Ireland is confident that they can pull off another major upset tomorrow when they face the Proteas in the 1st One-Day International in Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday, the Irish claimed one of their biggest victories in history when they stunned South Africa with a 10-run win in the 2nd T20 International to level the series. The defeat no doubt stung the Proteas, while the victory boosted the confidence of the Irish.

The Ireland captain, Paul Stirling, told OFM Sport that the win has done a lot for their camp. “Yeah, I think it’s the belief, you know – confidence and belief,” said Sterling.

“Those are the two big things in cricket in general. That's why you can bring T20 victory into the ODI series. It’s the belief that it brings not just the players who performed well, but also everyone on the pitch and everyone on the sideline.

“So I think that’s the real crux of it, when you come to these situations in the future, you know, you’ve done it. And to prove that with a slightly understrength team ourselves, I think that bodes really well for the future.”

Stirling added that they aren’t too concerned about a big reaction from the Proteas as both teams are almost in the same boat when it comes to building towards the future. “It’s interesting because they have a number of players who are coming in now as well,” Stirling added.

Curtis Campher. Photo: Cricinfo

“They’ve got, I think, maybe three or four changes at least, particularly in their batting order. So I don’t think there will be a reaction of sorts.

“I think both teams are in the same phase where they’re trying to bring through either more inexperienced players or widen their player pool, the same as us. So I don’t think there is any of that sort of, ‘oh, we’re going to have a reaction to losing this game the other day’.

‘This is really the start of us’

“We’re just excited to start a new format. It is a new phase. We have that goal at the end of it, which is hopefully qualifying for the World Cup from an Irish point of view and performing at the World Cup. This is really the start of us.

“We’re just real excited. We’ve got a slightly different squad ourselves. We want to go in there and we’re just not talking about results, but again, going back to that process and making sure that we’re doing the right things and over a period of time, we’ll hopefully be on track to get those wins when it is important to do so.”

Tomorrow’s 1st ODI in Abu Dhabi is scheduled to get underway at 13:30.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh