Proteas semifinal triumph is good for women's cricket

About 20 minutes had passed since the winning runs were struck and Marizanne Kapp was still seated in the same place in the South African team’s dugout, padded up, waiting to bat. 

“You look like you’re ready to go and bat still,” joked her teammate Chloe Tryon.

“When do we play again,” Kapp asked?

“Sunday,” Tryon replied.

“I’m preparing for Sunday,” said Kapp.

That response, from the country’s greatest female cricketer, summed up the mentality of this Proteas team.

This job is far from done. It was a sentiment expressed more than once by the captain.

“We know we still have that one big hurdle,” said Laura Wolvaardt.

Yet the job they’d just completed, defeating one of modern sport’s greatest teams, was a monumental one. The ramifications were resonating in the immediate aftermath.

“As painful as Thursday’s defeat was for them, even the Australians felt that from a wider perspective the outcome would benefit the women’s game. 

“If it turns out to be a New Zealand vs South Africa [final] it’s going to be cool to see a fresh winner of that trophy and show how far the women’s game has come,” said Australian captain Alyssa Healey. 

She was forced to sit out Thursday’s match after rupturing a tendon in her right foot and her face as South Africa eased to victory illustrated the oddity of what was unfolding in front of her. 

Australia has won six of the eight women’s T20 World Cups and had been on a 15-match winning streak in the competition dating to the 2020 event they hosted.

It was in that tournament that they’d suffered their last defeat, to India.

India and England were expected to be the major threats to the Australians in this year’s tournament.

As with men’s cricket, the women’s game is increasingly dominated by the same “Big three” who have the greater financial resources to back the sport.

Those three nations host the most lucrative franchise competitions, the Women’s Premier League in India, the Hundred in England the Big Bash in Australia. 

Those tournaments have players from around the world featuring in them.

Wolvaardt and Kapp are contracted in all three competitions and the exposure they’re getting to different styles of play and coaching methods is benefiting, in their case, the Proteas.

“The investment and the opportunities there are to play cricket around the world in different conditions and at all times of the year has done great things for the world game. We’re seeing teams benefit from that, which is awesome,” said Healey.

Though not as flush with cash as those countries, South Africa has invested heavily in the women’s game in the past decade, increasing professional contracts from six in 2014 to 66 this year.

The impact of sponsors such as Momentum — who made contracting women’s players part of their commercial backing for Cricket SA — and lately Hollywoodbets — which is sponsoring the domestic competitions — has been significant. 

Kapp and Wolvaardt are among the world’s top players and South Africa's qualification for a second consecutive World Cup final will be a major source of inspiration for young players aiming to strap on pads and attempt to sweep like Anneke Bosch or hit a cover drive like Wolvaardt. 

At international level, women’s cricket needed Thursday.

While everyone has rightly noted the gap with Australia had closed and the standards had improved, it needed South Africa to win in such dominant fashion to show those sentiments were true. 

The tournament needed it as well. Though attendance at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was small, the noise emanating from the stands every time Bosch or Wolvaardt struck a boundary was loud and the opinions voiced on social media highlighted how viewers were desperate for something different. 

“The prospect of potentially a new winner for this tournament is hugely exciting,” said Healy.