South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt expressed her frustration of losing two wickets to part-timer Shafali Verma in the Women’s World Cup summit showdown against India but asserted that the Proteas are doing things right domestically to make three ICC finals in a row. Having lost both the T20 World Cup finals in 2023 (to Australia) and 2024 (to New Zealand), South Africa finished on the wrong side of the result again as India ended their long wait for a world title on Sunday.
South Africa were on track chasing 299 but Shafali’s twin strikes to dismiss key batters Sune Luus (25) and Marizanne Kapp (4) broke the back of their chase. “Yeah, didn’t really expect her to bowl much today so a bit of a surprise factor from them. She just kind of bowled front of the hand and really slow and was able to pick up a couple of wickets,” Wolvaardt told the media after the match. “She bowled pretty well. Frustrating I guess because it’s not really the person you plan for,” she added.
“In a World Cup final you don’t want to lose wickets to a part-time bowler. But frustrating that she was able to pick up two, two big ones as well, and yeah, then almost had to own the side of caution to not give her any more wickets.” Wolvaardt said women’s cricket in her country is on the rise. “After that first one at Newlands (vs Australia), we had domestic contracts introduced (and) that’s really big for our depth as a team. The last one (vs New Zealand) just made us sort of a bigger name in cricket I guess,” she said.
“We’re the team that consistently is making finals now, whereas before it was maybe like a one-time thing so I’m really proud that we’re able to reach three in a row. It shows that we’re doing something right domestically and from a squad perspective, consistency wise,” she added. On personal front, Wolvaardt finished the tournament with 571 runs in nine matches at 71.37, including centuries in the semifinal and final and three half-centuries.
“My ODI cricket has sort of come a long way in this tournament. To win games you’ve got to be nice and positive and nice and aggressive and I’ve really tried to sort of explore that a bit in this tournament,” she said. “It hasn’t been my best year in ODI cricket, I was maybe a bit too conservative or one dimensional, so really happy with the different options that I was able to bring in throughout this tournament.”
Wolvaardt said her side was in the chase for a long time against India. “We were in the chase for a very long time. We were pretty neck and neck with them. When they showed the updates on the scoreboard, I thought me and (Annerie) Derksen’s partnership was pretty big and I thought we were going to take it through to the end,” she said.
India wanted Cup more than us: Mashimbyi
Navi Mumbai: India wanted to win the Women’s World Cup more than South Africa who will give it a “good go” in the next edition, said head coach Mandla Mashimbyi after their loss in the summit clash. South Africa, who made their third consecutive final in ICC women’s events and first time in ODIs, lost to India by 52 runs in a contest where they were well placed in a chase of 299 with skipper Laura Wolvaardt (101) leading the charge.
“The way India played the game, they came out (hard) in the first 10 overs. We pegged them back in the last 40 overs. There was a time we were expecting them to score 350, 360. For them to not get to 300 was really a good effort from our bowlers,” Mashimbyi told the media after the match on Sunday. “(But) the way they (India) went about their business with the ball, the way they changed their bowlers gave them the edge because we couldn’t get some rhythm as a batting unit.”
“They kept on taking wickets at crucial stages. But they wanted it on the day, I think, they wanted it more than us and yeah, kudos to them. Well done. They deserve it to win a World Cup at home,” he said. Mashimbyi hoped South Africa will come back stronger in the next edition having managed some commanding victories, including one over hosts India in the league stage. “To see how the team has progressed from the time I took over, it’s obviously a humbling experience for me. But at the same time, I’m sitting here and I’m actually kind of excited because when nobody gave us a chance, we gave ourselves a chance,” he said.
“You look at the team and see where you need to improve, and I know what to do going forward and make sure that we leave no stone unturned.” A respected figure in South African cricket circles for his work across teams from both genders, Mashimbyi also provided some insights into his coaching philosophy. “Well, my name firstly is Mandla Mashimbyi and they’ve got different names,” he replied when asked what separated him from other coaches.
“I just bring a different vibe into the changing. My coaching style is unconventional in terms of me focusing on the person before the cricketer. So more love, care, because the environment for me is much more important than playing cricket itself.” “When people are happy in an environment, they’re able to do what these girls have done throughout this whole tournament and the proof is in the pudding with regards to that, in terms of the performances that the girls have put on,” he added.
Mashimbyi said it is about managing emotions of the players when it comes to coaching the women’s team. “There’s a lot of differentiation around that fact (coaching men’s and women’s sides). Cricket is cricket, whether you’re coaching women or men. The language that I use with the boys, I’m using with the girls,” he said. “But maybe you can speak to the fact that maybe the women are a little bit more emotional and it’s about getting those emotions channeled in the right way, and then once you get that right, then you’re getting a complete cricketer,” he said.
Mashimbyi said irrespective of South Africa’s loss in the final, their campaign is bound to inspire the coming generation of players. “It has inspired a lot of people back home. We had 60 million people supporting us. They were really happy for us because we’ve done something that has never been done before,” he said. “People are going to look at cricket differently now. In the world stage, where you go into what they did, in the manner in which they did it, a lot of girls will be inspired to make cricket their career going forward as well,” Mashimbyi added.
