South Africa’s Momentum Proteas captured the hearts and minds of the nation’s cricket lovers more than at any stage over the last six years during which their transition from largely amateur status to world class professionals and entertainers was completed at extraordinary speed.
Three times in their seven group matches, the result was determined in a tense final over and on each occasion, despite not always playing their best cricket, captain Sune Luus and her team held their nerve to prevail. They improved as the tournament progressed, reaching a climax with a successful run chase of 275 against India, the highest ever in a Women’s World Cup match.
The heavy defeat by 137 runs against England in the semifinal was as disappointing as it was unexpected, with South Africa having beaten the defending champions by three wickets with four balls to spare in their group match to enter the knockout match as both popular as well as bookmakers’ favourites.
But whereas chances were taken and nerves held in the group matches to see the team qualify in second place behind the rampant, unbeaten Australians, the Momentum Proteas were adversely affected by the enormity of the occasion and, having already lost in two semifinals at ICC events, against England at the 2017 World Cup and against Australia at last year’s T20 World Cup, a third chance at reaching a final was spurned.
England’s mammoth total of 293 for eight was underpinned by Dani Wyatt’s 129 but it could have been so different if she had not been dropped four times and if the Proteas had not bowled so many loose deliveries. The match was lost in the first innings, with poor bowling and untidy fielding which, ironically, had been the cornerstones of their success in previous games during which the batting had been below par and potential.
What would have been an epic and record run-chase was undone immediately when opener Laura Wolvaardt was dismissed for a second-ball duck and fellow opener and ODI Cricketer of the Year, Lizelle Lee, followed for two. From 8-2 it was a slow, painful strangle.
Wolvaardt enjoyed an outstanding tournament with 433 runs including five half-centuries at an average of 54 and a highest score of 90, while champion allrounder Marizanne Kapp contributed 203 runs at 40.6 and a strike rate of 92.3 along with 12 wickets, the same as swing bowler Ayabonga Khaka.
Leading the attack, as always, was the fastest bowler in the women’s game, Shabnim Ismail, with 14 wickets at just 17.5 apiece and a miserly economy rate of just 4.02 runs per over.
This was ‘meant to be’ for the Momentum Proteas. They believed that a World Cup triumph was their destiny. They spoke with humility but assured confidence about returning from New Zealand with a World Cup which the country’s cricket followers have craved for three decades and which their male colleagues have agonisingly failed to deliver.
Such was the level of their collective disappointment that they initially declined Cricket South Africa’s offer of a low-key ‘tribute reception’ on arrival at OR Tambo but, having been persuaded and assured of the level of affection and appreciation they had generated in their home country, they were duly welcomed back with a reception appropriate to the level of their performances.
It is not premature to suggest that Women’s cricket will never again struggle to attract mainstream attention in the future, as it has in the past. Woolvaardt, Kapp, Ismail and injured captain Dane van Niekerk, who missed the tournament, have put Women’s cricket not just indelibly on the map but, more importantly, in the minds and memories of those who love the game.