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Does Laura Wolvaardt have the best cover drive in the game today?
It's a question that's not unpopular although answers are bound to be varying. It is a fact though that the South African captain's cover drive is right up there as far as aesthetics go.
The cover drive is a form of art. The weight transfer, the bat flow, the poise - it's a delight for shutterbugs. It's a shot that, when perfectly executed, gets your jaw dropping to the floor in awe. 'Frame that!'
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Naturally, Wolvaardt's focus isn't on the aesthetic side of it, even as this particular shot is the first that's bound to come to mind when you think of her name. A picture-perfect cover drive for her does not come down to that though.
"I guess any one that’s effective and goes for four at the end of the day," says Wolvaardt in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda on the sidelines of WPL 2025. "As long as you don’t play a perfect one straight to the fielder so I think it’s more about the outcome."
It's a shot that has become so synonymous with her that she seems quite a natural at it - something she admits to.
"I guess it has always just come naturally. Growing up, I opened the batting a lot and naturally people bowl outside the off stump (with the new ball). So it’s a shot that I knew and trained quite a lot in the past. I tried to get the technique good because then the chances of making a mistake are smaller and I’m glad it looks good as well," says Wolvaardt.
Only apt that we trace her journey back to the very beginning.
Books versus bat - how cricket became a part of Laura Wolvaardt's life
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...
Iconic words that mark the beginning of Robert Frost's famous poem that has etched itself into literature legend. Words that suit Wolvaardt's journey into the sport for which she did opt for The Road Not Taken.
Born in Milnerton, she was raised in and around the coastal city of Cape Town. For someone who would prove to be academically sharp, it's fair to say that cricket came towards her than the other way around considering how early she began playing the sport.
"I started playing at school when I was about five I think, still in pre-primary school. I was just friends with a lot of boys and they started playing cricket during breaks on the field. I just joined. It was still mini-cricket with tennis balls and stuff but I just absolutely loved it," says Wolvaardt.
Interestingly, she looked at cricket as no more than a hobby though, even as she was obsessed with it.
"It was definitely just a hobby. I think I was obsessed with cricket when I was a kid but it was never something that I saw as a job one day. School was my priority and cricket was just something I did for fun on the side. Women’s cricket obviously wasn’t near where it is now so it wasn't a big shining bright future. So I always thought medicine would be the way that I would go. But I think the timing of the growth of the game compared to when I had to make my decision was quite good. You could see that the game was really taking off so I wanted to be a part of that," says Wolvaardt.
As much as Wolvaardt eventually wanted to be a part of cricket, it wasn't a straightforward decision. The crossroads between medicine and cricket extended into the early stages of her international career, having debuted as a 17-year-old in 2016.
Often, it's one particular moment that sparks the final call with such decisions. But in Wolvaardt's case, it wasn't a specific moment that made things clear.
"It was a tough year or two deciding which one I wanted to do. I’m not sure if there really was a moment. I obviously played, took a break from medicine and played cricket for about two seasons and I absolutely just loved it. There was no way that I was going to go back after I’d just started playing more for South Africa, started playing in leagues and it was just an amazing experience. It was just too hard to say no to it. I’m not sure if there was one defining moment but I think it all just added together that I really enjoyed what I was doing," says Wolvaardt.
"It has pushed me out of my comfort zone" - Laura Wolvaardt on leadership responsibility
Destined for great things in the sport, the methodical Wolvaardt boasts averages of 50.03 and 35.70 after 101 ODIs and 80 T20Is respectively, emerging as one of the cornerstones behind South Africa's success over the last few years.
Captaincy was the next step in this journey as she was handed the job in late 2023. For a person who, by her own admission, is pretty reserved, handling a troop of people was a major challenge - particularly with the retirement of a host of stalwarts that set a transition in motion. Perhaps her experience as Head Prefect in school helped in that regard.
"I think so. It’s obviously been a very different experience. I think in my time as Head Prefect in school I had to give a lot of speeches and stuff in front of a big audience. I think that’s made my team meetings a little easier to speak in front of people (laughs). I’m a bit more reserved naturally so it has pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit, this new role, having to speak more in a group setting. The on field stuff I feel is easier because that’s more tactical but the off field stuff is a bit difficult sometimes. But I’ve learnt a lot as a cricketer and about myself as well so it has been a cool opportunity," says Wolvaardt.
Results have come South Africa's way too with the team making the final of the T20 World Cup in 2023 and 2024 and the former marking the first instance of a Proteas side - men or women - qualifying for the final of a senior World Cup.
Wolvaardt looked back at those achievements with mixed feelings, the obvious disappointment of not going all the way in the summit clash not to be hidden. She was pleased with the progress that the team had made though and reckoned that they were on the right path with an ODI World Cup on the horizon on Indian shores later this year.
"To make two finals in a row means that we’re doing something right and we’re doing something consistently well over that period of time. I think we’d like to work on our record a bit in series between World Cups. We haven’t had the best bilateral record in between those World Cups but clearly there’s something about the World Cups that makes us perform well as a team so hopefully this one (ODI World Cup 2025) is the one for us," says Wolvaardt.
Coinciding with the progress of her team was Wolvaardt's own step-up in terms of her attacking game in the shortest format. A conscious effort to maximize the powerplay and take the bowlers on has become a feature of her batting and one that has been steadily on the upswing.
"I think the game has just evolved so quickly in the last couple of years and people are really taking on the powerplay. It’s just something I’ve had to do to stay with the times. I guess naturally I’m a bit more of a conservative “ODI player” if you will but I’ve been working hard in the last couple of years to up my strike-rate in T20 cricket and finding out a way to take on that powerplay and bat through the innings because that’s more of my role in the South African team - bat long periods of time. But yeah it’s been a good journey - I still have a lot to learn and a lot of progress to make but I think I’m heading in the right direction so that’s good," says Wolvaardt.
With fond experiences in the WPL, Wolvaardt looks to take Gujarat Giants all the way
Wolvaardt was one of the many big names to have shockingly not found a taker in the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) auction in 2023. But it wasn't long before the Gujarat Giants swooped in to sign her as a replacement player.
The Giants were confined to being cellar-dwellers in the first two seasons but things look far more promising three games into their WPL 2025 campaign.
Reflecting on what she calls an 'incredible opportunity' to play the WPL, Wolvaardt was optimistic of the team doing much better this season having shown impressive signs across the first leg in Vadodara.
"I didn’t get picked up in the first auction so I wasn’t too sure what my WPL future would look like so it was absolutely amazing to be called in as a replacement and to still be able to be with the same franchise is very cool. Hopefully a better season for us. I would say we’ve had two good games - scoring 201 in one and then winning the second one was a good start for us. And we’ve got some very explosive players in Ash (Gardner) and D-Dot (Deandra Dottin) and it’s been very exciting," she says.
As the lone South African on the team, who is her best friend in the camp?
"It’s been a bit of a mix. Obviously you get to meet new people in these types of leagues which is very cool. The first year, I didn’t say too much - just kept to myself a bit. But as the seasons have passed I’ve probably just spent a lot of time with the other overseas players like Ash, Pheebs (Phoebe Litchfield), Moons (Beth Mooney). But it’s been really nice to get to know some of the local Indian girls as well and learn a bit more about India from them," says Wolvaardt.
The South African captain has borne witness to the growth of women's cricket from a time when it didn't appear to be too lucrative to the naked eye. It's something she vouches for with the WPL and the improvement shown by some of the younger Indian players.
"I think it’s been amazing to see some of the local players and how they’ve improved. In my team specifically we’ve had players like Priya (Mishra), Shabnam (Shakil), Kashvee (Gautam) all of whom three years ago were just playing domestic cricket and now some of them are U19 World Cup winners, some of them have made their debut for India A and India as well. So it’s been amazing to see the growth of those players and just their skills as well. Facing them in the nets in the first season compared to the third season, to see how much they’ve grown has been amazing. I think this tournament will be massive for the growth of the game in India and hopefully South Africa can do something similar one day," says Wolvaardt.
What can better the game even further in the women's landscape though?
"I would love to just see all the leagues grow I guess," she says. "At the moment this one has just the five teams but if that can grow into a bigger tournament with more teams, there would just be more opportunity. In South Africa we still have a lot of growth to do. We don’t have a league which I think is a big part of growth. All the countries that have leagues, their cricket has just grown exponentially in the last few years. I think that’s something we’ll have to do to stay up with the times. Hopefully we can get something like that in South Africa soon."
***
Ahead of the start of WPL 2025, a clip of a host of school girls lining up for her autograph was posted by the Giants on their social media platforms.
"It’s crazy! I think back in the day I would be the young girl on the other side of the fence asking for autographs so it’s crazy to sort of have the roles reversed. Those kids were so cute and so friendly, it was so nice to meet them. It’s amazing to see a group of girls watching the game and wanting autographs. I don’t think that’s something you would have seen ten years ago. Again it just shows the growth of the game in the country and how young girls are aspiring to play cricket one day so it’s been amazing," says Wolvaardt.
Having crossed that side of the fence, Wolvaardt is a pioneer in modern-day women's cricket. There are more chapters to be written in this story but for a young girl for whom cricket was a hobby with no clear future in sight, it's the unconventional career path that has proved to work out just fine.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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