First T20 win over Proteas would be huge - Stirling

Paul Stirling has an average of 27.07 from his 145 T20 matches for Ireland

Ireland captain Paul Stirling hopes to chalk up a maiden T20 victory over South Africa on Friday at the sixth attempt.

The sides meet in Abu Dhabi before completing the two-match series at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday.

"It would be huge - South Africa are such a powerhouse in world cricket and have such a strong team," said the opener.

"So it would be good if we could manage to get over the line in the next few days - anything can happen in the T20 format so we are confident we can get a result."

South Africa boast a young squad for the T20s and three-match ODI series between the teams at the same venue, but they will still start favourites against a team five places below them in the T20 world rankings.

"They have a well balanced team with the most obvious attribute their middle order - there's a lot of power there and no doubt they will come hard," added Stirling.

"There's also their pace. It's a luxury to have where we're playing at as pace through the air is so important."

'New cycle'

The Proteas, who reached the T20 World Cup final in June, and Ireland are starting a new cycle leading into the 2026 tournament in India and Sri Lanka.

Ireland failed to win any of their four games at the World Cup but Stirling is "extremely confident" the team will improve in the next two years.

"We've got extremely talented players and we want to get them in the best possible place for the next World Cup," he said.

"We're probably going to see new faces over the next six to 12 months and get that player pool expanded, getting more people playing international cricket. We need to start incorporating younger players and giving chances to different players as we go along."

South Africa are coming off an ODI series defeat by Afghanistan in Sharjah so are seeking to bounce back against the Irish.

"It's an exciting challenge and we as a team want to get back to winning ways," said skipper Aiden Markram.

"It's a young and maybe less experienced team against a very good Irish side with guys that are match-winners and guys that that have taken down any opposition that they've come across."