Stunning Ismail five-for gives South Africa 2-0 T20I lead

Scorecard

Ismail, who in the previous match had added her 100th and 101st T20I wickets, ended with figures of 5/12 as they limited Pakistan to a final score of 115/7, who once again saw the collapse of their top-order hamper their batting efforts.

The Proteas’ own total didn’t always look manageable after a slow start themselves, but Tazmin Brit’s steady innings of 66 built the foundations of the victory.

Pakistan’s bowling attack asserted themselves well inside the powerplay, limiting South Africa and forcing a soft dismissal of Lizelle Lee, who managed six runs before gently looping the ball straight back into Anam Amin’s grasp in the first ball of the fifth over.

With the likes of Amin, Nida Dar, Aiman Anwer and Diana Baig taking the pace off the ball, the pressure on Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp continued to build with just a single boundary and 30 runs scored off the first eight overs.

Kapp had no option than to force the issue, but came up short aiming for the long-on boundary, holing out to Dar off Aliya Riaz’s bowling, putting South Africa at 38/2 off in the 10th over.

Brits and Laura Wolvaardt started to squeeze the accelerator pedal as they looked to press on to three figures, dispatching Riaz for 16 runs in the 12th over as they gradually upped the run rate.

The burgeoning partnership was broken by Nashra Sandhu who took the wicket of the dangerous Wolvaardt (13), who slashed the ball to Riaz in the covers in the final ball of the 13th over.

With Mignon du Preez supporting at the other end, Brits brought up her third T20 half-century as she swept Amin for the first six of the innings, bringing up the side’s 100 in the same moment from 16.2 overs. A top edge off the last ball of the over sent du Preez back to the pavilion with 15 from 14 deliveries to go 105/4.

Brits continued adding to her total, hitting Dar to the rope in her final over of the day, shortly followed by Sune Luus who swept her for six in the final ball of the penultimate over.

Anwer finally took the wicket of Brits (66), who was trapped lbw as she attempted a huge sweep in the first ball of the final over. Luus and Sinalo Jafta put on a further seven runs****to conclude the innings at 133/5.

Pakistan’s innings got off to a familiarly inauspicious start with just four runs put on the board after two overs, Omaima Sohail (4) gifted her wicket to Kapp, swinging across the line wildly and finding herself clean bowled.

The visitors were in disarray just two overs later, reduced to 11/3 as Shabnim Ismail took the wickets of Muneeba Ali (1) and Dar (0) in consecutive balls.

Ayesha Zafar (2) was next to fall to the on-fire Ismail, allowing the ball through her forward defence and clattering her leg stump.

When Luus entered the Proteas attack, Kainat Imtiaz and her partner Riaz took it upon themselves to up the run rate, scoring nine off the spinner’s bowling, aided by some loose fielding.

But the build-up of pressure proved too much for Imtiaz who, on 26 runs, pulled the ball straight to Ismail on the mid-wicket boundary off Masabata Klaas’ bowling to leave her side 48/5 after 12.2 overs.

With the dynamic teenager Ayesha Naseem at the other end, Riaz upped the ante as she has done consistently during the tour, hitting Luus for 16 in the 15th over to increase the score to 79/5. Naseem reciprocated the following over, smashing the economical Ayabonga Khaka to the boundary for a six.

With 28 required off 12 balls, Klaas delivered some accurate and skilled variety with the ball to concede just 6 before Naseem (33) and Riaz (39) fell victim to Ismail, claiming her fourth and fifth wickets of the day.

The third and final T20I will take place on Wednesday 3 February.