Bengaluru, June 15 (IANS): South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said she is eyeing consistency in performances from her talented side ahead of the start of their ODI series against India.
The multi-format tour begins with the first ODI at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, with the series a part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25, where South Africa are currently third in the table, and are in good stead to secure automatic qualification for the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup in India.
“We're confident. We've done a lot of preparation and a lot of hard work coming into this. So that's sort of what we need to back. We need to back the work that we've done and hope that it's enough. It's no secret that India is a really good side at the moment, but I do believe that we have a very talented side as well. Hopefully, we're able to find that consistency within the series,” she said in the pre-match press conference.
South Africa have won 12 ODIs against India, who have 15 wins in the 28 meetings between the two teams. The last time the two nations met in ODIs, South Africa secured a dramatic three-wicket win over India on the last ball of the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand.
After a fruitful 2023/24 season, where Laura scored back-to-back hundreds against Sri Lanka on home soil, the right-handed batter said she is focused on sticking to her processes and rebuilding her game after a short off-season.
“I had a bit of a break. I was kind of upset when the season ended after that because I wanted to keep going after having finally found some form. But it's totally different conditions. Those were all back in South Africa. (The aim is) just to completely start again having had a bit of time at home as well just to reset. I'm excited for the game,” she added.
Earlier this year, Laura got a taste of playing at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during the first half of WPL 2024. She hopes for the three ODIs against India to be high-scoring games at the venue hosting international women’s cricket for the first time after 2015.
“In the WPL (Women’s Premier League), many games here were quite high-scoring. Our batters will definitely be licking their lips to get onto that surface tomorrow. It's just about being nice and positive and playing a brave, aggressive brand of cricket. Either way, no matter which way the toss goes, we've seen in the WPL that the Indian girls are playing a very positive brand of cricket. So, we're going to have to try and match that,” she stated.
South Africa are welcoming back opener Tazmin Brits on the tour of India after undergoing surgery for a meniscus tear and sprained ligament on her left knee. Tazmin suffered the injuries on the day she scored 116, her second ODI century of the home season against Sri Lanka in April.
“In her last game for South Africa, she obviously scored a hundred. So it's awesome to have her back. Her recovery has been amazing. Just the time in which she was able to do all of her rehab and come back, she's worked extremely hard, and we've all been able to see that.”
“So, it's great to have sort of that energy around the group and to have someone who's so dedicated to being back in the space. So it's really awesome and really looking forward to opening with her again tomorrow.”
South Africa’s last ODI assignment saw them draw 1-1 with Sri Lanka, with the last match seeing the Proteas unable to defend 301 as Chamari Athapaththu smashed 195 not out to steal the thunder from Laura’s unbeaten 184. Laura admitted having a perfect game, where batters and bowlers click in unison is also on her mind during the ODIs in Bengaluru.
“I was very happy with our last series as a batting unit. It's something that I've been speaking about in these press conferences, looking for more consistency with the bat. We've been very up and down as a batting unit in the past, but now slowly the last three games have sort of hit our stride.”
“It should be a nice wicket tomorrow, as the last time we played on a nice wicket, we failed to defend 300. So it's definitely something that we've spoken about as a bowling unit. Just to have a plan B and a plan C if one of their batters do get in like Chamari did against us.”
“India have a lot of world-class batters just to really analyze sort of their scoring areas and how we can possibly keep them quiet. If we have those plans in place, then hopefully we're able to execute them.”
“But just to have that perfect game I think is still something that we've been searching for a while. We've had the consistency with the ball in the past and with the bat recently, and we just need both of those to come together for a series. So hopefully this is the right time,” she concluded.