South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt admitted her team was disappointed after their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 journey ended with a 40-run defeat to England in the second semi-final at The Oval, London, on Thursday, July 2.
The Proteas were chasing 170 after England recovered from 23/3 thanks to a brilliant 133-run partnership between captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight. South Africa started well with the ball but could not stop England from posting 169/5. During the chase, they kept losing wickets and never built the partnerships needed to stay in the game, finishing on 129/8.
The defeat ended South Africa’s hopes of reaching a third straight Women’s T20 World Cup final. England will now meet six-time champions Australia in the final at Lord’s on Sunday, July 5. Speaking after the match, Wolvaardt said her team was naturally disappointed but accepted that England were the better side on the day.
“(Just talk us through the emotions?) Yeah, very disappointed, but just not meant to be for us today. I think we were outplayed today by a really good England side. And yeah, I think they played really well.”
Wolvaardt felt the biggest difference between the two teams was the partnerships England built after losing early wickets. She said South Africa never managed to put together similar stands during the chase.
“(What was different this evening?) Not too sure. I think the main difference between our innings and theirs is just they had so many more partnerships. Obviously, we started really well with the ball and then they had that really big partnership. And I think we just didn’t have any partnerships to sort of speak of and didn’t really have any batters that really got going. So frustrating to lose as well on a big stage. But yeah, we’ll go back to the drawing board.”
The South African skipper believed England’s total was challenging but still within reach on a good batting surface.
“I thought it was a pretty decent pitch, coming on quite nicely. I thought 170 was about par. Pretty happy with that. Yeah, I thought, especially with the outfield as well, it’s lightning. I thought it was going to be tough to defend. But yeah, I think they bowled pretty well. Clearly had different plans for us. And yeah, we weren’t able to step up.”
Looking back at the whole tournament, Wolvaardt said South Africa could still take plenty of positives. The Proteas reached the semi-finals after finishing second in Group A, but she felt their batting never fully clicked during the competition.
“Decent campaign for us. I think happy to have made it out of this group stages. I think upon reflection, our batting never really fired throughout the competition. We had some glimpses here or there, some special innings throughout the tournament. But I think as a whole, we just weren’t quite clicking. So yeah, and I think that showed again a bit today. But yeah, I think our bowling and outfielding was pretty good throughout. So, I think we’ll have a look at what we’ve done wrong and hopefully be better next time.”
Despite the disappointing finish, Wolvaardt believes this tournament will help South Africa in the future. She praised the mix of experienced players and young talent in the squad and said younger players like Annerie Dercksen showed encouraging signs.
“I think we’ve got an exciting mix at the moment. We’ve got some really senior players who have played a lot of games, a lot of experience, but some exciting youngsters coming through as well. Hopefully we learn from this. I think the likes of Derckson was pretty good with the bat throughout. So yeah, hopefully players like that can be even better in the next edition.”
Although South Africa’s campaign ended in the semi-finals, Wolvaardt believes the team has a strong base to build on. With experienced players leading the group and young cricketers gaining valuable experience, the Proteas will now aim to come back stronger in future ICC tournaments.
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