Though the Proteas lost the final, their achievements reflect South Africa’s growing presence in women’s cricket, inspiring future talent.
It seems as though our senior national cricket teams cannot break the hoodoo which is the World Cup, but disappointing though the defeat of the Proteas in the T20 Women’s World Cup final on Sunday night was, the team still did us proud.
Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt was honest that the performance against New Zealand was not the South Africans’ best, but she was nevertheless proud of the team’s record in World Cup tournaments in both limited overs formats.
In the past six tournaments, the Proteas have reached the play-offs five times and also lost the last T20 Women’s World Cup final in Cape Town 20 months ago.
Wolvaardt left her mark on the 2024 tournament, amassing 223 runs in six matches, while fellow opener Tazmin Brits (187) finished second on the list of run scorers.
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Spin bowler Nonkululeko Mlaba took 12 wickets, second behind Player-of-the-Series Amelie Kerr.
So, all in all, a more than satisfactory performance from our women’s team, even though there wasn’t anything for the trophy cabinet in their suitcases when they returned home.
What they did do was prove that, when it comes to women’s cricket, South Africa deserves its place in the top echelon and, hopefully, they inspired the next generation.
