South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt confident ahead of Women's World Cup

New Delhi [India], September 23 (ANI): With just over a week left for South Africa to begin their ICC Women's Cricket World Cup campaign against England, Proteas skipper Laura Wolvaardt and her team are confident of obtaining better results.

The eight-team ICC Women's ODI Cricket World Cup 2025 is scheduled to take place from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka. Navi Mumbai, Guwahati, Indore and Visakhapatnam are the four host venues in India, while in Sri Lanka, Colombo is the only venue. All Pakistan matches will be held in the island nation.

South Africa head into the event on the back of a confident series win in Pakistan.

In recent years, the Proteas have come close to success in ICC events, reaching the semi-finals in the last two ODI World Cups and finishing as runners-up in back-to-back ICC Women's T20 World Cups, as per the ICC website.

"We've had good preparation for this tournament and learned a lot of lessons from past ICC events. In the last few ODI World Cups, we made the semi-finals," said the South Africa skipper.

"I remember being part of that first semi-final loss in 2017 - it really hurt the group, but it helped us see that we could compete with the best sides in the world and qualifying for a one-day final is more a question of "when" and not "if" it would ever happen. The belief is very strong on our side going into this tournament," she added.

South Africa boasts a solid core team filled with experience across the board, but with a long tournament ahead and the immense pressure of a World Cup at stake, it's crucial for them to stay grounded and not get ahead of themselves.

"I strongly believe that we have a very good squad of 15 players, so I'm very excited for this tournament," said the 26-year-old. We bat very deep, with a lot of all-rounders giving us different bowling options, which is exciting for me as captain."

"The most important thing for us is to trust the process and take it one game at a time. You never want to get ahead of yourself - it's a long tournament with lots of cricket, so staying present and focusing on ourselves is key," she said.

Wolvaardt anticipates a tough challenge in India and Sri Lanka, with the subcontinental conditions set to add an extra edge to the tournament. The Proteas skipper believes there will be no easy outings.

"In subcontinent conditions, the local teams come into the game a lot more. We've lost to New Zealand in a World Cup final, and teams like Australia and England are always strong. Every opponent will be tough, especially in these conditions, where subcontinent players are excellent against spin and their bowlers are very crafty. Teams like Australia, India and New Zealand prepare very well, so there's never an easy game," she concluded. (ANI)

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