Apart from the opening game against England, whenever SA have been posed difficult questions, their players have made themselves count
Madushka Balasuriya17-Oct-20253:09
Review: SA one step closer to semis, SL further away
South Africa have one foot in the semi-finals, but of all the cricketing nations, they will be the least likely to get ahead of themselves. Though if anything were to prepare them for some unlikely hiccups it would be this World Cup campaign.Against England, their batting fell apart. Against New Zealand, this was rectified as the top order took charge of middling chase. But against India, the top-order once more struggled, before the lower-order and a magnificent Nadine de Klerk innings took them to a famous win. It was a similar story against Bangladesh as the lower order came to the rescue. But the common theme has been that at each time of asking, South Africa have been ready with the answers.Related
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Wolvaardt, Brits fifties put SA closer to semi-final berth
“It’s been great. It’s sort of felt like the whole team has contributed in different parts of this tournament, which has been awesome,” South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said after their 10-wicket win against Sri Lanka on Friday.”We definitely haven’t relied on one or two people. Whether it’s Nadine and Chloe [Tryon] getting us out of the hole, or, you know, me and Taz [Tazmin Brits] battling all today. The whole bowling unit has been amazing too, and I think our feeling has been pretty decent as well throughout the tournament. So, it’s just nice to see all those pieces of the puzzle sort of coming together.”Against Sri Lanka, Wolvaardt and her side had their hands full in finding the right puzzle pieces to navigate a heavily rain-curtailed game. There were five hours and 14 minutes between the the last ball of the first innings’ 11th over and the first ball of the 12th. In fact, the game was on the verge of being called off before the rains unexpectedly eased and a restart time was announced. In that moment, all previous strategies and plans went out the window.For Sri Lanka, it meant they had to switch gears instantly, from having 38 overs left in a 50-over game, to having eight left in a reduced 20-over affair. But with eight wickets in hand, it was a fairly straightforward equation in terms of what was required from them.
“I think we’re still searching for that perfect game as a team”Laura Wolvaardt
For South Africa however, it was trickier. For one, each bowler could now bowl only four overs each under the revised playing conditions. This meant that both Marizanne Kapp and Masabata Klaas, who had bowled five overs each prior to the rain interruption could not be used further.”That was a little bit tricky, especially because Kappy and Klaas are usually quite big for us in the death. So we had to sort of go to the left-arm spinners, which we don’t do too often, too late in the game. But I thought they bowled brilliantly.”Nonkululeko Mlaba finished with three wickets•Getty ImagesAdding to Wolvaardt and South Africa’s problems was that the amount of rain that fell meant that, even despite the entire ground being covered and the super sopper being used, the “ball was like a bar of soap.””Especially after that five hour break, I think we looked a bit nervy when we came back on the field, a couple of missed fields,” Wolvaardt said. “So I think we did a great job of sort of removing [that from our minds] and getting those wickets in the end.”Leading the way on this front was none other than Wolvaardt. On the seventh ball after the restart, a skier off a leading edge was dropped – a first hint at how difficult this wet ball would be to grip. But she ensured there would be no further stumbles with two otherwise straightforward catches held to dismiss both set batters at that point.While the catches in and of itself weren’t difficult, the message it sent across was clear – this is yet one more problem to be solved. Which meant that when Wolvaardt threw the ball to Nonkululeko Mlaba, and asked her to bowl four of the eight overs remaining, it was less a question and more of a challenge, to once more defy the odds.”Lefty [Mlaba] loves a challenge,” Wolvaardt said. “She was asked the other day what would be her favourite place to bowl and she said, ‘probably the death.'”She said she really likes it when the batter is coming at her, so it challenges her, and gets her into a very competitive zone. Yeah, I thought she bowled very well.”Mlaba’s figures at the end read 3 for 30 in four overs, but her final over brought three runs and three wickets. Along with de Klerk’s four-run penultimate over, it proved to the difference as the DLS-adjusted target was 121 and not closer to 150.Not that a higher target would have likely made a difference with how Wolvaardt and Brits approached their chase, ensuring minimal risks were taken as they knocked off the target with 31 deliveries left to spare.”It hasn’t been the best tournament for me overall, so very nice to hit a few,” Wolvaardt said. “Obviously a reduced game, so I just sort of thought of normal T20 plans. So Taz and I just went out as if it was a normal T20, and both got off to decent starts, and just kept going for the side.”Whisper it, but this was a display of potential champions. Sure, the juggernaut that is Australia awaits at some point, but South Africa, like their captain, just keep ticking along, and finding answers. For Wolvaardt though, the key is in ensuring that it all comes together at the right time.”I think we’re still searching for that perfect game as a team, where the top order fires and the middle order fires – which is exciting, because we’re still winning games even though certain things aren’t perfect,” she said. “Hopefully, if we do make those semifinals, it’ll all come together.”