Rare Test outing offers Wolvaardt chance to rekindle form with bat

Besides her own unusually poor form, South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt will also be have to carefully manage her players, with temperature gauges forecast to hit 40ºC during the one-off Test against Australia in Perth. 

The WACA, which will host the historic match — the first in the Test format for the Proteas women against Australia — will be like a furnace, with temperatures expected to hit 42ºC on the opening day Thursday, 36ºC on Saturday and 40ºC again on the final day, on Sunday.

“Our recovery will be key, we’re not used to going back to back to back, so the physical and mental aspects will be difficult, but we will have to deal with it,” said Wolvaardt. 

The heatwave that has impacted the Western Australian capital will be a challenge for both teams, of course, and will affect the decision at the toss, with Wolvaardt and her counterpart Alyssa Healy having to take into account the physical demands on their bowlers especially, and needing to keep them fresh for a final day where temperatures are going to be very high. 

“I think the heat is going to be a big factor on concentration levels and that resilience factor as well,” said Healy. “We are fit enough to handle that. We spent the last little bit over in the east coast where it’s ridiculously humid, so coming over here for the dry heat is a little bit of a relief in a way,” she said on match eve. We’ll have everything in place from a high performance point of view, to make sure we get the best out of everyone and we’ll manage ourselves as well.”

South Africa will keep a close eye on Marizanne Kapp, who has had problems previously in the heat and had to skip a T20 World Cup semifinal in 2020 in Sydney because of a heart condition. Kapp’s training has been carefully managed in the build-up and should she bowl, it’s likely Wolvaardt will use her in very short spells. 

As for her own form, Wolvaardt was hoping the change in format and the shift from east to west coast, would bring a change in fortune. “I had a good couple of days in the nets to fix the small technical areas that have me nicking off the whole time,” she said.

Wolvaardt has made one half-century in six innings across the T20 and ODI series’. “Conditions in the ODIs were challenging, the ball was swinging around. It might do a bit more here but at least I have more time to get into good positions, leave the ball, and hopefully I can spend more time out there and hopefully it takes just one or two shots and I’ll be back.”