We need to execute with the bat to beat Bangladesh: Laura Wolvaardt

Question: Do you think batting has been a major disappointment for South Africa considering the highest score has been just 132 or where do you think has the team gone wrong so far in the World Cup?

“I wouldn’t call it a major disappointment because we are in a position to make the semi-finals. So, I think if we do find ourselves in this position, we must be doing something right along the line,” said Laura Wolvaardt.

“But yeah, I think obviously, we’re not batting as well as what we would like. But we’re pretty clear on where we’ve gone wrong and what we need to do to fix it. It’s just about executing that tomorrow against their spinners,” she added.

Question: Do you think feeling extra pressure as a host nation has backfired on South Africa in this World Cup considering you are coming from a tri-series win over India?

“I don’t think so. I think if anything, the home crowd has helped us a bit. It’s been incredible to be out there with the atmosphere we’ve gotten at some of the games to have thousands of people cheering when we were scoring runs or taking wickets,” Laura Wolvaardt.

“I think it’s helped us quite a bit. I think obviously being the host nation, there’s always a little bit of extra pressure. But for me personally, it was really special to have all of my family and friends in the crowd. And yeah, I enjoyed it,” she added.

Question: The team has already played one game at Cape Town in this World Cup against Sri Lanka where you lost the game by just three runs. So, what are the learnings from that game that you will look to apply in tomorrow’s game against Bangladesh?

“Yeah, I think obviously we didn’t bat very well in that game. I think we lacked partnerships up front and kind of didn’t have that set batter that was batting long and through in the innings,” Laura Wolvaardt.

“So that’s sort of our main focus for tomorrow is just to keep building those partnerships. I think overall, it was quite a nice wicket to bat on. So, we just need to apply ourselves and hopefully it’ll turn out better tomorrow,” she concluded.