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Cape Town - Mignon du Preez hit a career-best 116 not out to lead the Proteas to an emphatic, 68-run victory against Ireland in Dublin on Sunday.
They lead the four-match ODI series, 2-0.
The tourists got off to another good start with a 65-run opening stand between Laura Wolvaardt and Trisha Chetty (49), before the former’s dismissal for 35 (49 balls) in the 17th over.
Chetty and du Preez did not allow that to hinder their efforts, they put on 75 runs for the second wicket before Lucy O’Reilly denied Chetty her half-century in the 30th.
Du Preez marched on and did not waver, even when South Africa lost three wickets in four deliveries (Chetty, Andrie Steyn 0, Dinesha Devnarain 0). Suné Luus (10) also departed cheaply, but Chloe Tryon put her hand up once again, smashing 52 runs from 45 deliveries and sharing an 89-run stand for the seventh wicket with du Preez to put their side back on the map.
They posted a hefty 272/6 at the end of their allotted overs.
Ireland’s reply was missing the urgency of the South Africans.
They were 3/25 in the first eight overs and never truly recovered until Mary Waldron and Clare Shillington scored a respective 42 and 41 at the bottom-end of the innings. They shared a 35-run, seventh-wicket partnership, followed by Waldron’s 36-run, ninth-wicket stand with O’Reilly (14), but it was not enough.
South Africa’s Masabatha Klaas (2/6), Luus (2/47) and Yolani Fourie (2/54) ensured the hosts never got too far away and had them bowled out for 204, claiming their victory with 10 balls to spare.
