Ireland lose heavily against South Africa

Ireland Women crashed to a comprehensive eight wickets defeat by South Africa in the latest game of the International Tri-Series in Qatar.

The inexperienced Irish side could only muster 53 all out in 35.3 overs, with Melissa Scott Hayward (20) the only player to reach double figures against an accurate South African attack.

It was Ireland's second lowest total in their 130 match one-day international history, as they managed to pass the 46 against Australia at College Park in Dublin in 2001.

Dane van Niekerk (3-8) was the most successful of the South African bowlers, while there were two wickets apiece for Shabnim Ismail, Chloe Tyron and Marizanne Kapp.

Openers Trisha Chetty (24) and Liza Lee (15) put on 46 for the first wicket before Lee was brilliantly run out by Melissa Scott-Hayward.

14 year old Lucy O'Reilly then caught Chetty off the bowling of skipper Isobel Joyce (1-4) to give Ireland some consolation.

The eight wicket loss means Ireland finish bottom of the table with South Africa facing Pakistan in the final of the 50 over competition on Friday.

"It's all about moving forward now putting these ODI's behind them," said Ireland coach Trent Johnston. "They'll learn from the experience gained but there's no doubt it's been a tough education.

"Our focus now switches to T20 preparation for not only the games here but the T20 World Cup. We'll be training hard for that starting with an early morning session in the morning."

Ireland skipper Isobel Joyce echoed Johnston's words saying: "There's no doubt it's been a forgettable ODI competition for us, but we'll take what we can from it and move forward. We now have a number of days to focus on our T20 cricket, which will take our attention over the coming months. We just need to put the past few days out of our minds and look forward to the challenges ahead."