Ireland women claim famous victory over South Africa

A superb, disciplined all-round display saw Ireland Women claim just their second-ever victory over South Africa in T20I cricket on a sunny Friday evening at Pembroke Cricket Club.

It was a record-breaking day on two fronts for first-time captain Gaby Lewis. At 21, she became the youngest person to captain Ireland while with the bat, she overtook Clare Shillington to become Ireland's leading run-scorer in women’s T20I cricket.

Her partnership with Leah Paul set the tone for a momentous day.

Ireland got off to a flier having been inserted in to bat by South Africa, reaching 40 without loss at the end of the powerplay. Lewis raced out of the blocks, scoring a flurry of boundaries in the opening six overs.

She was particularly impressive against the pace of Shabnim Ismail – the number three ranked bowler in women’s T20Is; one assured cover drive in the fourth over was arguably the shot of the day.

Paul was more watchful in the opening stages but grew into her innings well, latching onto anything short and maintaining the tempo set by her partner at the other end. She finished her innings with a T20I career-best score of 47 in just her second innings opening the batting in a T20I.

The 98-run opening stand was Ireland’s joint third-highest in women’s T20I cricket; Lewis has been involved in all of Ireland’s top four partnerships in the format.

That platform gave the rest of the Ireland order freedom to attack in the second half of the innings. While the wickets tumbled – seamer Tumi Sekhukhune took three wickets in the 20th over – the runs continued to flow as the hosts eventually finished on 143-7 from their 20 overs, their seventh-highest total in women’s T20I cricket and their second-highest against Full Member opposition.

But on