South Africa’s Markram wary of threat from improving Ireland

Bristol, Aug 3 (UNI) South Africa batter Aiden Markram believes facing an improving Ireland side in the first of their two-match T20I series starting later on Wednesday will be a different challenge for them. South Africa impressed in overcoming a formidable England 2-1 in T20Is, which came on the back of a 1-1 scoreline in a rain-affected ODI series. Now they will be hoping to build on that success against Ireland, a side who have put in great performances despite results not coming in their favor, at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol. “I think it will be a new and exciting challenge for us. We played them quite recently in Ireland and we saw exactly what they could do and they’re certainly a team that is improving series by series.” “We’ve witnessed that (when Ireland played) against India now recently and certainly they’re a team that you can’t take for granted,” said Markram ahead of the match. Markham further elaborated on what South Africa has to do to continue its scintillating run in T20Is. “I think it’s just about us now working on our plans, trusting those plans that we’ve now got in place and that has been working for us. “We know that if we sort of taking care of our space and play at the right intensity.