Proteas women seal series with another big T20 win over Ireland

CRICKET NEWS - The Proteas women sealed the T20 International series against Ireland with a game to spare after securing a very comfortable 65-run win in the second match at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday afternoon.

After a thumping 105-run win in the series opener in Cape Town on Friday, the Proteas were given a bit of a sterner test by the Irish in the second, but were never seriously threatened during the match.

An all-round batting performance saw the Proteas amass a big 201/5, which always looked to be out of Ireland’s range, and so it proved, as although they weren’t bowled out, they ended well short on 136/3 at the end of their 20 overs.

“It was very nice. We played a good game today. Nice to go two-nil up (in the series), and hopefully we can make it three,” said captain Laura Wolvaardt after the match.

“A lot of different people chipped in today. I think Faye (Tunnicliffe) obviously batted really well, and then we had a lot of people chipping in with some nice high strike rates. It was awesome to see the contributions to get us to that 200-run mark.”

Batting first

At the start of play it was the Proteas who won the toss and chose to bat first, and they managed strong first innings total thanks to a number of contributions, as opener Tunnicliffe top scored with 51 off 42 balls (7×4).

Dané van Niekerk, in her second game back after returning to international cricket, hammered an entertaining 41 off 19, cracking three fours and three sixes.

Sune Luus, 37 off 24 (6×4), Wolvaardt, 22 off 16 (4×4), Marizanne Kapp, 16 off eight (2×4; 1×6), and Chloe Tryon, 16 off seven (1×4; 1×6) all also chipped in.

There were two key partnerships, of 78 for the first wicket between Tunnicliffe and Luus, and 47 between Van Niekerk and Kapp for the fourth wicket, while a superb finish, that saw 70 runs come off the final five overs allowed the Proteas to get over the 200-run mark.

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Irish chase

The Irish chase was then always behind the eight ball, with them well behind the run rate especially after scoring just 33 in the six over powerplay.

Openers Amy Hunter (14) and Gaby Lewis (19) were both removed in the seventh over by Tryon, Lewis trapped LBW and Hunter bowled, as they slipped to 35/2.

But Ireland then showed some fight with a 76-run third wicket partnership between Orla Prendergast, 51 not out off 43 balls (4×4; 1×6), and Leah Paul, 40 off 29 (6×4), as they tried to stay in the match.

But with the run rate skyrocketing they couldn’t keep up, and the game was essentially over when Nonkululeko Mlaba bowled Paul in the 17^th over, with the score 111/3.

Tryon, 2/24 in her four overs, was the pick of the bowlers, while Mlaba picked up 1/25 in her three.

The third and final T20I will be played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Wednesday, before the teams battle out a three game ODI series from this coming Saturday to the following week Friday.