Bowlers won't have anywhere to hide at Malahide

The firsts are coming thick and fast for Ireland. Before Tuesday that had never beaten South Africa in an ODI. The same opponents will be back at Malahide on Monday for the inaugural T20I between the sides. South Africa won't want another shock as they fine-tune for the T20I World Cup in the UAE and Oman in October and November.

Both teams will know that the shorter the format the greater the chance of David prevailing over Goliath. They will also know that Andy Balbirnie - who evoked that Biblical image before the drawn ODI series - captains a team that are less like little boys and more like fearless adolescents looking to prove themselves against adults.

So an intriguing contest awaits, not least because much the same cast of characters from the ODIs will be back to drive the drama. The notable exception is Kevin O'Brien, who retired from ODIs last month but remains a big, red-headed factor in the other white-ball format. The return to the dressingroom of the fire-breathing dragon who hammered 113 off 63 balls to slay St George himself - or England, if we must be prosaic - in Bangalore during the 2011 World Cup can only inspire the Irish.

The South Africans have no such Boy's Own mythology to draw from, but they do have the fresh memory of Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock scoring 177 and 120 at Malahide on Friday to earn a