We wanted to win it for Kappie, says Proteas Women captain Laura Wolvaardt after final loss

Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt's biggest disappointment after the ICC Women's World Cup final defeat to India in Navi Mumbai on Sunday was that the team could not give star allrounder Marizanne Kapp the perfect sendoff.

 Kapp, 35, may likely have played in her last ODI World Cup.

“She’s been absolutely phenomenal through so many editions of this tournament. It’s really sad that this might be her last one,” she said.

“The whole group wanted to win it for her. She’s been such a huge figure in South African cricket - honestly like having two players in one. We’re just so lucky she’s on our team.”

The skipper, however, praised her team’s “resilience” after finishing runners-up.

The Proteas were bundled out for 246 in response to India’s 298/8. The skipper struck a brilliant 101, but did not have sufficient support to haul in a record World Cup final target. 

“It's unfortunate to be on the losing side today, but I’m sure we’ll definitely grow from this as a group. I think we did so well to put those couple of bad games behind us. We were either really good or really bad, but thankfully there was a lot more really good throughout this tournament,” Wolvaardt said.

Although the skipper carried her team’s batting in both the semi-final and final, she feels one of the major positives was the performances from the entire squad throughout the competition. 

“There were so many different players stepping up. It’s been an amazing tournament for a lot of them, and I’m just really proud of the resilience we showed to make it all the way to the final,” she said.

Wolvaardt called correctly at the toss, and had no hesitation in electing to bowl after the final was delayed by 90 minutes due to rain. 

However, India’s openers Smitri Mandhana and Shafali Varma flew out of the blocks to help India post the second-highest total in an ICC Women’s World Cup final. 

She still believed it was the correct decision, considering the overhead conditions, and the Proteas were stacked with nine batters for the run chase.

“We were hoping for a little bit more early on, but I still think it was the right call. There was something in the wicket. We stayed in the chase for a long time - just lost a few too many wickets at key stages,” Wolvaardt said.

“I think 300 was about par on that wicket, and we genuinely believed we could chase it. Definitely.”

The skipper enjoyed a phenomenal individual World Cup, finishing as the competition’s all-time highest run-scorer in a single tournament with 571 runs at an average of 71.37.

She was particularly good in the playoffs, becoming the first batter to score centuries in both the semi-finals and final.

“I probably didn’t have my best year leading into the World Cup, and I didn’t start this tournament too well either. Maybe I was overthinking things early on,” Wolvaardt added.

“So I just tried to separate the two - the captaincy and the batting - and that freed me up towards the back end to play my natural game and then focus on leadership separately.”