Player of the match Sune Luus and Miane Smit both struck unbeaten half-centuries to take South Africa’s women to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI at a blustery Buffalo Park in East London in front of an appreciative crowd.
For the experienced Luus it was her 18th half-century in ODIs but for 20-year-old Smit it was her maiden fifty in only her sixth ODI.
The pair added an unbroken 125 in 140 balls for the fourth wicket, a record for South Africa at Buffalo Park.
South Africa also became the first team in ODIs at the ground to win batting second.
The Proteas Women take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series against Ireland as they claim victory by 7 wickets 🇿🇦👏#HereForHer #SSCricket #SAvIRE pic.twitter.com/Oj87v3IFCU
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 13, 2025
South Africa had picked a young, inexperienced team for the match with only four players from the ICC Women’s World Cup final team picked to play.
As it turned out, the mix of youth and experience was good enough to defeat Ireland and give the deeper squad some good competitive experience.
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt said she was “very pleased” with the performance saying it was a good all-round effort.
“I was captaining a very different group to the normal team and it was great to see different players stepping up who maybe wouldn’t be in our first team at the moment. When we lost our third wicket relatively early on a very slow pitch it could have been tricky, so it was great to see Sune (Luus) and Miane (Smit) put together a crucial partnership. I was also impressed with Nonkululeko (Mlaba). She bowled with great control and guile and she was a good example of a senior player stepping up.”
Chasing 210 for the win, South Africa had the misfortune to lose their captain to a poor decision, given out caught after she had edged a full toss into the ground before the ball flew to slip.
The decision went upstairs and somehow the video analysis confirmed that she was out, a decision that baffled almost everyone.
The elegant opener had struck six typically handsome fours in her 31 in 24 balls and South Africa had flown to 38 in four overs.
Her dismissal led to a blip in the innings as Lara Goodall took 10 balls to get off the mark before she tamely drove a return catch to spinner Cara Murray. And when Tasmin Brits was out to a soft dismissal, driving lamely at Murray to hole out at long off, South Africa had slumped to 86-3 in the 15th over.
The run-rate was still healthy, however, and it was decided that Smit would move up the order to accompany Luus, an excellent decision as it turned out.
Smit began slowly and, after scoring three in 13 balls, she looked a little uncertain. But a swept four and wise guidance by Luus soon relaxed her and the pair had little trouble after that in hunting down their target in 36.5 overs, leaving themselves 10.1 overs to spare.
The calm, clear-headed Luus’s 66 came in 72 balls and included six fours while Smit’s 56 took 70 balls and included seven boundaries.
A memorable performance!
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) December 13, 2025
Suné Luus led from the front with a match-defining display for #TheProteas Women, earning Player of the match honours. 🏏🏅
Calm under pressure, clinical in execution and instrumental in sealing a dominant ODI series-opening win. 👏🇿🇦#Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/kFCIswYKtH
MLABA FLUMMOXES IRISH BATTERS
Earlier, the Irish compiled their second highest total in ODIs against South Africa after winning the toss and batting first – usually a winning move at Buffalo Park.
Mlaba, the second highest wicket-taker in women’s ODI cricket this year with 33 scalps, exploited the slow, low conditions to perfection, claiming 3-43 in 10 overs as she helped restrict Ireland to 209-7.
Bowling slow, looping deliveries on the dry track, South Africa’s premier spinner constantly flummoxed the Irish batters, particularly in her second spell, as she got some bounce and turn on the uneven track.
The left-arm tweaker bowled the delivery of the match when she bowled the threatening Laura Delaney with the ball pitching on middle-and-leg and just clipping the off bail.
Nevertheless, the Irish women looked better suited to the longer white-ball format after South Africa’s dominant victories in the T20I series.
Play started 90 minutes late after some of the heavy rain on Friday found its way onto the pitch.
As a result the match was restricted to 47 overs per side.
Openers Sarah Forbes and Gaby Lewis made a solid start to the Irish innings.
Eliz-Mari Marx was on point in her opening spell, but it was pace bowler Tumi Sekhukhune who made the breakthrough with the total on 45 in the 12th over when she nipped one through the gate to dismiss Lewis for 14.
The arrival of an aggressive Amy Hunter helped to increase the run-rate as she and Forbes added 48 for the second wicket before Forbes (42 in 71 balls) was beaten in the air by a slow, looping delivery from spinner Luus and trapped leg before.
Hunter’s wicket was key for South Africa and offspinner Smit procured it when she drew the batter down the wicket to a wider delivery that she could only chip to mid-off.
With Mlaba and Luus tying up the Irish batters, only Rebecca Stokell, unbeaten on 39 in 48 balls, helped the Irish past the 200 mark, the home team managing to restrict their opponents to a modest four an over for most of the innings.
SOUTH AFRICA W: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Lara Goodall, Sune Luus, Dane van Niekerk, Miane Smit, Karabo Meso (wk), Mari Marx, Tumi Sekhukhune, Ayanda Hlubi, Nonkululeko Mlaba
IRELAND W: Gaby Lewis (capt), Sarah Forbes, Amy Hunter (wk), Orla Prendergast, Laura Delany, Lea Paul, Rebecca Stokell, Arlene Kelly, Cara Murray, Georgina Dempsey, Lara McBride