Sune Luus, Miane Smit put South Africa 1-0 up

A commanding performance with both bat and ball gave South Africa Women an early lead in the three-match series against Ireland Women. After restricting the visitors to 209/7 in a contest reduced to 47 overs per side, South Africa chased down the target with almost ten overs to spare.

Ireland got off to a decent start once the game got underway after a delay to a wet patch on the pitch. The openers added 45 for the first wicket before skipper Gaby Lewis departed. The likes of Sarah Forbes, Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast got off to starts as Ireland decently positioned at 135/3 at one point.

However, Nonkululeko Mlaba struck in successive overs to derail the Irish innings after which they just couldn't recover. If not for Rebecca Stokell's fighting unbeaten 39, Ireland wouldn't have breached 200. In-form Laura Wolvaardt then went on a boundary-hitting spree to put the visitors on the backfoot with the ball straightaway. But her blistering start was cut short by Prendergast who sent the South African skipper back to the pavilion for 31.

The home side then found themselves in a tricky spot when Cara Murray removed Tazmin Brits and Lara Goodall to reduce South Africa to 86/3. But Ireland couldn't capitalise from thereon as Sune Luus and Miane Smit got together to stitch a match-winning partnership. Having already picked a wicket each in the Irish innings, both Luus and Smit were involved in an unbroken 125-run stand that kept the Irish attack at bay. Both batters managed to register unbeaten half-centuries and eventually guided South Africa home comfortably.

Brief scores: Ireland Women 209/7 in 47 overs (Sarah Forbes 42, Rebecca Stokell 39*; Nonkululeko Mlaba 3/43) lost to South Africa 211/3 in 36.5 overs (Sune Luus 66*, Miane Smit 56*; Cara Murray 2/34) by 7 wickets