Gaby Lewis took no consolation from being awarded Player-of-the-Series after Ireland threw away a strong position in their T20 decider against South Africa at Sydney Parade and slumped to an eight-wicket defeat.

Captain Lewis made 29 from 32 balls to take her aggregate to 112 for the three-match series, and a 54-run third-wicket partnership with Shauna Kavanagh build a strong platform to raise hopes of a competitive total.

But when Kavanagh was run out for a top score of 33 at the start of the 15th over, the home side spiralled from 89-3 to 104 all out and in very similar circumstances to Monday’s second match, South Africa eased to victory with 6.1 overs to spare.

“When you get in you should be expecting to bat longer,” Lewis said, playing down her three solid contributions as opener. “We got a great start but similar to Monday we lost our way in those middle overs and that’s something we need to work on.”

Ireland will now host South Africa in a three-match ODI World Championship series at Clontarf, starting on Saturday.