Women's World Cup 2025: "Using Bavuma and men's WTC triumph as an inspiration" - South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt

Published - 03 Oct 2025, 10:08 IST | Updated - 03 Oct 2025, 10:38 IST

South Africa are all set to begin their Women's World Cup campaign on Friday, October 3, as they take on England at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. Ahead of the clash, South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt said that her team is hoping to draw inspiration from the men's team, which won the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia earlier this year.

Wolvaardt mentioned how well the Temba Bavuma-led side was supported from back home in South Africa during the iconic clash. She hopes that her team will be able to do something special for the country and have fans rallying behind them during the journey.

"Yeah, obviously, the men winning that World Test Championship is awesome. It's been amazing to see how the country has supported them and how excited everyone was back at home and united to support them in that trophy. So, yeah, hopefully we have the chance to do something similar to really get the country behind us in this tournament. And, yeah, hopefully we can do something special," Wolvaardt was quoted as saying by India Today.

The talismanic right-handed batter said that her team has done well against England in the past. She believes that if the Proteas can stick to their plans on Friday, they can bag full points from the high-voltage fixture.

"It's a bit of a tricky one because I feel like we've beaten them in the group stages in the past World Cups and then lots of them in the semifinal. So we know as a group, we can beat them, especially in the group stages. I think we know that if we play our best cricket, we can beat any side in the world. We've played some good cricket recently. We've been batting really well. We've been bowling better and better. I think all of us know that if we really stick to our plans and are really clear with what we want to do, that we can beat them tomorrow," said Wolvaardt.