Proteas Women's captain Laura Wolvaardt celebrates her century against India in the third T20I at the Wanderers.
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Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt deflected the attention of her magnificent 115 and instead praised her team for closing out the T20I series against India at the Wanderers on Wednesday evening.
The Proteas had endured a tough tour of New Zealand recently, losing both the T20Is (1-4) and the ODIs (1-2), but have bounced back in spectacular fashion against the ODI world champions on home soil.
Consecutive victories at Kingsmead in Durban the past weekend was followed up by a comprehensive nine-wicket thrashing of India, which sealed the series with two matches still to play.
“Winning a series is not something you get to do every day, so really proud of the group (for how they have played in the series so far),” Wolvaardt said after the Proteas chased down India’s 192/4 with 21 balls to spare.
The turnaround in fortunes is undoubtedly related to Wolvaardt’s return to form after a relatively quiet New Zealand tour. The Proteas skipper has been in imperious form over the course of the three matches with her record-breaking 115 taking her run-tally to an imposing 220.
Her stroke-making at the Bullring was something to behold, scoring powerfully both sides of the wicket, but she believes the intent was due to the large total India had set.
“When you are chasing, you need a pretty good start, so just came out with a lot of intent. Just tried to play my shots, back my strengths and after the Powerplay wanted to keep going,” she said.
“I realized pretty early it was a good surface. Just wanted to maximise the powerplay. You’ve got to get ahead of the rate early (in such run-chases).”
The new opening partnership with Sune Luus is certainly blossoming with the pair’s record 183-run stand following on from their 106-run partnership in the second game at Kingsmead on Sunday.
The pair also put on a 173 runs for the second wicket against Ireland in Cape Town last December, illustrating their good understanding at the crease.
Wolvaardt claimed it was due to their communication out in the middle.
“We keep each other pretty calm out there,” she said.
The two sides will be back at the Wanderers on Saturday evening for the fourth match of the series before its conclusion in Benoni on Monday.
The skipper admitted there will in likelihood be a rotation of the squad for the remainder of the series with the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup looming.
“We will see (On the rest of the series and if they will make changes). We have won the series, World Cup in mind, so there will be a couple,” Wolvaardt added.