Guwahati, Oct 29 (PTI) Having played the most defining knock of her career to ensure South Africa's maiden entry into Women's ODI World Cup final, skipper Laura Wolvaardt found the feeling to be surreal.
Sent into bat, Wolvaardt led from the front with a mesmerizing 169 off 143 balls to power South Africa to 319 for 7 in 50 overs. The Proteas women then had Marizanne Kapp take a five-for as England were bundled out for 194.
"It still feels a bit unreal. I think that's sort of the thing that you dream about as a kid is scoring 100 in a World Cup, knockout game as well. Very special day and I'm so glad we won in the end. We knew the start would be crucial," Wolvaardt said at the post-match presentation ceremony..
"Very special. Everyone is really excited. Having lost to this opposition in two previous editions in the semis, it really hurt the group. Really pleased to get the win tonight.
She also had words of appreciation for fellow opener Tazmin Brits (45), with whom shared 116 runs for the first wicket..
"I think Taz (Brits) and I have been really strong at the top of the order and we've done well at the top. We've sort of picked up the rest of the line-up, so really happy we were able to get that partnership up front. We did end up in front quite early.
"It was a decent wicket, so we just wanted to keep going. Really nice that we got to a big score because it was a pretty flat wicket out there. I think in the back of my mind, I know I had better shots (talking about the leg-side big hits towards the end), but I was really just wanting to get to the 40th over to let Nadine, Annerie, Chloe really work for those last 10," Wolvaardt said. "I thought while I'm there, I might as well try and swing. So yeah, happy to go a few of those leg side boundaries. Maybe needed a bit earlier." Her highest ODI score is 184 but in terms of significance, she had no hesitation in terming the 169 as her best effort.
"Probably has to be the top (ranking her knock), I think just the context of the game, World Cup semi-final. Winning the game against a very strong side, a very strong bowling attack. Yeah, I think it's right up there." Not at our best, admits Nat Sciver-Brunt ============================= England skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt admitted that they were not at their best on the night and the defeat will take some time to sink in.
"You had to put a whole game together. We didn't do that today, and we're obviously hugely disappointed. It will take a bit of time to sink in, but yeah, just disappointed," Scover-Brunt said.
While praising Wolvaardt for her effort, the England skipper felt that her Proteas counterpart had the best of batting conditions in the afternoon.
"Obviously, she (Wolvaardt) had the best of the conditions. She knew what she was doing and really took advantage. There were some explosive batters coming in as well, making it very difficult for us. Like I said, you have to put whole innings together at least, and then obviously the second innings as well." Losing three wickets in first seven balls did prove to be decisive.
"Obviously, it's not ideal losing three very quick wickets. So yeah, that made the chase difficult from the start, but I think the way that Capsey and I, I suppose, put together a partnership, showed that we were up with where the South Africans were in their first innings. So yeah, we obviously needed to do it for a lot longer than we did in the end." Sciver-Brunt is confident that there are lessons to be learnt from this World Cup campaign and get better in coming days.
"I think we've come a long way since the summer. I think we're a different side, certainly, from then, and we've learned a lot about ourselves.
"Obviously this will hurt, but hopefully in time we'll be able to take the learnings from it and move forward because we've made some great strides so far in quite a short space of time. Obviously to beat the best teams you have to really be at your best. And yeah, hopefully we'll come back stronger the next time," she concluded. PTI SSC SSCled from KHS
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
