Laura Wolvaardt

Since making her international debut at age 16, Laura Wolvaardt has already become South Africa’s leading women’s ODI run scorer, and last year was made captain of her country across all formats. She speaks to Wisden.com after a transformational 12 months, as she prepares to lead South Africa into her first major tournament as captain.

Just over a year ago, South Africa seemed in chaos. Although they reached the final of a home T20 World Cup, that campaign and beyond had been littered by the acrimonious retirements of several of their golden generation. Sune Luus resigned from captaincy six months after the tournament, with rumours swirling over a rift with the team management, and vice-captain Chloe Tryon requested a leave of absence from the side.

The burden fell on the then-24-year-old Laura Wolvaardt. Over the following 12 months, Wolvaardt has restored a core of stability to the side and matured into a softly spoken authoritative figure as one of the leading voices for growth for the women’s game in South Africa.

“It’s definitely come earlier than I expected,” says Wolvaardt of taking on the South Africa captaincy. “I’ve been in international cricket for a long time but I still felt I was a little bit young and still figuring out my game, so I thought I was a bit too young to start telling other people what to do in their games.

“I spoke to a lot of people who were close to me on how to go about it. So far it’s been alright but it is a lot to take in. I’m quite an introverted person and now I need to have a lot of conversations and speak in front of the group, which doesn’t come super naturally to me. But I’m seeing it as a cool opportunity to grow as a person, and it seems to suit my batting as well.

“Initially I had a two-month trial period with the captaincy to see if it was something I could manage with my batting because normally I put a lot of effort into my batting role so I thought it might be a bit overwhelming having the captaincy as well. But it actually helped and freed me up a bit as a batter. Before, because I was so focused on myself, my own scores and my own results, whereas now I’m more worried about the conditions and the opposition and who would be best to bowl when. It’s made me think about the game in a slightly different way.”

While South Africa have recorded victories over Australia and New Zealand under her tenure, and most recently tied a T20I series against India, the aspect most impressive has been the acceleration in Wolvaardt’s individual returns.

Since taking over the captaincy, Wolvaardt has scored more runs than anyone else in women’s ODIs (955), with a significant gap to those behind her. No one with more than 420 runs in the format has a higher average than hers in that time (68.21), and she’s scored five centuries in the last 12 months - three more than her nearest competitor in that respect.

Part of that incredible run-scoring spree has been a change of approach at the top.

“I’ve started trying to whack it a bit more upfront and I’m trying to show more intent in the powerplay,” says Wolvaardt. “I think the first two games I played with Manchester [Originals] and in the three T20Is in India I actively tried to go a bit harder in the powerplay and it worked out pretty well. It’s the way that the game is moving and I need to bat in that powerplay if I want to keep making teams and winning games.

“You can’t come out of that powerplay with 30 off 30 every single game, conditions dependent. If I find myself on a good wicket I’m trying to take the game on a bit more, in ODI’s as well. When I started my career I often got to 50 but it was off 70 or 80 balls. Whereas now I’m consciously trying to get there earlier to put us in a better position at the backend.

“I’ve changed my natural reactions to balls. Naturally, I would be quite conservative, hit it along the ground, hit a nice cover drive or block it if it’s not quite there. But now if it’s pitched up in the powerplay when the fielders are up, have a go at whacking it over. I’ve worked a lot in the gym as well to be a little bit stronger and feel like I’m hitting it better.”

Taking on the South Africa captaincy also brought with it an extension of the challenge every female player faces when playing Test cricket. South Africa have already played two Test matches this year, having lost heavily to Australia in Perth and then to India in Chennai. By December, they will have played another when England tour before heading out to Australia. The upshot of that is that by the end of the year South Africa will have played as many Tests in the preceding 12 months as in the two decades beforehand.

Against India in Chennai, Wolvaardt ticked off a personal milestone. Batting in an impossible cause with South Africa having conceded a 337 first innings deficit, Wolvaardt became the third female player, and first South African, to register a century in all three formats. She batted for six and a half hours and scored 122, forcing India to bat again.

“I absolutely love Test cricket,” says Wolvaardt. “I think it suits my game naturally. Everyone always says it’s the ultimate form of the game and the ultimate battle. It’s definitely something I would love to play a lot more of.

“So far it’s been difficult having to play international games without any domestic experience. All of my Test cricket experience has been the three international games that I’ve played, which is a bit weird. It’s hard to adapt to but I think as a team we showed quite a lot of fight with the bat in that second innings in Chennai.”

To add an extra layer of complexity to a side already starved of experience of four-day cricket, all of South Africa’s Tests this year will have been played on different continents. With such varying conditions, when England arrive at Bloemfontein in December, lessons from Perth and Chennai will be hard to translate into what new conditions will bring.

“That makes it even harder,” says Wolvaardt of the challenge. “Just as we thought we were figuring out Test cricket in Chennai with the ball that was ragging and staying low and popping, we might get to Bloemfontein and it’s an absolute road for five days. It’s difficult to adapt to each one without having much experience in it. Australia was a completely different challenge being at the WACA with some of the fastest bowlers in the world steaming in and the balls nipping and swinging both ways… Just as you think you’ve finally figured out the format, the whole thing changes.”

With India currently the only country in the world that plays women’s multi-day cricket domestically, it’s a simple answer as to what needs to change in South Africa to support the increase in Test matches being played.

“Some kind of a red ball training block,” she says. “Whether it’s a mini red ball league back at home or even if we just have two teams playing against each other for a couple of games, just to get used to being on your legs that long and batting for that long. It’s easier said than done with the schedule. We’re barely free for a couple of national camps a year but maybe at one or two of them we could chuck in a three-day game at the end. The only way you’re going to learn is if you actually play it.”

While calls for women’s multi-day domestic cricket are echoed around the world, South Africa has another area to catch up. Women’s professional domestic contracts in the country were almost doubled last year, with six top-division domestic teams given the resources to contract 11 players rather than six.

Over the past decade, South Africa has managed to successfully hold on to sides which expanded professionalism earlier, reaching at least the semi-finals of every 50-over and 20-over World Cup since 2017. However, without the bedrock of investment beneath, success has become harder and harder to sustain as South Africa’s golden generation starts to move through.

“It feels like the gap is closing,” says Wolvaardt. “There are no more easy series anymore. Every international series you have players like [Chamari] Athapaththu who can come out and whack you. We have a really strong group of 15 or 18 players, and hopefully, these new domestic structures can help widen that pool a little bit. That’s been one of our biggest struggles - if someone like Marizanne Kapp is injured, who’s there to replace her for that tour?

“I would love to see a domestic league, I think that’s pretty crucial. To see how much the players have improved within four years of The Hundred is amazing. Something like that or an SA20 for women would seriously help our game. The Big Bash is in the 10th or 11th edition already, so we’re 10 years behind with starting a league. We need to create more depth in our domestic structure for the national side.

“We have a lot of young players who have been fast-tracked into the national side. Having four or five players retire at the same time was not ideal. And we’ve had a younger group for the last season or two. We’ve grown a lot as a team and as players. Those players have a lot of experience now within these last few games. Nadine de Klerk is only 24, I’m only 25, so I think that core will still be together for quite a while hopefully.”

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