Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt has praised her team for the “amazing turnaround” after the six-wicket thrashing of New Zealand in the second World Cup group match in Indore.
Wolvaardt’s side was humbled in their opener last week when England routed the Proteas for just 69 before proceeding to complete a 10-wicket victory.
The 2022 semi-finalists were forced to self-reflect for the past couple of days with the intention of coming back harder and stronger against the White Ferns.
Their goal was achieved with the bowlers delivering a masterful job at the death, with left-arm spinner Nonkululuko Mlaba (4/40) triggering a Kiwi collapse of 7/44 as the T20 World Cup champions limped to just 231.
The in-form Tasmin Brits led the reply with a brilliant 101 – her fifth hundred of the year – and Sune Luus’ timely undefeated 83 as the Proteas romped home with just under 10 overs to spare.
“Such an amazing turnaround. This is what we knew we were capable of, really happy of how quickly we put that behind us and bounced back,” Wolvaardt said.
“We had an amazing last 15 (overs with the ball). We bowled amazingly. Mlaba was amazing. Our death plans were amazing. We have been nailing that. Glad to see we could do that again.”
Wolvaardt was also full of praise for her opening partner Brits’ sensational run of form, who surpassed Australian legend Meg Lanning as the fastest to seven ODI centuries.
“She is going amazing. She has scored 6 hundreds in the last 11 games or something. Phenomenal what she is doing, and hopefully she can keep doing,” the skipper said.
🚨 MATCH RESULT 🚨
A phenomenal all-around display from #TheProteas Women! 💪
They secured a convincing 6-wicket win with 9.5 overs to spare. 🇿🇦🏏#Unbreakable #CWC25 pic.twitter.com/c9fuoe5Qor
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) October 6, 2025
A feature of the Proteas’ performance was their brilliance in the field. They completed two run outs, and took some outstanding catches – none better than the skipper’s very own one-handed diving grab in the covers.
“Just lucky it stuck!” Wolvaardt said about her catch. “Fielding is something we have been talking about, glad that it was one of our better performances.”
The Proteas’ task does not get any easier at the World Cup with their next match being against India on Thursday in Vizag. The co-hosts currently top the World Cup log table with two victories.
“We’ll enjoy it (New Zealand win), but we need to forget about this as well because cricket starts at zero. Another big game, we need to be fully switched on. New venue too, we will do our prep and come back hard.”
