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, with the openers adding 45 before skipper Gaby Lewis departed. Sarah Forbes, Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast got starts as Ireland reached 135/3. However, Nonkululeko Mlaba struck in successive overs to derail the innings. Rebecca Stokell's unbeaten 39 helped Ireland past 200.

In-form Laura Wolvaardt launched a boundary-hitting spree but was dismissed by Prendergast for 31. Cara Murray then removed Tazmin Brits and Lara Goodall to reduce South Africa to 86/3. Ireland couldn't capitalise further as Sune Luus and Miane Smit shared an unbroken 125-run partnership. Having taken a wicket each earlier, both batters scored unbeaten half-centuries to guide 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.