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We peaked too early: Wolvaardt

todayOctober 21, 2024 59

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South Africa skipper, Laura Wolvaardt, feels that her team played their best game one match too early, as they failed to win the title at the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday.

The Proteas lost the final to New Zealand by 32 runs, it was the Proteas second consecutive final after they lost to Australia on home soil last year.

“Cricket is just a bit random sometimes. Sometimes you have your best game, and I think we played our best game a couple of days too early, and we were beaten on the day today,” Wolvaardt said in the post-match press conference.

Reflecting on the loss, the captain said this one hurts more than last year’s.

“I think last year we were just really excited to be in the final. It was our first one and we really enjoyed the opportunity. But this year after the cricket we played in the semi, I really thought we would have it in the bag if we played another game of a similar nature.”

Talking about the turning point in the match, Wolvaardt pointed out the overs after the powerplay during the chase. After being 47/0 in the powerplay, South Africa ended up being 70/3 at the end of 11 overs, losing three wickets for 23 runs in the five-over period. They were chasing a daunting 159 to win.

“Overs 7 to 10 or 11, I think we fell flat a bit. I think we only went at fours or something in that phase. And then after that, we needed 10s for the last 10, which was quite a big ask,” said the 25-year-old.

The Proteas will land on Tuesday morning at the OR Tambo International Airport from the tournament.

Written by: Ntsako Mukhari

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