Ireland women edged out by Zimbabwe in South Africa quadrangular tournament

Leinster's Laura Delany is captaining Ireland in the quadrangular tournament in South Africa

Ireland's women suffered a second defeat in the Quadrangular Series in South Africa as Zimbabwe clinched a six-wicket win in Potchefstroom.

With Shauna Kavanagh top-scoring with 53, Ireland were dismissed for 209 after 46.1 overs.

Zimbabwe looked in a degree trouble at 86-4 but unbeaten knocks of 65 and 46 from Mary-Anne Musonda and Sharne Mayers saw them win in 47 overs.

Ireland were crushed by 10 wickets by India in their opening game on Sunday.

Kavanagh and Jennifer Gray produced Ireland's best partnership as they contributed 54 for the fifth wicket.

Leah Paul's 33 helped Ireland recover from the early departure of opener Mary Waldron but after looking set to reach in excess of 230 as they moved to 193-6, the Irish lost their final four wickets for only 16 runs.

Kavanagh and Rachel Delaney both took two wickets to boost Irish hopes before Musonda and Mayers produced their match-winning 125 partnership.

Seven uncapped players - Aoife Beggs, Rachel Delaney, Louise Little, Lara Maritz, Sophie MacMahon, Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokell - were included in Ireland's 15-woman squad for the tournament as they were without several of their regulars.

Ireland's women missed out on earning a place at this year's World Cup in England at the qualification tournament in Sri Lanka in February.