Adair 'reaping dividends' for hard work - Stirling

Ireland captain Paul Stirling says Ross Adair's improvement is "really exciting" after the opener hit a superb maiden T20 century in Sunday's victory over South Africa in Abu Dhabi.

Adair smashed nine sixes in his 100 from just 58 balls as Ireland chalked up their first T20 win over the Proteas at the seventh attempt.

Stirling combined with Adair for an opening stand of 137 in a 10-run success which levelled the two-match series.

The sides will now meet again at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in three ODIs with the opener on Wednesday.

"It was fabulous - just watching from the other end, I had the best seat in the house, it was some of the best striking I’ve seen in an Irish shirt," said Stirling.

"I’m absolutely delighted for him, I’ve seen the hard work that he has put in and we’re seeing that reaping dividends against really strong opposition."

Former Ulster rugby player Adair, who is the brother of pace bowler Mark, made his Ireland debut last year at 28.

“To see the improvement he has made over the last year alone is really exciting," added Stirling.

"It will be interesting to see how that professionalism in Ireland allows him to get better, how that will hold over the next couple of years and see how high his ceiling is, there’s no shortage of where he might be able to finish in the game of cricket."

It will be a landmark occasion for Stirling on Wednesday with the 34-year-old set to make his 400th international appearance.

“I’m hugely honoured - I’m not a massive one for looking back, I’ll have plenty of time for that once my career is finished but I’m delighted I’ve been able to make it this far.

"Four hundred is a great achievement, I’ll probably take it in for about 10 minutes and then it’ll be business as usual."

Andrew Balbirnie was left out of the T20s but he returns for the one-day games with Stirling saying the former skipper is "really excited for the challenge ahead”.

Ireland will be bouyed by Sunday's win as the prepare to take on South Africa with the second ODI on Friday before the final game three days later.

"It’s a huge result for us and we can take a lot of confidence from it. Confidence is huge in cricket, you definitely take performances from previous games into the next.

"South Africa still have a lot in the tank, the players that have come in for this ODI series are very good too so we’ll have to be at the top of our game to have a chance at the end of it."