Laura Wolvaardt, the current captain of the South African Women’s cricket team, is set to lead her squad into the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The 25-year-old right-handed batter has already etched her name in the tournament’s history books with a remarkable achievement. Wolvaardt stands alone as the only female cricketer to have scored three consecutive half-centuries in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. This exceptional achievement not only highlights her consistency but also underscores her pivotal role in South Africa’s T20 World Cup campaign.
66* vs Bangladesh
On February 21, 2023, in the 20th match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup played between South Africa and Bangladesh at Cape Town, Laura Wolvaardt showcased her batting skills and played a magnificent innings by thrashing Bangladesh bowlers all over the ground. While batting first, Bangladesh put up a total of 113/6 in 20 overs, setting the Proteas a target of 114 runs for the win. However, on that day, South African batters had other plans in mind. Openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits continued their exceptional display of batting, leading South Africa to win the match by 10 wickets, as both openers played fantastic innings and chased down the target of 114 runs in just 17.5 overs.
Laura played an impressive knock of an unbeaten 66 runs in just 56 balls with the help of 7 boundaries and 1 maximum at a blistering strike rate of 117.85. On the other hand, Tazmin Brits also played a superb knock of 50 not out in 51 balls. In this innings, Laura showed a great display of powerful batting, effortlessly hitting boundaries in all corners of the ground. With ease, she successfully chased down the target on her own and secured 2 important points in the points table, which helped them qualify for the knockout stage.
53 vs England (Semi-Final)
In the crucial encounter of semi-final 2 between the England and South Africa, played on February 24, 2023, in Cape Town, the hosts won the toss and chose to bat first in the big match to put extra pressure on the opponents in the second innings by setting a big total in the first innings. As per the plan, South African openers Laura and Tazmin provided a good start for their team and made a solid partnership of 96 runs in just 82 balls. Tazmin scored 68 runs, and the Proteas captain Wolvaardt scored 53 runs in just 44 balls.
In this innings, Wolvaardt batted prominently by safely controlling one end of the batting. She scored her second consecutive half-century at a strike rate of 120.45 with the help of 5 boundaries and 1 maximum, which led South Africa to reach a respectable total of 164 runs in 20 overs. In the second innings, South African bowlers completed the job by restricting the England batting lineup to 158/8, helping South Africa reach their first-ever final of the T20 World Cup by winning the semi-final match by a close margin of 6 runs.
61 vs AUS (Final)
In the mega event of the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final between the mighty Australian women’s team and the sensational South African women’s team, on February 26, 2023, Australia batted first after winning the toss and put up a good total of 156/6 in 20 overs. In the second innings, South Africa needed 157 runs to clinch their first-ever ICC title. As usual, the reliable batter and captain of the South African women’s team, Laura Wolvaardt, gave a powerful start to her team and played an impressive innings of 61 runs in 48 balls with the help of 5 boundaries and 3 maximums at a strike rate of 127.08. Laura put on one of the best performances in this final, putting all her efforts into delivering a match-winning performance. Unfortunately, none of the other South African batters helped her in this run chase, resulting in Australia winning the match by 19 runs. South Africa suffered a big blow by losing this important final.
Laura’s performance throughout this T20 World Cup was exceptional, showcasing her pure batting skills. She scored the most runs in the World Cup, accumulating a total of 230 runs in just 6 matches at an average of 46.00, with her highest score being 66 not out. Laura’s performance in this World Cup overpowered other classy batters like Beth Mooney, Smriti Mandhana, and Nat Sciver-Brunt. This was one of the best T20 World Cups ever for Laura Wolvaardt as a batter.
