The South African women’s cricket team has made history, reaching the ODI World Cup final for the first time.
Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp broke a string of records with their stellar performance in the semi-final against England.
By scoring a mammoth 319 runs and then defeating England by 125 runs, South Africa showed that they are now ready to become champions.
Laura Wolvaardt’s explosive performance
Laura Wolvaardt played a brilliant innings of 169 runs against England in Guwahati, the highest score by a South African woman in the World Cup.
Her innings included four sixes, the second-highest number of sixes in a World Cup knockout match.
Her innings helped South Africa reach 319/7, their highest total in a World Cup. Her 116-run opening partnership with Tajmin Brits also laid the foundation for the match. This pair has now shared eight century partnerships in ODIs.
This was the second time in South Africa women’s ODI history that the top two scorers differed by more than 100 runs.
Marizan Kapp shines
Marizan Kapp bowled brilliantly, taking five wickets and destroying England’s batting. Her figures of 5/20 are the best by a South African woman in a World Cup.
This was her second five-wicket haul in a World Cup, a feat previously achieved only by Lyn Fullston (Australia) and Shrubsole (England).
Her bowling bundled out England for 194 runs. England had a disastrous start, with their top three batsmen all scoring zero runs, a first in their ODI history.
With this victory, South Africa also set a record of 31 sixes, the most by any team in a single ODI World Cup.
Wolvaardt also reached 5,000 ODI runs in this match, becoming the first South African and sixth female cricketer overall to do so.
She is the youngest player to achieve this milestone at just 26 years old. This victory not only secured South Africa their first ODI World Cup final, but also made them the only team to reach the final of the last three ICC Women’s World Cups.
