Wolvaardt’s innings ended when a full straight delivery from Megan Schutt struck her in front of leg stump as she pursued her next boundary. As she walked off Newlands rose to her, knowing with her went the team’s hopes of a World Cup win, but also that they’d witnessed one of the finest batting displays in a pressure situation by a South African player for many a year.
“That was something very special,” said Proteas skipper Sune Luus.
“I think you want your players to step up on the big occasions and that's exactly what she did. She's shown her class again today.”
It’s been quite a turnaround for Wolvaardt in the past two weeks.
Having started the tournament with scores of 18, 13 and 19, looking like she was struggling to deal with expectations in a home World Cup, she produced match-winning performances in the final group match against Bangladesh, the semifinal against England and that 61 off 48 balls with five fours and three sixes in the final. She finished as the tournament's top run-scorer with 230 runs at a strike rate of 106.48.
Wolvaardt, who quite incredibly didn’t earn a Women’s Premier League contract, said she was looking forward to a few weeks off which will include time on the golf course.
“It’s going to be a bit weird tomorrow, to drive home down the road. t’s going to feel a bit awkward. It will take a few days to let everything sink in and take in what happened.”
Wolvaardt’s greatness takes Proteas to the brink of glory
SA’s imperious batter ended as the tournament’s top run-scorer with 230 runs at a strike rate of 106.48
Laura Wolvaardt stood, back straight, bat slung over her right shoulder, eyes fixed on whatever in front of her. Something, nothing, winning.
It was the start of the 13th over and a packed Newlands, her home ground where before this tournament she had dreamed of playing, was losing hope. They had screamed for every dot ball from the start of Sunday’s World Cup final.
They had roared every wicket. They had hope a target of 157 would be knocked over.
But they’d been silenced by Australia’s nagging precision, their great fighting qualities and just the fact they are so bloody good — one of the greatest sports teams in history, never mind gender.
However, Wolvaardt had trust in her talent at the start of the 13th over and she crouched into position and set about giving everyone more reason to scream and believe.
“We really had to go at that point,” she said.
A few no-balls from Tahlia McGrath gave the Proteas some impetus. One straight strike off a free hit was heading for six, but the remarkable Ellyse Perry unleashed her inner AFL talents to restrict that shot to two runs.
Never mind, Wolvaardt then dropped to her back knee and slogged the fourth ball of the over into the Oaks for six. A quite brilliant shot that elicited the necessary reaction from the crowd.
“We want more! We want more! We want more!” they chanted.
Wolvaardt was ready to give them that.
“It was very cool, we could hear every cheer and every scream. I hit a few sixes, it was the coolest thing ever, the crowd was just so loud.”
An on-drive for four by Wolvaardt’s batting partner, Chloe Tryon gave the charge another lift and then Wolvaardt delivered one of those characteristic lofted drives that draw gasps and at that moment a guttural roar.
Up in the top suite of the main grand stand Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was dancing, demanding more magic.
“He’s been texting me a bit, just mindset stuff, I’ve been learning off him quite a bit.”
There followed a flowing cover drive to bring up a third consecutive half-century that, at that point, had the crowd believing and the Australians worried. Alyssa Healy was gee-ing up her teammates, reminding them to stay focused. Another straight drive brought another boundary.
“We had a few really good overs in a row, the one with all the no balls and the one just after that. But going at 12s against Australia is always tough, especially at the death when they bring all their spinners on, they have really good plans.”
And that was the problem for the Proteas at that stage. As superb as Wolvaardt was playing, the required rate never dropped below 12 an over. They paid the price for their slow start, a result of what Wolvaardt felt was her trying to hit the ball too hard and Australia’s excellent control of line and particularly length with the new ball.
Wolvaardt’s innings ended when a full straight delivery from Megan Schutt struck her in front of leg stump as she pursued her next boundary. As she walked off Newlands rose to her, knowing with her went the team’s hopes of a World Cup win, but also that they’d witnessed one of the finest batting displays in a pressure situation by a South African player for many a year.
“That was something very special,” said Proteas skipper Sune Luus.
“I think you want your players to step up on the big occasions and that's exactly what she did. She's shown her class again today.”
It’s been quite a turnaround for Wolvaardt in the past two weeks.
Having started the tournament with scores of 18, 13 and 19, looking like she was struggling to deal with expectations in a home World Cup, she produced match-winning performances in the final group match against Bangladesh, the semifinal against England and that 61 off 48 balls with five fours and three sixes in the final. She finished as the tournament's top run-scorer with 230 runs at a strike rate of 106.48.
Wolvaardt, who quite incredibly didn’t earn a Women’s Premier League contract, said she was looking forward to a few weeks off which will include time on the golf course.
“It’s going to be a bit weird tomorrow, to drive home down the road. t’s going to feel a bit awkward. It will take a few days to let everything sink in and take in what happened.”
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