Excited to get the Women's World Cup journey going against England - Wolvaardt

Proteas Women’s captain, Laura Wolvaardt, expressed her excitement to kickstart their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 campaign as they prepare for the opening encounter against England in Guwahati on Friday.

The match is scheduled to take place at the ACA Stadium at 15h00 local time (11h30 SAST) and will be broadcast live on SuperSport Grandstand (Channel 201).

In the pre-match press conference ahead of South Africa’s highly anticipated first match of the 13th edition of the global showpiece, Wolvaardt shared her thoughts on starting the tournament against familiar rivals England.

"Very excited to get going. England are a very strong side, but we really enjoy playing against them in World Cups. “They've beaten us in the semifinals in the last two editions of this tournament, so we’re really keen to look to get a good start against them tomorrow. Being able to beat a team like that early on really sets the tone for the competition. 

“We've got a really strong group of players here, we’ve prepared well, and we’re really looking forward to the game,” the skipper added. 

Despite England’s superior record over South Africa in previous meetings, including semifinal defeats in both the 2017 and 2022 tournaments, Wolvaardt remains confident in her team’s ability to compete with the best.

“It’s a bit of a tricky one, because I feel like we’ve beaten them in the group stages in past World Cups and then lost to them in the semi-finals. 

“We know as a group that we can beat them, especially in the group stages. I think we know that if we play our best cricket, we can beat any side in the world. We’ve played some good cricket recently; we’ve been batting really well and we’ve bowled better and better, so all of us know that if we stick to our plans and we are clear with what we want to do, then we can beat them tomorrow.”

Much like in the opening game of the tournament between India and Sri Lanka at the same ground, rain has been predicted during the course of the matchday. When quizzed about the potential disruptions during the contest, Wolvaardt highlighted the importance of adaptation. 

"Obviously, there’s been a lot of rain around, and we’re going to have to be as adaptable as we can. The (weather) apps are quite unpredictable. You don’t really know when it’s going to rain, even if the app says it’s going to rain. So we’ll just have to be able to adapt in the game and to whatever comes at us."

The ongoing World Cup in India has already seen record-breaking attendance, with more than 22,000 fans at the opening match. When asked about the potential of this edition becoming the biggest Women’s World Cup to date, Wolvaardt highlighted its significance for the women’s game.

“Hopefully, very big for the game. The women’s game has grown incredibly in the last couple of years. It feels like the pinnacle of all of that, having a massive World Cup in India where the game has absolutely blown up. 

“There are a lot of really good subcontinent sides here, that have a lot of good spinners.  It brings everyone onto a more level playing field, so it should be really tightly-contested and watched all around the world,” the captain concluded.