Taylor stars again to shore up West Indies

South Africa humbled Pakistan at the Witrand Cricket Field in Potchefstroom, winning by seven wickets with almost 20 overs to spare. Opting to field, they made steady inroads into the Pakistan batting. After top-scorer Nain Abidi was dismissed for 30 to leave Pakistan at 83 for 4, there was no stopping the slide. Offspinner Sunette Loubser grabbed three wickets and Pakistan wilted, bowled out for 123. Wicketkeeper-batsman Trisha Chetty anchored South Africa's reply, making a steady, unbeaten 60 to see her team through to its second straight win in the competition.

West Indies eased to their second consecutive win of the competition, thrashing Ireland by 166 runs in Potchefstroom. West Indies had begun the tournament on a high, seeing off Netherlands women by 148 runs and bettered that effort on Thursday with Stafanie Taylor, yet again, emerging their star. Opening the batting, she struck 72, an innings laced with six fours, and was supported in a 95-run stand for the third wicket by captain Merissa Aguilleira (44). Both were dismissed off successive deliveries in the 33rd over but Deandra Dottin, the first woman to score a Twenty20 century, stepped up to smash 72 off 59 balls and propel the West Indies score to 275.

The start to Ireland's chase was encouraging, with the openers Clare Shillington and Cecelia Joyce adding 66. But then began the slide, as left-arm seamer Shanel Daley removed the opening pair and set about shutting Ireland out of the game. There was plenty of support from the rest of the bowlers; Anisa Mohammed and Taylor, with their offspin, made inroads, grabbing two wickets each to help West Indies surge to another comprehensive win. Ireland were bowled out for 110, no other batsman, after the departure of the openers, managed to score more than 10.

Sri Lanka opened their account in the tournament with a comfortable win over Netherlands at the North-West University No.1 Ground in Potchefstroom. Their decision to bat was justified by a solid start provided by opener Hiruka Fernando and an attacking innings by Suwini de Alwis, who top-scored with 73, striking nine fours. Sandamali Dolawatta steadied things when Sri Lanka had appeared to lose their way towards the end of their innings with an unbeaten 48. She struck just one four in her knock but kept scoring at a good pace during her 61-ball stay. Sri Lanka managed 245, which proved more than adequate.

Netherlands tried to put up a fight, captain Helmien Rambaldo scoring 67, adding 65 for the second wicket with opener Violet Wattenberg and a further 71 for the third wicket with Annemarie Tanke. However, those runs took too much time to accumulate and Netherlands struggled to match the increasing run-rate. Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardene removed her counterpart to make it 153 for 4 and Netherlands eventually ended up short, finishing on 195 for 8.