Laura Wolvaardt To Be South Africa Women's New Captain During Upcoming Pakistan Tour - Reports

The right-handed batter, Laura Wolvaardt is all set to take over the captaincy of the South Africa women’s team after Sune Luus stepped down as the skipper ahead of the forthcoming Pakistan tour.

According to a report by Independent Media, the apex body of the Proteas cricket has been involved in the discussion for the last few days since the squad for the upcoming Pakistan tour was announced without any skipper.

While leaving the captaincy, Sune Luus stated that she would be focussing more on her cricket. However, she was the main person who wanted a change of head coach. Luus led the South African women’s team to their maiden final in an ICC event last February.

There have been major talks within the dressing room after Cricket South Africa extended the head coach, Hilton Moreeng’s contract until December 31st, 2023, which caused massive turmoil within the team.

The 24-year-old, Laura Wolvaardt already had the experience of leading the squad as she was the captain in a 50-over series against India when Luus suffered an injury in 2021.

Under Laura Wolvaardt’s captaincy, South Africa’s women’s squad clinched their first win on Indian soil in 2021. It is evident that since the 24-year-old had an experience, she is the frontrunner to become the new skipper.

In the past two years, senior players Dane van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez retired from the Proteas which made Wolvaardt the most successful batter in the squad.

Laura Wolvaardt made her international debut for the Proteas in 2016 and played 80 ODIs and 53 T20I matches. She scored 3193 runs in the 50-over format with an average of 45.6. In the 20-over cricket, Wolvaardt scored 1079 runs with a 30.82 average. Laura Wolvaardt currently holds the number four rank in the ICC ODI rankings.

I didn’t really feel like I knew enough: Laura Wolvaardt

Two months during a media interaction, Wolvaardt opened up on taking captain’s responsibility and said that she was not ready for the job yet.

“(Leadership) That’s not something I really thought about too much about growing up. I didn’t really feel like I knew enough about the game to be telling people what they should or should not be doing with theirs,” said Laura Wolvaardt two months back.

South Africa will start their tour of Pakistan on Friday (September 1st) where they will play three T20I and ODI matches.