Laura Wolvaardt — a 26-year-old woman of stunning beauty, a name that evokes grace and strength. She could have easily been a Hollywood or Bollywood star. She could have become one of South Africa’s most popular singers. But she chose a different path — the path of cricket.
Now the captain of the South African women’s cricket team, Wolvaardt is among the finest cricketers of the modern era. Many even call her the best in the world right now. Her performances over the past two years clearly show that she has surpassed the likes of Alyssa Healy, Smriti Mandhana, and Heather Knight.
Although South Africa reached their first-ever Women’s ODI World Cup final, they could not lift the trophy. Yet, Wolvaardt’s composed and responsible batting captured everyone’s attention. Even after scoring a century in the final, she could not celebrate with the trophy — and that’s why she is often called the “tragic hero” of women’s cricket. For the past two years, she has been writing a story of heartbreak.
Wolvaardt has been the top run-scorer across the last three ICC tournaments. In every final, she scored the most runs for her team. Her team may not have won, but she has won the hearts of cricket fans around the world.
Just the other day at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, she scored a brilliant 101 runs while chasing India’s 298. But even that valiant effort wasn’t enough to secure the World Cup. After the match, while Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma celebrated their historic win in pure joy, Wolvaardt sat silently outside the dressing room — motionless, lost in her thoughts.
This 26-year-old played so well throughout the tournament that her name has been etched into the record books. With her 169 in the semifinal and 101 in the final, she scored a total of 571 runs in the World Cup — the highest ever in a single edition. The previous record belonged to Healy, with 509 runs.
In the 2023 T20 World Cup, she was again the highest run-scorer with 230 runs, scoring 61 in the final, which South Africa lost to Australia by 19 runs. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, she added 223 runs, including a team-high 33 in the final.
Across 119 ODIs, Laura Wolvaardt has scored 5,222 runs, including 11 centuries and 38 fifties — a remarkable record for one of the most elegant batters in world cricket.
