Wolvaardt targets turning the tables against Australia
Media release
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt revealed her side are determined to exact revenge on Australia when the sides meet in the first ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final.
Australia defeated the Proteas in the final of the same competition on home soil a year ago but Wolvaardt believes her side have learned plenty of lessons since then.
South Africa earned their first-ever T20I victory over Australia earlier this year and Wolvaardt believes that will help her side not to be overawed by their opponents, who are searching for their seventh title.
She said: “The last time we faced them in the World Cup, we'd never beaten them in our history which is not a nice thing to know when you come into a knockout game.
“Now knowing that we have achieved it before, hopefully gives everyone a bit of a quiet confidence leading into the game.
“We obviously won't be overconfident. We still need to play some really good cricket to be at a really quality side, but just having that in the back of our minds, I think will ease the nerves a little bit.
“It's easy sort of to get swept away by Australia and what they've achieved but at the end of the day, if we play a good game of cricket, I think we have the talent to beat them.
“We've shown that in the one T20 earlier this year that we did. You can see the same with England and India not qualifying for semis, who you thought would have.
“T20 cricket is a bit crazy sometimes. Anything can happen and we just think if we keep it simple, focus on ourselves, we can do anything on the day.”
Wolvaardt has been in impressive form with the bat for the Proteas, forming a formidable opening partnership with Tazmin Brits.
Both batters have a half century to their names in the UAE and were key in providing winning platforms during the group stage.
Wolvaardt is hopeful they can put together another strong opening stand to help South Africa reach back-to-back Women’s T20 World Cup finals.
“I think we complement each other pretty well,” she added. “I feel like there's days where I maybe struggle with the bat and those happen to be the days where she gets off to a really good start, and vice versa.
“I feel like it always works that way around. We run well between the wickets as well. She's pretty quick.
“When you've batted with someone for that long, you can almost sort of sense when there's a single and when there isn't. We sort of have that understanding, which is quite nice. Hopefully we can have a good game tomorrow.”
Ellyse Perry has understandably fonder memories of the meeting between the two nations in last year’s showpiece but will be putting those to one side as she focuses on the task at hand. “It was an awesome match, and South Africa are a team that are playing some really great cricket,” the all-rounder said.
“They are just as tough a competition as any other team, particularly when you're playing a World Cup semi-final. And they've got some of the best players in the world.
“You only have to look at Marizanne Kapp and what she's capable of. And, you know, one single player can turn a game in T20 cricket in particular.
“So, for us, I think we're just as nervous playing them as we would be any other team and our preparation for that's got to be spot-on if we're going to be successful. But there's lots to play out there so I'm really excited for that challenge.
“They've got some world class players and some real threats. So, for us, looking ahead to the match. It's just a really great challenge for us and one that we want to play well in.”
Australia’s medical team will give captain Alyssa Healy ‘as long as possible’ to prove her fitness for the showdown with the Proteas.
The skipper sat out the narrow win over India and Perry feels coming through the nerve-wracking game will set the champions up perfectly for knock-out cricket.
“It's always really helpful to be exposed to that kind of pressure and that kind of challenge from an opposition,” she said.
“And it did. It felt like a bit of a step up the other night, particularly with the full crowd there and, probably not totally supportive of us.
“It’s a situation we've been in before, but probably hadn't been exposed to in this World Cup so far.
“I thought the way we rose to that and just adapted to the challenge was awesome. And yeah, hopefully that holds us in good stead for the time that we've got left in this tournament.”
ENDS