(WS News) – Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa got off to a winning start at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, beating Hayley Matthews’ West Indies by ten wickets.
An impressive bowling showing from South Africa left them needing 119 to win the Group B contest, with Marizanne Kapp taking the big wickets of Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin, and Nonkululeko Mlaba returning the pick of the figures with 4/29.
And the South African openers made easy work of the chase, with Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits putting in a dominant display to reach their target with 13 balls to spare.
Wolvaardt set the tone with a glorious drive early in the powerplay, and West Indies’ struggles with the ball were only compounded when Zaida James was hit in the face by a shot off her own bowling and was forced from the field having just bowled a single delivery of her allocation.
West Indies turned to eight bowlers in total as they searched for a breakthrough, but the events were in vain, and they will now turn their attention to important games coming up against Scotland, Bangladesh and England in group B.
The nature of South Africa’s win will give the squad hope that they can go one better than the last edition of this tournament and take the title, and with Wolvaardt (59*) and Brits (57*) in such excellent form they will be a threat to all of the top teams.
