'Badass' Wolvaardt optimistic about Proteas' World Cup chances

Where previous build-ups to World Cups might have seen Laura Wolvaardt immersed in a book or visualising her batting, on Wednesday the Proteas captain sat atop a camel. 

“It’s definitely one of the stranger things I’ve done on a cricket field,” she said. As part of her pre-tournament duties as skipper, Wolvaardt, along with the other nine captains, did a promotional video shoot for the International Cricket Council at the Dubai International Stadium. 

Australia’s Alyssa Healy got off easy, posing with a hawk, others just stood around, while Wolvaardt and her West Indies counterpart, Hayley Matthews, hopped on camels. 

“It was very unexpected, but it was fun and the video was cool. We looked quite badass with the camels and the birds. I’m not the biggest wild animal person, but they were very tame, and really sweet,” she said.

In her first tournament as captain, it was another part of being in that job that Wolvaardt needed to take on board. “(Sune Luus) was telling me at the last World Cup how there was a lot of ‘extra stuff’ that she had to do off the field. I never really believed her, but now I’ve seen it first-hand — it's been a lot this week, interviews, appearances and a lot less free time than I am used to heading into a competition,” said Wolvaardt. 

She has carefully learnt to balance the twin responsibilities of captaincy and being the team’s best batter since she assumed the leadership at the start of last season. Wolvaardt has made hundreds in all three formats, also battled through a run of poor form in SA’s tour to Australia earlier this year, all while overseeing a team still going through transition and CSA bungling the process of appointing a permanent head coach. 

Nevertheless Wolvaardt is optimistic about her team’s chances. They may no longer have the bowling force that was Shabnim Ismail — who was instrumental in the run to the final in the last tournament — in their ranks, but have developed a more attacking batting style, and have a crop of all-rounders who provide balance to the batting unit and variety with the ball.    

“We’re a talented group of players, we’ve had a few ups and downs recently, but we’ve put in a lot of good, hard work. I’d like to think we’ve got some really clear plans, and hopefully we are peaking at the right time, and if we play our best cricket we stand a really good chance.”

The Proteas start their tournament on Friday at the Dubai venue against West Indies, an opponent they haven’t faced in more than 18 months. 

Wolvaardt cited Deandra Dottin, who retired from international cricket in 2022 but reversed that decision two years later, to play the World Cup, and Matthews as the two players the Proteas needed to keep in check. “Hayley Matthews, is in the best form she has been in in a long time. She’s the main wicket, we have to get her early, or keep her quiet.”

Though lacking Ismail’s pace, in Marizanne Kapp, the reliable Nadine de Klerk, Ayabonga Khaka, Tumi Sekhukhune and Annerie Dercksen, the Proteas have a solid seam bowling line-up. However, it's the spinners who will lead the way, on what are expected to be slow, low and turning tracks in the UAE. 

Nonkululeko Mlaba and Chloe Tryon are experienced campaigners, but it is the former skipper Luus who has Wolvaardt most excited. 

After dropping leg-spin bowling when she was captain, Luus approached stand-in coach Dillon du Preez last year about bowling off-spin. “It’s gone better than expected,” said Wolvaardt. Besides Luus’s batting reaching levels not previously seen, her off-spin has provided Wolvaardt with control and an extra wicket-taking option. 

“It gives us a different dynamic and helps with match-ups. Previously we’ve just had the two left arm spinners and that makes it difficult if there are two left-hand batters, because it’s just bowling into their arc.”

In a group that also contains England, Bangladesh and Scotland, Friday’s match is critical to both West Indies and SA’s chance of qualifying for the semifinals. “They are not a team we can take lightly, you never really know what you will get with the West Indies,” said Wolvaardt.