Jordan Neill ensured Ireland Under 19s clinched a 3-1 series win over the Northern Titans Academy as they battled to an 11-run win in the final game of their short South African tour.
Stand-in skipper Neill top-scored with 66 (10 fours, 1 six), dominating an opening stand of 51 with Ryan Hunter.
Once again Ricus Kramm caused the tourists batting major problems, taking four wickets as they slumped to 107 for 8.
Macdara Cosgrave dug in to score a half century, as the tail wagged to add 74 runs for the last two wickets – 62 of those coming in a 9th wicket stand of 62 with Ollie Riley (15).
A final total of 181 may not have looked defendable, as the pattern of the week had been conditions improving through the day as the sun came out.
However, YMCA seamer Riley (3-34) made early inroads as the hosts collapsed to 38 for 5 and 72 for 6.
Swanepoel (48) and Van Vuuren (28) shared a seventh wicket stand of 68 to leave the contest in the balance, but after Reuben Wilson had accounted for top-scorer Swanepoel, Jordan Neill (3-25) mopped up the tail to seal an 11-run win.
Pete Johnston and Albert van der Merwe’s side will now look to secure more home fixtures ahead of the Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka early next year. They secured direct qualification to the event thanks to their performances in the West Indies last year, avoiding the cut-throat European qualifiers in the Netherlands this August.
Scorecard
| Toss won by | SSE Academy |
| Umpires | F Mabunda - R Hendricks |
| Scorers | K Mahlangu |
| Home Side | SSE Academy |
| Comment | Ireland won the 4 match tour 3-1. |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Neill* | lbw | b J Visser | 66 | 98 | 62 | 10 | 1 |
| R Hunter | lbw | b R Kramm | 7 | 39 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| A Doyle | lbw | b R Kramm | 2 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| A McGeeghan+ | c M Sagir | b R Kramm | 3 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| H Dyer | b R Kramm | 2 | 22 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
| M Cosgrave | b van Vuuren | 50 | 107 | 70 | 1 | 0 | |
| SJ Macbeth | c ? | b Pruss | 9 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| E Birch | lbw | b Pruss | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| F Lutton | c G Swawepoel | b Pruss | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Riley | c G Swawepoel | b van Vuuren | 15 | 59 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| R Wilson | not out | 2 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b2 lb1 w22 nb0) | 25 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 181 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-51(R Hunter) 2-58(A Doyle) 3-66(A McGeeghan) 4-83(H Dyer) 5-94(J Neill) |
| 6-101(SJ Macbeth) 7-107(E Birch) 8-107(F Lutton) 9-169(Riley) 10-181(M Cosgrave) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Loram | 5 | 0 | 37 | 0 | - | - |
| R Kramm | 10 | 1 | 30 | 4 | 4 | - |
| J Makua | 6 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 1 | - |
| J Visser | 10 | 0 | 45 | 1 | 6 | - |
| Pruss | 8 | 0 | 35 | 3 | 1 | - |
| van Vuuren | 2.1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | - | - |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O Shoeman | b Riley | 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| J Masuku | c F Lutton | b SJ Macbeth | 22 | 43 | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| K Patel | lbw | b Riley | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| K Hilton | c Weldon | b Riley | 4 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| M Sagir+ | lbw | b H Dyer | 17 | 66 | 33 | 2 | 0 |
| N Adendorf* | b Weldon | 1 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| G Swawepoel | c A McGeeghan | b R Wilson | 48 | 119 | 71 | 6 | 0 |
| van Vuuren | b J Neill | 28 | 49 | 38 | 3 | 0 | |
| J Makua | c Riley | b J Neill | 21 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 3 |
| S Lindeque | b J Neill | 4 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| J Visser | not out | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb1 w19 nb2) | 22 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 170 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-1(O Shoeman) 2-1(K Patel) 3-18(K Hilton) 4-30(J Masuku) 5-38(N Adendorf) |
| 6-72(M Sagir) 7-140(van Vuuren) 8-164(J Makua) 9-164(G Swawepoel) |
| 10-170(S Lindeque) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Wilson | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1 | - | - |
| Riley | 6 | 1 | 34 | 3 | 2 | - |
| SJ Macbeth | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | - |
| Weldon | 5 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 2 | - |
| H Dyer | 5 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 4 | - |
| F Lutton | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| D Tucker | 4 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| J Neill | 5.3 | 1 | 25 | 3 | 1 | - |