Wolwaardt insists SA better than what margin of defeat suggests following a harrowing loss to England yesterday.
Wolvaardt on South Africa’s defeat: ‘We are much, much better than 69 all out’.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt attributed South Africa’s loss to “one of those days where the top order and the middle order failed on the same day” in their opening match against England in the Women’s World Cup. South Africa lost by 10 wickets after being sent in to bat in Guwahati and bowled out for 69, their third-lowest total in women’s ODIs.
According to Wolvaardt, they were “much better than 69 all out” and supported her in her comeback.
“I think our prep has been good, I don’t think there were too many demons in the pitch,” she said after the match. “It was just one of those days where everyone went out early and that happens in cricket sometimes. It was not a pitch that we were super foreign to. We spent a lot of time in these conditions in the last couple of months, so definitely wouldn’t put it on the wicket.
“We are much, much better than 69 all out. As a group, we just need to put it behind us as quickly as we can and move forward, because if we’re going to take that into the next game, it’s going to be a very long tournament for us.”
Given that England possessed two different types of left-arm spinners—Sophie Ecclestone having a far higher release point than Linsey Smith—South Africa was prepared for their arrival.
Baakier Abrahams, South Africa’s batting coach, kept a careful eye on Wolvaardt’s preparation against left-arm spin on the eve of the game. He explicitly instructed the net bowlers to bowl from wide of the crease and to alter their angle. On Friday, however, Wolvaardt chipped a return catch and Smith dismissed him with just two balls.
“You can’t really fault our preparation. Yesterday, personally, I was super specific in my training,” Wolvaardt said. “I had someone bowl like Lauren Bell would and I had the left-armer [bowling] at me. I had already planned which guard I would take and what my options were and what my strong options were. To have that soft dismissal today was very disappointing with all the preparation that we had put in. We’ve been very well-informed by all of our coaches. It’s just one of those days where we played the wrong line for the ball swinging in.”