21 February - Cape Town - South Africa player Laura Wolvaardt post-match press conference
[Reporter]
First and foremost. It was a slow start in the tournament for you, but what sort of conversations did you have with yourself, with the coaches, putting on a performance like this today?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, it's been a very frustrating tournament for me so far. What conversations haven't I been having? I think, if anything, I've been overthinking it a bit, speaking to too many people. So, I'm just really glad I was able to get us a win today. And yeah, it feels very good to be in a home semi-final.
[Reporter]
Laura, you spoke about in the pre-match, you spoke about execution and the batting being a concern. Do you feel you guys executed well tonight?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah. After the drinks break, I think we did. I think we made it look a lot harder than it was the first 10 overs. We just struggled to find our timing. I think we were losing our shapes a bit. But I think after the drinks break, we just said we still got 10 wickets in hand. So, we just need to be positive. We can't leave this for the last over. And then we started playing a lot better cricket. So then, yeah, we just need to have that mindset from the start next time.
[Reporter]
And then why do you feel you guys started that slow? Was it nerves?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I think they did. They balled decent areas. I personally just wasn't timing it well. There were a couple of balls that I'm usually cover driving well that I just mistimed, just didn't hit properly. So, I think if anything, today was more a mental innings for me to just take a breath to stay in when it wasn't really working. And to find a bit of a bit of rhythm after the drinks break.
[Reporter]
As a whole, would you say that in the field, I mean, there were some messy moments there. What does that come down to?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, that was not our best feeling performance at all. I don't know. Because if you look at the first game, I think we feel that pretty well. I know it's the same crowd, the same ground. So, I don't think it was crowd pressure or anything like that. I think we just need to keep being really positive in the field. I think as soon as you miss the first one and you start being negative, which is a hard thing to do if you drop a catch early on to keep focusing on the next ball. But yeah.
[Reporter]
And then could you tell us a bit about Tazmin's celebration? Was it like a tree pose?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I have no idea what that was. Didn't discuss that one with me.
[Reporter]
Can you speak about those first few overs and the enormity of the occasion? And South Africa's history at World Cups in moments like that? I mean, does that stuff play through your mind while you're out there in those early overs? The tension's kind of building with each over as you're not getting away. Does the enormity of the occasion and what it means that go through your mind?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Maybe not on that big of a scale. But I think when I looked at our score after the power play, I was like, oh, this is not that good. And this is a crunch match for us. So, I think we definitely had a lot of pressure to absorb in the beginning there. We were not hearing our straps well. So yeah, very grateful that the bowlers only restricted them to 110 because yeah, we didn't start that great.
[Reporter]
I know you probably want to celebrate tonight for just casting an eye towards England, outside looking and given what they did today, looks like a tough ask. Is that almost less pressure because of that situation?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, they're a quality side. We've lost many semi-finals against them, which is not ideal. And they play a very explosive, very attacking brand of cricket. So, I think tomorrow, we're just going to have to have some good discussions about how we can use that against them. And if anything, it gives us a bit more freedom to know that we were going to have to put a lot of runs on the board early on and get off to better starts than what we did. Yeah.
[Reporter]
To take you back 11 days ago here against Sri Lanka, it looked as though you might have completely jeopardised your campaign. Has there been a particular moment or a conversation in the 11 days since the you felt things kind of turned around?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, obviously a very frustrating way to start the tournament. I think we're very fortunate to be in a position that we're in the semi-finals on that run rate, particularly a moment, probably just the New Zealand game when we restricted them to 60 or 70 or something. I think we just knew that we were there for the fight. I think the fight that we showed in that game was really good. So, we just knew we needed to take that moving forward in the tournament. posted
[Reporter]
And Sune post-match that no one in Cape Town does any work after 2pm on a Friday anyway. How important will it be for the home crowd here to kind of give you that extra push against England come Friday?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, that's very true. Hopefully we have a really full crowd. But I must say the crowds have been amazing so far over here. I never thought I'd see a crowd like this at Cricket in Cape Town. So, it's been really special for me.
[Reporter]
Well, we know you and your team are good at getting into semi-finals. But what are your discussions tomorrow going to be about - We've got to get into a final. How do you get over that hurdle?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, that's a good question. I think if you look at our last semi-final in the 50 over World Cup, I think it was just a total mental lapse. I think we had our worst game of the tournament in that game. We had a good tournament up until that point. So, I think we just need to have a lot of discussions to how to stay mentally strong. I think we have the talent and the skill. It's just a mental game in that semi-final, I think.
[Reporter]
Just Laura, how do you feel about your overall performance as a team? Do you feel like you guys have played your best cricket as yet?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I don't think so. I think our bowlers have been brilliant. I don't think we've had to chase more than 130 once. But I think our batting unit still hasn't fired quite as yet. Yeah, I think it’ll start soon, but they could be better. And overall, we've lost a lot of wickets and patches. So, yeah, it was nice to get a win there. And for Taz and I to get some runs and some confidence, hopefully. But I think overall, we're still looking to get better with the bat.
[Reporter]
Just on that, a couple of days ago, you said you get out of the powerplay today, you got through the powerplay. Does that just bode well going into a game against England, where you know that you've got to play another big role?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, I think I would like to get through the powerplay a bit better next time. Hopefully, get out of the powerplay with a bit more runs. But yeah, I think we've got a lot of powerplay runs. But yeah, I've been enjoying getting through the powerplay and rotating well in the middle.
[Reporter]
Well batted today. What would you as a team need to do differently to start eating that 160s, 170s against teams like England that you will face in the semi-final on Friday?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I think it's all mindset. I think Taz and I, after the drinks break, batted sort of the way we wanted to. I think from over 11 to 14 or something, we had a couple of overs where we went eight, nine, tens. So, I think, yeah, it's just having that mindset earlier on and taking braver options earlier, I think.
[Reporter]
And then just one more, if you don't mind. Three semi-finals now that you played in. It's another one on Friday. You've been here many times before. What do you have to do to get through this hurdle on Friday?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, they're all against England. Yeah, we're going to have to play a very good game of cricket. There's no denying that they're a very strong side, very explosive batting side. So, we're going to have to put up a lot of runs if we want to stand a chance of getting them.
[Reporter]
Can I just ask you about opening the batting? Obviously, it came off today. Are you comfortable there or do you still feel the middle order was better for you? Just have you adapted to it?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I don't mind either. I feel both of them sort of have their pros and cons. When it goes right opening, then it's amazing because the field's up and you can get boundaries easily. But when it goes wrong, you can sort of dot up quite easily. So yeah, and I've enjoyed having a bit more time. Sometimes I felt a bit rushed coming in later in the innings, having to go from ball one. So, both have their pros and cons. I'm enjoying the challenge so far, and hopefully I can have a couple more good innings to sort of solidify my spot there.
[Reporter]
Yeah, as I mentioned, England are a particularly strong side all round, particularly with the bat. You touched on today not being our best fielding performance in the tournament. How do we go about rectifying that ahead of what is obviously a very important match for us on home soil?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, it was probably our worst fielding performance of the competition. I think against England, you're going to have to take all the chances you can get, especially with their very explosive batting unit. They do give that chance; we need to take it. But I think it's more a conversation and a mindset thing in the field. I think we just need to keep being positive, keep attacking the ball and sort of not hesitating that first round. Yeah.
[Reporter]
And then just finally, you also mentioned the slow start that we had with the bat. Could you just give us some insight, you know, does the scoreboard somewhat dictate how fast or slow bat is starting innings?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
I try not to let it, but I think it always plays a little bit of a role. I think it's something that I'm still learning to do as an opener is sort of play with the same brand, no matter what I'm chasing. But I still have a bit of learning to do in that regard. But yeah, I think I just I wasn't finding my timing earlier on. There were a couple of balls that I usually hit through the covers or play shots to that I just wasn't timing properly. But yeah, I'm glad I stuck through it and got through a tough patch and didn't throw my wicket away.
[Reporter]
India. Laura, well played today. I just wanted to ask you about the mindset at the half time period when Bangladesh gave you a total of target of 114. What was the team talk at the half time and how you're planning to go about chasing?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
We sort of just said that what we're doing now wasn't going to get us into a very comfortable position. I think we needed 70 odd of the last 10. And we sort of said we had 10 wickets in hand to get 70 odd. So, we had to try a few more things had to be a lot more positive, take braver options. And if it didn't work for us, it didn't work. But we had to get a move on. So that was sort of our conversation is to be a lot more aggressive after that drinks break and to not keep going at the rate we were going.
[Reporter]
Well played today and all the best for the semis. So just wanted to ask, given the fact that, you know, the way you guys batted against England in one of the warm ups, I know the conditions were different and the boundaries could have been different, but just the fact that as a batting unit, you almost chased down on 240 odd runs - how big a confidence does that gives, going into such a big match against the same batting line-up again?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Yeah, I think it gives us a bit of confidence. They scored 240 odd and we scored 220 odd. It was a crazy game. So, knowing that we can do that today, bowling line-up. However, it was just a warm up game. I don't think they were playing their full-strength bowling side. But just knowing that that we have that ability to put up big scores on good wickets. Yeah, I think it'll be a bit of a different ballgame though the boundaries are a lot bigger so it won't be quite that high score, hopefully. But yeah, it gives us a bit of confidence, I guess.
[Reporter]
Congratulations on the semi-final. Just wanted to ask, I spoke to your coach, Laurie Ward, recently. So, he was saying that you haven't shown all your shots in T20A. So, what are those shots you haven't shown yet?
[Laura Wolvaardt]
Oh, that's a secret. No, it's just about being more positive, I guess, earlier on in my innings. I played a sweep shot today, which was pretty cool. I don't often do that. So, it's just about trusting those options earlier on and manipulating their field a bit better, I guess.