Wolvaardt and Kapp power Proteas to maiden Women’s Cricket World Cup final

Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt struck a sensational 169 off 143 balls, while Marizanne Kapp took five wickets for only 20 runs as South Africa beat England by 125 runs in Guwahati, India, and reached their first-ever Women’s Cricket World Cup final.

Wolvaardt set the tone with the bat to guide South Africa to 319 for seven. She dispatched the first two deliveries of the match for fours on her way to one of the most incredible innings the Women’s Cricket World Cup has seen.

With the ball, it was Kapp who established the groundwork: her first over was a double-wicket maiden, immediately setting England on the back foot in their enormous chase.

“There was calmness in the group this morning for some reason,” said Kapp after the match. “We just felt like what will happen will happen.

“Once we lost the toss, I was actually happy that we batted first, looking at the stats of this ground and how it’s been going this World Cup.

“They probably felt like they were going to roll us over like we did in the first game against them [which England won by 10 wickets]. But our two openers set it up beautifully for us to come in and just play our natural game.”

Captain’s innings

Skipper Wolvaardt’s innings had three phases. The first was a free-flowing display alongside opening partner Tazmin Brits (45 off 65). She played with ease and punished anything wide with her elegant strokes through the offside, which included her picturesque cover drive.

After Brits, Anneke Bosch (nought off three) and Suné Luus (one off six) fell within 20 balls of each other, the skipper rebuilt the innings steadily.

Kapp provided a helping hand (42 off 33) and was more willing to go the aerial route while Wolvaardt nudged and nurdled singles to steady the ship.

She continued when another cluster of wickets fell — Kapp, Sinalo Jafta (one off four) and Annerie Dercksen (four off 14) were dismissed within 25 balls of each other — bringing up her 10th career century off 115 deliveries in the process.

When the 40th over arrived, Wolvaardt changed gears and took the team from steady to dominant. She started opening up her front leg and smearing the ball over the legside boundary, cleanly striking four sixes.

In the final 27 deliveries Wolvaardt faced, she smacked 69 runs before she was caught at long on, deceived by a slower delivery from Lauren Bell.

Chloe Tryon (33 off 26) embellished South Africa’s innings with three fours and a six.

Kapp special

Kapp and opening bowling partner Ayabonga Khaka cut the head off England’s chase, combining to take three wickets for five runs in the opening three overs.

Amy Jones (nought off two), Tammy Beaumont (nought off one) and Heather Knight (nought off three) were all undone by the movement off the wicket and swing through the air.

England skipper Natalie Sciver-Brunt (64 off 76) and Alice Capsey (50 off 71) threatened to set England’s chase back on track with a 107-run fourth-wicket partnership, but a wayward shot by Capsey pinned the 2017 winners back again.

Kapp returned for her second spell shortly after Capsey’s dismissal and tore the opposition apart. The all-rounder swung a looping delivery toward Sciver-Brunt’s pads before it jagged off the surface, away from the bat and nicked a faint edge, to be caught by Jafta behind the wicket.

In her next over, Kapp saw the back of Sophia Dunkley (two off 10) and Charlie Dean (nought off one) in consecutive deliveries, bowling her second double-wicket maiden in the process.

It was also Kapp’s second five-wicket haul for South Africa.

England’s chase limped to 194 from there as South Africa secured a comfortable victory.

India and Australia play in the second semifinal on Thursday, 30 October, and South Africa will face the winner in Sunday’s final. DM