Proteas Women continue to build on foundations of success

In February 2023, the Proteas Women side became the first senior South African cricket side to reach the final of a World Cup when they took on Australia in the T20 World Cup at home.

That day, 26 February 2023 at Newlands, appears to have lifted a curse from South African cricket, because within the next 20 months the men’s and women’s teams (again) would find themselves in two more T20 World Cup finals.

That’s three finals in two years after not reaching any final in 30 attempts in men’s and women’s tournaments.

Having provided the watershed moment, it would have been easy for the Proteas Women to rest on their laurels, yet they have continued to improve, refusing to stagnate despite reaching historic heights.

South Africa were dealt a favourable hand at last year’s tournament. The T20 World Cup was hosted in South Africa, with throngs of crowds supporting the side in and around stadiums, especially towards the back end of the event.

They also only needed to win two out of four matches during the group stage to reach the semifinals, losing to Sri Lanka and Australia before progressing on net run rate.

This time around, the Proteas were thrust into the desert in the United Arab Emirates – after the tournament was moved from Bangladesh two months before the start. They also needed three victories out of four in the group stage.

Read more: ‘Belief’ guides Proteas to final as Bosch’s coming-of-age knock helps thrash generational Aussies

South Africa also faced the greatest women’s cricket side in history, six-time champions Australia, in the semifinal instead of the final, like they did at home in 2023.

That the Proteas Women were able to replicate their achievement in 2024 despite more trying circumstances underlines the continued growth of the side.

A new look

The growth has been led by the investment in the national coaching structures. When 2024 captain Laura Wolvaardt was asked what the difference between this year’s team and last year’s was, she pointed out the missing piece of pace ace Shabnim Ismail and also how the management had changed.

Wolvaardt herself was merely a batter in the side at the previous edition and has since taken over the reins from Suné Luus with aplomb.

The champion strokemaker is a natural captain, leading from the front with the willow, but she has also proven to have calmness, composure and cricket smarts to make the right decisions under pressure despite her relative inexperience in the job.

“A year of experience and we line up a little differently,” she said about what’s changed in 20 months. “There’s no Shabnim [Ismail] in the 11. [Annerie] Dercksen has come in, in her spot.



“We’ve also had a change in staff. We have a batting coach, a fielding coach, and Hilton [Moreeng] is no longer with us. We have a couple of fresh faces, fresh ideas.”

The management has not just been swapped out, with Dillon du Preez taking over from Moreeng in the interim, but other vacant positions have been filled too. Batting coach Baakier Abrahams has been contracted permanently to the national women’s side, Bongani Ndaba has come on board as a fielding coach and Paul Adams has spent the past few months with the women’s team.

And the improvements have been noticeable.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba is among the highest wicket-takers at the tournament and has become the first South African to take 10 or more scalps at a T20 Women’s World Cup. Although Mlaba has always been a reliable option for the team, the 24-year-old has turned into a superstar this tournament with her control of pace and supreme all-round control.

And spinners Luus and Chloe Tryon have both held their own, going at under seven runs an over in the tournament.

Judging a team’s fielding performance can be tricky, especially given South Africa’s historically high standards in the field. But it can be said that the team have maintained good standards in difficult conditions – especially at a tournament where Pakistan and England capitulated in the field, dropping more than five catches each in their respective must-win group-stage matches. There has been no such stage fright for South Africa.

Striking cleanly

With the bat South Africa’s top four have been in a different stratosphere from the other teams in the tournament.

The opening partnership of Tazmin Brits and Wolvaardt is the backbone of what has made the team successful. The pair average 65.5 as an opening partnership at the T20 World Cup, having already shared a century stand as well as a half-century stand.

After their semifinal win, Wolvaardt is the leading run-scorer at the tournament with 190 and Brits is second, 20 runs behind.

“It’s really nice to bat with her,” Wolvaardt said about Brits. “We complement each other pretty well. There are days when I struggle with the bat and those happen to be the days where she gets off to a really good start, and vice versa.

“We run well between the wickets as well; she’s pretty quick. When you’ve batted with someone for that long, you can almost sense when there’s a single and when there isn’t.”

The pair dominated in 2023 too, with Wolvaardt leading the run-scoring charts and Brits finishing fifth.

After a slow start to the tournament, first drop Anneke Bosch came to the party in the semifinal, playing an innings of a lifetime, scoring a career-high unbeaten 74 off 48 deliveries.

Marizanne Kapp, the ever-reliable all-rounder has the second-highest strike rate among the top 50 run-getters at the tournament, with 151.85. Only the West Indies’ Deandra Dottin is striking faster. These are all the ingredients of a world-class team.

If there was any doubt about South Africa’s championship credentials, those were squashed after their victory over Australia in the semifinal.

A final victory and becoming the first senior side to lift a World Cup trophy would be just reward for the ever-growing side. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.