After being put into bat, Ireland lost wickets at regular intervals as Charl Langeveldt (three for 41) and Shaun Pollock (two for 17) took advantage of the overcast conditions.

Pollock trapped Jeremy Bray lbw in the third over and then had William Porterfield caught by Jacques Kallis for 14 as Ireland lost their first two wickets for 31 runs in the 13th over.

Eoin Morgan (28) and Niall O Brien (25) added 32 for the third wicket before Morgan’s 50-ball innings ended when he was caught by Ashwell Prince off Andrew Hall with the score on 63. Morgan struck four fours.

Langeveldt then removed O’Brien to reduce Ireland to 77 for four in the 23rd over.

O’Brien struck three fours before his 37-ball innings ended when he was caught by Herschelle Gibbs off Charl Langeveldt.

Andre Botha (14) and Andre White added 49 for the fifth wicket before both fell in quick succession.

White hit a run-a-ball 30 before he was caught by Gibbs off Graeme Smith with the score on 116 and Botha went three runs later, caught by de Villiers off Hall.

Langeveldt then removed Kyle McCalllan (three) and Paul Mooney with successive deliveries as Ireland plunged to 124 for eight in the 32nd over.

But skipper Trent Johnston (13) and Dave Langford-Smith (17) added 28 off the last 20 balls to take their team to a defendable final score.

South Africa needed to score 160 off their 35 overs to win the game on the Duckworth-Lewis method.