Temba Bavuma and Shukri Conrad pledge their support for Proteas Women in World Cup semi

Proteas Men’s Test captain Temba Bavuma and coach Shukri Conrad are at the forefront of the fervent support building up to the Proteas’ Women’s World Cup semi-final against England on Wednesday in Guwahati, India. 

Bavuma, who earlier this year led his team to the success in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s, believes Laura Wolvaardt’s side can make history by becoming the first Proteas Women’s team to reach a 50-overs World Cup final. 

“I’m super proud. I think the ladies have had a really good run to get to this stage of the tournament— the knockout stages,” Bavuma said. 

“Now it’s the business end of the campaign, where everything counts. I’m sure they’ll go into the game with a lot of confidence.”

“Yes, they had a tough encounter with England earlier on, but that means nothing when it comes to the playoffs.”

“We’ll be supporting them all the way, Laura Wolvaardt and the rest of the team. Hopefully, they’ll be able to perform close to their best come Wednesday.”

The Proteas’ Women’s side have enjoyed a group stage campaign mixed with incredible highs such as a five-game winning streak, which included a thrilling victory over co-hosts India, but also despairing lows with crushing defeats to England and Australia. 

It has almost mirrored the Proteas’ Men’s side World Cup journey in India two years ago, and Bavuma feels that Wolvaardt now has a major role to play in lifting her players for their third consecutive World Cup semi-final against England (Start11:30am SA time).

“I think in a World Cup campaign, you’re never going to be at your best all the time—there’s almost a science to losing, and sometimes that makes sense,” Bavuma said. 

“From a captain’s point of view, the key is motivating the players to perform as close to their best as possible.

“By now, everyone knows their role within the team, and it’s about executing that to the best of their ability, regardless of the opponent or the occasion.

“Nothing really changes from that perspective; you don’t want to start doing things differently.

“I know there’ll be a lot of us supporting the ladies and sending messages, but it’s also important that the team stays focused and keeps things controlled internally. The ladies just need to continue doing what they’ve been doing.”

Proteas Men’s coach Shukri Conrad echoed Bavuma’s feelings, and backed veteran allrounder Marizanne Kapp and Wolvaardt along with her opening partner Tazmin Britz to play a leading role in helping the Proteas overcome their World Cup semi-final hurdle.

“I think good structures is always a good start and I think we've had that for a very long time. But the one thing that breeds all the confidence is winning. And we've started to do that on a more regular basis. I just feel there's a feel-good factor in our cricket,” Conrad said.

“It's obvious that your senior players stand up and every now and again you have some standout performances. We've had that on the men's side.

“But we're starting to see that in the women's side as well. We're still waiting for Kappi and Laura to come to light and for them to play big knocks. Tazzie is also due again and I'm sure it'll be on Wednesday night.”