The Canadians have a word that perfectly describes Laura Wolvaardt: persnickety. It means fussy and ordered and very focussed on the little details which others might think unimportant. It is what would have made her a brilliant doctor, had she chosen to go down that career path six years ago; and it is a big part of what makes her a brilliant cricketer on a day like today, when her 59 not out – the highest score in a low-scoring game – dragged South Africa to victory in the 1st ODI in Kimberley.
England 186 v South Africa 189-4 #SAvENG 🏏
— CRICKETher (@crickether.com) 2024-12-04T17:50:28.261Z
Wolvaardt’s innings was about as unflashy as you can get – hewn-out of 114 balls at a Strike Rate of 52. Heather Knight batted faster (SR 63); so did Amy Jones (81); so did Sophie Ecclestone (63). Even Charlie Dean, not exactly known for her power hitting, went faster (82). But none of them won the game for their country – only Wolvaardt did.
She gave up a couple of chances – Amy Jones put down what would have been a sharp one-handed catch behind the stumps early-on; and Sophia Dunkley made a horrible mess of what looked like a pretty straightforward opportunity at deep square in the 16th over when Wolvaardt was on 27.
It could have made all the difference – Wolvaardt is the thread that holds South Africa together, allowing others to play more expansively around her, as both Marizanne Kapp and especially Nadine de Klerk did, coming in at the end and swashbuckling a rapid 48. Brisbane Heat fans may find themselves asking, where was this Nadine de Klerk during WBBL where she was averaging 8.4 across 8 games? Perhaps though Wolvaardt is the answer there too – her ship needs a sail and an anchor?
Coming into this match, the question on everyone’s lips was: could South Africa wrestle themselves out of the hole they’d dig for themselves in the T20 series? But perhaps it wasn’t South Africa that were in the hole at all? They’d rested and rotated players in the T20s, against England’s best XI. Yes England won; but so they should have. This was a bit different, with Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka back to take the new ball under a scorching sun in the Northern Cape. Khaka might not have ended up with anything in the wickets column, but how valuable was the maiden in her second over, in terms of keeping the pressure on, after Kapp had already removed Dunkley? England started to take risks, coming down the track to try to upset Kapp’s lengths; and in the 7th over this did for Beaumont, who came down slightly the wrong line and was clean bowled. Nat Sciver-Brunt followed her back 3 balls later for a rare duck – her first in an ODI since 2019 – and England were looking very wobbly all of a sudden.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones both came out trying to play positively, no doubt as instructed by England coach Mr Jon Ball, and lasted just about as long as you’d expect, which wasn’t long. Jones did finish off with a lovely slog-sweep into the Hollies Stand… but unfortunately the Hollies Stand wasn’t actually there – Annerie Dercksen was – and Jones was caught on the rope.
It took Charlie Dean to rescue England from total ignominy – playing an innings much more like the one Wolvaardt went on to win the match with – unflashy and accumulative, Dean’s methodology with the bat is the polar opposite of your Wyatt-Hodges and your Jones. She won’t ever hit 50 off 25 balls; but she is averaging 22.9 for England in ODIs, with a highest score (twice) of 47 – that’s only a smidgen behind Wyatt-Hodge’s ODI average of 23.1, though admittedly Dean has a way to go before she catches Wyatt-Hodge’s 1918 ODI runs, with Dean a little behind on 343!
Dean’s efforts got England to something vaguely defendable, but they were going to have to bowl well, and… they didn’t. England picked two proper quicks to open the bowling, but they went with the more explosive options of Bell and Filer, rather than the reliability and control of Kate Cross – a decision which largely backfired. Although Bell did take the wicket of Tazmin Brits, given out LBW on a decision which would almost certainly have been overturned if DRS hadn’t been unavailable at the moment South Africa needed, neither were able to do the kind of early damage England were going to need to win the game.
England needed wickets, and couldn’t find them, which made it all the more frustrating that Alice Capsey remained on naughty step… er… I mean… the cover boundary… for the entire innings, despite having actually taken a decent number of wickets at WBBL. However Capsey had only been brought into the team at the last minute, after Maia Bouchier had tweaked her neck in the warm-up, so she wasn’t part of Plan A, and Heather Knight apparently doesn’t do Plan B, so on the boundary she stayed. It was mystifying, but unsurprising.
With South Africa continuing to accumulate at 4 or 5 an over, and a required rate than never went above 4, it meant all they needed to do was stay alive to win the game, which they did – crossing the line only 4 down with more than 10 overs to spare to go 1-0 up in the series.
My guess is that it will take a lot more than this to shock England out of their complacency. As The Editor put it:
I’m waiting for Heather Knight to tell us in the post-match that playing badly for 6 hours doesn’t make England a bad team… #SAvENG 🏏
— Raf Nicholson (@rafnicholson.bsky.social) 2024-12-04T17:55:24.001Z
But play like this against Australia, and the Ashes is going to be brutal.
