Laura Wolvaardt, captain of the Proteas women’s team, has achieved superstar status, and if 2025 is anything to go by, we can expect another big year for the leader of the South Africa senior women’s national cricket teams. She is currently the world’s top-ranked One Day International batter, having scored 571 runs at the recent Women’s Cricket World Cup in India, including two centuries in the semi-final and final.
She also just surpassed 2,000 runs in the 2025-ending Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, delivering match-winning performances for the Adelaide Strikers. After her contributions in Australia. The prolific batter returned home in December to lead South Africa against the Republic of Ireland Women in a three-T20I and a three-ODI series, where she continued to speak loudest with her bat.
Wolvaardt, who debuted as a teenager in her first World Cup, has become a skilled, dependable, and authentic leader. She believes there is a connection between her captaincy and her development as a batter. “I just think about the game in a different way, because I am captain, it has sort of helped my batting.”
“I think a lot more about conditions, you know, how the pitch is, maybe going to play, how I should bat up front, who we should bowl up front,” says Wolvaardt. “And I think that sort of thing, in turn, has helped my batting tempo.”
“I think about the game more, and from a team perspective, you know what we need to score, what’s going to be a good score on the pitch? And then sort of just bat to make sure that I get to that target, so that my captaincy life is a bit easier.”
SA Women’s Test, ODI and T20 Skipper, Laura Wolvaardt
“I think as a batter, you can sometimes be very focused on just yourself and how you’re doing, whereas as a captain, it’s sort of opened my eyes to a lot of different aspects of the game as well, and learning in my batting,” she said. “When is the time to maybe, you know, head down, graft a bit, tough wicket instead of throwing it away, or, you know, when it’s a flat wicket, to properly score more runs. I think just overall cricket knowledge has really helped my batting and helped me be a bit smarter, and that’s in turn helped my strike rate.”
Wolvaardt has been captaining the team since September 2023, and they have continued on their upward trajectory, where they were runners-up in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup final, as well as their recent 50-over Women’s Cricket World Cup final against India.
Captaining a side at this level requires tenacity and great fortitude, and Wolvaardt says she has learned a great deal in this time.
“Obviously, when I started, I hadn’t had much experience in captaincy at all. I was sort of just a batter. I didn’t really think about the game as more than you know, from a batting point of view and what I needed to do to score runs, whereas now I think about the game in a bit of a different way. I think about bowling and about the field, notice conditions, a bit more and stuff like that. So I think it’s really helped my cricket knowledge. There’s obviously still so much to learn from a bowling point of view, as a batter, but yeah, I think I’ve learned a lot.
“I’ve also learned to feel the game a bit better, I think, which is something you can kind of only experience as a captain, knowing when’s the right time to bowl people, when’s the right time to sort of build a bit of pressure, when’s the right time to let the game stretch out, stuff like that, which I think you only get with experience.”
“I think I’m slowly getting a bit better at that sort of thing.”
Wolvaardt also highlighted how being in a captaincy role is not just about leading the team, but there is also a fair amount of non-playing duties that she has to attend to.
“I sometimes think it should be a job for more than one person, because there’s obviously the on-field stuff, so a lot of tactical preparation, a lot of thought goes into who’s bowling, what fields they should have, getting to know opposition players. Sort of studying what they’re good, where they’re strong, making sure you’re on top of all of that data and those stats, leading into a game.”
“However, there are also off-field components. You’re sort of the spokesperson for the team. So a lot of media responsibility. You have a lot of responsibility within the group or field from both a cultural and team environment perspective. So there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s definitely a big job to take on, but I’ve really enjoyed the experience.”
Back to the matters at hand, and the Proteas leader had a successful stint with the Adelaide Strikers, who completed the season in sixth place. Wolvaardt did not don the captain’s arm band in the competition, and says the change of pace was welcomed.
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“It’s actually been quite refreshing. I think obviously coming off of a hectic World Cup, where every single game was a different opponent, took a lot of prep work from a sort of tactical point of view. A lot of meetings, World Cups are pretty hectic from that point of view, because you play all these new opposition, whereas if it’s a bilateral, you kind of just prepare once or twice and just touch up on a few plans.”
“I’ve enjoyed just being a batter again. I’ve still tried to take note of what they’re doing over here and learning from them and checking what they’re doing, field-wise and tactics-wise, so seeing it as a cool learning opportunity. But I have enjoyed the little bit of sort of free time, I think, especially after a hectic couple of months; it’s nice to have the break.”
Strikers skipper Tahlia McGrath captained Australia against South Africa in the Proteas Women’s final group-stage tie at the Women’s Cricket World Cup in India, and Wolvaardt says she has learnt some valuable lessons from her opposite number on the international stage.
“I am good friends with her as well, and I feel like we were pretty similar people, and think in a pretty similar way. So it’s been cool to see how she goes about her captaincy. I think she’s like me on the quieter side, on the calmer side, very, very calm on the field,” says Wolvaardt. “You never notice how she’s feeling, or if she’s panicking, or if she’s under pressure. She’s kind of always very consistent with her emotions, and she’s very smart tactically.”
“Obviously, conditions are very different in Australia, a lot bouncier, so a lot of square fields, a lot of different fields to what we usually have. She also has a different sort of bowlers for deployment than what I have. She’s got a leg spinner, she’s got a really fast bowler, she’s got a really big in-swinger. So it’s just been interesting to see how she’s been using the different bowlers in different phases and it’s been sort of nice to see and learn from that.”
With South Africa qualified for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup in England fast approaching in a matter of months, South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt is in a remarkably good vein of form, and her massive impact on the game is sure to be key in any degree of success waiting to be achieved there.
Main Photo Caption: Laura Wolvaardt, captain of the Proteas women’s team, has achieved superstar status and if 2025 is anything to go by, we can expect another big year for the leader of the South Africa side. She is currently the world’s top-ranked One Day International batter, scoring 571 runs, including two centuries in the semi-final and final at the recent Women’s Cricket World Cup in India. All Photos: Cricket South Africa
Photo 2 Caption: On captaincy: ”Obviously, when I started, I hadn’t had much experience in captaincy at all. I was sort of just a batter. I didn’t really think about the game as more than you know, from a batting point of view.”
Photo 3 Caption: “I’ve learned to feel the game a bit better, knowing when’s the right time to bowl people, when’s the right time to sort of build a bit of pressure, when’s the right time to let the game stretch out.”
