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Proteas Women celebrate a wicket during a ICC match.
South Africa’s Women’s Cricket Team (Proteas Women) will kick off its summer action with a three-match T20 series against Ireland starting in Cape Town on Friday.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt is thrilled to be back on home soil and to be playing at her home ground, the iconic Newlands Stadium.
The Proteas were last in action in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup against India in Guwahati, just over a month ago, and the last time the squad played a match at Newlands in Cape Town was in the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023.
For the skipper and her charges, it is refreshing to be back home, especially after the hostile crowds they experienced in India.
Wolvaardt says, “It’s really good being back in Cape Town, especially for me, being from Cape Town, it’s really refreshing for me, really looking forward to the series having a home crowd for a change, it was a tough tour in India, all those people against us, looking forward to some home support, yeah. “
She says, “I think the last time we played here was that World Cup Final, two or three years ago at the time when we sold out the venue, I thought we would have more cricket here than we have had in the past couple of seasons, but when we get to play here, it is very special really looking forward to it.”
South Africa are ranked fifth on the ICC’s T20 rankings, while the Irish are in ninth place and will still have to play in the qualifying tournament to progress to next year’s T20 World Cup.
Wolvaardt is adamant that they too have world-class players and that it will be a very competitive series.
“I think it’s going to be a very competitive series, like I said before, they have some good quality players who have played cricket all around the world, our plans are going to have to be spot on.
She adds, “For a lot of them and from the footage that I watched, that are playing some really fearless cricket, taking on the bowlers, playing some different shots, might be hard to set fields for a few of them. It’s going to be a very competitive series and we are going to have to do our prep.”
