Orla Prendergast collected the Player-of-the-Series award at Clontarf yesterday but her second successive half-century wasn’t enough to maintain Ireland’s nine-match winning streak in T20s as they lost to Pakistan by eight wickets.

Muneeba Ali hit an unbeaten century to see her side to a consolation win with 14 balls to spare but the Girls in Green only have themselves to blame as they dropped the opener three times.

Choosing to bat, Gaby Lewis got the Ireland innings off to a flyer with 36 from 22 balls before she was sawn off by a poor lbw decision and with Amy Hunter on her way to 29 the home side were well placed on 79-1 at the halfway stage.

As is so often the case, the solid platform didn’t lead to a score that put the game beyond the opposition — despite Prendergast batting through the last 10 overs — and a total of 155-4 was barely better than par.

Take nothing away from Prendergast’s 64 not out from 46 balls, with eight fours, but the devastating top gear and acceleration that she has to her game proved elusive for once..

The Pembroke all-rounder remained defiant, though, with a cheeky nod to the progress Ireland are making as she received her award.

“There is still a sense that we ‘shock’ these higher-ranked reams when we beat them and I’d like to know how many times we have to beat them before it isn’t a shock any more,” she said.

“I think we’ve shown in this series how good a team we are and although we were off the mark today we need more and more games like this.”

The 2-1 series win will put Ireland in good heart going into the European qualifiers for the T20 World Cup, which start in Rotterdam on August 21.