South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt , currently the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 470 runs, issued a Pat Cummins-like warning ahead of the Women’s World Cup final to be played on Sunday in Navi Mumbai.

Just like Australia’s captain Pat Cummins , who had vowed to silence the Indian crowd during the pre-match press conference ahead of the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Wolvaardt, too, wants to keep the Indian fans quiet.


Despite South Africa winning their last three matches against India since 2017, including a recent league stage victory in Visakhapatnam, Wolvaardt believes knockout games have different dynamics.

India enters their third ODI World Cup final, seeking their first tournament victory and their first win against South Africa since 2005.

The recent head-to-head record shows South Africa's dominance, with the Proteas securing three consecutive victories over India since 2017.

"Knockout cricket is completely different to league cricket. We've seen people are able to do some very special things in knockout games like we saw from Jemi the other night," Wolvaardt said, referencing Jemimah Rodrigues ' unbeaten 127 against Australia in the semifinal.

"I don't think we're going to be looking into our group game against them. We know we have to play some really good cricket. They're a really strong side and have just come off of a really good game as well, so they'll be high on confidence. We can't sort of bring any of our history into this game, whether it would be finals that we've lost or games that we've won against India, we're just really trying to erase all of that stuff and start completely afresh," she added.

The Proteas captain acknowledged the challenge of playing against India with a packed home crowd but suggested it could also pressure the hosts.

"It's going to be a very tough game with the whole crowd behind India, probably a sold-out stadium. It's going to be a very exciting opportunity, but at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on them as well," Wolvaardt said.

"They have the whole country behind them and are sort of expected to win. It's going to be a really big crowd — probably the biggest crowd that a lot of our girls have not played in front of — a lot of eyeballs on the game, a lot of added pressure," she added.

When asked about silencing the Indian crowd, Wolvaardt simply responded, "Hopefully we win. I guess that will silence them."

The South African captain highlighted how this World Cup final, featuring neither Australia nor England, reflects women's cricket development.

"It just shows how much the women's game is developing and how different countries are being able to use new resources and develop really good quality cricketers," she said.

South Africa enters their first ODI World Cup final, having previously lost in the finals of the last two T20 World Cups.

"I'm really trying not to think about the result in those finals or the first time I was in the final, you automatically think about the trophy and about winning," Wolvaardt stated.

"The first time you're in those finals it feels like a really big, fast paced event, whereas we need to all slow it down and take a big breath and hopefully we're able to do that as a group."

Wolvaardt credited head coach Mandla Mashimby for providing inspirational leadership to the team.

"Mandla normally does the really inspirational stuff, that 'you're carrying your country' type of thing. I just come in with a little 'stay calm girls' at the end. I think it'll be super important for us to just stay as present as we can tomorrow," she said.

"There's going to be a lot of noise, a lot happening, a lot of maybe different routines than you're used to in a normal game. But it's just a game of cricket and whichever team is able to do the basics for long and sort of hold their nerve for longer."