South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt believes her team still has another level to reach with the bat as they prepare to face hosts England in the second semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 at The Oval, London, on Thursday, July 2.
South Africa have reached the knockout stage for the third straight Women’s T20 World Cup and will now be aiming to qualify for another final after finishing as runners-up in 2024.
The Proteas qualified as the second-placed team from Group A after a hard-fought group-stage campaign. While England won all five of their matches to finish on top of Group 2, South Africa had to work hard to secure their place in the last four.
Speaking before the semi-final, Wolvaardt admitted her team’s bowlers have been excellent throughout the tournament, but said the batting group still has room to improve.
“Our bowling has been pretty good. We’ve been able to strike early in the power play, and then I think in the middle in death overs, we’ve been able to sort of really keep teams quiet.
“With the bat we probably haven’t been 100 per cent. All of our batters will admit they they’d like to score a bit more runs, but I think it’s a good thing because when they do come off, hopefully in the next game, it’ll be a pretty good game.”
South Africa’s batting has shown both good and difficult moments during the tournament. They struggled badly in their opening match against Australia and also found themselves under pressure against Pakistan before managing to win a low-scoring thriller.
However, they bounced back strongly in an important match against India. Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp played calm and responsible innings to guide South Africa to a valuable six-wicket victory, which helped them stay on course for the semi-finals.
Wolvaardt hopes her batting unit can now produce its best performance when it matters most. “A big focus of ours is that power game. We have a lot of young talent that is just really good at it. Maybe we need to stack them throughout the innings so that we’re able to, to keep going in all the different phases.”
South Africa will also take confidence from their recent record against England in ICC knockout matches. The Proteas defeated England in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 and again in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
Wolvaardt believes those victories prove her team can handle the pressure of big matches. “We’ve been able to beat England twice in knockout phases in World Cups, so it’s not like it’s super foreign territory for us.
“I think we can sort of beat anyone on the day when we play some very good cricket. So just trying to think back to those tournaments, what we did well in those semi-finals, what sort of mindset we were in. But I think this is a team that really is able to rise to the big occasions. So hopefully everyone’s at their best.”
Although South Africa have reached another World Cup semi-final, Wolvaardt has not been fully satisfied with her own batting performances.
The captain scored 44 against Australia and followed it with 45 against the Netherlands, but she is still looking for her first half-century of the tournament. She admitted she has been frustrated with the way her innings have ended but remains confident that a big score could come in the semi-final.
“I’m probably a bit annoyed with my tournament because I felt like I was in pretty good form coming into the competition and then had a couple of frustrating knocks, maybe just trying to hit it a bit too hard, but I guess that’s just the pressure of a World Cup. It’s hard to stay super calm and chilled, but hopefully I’m able to do it tomorrow. I think it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to bat.
“I think it’s just maybe one or two things haven’t gone my way, and then I got a bit frustrated in the middle. So I think I just need to stay nice and calm and maybe one or two nice shots and then I’m back.”
South Africa now face one of their toughest tests against an unbeaten England side, but with recent knockout success against the hosts and belief growing within the squad, the Proteas will hope another strong performance can take them into a second straight Women’s T20 World Cup final.
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