Former South Africa skipper Dane van Niekerk played a match-winning cameo in the second T20I against Ireland on Sunday (December 7).
Dane van Niekerk slams 41 off 19 against Ireland
At Boland Park in Paarl, South Africa batted first after captain Laura Wolvaardt won the toss. Openers Faye Tunnicliffe and Sune Luus made a brisk start, scoring 51-0 in the Powerplay. Luus fell in the 10th over, for 37, before Tunnicliffe went on to score her maiden T20I half-century. She was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Aimee Maguire in the 14th over, bringing van Niekerk to the crease at 116-2.
Van Niekerk reverse-swept Maguire for four off the second ball she faced, before losing Wolvaardt off the final ball of that over. Then joined at the batting crease by wife Marizanne Kapp, van Niekerk hit Maguire over covers, long on and then backward of square for 4, 6, 4 in an 18-run 16th over. She then lifted quicks Ava Canning and Arlene Kelly for sixes before Kelly trapped her lbw for 41 off 19.
Van Niekerk's blitz, followed by Kapp's 16 off eight and Chloe Tryon's 16 off seven ensured South Africa scored over 200 for the second game in a row; last match, they scored a team-record 220-2.
2nd T20I, South Africa Women vs Ireland Women
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Van Niekerk's productive return to international cricket continues
In the previous match, van Niekerk scored an unbeaten 21 off eight, her first innings for South Africa in over four years. Prior to the ongoing series, van Niekerk had a T20I career strike rate of 94.94, from 77 innings. In fact, the last two knocks are the fastest of her career (even without any runs or balls cut-off).
A Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2022, van Niekerk retired from international cricket in March 2023 amid uncertainty over her national team future, but reversed the decision in August, saying that "the time away has reminded me just how much I have missed representing my country".
She was named in a training camp squad ahead of this year's World Cup, but did not make the main squad. A red-hot run of domestic form (310 runs in six innings) earned her a recall to the white-ball setup for the Ireland series.
In their run-chase, Ireland could only muster 136-3, after a half-century from Orla Prendergast and Leah Paul's 40 off 29. Chloe Tryon took 2-24 from her four overs, and South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
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