Johannesburg — Tumi Sekhukhune capped off an excellent series with another three wicket haul as South Africa claimed a 2-1 victory in the T20 International series against Ireland in Dublin on Wednesday.
The Proteas, with lots of help from some injudicious batting from the inexperienced hosts, were dominant in another comfortable win. Sekhukhune had come into the series as a player chasing a spot in the squad for some of the bigger events coming up in the next 12 months. She bowled with control and accuracy to claim 3/20 in Wednesday’s third match at the Pembroke Cricket Club, taking her total for the series to eight wickets.
Sune Luus won the toss for the first time in the series and chose to field, on what was a different strip to the one used for the first two matches. South Africa rested Shabnim Ismail, who was player of the match on Monday, and brought Ayabonga Khaka in for her first start.
Khaka had early success dismissing Leah Paul, who chased a wide delivery with a thick outside edge flying to Luus who’d positioned herself at a wide slip.
After Nonkululeko Mlaba, who opened the bowling once more, had dismissed Mary Waldron leg before wicket for 2, the Irish captain Gabby Lewis, again proved difficult to dislodge and she shared 54-run partnership for the third wicket with Shauna Kavanagh. Lewis has proved a class apart in the Irish team and was able to manipulate the length of the South African bowlers, sitting deep in her crease enabling her to play some very good pull shots.
However the Proteas did well to force her onto the front foot and by restricting her boundary options, they created pressure and as she did on Monday, Lewis attempted to force the pace and was caught at mid-on by Luus off Mlaba after scoring 29.
Her dismissal allowed the Proteas to control the rest of the innings. Kavanagh was run out attempting a second after a good throw from Sekhukhune, for 32. The rest of the Irish batting order collapsed as they lost their last six wickets for just 17 runs in 26 balls.
Besides Sekhkhune, Mlaba was the other bowler to impress as she picked up 2/15 and with South Africa hoping to mount a strong challenge in the Commonwealth Games next month, having Mlaba as an option with the new ball is one they will want to utilise.
Nadine de Klerk, who bowled well in all three matches, finished with 2/23 and is another player who will hope she has done enough to force her way into the main squad when the big name players, like Marizanne Kapp, Dane van Niekerk and Lizelle Lee return.
Lara Goodall played superbly in making 48 off 32 balls, backing up the half-century she made on Monday. Her innings in the final match was even better than earlier in the week as she played with confidence, with a couple of beautiful drives down the ground among her nine fours. Despite struggling with her timing, Anneke Bosch stuck around, and was rewarded as she finished on 44 not out as the tourists reached the target with 37 balls to spare
The two teams will meet in a three match One-Day series starting on Saturday.
IOL Sport