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

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 helping the Proteas score 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, with the Proteas getting 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 50^th ODI 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.

Pakistan chase

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.

However once Amin fell in the 23^rd over, 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.

“There was some great work up front from Sune with the bat and then Jaffie (Jafta) with that quickfire cameo at the end there. So a bit of an all-round performance and very happy to take the points.

Having won the T20I series 2-1, but lost the final game heavily, the Proteas bounced back superbly to get their ODI series off to the best possible start and set them up for another chance of a series win.

The Proteas and Pakistan now move on to SuperSport Park in Centurion for the second ODI on Wednesday, followed by the final ODI at Kingsmead in Durban on Sunday.