Wayne Parnell’s maiden five-wicket Twenty20 in-ternational haul led South Africa to a convincing 44-run win over Ireland at Bristol on Friday as the Proteas completed a 2-0 series win.
The 33-year-old left-arm quick took 5-30 as Ire-land, chasing 183 to win, were dismissed for 138 in what was their eighth successive defeat at this level.
Parnell put a dent in their chase early on, reduc-ing Ireland to 2-2 with two wickets in consecutive balls.
Andy Balbirnie fell for an eight-ball duck when he chipped to cover and Lorcan Tucker, fresh from his 78 in the first T20, went first ball when he mis-cued to mid-on.
The in-form Harry Tector survived the hat-trick, and with the experienced Paul Stirling started to repair the damage.
Stirling had hit two fours and two sixes in a score of 28 when he was struck a painful blow in the groin after missing a pull off fast bowler Lungi Ngidi.
The next ball proved his undoing, with Sterling slicing a well-disguised slower ball from Ngidi and Aiden Markram, running from point towards short third man, taking the catch.
And Ireland were 40-4 when Gareth Delany was lbw for a duck to left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
Parnell then took two wickets in three balls, with Curtis Campher caught behind on the reverse sweep before Tector holed out off a miscued pull for 34.
Then, in his 45th match at this level, Parnell had a fifth wicket when Andy McBrine was brilliantly caught by diving wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.—AFP
