After dominating the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup with the bat, South Africa Women captain Laura Wolvaardt floored Ireland in the 1st T20I of the three-match series held in Cape Town.
The star batswoman smashed an aggressive 56-ball 115* as South Africa beat Ireland in the first women’s T20I by 105 runs. Besides Wolvaardt, Sune Luus played a key role as South Africa Women posted their joint third-biggest win by runs, at Newlands. The Proteas Women won the contest by 105 runs.
Match summary
Wolvaardt led the way with a knock of 115*. Her innings consisted of 15 fours and 4 sixes. On the other hand, Luss scored a terrific 51-ball 81. Her knock had 11 fours and a six. They shared a record 176-run stand for the 2nd wicket to floor the Irish Women. Their efforts helped South Africa post a challenging total of 220/2 in their allotted overs.
In response, the Irish Women folded for a paltry score of 115. Luus was solid with the ball as well She picked 4 wickets for 22 runs from her 4 overs. Leah Paul was Ireland’s top scorer with 34 runs. Interestingly, Ireland lost as many as 9 wickets to spin.
Fastest WT20I century for SA Women
Batting at No. 3, Wolvaardt scored a 52-ball century, the fastest for South Africa and the joint sixth-quickest in WT20Is, as per ESPNcricinfo. Wolvaardt equalled the likes of DN Wyatt of England and Rubina Chhetry of Nepal in terms of the sixth-fastest century in WT20Is (52 balls).
24-ball fifty for Wolvaardt
In addition to posting the fastest century for SA Women in WT20Is, Wolvaardt also hammered the fastest fifty for her side. She took just 24 balls to achieve the landmark. Lizelle Lee was the previous fastest, taking 26 balls against Pakistan in 2019.
Over 5200 runs in Women’s T20Is
In 84 Women’s T20I matches, Wolvaardt has raced to a tally of 2203 runs at 36.71 with 2 tons and 12 fifties under her belt.
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