A powerful unbeaten 70 from Ally Shields secured a second win for the Ulster Grasshoppers on their South African tour as they beat Scorpions by 42 runs.

The North Down batsman smashed 7 fours and 3 sixes in his 56-ball innings, allowing the tourists to post 199 for 8 from their 40 overs.

Yet again they had been in early trouble at 28 for 4, before a fifth wicket stand of 66 between skipper Glenn Halliday (33) and Callum Atkinson (26).

They weren out of the woods as they teetered at 129 for 7, but Shields shepherded the tail to get them to a defendable total.

The hosts looked well set as they reached 89 for 2 in the chase, but the Grasshoppers fought back strongly yet again.

Two wickets apiece for Arnie Wright, Peter Davison, Matty McCord and Richard Simpson sealed the welcome win.

They face a tough challenge on Sunday as they take on a powerful Claremont side as the tour enters its final stages.

Scorecard:

1-Innings Match Played At Stellenbosch, 13-Jan-2024, South Africa 2024
Ulster Grasshoppers Win by 44 runs
Toss won by Ulster Grasshoppers
Home Side Scorpions
Ulster Grasshoppers 1st Innings 199/8 Closed (Overs 40)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s
J Waite c ? b G Skelding 19 40 26 3 0
J Beattie   b R van der Heede 2 15 4 0 0
S Best lbw b R van der Heede 0 6 1 0 0
G Halliday* c ? b G Stander 33 127 79 0 0
R Waite+ c ? b S Swarts 3 12 10 0 0
C Atkinson c ? b J Raal 26 60 43 2 0
M Daly   c&b P du Plessis 0 4 2 0 0
A Shields not out   70 66 56 7 3
P Davison   c&b G Stander 9 16 10 0 0
A Wright not out   10 17 9 1 0
R Simpson dnb            
extras   (b4 lb3 w20 nb0) 27        
TOTAL   8 wickets for 199        
FOW
1-3(J Beattie) 2-11(S Best) 3-23(J Waite) 4-28(R Waite) 5-94(C Atkinson)
6-95(M Daly) 7-129(G Halliday) 8-159(P Davison)
 
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
R van der Heede 6 1 20 2 - -
G Skelding 7 1 37 1 1 -
S Swarts 5 1 25 1 1 -
H Fourie 5 0 22 0 4 -
P du Plessis 8 0 49 1 1 -
J Raal 4 1 18 1 1 -
G Stander 4 0 10 2 - -
J Engelbrecht 1 0 11 0 - -
Scorpions 1st Innings 155/10 All Out (Overs 38)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s
J Kapp lbw b P Davison 4 6 2 0 0
J Engelbrecht lbw b C Atkinson 32 93 66 2 0
J Dippenaar c Matthew McCord b R Simpson 14 71 48 0 0
H Trollip+   b Matthew McCord 20 33 28 4 0
J Raal c A Shields b R Simpson 9 60 28 0 0
G Stander*   b P Davison 9 29 20 0 0
H Fourie c G Halliday b A Wright 6 8 8 0 0
R van der Heede c ? b J Waite 14 20 11 1 1
S Swarts   b A Wright 0 5 5 0 0
G Skelding not out   6 13 12 0 0
P du Plessis   b Matthew McCord 0 5 2 0 0
extras   (b13 lb3 w24 nb1) 41        
TOTAL   10 wickets for 155        
FOW
1-5(J Kapp) 2-59(J Dippenaar) 3-89(J Engelbrecht) 4-95(H Trollip) 5-115(G Stander)
6-129(H Fourie) 7-133(J Raal) 8-134(S Swarts) 9-151(R van der Heede)
10-155(P du Plessis)
 
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
P Davison 6 0 30 2 1 -
Matthew McCord 7 0 26 2 3 1
R Simpson 8 2 25 2 - -
C Atkinson 6 0 13 1 2 -
A Shields 2 0 23 0 2 -
A Wright 8 2 15 2 - -
J Waite 1 0 7 1 - -