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Follow UsIn the end, cricket is always a winner.
Cliches can’t get more cliched than this particular term. On this occasion, the cliche wasn’t even correct. Cricket was always going to be a loser here, irrespective of who lifted that Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 title.
For the White Ferns, it was a perfect end to a glorious chapter in their cricketing history for Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu. However, for the Proteas, the final would have been a fitting result for a team that stuck through the thick and thin of playing cricket in the rainbow nation.
Ideally, cricket should have won, right?
Then, how are you going to explain the sadness in the South African camp to me? How else are you going to tell me the blankless expression on Marizanne Kapp’s face while New Zealand players walked up to receive their medals?
Unfortunately, cricket lost.
But if you saw Laura Wolvaardt’s face, you would perhaps not realise that South Africa had lost the most important match of the tournament. She did not shed a single tear, she did not even look one bit like a captain who has lost the most important match of their life.
Do you know why? Because Wolvaardt is quite an optimist and, if anything, the epitome of cool, calm and composed.
"I can't wait to see what we do in the next couple of World Cups. Reaching two back-to-back finals as well shows that we're doing something right."
That’s not just words of a captain but a leader that Wolvaardt has now turned into, all at the age of 25, which makes the Proteas future only more exciting. So, what worked, what are areas of concern and challenges that can act as a hurdle for their future?
What worked for the Proteas?
Deadly opening partnership
As usual, the deadly pair of Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits was definitely the biggest positive for the Proteas in the 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. The duo had the best partnership in the tournament, with 313 runs, averaging a staggering 62.6 while still striking at 117.2.
Wolvaardt’s much-improved strike rate (140) in the powerplay was a revelation for the Proteas side, with 140 runs in the first six-over phase, with just one dismissal. It really shows that Wolvaardt didn’t get too fazed by the burden of captaincy.
Anneke Bosch’s emergence
Before the tournament, if I had asked you who is South Africa’s third-best batter, naturally, you would have uttered Marizanne Kapp. But as the tournament has taught us, Anneke Bosch could truly become a difference-maker for the Proteas in the longer run, especially the way she constructed her 74* against Australia in the first semi-final.
The stand-out bowling display from Nonkululeko Mlaba
The left-arm spinner is just 24, but the street smarts that she has shown with the ball have turned a plenty tide in the Proteas' favour. Mlaba had the best-ever tournament figures for any South African bowler in history, picking up 12 wickets and averaging 11.3 in the entire competition. That should give the selectors a lot of confidence.
Challenges that could be a hurdle for the Proteas’ progress
Transitioning from Marizanne Kapp
It is almost like how Australia had struggled when they had to move on from Meg Lanning. Kapp’s influence on this Proteas side will be eternal but given that she’s nearing 35 and isn’t getting any younger, South Africa will have a big challenge.
There’s almost next to none that are glove-made to replace Kapp, even if the likes of Nadine de Klerk and Annerie Dercksen are there. That’s where the Proteas are going to face their biggest challenge post the World Cup.
Areas of definite improvement if Proteas want to break the drought
The search to find Shabnim Ismail’s replacement
There are some shoes that you desperately need to fill if you want to keep up with the growing demands of modern-day cricket. One of them is having a pacer who could rattle the opponents in the powerplay. While Kapp is more than handy at that, there’s still no one that has come close to filling the shoes of Ismail.
Unfortunately, this tournament did more harm than good for Ayabonga Khaka. She finished with just four wickets, averaging 33 in the entire competition. Barring the clash against Australian women, where she picked up two wickets, she went the entire tournament without much success.
Building a spin core around Mlaba
Another reason why the White Ferns could triumph over the Proteas in the final was because of that spin unit. It is quite funny that the final of a T20 World Cup between South Africa and New Zealand was decided over who had a better spin-bowling unit.
The White Ferns had the most wickets for a spin group in the competition, with 31 wickets, averaging just 11.9. It is no surprise that they finished winners while the Proteas picked up 16 wickets @21.1, showing the gulf between the two teams.
While Mlaba already showed her prowess with the ball, South Africa might have missed the trick by not including Seshnie Naidu, who could have been the X-factor that their bowling desired in the middle overs.
Improvement in fielding efforts
Net runs saved: -30
Catches dropped: 12
Catch efficiency: 63.6%
It definitely got them to a final, but the difference between winning and losing ultimately was that their fielding wasn’t up to the mark, so much so that their net runs saved in the entire competition was a negative 30. The fact that they dropped 12 catches, the joint-second most in the competition, tells a tale.
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