphreys.
After that, Mark, the younger Adair brother, got to work with the ball and removed the next four wickets, including the dangerous Matthew Breetzke, who had reached 51.
Mark Adair finished with figures of 4-31 and Hume took 3-25, but none of the final seven South African batsmen reached double digits as they lost by ten runs.