Cricket South Africa named opening batter Laura Wolvaardt as the
interim captain of their women’s team for the upcoming tours of Pakistan and New Zealand.
Laura Wolvaardt has been appointed as South Africa’s captain for upcoming assigments in the aftermath of Suné Luus relinquishing her role as the team’s interim captain, and following the unavailability of the vice-captain, Chloe Tryon for the Pakistan series.
Cricket South Africa stated that Wolvaardt’s position will be reviewed following the conclusion of
the New Zealand series.
The 24-year-old made her international debut in 2016. In her seven years as an international cricketer, she has scored 3193 ODI runs at an average of 45.61. She has three centuries and 29 fifties in the 50-over format, an ICC report on Thursday said.
Wolvaardt stated she was honoured to be appointed as South Africa’s skipper for the upcoming international tours.
“It’s a massive honour to be offered this position as captain for the next two tours. It’s something that
I have always aspired to do, having played in this team for a couple of years,” Wolvaardt said.
“Having more of a leadership role is something I’ve wanted to take on. It’ll help me as a cricketer and learning to think as a captain on the field will hopefully help my batting as well,” she said.
“I’m very excited to be able to contribute in another way too, and not just in batting. It still feels surreal at the moment but it will all become more real when I meet up with the team in Pakistan,” Wolvaardt said.
“What I can bring to the role is the experience that I have in the side. I’ve been playing international cricket since I was 16 years old, I know quite a lot of players in the circuit and I’ve been playing in the leagues as well, so I’ve played a lot of cricket in recent years and hopefully, I’m able to use that experience and the knowledge to my advantage when I captain the team,” she said.
“I’d like to also think of myself as quite calm and level-headed and that’s probably more of the approach that I try to take on the field as a captain,” Wolvaardt said.
“It is very new to me but I am keen to learn and do everything that I can to do well in the position. I am lucky that I have a couple of senior players within the squad around me as well, who would be able to help me and guide me if I do need help along the way,” she added.
