Proteas need to execute with the bat to beat Bangladesh

Laura Wolvaardt understands that her lack of runs at the World Cup is adding to pressure on the rest of the Proteas batters and inhibiting their ability to execute the team’s style and strategy.

Wolvaardt has had a poor tournament by her high standards, describing the absence of runs as “frustrating.” She is hoping to turn around her fortunes on Tuesday evening when the Proteas have to beat Bangladesh to book their spot in the semifinals.

In any normal circumstances it is a scenario they would relish, but they have struggled to assert themselves and Wolvaardt admitted there were nerves in the camp.

“We are a little worried, as a home nation you want to play in a semifinal. It’s probably one of the more important games in my career,” she said on Monday.

The Proteas opted for an optional training session at Newlands after rain had washed out plans for a full practice. However it’s not more time in the nets that’s needed but rather a clearer understanding of how to implement the plans and the way they want to play that will allow them to be successful.

“We’ve not hit our straps as a batting unit. I don’t think our plans are wrong, we’ve just lacked execution. We are speaking about that intent when batting and to keep rotating and looking to score,” said Wolvaardt.

Wolvaardt has found scoring difficult, with innings of 18, 13 and 19 in the tournament belying a player of her exceptional talent. That however represents the continuation of a problematic run for the 23-year-old, who has made just one half-century in her last eight completed innings.

“It’s never nice to not be making runs, especially at a home tournament. It’s supposed to be a very special time for me, so to not be making runs is frustrating.”

Naturally her return to the top of the order — in the T20 team — has been a topic for discussion. At the 2020 World Cup in Australia, Wolvaardt found great success in a middle order “finisher” role, playing some of the best innings of her career in the format during that tournament.

This year, she has been moved back to opener. Though it is not an unfamiliar role, she has found it difficult in this year’s competition to get the balance right between playing positively, while also anchoring the innings.

“I don’t really mind where I bat, there are pros and cons playing in both positions,” she said.  “I don’t think that is why I’ve not been scoring runs — most of my dismissals have come after the power play. I open in ODIs and it goes pretty well, the plan initially when I moved down the order was that I would open one day when I was ready and developed my skills enough.

“We have a lot of batters who are really good in the middle. I didn’t mind the change at all, I’m just not executing at the minute.”

That failure to execute is part of a wider problem with the bat for the Proteas. While the stated aim is to play aggressively, they have mustered totals of 126, 132 and 124 in their three matches, well short of the goal to score at eight runs an over.

“You have to be a bit more attacking especially up front, maybe we’re not summing up conditions quickly enough in some games. We need to stick to what we are trying to do and play an attacking brand of cricket.

“It’s T20, some days it will work out and some days you will be 30/3 in the power play.”

Nevertheless, she doesn’t think the batting has been a major disappointment. “We are still in a position to make the semifinals, so we must be doing something right. We are not batting as well as we would like. We are pretty clear on where we have gone wrong and what we need to do to fix it,” said Wolvaardt.