Ireland vs South Africa, 3rd ODI at Abu Dhabi, IRE vs SA, Oct 07 2024 - Match Result

11.47pm Rassie van der Dussen lifts the trophy amid muted celebrations from the South Africa players, as they take the series 2-1 but it's the Irishmen who will go home the happier side today. That wraps up the series. On behalf of Abhimanyu, Sudeep and everyone else at Cricinfo, this is Sreshth signing off.

11.40pm

"Impact player of the match" Jason Smith: "Always going to be tough coming in such a situation. They bowled quite nicely. The conditions allowed me to get in and take it as deep as possible. To be honest, I was very nervous. But once I got over that, after I got my first runs I was better."

Ireland skipper and player of the match, Stirling: " It was a massive difference. It's a relief to get past it. We talked about just winning the game and getting the job done. We let ourselves down in the first two games. We knew if we applied ourselves and kept our wickets in hand we'll get the runs. We got the best of conditions today and were able to make the use of that. The players we have used in this series, both the T20Is and ODIs will be better going forward.

Player of the series, Lizaad Williams: "I just felt like it was the most effective ball, so I was trying to set the batters up. We knew that wobble seam was going to be effective. Besides the heat, the wicket was a bit slower. It was still moving, but slower off the wicket. Credit to them, they dealt well with the new ball. A lot of credit to their openers."

South Africa captain, Rassie van der Dussen: "We didn't really appreciate how much conditions change at night. I can't fault any of the guys. The intensity was there. Credit to Ireland, they batted well, took the sting off the new ball and got to a good total. And with the ball they didn't give us anything. I think if you look at the guys who have come in, Jason Smith, Rickelton, Stubbs and Lizaad, really happy with those performances."

11.36pm South Africa may have won the series 2-1, but this victory for Ireland is super sweet. They won the toss, posted a solid total, and their bowlers stepped up thereafter. Only the second time Ireland have beaten SA in an ODI, and a strong comeback win after losing the first two ODIs rather meekly. They will fly home on a high.

South Africa's loss could've been much worse if it wasn't for rookie Jason Smith's 91 in only his second ODI. He made 0 in his debut, remember. Kyle Verreyne and Tristan Stubbs put in solid contributions too, but on this surface, both needed to stay in a tad bit longer to have made a game out of this match.

As for Ireland, Hume the pick of the bowlers with his 3-29 but Young (3-40) and Adair (2-54) bowled with a lot of heart. Humphreys (1-16 in seven overs) was excellent too.

The victory, though, was set up by Ireland's captain Paul Stirling, who pummeled 88. Tector's 60 was enterprising, while Balbirnie (45), Campher (34) and Tucker (26) ensured the Irish top and middle order showed a bit more resilience compared to the first two ODIs. South Africa struggled with the ball and in their fielding for a large chunk of the first innings, and their only bowling positive could be Williams' death-overs spell that earned him figures of 4-56.

Azweer : "Even though it's a 2nd string SA team, applause goes to Ireland who won it ... Picking all 10 SA wickets. So it's 3-2 in total."

The field is quite spread out since Ireland know protecting the boundary is more important now. Smith isn't taking singles, unless towards the end of an over