Wolvaardt rues losing big wickets to Shafali

Three years. Three finals. Three losses. South Africa once again came agonisingly close to World Cup glory, only to fall short in the final stretch.

In the defeat to India in the final at the D.Y. Patil Stadium, the side fought till the end in a challenging 299-run chase, but ran out of wickets and courage to close out a win.

“I thought we were in the chase for a very long time. We were pretty neck-and-neck with them. I thought mine and (Annerie) Derksen’s partnership was pretty big and thought we could keep it going till the end,” Laura Wolvaardt told reporters after India beat her team to the Women’s World Cup crown.

“She fell just as we were trying to launch into the back ten, and I fell soon after. I still thought Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk could do it together, but I think we left Nades with a bit too much to do by herself.” The Proteas skipper also admitted that they were surprised by India’s decision to hand Shafali Verma the ball.

“Didn’t really expect her to bowl much, so a bit of a surprise factor from there. She just bowled really slowly and front of the hand and picked up a few wickets. You don’t want to lose wickets to a part-time bowler in a World Cup final,” she explained.

“It was frustrating that she was able to pick up two and two big ones as well. We had to err on the side of caution to not give her any more wickets. She bowled pretty well. It was frustrating because she’s not really the person we planned for.”