Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt plays a sweep shot. FILE - Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt says ‘anything can happen’ in T20 cricket ahead of their World Cup semi-final against Australia. Picture: Marco Longari / AFP
Parts of the action movie Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol was shot in Dubai, with Tom Cruise’s character famously climbing the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world.
On Thursday, the Proteas Women will feature in their own “Mission Impossible” story when they take on the mighty Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup, needing to climb their own Burj Khalifa in order to get the job done at the Dubai International Stadium.
The Australians have been the dominant cricket team in the history of the competition, winning eight out of the 10 T20 World Cups that have been played The last one came in 2023 when they beat the Proteas by 19 runs at Newlands in Cape Town.
They have also beaten the South Africans in nine out of their 10 T20 meetings, which makes Australia huge favourites going into the match.
However, that solitary victory for South Africa came in January this year in Australia’s own backyard, when the Proteas triumphed by six wickets. And that win is more significant for captain Laura Wolvaardt and her team then the other nine defeats.
United As One 🏏![CDATA[]]>🌍![CDATA[]]>📸
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) October 16, 2024
Every challenge, every game, we rise together. Now to conquer the semi-final on Thursday!
Let’s make history, Proteas Women! 💪![CDATA[]]>🖼️#AlwaysRising #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #T20WorldCup #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/RUnq3zwQ9A
“The last time we faced them at the World Cup we had never beaten them in our history, which is not a nice thing to know going into a knockout game,” the elegant opener said ahead of the match.
“But now knowing that we have achieved it before gives everyone a quiet confidence leading into the game. But we can’t be over confident, we need to play some really good cricket to beat a quality side.
“But just having that in the back of our minds will ease the nerves a little bit.”
One member of the coaching staff who is certainly helping to calm the nerves is former Proteas Men’s spinner Paul Adams has been roped in as a spin coach for the World Cup, but have also played the role of “chief motivator”.
Wolvaardt revealed that Adams has been a breath of fresh air in the dressing room, coming up with creative ways to inspire the team throughout the tournament.
“One of the hardest parts of the job is finding something new to say every single game, because a lot of it doesn’t really change. It’s tricky,” said Wolvaardt, referring to her own pre-match speeches.
Tomorrow, the Proteas Women step onto the world stage for the #T20WorldCup semi-final! 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🏏![CDATA[]]>🌍
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) October 16, 2024
No challenge too big, no dream too far—because we are #ALWAYSRISING! 💪![CDATA[]]>🔥
FOR ME. FOR HER. FOR THEM. FOR ALL. FOR SOUTH AFRICA. FOR THE PROTEAS
💚![CDATA[]]>💛#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/ObKK1EK88m
“But we have had Paul Adams as our chief motivator. Every game he’s comes up with something really creative and really new. At every meeting he’s got videos about birds that fly together, stick together and teamwork ... today we had a video about ebbs and flows and going with the games.
“He’s very creative, and he loves it. He’s been really great for the group. We’ve needed someone to pump us up and bring a fun element, which has been awesome.”
Between Adams’ bird videos and that solitary victory in January over the Aussies, Proteas Women have their climbing gear ready to conquer their own Burj Khalifa on Thursday.
At the end of the day, like in the Mission Impossible movies, Wolvaardt and her team know “anything can happen”.
“It’s easy to get swept away by what Australia has achieved. But at the end of the day when we play a good game of cricket, we have the talent to beat them,” the captain said.
“We showed that in the one T20 in which we beat them. T20 cricket is a bit crazy sometimes, anything can happen. If we keep it simple, focus on ourselves, we can do anything on the day.”
@JohnGoliath82