All-round Luus leads Proteas women to ODI win over Pakistan

Proteas women wicketkeeper batter Sinalo Jafta celebrates her maiden ODI half century during their opening ODI win over Pakistan at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Sunday. Picture: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images A solid all-round performance from the Proteas women, led by Sune Luus, saw the them clinch a comfortable 37-run win over the Pakistan women in the opening One Day International at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Sunday. It was a 41-over-a-side affair after morning rain saw the start of the match delayed by two and a half overs, before the sun came out and allowed an entertaining match to follow.

Luus was brilliant with bat and ball, scoring an unbeaten 93 off 76 balls (8×4; 1×6) in helpingthe Proteasscore 260/6 batting first, before she picked up 2/31 in six overs to help bowl the Pakistan all out for 223 in response. At the start of play Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl, withthe Proteasgetting off to a decent start thanks to captain Laura Wolvaardt, as her 43 off 50 balls (5×4) got them to 66/1, before two quick wickets including that of the opener saw them drop to 84/3. Luus and Annerie Dercksen, 31 off 37 (3×4; 1×6), combined for an 80-run fourth wicket stand to get them back on track, but a flurry of three wickets for six runs saw them slip to 170/6 after 32 overs.

That brought Sinalo Jafta in, and in her 50thODI for the Proteas she produced the finishing fireworks as she smashed an unbeaten 57 off 38 (8×4), and shared in a superb 90-run partnership off 56-balls with Luus to smash them to a winning total in the end. The Pakistan chase was then built around a 126-run third wicket stand between Ayesha Zafar, 81 off 94 balls (7×4), and Sidra Amin, 68 off 69 (9×4), that saw them well placed on 131/2 at one stage. But that was assisted by a poor drop, after Pakistan found themselves in early trouble on 5/2, they then should have been 19/3 after Nadine de Klerk found the edge of Zafar’s bat, who was on two at the time, only for Tazmin Brits to drop the easy chance at slip.

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However once Amin fell in the 23rdover, regular wickets followed over the rest of the innings, and only Aliya Riaz briefly threatened with 32 off 26 (6×4), as they fell well short in the end. Tumi Sekhukhune, 3/50, was the Proteas top wicket taker, while De Klerk, 2/36, and Luus backed her up well. “I am really happy to get the win. It was a proper sort of team effort with the ball,” said a pleased captain Wolvaardt after the match.

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