When South Africa’s players snuggled into their huddle on the outfield after India’s innings in the World Cup final at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, what was said? Probably the usual stuff about doing the basics properly, staying in the game and not panicking.
What was thought might have been more revealing.
How had Marizanne Kapp, fresh off a career-best 5/20 against England in the semifinal in Guwahati on Wednesday, not taken a single wicket? For only the sixth time in the 40 innings in which she had bowled all 10 of her overs – and not since she went for 58 against the Indians in Lucknow in March 2021 – she had not been rewarded. On Sunday she conceded one more run than that, and Deepti Sharma’s hoist over extra cover in the 48th after Kapp pitched her wide yorker too short was the only six hit off her in the tournament.
Kapp is the beating heart of her team. If she doesn’t fire, that’s not good. And there was more where that worry came from.
How had a side who are among the best fielding units in the game, and were again on Sunday when the ball was hit on the ground, wasted four chances? Even Laura Wolvaardt, who has taken all but two of the 22 chances that have come her way from 2022, squandered one of them. Albeit it was difficult – she had to dive forward at long-on, and Deepti Sharma’s drive off Nonkululeko Mlaba snuck under her hands.
Probably the South Africans didn’t know then that, to overhaul India’s 298/7, they would need the highest successful chase in a World Cup final. Or the fourth-highest in all women’s ODIs. Or a chase 24 runs bigger than any they had yet accomplished.
How did Kapp go wicketless on the big night? ©Getty
Maybe they did know, or at least feel, that the game was gone. Even then. That Shafali Verma’s resurrection – she came into the fray as an injury replacement for Pratika Rawal – and the force of nature we call Deepti had pushed the match out of their reach. Shafali scored 87 off 78, Deepti made 58 off as many balls, and that wouldn’t be the last South Africa would hear from them.
Wolvaardt, whose 169 in the semi had at least as much to do with South Africa reaching the final as Kapp’s bowling, delivered another performance that went above and beyond. Her 101 on Sunday made her only the second woman after Alyssa Healy to score centuries in a World Cup semi and a final. It also gave her 571 runs in the tournament – a record. The difference is that Healy’s 129 against West Indies in Wellington and 170 against England in Christchurch took Australia to the title in 2022.
Wolvaardt’s efforts weren’t enough to do that. She said so herself in fits and starts in her television interview: “Played some brilliant cricket throughout. Outplayed today. We were in it for a lot of the chase. Just lost too many wickets.”
All of which was true. South Africa deserved their place in the final. They didn’t deserve to win it. It really is that simple. India were easily the better team. There was no suspense. There should be no scars. But there were tears. There can not be when you’ve lost the 2023 and 2024 T20 World Cup finals to Australia and New Zealand. And now this, and with it the knowledge that Kapp, the most South African of South Africa’s players, perhaps the greatest cricketer of any gender from her country – and who will turn 36 in January – surely will not have another chance to shoot for World Cup glory.
“Really sad that it’s possibly her last one,” Wolvaardt said. “The whole group really wanted to win it for her.”
Ah. What can you do. Here in South Africa, particularly if you live or have lived on our east coast, you know about the Indian Ocean and the many who have crossed it to live in our country and become central to its culture. The water of that ocean is warm and its energy is irresistible, and you would have to be hard-hearted not to feel a connection with the people on the other side of it. And be happy, or at least accepting, that they won.
They did because Deepti took 5/39 and Shafali claimed 2/36, and because Harmanpreet Kaur, at extra cover, backpedalled furiously, lurched upward, and took the catch to remove Nadine de Klerk that ended the match and made India winners by 52 runs.
Harmanpreet is often painted as an angry woman. Wolvaardt is written off as emotionless. That both of them had shiny eyes at the end of all that told its own story. Be grateful that you have the freedom to cry when the need takes you. Not all of us have that privilege.