Photo Credit: ICC
After three consecutive scores in the 60s and 70s, South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt is still searching for a maiden ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup century.
And she is hoping coming up against the only other unbeaten side in the competition, Australia, will be the perfect motivation to do it.
South Africa have the chance to join Australia in booking their place in the semifinals with a victory or tie/no result in Wellington and their in-form opener is relishing the occasion.
Wolvaardt said: “It [a century] is something I’ve thought about. It’s not nice going out three times in the 70s/60s and not quite getting to the 100 when I really want to score 100 in a World Cup.
“But I guess it’s not the worst problem to have either, I could be sitting here with four ducks or something like that.
“It’s obviously a bit frustrating and if I find myself in that situation again, I might just take a bit of extra focus or an extra second before I face the ball just to really make sure I’m watching properly. Hopefully it just comes right next game.”
Wolvaardt and her side have the chance to defeat Australia for the first time in ODI cricket and she will not be too overawed by coming up against the highest-ranked side in the competition.
She added: “Australia, obviously, are a world-class side, they’re number one in the world. So it’s not a game that we’re going to take lightly at all.
“I guess we just need to see it as a normal game though, just watch the ball, one ball at a time.
“We can’t go out there playing the player, still just playing the ball and I don’t think we’ve ever beaten them in ODI, so I think it’s a great opportunity to do that. We’ll have to be on the top of our game.”
South Africa will be without Masabata Klaas after she failed to recover from a shoulder injury picked up in the win against New Zealand.
While the Proteas will be forced into a least one change to their side, Beth Mooney revealed that Australia will still look to play their best team despite already having qualified.
She said: “I think towards the back end of this competition, you want to gather as much momentum as you can leading into the semis and that potentially a final.
“We’ve shown that we’ve got the depth within this squad to make sure we’re pushing the letter a bit and competing against world-class teams.
“Tomorrow will be no different for us, I’m sure we’ll put our best team out in the park, even though we have locked in that semi-final game.
“We still want to make a huge statement leading into that semifinal as well, so I’m sure you’ll see the best of the Australian team across the next two games.”
