“Played some brilliant cricket throughout. Outplayed today. We were in it for a lot of the chase. Just lost too many wickets.” - Laura Wolvaardt
Telford Vice / Cape Town
WHEN South Africa’s players snuggled into their huddle on the outfield after India’s innings in the World Cup final at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, what was said? Probably the usual stuff about doing the basics properly, staying in the game and not panicking.
What was thought might have been more revealing.
How had Marizanne Kapp, fresh off a career-best 5/20 against England in the semifinal in Guwahati on Wednesday, not taken a single wicket? For only the sixth time in the 40 innings in which she had bowled all 10 of her overs — and not since she went for 58 against the Indians in Lucknow in March 2021 — she had not been rewarded. On Sunday she conceded one more run than that, and Deepti Sharma’s hoist over extra cover in the 48th after Kapp pitched her wide yorker too short was the only six hit off her in the tournament.
Kapp is the beating heart of her team. If she doesn’t fire, that’s not good. And there was more where that worry came from.
How had a team who are among the best fielding units in the game, and were again on Sunday when the ball was hit on the ground, wasted four chances? Even Laura Wolvaardt, who has taken all but two of the 22 chances that have come her way from 2022, squandered one of them. Albeit it was difficult — she had to dive forward at long-on, and Deepti Sharma’s drive off Nonkululeko Mlaba snuck under her hands.
Probably the South Africans didn’t know then that, to overhaul India’s 298/7, they would need the highest successful chase in a World Cup final. Or the fourth-highest in all women’s ODIs. Or a chase 24 runs bigger than any they had yet accomplished.
Maybe they did know, or at least feel, that the game was gone. Even then. That Shafali Verma’s resurrection — she came into the fray as an injury replacement for Pratika Rawal — and the force of nature we call Deepti had pushed the match out of their reach. Shafali scored 87 off 78, Deepti made 58 off as many balls, and that wouldn’t be the last South Africa would hear from them.
Wolvaardt, whose 169 in the semi had at least as much to do with South Africa reaching the final as Kapp’s bowling, delivered another performance that went above and beyond. Her 101 on Sunday made her only the second woman after Alyssa Healy to score centuries in a World Cup semi and a final. It also gave her 571 runs in the tournament — a record. The difference is that Healy’s 129 against West Indies in Wellington and 170 against England in Christchurch took Australia to the title in 2022.
Wolvaardt’s efforts weren’t enough to do that. She said so herself in fits and starts in her television interview: “Played some brilliant cricket throughout. Outplayed today. We were in it for a lot of the chase. Just lost too many wickets.”
All of which was true. South Africa deserved their place in the final. They didn’t deserve to win it. It really is that simple. India were easily the better team. There was no suspense. There should be no scars. But there were tears. There can’t not be when you’ve lost the 2023 and 2024 T20 World Cup finals to Australia and New Zealand. And now this, and with it the knowledge that Kapp, the most South African of South Africa’s players, perhaps the greatest cricketer of any gender from her country — and who will turn 36 in January — surely will not have another chance to shoot for World Cup glory.
“Really sad that it’s possibly her last one,” Wolvaardt said. “The whole group really wanted to win it for her.”
Ah. What can you do. Here in South Africa, particularly if you live or have lived on our east coast, you know about the Indian Ocean and the many who have crossed it to live in our country and become central to its society. The water of that ocean is warm and its energy is irresistible, and you would have to be hard-hearted not to feel a connection with the people on the other side of it. And be happy, or at least accepting, that they won.
They did because Deepti took 5/39 and Shafali claimed 2/36, and because Harmanpreet Kaur, at extra cover, backpedalled furiously, lurched upward, and took the catch to remove Nadine de Klerk that ended the match and made India winners by 52 runs.
Harmanpreet is often painted as an angry woman. Wolvaardt is written off as emotionless. That both of them had shiny eyes at the end of all that told its own story. Be grateful that you have the freedom to cry when the need takes you. Not all of us have that privilege.
Cricbuzz
"What can you do. Here in South Africa, particularly if you live or have lived on our east coast, you know about the Indian Ocean and the many who have crossed it to live in our country and become central to its society. The water of that ocean is warm and its energy is irresistible, and you would have to be hard-hearted not to feel a connection with the people on the other side of it."
Beautifully put.
Thank you.
India's depth of batting power and depth of playing talent is immense. When you add this to the team's emphatic victory over the Proteas last Sunday in the final at the DY Patil stadium. You are left with the impression of the ever widening gap now emerging between India and the rest of the world in women's white ball cricket. Jemimah Rodrigues 125 not out in the semi final against the Champions, Australia, along with Harmanpreet Kaur's 87 was sensational and compelling for every cricket fan to enjoy. Laura Woolvaardt's magnificent innings in the semi final and final highlighted the gulf in class between her and the rest of Proteas batting line up. Nowhere is this more obvious and than in the upper and middle order of its batting line up. Where Bosch, Luus, Jafta have consistently failed to deliver throughout the tournament and left it to the all rounders of Kapp, de Klerk, Tryon and Dercksen to dig them out of a hole. The other striking feature of the Proteas is the consistent failure of Jafta through her lack of mobility and awareness behind the stumps to support the bowlers and put pressure on the batters. At best she is a stopper and a batter who consistently struggles to decide whether to play forward or back when facing opposition bowlers. Which is simply not good enough at this level. There are much better batsmen/keepers currently playing in the Hollywood Bets teams, who deserve a chance to play for the team because of their skills sets and not their colour. The second big issue for coach Mandla and CSA to address is finding two more fast bowlers to support Kapp, Khaka and de Klerk. The women's global game is moving to a new level and if the Proteas want to build on their success of getting to the last three final of the T20/50 Over World Cup. They need new athletic and talented players to start filling the shortfall in the team's batting and bowling line ups. My reasons for saying this are because the team's sucess has elevated women's professional sport in SA to a new level and it needs all the financial and branding support it can get from, Government, DSAC, CSA, sponsors and broadcasters, to create a Betway SA 20 franchise women's league to play alongside the men's teams and attract the best players to it to raise standards. This is the only way the team can regularly go toe to toe with India, Australia, in the future and beat them!