By Kevin Rademeyer, Sports Journalist.
Photo Credit: CSA.
Laura Wolvaardt still remembers what it felt like to be the youngster in the Proteas Women dressing room, the 16-year-old who arrived eager to learn and absorb everything around her.
These days, the questions are coming her way.
Sitting on the grass beside the playing square at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Wolvaardt reflected on a milestone that might once have seemed distant. She has now captained South Africa in 109 international matches across all formats, a period that has taken her from emerging star to one of the senior figures in the team.
“I can’t believe it’s been 100 already,” Wolvaardt said. “I think it feels like just yesterday when I started captaining this team, and I feel like I’m still learning as I’m going. A hundred sounds like a lot, but it’s pretty cool that I’ve been able to lead this group for so long.”
The numbers behind that journey are striking. Wolvaardt first stood in as captain during an ODI series in India in 2021 before taking the role on an interim basis for the 2023 tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. She was formally appointed in November that year.
Since then, South Africa have reached the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Cricket World Cup. Wolvaardt has continued to accumulate runs alongside the responsibility of leadership, scoring 15 international centuries during that period.
She now has 8,999 international runs, one short of becoming the first Proteas Women player to reach 9,000.
Captaincy, though, has changed more than the numbers beside her name. It has altered the way she watches a game. “As a batter, I think you’re very focused on yourself and what you need to do and your score and your strike rate and your results,” she said. “But as captain, you know, a day before a game, I’m thinking of bowling plans and fields we’re going to set and conditions and where the wind’s blowing.
“And yeah, I feel like it’s made me think about the game a lot more, which has been a good thing. I think it’s really helped me develop as a cricketer.”
There has been no obvious transformation in personality to accompany the promotion. Wolvaardt remains measured, quiet and analytical, qualities that have become part of the way she leads. “I think there’s a lot of different ways to lead. Some people do it by speaking a lot. That’s not really my style,” she said. “I’m pretty quiet. I like to think pretty calm. I like to do all the planning before, not feel too frazzled on the field. And yeah, I think it suits my personality.
“I think I kind of bring the stability and the calmness and try to lead more through what I’m doing and my actions than what I’m saying.”
That approach was tested during the recent tour of Zimbabwe, where Wolvaardt was leading one of the youngest Proteas squads in recent memory.
South Africa completed a 5- 0 T20I series victory, with Wolvaardt producing one of the outstanding individual performances of the tour. Her unbeaten 126 in the third match was a South African women’s record in T20 internationals and underlined that, even with the captaincy, her bat remains the most obvious way she can influence a match.
Around her, however, the next generation is arriving quickly.
Karabo Meso is 19. Kayla Reyneke is 20. Miané Smit and Nthabiseng Nini are both 21. Wolvaardt, who made her international debut as a teenager, suddenly finds herself among the older players in the group.
“I think I’m like the third or fourth oldest on this tour, which kind of happened overnight,” she said. “Just yesterday, I was the youngster, just super excited to be here and keen to learn. And now people are asking me questions.
“And it’s funny how quickly it changed. It’s actually been a blink of an eye. But it’s been cool.”
The change has also given Wolvaardt an opportunity to pass on lessons gathered during a career that has taken her around the world. “It’s been nice to sort of share my knowledge,” she said. “I feel like the last couple of years, I’ve been able to play a lot of cricket all around the world. And it’s been nice to sort of give that feedback to some of the youngsters.”
Her own rise began early. In December 2013, aged 13, Wolvaardt was invited into a South Africa Women’s Under 19 invitational side and was subsequently named Cricket South Africa’s Under 19 female cricketer of the year.
Two years later she made her senior debut against England, aged 16. In August 2016, she became South Africa’s youngest international centurion when she struck 105 against Ireland in Malahide.
The milestones have continued. She made her Test debut against England in 2022, scored her maiden T20I century against Sri Lanka in March 2024 and followed that with her first Test hundred against India later that year.
That Test century also placed her in a select group of women to have scored hundreds across all three international formats.
For all the records, trophies and captaincy milestones, Wolvaardt’s view of her legacy is strikingly simple.
Asked what she would like her teammates to remember when her time as captain eventually ends, she didn’t reach for a cricketing achievement. “I guess just that I was fair and nice,” she said. “Yeah, I haven’t really thought about it that much. Hopefully I’m still captain for a while.
“How I was as a person and how I made them feel on the field. And that hopefully I helped them play better cricket in that moment on the field and didn’t do the opposite.”
It is an understated answer from a player whose career has been anything but ordinary. Yet it also explains much about Wolvaardt’s leadership.
She has gone from being the teenager asking questions to the senior player answering them, without losing the calm that has defined her throughout. And with 9,000 international runs now within touching distance, there are still plenty of milestones ahead.