South Africa’s captain, Laura Wolvaardt, shared her immense pride in her team’s Women’s World Cup 2025 campaign, despite their heartbreaking loss to India in the final at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. In her post-match remarks, she also confirmed the retirement of veteran player Marizanne Kapp from World Cup cricket and lauded India’s Shafali Verma for her exceptional batting performance, which ultimately secured India a 52-run victory.
This historic win marked India’s first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup title, achieved through a clinical display against first-time finalists South Africa.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team and the entire campaign we’ve had,” Wolvaardt stated. “We played brilliant cricket throughout, but today India simply outplayed us. It’s tough to be on the losing side, but I truly believe we will learn and grow immensely from this experience. We managed to overcome a few difficult matches, showcasing our ability to bounce back. While we had moments of being either truly exceptional or quite off, thankfully, the exceptional moments were far more frequent. It’s been an incredible tournament for many of our players, and I am deeply proud of the resilience everyone showed.”
Wolvaardt also opened up about the challenges of balancing her roles as captain and a key batter. “I probably didn’t have my best year leading up to the World Cup, and I struggled at the start of the tournament. I was overthinking things, which wasn’t helping. Learning to treat it as ‘just another game of cricket’ and separating my batting mindset from my captaincy duties really freed me up to play my natural game,” she explained.
Reflecting on the match conditions, Wolvaardt admitted, “We were hoping for a bit more swing in the pitch. There was still some movement, so I stand by the decision to bowl first. We were well in contention during much of the chase but unfortunately lost too many wickets. I kept a close eye on Shafali; she batted brilliantly. That’s her style of play, and when she’s in form, she can be incredibly damaging to any opposition.”
On Marizanne Kapp’s impending World Cup retirement, Wolvaardt expressed her sadness: “She has been a phenomenal force for us across so many editions. It’s truly sad that this will be her last World Cup. The whole team desperately wanted to win it for her. She plays like two players rolled into one, and we are incredibly fortunate to have her on our team.”
Individually, Wolvaardt enjoyed a stellar tournament, not only scoring 101 runs off 98 balls in the final but also finishing as the highest run-scorer in a single World Cup edition with an astounding 571 runs from 9 innings, averaging 71.37.
Her illustrious World Cup career now boasts 1,328 runs in 24 matches, including two centuries and 12 half-centuries, bringing her closer to New Zealand legend Debbie Hockley’s record of 1,501 runs. Wolvaardt has also set a new Women’s World Cup record for the most 50-plus scores, achieving 14 such innings in just 24 matches, surpassing icons like Mithali Raj, Debbie Hockley, and Charlotte Edwards.