New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS): After their heartbreak in the final of the women’s T20 World Cup 2023 where the Proteas lost by 19 runs against Australia, the side is still on the hunt for their first ever ICC tournament victory. Skipper Laura Wolvaardt is hoping that her side crosses the final hurdle this time around.
"Reaching our first-ever World Cup final in 2023 was a big landmark moment for us. It was a big ‘breaking the barriers and pushing the boundaries’ moment for the team. Before that (2023 T20 World Cup), we'd made the semi-finals on a number of occasions, so to be able to go that one step further was very important for us as a group.
"Now we'd like to go that one step further and lift the trophy, but anything can happen in a final in T20 cricket once you've played a whole competition to get there," Wolvaardt was quoted saying on the ICC website.
After facing two huge losses in the group stage of the 2023 edition, against Sri Lanka-W and Australia-W, South Africa managed to reach the final. Wolvaardt believes the current squad, featuring 11 of the same players as last time, has the discipline to deliver a similar result.'
“It really is just about taking it one game at a time and knowing in the back of our minds that we have the talent and the ability to make the final with a squad that's not all too different from the one we had last time," she said.
After plans of the tournament being played in Bangladesh were scrapped and shifted to Sharjah and Dubai in the UAE, the skipper believes it will even the playing ground as no side will have the home advantage anymore.
"I'm very excited about the T20 World Cup being in Dubai and Sharjah. I think what's pretty cool is that it's sort of neutral territory for all of the teams. Most of the teams will be going in with the same amount of experience in the conditions, not having played there much before, so that's quite exciting.
“It will be quite interesting to see which team adapts the best to the conditions and is able to sum it up as quickly as they can," she concluded.