The opening batter asked herself, "Am I ready for this?"
Laura Wolvaardt's first instinct when she was offered the national leadership
was doubt.
Wolvaardt had played 80 ODIs, two of which he skippered in India in 2021, as
well as 167 T20Is. Despite being only 24 years old, her international career
was in its seventh year, and she was among South Africa's top five run scorers
in both white-ball formats. So, why the hesitation?
"I was being thrown in the deep end and having to learn
bowling plans whereas before I was just a batter and could focus on
myself," she added.
Wolvaardt, as a student of the game, could have given herself more credit.
Since taking over, Wolvaardt has guided South Africa to seven wins in 12 ODIs,
including series victories over Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh, as well
as a first-ever triumph against Australia. They are currently second in the
women's championship and are in a strong position to qualify automatically for
the 2025 World Cup. Their shorter format form has not been as impressive, with
only four wins out of ten T20Is (two due to rain), but that included a historic
victory over Australia.
More crucially, the early evidence of her tenure reveals that she not only
understands how to manage a team on the field, but she has also seen the
effects it can have on her own game. "I've been thinking about the game in
a variety of ways, including conditions and opposition. In the long run, it
will improve my hitting. "It has caused me to focus less on myself and my
results," she explained.
Any reservations she had about dividing her attention and lowering her worth to the
team were allayed when she scored an unbeaten 124 as South Africa pursued 254
to win the series against New Zealand. Since then, she has produced a second
match-winning century against Bangladesh and two fifties as captain.
Wolvaardt has scored 474 runs in 12 T20Is at an average of 59.23, a significant
improvement on her overall average of 30.89, and a strike rate of 125.06. That
includes her first T20I century, which she scored only last week against Sri
Lanka.
The number that will catch everyone's attention is the
strike rate, which has increased from 113.72, and her confidence in clearing
the boundary has grown as she has worked harder to build the technique to do so
regularly.
"I had to hit the gym a bit and build a bit of a strength base," she
told me. "I was a little scrawny and lanky when I initially started. Then
it was simply figuring out how power-hitting worked for me.
"When I first started, I lost all of my forms because I
attempted to swing too hard and emulate other power hitters. I still need to
keep shapes and smash solid cricket strokes, and I might need to modify my time
or start earlier. It is not always easy to do. I still try to whack it too hard
and lose all of my shape.
Wolvaardt compares herself to Kane Williamson or "someone like that who is
not known for slogging or whacking but can still put up some decent scores in
T20 cricket," such as "Virat Kohli," since "there's always
so much to learn from cricketers around the world." It also applies
outside of the game.
Though Wolvaardt dropped out of medical school when she
realized she would become an international regular, she has remained involved
in the sport by pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences while playing.
By the middle of the year, she should have completed her degree, which she admits
has been "more of a hassle than a joy" but is part of a backup plan.
"The purpose was to get credits if I go back to medicine someday,"
she went on to say.
But is that truly possible? "It's looking less and less likely that I am
going to be 35 and want to study for six more years."
By then, Wolvaardt could have played another 11 years of
cricket in both international and franchise leagues, and if there is one thing
she wants to accomplish, it is to be a member of a South African team that eventually
wins the World Cup. She believes they are not too far away, having previously
reached the semi-finals and even the final.
"We have talent in our bunch. We've proven it by defeating some of the top
teams in the world. But we need a little more consistency. We've had fantastic
games and then games in which we didn't perform as well as we could have. We
need to work hard in a lot of areas so that we can be consistent in the future
and beat large teams all the time.
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